The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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linemen may not apply in his case. "I think that is overrated," Hoke said, regarding automatically red- shirting offensive linemen. "He's pretty physical. It just depends how he comes along. He's been here four weeks, and he's gained about five to eight pounds, which we think is good." The Wolverines have plenty of line help on the way come summer, with Peppers' classmate, Juwan Bushell- Beatty (6-5, 295), whom Hoke de- scribes as a "road-grader," in the class. Defensively, they'll feature end Lawrence Marshall (6-4, 230) out of Southfield (Mich.) High, and per- haps the sleeper of the class in Brady Pallante, a 6-1, 255-pound defensive tackle out of Naples, Fla. The one other early enrollee from the class of 2014 is Brandon Watson (5-11, 185), Canteen's classmate at Eastern Christian Academy in Mary- land. While Peppers stole all the headlines, especially with regard to secondary help in this class, Hoke likes the way Watson can perform. "When they came to camp, when the coach brought them, you saw the competitiveness those guys had," Hoke said. "Freddy Canteen and him, they'd line them up and watch them go at it. His athleticism, the toughness for a corner, he's already a bigger corner in some ways. "The neat part is you're in the homes before Christmas of the guys who came early. You're with their mothers, dads, grandmas. How they treat each other is really neat. That's the fun part about recruiting. After January, you get in the homes with all the other families and see their commitments to their sons." Hoke waved off doubts about a Rivals.com two-star such as Pallante, who wasn't carrying many big offers.