The Wolverines got a huge boost on Thursday with the announcement that their senior DE will be playing this fall.
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A lot of the talk surrounding college football in the Big Ten at the moment — particularly at Michigan — is about the players opting out. But what about the players opting in?
Michigan has had four players opt out thus far — RT Jalen Mayfield, CB Ambry Thomas, WR Nico Collins and QB Dylan McCaffrey — all for different reasons, with three going pro and McCaffrey transferring. But one Wolverine has confirmed via social media that he’s coming back to finish his senior season in defensive end Kwity Paye.
WOLV-TV first reported that Paye will return to Michigan for the season that begins Oct. 24 and Paye quote-tweeted it affirming that he will be a part of the team come the season opener.
Check out Draft Wire’s exclusive interview with Michigan edge defender prospect Kwity Paye
Few programs have excelled at churning out top NFL talent like Michigan, and the 2021 draft class will be no exception.
One of this year’s top prospects for the Wolverines is Kwity Paye, one of the most explosive and athletic edge defenders in all of college football.
Paye recently spoke exclusively with Draft Wire about his family’s journey from West Africa to the United States, navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, and what we can expect from him moving forward.
JM: How have you managed to stay in shape and keep up with your weight training throughout the pandemic?
KP: When the pandemic first broke out, a lot of my teammates went home. One of my roommates and I actually stayed here in Michigan and we did anything we could to stay in shape. We were going to the playgrounds and using the monkey bars for pull-ups. We did a lot of at-home workouts well, push-ups and what not.
Whatever I could get my hands on to lift, I did just that. It was time to get creative, not complacent. I did everything I could to stay in shape.
We eventually linked up with a former teammate of ours who had a gym in his garage. We started working out there.
We started out working out together as a team again in July. I believe that’s when some of the restrictions started to lift.
JM: Your background has been well-documented. Your family made an amazing journey from West Africa to the United States. How do you reflect on that journey?
KP: The journey speaks for itself. We’ve come so far. Nothing came easy for us, nothing was handed to us. We had to work for everything we have. Being able to move my family up the economic class would be a dream come true for me. It’s unreal. To change our lives forever, it’s unbelievable.
I came to America when I was just six months old. I grew up here. At the same time, it was different. I’m black, my skin tone is black, but I didn’t feel like the other black kids. I always felt like they were American and I was African. I grew up in an African household. We ate different foods. We spoke differently. Kids always used to tell me that I talked weird. I was told that I smelled weird.
Growing up, it was just different. It’s a completely different culture. It wasn’t the best experience for me. Over the years, I acclimated and became situated with my American side.
Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
JM: What’s it like to have a position coach like Don Brown?
KP: It’s crazy. He doesn’t care who you are. He doesn’t pay attention to your accolades, he doesn’t care about what you’ve done in the past. What are you doing for me now? He’s gonna make sure that he gets the best out of you, no matter what.
He respects you, but he’s not gonna treat you like a superstar. He doesn’t pay attention to status. He’s not gonna let me take a day off practice because of my name. He pushes you every single day.
He has your best interests at heart. He wants you to help the team, but he wants us to help ourselves as well. I love that about him. I have so much respect for him. He’ll never allow you to sell yourself short.
JM: You made Bruce Feldman’s “Freaks List” earlier this year. He has you down for some outlandish numbers, given your size and position.
KP: I played multiple sports growing up. I feel like that’s where a lot of my athleticism comes from. Playing multiple sports definitely helped develop my athletic ability. My first sport was track. Being able to run at my size, that’s what got me recruited in the first place.
It’s funny, before he put me on the list, I remember reading some projections for what I’d do at the combine, for what my numbers may look like. Somebody had me down for a 4.80 in the 40-yard dash. I remember reading that and thinking, “Man, they don’t know me at all” (laughs). I feel like my track background is a bit of a mystery.
The Freaks List came out and everything changed. It sheds some light on my love for other sports besides football.
JM: What are three traits that a successful edge rusher must possess?
KP: A good get-off is definitely first and foremost. Every great pass rusher needs to have a great go-to move. You also need to have a great counter move. When it comes to being a pass rusher, you need to be able to counter. As an edge guy, they expect you to be a great pass rusher.
I believe that’s what I am, but I’m also very good in the spread run defense. That’s becoming more important at the NFL level. You have to be able to play against that spread run nowadays.
Syndication: DetroitFreePress
JM: What’s your go-to move?
