After only having one sack in his first two seasons, Josh Uche had a breakout campaign in his junior season. He burst onto the scene as a pass rushing specialist, racking up seven sacks and eight tackles for loss.
But Uche is not complacent and is looking to surpass his success from last season.
“I’m greedy,” Uche said. “Last year [with] seven sacks, I went back and watched the film, I really could have had double digits. I could have had 10 sacks. I missed a couple opportunities. Right now, I feel like I’m at ground zero. I feel like I haven’t done anything. That’s just the mindset I have. Every snap I get, I’m trying to make the best of it."
Uche will move beyond just rushing the passer this season. This season, in addition to playing SAM linebacker, he is also playing defensive end. To play this new position, he has bulked up in the offseason as he said he now weighs 250 pounds after playing at 238 pounds last season.
“They’re just trying to get me on the field as much as possible to use my skill set to help the team,” he said.
The move to play both positions was a no-brainer because he would do anything for Michigan.
“Anything to help the team win, it doesn’t matter what it is,” Uche said. “I had to create my role last year as a pass rusher to help the team."
In addition to playing at defensive end, he also has to deal with the added attention opposing teams will show him after his successful junior season. After his breakout early in the year, teams began to block him differently later in the year. That led to a downturn in his production. In the last four games of the season, he did not record a single sack.
“Later on in the season, I started to have guys slide to me,” Uche said. “I’m just preparing myself mentally every day assuming everyone is giving me their best shot.”
Uche said in practice everyone is giving him their best shot when they are blocking him, and he knows this is going to help him come the fall. He’ll have to step into an even larger role with two of Michigan’s best pass rushers, Rashan Gary and Chase Winovich, heading to the NFL. The two combined for 24 tackles for loss last season.
The defensive line group is driven by proving that they can replace the production of Gary and Winovich.
“I feel like our motivation is holding each other accountable and depending on each other,” Uche said. “We don’t want to let the guy next to us down. That’s what we use. We know we’re looked down upon as a group out of the whole defense to not do as well. That’s ok because that’s for us to prove to the world wrong.”
---
• Talk about this article inside The Fort
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine
• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @BSB_Wolverine, @JB_ Wolverine, @AustinFox42, @Balas_Wolverine, @DrewCHallett and @Qb9Adam.
• Like us on Facebook
