Michigan Wolverines Football: 30 greatest players of all-time
By Brad Weiss
The best player in the history of the Michigan football program is Charles Woodson, who came to the school in 1995. While all the other schools in the country were recruiting Woodson to play running back, after a Mr. Football high school career in Ohio, the Wolverines wanted him to play defensive back. He certainly became a special one.
Woodson burst on to the scene as a freshman, being named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 1995. A First-Team All-Big Ten selection, Woodson would go on to be named a First-Team player in the conference three times and would twice be named an All-American. In 1997, he had one of the more legendary seasons of all time.
The Heisman Trophy winner in 1997, becoming the third Michigan player to win the award, Woodson led the Wolverines to the national title. In addition, he was named the Big Ten Player of the Year, he won the Walter Camp, Bronco Nagurski, Chuck Bednarik and Jim Thorpe Awards. He would go on to be selected by the Oakland Raiders in the first round of the 1998 NFL Draft. Woodson was inducted in to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2018.
He declared himself eligible for the draft after the 1997 season. While he only played at the school for three years, he is the best player to ever play for the program.
Next. Michigan Wolverines: Top 15 quarterbacks of all-time. dark
In the NFL, Woodson would go on to have a Pro Football Hall of Fame career, winning a Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers and being named to the Pro Bowl nine times. Woodson is not yet eligible to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but projects to be a first-ballot inductee in 2021, having last played for the Raiders in 2015.