KP: I’ve been working on the stab-club. I have to mention the ghost as well. If those two moves don’t work, I’d probably counter with a long-arm to squeeze the pocket down and get some pressure on the quarterback.
The ghost is kinda like a stab, but you lower your shoulder and lean into your man. Von Miller probably executes the ghost better than any other player in the league. I watch a lot of Von Miller tape.
JM: Besides Von Miller, who else do you enjoy watching on tape?
KP: Our coaches give us a lot of tape to watch. I personally love watching Von Miller. I watch a lot of Yannick Nkagoue, as well. We watch a lot of 49ers tape. That whole 49ers D-line is pretty good. We watch Nick Bosa. When we watch interior linemen, we watch Aaron Donald, of course.
We’re all over the place. We watch a lot of T.J. Watt, as well. We watch guys based on moves we’re trying to learn. If there’s a player we feel like has perfected a pass rush move or technique, we put the tape on. For example, T.J. Watt is really good at the cross-chop. If we wanna watch how the cross-chop is executed, we watch Watt. If we wanna learn how about the ghost, we go watch Von Miller. We switch it up.
JM: You played a couple of different positions before settling in on the defensive line. How did that experience make you a better edge player?
KP: It helped me a lot. I played running back in high school. Even now when I train, those running back drills can help you at any position. Having that running back background means I have good feet. I have good balance when I’m doing certain moves.
JM: What’s your biggest weakness at this point in time?
KP: One thing I really had to work hard at this offseason was my go-to move and my counter move when my go-to doesn’t work. I really worked hard on that during the offseason. I feel like I’m on the right path to perfecting my craft. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the opportunity to play football this year.
Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
JM: What’s it like playing for Jim Harbaugh?
KP: Coach Harbaugh is a lot like coach Don Brown. He appreciates that you’re doing well and he’ll give you your respect, but he’ll never let you get complacent. He wants you to get better every day and he provides you with all the tools necessary to do so. He always gives you an opportunity to get better. He wants us to take advantages of the resources that surround us. He’s the type of coach that wants to see you improve.
JM: What are some of your best memories of playing in the best stadium in all of college football?
KP: The Big House is such a special place. I remember playing a home game against Wisconsin during my sophomore year. The atmosphere was crazy for that one. The atmosphere for Penn State and Notre Dame is always crazy, as well.
JM: What comes to mind when I say, “Maize and Blue?”
KP: Maize and Blue means a Saturday home game. I prefer a noon start time. Seeing all the Maize in the streets as we make the drive over to the stadium is a crazy experience. Running out of the tunnel to all the fans going crazy, there’s nothing like it.
JM: What’s up next for Kwity Paye?
KP: I’m just gonna continue to improve. Coach Harbaugh has given us an opportunity to still practice so that we can continue to hone our craft. The coaching staff has been doing a great job working in some combine drills for us. I’m very thankful to Michigan for that. We’ve been working on the D-linemen drills. I’m trying to improve every single day.
At the same time, I’m trying to pass on all the knowledge I have to the younger guys. I want those guys to have the same opportunities to be great that I did. That’s what Michigan is all about.
One player that would be a nice bolster for the Cardinals’ pass rush is Michigan edge rusher Kwity Paye.
The Arizona Cardinals continue to build their franchise back into a winning culture. From building an elite offense around second-year quarterback Kyler Murray to bringing in more defensive playmakers like linebacker De’Vondre Campbell to bolster their defense, this team is built to compete. However, there is still one key piece they are missing: the edge rusher position. Outside of Chandler Jones, there are not a whole lot of answers to the Cardinals’ pass rush.
Former Utah standout Leki Fotu is a tremendous addition for the future of the Cardinals’ run defense. Looking ahead into the 2021 NFL Draft class, there are some key edge rushers that the Cardinals could snag early. One player that would be a nice boost for the Cardinals’ pass rush is Michigan edge rusher Kwity Paye.
Michigan has done a nice job producing defensive playmakers for the NFL. The Pittsburgh Steelers traded up for Devin Bush in last year’s draft, who is now one of the faces of that defense. The Green Bay Packers selected Rashan Gary, who has all the tangibles to be an elite pass rusher in the league, with their 12 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. Kwity Paye could be the next guy added to that list.
