Name: Ikechukwu Iwunnah
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 281 lbs.
High school: Garland (TX) Lakeview Centennial
Position: Defensive tackle
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: N/A
Last year: Iwunnah was a senior in high school (LINK).
TTB Rating: 75
Iwunnah was a late addition to the 2021 class, and a much needed one at the time. It's not easy to pull kids out of Texas to come to Michigan, but the Wolverines needed an influx of size on the defensive line. They ended up signing four defensive tackles (Iwunnah, George Rooks, Dominick Giudice, and Rayshaun Benny), and two of those commitments came on National Signing Day: Iwunnah and Benny.
At 281 pounds Iwunnah is a little bit light to handle the interior defensive line as a freshman, and he also has some technical things to clean up before he plays in the Big Ten. He has some decent quickness and good strength, but he needs to get better at defeating blocks and finding the ball. His future could be a bright one, but he needs this season to develop.
Prediction: Redshirt
Not yet ready to contribute, but he is a welcome addition to a position long neglected
ReplyDeleteI'm not expecting anything this year but feel pretty optimistic about Ikechukwu panning out into a good player.
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Funny thing about the narrative that Michigan is FINALLY recruiting DT position after Don Brown refused to recruit size.
ReplyDelete2021 recruiting class has 4 guys pegged there with the following weights. 280, 275, 260, 250
2019 recruiting class had 4 guys pegged there with the following weights. 290, 280, 255, 230
2017 recruiting class had 5 guys pegged there with the following weights. 300, 290, 285, 280, 250
Is SOUNDS like this staff is going to emphasize bigger bodies but I would argue the 2021 class doesn't really show anything different. Pushing for a big bodied DT in the portal is new though... TBD if that works out better than Mike Danna did in 2019.
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How many of those guys played DT? How many were even recruited for DT, and not as an SDE?
Delete2021 is when we restarted the commitment to the trenches. 2020 was a year of neglect. 2019 was Maxi & Hinton. 2018 was another year of neglect. 2017 was Aubrey and two we moved to OL right away ...
The not so funny truth is, this neglect resulted in our Defense getting pummeled, and our Broyles Award finalist DC sent away to Tucson, AZ
You mean like Giudice - who is listed as an edge player on 247?
DeleteJust as in the past, you can expect kids to put on weight and grow into their positions. That's the expectation for guys like Rooks just as it was for guys like Jeter.
Perhaps we can agree that if we see a repeat in potential DTs in the '22 class then we will have seen a change. But 2021 alone isn't much of one.
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If the staff is serious about putting out 3 DT-sized players and one of them being a jumbo NT type -- they absolutely must recruit more and bigger DTs than the previous regime.
DeleteHave they so far? No
Will they? We all can hope.
There are currently 9 commits and 1 of them is a DT (275 pound Davonte Miles).
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@JE
ReplyDeleteThe recruiting of current (2021) and the past is indistinguishable. You have hindsight on 2019 but not 2021. If you want to predict different outcomes you can but it's just speculation.
We recruited Chris Wormley (currently a NT in the NFL) as a SDE and you already know the deal with Kemp. You're also ignoring guys like Jeter and Irving Bey listed at DE who were always projected as likely to go inside and are just as big or bigger as guys who are listed as "DL" more generally. We always recruit guys who might be better on OL or DL depending on opinion too. Benny is another, like Hudson. Some of them might move - that's the nature of it. Then and now.
What I think is happening is people are straining to fit an overly simplistic narrative (Don Brown wouldn't recruit DTs and that's why we struggled on D against OSU). If you buy that was the problem and you want to wear maize colored glasses you want to say we are now doing something different. Both the problem and the solution are dubious IMO.
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Three replies in an hour - trying to convince yourself again
ReplyDeleteWe nabbed Rooks, Benny & Iwunnah in the last few weeks of the cycle, the latter two on signing day. That's more focus on the position than in any year since Harbaugh arrived, and have since been chasing portal transfers
2021 is when we started to prioritize the middle again. We're not there yet, but the intent is clear
What is the intent and how is it different from 2019?
DeleteWhat is the relevance of signing day?
You seem very confident in your prediction.
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I don't want to answer for je93, but signing day might be relevant in that it represented the desires of our new defensive coaching staff more than the previous defensive coaching staff. Iwunnah in particular is someone that even insiders basically said would not have been pursued by Don Brown (and he was indeed not offered until well after Brown departed).
DeleteIt was a pivot. From DL being guess work, to DL - and projections at Tackle - being clearly important
DeleteWill they be ready in time to make a difference? That, I think, is a much bigger question. So no, I am not confident at all. Just another hopeful fanatic
Brown was pursuing Rooks and Benny for months if not years.
DeleteGiudice is straight out of the Brown and Mattison playbook (and most other DCs) of expecting to bulk up some guys and move them down (DB to LB, LB to DE, DE to DT).
I do not see any sort of sea change out of the Iwunnah recruitment. Or any change for that matter - a new staff is always gonna recruit a different set of guys. Not like he's a Mone-sized recruit, he's smaller than Hinton and Smith.
That all said, I fully endorse an approach that throws more scholarships to the trenches. I spent years arguing for this under Hoke with OL. But those scholarships have to come from somewhere (i.e., some other positions).
I do hope the new staff emphasizes this, but I haven't seen it yet. Strikes me as wishful thinking more than anything else.
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Most other DCs??? Dominick Giudice had no Power 5 offers outside of Michigan ... just stop with the BS already
DeleteLol. I know it's a long one but go ahead and read the second part of that sentence JE.
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