Michigan Football Notebook: Paye Talks OSU ... Lineman Impresses With Gains
Michigan Wolverines football players are back on campus and working out, and one in particular is turning heads. Redshirt freshman defensive end Gabe Newburg arrived at U-M last year at 6-5, 230 pounds. By fall he weighed 250, and if senior defensive end Kwity Paye is right, Newburg might have had one of the better home training sessions on the team.
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“Gabe is huge,” Paye said on former All-American Jon Jansen’s podcast recently. “I saw him yesterday. He’s just huge. It was, ‘oh my God!’”
All of the defensive linemen took the long offseason seriously, Paye noted. They should be in great shape entering the fall, and he believes this year’s defensive line could be special.
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“I think the D-line room is going to be phenomenal this year,” he said. “[Sophomore] Chris Hinton started some games last year, and I feel like he’s coming into his own. Being a true freshman as a three technique, it’s not easy being in the trenches. I feel he’ll step up big time.
“Me and Aidan [Hutchinson] on the edges is possibly the best duo in the country. We’re going to come back and do our thing.”
Both have made huge gains and challenge each other in the weight room, he said. Teams who believe they’ll have a better chance to run to one side or the other based on edge play might be surprised.
“Aidan is at anchor where it’s tighter in front of him. He’ll kick butt all day,” Paye said. “We both are really strong in the weight room, competing with each other to see who is stronger, but we’re both athletic as hell.”
Getting Carlo Kemp back in the middle for a fifth year is bigger than many might think, he added.
“You saw last year he played most games injured. Some days he was struggling to walk, but he’s a leader and still wanted to play games and was giving it his all,” he said. “I’m excited cause we have ballers behind us, too. Luiji Vilain, David Ojabo is going to come up … that’s an athletic three.
“I’m excited for our guys. Mazi Smith. I feel like spring ball being lost was kind of a bummer because it’s time for those guys to shine, take some more reps, work on their craft a little more.”
Beat The Bucks
Paye is excited to get some payback on the teams that beat the Wolverines last year in Big Ten play. Wisconsin and Penn State open the Big Ten slate, and the trip to Columbus looms large, as well.
“I’m excited for them,” he said. “Those are considered our biggest competitors this year. To be able to go and play those guys, get back at Wisconsin and Penn State … we’ve gone back and forth with those schools since I’ve been here. Hopefully we can end on a good note against those teams my senior year.”
The seniors on defense, meanwhile, have decided on a different approach for Ohio State.
“We’re enforcing that hate a lot more. I feel like at times we hate them, but we have to instill it to the freshmen coming in that we hate those guys,” he said. “Not, ‘oh, my boy goes to that school’ … no. We have to install into their brain.”
They’re watching OSU game film every day, he added, making sure they know all the Buckeyes’ plays and tendencies.
“And after every Saturday when I’m done with our game, I’m turning on the TV to see what they are doing every single Saturday,” he added.
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