Name: Ikechukwu Iwunnah
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 313 lbs.
High school: Garland (TX) Lakeview Centennial
Position: Defensive tackle
Class: Redshirt junior
Jersey number: #92
Last year: I ranked Iwunnah #79 and said he would be a backup nose tackle (LINK). He did not play in any games.
TTB Rating: 75
Michigan has been blessed the past few years by having some very good defensive tackles. The Wolverines have a couple potential first round picks in Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, so it makes sense that a backup defensive tackle would have a hard time cracking the rotation. Graham and Grant are guaranteed snaps, and then everyone else is just going to fill in the gaps.
But this type of thing with Iwunnah doesn’t happen very often: he’s a fourth-year 300-pounder who has never played in a game for Michigan. When he arrived from Texas, he was going to be a bit of a project, so not playing in year one was somewhat expected. Then you think that type of guy will get a few snaps in year two, but not in his case. But surely in year three? Not so surely.
So now we’re entering year four, and I don’t know what to make of Iwunnah. Kris Jenkins and Cam Goode are gone, and Rayshaun Benny is the only heavy-rotation player still left behind the aforementioned Graham and Grant. Roderick Pierce will certainly play a role at nose tackle, but Michigan went after some defensive tackles in the portal and they were unsuccessful. The Wolverines were even messing around with walk-on Joey Klunder and defensive end-turned-defensive tackle Enow Etta in the spring game. Iwunnah got some snaps this spring, too, but it looks like he might be one of those guys who doesn’t really play at Michigan and then transfers to a MAC school as a grad transfer, like Keith Heitzman or Wyatt Shallman or Tom Strobel. This season I wouldn’t be surprised if a player like freshman Deyvid Palepale immediately steps in and passes Iwunnah on the depth chart, because something obviously isn’t clicking.
Prediction: Backup defensive tackle
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