Michigan football has four players on the “Freaks List” put out by Bruce Feldman plus more news.
If you ever doubt the freakish athleticism of Kenneth Grant, a 6-foot-3, 339-pound defensive tackle Jim Harbaugh once called a “gift from the football gods”, just go watch the Penn State game from 2023.
In a key play, Grant chased down Penn State running back Kaytron Allen from behind to save a touchdown. It was one of the most freakish plays I have ever seen from a defensive tackle. Frankly, I have wondered why Grant isn’t talked about more as a first-round pick.
Mason Graham is elite but Kenneth Grant is right there. I wouldn’t trade him for another defensive tackle in all of college football and I’m sure the Michigan Wolverines feel the same way.
Bruce Feldman also agrees about the athleticism part, ranking Grant as the No. 3 Freak in his list of top 100 freaks in college football. Michigan football had four players make the top 100 with Alex Orji at No. 13, Will Johnson at No. 28, and also tight end Marlin Klein No. 90.
“Anyone doubting Grant’s speed (a max of 18.75 mph on the GPS) only needed to see him run down running back Kaytron Allen in the open field last year,” Feldman wrote for The Athletic. “His ability to fly up Michigan’s reactive plyo stairs test, a series of seven 26-inch-high stairs that players attempt to jump up as fast as possible, is truly freakish. This offseason, Grant pressed a 115-pound dumbbell 34 times on his right and 27 times on his left. He vertical-jumped 29 inches and did a Turkish get-up with a 150-pound dumbbell.”
Orji is battling it out to be the Michigan football starting quarterback. Johnson is the best corner in college football and Klein is a name Wolverines fans should know. I expect his production to take a big jump at tight end.
Michigan football ranked in top 10 in Coaches Preseason Poll
The preseason edition of coaches top 25 poll was released on Monday and the Michigan Wolverines are ranked No. 8, just ahead of ninth-ranked Penn State. Ohio State is No. 2, while Oregon is No. 3. Texas is also in the top 5 at no. 4. USC is ranked 24th and Washington received enough votes to finish just outside the top 25, essentially 26th.
So Michigan football will face three top-5 teams this season and five of the top 26 teams in the country. Three of those games will be the Big House though, but the national title rematch looms in Seattle, as well as a trip to Columbus for “The Game.”
Jim Harbaugh denies NCAA allegations
In case you missed it, former Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh said, “I do not apologize, I did not participate” in regards to the allegations of sign-stealing related to Connor Stalions.
The NCAA leaked a draft of a notice of allegations to Michigan football, which won’t even be the final draft, to try and make Harbaugh, the Michigan Wolverines, and Sherrone Moore look bad.
Harbaugh said he didn’t do anything wrong. Moore didn’t talk to the media but had a private conversation with ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Schefter reported it was “all good.”
The headline from ESPN’s Pete Thamel and Dan Murphy was incredibly misleading, but that was the point. The NCAA wanted to control the narrative before the Connor Stalions documentary comes out and makes them look even worse because everyone was stealing signs, which isn’t new.
Ohio State, Rutgers, Purdue, and Illinois all traded Michigan football signs. But apparently if the “advanced scouting” is done by another coaching staff, say Rutgers stealing signs and then giving them to Ohio State for its game against Michigan football later in the season, it’s perfectly fine.
At any rate, Sam Webb of The Michigan Insider reported on YouTube Sunday that the text messages were simply in Moore’s deleted inbox. They weren’t even completely deleted from the phone. He recovered them and turned them over. No harm, no foul.
At least if you’re dealing with an organization that doesn’t have a vendetta, which the NCAA clearly has against Michigan football.