The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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THE WOLVERINE 2024 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ■ 83 "Some of their [SEC] defensive tackles run faster than our linebackers … heck, our safeties," one former Michigan coach told us heading into a game with an SEC power- house several years ago — and he proved to be right. We saw it again just a few years ago when Georgia tackle Jordan Davis caught running back Blake Corum before he could accelerate on a play during a 34-11 playoff drubbing. It almost seemed unfair. But … it doesn't when the big shoe is on the other foot, and Michigan fans have fi- nally gotten to enjoy it for themselves with a once-in-a-generation duo in Mason Gra- ham and Kenneth Grant. The social media reaction from Michigan fans might have been considered pure giddiness when the 340-ish pound Grant caught Penn State running back Kaytron Allen from behind during a 24-15 U-M win in Happy Valley. While Grant gave his typical, humble, "aw, shucks" reaction, coaches and team- mates marveled at his ability. "That was pretty crazy," Graham re- called. "The first thing when I opened my phone after the game, I saw that. I showed him because we're usually right next to each other in the locker room. I was like, 'You see this? … It's blowing up!' "Everyone at the moment was like, 'whoa,' but we didn't really know it was going to blow up into what it did … but I always knew [he had the ability]. He was more of an athletic guy. There's some other stuff that he's done in the weight room and stuff that's kind of been like glimpses and flashes of what he can do. I always knew he could do that." He truly is, as former head coach Jim Harbaugh called him prior to his freshman season, "a gift from the football gods." Not One Gift, But Two And Harbaugh was definitely talking about Grant, who posted a sub-5.0 40- yard dash that had become legendary in Schembechler Hall, when fall practice started. Soon, though, the coach realized he didn't only have one, but two who fit the bill — and maybe more. It was evident from the first practice they'd also found some- thing special in Graham, a former Boise State pledge who, for whatever reason, flew under the radar. By the end of fall practice, Harbaugh changed his comment to say gifts from the football gods … and even then, both Gra- ham and Grant later admitted, they weren't sure exactly who he was talking about. "That didn't really matter to me," Grant, seated next to Graham at a bowl game me- dia day, said. "I was just focused on football and stuff. We always joked about it. … "But our class was so good, we really didn't know who he was talking about," Graham interrupted. "Yeah … our class is pretty good," Grant added with a grin. Everyone else knew who he was talk- ing about, though. And while Graham had the better first year, earning freshman All- America honors from Pro Football Focus after amassing 27 tackles and 2.5 sacks, both were on NFL scouts' radars by the end of last season. Graham followed up his freshman cam- paign with 36 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and 3 sacks to capture All-Big Ten and second-team All-America honors despite missing two games with a broken thumb; Grant, too, started throwing his weight around and was dominant by year's end. He finished with 29 tackles (5 for loss) and 3.5 sacks, including a huge one in the na- tional championship game with Washing- ton, and earned second-team All-Big Ten accolades. Graham, meanwhile, was the Rose Bowl defensive MVP, and while cornerback Will Johnson received that honor in the national title game, either Graham or Grant could have. That's how disruptive they were. "They're two studs in the middle … it's like they can do anything," junior edge rusher Derrick Moore said. "You can dou- ble-team them; they can still beat it. You can triple-team them; they can still beat it. You can drop them into coverage and they're going to strap you down. They can do whatever. "It's crazy. I've never seen any D-tackles ever doing it like that, and I've been around a lot of great D-tackles. But they're differ- ent. They're really different." And yet they're also kind of the same, something they both realized when they first arrived on campus. During one early weightlifting session with former strength coach Ben Herbert, "Herb" couldn't help but notice the two gravitating to one an- other. Like many of the duo's teammates, Her- bert also marveled at the weight they were throwing around for their age. Several we spoke with said they literally stopped and watched when the 300-plus pounders did certain exercises, at times lifting more than guys who had been in the program for years. The two came from different parts of the country, Graham a California boy and Graham (55) and Grant (78) form the best defen- sive tackle tandem in the nation this year according to Pro Football Focus. PHOTO BY DOMINICK SOKOTOFF "I haven't watched everybody else [in the country], but if there are two defensive tackles better than them, I would love to see them playing as a group. I think they each do something different which makes each better." U-M DEFENSIVE LINE COACH LOU ESPOSITO