Michigan Wolverines Football: Aidan Hutchinson Has NFL Aspirations, Options

Michigan Wolverines football junior defensive end Aidan Hutchinson is in no hurry to leave U-M, anxious for another shot at the Big Ten title.

He might not get that opportunity.

Hutchinson admitted Thursday that while he'd love to play football with his teammates in the spring, all of his options were on the table. That includes declaring for the NFL Draft after the Big Ten cancelled the fall season.

Hutchinson admitted he took the news hard, spending a night mulling it over before it sunk in a day or two later. He relied on his parents, teammates and friends to try to get over it.

"I've created new aspirations, feel like I'm driven again and I'm just ready to go," Hutchinson said. ..."That [NFL] decision will be made in the future. There are a lot of factors that will go into it. Decisions will be made. [Offensive tackle] Jalen [Mayfield] made his decision [to go] — I'm really happy for him, hope he's able to fulfill all his dreams and go in that first round, but for me, I still have some decisions to make.

"It all depends on when we play. I've got to play football soon. Since last year, I wouldn't have played in two years if our spring season gets cancelled. I can't leave for the NFL without having played football for such a long time. There are some factors that go into it, some other ones I'm not going to name."

Spring is better than nothing, he added, noting he wouldn't be thinking at all about next fall.

"I'd be thrilled to play football in January, in April, May. I don't care when we play football," he said. "I was so excited for this year. I've made so many improvements in my game. I made a total body transformation, was so ready for this season. It was sad it got taken from me and all my teammates."

Right now he's with the team and practicing, however, doing everything he can to get better. Practice has shifted to preparing for an October Combine for all of the players in which scouts will be present, and he and his teammates are working on improving the drills they'll run through at that point.

The future NFL players, meanwhile, continue to stick together.

"Some of us are in a similar situation," he said. "I have been talking to Nick Eubanks, Kwity Paye, Carlo Kemp, guys like that who could have used an extra season but are put in this tough situation. "We're all just trying to make these decisions. I'm sure they'll all come with time, but nobody knows what's going to happen right now. Everything is so up in the air."

Hutchinson lamented the fact that the coaches and players had such little say in whether or not they'd play this fall. His mother and others are organizing a protest, in fact, perhaps outside of Michigan Stadium, on Sept. 5, the day U-M was supposed to open the season. They want fans and players to come, parents of players, in order to shine some light upon the issue of alleged non-transparency.

"It's been a tough and weird couple weeks. We're all still practicing and fighting the fight, but the only thing you can do is control the controllables," he said. "We're just plugging through, plugging away, hoping we can get some transparency as we move throughout this process."

NOTES

• Hutchinson said he and his teammates saw reports that Ohio State coach Ryan Day told his team he wanted to "lay 100" on Michigan after a reported phone altercation between Day and Harbaugh.

"Seeing that stuff they said, that was just bulletin board material we're going to use in the upcoming future," he said. "They can do all the talking they want. It's kind of out of my control. It was definitely a little bit frustrating. I just want to play them. I'm just looking forward to the next time we play them."

The defense has failed in the last two meetings, allowing 62 and 56 points.

"We execute so good all year and then these past couple years we've just dropped the ball on that last game of the season. We just have to do better in our execution and things will turn out a little bit better," Hutchinson said.

• Hutchinson wasn't happy when he heard Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren's son would be playing SEC football for Mississippi State this year.

"It does bother me a lot. I think it's very unfair," he said. "I heard his rebuttal in terms of that statement. I heard he got to sit down with his son and have a really hard conversation with him about it.

"I wish I could have had that conversation with my parents, but he made that decision for me."

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