Josh Metellus Reveals The 2 Best Offensive Players He Faced In College
Former Michigan Wolverines football safety Josh Metellus was one of six U-M players who attended the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., in late January, and is now one of 11 former Maize and Blue men at this week’s NFL combine in Indianapolis.
The combine is not only important for young prospects to showcase their athletic abilities, but also to demonstrate their verbal capabilities and interview skills to professional organizations, an area that Metellus got a bit of a head start on at last month’s Senior Bowl.
“I met with the [Tampa Bay] Buccaneers yesterday,” he revealed this morning. “They talked to me about football, and I had actually met with them at the Senior Bowl as well.
“The Senior Bowl got me ready for this, because I’ve now been in a setting where everyone is watching everything I do.
“It helped me be more comfortable around a bunch of scouts and interviewers. It was straight to football talk down here, and the Buccaneers coaches talked to me about their stuff and told me how they play defensively and the ways they defend.
“They loved me and said they’ll get back with me at Michigan’s Pro Day. They play man [defense] a lot and we do as well at Michigan, so that transferred in while we were talking.
“I told them I’m a safety who can play man, so that was one thing we connected on.”
Metellus manned one of U-M’s two safety spots adequately over the past three years, with the one knock on him being his tendency to get beat deep and allow big plays at times.
This was most notable against the elite offenses Michigan faced (Ohio State and Alabama perhaps being the two best examples), and Metellus unsurprisingly singled out one of the latter’s athletes when asked who the toughest collegiate offensive players he faced were.
“[Alabama receiver] Jerry Jeudy and [Wisconsin running back] Jonathan Taylor,” he revealed. “I played both of those guys and actually worked out with Jonathan, and he’s just a freak of nature.
“He’s 230 pounds and is agile, fast and gets downhill. Jerry Jeudy runs great routes and runs after the catch, and is just a competitor.”
Notes
• Metellus was consistently one of the most outspoken players on Michigan’s roster the last several years, never afraid to voice his opinion or say things that might “offend” soft-skinned people.
This was perhaps never more evident than when he would discuss Michigan State, a program U-M beat three times in Metellus’ four years in Ann Arbor, with the Florida native seldom afraid to let everyone know how he truly felt about the Spartans.
It was all respect this morning, however, when he was asked about MSU’s current struggles.
“Every program goes through rebuild years,” Metellus noted. “That’s where Michigan State is right now with their coaching changes and players leaving through the transfer portal.
“They’re in a rebuilding area, but they’re still Michigan State and they’ll get back to where they were.”
• Head coach Jim Harbaugh has been a popular topic of conversation amongst Michigan players at the combine, with several of the Wolverine prospects asked to share their fondest memories of the U-M head man.
“One of my best memories of him was my freshman year right before camp began,” Metellus recalled. “He took all of his freshmen on a camping trip and we all spent the night at a field/lake area.
“It was great seeing how invested the coaches were in us and how much faith they had in us.”
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