Michigan Football: The Wolverine's Top-25 Since '97 - No. 13
The Wolverine continues its series of the top 25 Michigan players since 1997 with No. 13, Jabrill Peppers.
One of the best pure athletes to play at Michigan, Peppers dazzled on the field in his three seasons at Michigan and earned national prominence for his play.
Peppers joined the Wolverines as one of the highest ranked recruits ever to sign to play at Michigan. Ranked the No. 1 cornerback an No. 3 player nationally by Rivals.com, Peppers announced his decision by rapping about it on ESPN. In high school Peppers totaled 134 tackles and seven interceptions over his final two seasons, and scored more than 40 touchdowns on offense in his career. He was named 2013 All-USA Defensive Player of the Year by USA Today and played in the 2014 Under Armour All-America Game.
The New Jersey native played in three games as a freshman, starting one, but missed the rest of the season due to injury. Peppers really made an impact his second season in Ann Arbor, and his first under coach Jim Harbaugh and new defensive coordinator DJ Durkin. He played 12 games as a defensive back that season, starting all 12, and saw time on offense as well.
In his final season at Michigan, Peppers underwent another coordinator change after Durkin left to take the head coaching position at Maryland. Under Durkin's replacement, Don Brown, Peppers moved from defensive back to a hybrid linebacker role, referred to by Brown as the VIPER position. In the season's second game, against UCF, Peppers showed what he could do in his new role, making a career high 11 stops, including a career best four tackles for loss. That season, Peppers finished with 67 tackles, 13 tackles for loss and notched his first career interception in the Ohio State game. He also tacked on four total touchdowns, including his first punt return for a touchdown in the game against Colorado.
Peppers' 2016 season hauled in the accolades. Following the season, Peppers was named a unanimous consensus All-American and finished fifth in Heisman Trophy voting. He was also named All-Big Ten first team for the second time in his career, won the Hornug award as the nation's most versatile player. Additionally, Peppers became the first player to win three Big Ten Conference individual rewards in a season, being honored as the defensive player of the year, the linebacker of the year and the return specialist of the year.
Peppers entered the 2017 NFL Draft and was selected by the Cleveland Browns with pick No. 25. With that selection, Peppers became the highest Wolverine defender drafted since Brandon Graham in 2010.
The full list:
No. 13: Jabrill Peppers
No. 14: Denard Robinson
No. 15: Marlin Jackson
No. 16: Glen Steele
No. 17: David Baas
No. 18: Jourdan Lewis
No. 19: David Harris
No. 20: Ernest Shazor
No. 21: John Navarre
No. 22: Jake Butt
No. 23: David Molk
No. 24: Taco Charlton
No. 25: Jeremy Gallon