Hutchinson talks NFL Draft, legacy of OSU win on Schefter podcast
Today may be Early Signing Day, but attention will soon turn to a signing of a different kind. Defensive end Aidan Hutchinson is set to sign quite a lucrative deal in the not-so-distant future, with buzz building for Hutchinson as a potential No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming NFL Draft.
Hutchinson was a guest on ESPN's Adam Schefter's podcast, appropriately titled The Adam Schefter Podcast, yesterday. Before they dove into NFL Draft discussion, however, Schefter took the opportunity to speak with Hutchinson about how meaningful he believed Michigan's win over Ohio State to be. "I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of (hearing how much the OSU game meant), to be honest with you," Hutchinson said. "That Ohio State game was so legendary and something that we worked for from a culture standpoint, just trying to get our mindset over them. I mean, we worked for a good year on that at least."
"It was really just a culmination of all these guys on our team, and they all bought in to the message that we had, the consistent message that we had of ‘What are you going to do to beat Ohio State today?’ We had that message there from January and we just worked with it, so every workout we had that and many guys used that as motivation. That’s something I did when i was on the sixth rep of 150s I was thinking ‘Hey, could be the fourth quarter and they could be driving down the field. I can’t give up now. It’s too early.’ So that’s something that I used as motivation, so just being able to go out there and really dominate them, it just meant the world to me, it meant the world to Michigan fans, and to have them all rush the field and everything, my family was right behind me. Man, it was so great. It was a moment that I wouldn’t trade for anything."
There's more Michigan football to be played this season, but ignoring the mounting momentum Hutchinson has as more and more mock drafts project Hutchinson as the No. 1 overall pick wasn't going to happen on an NFL-centric podcast. Schefter asked what it would mean to Hutchinson to be selected that high in the draft.
"It’d mean the world (to be selected that high). It’s something that I’ve been thinking about for a long time," he said. "Last year, I knew my ability was that level, was that area the draft but they were only slotting me later in the first and some were in the second and I kind of heard that draft report last year when i was a junior and I knew if I came back and I just played like I want to play and how I’m able to I can show I am worth a top-five pick so I did that this year, I think. We’ve still got more to come but I’m just excited that I put myself in this position."
The team most likely to be selecting first overall in April creates quite an interesting position for Hutchinson to be in. If things continue on their current trajectory, the Detroit Lions will have the No. 1 pick. How intriguing is it for a kid from Plymouth whose high school is a 15-minute drive from the Lions' practice facility to be picked by the local pro team?
"I think it’d be great (to play for the Lions), to be honest with you. I’d be the hometown hero times two, never leaving Michigan really. I think Dan Campbell, he seems like a real good guy to me just from the outside. I know you can’t really judge a coach by what he does in the media but just seeing what he does and how he treats his players and they won that game last week and how his players were all, they were all–I think that they have a lot of heart on that team, and just a couple more pieces to the puzzle and I think they could be a really good ball team," Hutchinson said.
Schefter also asked Hutchinson what he thought about potentially being selected by the Houston Texans, and Hutchinson's answer provides realistic insight into the draft process. "If I end up going to the Texans I have a lot of connections here so it would be cool but I was just talking to my parents last night about it and it’s kind of nice because I have no control over it. Wherever I want to go? It does not matter, so that’s the kind of nice thing I was thinking about yesterday."
To listen to the whole podcast, click here.
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