6A — Thursday, September 27, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Aidan Hutchinson hype train gaining steam

Get anyone in the Michigan 
football 
program 
going 
on 
freshman defensive end Aidan 
Hutchinson, 
and 
it 
soon 
becomes clear how high they 
are on him. 
Ask 
fifth-year 
senior 
defensive lineman Lawrence 
Marshall.
“Oh my god, Aidan, from the 
first day until now, making a 
huge jump. That kid will be an 
All-American here.”
Ask junior defensive end 
Rashan Gary, a potential future 
top-10 NFL draft pick: 
“I tell him all the time, my 
freshman year, he’s ahead of 
where I was.”
Ask his position coach, Greg 
Mattison:
“All I know is when Aidan 
was recruited, and watching 
Aidan play in high school and 
watching him in camp and 
watching him in games, his 
future is very, very bright.”
Four games into Hutchinson’s 
Michigan career, the hype is 
deafening. Hutchinson — barely 
18 years old — has publicly 
tempered expectations, saying, 
“that’s cool, but I have a lot to 
work on” when asked about 
Marshall’s 
All-American 
prediction.
But his performance thus far 
speaks for itself.
Despite playing behind Gary 
and fifth-year senior Chase 
Winovich, 
Hutchinson 
has 
seen action in all four games 
this season. Against Western 
Michigan, 
the 
freshman 
notched six tackles. Late in the 
second quarter of Saturday’s 
game 
against 
Nebraska, 
Hutchinson 
diagnosed 
a 
screen pass from Cornhuskers 
quarterback Adrian Martinez 
and batted the attempt back in 
the air. Martinez caught his own 
attempt in the Nebraska end 
zone, but Hutchinson knocked 
him down, forcing Martinez 
into an intentional grounding 

penalty out of desperation, 
resulting in a safety.
It was a glimpse of the 
athleticism, intelligence and 
relentlessness 
that, 
by 
all 
accounts, Hutchinson has been 
showing in practice all year.
“He’s strong, he goes hard, 
he’s smart. Like he really 
understands football,” Marshall 
said Tuesday. “Like a lot of 
freshmen, when they come in, 
they really don’t understand the 
adjustments from high school to 
college. He really understands 
football.”
That 
would 
make 
sense, 
given 
his 
family 
pedigree. 
Hutchinson’s 
father, 
Chris, 
played at Michigan from 1988-
1992, 
earning 
All-Big 
Ten 
honors his final two seasons 
and an All-American selection 
his senior season.
Chris totaled 11 sacks in 1992 
and finished his career with 20, 
then the second-highest total in 
school history.
Mattison 
coached 
the 
Wolverines’ 
defensive 
line 
in 1992, and says “(Chris) 
may be the best I’ve had the 
opportunity to coach.” 

“Obviously him being an 
All-American here, obviously 
I know there’s a high standard 
for me,” Aidan said Tuesday. 
“I think, but I set my own 
expectation for myself, and I set 
the bar for myself.”
For the time being, his snap 
count will be limited by the 
presence of Gary and Winovich 
— two potential All-Big Ten 
ends who rarely take a play 
off, barring injury. Hutchinson 
has gained valuable in-game 
experience in the last three 
weeks, games Michigan has 
won by a total of 127 points.
Far 
from 
a 
hindrance, 
Mattison sees Gary’s presence 
in particular as valuable to 
Hutchinson’s growth. Mattison 
often 
sees 
Gary 
offering 
Hutchinson 
assistance 
in 
meetings and film sessions, 
which reminds the veteran 
coach of another player-to-
player relationship. 
“I can still remember (former 
defensive end) Chris Wormley 
sitting right next to Rashan, 
helping him every day with all 
of the things we were trying to 
do, and (Gary) listening, and 

him learning it, and doing better 
each day that way,” Mattison 
said. “Rashan is doing the exact 
same thing with Aidan.”
Hutchinson 
will 
almost 
certainly step into a more 
prominent role next season, 
with Winovich graduating and 
Gary likely headed to the NFL. 
He will occupy the same spot, 
in the same uniform, under the 
same coach that his father did 
during his All-America season.
If 
the 
first 
portion 
of 
his freshman season is any 
indication — and if Marshall’s 
words turn into reality — 
Hutchinson could quickly shed 
the title of “Chris’ son.” 
Mattison 
certainly 
thinks 
he’s on his way, even flashing 
some of the same skills that 
made Chris successful.
“Aidan has a lot of that in 
him,” Mattison said. “The good 
thing is Aidan has six more 
inches.”
Aidan 
Hutchinson 
has 
generated plenty of hype in his 
first few months on campus. 
But if what Mattison said is 
the case, not a word of it is 
hyperbole.