Paye possesses elite speed with a high motor off the ball. Whether the play is out of reach or not, he never takes plays off. At 6-foot-4 and 272 pounds, Paye is a freakish athlete and dominates with his technique. Not only does he excel on the outside, but he has dominated on the interior as well. One of the games that stood out was the 2019 game against Iowa, where Paye finished with three solo tackles and 2.5 sacks. However, the key matchup for him here was former Iowa offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs, who was drafted 13th overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2020 NFL Draft. There were a few plays where Paye beat out Wirfs on the inside with his speed, technique and powerful jab step, resulting in a sack on former Iowa quarterback Nate Stanley. Kwity Paye is the definition of a highlight reel player. A college football reporter from The Athletic called Paye an “athletic freak” and that is just what he is. He finished the 2019 season with 26 solo tackles and 6.5 sacks. He is still weighing his return to Michigan due to the postponement of the Big Ten college football season. If Paye plays in the spring, expect a breakout season for him and a rise in his draft stock.
As impressive as he is, there is one weakness of Kwity Paye that can become quite concerning at times. He is a quick and athletic player, but there are times where he isn’t very powerful with his initial step off the ball. When this does happen, he will still drive his feet and finish the play. But, when his initial step lacks power, he loses all of his leverage and is too high off the ball. This became noticeable during the 2019 matchup against Ohio State. With his speed and initial drive, the bull rush is something that Paye can excel in. However, because he didn’t have that explosiveness when the play started, Paye was beat a few times off the ball.
Kwity Paye has really put himself on the radar with his performance at Michigan. If he does decide to opt out of the 2020 season, Paye still has plenty of impressive tape to look at. With some minor tweaks to his game, Paye will be a special player to watch in the NFL and would be a nice addition to the Cardinals’ pass rush.
The senior Michigan football DE isn’t making any decisions until he knows for sure what the Big Ten is going to do.
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — As of this writing, we have no idea whether or not the rumors swirling about an Oct. 10 start to the Big Ten season will or will not come to fruition.
The Wolverines have already seen two players opt out as they prepare for their future careers in the NFL in Ambry Thomas and Jalen Mayfield, given that indications from the conference were that if it were to resume play, it wouldn’t be until January at the earliest. While it remains unclear at this juncture as to whether or not either would be able to return to the team with a league reversal, there are others in the same situation who are playing wait-and-see.
Among them is senior defensive end Kwity Paye, who recently has made waves in mock drafts, going as high as the first-round in 2021.
Paye isn’t in a rush to make his decision, instead opting to see what comes of these recent reports.
“I’m just waiting on what decision the Big Ten and the NCAA is gonna make, because we don’t know what’s going on yet,” Paye said. “I’d have to obviously go back and talk to my mom and see what would be the best choice for me and my family.
“But I’m not all too worried about making the big decision just yet just because I’m trying to enjoy my last couple months with the boys if these are my last couple months with them.”
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In the meantime, as he said Paye is spending his fall, regardless of a potential season return, soaking in perhaps his final moments with his teammates, practicing and preparing for Michigan’s planned combine at The Big House on Oct. 24.
It may just be something of a consolation prize, but considering it may be his final go-round at wearing maize and blue, Paye is taking it for all it’s worth.
And if the season is in fact restored, then Paye says he and the team will be ready to go.
“They’ve given us false hope before — they’ve given out the season and then they ended up canceling it,” Paye said. “I don’t know what kind of reassurance the team would need to start playing. We’re just gonna keep working though. We’ve been practicing, we haven’t really taken our foot off the pedal yet.”
The Michigan football senior defensive end might get selected much higher than many might think in the 2021 NFL Draft.
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While it was Jalen Mayfield who had the way-too-early 2021 NFL Draft buzz, it might be another Michigan football player who is likely to go in the the first-round next year.
With a decision to make whether or not he plays whenever a winter or spring Big Ten season comes to fruition, big things are to be expected of Wolverines defensive end Kwity Paye. The senior made The Athletic’s biggest college football freaks list in the top overall spot, and while the former three-star hasn’t been a national household name, he certainly has been in Ann Arbor.
With a rising grade year-over-year by Pro Football Focus — having ranged from a 66.9 in his freshman year to an 80.9 in his junior season — Paye has consistently gotten better. And in PFF’s 2021 mock draft, it sees the Rhode Island native as being a potential mid-first-round pick.
14. ATLANTA FALCONS — EDGE KWITY PAYE, MICHIGAN
Paye was as hurt as any edge defender in the 2021 class by not being able to prove himself more this fall. Still, if he runs anywhere close to his reported 6.37-second three-cone at 272 pounds, someone is going to take a chance on him early. However, he still needs to add a good deal to his pass-rushing toolbox — he generated 37 pressures on 316 pass-rushing snaps for a middling 77.8 pass-rushing grade throughout his lone year as a starter in 2019.
