The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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38 THE WOLVERINE ❱ AUGUST 2025 ❱ COMMIT PROFILE BY ETHAN MCDOWELL M cHale Blade and his family were in denial. Just before the start of his junior season, the blue- chip edge rusher learned that he tore his ACL — not any time recently — but months before this meeting with a doctor. He had spent the 2024 summer running, lifting and playing basket- ball like normal. To him and his fam- ily there was no way he could have sustained a significant knee injury, but the doctors confirmed it, and Blade's football season ended before it even kicked off. The Michigan commit spent the next year grinding through his rehab, giving his all to the process to return to the field. Blade obviously wishes the injury never happened, but he's grateful for the experience. "Those long therapy sessions, those mental challenges that I went through, I feel like, not only did it make me a better football player, it made me a better man," Blade told The Wol- verine. "It taught me a lot about life and how to overcome adversity. I feel like I can go through anything now. Whatever life throws at me, I'm ready to just at- tack it. I feel like I'm a new person." Blade remembers the play. He was in the middle of a breakout sopho- more season, proving himself as the No. 1-ranked prospect in Illinois, when his knee buckled. The Chicago Simeon Academy standout did not leave the game. His knee swelled up quickly, but he toughed it out. He only played about half of his soph- omore year, but Blade never realized the severity of the injury. The lineman and his father, Ishmel Blade, could not be- lieve the news when the doctors later told him just how serious it really was. "Let's get a second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth opinion because there's no way," Ishmel recalled. "He can play!" They sat down as a family and reached a difficult decision — McHale underwent surgery and missed his junior season. While his teammates were on the field making plays last fall, he was stuck in the training room, balancing school, re- hab and his recruiting process, which did not slow down at all post-injury. That, on top of everything else he was going through while away from the gridiron, made the path back dif- ficult. Seeing his son go through this was hard for Ishmel as well, but he reflected on the past year with admiration for McHale. "As a dad, I might have taken it harder than he did," Ishmel said. "But when I saw him, how he at- tacked his therapy, his outlook on it, as a person — not even as a father — as a person, it made me stronger to see him face adver- sity head on. As a dad, you always want to take your kid's adversity and turn it into your own, but I couldn't." Throughout the entire rehab process, Michigan remained per- sistent in his recruitment. Even when the staff knew he couldn't make the trip to Ann Arbor while he was recovering, the Wolver- ines still reached out to let him know they'd love to host him. Seeing U-M remain genuine and caring over the past year reassured Ishmel that the coaches would look out for McHale. The 6-5, 255-pounder, who is listed as the nation's No. 27 edge rusher and No. 194 overall player per the Rivals rankings, believes that loy- alty from Michigan pushed the program over the top in the defensive lineman's recruitment. "It meant a lot because they never stopped calling," McHale said. "They never stopped expressing how much they needed me." McHale's return sits squarely on the horizon. Simeon opens its season Aug. 29. In the weeks leading up to kickoff, the rising senior does not have to worry about rehab or the recruiting process anymore. He's been pumping iron in the gym and getting agility work in on the beaches of Lake Michigan. McHale is focused on domination. "Getting back on the field is a dream," Ishmel said. "He thinks about it so much, and to actually say, 'I'm here now, I can smell the grass, I'm putting on the cleats, I'm in the locker room. I'm finally going out there, I'm going to be a captain, the coin toss, the kickoff.' I'm getting excited just thinking about it. "I'm definitely going to cry." ❑ Edge Commit McHale Blade Is Ready To Return To The Gridiron PLAYER EVALUATION STRENGTHS: I thought, as a sophomore, there was certainly a lot of promise. He's playing primarily defensive end and showed athleticism on film, good size, and we just like the movement skills, his ability to make plays in the backfield and the projectable nature of his game. … Regardless of the incomplete evalu- ation, I think there's certainly a lot of reason for optimism based on what he showed as an underclassman. Obviously, a big pickup for Michigan with him being a top prospect in Chicago and hotly re- cruited among regional recruiting rivals. AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT: McHale Blade is an interesting and really, to this point, a very incomplete evaluation. … It's been a while since we've seen him in action, but I think what he showed as an underclassman is certainly very promis- ing, and I think he's one of the prospects we're more eager to see back on the field early in his senior season. MICHIGAN PLAYER COMPARISON: Ar- kansas edge rusher and former On300 recruit Justus Boone. — Rivals' director of scouting and rankings Charles Power Blade, the nation's No. 27 edge rusher and No. 194 overall prospect according to Rivals, missed his junior season while rehabbing from a torn ACL. PHOTO BY KYLE KELLY/RIVALS