Name: Phillip Paea
Height: 6’4″
Weight: 302 lbs.
High school: Berrien Springs (MI) Berrien Springs
Position: Defensive tackle
Class: Redshirt junior
Jersey number: #92
Last year: I ranked Paea #80 and said he would be a backup . . . somewhere (LINK). He did not play in any games.
TTB Rating: 68
Well, here we are on the brink of another season (or not) and Paea doesn’t appear to be any further along than he was last year at this time. Paea went from being a backup offensive lineman in 2018 to a backup defensive tackle in 2019. Michigan had a need for contributions on the interior of the defensive line, because they were relying on help from other unproven players, like freshman Chris Hinton and veteran Donovan Jeter.
This year the guys ahead of Paea appear to be all the same guys, except the departed Michael Dwumfour, who will be suiting up for Rutgers in 2020. There might even be some strongside defensive end types encroaching on defensive tackle playing time, such as Julius Welschof. Though there is opportunity once again for unproven players to step up, it’s unlikely that Paea will be one of them. Unless he has a breakthrough this season, this will probably be the finale of his Michigan career.
Prediction: Backup defensive tackle
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Paea seems to me like a guy who would have ended up at NW or Minnesota, and been quite good
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Paea came in under 280 lbs, nowhere big enough to play OG for Harbaugh despite a really nice ability to pull, find a target, close ground and finish a block.
He’s now over 300lbs, and hopefully still has his good feet.
I understand moving him around because of a lack of depth … pretty much everywhere … from time to time … across both lines, but that hasn’t been helpful from his standpoint. He has also been penalized by Covid … obviously. I don’t think we know what a matured Paea is capable of, I’m pulling for him to pan out kind of like a solid Wisconsin O Line guy by going from “whatever happened to” to a real pleasant surprise.
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At this point, Paea is up there in terms of disappointing recruits. If he can have a B. Mone or L. Marshall kind of end of career, I will completely retract that statement. Here’s hoping Nua can work some magic here, because we need interior DL depth.
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