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As of this moment, Paye is publicly undecided about his Michigan football future, given that the 2020 Big Ten season has been postponed to 2021. It’s not known whether or not he’s that high up on NFL teams’ draft boards at this juncture. But if he does manage to squeeze a season in and show out at the NFL Scouting Combine next year, he certainly could be on his way to being yet another first-round draft pick out of Ann Arbor.
According to the Detroit Free Press, we may have seen the last of the Wolverines standout in a maize and blue uniform due to the Big Ten.
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He was just coming into the apex of his college career, and now it might be over.
Michigan defensive end Kwity Paye was a little-known recruit from Warwick (RI) Bishop Hendricken before he arrived on campus in 2017, but entering his senior season, he was listed as college football’s freakiest athlete by The Athletic‘s Bruce Feldman. But now with the Big Ten 2020 season on hold, Paye has some decisions to make.
It may have seemed like a foregone conclusion to some that he would come back for his final season of intercollegiate eligibility, but that wasn’t the case. In a conversation with the Detroit Free Press‘ Orion Sang, Paye shared just how close he was to joining the ten others who wound up in the NFL via the annual draft.
“I thought I could’ve been drafted last year, let’s say that, but I came back because I still had some things I wanted to develop and things I wanted to work on,” Paye said. “This past summer, even in quarantine, there was no rest for me. There was no taking my foot off the pedal.
“This season was going to be my opportunity to show scouts that I worked on that. But COVID messed everything up. I feel like I’m NFL ready. Last year, I could’ve been alright, but this year, I feel prepared for sure.”
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Now, he’s unsure what he’ll do.
The Big Ten says it’s pushing the fall season to spring, but the NFL hasn’t announced any changes to the impending 2021 draft. Additionally, as Paye notes, that would put him in a situation where he’d be playing two seasons in one year — one at the college level, then another in the NFL. For him, that’s a suboptimal experience and a lot of wear on the body with little recovery.
Players such as Ohio State’s Justin Fields are petitioning the conference to reinstate the season, as have parents of players at Michigan, Ohio State, Iowa and Penn State — but the chances of success seem minimal at this juncture.
With all of that in mind, Paye has to make a decision for himself — which might include never wearing the winged helmet in competition again.
“There’s so much uncertainty,” Paye told the Free Press on Monday. “I want to be with my brothers and I want to help this team and make this team the best it can be, but at the same time, you’ve got to look after yourself. I’m the provider for my family. I’ve gotten this far because I want to give my family a life that we’ve never had before.”
That might not be the case for all, but it certainly is for some college football players.
They’re trying to create a career path where they can be providers, helping themselves and their families rise out of potentially dire living circumstances. Now, with the Big Ten’s decision, players like Paye have some tough decisions ahead, none of them easy.
“I’ve talked to my mom a bit about it, but I haven’t talked to her a whole bunch about it,” Paye said. “At the same time, she doesn’t really understand a lot of the stuff. I’m not alone, but I really have to make the decision myself.
“I want to be able to send my younger brothers to private schools and give them the best education and retire my mom, let her relax. I want them to have the life I never had growing up. I love my teammates, but I’m the man of my family. I’ve got to do what’s best for us at the end of the day.”
11 Big-Ten prospect the Eagles should target in the 2021 NFL Draft
The Big Ten will be without college football this fall after conference presidents and chancellors voted Tuesday to postpone all fall sports seasons, including football, amid the coronavirus pandemic with the hopes of playing in the spring.
"I think right now, like a lot of college football fans, just kind of devastated by the news."
With the college football season now in doubt and in the NFL Draft in the spring, here are 11 Big Ten standouts the should Eagles target:
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1. Rondale Moore, WR, Purdue
A 5-foot-9 dynamo, Moore committed to Purdue during the U.S. Army All-American Bowl after changing his mind about Texas.
Moore recorded 1,164 receiving yards and 203 rushing yards to go along with thirteen combined touchdowns. Moore’s 2,048 all-purpose yards were the most since Dorien Bryant recorded 2,121 in 2007, and the second-most in Purdue history.
Moore only played in four games last season but is still projected to be a first-round pick.
What NFL Draft prospects are hurt the most by the uncertainty surrounding the upcoming college football season?
