CHICAGO — Michigan fifth-year senior defensive end Chase Winovich, senior running back Karan Higdon and senior safety Tyree Kinnel all had what could be considered breakout seasons in 2017. They also represented U-M at Monday’s portion of Big Ten media days.
Given their expertise in breakout performances, we asked each of them to name a Wolverine on each side of the ball that they believe will break out — and the results were all over the place.
Six different players were picked, meaning not one player had the same opinion as another.
We started off with Winovich, who went with redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Michael Dwumfour on defense. He acknowledged that it’s tough to pick a player on defense given how many of the starters are returning, but thinks Dwumfour can do a solid job of helping replace Maurice Hurst.
He also mentioned redshirt sophomore linebacker Devin Gil, who is battling for Mike McCray’s former spot with redshirt freshman James Ross. Despite bringing up Gil first and not mentioning Ross until prompted, Winovich said he has no idea who will actually end up the starter.
“No one knows,” Winovich said. “They don’t know, Coach [Don] Brown doesn’t know, God probably knows.”
He also feels junior defensive lineman Carlo Kemp, who is working at both end and tackle, can be an impact player. He says he looked like a “dough boy” last year, but looks like “a man” now.
His take on the offense was a little different.
“I hope a quarterback has a breakout year,” Winovich said. “Guessing that might present some favoritism, so I’ll stick to the offensive line and say [junior left guard] Ben Bredeson. He was pretty good last year, but I think he’ll be a force this year.”
He talked highly of junior transfer quarterback Shea Patterson, but didn’t want to go in depth with the ongoing competition, understandably so.
Higdon went with a true rookie on defense, picking freshman cornerback Myles Sims.
“He’s a freshman, but he’s come in and put in extra work and I think he’s a guy that can definitely be a complement to [junior cornerbacks] David Long and Lavert Hill.”
On offense, Higdon selected redshirt freshman offensive tackle James Hudson, who is competing with fifth-year senior offensive tackle Juwann Bushell-Beatty for the starting left tackle job.
“He’s a guy that’s not really talked about, but he’s definitely put in a lot of work this offseason and has been making some noise in the weight room,” Higdon said. “I think he’s a guy that can come on and shock a lot of people.”
Hudson switched to offensive line last year after being recruited as a defensive lineman. He lacks the experience that Bushell-Beatty has, but has a higher upside.
“Just his mental capacity, the way he’s attacking workouts, the way he’s attacking the game,” Higdon said. “He’s pushing himself and challenging himself each and every day and I think that’s a significant jump that he’s made from his freshman year to his sophomore year.”
Kinnel chose two seniors as his breakout players for 2018.
On offense, he went with senior wide receiver Grant Perry, who was Michigan’s leading receiver last season with 307 yards.
“He’s been banged up these last couple years and hasn’t reach his full potential, so I feel like he’ll have a breakout year now that he’s healthy,” Kinnel said.
Perry is in a fight with redshirt freshman wide receiver Oliver Martin for the slot position.
Defensively, Kinnel picked himself to have a break out year, saying he wasn’t good enough last season but has the chance to take his game to the next level in 2018.
He feels he’s much improved in man coverage and breakout out of the post on routes. He thinks he’s better able to read opposing quarterback’s eyes now and will be able to get to the ball faster.
He sounded like a player that truly understood what his weaknesses were a year ago, and has done everything he can to this point to become a better safety.
“There were things last year that I wasn’t able to do or that I struggled with that I’ve fixed now,” Kinnel said. “I can show my ability.”
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