Michigan Football: Wolverines still loaded at defensive end

Michigan football lost Chase Winovich and Rashan Gary to the NFL, but here’s why the Wolverines are still loaded at defensive end.

When it comes to building a great college football program, you need to be able to replace talent with talent. It is, however, easier said than done. But at defensive end that is exactly what Michigan football has done heading into the 2019 season.

The Wolverines will enter next season without two of the top defensive ends in the country as Chase Winovich is graduating and Rashan Gary left early for the NFL draft.

While the two only combined for eight sacks total, their impact went well beyond that. Both were First Team All-Big Ten and Winovich was hands down one of the best pass rushers in the conference.

When Gary played last season, he wasn’t as dominating. But he also saw a ton of extra blockers and attention. Still, he held up really well against the run and turned in a decent effort rushing the passer early in the season.

Now, without those guys who have each started the past two seasons, Michigan football has some holes to fill but thankfully, the Wolverines have some really solid pieces ready to go.

For starters, Michigan has both Josh Uche and Kwity Paye back and both guys played a ton of snaps last season, especially when Gary was injured. Uche led the team with seven sacks while Paye had two sacks and 5.5 tackles for loss.

Those players are a good start but Michigan football has a lot more at defensive end beginning with Aidan Hutchinson, one of the top recruits from 2018 and a guy that has already proven to be stout against the run. He needs some work as as a rusher but he can fill in for Gary when it comes to setting the edge.

Those three players are solid but Michigan football added another key guy in graduate transfer Mike Danna from Central Michigan last week. Danna was First Team All-Mac in 2018 and had 8.5 sacks and 14 TFL. He also might have the best combination of skills when it comes to run defense and pass rush.

The other guy we can’t forget is former highly-touted recruit Luiji Vilain. He was nearly a five-star in 2017 and was a top five defensive end that year.

The problem is that he has been unable to stay healthy so he hasn’t seen the field much. Yet, he appears to be 100 percent now and if he can get through spring and fall camp without getting hurt, he should have a chance at being a major contributor.

With proven talent, two big-time recruits (Hutchinson and Vilain) as well as a proven veteran in Danna, Michigan football is still loaded at defensive end.

And after losing of the best players on the team at the position, that’s pretty impressive. It also shows what kind of program Jim Harbaugh has spent the last four years building.