Michigan junior defensive end/outside linebacker Aidan Hutchinson suffered a nasty ankle break in a loss at Indiana last year, one that slowed him in the spring. His father, former U-M All-American defensive tackle Chris Hutchinson, updated his progress July 14.
The younger Hutchinson, a third-team All-Big Ten selection and co-winner of the Richard Katcher Award as the team's top defensive lineman in 2019, was expected to be back in late spring, but he was ready to go ahead of schedule ... in his mind, at least. The Michigan coaches, knowing how valuable he is to the front seven, had other ideas — particularly new defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald.
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"When Mac finally told him he wasn't going to be fully released for spring ball even though he was medically released, they got into a small kerfuffle," Chris Hutchinson said. "Aidan was pretty upset with him because Aidan had circled on his calendar March 11 — 'that's my go day' — he went and saw the doctor, got cleared, put all his pads on and was getting all taped up, ready to go, and Macdonald comes out and does a drive by right before practice begins and says, 'yeah — you're not doing anything.'
"Aidan said his jaw hit the ground. He gave him a nasty look. Mac said, 'you want to fight someone, fight me. I'm the one who made this call.' You can't really fight your defensive coordinator, so he just had to bite his tongue, called me after practice, said how pissed he was."
They had words after that, too, but that was to be expected.
"You want your captain to be upset that you're not going to let him play, but that's just a testament to Aidan," Chris Hutchinson continued. "He wanted to play, to be out there. They let him do a little more, one on one pass rush, half line stuff, but they didn't want some overzealous freshman diving at his ankles in March."
He's continued to strengthen it, and having a father as an M.D. hasn't hurt. His worked himself all the way back and is ready for a huge (second) junior season.
"He's one hundred percent," Chris Hutchinson said. "His ankle ... they haven't measured in a while. He was one or two degrees off in some range of motion, but it doesn't bother him and the swelling is gone. We've done some extra work there, so he doesn't notice it at all.
"He does everything. He passed all conditioning tests, I wouldn't say with ease, because I saw his face in some of the pictures and he was struggling with it. He's the heaviest of the linebacker group running out there. But he met all conditioning drills, so he's good to go."
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