The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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20 THE WOLVERINE MARCH 2023 at U-M, like he did in Lincoln. "He was playing behind two veteran guys," Callahan noted. "One of them was a captain, Nick Henrich, and the other was basically a captain, Luke Reimer. He was never going to surpass those guys on the depth chart, but then one of them got hurt. "He was thrown out into the fire, right away, to start. He wasn't quite ready for it yet. It's a lot, to throw a freshman out there. They played some teams like Oklahoma, tough games to match up, for a freshman." Once Nebraska started playing in "true Big Ten-style games," Callahan said Hausmann flourished. His 54 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 sack and 1 fumble re- covery included a 10-tackle game against U-M with a sack on sophomore quarter- back J.J. McCarthy. "He just really caught fire and played really well," Callahan said. "If you go back and look at the play he made on McCarthy — that was one of the more impressive individual defensive plays anyone made in that entire game. "Against Wisconsin and Iowa [12 tack- les in the latter game], you really noticed him. He's got a ton of upside." Adopted out of Uganda, Africa, by "a great family," Hausmann represents a strong addition by Michigan, Callahan assured. "He's got instincts and physical abil- ity," Callahan said. "He's big. He doesn't carry himself like a true freshman when you talk to him. He's very mature and humble. He's not cocky. He doesn't have a big ego. "Even his junior year, we had an event where they wanted him to come to Lin- coln. He couldn't come, because he worked a job at a grocery store, Hy-Vee. He worked a weekend job, just to instill discipline. "Didn't need to and didn't have to, but he's just a very focused, disciplined kid." MAIZE AND BLUE DNA The 6-foot-7, 320-pound Myles Hinton might be the most recognizable name to Michigan fans. The Wolverines recruited the younger brother of for- mer U-M defensive tackle Chris Hinton hard. Myles Hinton started 16 games and appeared in 23 for the Cardinal. "He's obviously a kid who has played a lot of football at Stanford, but he's also been hurt quite a bit," The Recruiting Brain's Stefani noted. "He's also got the chance to come in and challenge for a starting spot. "Honestly, I think of the three of- fensive linemen, he's the least likely to start. LaDarius Henderson is probably the most Day 1-ready to step into the lineup, and maybe Nugent would be the other at center, because it's a position of need. "But Hinton's got a chance. It will be interesting to see if getting him into Ben Herbert's strength-and-conditioning program will bring him up to another level." READY IN A SNAP Another Stanford import, Drake Nu- gent has 24 starts and 27 game appear- ances under his belt at center for the Cardinal. Stefani followed his develop- ment from a moderately rated three- star prospect to a 6-foot-1, 300-pound starter in the Pac-12. "He's got kind of a short frame, but he is thickly built, and he plays with good leverage," Stefani said. "He was honorable mention All-Pac-12 this year — pretty athletic, pretty quick, strong. "Someone did a study of the NFL All-Pro teams, and they showed that on defense the first-team All-Pro team was made up of primarily five-stars and four-stars, but when you look at the of- fense, there were tons of three-stars and sub-three-stars on that team. "A lot of times it's a crapshoot, and especially with linemen, especially of- fensive linemen. You just don't know how they're going to develop." ON AN NFL PATH LaDarius Henderson, a 6-foot-5, 310-pound road grader, brings a strong résumé with him from Arizona State, having started 29 games in 33 appear- ances and served as captain in 2022. Edge rusher Josaiah Stewart set a Coastal Carolina record with 12.5 sacks and was named a freshman All-American in 2021. PHOTO COURTESY COASTAL CAROLINA PHOTOGRAPHY