Moore earns praise in first year as tight ends coach

Jim 
Harbaugh, 
like 
any 
coach, loves to compliment his 
players.
So 
when 
the 
Michigan 
football 
coach 
was 
asked 
Monday, 
at 
his 
weekly 
press conference, about the 
development of redshirt junior 
tight end Zach Gentry, it was 
no surprise that Harbaugh 
had a lot to say about all of 
his tight ends — Gentry, along 
with juniors Sean McKeon and 
Nick Eubanks. He even gave a 
shoutout to former Wolverine 
Jake Butt, now a tight end with 
the NFL’s Denver Broncos.
And then at the end of his 
response, Harbaugh quickly 
added a compliment to first-
year tight ends coach Sherrone 
Moore.
“It’s just really good, good — 
tight ends, Sherrone Moore’s 
doing a heck of a job coaching 
this (group),” Harbaugh said. 
“… So proud of that.”
It’s a small gesture, but 
it still meant something to 
Moore, who joined the staff 
this 
offseason 
by 
way 
of 
Central Michigan. Does he get 
that praise often?
“From my wife,” Moore said 
Wednesday. 
“My mom, she’ll 
give 
me 
that 
sometimes. My 
wife 
actually 
told me about 
(Harbaugh’s 
comments), 
which 
was 
pretty cool. So, 
you know, I’m 
just blessed to 
be here and do 
whatever I can to make this 
team better and make this 
program better.”
Moore was dealt a strong 
hand when he arrived in Ann 
Arbor.
Not 
only 
does 
he 
have 
Gentry, McKeon and Eubanks, 
but 
Michigan 
also 
landed 
the No. 6 tight-end recruit 
in the 2018 recruiting class, 
Mustapha Muhammad.

And 
with 
Harbaugh’s 
fondness for two and three-
tight 
end 
sets, 
Moore 
is 
experiencing a wealth of riches 
he hasn’t enjoyed before.
“Last 
year 
at 
Central, 
we were more of a spread 
operation, 
so 
really only in 
one-tight 
end 
sets a majority 
of 
the 
game. 
Sometimes 
two,” 
Moore 
said. “But, you 
know, here, as 
you guys see, 
we’re in three-
tight end sets, 
we’re early in 
the game three-tight end sets. 
Then I’ve got all three of them 
yelling at us, ‘Don’t take us 
off the field, ‘cause you saw 
us score.’ And I’m like, ‘Guys, 
chill out.’
“But, you know, it’s really 
cool to be a part of a program 
that does that and to be a part 
of that. And when you have 
weapons like that, it’s good to 
use them like that.”

Last 
season, 
Gentry 
(303) 
and 
McKeon 
(301) 
had the second and third-
most receiving yards on the 
team, and they had the most 
receiving touchdowns as well 
— two and three, respectively.
Those 
aren’t 
staggering 
numbers, 
but 
on a team that 
struggled to pass 
the ball, the tight 
ends were often 
the safety valve. 
That dimension 
was already in 
their repertoire.
This 
season, 
they’re 
contributing 
in 
the 
run 
game, too. That aspect was 
a major knock against the 
tight ends last season, but the 
improvement 
is 
something 
Moore has noticed firsthand.
“Their strength from the 
spring to now the gains that 
they get, you know, I hold the 
bag sometimes for them and 
feel a little bit of a different 
thump when they hit it,” 

Moore said. “So that was a 
pretty cool feeling, to feel the 
difference of their strength 
there. But to watch those 
guys really improve from a 
fundamental standpoint with 
their hands and their feet has 
been 
really 
cool and really 
has come to 
fruition 
on 
gameday.”
Moore 
is 
quick 
to 
deflect praise. 
He 
credits 
strength 
and 
conditioning 
coach 
Ben 
Herbert 
for 
the tight ends’ improvement 
in 
blocking. 
He 
lauds 
wide 
receivers 
coach 
Jim 
McElwain 
for 
passing 
on 
some knowledge to him. And 
he credits the talents of his 
players for the rest.
But there is no doubt that 
Moore is doing something 
right. If he weren’t, his praise 
would still just be coming 
from his wife and his mom.

Teske preparing for 
bigger role with ‘M’

