National college football writer Phil Steele recently released his annual in-depth season preview magazine, and 11 different Michigan Wolverines players landed on his Big Ten all-conference team heading into the 2020 campaign.
Steele placed three U-M athletes — all defensive players — on his first-team squad, five on his second-team unit, two on his third-team group and one on his fourth-team crew.
The three Michigan players who landed on Steele's All-Big Ten first-team bunch were senior defensive end Kwity Paye, junior defensive end Aidan Hutchinson and senior cornerback Ambry Thomas.
Paye, in particular, has been generating more and more buzz as the 2020 season draws near, with TheAthletic.com's Bruce Feldman recently naming him the most athletic 'freak' in all of college football.
Steele did an exclusive interview with TheWolverine's Clayton Sayfie and Austin Fox this week to discuss his thoughts on the 2020 Michigan team, and was asked specifically where he would rank the defensive end duo of Hutchinson and Paye from both a Big Ten standpoint and a national standpoint (look for his answer, and the entire interview on the front page of TheWolverine.com tomorrow).
The national college football guru also revealed in the interview that he sees Paye as U-M's most NFL-ready prospect heading into the 2021 NFL Draft, along with redshirt sophomore right tackle Jalen Mayfield.
Mayfield was one of the five Wolverines who landed on Steele's All-Big Ten second-team unit, along with senior wideout Nico Collins, redshirt sophomore linebacker Cam McGrone, sophomore safety Daxton Hill and sophomore receiver Giles Jackson as a kick returner.
In the aforementioned exclusive interview with Sayfie and Fox, Steele also expanded on the immense leap he expects Hill to take from his freshman to sophomore year, while singling out Jackson as a primary breakout candidate for the Maize and Blue in 2020.
The two Michigan players who landed on the analyst's All-Big Ten third-team bunch, meanwhile, were a pair of fifth-year seniors in defensive tackle Carlo Kemp and punter Will Hart.
With Kemp's inclusion, three of the four projected defensive line starters found themselves on Steele's preseason all-conference squads, with the national college football writer calling Michigan's defensive front four the strength of the entire team in his interview with TheWolverine.
The last U-M player, finally, to be named a preseason All-Big Ten performer was sophomore running back Zach Charbonnet, who was tabbed to the fourth-team squad.
Charbonnet rushed for 726 yards and a U-M freshman-record 11 touchdowns last season and is once again expected to split carries with redshirt sophomore Hassan Haskins in 2020, with fifth-year senior Chris Evans expected to play a prominent role as well.
Steele was asked by Sayfie and Fox whether or not fans should expect a single back to emerge and carry Michigan's offensive load this fall, or if a by-committee approach in the backfield is the more likely outcome; fans can hear his answer tomorrow afternoon when the interview posts on the front page of TheWolverine.com.
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