James Hudson III (image via The Wolverine Daily)
Name: James Hudson III
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 294 lbs.
High school: Toledo (OH) Central Catholic
Position: Defensive tackle
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: N/A
Last year: Hudson was a senior in high school. He made 80 tackles, 34 tackles for loss, and 8 sacks.
TTB Rating: 85
I’ve gone back and forth on whether Hudson should play offensive tackle or defensive tackle in college. Some people compare him to Willie Henry, but he’s a little bit taller and longer. Due to a need for numbers at defensive tackle – and, of course, the words of Hudson himself – I think he’ll at least start out at 3-tech on defense, but I wouldn’t rule out a move to offense at some point.
Regardless, I saw Hudson make some significant improvements mentally and physically from his junior to senior years, and I believe he’ll be a high-impact player at Michigan. The Wolverines have a starter (Maurice Hurst, Jr.) and a backup (Michael Dwumfour) at 3-tech, but both of those guys can be used at nose tackle, and there’s not much else behind them. Lawrence Marshall and walk-on Carl Myers can both play 3-tech, but neither has the athleticism or upside of Hudson. I think Hudson will get his feet wet this year so he can be primed to start or backup Dwumfour in 2018.
Prediction: Backup defensive tackle
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The staff’s tendency to cycle DL coupled with the lack of depth makes me believe Hudson is a more integral piece than #63.
The two deep of interior DL looks like this:
Hurst, Mone, Dwumfor…Solomon? …Marshall? …Hudson?
The lack of depth with unproven players (Solomon) or players not ready from a weight standpoint (Marshall, used as a DT in the spring game, but he’ll probably be a SDE) makes me believe Solomon and Hudson should both be relatively high on this list as far as freshmen go.
As Hudson is already at a decent playing weight with great athleticism, I think the position for Hudson should be within the top 50. I feel the top 50 are going to have your two-deep and important specialists, with a few very meaningful backups, and Hudson is part of that meaningful backup conversation.
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DL depth I think should be looked at as 3 interior positions and edge/rush DE. Sometimes you get guys like Charlton or Clark who can flip between WDE and SDE but I think those elite talents are the exception.
Interior DL:
1. Hurst 2. Gary 3. Mone 4. Dumfour 5. Kemp 6.True Freshman battle with Jeter, Hudson, Solomon most likely to make an impact (in that order I think)
You’ll probably see 7 or 8 get meaningful snaps.
WDE:
1. Winovich 2. Villain 3. Furbush or Johnson
Probably 2 or 3 get meaningful snaps assuming Villain isn’t 100% ready in week 1 to handle full responsibilites
There are other guys of course that aren’t listed, but I think with the talent coming in they are likely to get passed.
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Willie Henry was about 270 as a recruit so Hudson should be much closer to being ready to play.
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Bit of a guess with any freshman, but I think this is too low and at this point I expect Hudson to be a key piece of the DL rotation (one of the top 8).
There’s a lot of emphasis on the need for a true NT to backup Mone and we talk a lot about who is a NT vs. 3-tech vs 5-tech, etc.
The best guys are going to play. Thunder mentioned Hurst and Dwumfour being able to move around and I think that’s exactly what we should expect for elite players like Hurst and Gary.
This was the depth chart on Don Brown’s 2015 DL:
DE
Harold Landry 6-3 245 So.
Mehdi Abdesmad 6-7 286 Sr. or Zach Allen 6-5 265 Fr.
DT
Truman Gutapfel 6-3 281 Jr.
Ray Smith 6-1 264 Fr. or Noa Merritt 6-0 268 So.
NT
Connor Wujciak 6-3 304 Sr.
Evan Kelly 6-1 285 Gr.
DE
Kevin Kavalec 6-2 256 So.
Malachi Moore 6-4 274 Jr. or Wyatt Ray 6-3 230 Fr
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If the hype is legit (GMatt apparently loves Hudson), I think he sees a fair amount of snaps. I don’t believe Hurst has the stamina to play a ton of snaps, a la Glasgow. Not expecting iron man play out of Dwumfor or Mone either. So there are snaps to be had for both Hudson and Solomon if they look capable in August camp.
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Hurst has gain weight and responsibility. I think you’re going to see a less explosive version and more tired version this season. I think he’ll be an all-conference caliber player, but he may disappoint some people making too much out of the PFF hype. It’s a lot easier work when Wormley/Glasgow/Godin have been wearing down the OL and you come in fresh.
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I agree. And I’ve said before that people are expecting a lot from Hurst, especially when talking about him being a very high draft pick. He’s 6’2″ and 282 lbs. as a defensive tackle. That’s short and light to be a high pick in the NFL.
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