Michigan's play on the defensive line last season was a huge factor in why the defense was so successful last season.

With many of those players no longer with the program this season, the Wolverines are still set up to be good on the defensive line and it all starts with the interior of the line.

Two of the Wolverines' interior defensive linemen, Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, return for their junior campaigns with one outlet considering them both one of the top returning players in the country.

According to Pro Football Focus, Graham tops the list of names, with Grant coming in at number 6 on the list of 10 names.

Below is what PFF had to say about both players.

Mason Graham

Graham was excellent in his first year at Ann Arbor, leading all FBS true freshmen interior defensive linemen with an 80.3 PFF grade. He took his game to a whole new level as a sophomore. According to PFF's wins above average metric, he was the fourth-most valuable defensive tackle in the nation and was sixth in that same group with a 15.9% pass-rush win rate. Graham was one of only two interior defensive linemen in the country to finish with top-10 grades as both a pass rusher and run defender. The other was Texas’ T’Vondre Sweat.

The rising junior has a relentless motor to combine with ridiculous agility that makes him nearly unblockable. Even if an offensive lineman gets a clean shot on him, he has great power at 6-foot-3, 318 pounds to shed the block and find the ball carrier. Graham’s a nearly complete defensive tackle who’ll continue terrorizing Big Ten offenses on his way to likely becoming a high selection in the 2025 NFL Draft. If he was eligible for the 2024 draft, he’d likely be the first defensive tackle off the board.

Kenneth Grant

Between Grant and Graham, the defending national champions have easily the best defensive tackle duo in college football heading into 2024. That’s despite losing a projected second-round pick at that position in Kris Jenkins.

Among returning Power Five interior defensive linemen, Grant was the sixth-most valuable according to our wins above average metric. That’s despite playing in a rotational role on Michigan’s defensive line. The sophomore’s 78.4 PFF pass-rushing grade in 2023 was a top-15 mark among defensive tackles as well. With Jenkins gone, Grant should only shine more as a full-time starter next to Graham.

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