These are certainly uncertain times. That fact is reflected in the daily “will they or won’t they” surrounding college football’s status for the fall. While some conferences such as the Ivy League, the Big Sky, the Mountain West, the MAC and the Missouri Valley Football Conference have delayed seasons until the fall, rumors abound about the Power 5 conferences. On Monday it was first reported that the Big Ten was about to push the fall season into the spring, but later in the day contradictory reporting indicated that no decisions had been made and if anything another delay to the start of football was in the works.
All this uncertainty has crept into the draft evaluation world. In normal times, #DraftTwitter would be abuzz with discussions about the top players at each position, potential risers and fallers, and the daily mock drafts posted in various corners of the internet. Instead we are left to wonder about how this draft cycle might look.
Interestingly enough, a player that fit the riser mold from last year’s draft, rising all the way to the first overall selection, touched off a discussion after posting this on social media:
I feel for all college athletes right now. I hope their voices are heard by the decision makers. If this happened a year ago I may be looking for a job right now.
Burrow is exactly right. This time last season, he was viewed as a fringe draftable selection, even though some were in his corner. Without his final year at LSU, he never would have blossomed into the guy coming off the board with the first pick in the draft.
This spurred Thor Nystrom, who covers football for Rotoworld, to ask this question on social media:
Who’s the 2021 NFL Draft prospect with the most to lose by the season not being played?
We begin with the quarterback position, which has generated a number of draft risers over the past few cycles. Before Burrow there was Kyler Murray, and Baker Mayfield, and Mitchell Trubisky, and Patrick Mahomes, and Robert Griffin III, and the list goes on. Because of the importance of the position, and the fact that some college quarterbacks have to wait their turn to start, this position provides many players the chance to turn a solid season into the rocketship up the board.
Trey Lance faces a difficult proposition at the moment. A rising redshirt sophomore, Lance was lumped in with quarterbacks such as Justin Fields and Trevor Lawrence immediately upon the completion of the 2020 NFL Draft, and with good reason. In his first year as a starter he threw for 28 touchdowns without a single interception, and led the Bison to a third-straight FCS National Championship, following in the wake of QBs such as Carson Wentz and Easton Stick before him.
That had many, including Mel Kiper Jr., the godfather of draft coverage, to put Lance atop their “way too early” rankings back in early May. With a solid redshirt sophomore season, could Lance decide to enter the draft? He would be tested early, with a game at Oregon to start the year.
But now? The MVFC pushed their season to the spring, and Lance faces a dilemma. Does he opt-out of the season and prepare for the draft now, hoping one good year of film is enough? Does he try and transfer? There are some good options, but what happens if those schools do not have football in the fall? Or does he simply remain at NDSU and look to the 2020 spring season, and then enter the draft for 2021?
Lance was in a great position entering this fall. Now he has some decisions to make.
We’re seeing a handful of Wolverines make 2021 mock drafts for the first time.
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We still don’t know whether or not we’ll have either a college football or NFL season in 2020, but plans are for both leagues to move forward with significant contingencies. But that hasn’t stopped our friends over at DraftWire from projecting who could make names for themselves this season and subsequently find themselves picked early in the 2021 NFL Draft.
In June, our sister site had two Wolverines going in the first two-rounds of its too-early mock draft, with Jalen Mayfield going in the first and Aidan Hutchinson going in the second. However, there have been some changes in the site’s late July edition, with Mayfield slipping to the second-round and Hutchinson — who would be an early entrant to the draft as it were — not making the cut in the new three-round projection.
But still, DraftWire’s Luke Easterling had three Michigan players being selected in the first three rounds, even if the maize and blue aren’t represented in the opening foray of the NFL draft.
Second Round
No. 33 – OT Jalen Mayfield – Washington Football Team
Mayfield dropping to the top of the second-round would be a disappointment, but it still shows he’s being thought of as an elite talent who, at worst, if he leaves for the NFL with a year of eligibility remaining, would be a Day Two pick.
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The Kwity Paye pick would be interesting, given that he would be joining forces with new Buccaneers QB Tom Brady, who spent 2019 in New England with former Michigan DE Chase Winovich. By all accounts, the two former Wolverines formed something of a bond in their single-year overlap in Foxborough.
Even more interesting is Nico Collins in the third-round to Cleveland. The Browns not only already have Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry, but signed Collins’ Michigan counterpart in Donovan Peoples-Jones, who the franchise selected in the sixth-round of the 2020 NFL Draft. We still hold that Collins is a greater talent than being a third-round selection, but he’ll need a big year, statistically speaking, to move up into the first two rounds of the forthcoming NFL draft.
