The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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76 THE WOLVERINE MARCH 2020 MICHIGAN FOOTBALL conference slate with Colorado State Sept. 3 and plays Hawai'i Sept. 10. Maryland opens the Big Ten portion in Ann Arbor Sept. 24, giving U-M four straight home games to start the year. The Wolverines recently canceled home-and-home series with Virginia Tech and UCLA to add home games. — Chris Balas ELEVEN WOLVERINES INVITED TO NFL COMBINE On Feb. 7, the NFL announced its list of the 337 prospects who will be in attendance at this year 's NFL combine (Feb. 24 through March 1) in Indianapolis, and 11 Michigan players made the cut: left guard Ben Bredeson, cornerback Lavert Hill, linebacker Khaleke Hudson, tight end Sean McKeon, safety Josh Me- tellus, right guard Mike Onwenu, quarterback Shea Patterson, wideout Donovan Peoples-Jones, center Cesar Ruiz, left tackle Jon Runyan and line- backer Josh Uche. Two notable graduating Wolver- ines who did not receive invites, however, were defensive end Mi- chael Danna and linebacker Jordan Glasgow. The Maize and Blue's 11 invitees are tied with Ohio State for the second most of any team in the nation, trailing only LSU's 16. In comparison, Michigan had six players who attended last season's combine, with linebacker Devin Bush Jr., defensive end Rashan Gary, tight end Zach Gentry, running back Karan Higdon, cornerback David Long and defensive end Chase Win- ovich all receiving invites in 2019. All but Higdon were drafted, though he spent the entire season the Houston Texans' practice squad. — Austin Fox NFL DRAFT EXPERT RECAPS EACH MICHIGAN PLAYER'S SENIOR BOWL WEEK Andrew Harbaugh, NFL Draft writer and co-founder of Coast to Coast Scouting, spent Senior Bowl week in Mobile, Ala., and kept a close eye on the six Michigan pros- pects in attendance — left guard Ben Bredeson, viper Khaleke Hudson, tight end Sean McKeon (he did not participate in the game itself, report- edly due to injury), safety Josh Me- tellus, quarterback Shea Patterson and linebacker Josh Uche. Harbaugh explained to The Wol- verine Feb. 5 what his biggest take- aways were from each U-M player in attendance, while also touching on several of their draft outlooks mov- ing forward. • Guard Ben Bredeson "The North defensive line group and the edges had the best week of anybody, so Bredeson was going against guys like [North Carolina fifth-year senior defensive lineman Jason] Stowbridge and [Michigan State fifth-year senior defensive end Kenny] Willekes, and they definitely made things tough for the offen- sive linemen. A lot of the O-linemen didn't look good, but compared to others, Bredeson held his own. He had some bad reps, but he had a lot of good reps too. "He could be a plug-and-play starter in the NFL depending on where he gets drafted. He didn't necessarily shine, but he definitely didn't shoot himself in the foot ei- ther. "I think the fact that Bredeson is a pure guard could help his case. He could be a day-two guy in the draft, or maybe even an early steal on day three. I haven't heard any first-round conversation with him, though we saw [offensive guard] Chris Lind- strom from Boston College go in the first round to Atlanta last year after he impressed in the Senior Bowl. A day-two pick would be a safe bet for Bredeson." • Linebacker Khaleke Hudson "He was playing that hybrid [New York Jets safety] Jamal Adams type of role, where he didn't necessar- ily have a defined position. I think that's how he could excel at the next level. Hudson is a poor man's [Clem- son redshirt junior linebacker] Isaiah Simmons in the sense that you can put him just about anywhere and he could do whatever needs to be done at that position. "[New England Patriots head coach] Bill Belichick obviously likes Michigan guys after taking [defen- sive end Chase] Winovich last year and a couple of others in previous years. I think Hudson would be a good fit for New England just be- cause he could be on that defense and not really have a defined role, serving as a playmaker all over the NFL Draft expert Andrew Harbaugh called former U-M offensive guard Ben Bredeson a safe day-two pick. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL