Michigan Football: Wolverines 5 best NFL prospects heading into 2018

Lavert Hill’s man-to-man skills will shoot him up draft boards

While some of the names on the list are to be expected, if there is one surprise, it might be Lavert Hill, the junior corner. Yet, if you watched Hill closely in his first season as a starter, you probably aren’t too shocked.

At 5-11, 177, Hill isn’t a big corner by any means. Yet, he is quick, long and specializes in man coverage. Michigan football doesn’t play tons of zone and in today’s NFL, man-to-man cover guys don’t grow on trees.

In his first season as a starter, Hill had 24 tackles, five tackles for loss, two interceptions and seven passes defended. But his aggressive style and ability to play bump-and-run really stood out. Many thought the secondary was going to be an issue last season after the loss of basically every starter, but in Hill and others, Michigan found capable guys.

Now, Hill, who was ranked in the top 100 by NFL.com leading up to the season, has a chance to increase his draft stock even more. And if he plays the way he did in 2017 or better, it’s hard to see him lasting past round 2 in the 2018 NFL draft.