8 — Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Rashan Gary declares for NFL Draft

The postseason roster shifting 
has begun for the Michigan 
football team.
Junior defensive end Rashan 
Gary announced Monday that he 
will forgo his senior season with 
the Wolverines to declare for the 
2019 NFL Draft.
“I would like to thank my 
higher power, my family, the 
University 
of 
Michigan, 
the 
students and the fans,” Gary 
said in his video. “But I will 
be forgoing my senior season 
to make a dream come true to 
declare for the draft. Thank you. 
Go Blue.”
The 
announcement, 
which 
came via a 30-second YouTube 
video posted to Gary’s Twitter, 
does not come as a surprise, as he 
has been unanimously projected 
as a first- or second-round pick in 
the draft.
Really, Gary has always been 
a highly-coveted prospect, no 
matter the level. He first came 
to Ann Arbor as the No. 1 recruit 
in the 2016 class, out of Paramus, 

N.J. His recruitment came down 
to the wire on National Signing 
Day, and his choice to come 
to Michigan gave coach Jim 
Harbaugh arguably the biggest 
recruiting win of his tenure.
Since then, Gary has never 
looked back. 
He 
amassed 
166 
tackles, 
10 
sacks and a forced 
fumble, 
helping 
the 
Wolverines 
to a 28-10 record 
in 
that 
time, 
and any time he 
got the chance, 
he 
expressed 
his 
love 
for 
Michigan and his 
teammates.
“I 
just 
like 
seeing my brothers, man, just 
seeing what my brothers are 
able to do,” Gary said after the 
Wolverines blew out Rutgers, 
42-7, on Nov. 10. “It’s ridiculous. 
I’m just happy to see my brothers 
eat. That just shows us as a team 
— looking at the stat sheet — that 
we’re improving individually and 
as a team.

“... It’s great to be a Michigan 
Wolverine.”
Perhaps 
Gary’s 
resume 
at 
Michigan would have been a 
bit stronger had he not suffered 
a shoulder injury this season, 
which kept him on the sideline 
for games against Maryland, 
Wisconsin 
and 
Michigan State. 
The 
declaration is the 
first in what could 
be a large group 
of 
Wolverines 
to do so. Junior 
linebacker Devin 
Bush, 
junior 
cornerbacks 
Lavert Hill and 
David 
Long, 
junior 
safety 
Josh Metellus, junior guard Ben 
Bredeson and junior quarterback 
Shea Patterson are the big names 
that have realistic options to 
move on from Ann Arbor, though 
most of their draft projections 
aren’t as strong as Gary’s.
Gary’s video did not clarify 
whether he plans to play in 
Michigan’s bowl game or not.

MIKE PERSAK
Managing Sports Editor

EVAN AARON/Daily
Junior defensive end Rashan Gary announced Monday that he will forgo his senior season to enter the NFL Draft.

“I will be forgoing 

my senior season 

to make a dream 

come true.”

