The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/917835
28 THE WOLVERINE JANUARY 2018 Defensive Line MVP FIFTH-YEAR SENIOR DEFENSIVE TACKLE MAURICE HURST The big man earned unanimous first-team All-Big Ten honors and should have won the confer- ence's Defensive Lineman of the Year award. In- stead it went to Ohio State's Nick Bosa, even though he finished with nearly 30 less tackles, and only one more tackle for loss and two more sacks than Hurst. Hurst made the Pro Football Focus All-America first team and graded out at 96.9 on the year for the top grade nationally (Heisman winner Baker Mayfield received a 96.2). "Hurst cannot be blocked at the col- legiate level. I've come to that conclu- sion," CBSSports.com's Chris Trapasso wrote when he listed Hurst college football's No. 9 NFL prospect. "Run play, pass play, misdirection, Spider 2 Y Ba- nana ... doesn't matter." Unsung Hero SOPHOMORE DEFENSIVE END RASHAN GARY There are plenty of candidates for this spot considering how dominant Michi- gan's defensive line was in 2017, but we'll give Gary the nod. It's hard to tab the former No. 1 overall recruit out of high school as an "unsung hero," but many felt Gary flew under the radar due to not having the same kind of statistics some of his team- mates racked up. He still managed 11 tackles for loss (fifth on the team) and five sacks (tied for third). Gary played his best game of the year Nov. 25 against Ohio State, tal- lying a team-high two sacks among 11 stops, which tied for the U-M lead. Regular-Season Grade This group picked up where last year's left off and dominated much of the season. The Wol- verines finished fourth na- tionally in tackles for loss (8.5 a contest) and seventh in sacks (3.25 per game). The three-down line- man approach was used most of the year, and Hurst, Gary and redshirt junior end Chase Winov- ich accounted for 41.5 TFLs and 18 sacks. Michigan finished first in the Big Ten in sacks (39) and tackles for loss (103), mostly as a result of the play up front. They also did it without the benefit of the doubt from the officials. Toronto Sun columnist John Kryk found that opposing Big Ten offensive lines have been called for holding on passing downs only twice against Michigan in the last two Big Ten campaigns. As Hurst said af- ter the season, "It's absurd." PFF Season Tkl TFL Sacks Grade Ohio State sophomore Nick Bosa 32 14.5 7 90.7 Michigan sophomore Rashan Gary 62 11 5 83.6 Michigan fifth-year senior Maurice Hurst 59 13.5 5 96.9 Michigan redshirt junior Chase Winovich 74 17 8 87.9 status Of schOLarship pLayers GRADUATED: DT Maurice Hurst ELIGIBILITY REMAINING (YEARS): DT Michael Dwumfour (2) DE Rashan Gary (2) DE Deron Irving-Bey (4) DT Donovan Jeter (4) DT Ron Johnson (3) DE Reuben Jones (2) DE Carlo Kemp (2) DT Lawrence Marshall (1) DT Bryan Mone (1) DT Phillip Paea (4) DE Kwity Paye (3) DT Aubrey Solomon (3) DE Luiji Vilain (4) DE Chase Winovich (1) A NUMBERS TO KNOW To the surprise of many, Ohio State sophomore defensive end Nick Bosa was named Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year Nov. 30. Many felt that one of Michigan's linemen were more deserving of the award, specifi- cally fifth-year senior Maurice Hurst. To get a better understanding, we've stacked up Bosa's statistics against those of Michigan's three best linemen: Defensive coordinator Don Brown "Not only is [sophomore defensive end] Rashan [Gary] a great player, he's also a tremendous young man to be around. He's the same every single day, and I marvel at the way he carries himself on a day-to-day basis." PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL Maurice Hurst Sophomore Rashan Gary was named first-team All-Big Ten by the conference's coaches. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS