The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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about what's happening, and he's been getting great reps." Mone should add even more to the interior of the defensive line while Winovich and Gary seek to buoy the Wolverines' efforts on the edge. The 6-3, 243-pound Winovich re- ceived praise throughout the spring after converting from tight end/H- back, a transition to defense that he requested. "I've said this before, and it usually gets laughs, but my name is Chase and I feel like my role and heart is on the defense," said Winovich, who asked to move before bowl practices. "As soon as they put me back at defense, there was contentment. It was the same thing I felt when I vis- ited Michigan. It was just magical. "You can't fake that." A four-star linebacker out of Clairton, Pa., he recorded 205 tack- les, 23 sacks and seven forced fum- bles during his high school career. He also ran for 1,031 yards and 17 touchdowns, giving the Michigan coaches reason to believe he could be an asset offensively. However, Winovich battled injury last year and didn't contribute at tight end. He saw the field briefly over the last half of the season on kickoff coverage and recorded two tackles. His history at linebacker would portend to a role there, but he wanted to play defensive end. "The defense that Coach [Don] Brown runs is different than what Coach Mattison ran when I was re- cruited originally," Winovich said. "He recruited me as a Jake Ryan pro- tégé, taking on that Sam linebacker role, but with Coach Brown, this is different. "Playing defensive end for him, Mone, a redshirt sophomore defensive tackle, was listed third by the Michigan coaching staff's 1-125 ranking of the entire team before suffering a leg injury in fall camp that forced him to miss the 2015 season. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN