'No, I'm not sitting out': One of Michigan's top defenders remains locked in

Chris Breiler | 3 Hours Ago

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Michigan Wolverines

Michigan has reached that point in the season where it wouldn't be unreasonable to see some of the top athletes make a business decision and shut it down for the remainder of the year. Although the Wolverines lost a ton of talent from the 2023 National Championship team, the 2024 squad still features five guys who could potentially become first-round picks in the 2025 NFL Draft.

One of those potential first-round picks is defensive tackle Kenneth Grant. Meeting with the media this week, Grant made it clear that he has no intention on shutting down his season.

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“No, I’m not sitting out,” he said. “Definitely want to go out there and put great things on film. I don’t really know my draft status right now. I guess first round, you could say. But I mean, I don’t really pay attention to that stuff.”

At 6-3, 340 pounds, Grant is one of the focal points of Michigan's impressive defensive front. Through nine weeks, he's tallied 21 tackles and 2.0 sacks, including 5.0 tackles for loss. It hasn't been quite as dominant as some had expected from a numbers standpoint, but there's no question that Grant forces an offense to have to play around him vs through him. In order for the Wolverines to finish strong, they'll need every bit of what Grant has to offer down the stretch.

Another defender to keep your eye on is cornerback Will Johnson. Out of all of the projected first-round selections on Michigan's roster, Johnson is expected to go the highest as an early first-round selection. But the talented cornerback has also missed the last two weeks due to an undisclosed injury, leading some to speculate that Johnson might be shutting it down for the remainder of the season.

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When asked about that possibility last week, head coach Sherrone Moore pushed back against that idea.

"Will is not — Will has no plan of just shutting it down or anything like that," Moore said. "Will, if he could go out there he would go out there in a heartbeat. I know that he'll be back out there at some point this season, whether it's this week, next week, whenever that is. There's zero doubt in my mind that he's a competitor that wants to be out there with his teammates."

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