John Ferrara, #74

Offensive guard John Ferrara

2010 Countdown: #53 John Ferrara

HIGH SCHOOL
Ferrara attended Monsignor Farrell High School on Staten Island.  He had 173 tackles and 28 sacks in his last two seasons in high school and was ranked as a 3-star recruit to both Rivals and Scout.  Rivals made him the #46 strongside defensive end in the country, and he was the #58 overall defensive end to Scout.  He committed to Michigan on October 22, 2005, choosing the Wolverines over offers from Michigan State, Mississippi, Northwestern, Penn State, and Rutgers.

COLLEGE
As a freshman in 2006, he redshirted and played defensive tackle in practice.  As a redshirt freshman in 2007, Ferrara had become the second-string defensive tackle, beating out bigger and more highly touted recruits Marques Slocum and Jason Kates for playing time.  Ferrara played in all 13 games (12 at defensive tackle) and made 2 tackles with 1 tackle for loss.  The terrible, terrible shortage of offensive linemen in 2008 caused a position change for Ferrara.  When it became apparent that offensive guard Cory Zirbel's career was finished due to injury, Michigan need further depth.  Ferrara would have been a backup on defense again, anyway, so he made the switch to offensive guard in August, just prior to the season.  He played on special teams throughout the year, but also earned 5 starts at left guard, including the last 4 games of the year.  More of the same occurred in 2009, when he played special teams and started 1 game against Eastern Michigan at right guard.  As a fifth year senior in 2010, Ferrara never played offense, contributing only on special teams and missing several games due to a hand injury.

CAREER STATS
2 tackles, 1 tackle for loss; 6 starts at offensive guard

AWARDS
Academic All-Big Ten in 2008, 2009, and 2010

SUMMARY
Ferrara was a glue-type player that exists on every good football team.  Despite not getting much playing time, he stuck around for all five years.  It's entirely possible that he would have started - or at least played significant minutes - at defensive tackle in both 2009 and 2010.  All that stood in his way in both seasons were an underachiever (Will Campbell) and a few underwhelming veterans (Greg Banks, Renaldo Sagesse, and Adam Patterson).  However, he was doing his duty as a backup offensive lineman during that time, and for that he should be commended.  It seems that one reason for his lack of playing time would be his inability to get any heavier than 286 lbs.  He spent most of his career in the 270's, which is very light for an offensive lineman.  Personally, I thought he played fairly well in the second half of 2008, and probably should have earned more playing time as a backup in 2009.

PROJECTION
Ferrara probably has no future as a professional football player.  However, he has a degree and is/was rumored to be dating Kristy Bojazi, a Michigan cheerleader who was profiled at one time on CNN/SI.

Kristy Bojazi

So he seems to be doing well for himself.

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