The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1386887
THE WOLVERINE 2021 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ■ 13 MICHIGAN FOOTBALL They SAID IT "It's because of how he cares for his players on and off the field. That's what people don't see. People only see games we lost, probably say he's the wrong coach, but there's more to it … he's a great coach, and there's more to it than football with just him. He's willing to bring the best out of anyone, going to be there for anyone. So, I'd say, 'You don't know what you are talking about.' There's more to it. Coach Harbaugh is the one, a great coach for Michi- gan always will be." — Former Michigan wide receiver and current Houston Texan Nico Collins, discussing why he believes head coach Jim Harbaugh is the right man for the job "The 6-foot-6, 269-pounder is versatile, has incredible power behind his hands and is one of the more pol- ished players at the position. … Hutchinson produced an 83.6 run-defense grade and 27 run stops along with a 76.0 pass-rush grade and 46 total pressures in 2019. He never really put together a dominant performance from start to finish in 2019 like others on this list. Still, Hutchinson was consistently good throughout the year. We need to see more elite outings in 2021, and he eas- ily has the potential to make that happen." — PFF's Anthony Treash, tabbing Michigan junior defen- sive end Aidan Hutchinson as the fourth-best returning pass rusher in college football (and best in the Big Ten) "I'm excited to see what's about to happen, because a lot of the guys love the defense. They all tell me if I played in this defensive scheme I would've ate. I'm excited to see those guys eat, and they're actually learning NFL-schemed de- fense. Kudos to them; I'm very happy for them. I wish I would've learned a little bit of that [in college]. … God willing, when they get to that next step, they're already going to know it like the back of their hand. It's put- ting them ahead of the game, honestly." — FORMER MICHIGAN CORNERBACK AND CURRENT SAN FRANCISCO 49ER AMBRY THOMAS ON THE WOLVERINES' NEW DEFENSIVE SYSTEM UNDER MIKE MACDONALD "As a team, what we've been talking about this spring — anything we put our mind to, we can accomplish as long as we come together and we're on the same page and communicate. The way I feel about our team right now, we're brothers, but we really bonded this spring, and I feel like it was needed. We're going in, we're going to win. And we're not [just] going to win, we're going to beat them pretty bad. That's the mindset I feel like we have — and we have to have — going into this season, that no one can stop us. The only people that can stop us are ourselves, and we're not going to let that happen. I feel like that's the mindset and that's the expectation — just win." — FRESHMAN RUNNING BACK BLAKE CORUM ON THE TEAM'S PHILOSOPHY HEADING INTO THE 2021 CAMPAIGN PHOTO BY EJ HOLLAND PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL