Michigan Football: 3 takeaways from the NFL draft

The 2023 NFL draft bids us ado and this is the fallout from one of the most popular sporting events of the year involving the Wolverines.

A total of nine Wolverines were selected over the three-day extravaganza in Kansas City. Dallas picked two, Cincinnati chose a pair, Seattle took a duo as well and lastly, the 49ers nabbed a couple of Michigan football players to add to their organizations. The other one went to Miami. Those were the guys who were supposed to be drafted and that’s how it played out in 2023.

1. Mazi Smith upgrades the Cowboys’ front seven immediately

One of the strongest Wolverines in recent memory lands in the first round into a stable situation. Dallas made his dream come true on Thursday night by welcoming him to the NFC East. The Cowboys needed a body like Smith’s to help slow down the run and eat up double teams to open up gaps for Micah Parsons and others.

ESPN’s draft analyst Louis Riddick did bring up a controversial point when he was drafted by stating that Smith should be “rag dolling” players because of his rare strength. That’s a reasonable argument to make, but maybe Dan Quinn can bring that out of him in Dallas. For Michigan football it’s going to be a difficult task to find someone who can be as powerful as Smith is.

Mazi Smith is exactly what Chris Hinton could have been had he stayed another year at Michigan. Smith has the work ethic to be a first-rounder for sure, but he has to show up more consistently on the field. Smith can be the anchor to the ship for a middle-of-the-pack defense.

2. Luke Schoonmaker surprisingly climbed into the second round

The under-used pass catcher who played second fiddle to Erick All and other ends came off the board before D.J. Turner did on night two. He was taken before Darnell Washington and will have his chance to win the starting gig with Dalton Shultz gone via free agency as he goes to Dallas with Smith.

He’ll definitely be missed in a Michigan football uniform with the crowd always cheering for him when he caught a pass. He filled in admirably when All went down for the season. His blocking helped the rest of the offensive line win the Joe Moore Award over the last two years and his leadership will be missed in the locker room.

The future of the position is beaming with Colston Loveland ascending rapidly and a difference maker on the way in 2024 by the name of Brady Prieskorn. Not many expected Schoonmaker to go this high compared to where Loveland and Prieskorn can go in a few years. It’s a respectable testament to where Schoonmaker was when he entered the program back in 2018.

3. Money Moody was the highest kicker taken since 2016

Jake Moody goes to the bay area to replace Robbie Gould as he sneaks into the top 100, being the 99th pick of the process. Draft graders all over the internet hated this pick because of the fact that they picked a kicker in the third, which is not normal, but Moody heads to a super bowl contender where he can compete for the job right away.

On the same day that Michigan football gains, perhaps his replacement in transfer James Turner from Louisville, Moody will have a lot of pressure on him in following Gould. Gould was automatic in San Francisco and has endured a successful career, just as Moody was scratching the surface of his greatness at Michigan.

Moody finished his career on a very high note by burying a 59-yard field goal in the Fiesta Bowl. Turner, if he wins the kicking duel, will certainly have his work cut out for him by following in a Michigan football legend’s footsteps.

He doesn’t have as good as a leg as Moody does, but the coaches will accept the challenge of making him a better kicker.