A Top 5 Recruit, Did Jabrill Peppers Match His Hype?
The Hype Builds: The do-it-all Peppers was the highest-ranked recruit to ever sign with the Wolverines before Rashan Gary decided to come to Ann Arbor two seasons later. Out of East Orange, N.J., Peppers was the top athlete in the country and third-best overall recruit in the 2014 recruiting class.
With his elite physical skills, Peppers was immediately compared to former Wolverine and 1997 Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson before even stepping into The Big House. Therefore, it was expected for Peppers to make an impact right away and become one of the Wolverines’ best players no matter what position coaches Brady Hoke or Jim Harbaugh used him at.
At Michigan: After appearing in just three games before a season-ending injury in his rookie year of 2014, Peppers kept the fans waiting with anticipation.
In his sophomore season, Peppers played a hybrid nickel back/safety for Michigan and accounted for 45 tackles, 10 pass deflections, and 5.5 tackles for loss.
He also contributed for the Wolverines on offense and special teams in 2015, with 18 rushes for 72 yards (4.0 yards per carry) and two rushing touchdowns, eight receptions for 79 yards (9.9 yards per reception), 17 punt returns for 194 yards (11.4 yards per punt return), and eight kick returns for 223 yards (27.9 yards per kickoff return). Overall, Peppers accounted for 568 all-purpose yards, or 47.3 yards per game.
In 2015, Peppers was named to the All-America second team by CBSSports.com and SportingNews.com. Peppers also made the All-Big Ten first team as a defensive back and the All Big-Ten second team as a return specialist in his sophomore season.
While Peppers had an incredible sophomore season, his junior year, and final season, in Ann Arbor was better.
With Don Brown the Wolverines’ new defensive coordinator in 2016, Peppers moved to outside linebacker. Peppers was terrific at the spot that would be known as the “viper” in Brown’s defense. Peppers accounted for 72 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, four sacks, one interception and one forced fumble.
In 2016, Peppers was also more productive for the Wolverines on offense and special teams, accounting for 27 rushes for 167 yards (6.7 yards per carry) and had three rushing touchdowns, 21 punt returns for 310 yards (14.8 yards per punt return) and a punt return touchdown, and 10 kick returns for 260 yards (26.0 yards per kick return). Peppers finished the 2016 season with 751 all-purpose yards, an average of 62.6 yards per game.
Peppers was one of five players invited to New York for the Heisman Trophy Ceremony, where he would ultimately finish fifth, but did earn 11 first-place votes. Despite not winning the Heisman, Peppers didn’t end the season empty handed, taking home the Paul Hornung Award (the most versatile player in college football), the Lott IMPACT Trophy, which is given to a defensive player who made the most IMPACT which is an acronym for: Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community, and Tenacity. He was also a consensus first-team All-American.
Was The Hype Real: Despite starting just 25 games before leaving Ann Arbor, Peppers made the Big Ten Network’s All-Decade Team as an All-Purpose player. Peppers was terrific on both sides of the ball at Michigan and was one of the Wolverines’ best players on offense and defense in 2015 and 2016. Every time Peppers had the ball in his hands Michigan fans were excited because he had the potential to do something special with it.
The production and attention opponents had to focus on Peppers was enormous, as the do-it-all athlete certainly did everything he could have to live up to the hype, with the opportunities given.
The question that haunts Wolverines’ fans is: Did Michigan actually get the most they could out of Jabrill Peppers? This question prompted the Wolverine Digest staff to write an article about how they would have used Peppers. The conclusion come to by each writer was: the Maize and Blue should have utilized Peppers more on offense, and I agree.
Peppers was the best athlete on the team, and Harbaugh and his staff did not use him creatively enough to allow him to make plays in space. Michigan used Peppers mostly in the wildcat formation his final season in Ann Arbor, and the plays they ran from it were extremely predictable.
Peppers was such an exceptional athlete he could have easily lined up in the slot or at running back and made an impact. Just Peppers’ presence on the field attracted the defense’s attention, which allowed opportunities for other guys to make big plays. Therefore, Michigan’s offense would have been better if they had used Peppers more frequently and in different spots.
Peppers had eight catches his sophomore season compared to only two receptions his junior season. The number of catches and targets Peppers received should have gone up, not down. If Peppers was used more effectively maybe the Woodson comparisons would have rang true, as Peppers may have also won a Heisman Trophy with more offensive touches.
Ultimately, though, Wolverines’ fans will never know how good Peppers could have been because Michigan’s coaching staff refused to use him in different ways on offense. While Woodson finished his career at Michigan with 36 offensive touches for 575 yards (15.6 yards per touch) and five touchdowns, Peppers finished his Wolverine career with 321 rushing/receiving yards on 55 total touches (5.8 yard average) and five scores.
