The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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94 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2020 FOOTBALL PREVIEW DEFENSIVE LINE take a big step forward, and Van Bergen likes what he sees regarding his motivation. "Mazi Smith should be in the rotation," he said. "It seems like he's ready to make those dominant plays. He's into it." Hinton, Smith's recruiting classmate, posted half a tackle for loss among 10 stops in 12 contests as a rookie. "It's very obvious why he was a five-star and recruited so heavily," Van Bergen said. "He's got the body and physical attributes. The off-the-bus factor is there. He's a speci- men. "Again, we've had other guys that came in as four-stars, five-stars — and three-stars started ahead of them their whole career. If the coaching staff can inspire a healthy environment of aggressive competition, you should be able to get him to perform to where his potential is. "They want these guys to fight it out. Hin- ton should come out on top, but I believe he'll be challenged. He's got to earn it." Jeter appeared in 10 games last season, and seeks the breakout year where he settles in as a regular contributor in the defensive line rotation. "I'm interested to see Donovan Jeter, if his knee is healthy and he's good to go," Van Bergen said. "He's a guy I feel like was a worker. He wants a spot, and that's a great thing." Paye and Hutchinson have spots, and the great thing there is, some depth is filling in behind. Both should enjoy strong seasons. "Our defensive ends scenario is really blessed," Brown assessed. "We have Aidan; we have Kwity Paye. I'm very anxious to see how [redshirt freshman defensive end David] Ojabo does and [redshirt freshman defensive end Taylor] Upshaw. "I go back and watch [redshirt junior de- fensive end] Luiji [Vilain] play last year at times, and obviously he was hurt because Mike Danna was there. But the bottom line is, it's his time now. He'll have an op- portunity to prove what he can do. I think we'll get productive, solid play out of him as well." Paye led the team in tackles for loss (12.5) a year ago, and finished second in sacks (6.5), among his 50 stops. He'll look to be- come an even more dominant pass rusher in his final year at Michigan. "He's ready to break out," Van Bergen said. "With [Josh] Uche leaving, he's going to get more opportunities to be in there as a pass rusher. When you've got two really good edge guys, it's hard to figure out who you're going to slide your protection to, who is the back going to chip on. "Having both Aidan and Kwity out there is going to be great. Kwity is more of your speed rush guy. You'll see him outside the tight end, three yards off the edge, butt up high, sprinter stance. Aidan is going to be more on the strong side, five-technique. If you've got a first down, a run down, he's go- ing to be right over the tight end." Last year, Hutchinson finished fourth on the team in tackles, with 68. Among them were 10 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks, along with six passes broken up, four quarterback hurries and a pair of forced fumbles. "He's got the mentality," Van Bergen noted. "He's got the mentality of a Chase Winovich or, when I played, a Jordan Ko- vacs. There's always that guy that plays like their hair is on fire, and it ups the energy level and enthusiasm of the guys around them. "That's what Aidan has. It's an innate leadership quality that people are drawn to, and he elevates the play of the people around him. Can he be consistent? He's going to get more playing time. It's easy to do in 30 snaps. It's harder to do in 45. It's even harder to do in 60. "That will be his test. Can he be as con- sistent and have that motor for all the snaps he's asked to play. If so, can he get other guys' motors going? That's the next step for a guy like him." Van Bergen is anxiously awaiting to see the on-field debuts of those behind the pro- jected starters. "At D-line, we're going to rotate as many as 10 guys," he said. "It sounds like [Up- shaw] is a guy who might see 10 to 16 snaps in later parts of the game right now. He's being mentioned as a guy that should get some time, and I'm anxious to see what he has to offer." It's the same for Ojabo, about whom teammates have spoken highly. "It's always good when your teammates are doing the talking about you," Van Bergen noted. "When you don't have coaches doing it and pushing you … coaches always have a secondary reason why they're saying things about you in the press anyway. It could be to motivate you. "For players to come out and say, 'This is the guy,' that's a lot of respect. That always meant more to me than when a coach said something or an analyst did. If one of my teammates came out and said I played a good game, that was the biggest compliment I could get. "For teammates to say David Ojabo is Senior defensive end Kwity Paye led the Wolverines with 12.5 tackles for loss a year ago, plus finished second with 6.5 sacks and seventh with 50 total stops. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY