Michigan Football Preview 2015 – Defensive Line

Projected starters: Chris Wormley, Ryan Glasgow, Willie Henry, Mario Ojemudia

Could make an impact: Lawrence Marshall, Taco Charlton, Bryan Mone, Maurice Hurst, Jr., Matt Godin, Shelton Johnson, if he doesn’t redshirt (he probably redshirts), Henry Poggi, if he ends up on the D-line

Watch out for next year: Shelton Johnson, Reuben Jones, Brady Pallante, if he ends up on the D-line

For all off Brady Hoke’s faults (and there were a lot of them), he was a good defensive line coach. Even after Ondre Pipkins’ transfer, Michigan still has plenty of talent at defensive tackle. At the defensive end spots, there’s potential, but no real proven players.

My guess is that Defensive Coordinator D.J. Durkin is going to have Michigan primarily in an under setup this year. Redshirt junior Chris Wormley is a solid fit for the SDE spot in such a scheme. A converted DT, Wormley is a better run stopper than pass rusher.

Redshirt junior Ryan Glasgow looks to be the starter at NT this year. While not a dominating pass rusher, Glasgow is very good against the run. Next to him, we should see redshirt junior Willie Henry. Henry looked great in the spring game, and if that’s the guy that shows up every week during the season, we could be looking at a day one or two draft pick. That’s a somewhat large “if” though, as Henry would often disappear during games last year.

Senior Mario Ojemudia looks to be the starter at WDE. NFL scouts have said he looks like a “potential third round pick.” TFY Draft Insider’s Tony Pauline said:

Ojemudia offers a great amount of upside but needs to be a consistent producer before I grade him as a potential second day draft pick.

In other news, water is wet. Ojemudia showed some real potential as a true freshman, and three years later, we’re still waiting on him to realize it. His entire career at Michigan, he has been someone that will go out and make a really nice play, and then just disappear. Does he realize his potential this year? I don’t know. I think he’ll be at least good enough to hold down the starting WDE job. If he’s not, we’ll likely see either redshirt freshman Lawrence Marshall, who had a lot of buzz around him coming out of spring and looked good in the spring game, or junior Taco Charlton, who last year, just began to realize the potential he came to Michigan with. Marshall, listed at only 238 pounds, needs to put a little size on before becoming a serious threat at DE. Charlton should see the field a decent amount this year. He can play either DE spot.

Redshirt sophomore Henry Poggi could see some time at SDE. A DT coming out of high school, Poggi, along with just about anyone resembling a TE, saw some time at TE during the spring, but ended up at DE in the spring game. He is currently listed as a TE on Michigan’s roster going into fall camp. The fact that Poggi, a DE was tried out at TE despite Michigan’s TE situation being much better than their DE situation doesn’t look too great for Poggi. We’ll see what he can do.

Freshman Shelton Johnson was included on 247’s list of instant impact freshmen, but I still think he redshirts. Johnson figures to play SDE, and needs to add a lot of size to be able to do so, even in an over.

Freshman Reuben Jones was Jim Harbaugh’s first commit at Michigan. He’ll likely redshirt before ending up at WDE.

Sophomore Bryan Mone should see some time at NT this year. When he played last year, as a true freshman, he looked about as good as you can reasonably expect a true freshman NT to look. Mone’s someone to be excited about for the future; he has tons of upside.

Redshirt sophomore Maurice Hurst, Jr. played almost everywhere on the defensive line during the spring game and looked good wherever he played. It’s worth noting that the offensive line is not anywhere near as deep as the defensive one, but still, Hurst looked very good. He probably plays DT, but it wouldn’t totally surprise me to see him get a few plays at SDE, too. I don’t see him playing extensively there unless Charlton ends up playing WDE almost exclusively, which doesn’t seem very likely at all.

Redshirt junior Matt Godin should see some playing time. He’s been okay when on the field.

Redshirt freshman Brady Pallante came in as a NT, then got moved to FB, now he’s listed at NT again.

Twitter: @KSchroeder2325

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