Senior Bowl Executive Director Jim Nagy had six Michigan Wolverines football players at his annual event in Mobile, Ala., this past January, with left guard Ben Bredeson, linebacker Khaleke Hudson, tight end Sean McKeon, safety Josh Metellus, quarterback Shea Patterson and linebacker Josh Uche all in attendance.
Having also served as an 18-year NFL scout and a current ESPN draft analyst, Nagy has become quite familiar with U-M's draft hopefuls this year, and was kind enough to swing by and provide honest assessments for each of the former Wolverines who attended the Senior Bowl.
We begin this segment with Michigan's defensive prospects, with Nagy specifically singling out Uche as a player who is criminally underrated heading into this week's draft.
Khaleke Hudson
“We brought him to Mobile to help teams figure out [whether he’s a linebacker or safety]," Nagy explained. "We work for 32 teams and that’s why we have daily conversations with friends around the league, because we bring in the guys they want to see.
"Khaleke is a good player and you can see it on tape. He played closer to the line of scrimmage and was more of a box player for Michigan. He came to Mobile and played off the ball a bit more — playing in depth was a big thing for me that I saw from him, along with his ability to show coverage skills.
"Khaleke is a tweener in a sense, but I think he fits the way the league is going right now as a label-less player. People don’t even care what you call him — he just has to be able to match up in coverage and stay on the field on third downs.
"He did some nice things in coverage in Mobile and really helped himself. The nice thing about Khaleke is that you know you’ll get a good special teams player at a minimum. His playing style lends himself to that because of the way he likes to run and hit.
"He’ll get drafted as someone who will be expected to be a good fourth down player right away, and will probably transition into a sub-downs player. That’s his future and it was big having him down here.”
