Michigan’s Mazi Smith tops college football ‘freaks’ list

Michigan has one other participant atop Bruce Feldman’s record of school soccer ‘freaks.’

The Athletic’s school soccer author revealed his annual record of the 100 most spectacular athletes across the nation on Wednesday, and Wolverines defensive sort out Mazi Smith checked in on the very high. That’s proper, at No. 1.

“The 6-foot-3, 337-pound senior has uncommon energy and agility,” Feldman writes. “So uncommon, in truth, it’s laborious to search out the appropriate superlative to start with.”

By way of Michigan’s energy employees, Feldman came upon that: Smith has benched 22 reps of 325 kilos (not the standard 225), close-grip benched 550 kilos, posts a 44-inch vertical bounce, and broad-jumped 9 ft, 4 1/2 inches. And that’s simply his energy and agility.

As for velocity, effectively, Smith has that, too. The Grand Rapids, Mich., native has clocked a shuttle time of 4.41 seconds, which Feldman notes would’ve tied any defensive sort out on the NFL Scouting Mix this 12 months; a 3-cone drill time of 6.95 seconds, which might have been the quickest; and a 60-yard shuttle of 11.90 seconds.

Extra: Michigan X-factor: DT Mazi Smith in line for expanded function

Maybe much more spectacular, nonetheless, is Smith’s efficiency in a few of the drills Herbert and his employees ask the gamers to participate in. In a single particular drill, gamers try to leap up a collection of seven 26-inch excessive stairs as quick as they will. This system document is seemingly 2.21 seconds, and Smith did it in 2.82 seconds. (For comparability, Aidan Hutchinson, who was No. 2 on Feldman’s ‘freaks’ record final 12 months and is 60 kilos lighter than Smith, did it in 2.57 seconds.)

Smith even dominated Michigan’s combo-twist machine aimed to measure resistance within the trenches, forcing the energy employees to name the producer to have extra weight added to the machine.

“Mazi’s rotational energy is ridiculous,” Herbert instructed The Athletic, touting Smith because the strongest defensive lineman he’s seen in his 25 years in soccer. “He’s an unbelievable mixture of uncommon traits packaged into one participant. He’s simply ridiculously sturdy and highly effective.”

As famous above, this isn’t the primary time a Michigan participant (notably, a defender) has appeared at or close to the highest of Feldman’s annual record. Hutchinson was No. 2 final 12 months, and Kwity Paye was No. 1 in 2020.

There have been three different Michigan gamers on this 12 months’s record, too:

• DE Julius Welschof, No. 7: “Since arriving in Ann Arbor, Welschof has dazzled his teammates along with his athleticism. Requested what essentially the most spectacular factor he’s ever seen Welschof do, standout cornerback D.J. Turner mentioned it’s an ankle mobility check that measures the flexibleness of their decrease legs.” Whereas Turner recorded 13 or 14 inches, above the staff common, he mentioned, Welschof obtained 23 inches.

• DB D.J. Turner, No. 31: “He’s the quickest man on the Wolverines, having hit 23.07 mph on the GPS and run a 4.28 40 — out of a two-point stance, no much less. His 3-cone time is much more gorgeous. He clocked a 6.29 this offseason, and energy coaches suppose he has a very good shot at besting the mix document of 6.28, set in 2018 by Oklahoma’s Jordan Thomas.”

• DL Kenneth Grant, No. 46: “He was solely ranked a three-star recruit popping out of Indiana, however he’s already generated numerous buzz contained in the Wolverines program in a couple of months there. At 6-4, 360, he ran a sub-5.0 40, Jim Harbaugh instructed The Athletic this month.”

Learn extra on Michigan soccer:

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Kalel Mullings including a bodily ingredient to Michigan RB room

Week into camp, Jim Harbaugh says U-M ‘additional forward’ than final 12 months

Michigan debuts at No. 6 in coaches’ ballot; MSU 14th

QB coach Matt Weiss adjusting to life on recruiting path