Michigan Wolverines football sophomore defensive end Aidan Hutchinson had an interesting experience this August, having received the opportunity to work with New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s trainer.
Hutchinson went into detail this afternoon on how the opportunity came about, what it was like and how it helped shape his body.
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“I met with Tom’s trainer, and the intel he gave me was amazing,” Hutchinson exclaimed. “I think I’m going to go back every year just to get an annual checkup on my body.
“You’re never 100 percent as an athlete, so I’m trying to fine-tune myself to make my body feel the best it can. My dad texted [current Bowling Green head coach] Scot Loeffler and he has connections with Tom, so Tom then texted his trainer.
“I didn’t speak with him, though I went to their practice and saw him there. It was a great experience and was actually my mom’s idea for my birthday present, since I have a fall camp birthday.”
Hutchinson also had plenty to say about his father, Chris, this afternoon, who played at U-M from 1988-92 and was a first-team All-American as a fifth-year senior in ’92.
“My dad tells me every day he’s never lost to Ohio State — 5-0,” Hutchinson laughed. “I envy that. I have all his Big Ten championship rings in my room, so I have to look at them every time I come home.
“I want one more than anybody. Ohio State is always there at the end of the calendar and you can’t really forget about that — we’re coming this year.
“We’re all starting to adopt the mindset of ‘process over outcome,’ and that we take everything day by day and don’t look into the future.
“There are expectations all over social media, but we’re just putting our heads down and working.”
Public perception has declared U-M’s defensive line as one of the weakest positions on the whole team but the sophomore begged to differ, with fifth-year senior defensive end Mike Danna (who transferred in from CMU) being one of the main reasons why.
“From an outside perspective, people are saying our d-line depth is pretty shallow, but he’s added a lot of depth and will be a big factor in our games,” the Hutchinson noted.
“We’re bonded as a d-line in everything we do. All of us are adopting the attitude of not caring what anyone says, and we’re just going to go out there and doing what we do.
“We’re getting some hate on the defense but I think we’ll be just fine, just like they were in 2017 when they reloaded.”
This year’s freshmen defensive linemen may be a part of that ‘reloading’ process, especially when considering the hype that several of them have already received in practice from players and coaches alike.
“We have a lot of young talent, like [freshman end] David Ojabo, [freshman tackle] Mazi Smith and [freshman end] Gabe Newburg,” Hutchinson said.
“Freshmen struggle in fall camp, but you can tell Mazi really wants it — he’s out there fighting every single day and is the one who’s standing out because of his drive.
“They’re also screwing up a lot in practice, which is expected — you have to let them learn from their mistakes. For the most part, they have to learn from what they do.”
Hutchinson was obviously a freshman last season whose head was admittedly spinning, but the progress he has made both mentally and physically in only a calendar year has been phenomenal.
“These two camps have been almost polar opposites,” he explained. “I was the freshman who didn’t really know what was going on last year, and had a d-line coach who had been here a while [Greg Mattison].
“Now we have a fresh d-line coach [Shaun Nua] and I’m looked at as one of the older guys of the group, so it’s been a completely different experience.
“It’s amazing to think about how far I’ve come when looking back to last year at this time.”
Notes
• Hutchinson obviously had a first-hand view of the right tackle battle between redshirt sophomore Andrew Stueber and redshirt freshman Jalen Mayfield prior to the former's season-ending injury.
The sophomore, however, assured everyone today that Mayfield is up to the task of starting.
“They had been competing since the start of spring ball, and both worked their tails off before Stueber unfortunately fell to injury. That means Jalen needs to step up — things like that happen in football, and it’s ‘next man up.’
"Now that Stueber is out, Jalen has the starter's attitude you need to bring every day to practice and into games. Jalen is very agile and quick for an offensive lineman, and brings power to the table.”
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