Michigan Football: Pro Football Focus Grades from Week 1
Michigan Football impressed in its season opener against Minnesota and here were some of the top graded players according to Pro Football Focus.
Michigan Football defeated the Minnesota Golden Gophers 49-24 in Week 1. How did the players perform according to Pro Football Focus? We outline the top and bottom 5 performers on each side of the football for the Wolverines.
Top 5 Offensive Players (OVR Grade)
- WR Ronnie Bell (79.0)
- QB Joe Milton (77.7)
- RB Hassan Haskins (77.6)
- RT Jalen Mayfield (74.3)
- FB Ben Mason (73.9)
These names really should not come as much of a surprise, maybe other than Hassan Haskins. Haskins only played seven snaps but he sure did make the most of them with six rushes for 82 yards and he punched it in for a touchdown twice as well.
Another metric honors Joe Milton‘s gutsy performance in his first game as Michigan football’s starting Quarterback. Ben Mason is an intriguing inclusion on this list as well and he even sported a receiving grade of 87.3!
The highest graded Wolverine on offense was true freshman wide receiver A.J. Henning who received an outstanding grade of 86.5 but only played 2 snaps.
Bottom 5 Offensive Players (OVR Grade)
- RB Chris Evans (52.5)
- WR Cornelius Johnson (52.6)
- QB Cade McNamara (53.8)
- WR Mike Sainristil (55.8)
- TE Luke Schoonmaker (56.0)
Chris Evans grading out as the worst player on offense is not much of a concern for me. He hadn’t played in a game since 2018, and he looked good on his short yardage touchdown scamper in the fourth quarter.
As far as the other players on the list, I think the wide receivers will improve upon these grades with more repetitions and having your back being one of the worst graded players won’t impact the game when he stays on the bench for the entirety of the contest.
Outside of Bell and Henning, the wide receivers failed to post a grade higher than 64.6 (Giles Jackson) which is something to note, but not a trend I see continuing for much longer.
Top 5 Defensive Players (OVR Grade)
- DE Kwity Paye (85.0)
- DE Aidan Hutchinson (79.8)
- LB Josh Ross (74.3)
- CB Gemon Green (73.4)
- DT Julius Welschof (71.1)
I would not be surprised if Kwity Paye and Aidan Hutchinson are the top two graded players each week for the entire season. The only defensive players who have a chance to consistently grade out higher are Daxton Hill, Brad Hawkins, and maybe Cameron McGrone.
Seeing Gemon Green on this list should be a huge point of confidence for the Wolverines going forward. The second cornerback spot was arguably Michigan football’s biggest question mark going into the game and, outside of two dropped INTs, Green well outplayed expectations and solidified himself as the unquestioned starter moving forward.
Another encouraging inclusion is DT Julius Welschof. He only played 14 snaps in a somewhat crowded interior line rotation, but he graded out pretty well in both run defense and pass rushing. Welschof looks to be an adept rotational depth piece after Week 1 — which is much more important than it seems.
Another player who graded well but didn’t play many snaps was LB Kalel Mullings who recorded a 90.9 grade on just 3 snaps.
Bottom 5 Defensive Players (OVR Grade)
- S Daxton Hill (44.4)
- LB David Ojabo (47.8)
- S Makari Paige (50.3)
- CB Vincent Gray (52.7)
- LB Ben VanSumeren (56.5)
Had you asked me going into this game who Michigan’s worst graded defensive player would be, Dax Hill probably would’ve been one of the last three names listed.
However, PFF does not care about preseason expectations when they grade players. Hill got off to a rough start on the first couple drives and then got hurt. As long as Hill makes a speedy recovery from whatever caused him to be held out of the rest of the game, his poor performance is not something to be truly worried about at this point.
The only player that slightly worries me on this list is Vincent Gray. He drew one of the toughest assignments in the country by facing off against a potential first round pick in WR Rashod Bateman, and he limited the big plays over the top, but Bateman still managed to record 9 catches for 101 yards.
Next. 5 Things we learned vs Minnesota. dark
Gray did keep him out of the end zone, but he will definitely look to bounce back in a big way next week against the Michigan State Spartans.