One of the biggest questions surrounding the Michigan football defense this offseason is how it will replace three-quarters of its production from a year ago on the defensive line.
The Wolverines lose star edge rushers Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo, and defensive tackle Christopher Hinton. Though the likely culprits to replace them — Mike Morris, Taylor Upshaw, and Kris Jenkins — are known, there are some other players who certainly could contribute this fall. Though other relatively younger players like Braiden McGregor and Rayshaun Benny are often mentioned, perhaps the maize and blue will get a boost from a couple of first-year players.
One such player has been known about, while the other was something of a recruiting steal — speaking of four-stars Derrick Moore and Mason Graham, respectively. Moore has long been highly-regarded and was ranked as high as No. 20 overall by 247Sports. But Graham was a late-riser, getting his fourth star late in the process.
Jim Harbaugh spoke at length about both on the ‘In The Trenches’ podcast with Jon Jansen, and starting with Moore, he shared why he could be not only an instant impact type of player, but why he thinks he could be an elite edge rusher before his time of wearing a winged helmet is done.
“Derrick Moore, he is going to be — I think my personal opinion is going to be a fantastic player. Probably will also be a really good player right away in the fall,” Harbaugh said. “He is really gifted athletically and strength — it’s all there already. Another mid-year freshman and when he figures out to play with the really high relentless mid-play — you can still make a play — you don’t have to just come clean to make a play and get involved with a tackle or a sack. Once he really learns how to play the game, it’s just learning the scheme and the counter moves, once he learns that, I think he’s going to be a beast out there on the edge — like I got really high hopes for him. He has a really quick first step and second step. He can beat guys — it’ll come, it’ll come — Mike Elston is doing a tremendous job with all those guys. The development is there right now, seeing it, so good as a coach. But, yeah he is going to learn that guys — tackles do punch back. You try to punch first and take really good sets, so you do need — they are going to stick you more times than not.
“You need counters and need relentlessness like Aidan developed. He didn’t have — didn’t know it until his second year. You’re used to coming out of high school and ‘here I go, I’m by you’. Once he gets that, and learns that I’m real confident he’s going to be stellar.”
[lawrence-related id=60141,60140,60138,60136]
With Graham, we saw him starting to make plays in the spring game — which is exciting when you consider that freshmen generally aren’t impact players on the interior line of either side of the ball. Harbaugh points to his toughness as a big reason why he’s been able to emerge, despite only having been on campus for a few short months.
“Yeah, he was playing and playing at a pretty darn high level right off the bat. He was out about a week or so, or two, he had an ankle but came back faster than an ordinary man would,” Harbaugh said. “You love to see it because there is a real level of toughness there. As you know the closer you get to the ball, the harder it is to play as a true freshman. Center, guard, D-tackle for sure, the physical development of being strong enough to be a defensive tackle where you’re playing against guys who are four and five years older. He’s a mid-year freshman and should still be in high school but he was right in there and not just flashing, but consistently playing pretty, really good football. I’m excited about that.”
Whether or not they get involved in the defense for meaningful snaps this fall remains to be seen. But it’s a good thing that Michigan has some options at these positions where there are few known commodities and not quite as much depth as one would hope.
[listicle id=60105]
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbzardvge799bm2 player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=https://wolverineswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]