Michigan Football: Rashan Gary Ranked No. 1 "Freak" In College Football
The Athletic's national college football insider Bruce Feldman released his annual "Freaks List" this week, and his top 10 was put out this morning.
Michigan had two players make the rankings.
Junior defensive end Rashan Gary came in at No. 1 overall in the nation, while incoming freshman defensive end Julius Welschof checked in at No. 37.
"The idea [of the list] is to showcase guys who generate buzz inside their programs by displaying the type of rare physical abilities that wow even those folks who are used to observing gifted athletes every day," Feldman wrote.
Here is what he had to say about Gary:
"The No. 1 overall prospect in the 2016 recruiting class hasn’t disappointed. He made first-team All-Big Ten as a sophomore in 2017 after producing 66 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, six sacks and seven quarterback hurries.
The 6-foot-5 Gary is at the same weight he was at this time last year — 287 pounds — and his 40-yard dash time is the same at 4.57 seconds. His 3-cone drill at 6.79 was a touch behind last year’s 6.70, although his time this year still would beat every defensive lineman at this year’s NFL scouting combine. His 4.22 pro agility shuttle time also would top every D-lineman at the combine. Next best was 4.32. Another really impressive feat: his 10-4 broad jump, which was 8 inches better than what he did a year ago."
Welschof, who comes to Michigan from Germany, is also quite the athlete. Here's what Feldman wrote about him:
"The 20-year-old aspiring engineer who grew up as a champion moguls skier comes to Ann Arbor from Germany. European football scout Brandon Collier, a D-lineman at UMass under now-Wolverines defensive coordinator Don Brown, says he has video of Welschof — at about 6-6, 220 — doing backflips on his skis. Now at about 260 pounds, Welschof can run the 40 in the 4.6s, has broad jumped 10-6 and, according to Collier, can still tight-rope backward across a river, do backflips and walk on his hands for 50 yards."
He's one of two incoming freshmen to make the list (Miami running back Lorenzo Lingard).
Nine players from the Big Ten make the 50 player list. They other seven were:
42. Wes Martin, Indiana, OG, fifth-year senior
38. D'Cota Dixon, Wisconsin, SS, fifth-year senior
24. Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin, RB, sophomore
21. Parris Campbell, Ohio State, WR, fifth-year senior
14. Nick Bosa, Ohio State, DE, junior
6. Noah Fant, Iowa, TE, junior
4. Olive Sagapolu, Wisconsin, DT, senior
TCU and Wisconsin each had three players make the list, tied for the most among all schools. Michigan and Clemson were the only two schools that had two defensive linemen make the cut, while U-M was the only program with two defensive ends.
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