Everything Don Brown Said About Michigan's Freshman Class
Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown spoke with the media on Wednesday, and he had a lot to say about U-M's freshman contributors. As Brown was effusive in praise for the youngsters, read about the specifics on how the Wolverines have performed as of late:
On emerging candidates for the No. 2 cornerback position: "Eamonn Dennis can really fly and run. He's raw at the position, but we expect big things out of this group for sure."
On who is excelling at Viper: "We also have [William] Mohan, who has his nickname Apache, and he's really got great straight-line pressure ability and has a knack for it as well."
On defenders who have flashed early in camp: "David Ojabo is getting some really good work there, and freshman Jaylen Harrell as well, so we've got a number of guys working at that position. We also feel good about Nikhai Hill-Green at Will and Kalel Mullings at Mike, so we feel like we're going to be in good shape there. Pretty excited about that group."
On safety depth: "This Makari Paige is playing at a high level. He is a man that we fill he can jump in there and help us in the early stages for sure, and you can never predict that until you're out there on the practice field and guys are kind of going through the paces. But this guy has, he's a safety all the way. Tremendous length. I' going to be conservative and say hes 6-2, but I think he's taller than that. He really plays well over the slot, but we have a number of guys playing pretty well over the slots."
Who Don Brown thinks has stood out from the freshman class: "It's so hard when you start saying this freshman or that freshman and then you forget a guy, but you know, I think the guys that have really stood out starting at the linebacker position is Kalel Mullings. He's 6-2.5. He's 241 pounds, and he's 17 years old playing the Mike linebacker position. He can run now. Nikhai Hill-Green plays he Will next door to him. They both were just in my office. They love football. They love being around it. You know, I just say the sky is the limit with those guys. Cornell Wheeler from West Bloom is another guy who has lost some time but is back now. Obviously, we need to see more out of Cornell, but I think he's got real ability as well. R.J. Moten at safety, I think he'll be a real good player. I'm not sure he's in the right position exactly yet. We are trying to figure that out. There is really a lot of good players. Seldon is a good player. We are playing him at Nickel, but he missed a little bit of time as well. Those guys are good players. Kris Jenkins is a defensive lineman from Good Counsel. His dad played in the NFL for a really long time. He's got tremendous upside as well. WE're happy with him. Just kind of whipping around in my head here, and I know I'm going to miss some significant guys. We re really happy with that freshman class overall. High character, really good football players and some guys who can really helps us."
On playing more young players this season: "Yes, I think we will. Obviously, keeping your fingers crossed that with this COVID issue as well, you just don't know what's going to happen on a week-to-week basis in terms of your roster, so you have to be prepared. The one thing Coach Harbaugh has stressed to all of our coaches, to everybody-- make sure everybody gets coaches. That, we've all taken to heart. We've coached the first day freshman and the senior who's never been on the field because you just don't know who will be on the field for you Saturday afternoon."
