Junior Colson Excited To Visit Michigan With Other Commits In November

Michigan commit Junior Colson faced off against fellow U-M pledge J.J. McCarthy recently and the two may end up as roommates in Ann Arbor.

Even though Brentwood (Tenn.) Ravenwood outside linebacker Junior Colson is commonly heralded for his pass rush ability, the Michigan commit wanted to help impact his team in another way this season.

Heading into the Raptors' season opener, Colson's head coach said that he had one opportunity to stake his claim as a season-long kickoff returner for his senior year.

"I was like, 'coach, it's my last year. You've finally got to put me on kick return now,'" Colson told Wolverine Digest. "So, he finally put me on and I was like, 'give me one chance, and if I return this, you have to leave me on. If I don't you can take me off.' So, that was my one chance. I returned it [for a touchdown] so he kept me on."

Needless to say, Colson made the most of his opportunity with an impressive 90-yard kickoff return touchdown in his team's 48-0 win in Week 1. After that, Colson has continued his standout play going and has averaged around 10 tackles per game for the duration of his senior season.

"I think I've worked on my pass rush abilities the most," Colson said. "In college, they are a lot bigger and a lot faster. Here, I'm more athletic than almost everyone else, so it's kind of very easy. So, I've been trying to work on that, thinking about more than just high school. I'm thinking about how big they're going to be in college. Everybody is going to be about my size, so you have to have something else to add to your game."

Another important game in Colson's season came on Friday, Sept. 25 when his team hosted IMG Academy for what was a highly anticipated matchup against the No. 1 team in the country. 

What made the game even more notable is that Michigan commits J.J. McCarthy and Greg Crippen are key players for IMG, so Colson had a chance to receive an up close and personal look at some of his future teammates.

"I think it was great because when you get live experience of how good they are and what makes them great, especially J.J., he's a great athlete," Colson said "Just playing against him, some of the throws he made I was just like, 'wow.' It surprised me a bit.

"I talked to J.J. quite a bit after the game," Colson said. "We talked about rooming together and stuff, so it's pretty good. Greg, I wasn't able to talk to him that much, but from what I saw in the game he looked pretty good."

That meeting won't be the last time the three Michigan commits meet up as the trio are all planning to be part of a much larger contingent of U-M pledges and recruiting targets to visit Ann Arbor sometime in November when the Wolverines are playing. 

Then not long after that, Colson is planning on heading to Ann Arbor in January as an early enrollee. In fact, Colson and McCarthy talked about potentially rooming together at Michigan, so the duo are already off to a good start for what is hopefully a pair of successful careers for the Wolverines.

How early do you think Junior Colson will find the field at Michigan? Would you keep him at outside linebacker or perhaps play him on the edge at defensive end occasionally? Let us know!