Michigan football defensive interior winning some battles vs. vaunted OL in fall camp
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — If Michigan football is going to repeat its success from a year ago, it’s going to need to find a pass rush. Replacing Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo is no easy task, but who said that the defense has to get to the quarterback from the edge rusher position?
Much has been made this offseason about the emergence of senior defensive tackle Mazi Smith. Coming in as Bruce Feldman’s No. 1 freak in college football, Smith appears to be capable of doing much more than simply clogging running lanes in the middle. He’s made a big pitch to his teammates about getting into the offensive backfield similar to how the aforementioned duo did last year.
But it’s not just him. There’s a cadre of emerging players in the defensive front that are making a difference, so much so that Jim Harbaugh says that they’re playing evenly with the vaunted offensive line, which itself is coming off of winning the Joe Moore Award last season.
“Defensively, we have made some real strides in the interior defensive line,” Harbaugh said. “Mike Elston’s doing a tremendous job coaching them. Mazi Smith’s doing a tremendous job coaching guys out there. And it wasn’t but a couple of days ago where it was super noticeable, and our defensive line got the better of offensive line that was pretty well thought of in terms of an offensive line. So, we’ve made some real, real improvement in the defensive line interior.”
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While Smith is the star up front, there are plenty of other candidates that could make a difference in the interior. Kris Jenkins Jr., now a junior, is slated to start alongside Smith, while others such as Rayshaun Benny, George Rooks, Cam Goode, and Dominick Giudice could all play roles. But there’s nothing more tantalizing than a true freshman or two coming in and realizing their potential early.
There’s been a lot of buzz about both Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, both of whom already have the prototypical size to play on the defensive interior, even though they’re in their first years. Harbaugh says they’ll be candidates to play immediately — not something you usually hear about first-year interior defensive linemen.
“Yeah, really good. Really love both those players,” Harbaugh said. “They’re both gonna play a lot of football at a position of real need.”
Graham arrived on campus in January as a somewhat under-rated defensive tackle from Anaheim (Calif.) Servite. He finished as a rated four-star, but he didn’t start getting ranked that highly until after he pledged to the Wolverines early in the season.
Grant, likewise, never had much recruiting buzz, but he started to garner general buzz once stories got out about his athleticism to go along with his unparalleled size. Coming in at 357-pounds at the outset of fall camp, Grant is the biggest player on the team, and he likewise made Feldman’s ‘freaks’ list, despite having never played a down of college football. That’s because he can do things that most of his size simply cannot.
“He’s a tremendous athlete for any size, really,” Harbaugh said. “If he was 100 pounds lighter than what he is, you’d say, ‘Man, he’s a really good athlete. He’s really light on his feet.’ And it’s really important to him. He really studies the game.”
Whether it’s the elder statesmen, the sophomores, transfer Cam Goode, or the freshmen, it appears that Michigan football is in much better shape on the interior than it’s been since Mo Hurst strapped on a winged helmet in 2017.
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What Jim Harbaugh said about Michigan football in fall camp
