Spring ball fights, unfinished business, ‘does he always try this hard?’ Best quotes from ‘Hutch’ episode two

Michigan Wolverines football defensive end Aidan Hutchinson teamed up with Pro Football Focus to produce the ‘Hutch’ podcast series that goes behind the scenes on the projected No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick’s life, family and football career.

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PFF host Austin Gayle interviews a number of people close to Hutchinson, Michigan and the NFL. In episode two of four, which focuses on the star’s early days at U-M, Gayle sits down with Hutchinson, his family members, Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh, U-M radio’s Jim Brandstatter, Dan Dierdorf and Jon Jansen, former Wolverines defensive coordinator Don Brown and more. They discuss topics ranging from Hutchinson’s early days at Michigan to his 2020 season-ending injury, returning for his senior year and more.

Here are the highlights from episode two:

HOW TO LISTEN TO ‘HUTCH’: Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4

Hutchinson’s work ethic

Aidan’s father, Chris Hutchinson: “He’s at Michigan as a true freshman, and he’s giving this level of effort that he’s always given. And one of the coaches says, ‘Does he always try this hard?’ And this is just working out, and they see this level of, no matter what drill it is — even though it’s in June — if I’m going to do this, I’m going to give everything I got. To be honest, it kind of surprised me that it surprised them.”

Dan Dierdorf: “He was not an All-American when he was a freshman, but everything you heard from day one when you talked to the coaches, there were just two words that every coach used: ‘Hard work.’ It’s in his DNA. I didn’t know him when he was in grade school, but I’m assuming he was a grinder when he was in grade school. That’s where we started, and it was fun watching him progress.”

Jon Jansen: “I said this in some of our broadcasts that I thought he was going to be a combination of a Chase Winovich, who played with great heart, great passion, great effort. But also compared with a Rashan Gary and the skill set and talent that Rashan had. 

“Now, if you could’ve put Chase’s heart in Rashan, you would get what we’re seeing right now and who we’re talking about — and that’s Aidan Hutchinson. Every practice, every game, every time he’s in the weight room, in the meeting rooms, it is all business.”

Jim Brandstatter: “He was like a sponge. He was out there and he was trying to learn everything he could learn. Not only that, but think about what’s inside Aidan Hutchinson, to go to Michigan and knowing there’s that legacy. He’s got a name to live up to. He didn’t run from that. He accepted that challenge and said, ‘I’m going to accept this challenge of being Chris Hutchinson’s son, and I’m going to surpass the old man.’ That’s not an easy thing to do for a young man, young kid coming out of high school, but he did it. And then he did a great job of learning from those guys ahead of him, but still playing well enough so that you get a shot on the field. And that, to me, told me he’s got all it takes.”

Hutchinson’s versatility

Don Brown: “I had him in all four positions in 2019, in different places, where he was rushing the quarterback. He could play the tight-end side end, could play the open-side end, could move in over the nose or the three and do some work there. Could stand up and play outside linebacker like he did some this year. It’s a guy with not only flexibility, tremendous positional flexibility, that he’ll be able to do a tremendous amount with it at the next level.”

Devin Bush scraping up the Michigan State logo in 2018

Aidan Hutchinson: “That moment is legendary. I only played one snap that 2018 Michigan-Michigan State game. But we didn’t really see it. I wasn’t out there pregame so we didn’t really see it, but you check your phone game to change some music, and I get this ESPN update that says, ‘Devin Bush, blah, blah, blah’ and I click on it, and I’m like, did he just do that, in a rivalry game? You know how much pressure that adds? If we don’t win this game, we’re going to get trolled. I was watching it on my phone and like, we’ve got to win this game. We ended up holding them to under 100 yards of total offense, so I think we earned that one. 

“No one was really talking about it, because pregame, everyone is really locked in. But when you see this stuff, it wasn’t really addressed. But after the game, we’re laughing about it, and it’s fun when you win. But if we were to have lost that game, the conversations would definitely have been different.”

Hutchinson’s mentality as a young college player

Aidan Hutchinson: “I think it was my sophomore year in spring ball … I got in like two fights. Sometimes, someone else gets in a fight and then you just kind of jump in it. But you definitely have to be nasty to succeed at that next level, and if that means getting in a couple fights at practice, then so be it.

“But definitely, you gotta turn that switch on. And sometimes, when you got that switch on and you’re in practice and you’re hitting dudes, you’re rushing the passer, you get lost in it a little bit. Sometimes, I let my emotions get the best of me, but I’m still nasty, but I don’t get in too many fights anymore. Not last season.”

Playing with Kwity Paye

Don Brown: “Here’s the funny thing about those two guys — both of them are fired up going to practice every day. There was a quiet competition every day between those two guys. They’ll say, no, but those two guys got after it every day and would try to out-do one another in a professional way.

“But I just remember the two of them, they’d be talking about their craft and getting ready, ‘Hey, in this rush, I’m going here, my first step’s here,’ and all our twist games and so forth. But quietly, one was trying to out-do the other every single day. 

Aidan Hutchinson: It’s always great to have a dominant defensive end on the other side of you, and our relationship really grew, even talking football, outside of football. Me and Kwity, it’s just great having him by my side for that season. Sophomore year, then junior year we were together, but it got cut short a little bit in 2020 with my injury and stuff. I told him, if he came back for my senior year, he would’ve loved the defense. I know he would’ve thrived, and I know he would’ve blew it out of the water. I’m glad he left the way he did as a first-round pick.

Expectations ahead of 2020 season

Chris Hutchinson: “We were going into his junior year with the expectation that if he had the year we thought he was going to come out [and enter the draft]. So, we said, you’ve got to play this like these are the last games in The Big House — and obviously, COVID threw a whole wrench in the whole thing. But, ‘Aidan, this is potentially your last home opener, your last game at Indiana, your last Michigan State game.’ We were full bore that we wanted him to be fully ready that if he got a high or significant first-round grade, that he was gone.

Aidan Hutchinson: “In the 2019 season, I had this good year. I think I had five sacks when I was a sophomore, so that was good, it was a good foundation. But the 2020 year, it was my year, in my head, thinking I was going to have a good year and then go to the draft, go out early. In my head, I was thinking I could be a first-round draft pick if I’m able to produce and play at a high level. That was the original thought in my head, for sure.”

What Hutchinson meant to Michigan, and how it was even more apparent after he suffered a season-ending ankle injury

Dan Dierdorf: “When he broke his ankle against Indiana, the life of the Michigan football team went right to the locker room with him. They were never the same, they never played with the same intensity after Aidan went out. And that’s the fault of the players, but it’s also a testament to how powerful of an individual Aidan Hutchinson is from a leadership standpoint.”

Choosing to return for his senior season

Aidan Hutchinson: “I would say it took me a few days after that injury to recenter myself and focus on the future and rehab and setting goals for myself and focusing on that process. In my head, obviously you flirt with the NFL a little bit, but in my head I wanted to come back — one, for my team, and two, for myself. 

“I told you about how good I felt coming into that 2020 season and how I thought I was going to explode and produce — and I just didn’t do that. I knew if you gave me one more year, I’d have the opportunity to do that. It was never really too much of a choice, I would say, in terms of going back or going to the NFL. We talked about it a little bit, but it was always going back.”