Utah defensive end John Henry Daley is transferring to Michigan.
Coming out of Alpine (UT) Lone Peak, Daley was a 3-star, the #45 athlete, and #613 overall in the 247 Composite. He started his career at BYU in 2023, making 3 tackles in three games and redshirting. He then transferred to Utah, where he made 4 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and 1 sack in seven games in 2024. He followed that up this past season with a Walter Camp First Team All-America performance, making 48 tackles, 17.5 tackles for loss, 11.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and 1 pass breakup while playing in eleven games.
At 6'4" and 255 pounds, Daley tied for #5 nationally in tackles for loss (everyone tied with or above him played 12+ games) and #7 in sacks (same story). In other words, he was #3 in TFLs per game and #2 in sacks per game.
Daley has a lot of football in his bloodlines, including a brother who's a captain at Rice (after starting his career at BYU, too), a dad who played at BYU, and several uncles who played at BYU, including Taysom Hill.
Watching some of Utah this season and some highlights of Daley, I'm definitely curious to see if his playmaking ability translates to the Big Ten. Most of the wins I saw were where he just came off the ball like a rocket, attacked half a man, and was able to beat the tackle around the edge. There's not much nuance to his game. There's definitely a path to success with that approach, but he will have to face better tackles in the Big Ten. Furthermore, he is overcoming a lower body injury (rumored to be an Achilles issue), so his contribution may just depend on how quickly he can get back to full speed. Luckily, he has two seasons of eligibility remaining, so Michigan fans could potentially see him at full strength in 2027, too.
If Daley gets back to form in 2026, he is pretty clearly Michigan's best edge defender. Mix in some Dominic Nichols, Nate Marshall, Cam Brandt, etc., and it's a decent group of players.
We definitely need Nichols & Marshall to come on. We also need contributions from Meadows. I’m over Brandt
ReplyDeleteAs for Henry, I have the same concerns. I’ve read comparisons to Moore, but the B12 is not the B1G. The talent gap is huge; the schedule is brutal. Sure, I’m glad to have him, but we’ll need the other guys as well
Probably needs to be looked at like an uptransfer. For all the talk about Power 5 becoming Power 4 I think the real truth is that there is only a Power 2 at this point.
ReplyDeleteTeams like Texas Tech and Miami maybe able to transcend that at times in the playoff, but your median SEC and B1G team seem likely to continue separating from the median teams in the ACC and B12. This is just the financial realities of today.
Daley's biggest question is health but translating to a higher level is a real question too.
I agree the EDGE group is decent, but decent is deficient if you're comparing yourself to the elite. For us, that's relative to Oregon, Indiana, and OSU. They're going to need the DL coaches to get multiple folks making leaps to pull off an upset against top 10 opponents.