Last March, Jon Teske sat 
with a towel draped over his 
neck and a long sleeve warm-
up masking his mostly dry 
jersey.
Twenty feet away, Moritz 
Wagner 
terrorized 
the 
Loyola-Chicago defense as he 
hit a turnaround three, found 
Charles Matthews with a 
backdoor bounce pass and 
charged into the paint for a 
3-point play, before capping 
the stretch with a three from 
the top of the key.
In four minutes, he took 
Michigan from a three-point 
deficit to the precipice of the 
national championship game.
“Not too many people in 
the country have the same 
skillset as Moe,” Matthews 
said Tuesday afternoon.
It’s 
a 
stretch 
that 
exemplifies 
what 
Wagner 
meant to the 
Wolverines. 
On an offense 
whose 
identity 
was 
being able to 
shoot from all 
five positions, 
the 
6-foot-11 
center 
paced 
the team with 
a 39.4 3-point 
shooting 
percentage and 14.6 points 
per game.
With Wagner now gone to 
the NBA, Teske, who played 
just three minutes in that 
game in San Antonio, moves 
to center stage.
But he’s not Moe Wagner, 
and there’s no hiding that. 
Wagner pierced the net 110 
times from beyond the arc 
over the past three years. At 
7-foot-1, Teske is an elite rim 
protector who adds another 
dimension 
to 
Michigan’s 
dominant defense but has 
never made a collegiate three. 
His 
most 
recent 
attempt 
came in the dying minutes of 
a 45-point game against UC 
Riverside last November.
“He’s 
one 
of 
a 
kind,” 
Matthews said of Wagner. “So 
yeah, we’re definitely gonna 
have to play 
differently.”
Had Wagner 
returned 
for 
his senior year, 
this would be 
a 
Michigan 
team 
with 
few 
question 
marks.
It 
would 
carry 
its 
offensive 
identity from last season, 
with 
sophomore 
guard 
Jordan Poole slotting in for 
the graduated Muhammad-
Ali 
Abdur-Rahkman. 
The 
biggest 
change 
would 
be 
freshman 
forward 
Ignas 
Brazdeikis 
providing 
a 
different type of spark off the 
bench 
than 
sharpshooting 
forward Duncan Robinson.

In 
the 
turbulent 
landscape 
of 
college 
basketball, that would make 
the Wolverines one of the 
nation’s steadiest presences 
from a season ago.
But, as expected, Wagner 

declared for the draft and 
will be playing alongside 
LeBron James in Los Angeles 
next month. In his stead, 
Teske’s development will be 
key to whether Michigan’s 
offense can match a defense 
that ranked third in Ken 
Pomeroy’s adjusted efficiency 
metric last season.
“Big Sleep has been doing 
very 
well 
in 
practice,” 
Matthews said, using Teske’s 
nickname. “And I think he’ll 
continue to grow.”
The 
most 
surprising 
development 
for 
Teske 
may come from beyond the 
3-point line. Though he’s only 
attempted 
two 
3-pointers 
in his college career, he 
regularly shot two or three a 
game in high school.
“Jon Teske has shot the 
ball really well (in practice),” 
Michigan coach John Beilein 
said. “Having a big man that 
can shoot, you all see what 
can happen, it 
made everybody 
else better last 
year. 
Having 
Jon be able to do 
that, … (that’s) 
big to get those 
big men that can 
shoot.”
Added Teske: 
“That 
(3-point 
shooting) 
is 
one thing that 
(Beilein) has seen me grow 
with. I’ve been showing him 
that I’m capable of shooting a 
three.”
It’s a different type of 
3-point 
shooting 
than 
Wagner, who could shoot in 
nearly any situation. Teske 
anticipates that his looks 
from deep will come as a 
trailer in transition or off of 
pick-and-pops.
But after losing their top 
three long ball shooters, the 
Wolverines will take all the 
help Teske can give them.
Knowing 
that 
Wagner 
was 
likely 
leaving, 
Teske 
spent the last year studying 
him and learning his craft. 
They roomed together on 
road trips, allowing Teske 
to learn from him at every 
opportunity. Even now, with 
Wagner on the 
other 
side 
of 
the 
country, 
the two keep 
in 
regular 
communication 
by texting.
“I was just 
picking 
his 
brain 
here 
and 
there 
and 
he’s 
just 
a 
great 
guy,” 
Teske said. “… He’s always 
somebody that I look to, kind 
of like a big brother to me.”
Added 
Beilein: 
“Let’s 
face it, we lost our three top 
shooters. That’s a lot of threes 
in those three and high-
percentage guys. So we have 
to replace that somehow.”
Believe it or not, Teske 
might be crucial to Michigan’s 
chances of doing that.
“Now that Moe’s gone, it’s 
my turn to step up,” Teske 
said. “And I think with my 
capability shooting the three, 
I can really stretch the floor 
and help us win games.”

EVAN AARON/Daily
Junior center Jon Teske is looking to replace Moe Wagner at the 3-point line.

“(Teske) has 
been doing 
very well in 
practice.”

“Now that 
Moe’s gone, it’s 
my turn to step 
up.”

THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Writer

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Freshman defensive end Aidan Hutchinson has seen game action in all four of Michigan’s matchups so far this season.

MAX MARCOVITCH
Daily Sports Editor

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Redshirt junior tight end Zach Gentry had the second-most receiving yards of any Michigan player last season with 303. 

MIKE PERSAK
Managing Sports Editor

“... Moore’s 
doing a heck of 
a job coaching 
this (group).” 

“... Here, as you 
guys see, we’re 
in three-tight 
end sets...”

After four years at Central Michigan, Sherrone Moore joined Michigan’s staff.

