Rashan Gary Will Make an Immediate Impact for Michigan Football

Rashan Gary was the No.1 overall recruit in 2016 for a reason and with the way Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh thinks, it’d be a surprise if Gary didn’t make an impact fairly soon this season.

Jim Harbaugh isn’t one of those head coaches that’s afraid to be bold. But in truth, his philosophy for determining playing time on the Michigan football team is rather simple — the best will play.

It’s really as simple as that. It doesn’t matter how highly-ranked you were in high school, it doesn’t matter if your a senior or a freshman, at the end of the day, Michigan football is committed to a philosophy that says the best players play.

It’s sounds less complicated than it is. But, often times, good freshman are redshirted or left on the sideline. It’s happening less and less, but some coaches are still wary of playing 18-year olds.

Harbaugh, has never really been that way. He wasn’t that way at Stanford and in truth, he wasn’t that way in the NFL, he never shied away from rookies if they made the grade. He’s all about competition and his open-mindedness gives No.1 overall recruit Rashan Gary a chance to make an impact right away.

The mammoth defensive tackle, who stands 6-4 and weights 287, comes to Michigan football as the top high school player in the country. He’s big, but he’s also incredibly athletic and that’s something that the Wolverines are hoping they can take advantage of.

Here’s what defensive line coach Greg Mattison had to say about the incoming freshman to the Detroit Free Press recently:

“His weight’s great, he’s worked very hard on his strength,” Mattison said. “I don’t care if a guy’s a freshman or a fifth-year senior, best players play. So he’s going to have the opportunity to show his ability. He’ll play anchor end, the strong side defensive end.”

“We like to put him over those tight ends and see how many of those tight ends enjoy blocking him,” U-M defensive coordinator Don Brown said. “Because that may be a treat watching that happen.”

There is plenty that Gary can do and with his incredible talent, it’s easy to assume he could very well be a first-round pick in three years, which means there is a good chance he leaves Michigan after his junior season.

That means the Wolverines need to get some return on their investment now. If he’s good enough to be in the rotation, he needs to be there day one. This is not a player that can be redshirted, that will result in him departing as a redshirt sophomore, instead of a junior.

Michigan football certainly has one of the best defensive lines in the Big Ten, maybe even the entire country. But depth is always crucial and you can never have enough good players up front.

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Unless Gary finds himself redshirted, it’s hard to see how he doesn’t make some kind of impact right away for the Wolverines. Even though the defensive line is stacked, Gary is too talented and frankly too good to keep off the field for long, if at all.

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