Maurice Hurst’s NFL Draft

Combine didn’t go the way he
planned.

The former Michigan defensive

tackle didn’t run the 40-yard dash
or get on the bench press. He
was held out of every drill due to
an irregular electrocardiogram,
which
measures
electrical

activity in the heart. Despite
being cleared from the same

issue by the Wolverines, per NFL
Network, Hurst’s draft stock has,
at least temporarily, taken a hit.

That much is out of his control.

If Hurst is eventually cleared,
as he expects, according to Kim
Jones, the part he can control —

his play on the field — makes him
a first-round pick.

Hurst has elite get-off speed

and a quick twitch from the line
of scrimmage. His 6-foot-1 height
ranks in the 17th percentile for
incoming defensive tackles, his
292-pound weight the 15th, per
MockDraftable, but Hurst has
turned it into an asset. He can fire
off the line of scrimmage with
gusto, consistently creating easy
leverage that turns into pressure.

Michigan
defensive

coordinator Don Brown utilized
Hurst last season by consistently
moving him around the line of
scrimmage and stunting — having
him start a play lining up over one
gap, then moving to another after
the ball was snapped. Hurst’s
versatility is a major asset at the
next level. Though I’d argue he
fits best playing at 1-technique —
shading the inside shoulder of the
guard — you could easily get away
with playing him at 3-technique,
on the outside shoulder of the
guard. Brown did both and got
results, as well as lining Hurst
up at nose tackle regularly and
4i-technique on occasion.

Hurst’s run defense is a tad

more refined than his pass
rushing. Once he gets leverage,
Hurst can easily control any
blocker, putting in grade-A work

with his hands and moving off
linemen when the time comes.
His most impressive plays on tape
last year came when opponents
ran inside zone, which calls for
double-teaming interior linemen.
Hurst often plowed through the
double-team and stuffed the
running back before he could get
anywhere. That could change in
the NFL, where the linemen are
bigger and more precise with
their blocks, falling off less often,
but Hurst has still shown an
uncanny ability to shed double
teams throughout his career.

It’s hard to find a flaw in

Hurst’s run defense. His size
may give teams some pause as
to whether he can fill space in
the middle of the line the way a
1-technique traditionally does.
Compare him to 6-foot-5, 332-
pound Vita Vea — the likely top
pick at defensive tackle — and
that’s
understandable.
But
it

didn’t seem to matter on tape.

Hurst’s speed allows him to

make plays you rarely see from
interior linemen. He can fly across
the field to shut down a screen
and has the sort of determination
scouts love, never giving up on a
play.

As a pass rusher, there’s some

development left for Hurst. He
consistently goes to the same tune

— firing into the A or B-gap and
hitting some poor unsuspecting
guard with a swim move or hand-
swipe. That worked wonders
for him in college. In the NFL,
though, opposing linemen will be
ready for it.

That doesn’t mean the swim

move won’t work in the NFL.
You could make a mixtape from
the success Hurst had with it
in college, and it’s completely
unstoppable if the guard can’t
shuffle to the gap quickly enough.

When Hurst did break out

other moves, he had varied
success. He could easily turn his
bull rush into a weapon, but it isn’t
there yet. Whether the bull rush
develops will depend on whether
Hurst learns to convert speed
into power. Right now, it’s an area
where being undersized makes
a difference, as it’s tough for
Hurst to create leverage rushing
with the sheer force a bull rush
requires.

Hurst is going to have success

in the NFL, assuming his medical
situation gets sorted out. He
should
be
an
effective
run

defender almost immediately. Size
will keep him from going too high
in the first round, but if he turns
out to be the best defensive tackle
in this draft class, it shouldn’t be a
surprise to anybody.

6A — Thursday, March 8, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Notebook: Livers OK after ankle injury, ‘M’ moving up in bracket projections

Asked about where he thinks

Michigan deserves to be seeded,
fifth-year senior forward Duncan
Robinson instead summoned a
different sport — with a much
smaller ball — for comparison.

“There’s a week left, so there’s a

lot of moving pieces still,” Robinson
said after winning the Big Ten
Tournament on Sunday evening.
“But we’re in the clubhouse, I guess
you could say.”

And if the No. 7 Michigan men’s

basketball team is comfortably
perched in the clubhouse, it is
waiting anxiously as the rest of
college hoops makes the turn down
the back nine.

Sunday evening, the 68-team

NCAA Tournament field will be
unveiled, and the Wolverines will
head back out on the course. And
after a torrid run through the Big
Ten Tournament last week, their
stock is soaring in many bracket
projections.

Joe Lunardi, ESPN’s leading

bracketologist, has Michigan as
a 3 seed in the East region. Jerry
Palm of CBS Sports penciled in the
Wolverines as a 4 seed in the South
region.

BracketMatrix.com
—
a

website that compiles a total of
102 different bracket projections
— currently lists Michigan as the
final No. 3 seed, with an average
seeding of 3.22.

Michigan
currently
sits
at

13th in RPI with a 6-5 record in
“Quadrant I” games — matchups
against RPI top-25 teams at home,
top-50 on neutral sites and top-75
on the road. The quadrant system
is a new criteria the committee is
expected to utilize this season for
the first time — a quantitative way
to evaluate “good wins” and “bad
losses” and place a weighted value
on winning away from home.

Regardless of the seed line,

though, the Wolverines will be a
group any NCAA Tournament-
bound teams will hope to avoid in
their bracket come Sunday evening.

“We have Michigan as a No. 3

seed,” Sports Illustrated’s current
bracket projection reads, “but
even if they end up as a No. 4, or
somehow a No. 5, they’re going to
be a team no top seed will want to
see in its region.”

Livers
(ankle)
expects

to be ready for the NCAA
Tournament

When freshman forward Isaiah

Livers lay near midcourt just over a
minute into the second half against
Purdue, the worst-case scenario
rushed to mind.

Cutting toward the ball to

receive an inbounds pass, Livers
stepped on the foot of Boilermaker
forward Vincent Edwards and
immediately fell to the ground,
grabbing his left ankle, clearly in
agonizing pain.

“I
must
have
overstrided,”

Livers said after the game, “and I
stepped on his foot and pushed off.”

Livers made his way to the

locker room shortly after, limping

noticeably on his way down the
tunnel.

The freshman first sprained his

ankle in an early February loss at
Northwestern. He returned eight
days later against Iowa, missing
only one game.

The trainers told him Sunday’s

injury was similar to the one he
suffered against the Wildcats,
though he told reporters the pain
was worse.

And while instant reactions

seemed grim, it seems the injury
is not as bad as it may have initially
seemed. Livers came back to the
bench midway through the second
half, though he did not play the final
19 minutes of the championship
bout.

“I could (have gone back in),”

Livers said. “Duncan (Robinson)
was just playing good.”

After the game, Livers vowed

to
be
ready
for
the NCAA

Tournament. Aided by the extra

week off, he will, at minimum,
have 10 days to regain his health in
preparation for the Tournament.

Livers took over as the starter

at the ‘4’ in mid-January against
Michigan
State
and
hasn’t

relinquished it since. While he
remains the starter — and likely
will the rest of the season, health
permitting — due to his defensive
capabilities
and
rebounding

prowess,
the
freshman
has

increasingly ceded minutes to
fifth-year senior Duncan Robinson.
Robinson has eclipsed Livers’
total in minutes in all of the last
12 games, including each Big Ten
Tournament contest.

The case for Detroit
The third round of Michigan-

Michigan State might be slated for
Sunday afternoon, just not on the
court this time.

The
Wolverines
dispatched

the Spartans in the Big Ten
Tournament semifinal Saturday

afternoon, completing the sweep of
their in-state foe.

But with Detroit slated to be

one of the first-round sites of the
NCAA Tournament next weekend,
the battle of the two résumés may
determine who gets to trek tens
of miles to Little Caesars Arena
instead of hundreds or even
thousands.

This year, the NCAA has

re-emphasized
a
desire
to

accomodate teams and their most
convenient travel situations.

Lunardi affirmed this in his

Bracketology page FAQ.

“For the 16th time, the NCAA

men’s basketball committee will
not predetermine the regional
designation of each of the eight
sub-regional sites (what it calls
the
“pod”
system),”
Lunardi

writes. “This gives the committee
increased flexibility to reduce
travel for teams and fans, as well
as create more local interest at

sub-regional sites that may not be
traditional basketball areas. For
example, the sub regional site in
Pittsburgh could send its winners
to Los Angeles (West Regional)
instead of, say, the East Regional
in Boston, if the committee thinks
it makes more geographic sense for
the teams involved.”

But given Xavier and Purdue’s

proximity to Detroit as well, it
may come down to Michigan
and Michigan State for that final
preferential spot.

The Wolverines, of course,

have beaten the Spartans head-
to-head twice this season, both
games away from Ann Arbor. They
are currently 13th in RPI to the
Spartans’ 15th, have six Quadrant
I wins to the Spartans’ three,
played the toughest schedule in
the Big Ten this year to Spartans’
13th-ranked conference strength
of schedule and, of course, won the
Big Ten Tournament title.

But it’s not that simple.
Most bracket projections still

list Michigan State ahead — with
that coveted spot in Detroit — for a
few reasons. For one, the Spartans
lost just four games all year en
route to compiling a sparkling
29-4 record and the regular
season Big Ten title. Michigan
State played a far tougher non-
conference schedule, including a
more notable non-conference win
over North Carolina, a team the
Wolverines lost to handily. And to
top it off, the Spartans haven’t lost
a game outside Quadrant I all year.
Michigan State’s marquee non-
conference win is better and they
have no bad losses, in short.

All of this comes down to what

the committee values and doesn’t, a
fruitless task to even ponder. If they
choose to look at the head-to-head
matchups and/or RPI, Michigan
will take precedent. If they want
the more consistent team, it will be
Michigan State.

But if you know how the

selection committee will evaluate
this — and every — decision, maybe
you should stop focusing on college
basketball and start playing the
lottery.

ETHAN SEARS
Daily Sports Writer

Film study: If Hurst is healthy, he can be NFL star

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily

Former defensive tackle Maurice Hurst Jr. was one of the nation’s most productive defensive linemen this past season.

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily

Freshman forward Isaiah Livers suffered an ankle injury for the second time this season in the Big Ten Tournament Championship against Purdue.

MAX MARCOVITCH

Daily Sports Editor