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WATCH: Breaking down DT and EDGE positions – How much higher can Mason Graham go?

Anthony Broomeby:Anthony Broome•07/08/24•

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Mason Graham
(Photo by Melanie Maxwell / USA TODAY NETWORK)

The Michigan Wolverines boast one of the most talent-rich defenses in college football on paper this season, headlined by a pair of potential first-round picks at defensive tackle in juniors Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant.

Graham in particular has garnered the most praise with some outlets tabbing him a potential top five-to-10 selection in next year’s 2025 NFL Draft class, should he decide to leave early. As one of the heartbeats of the Michigan defense, there will be a ton of eyes on him.

During The Wolverine’s Monday night podcast, Anthony Broome and Clayton Sayfie discuss the defensive tackle and EDGE positions, which might combine to be the best in college football. But Graham drew the bulk of the discussion early on.

“He was a three-star on On3,” Sayfie said on the show. “He was a four-star in the industry ranking, but a three-star on another service, an ESPN four-star and a couple of others, and a few years later, he’s one of the best players in, in America in college football. He has the absolute ability to take over games. We’ve seen that on multiple occasions. The first one that comes to mind is one of the most brilliant performances by a defensive lineman I’ve ever seen in a game against Minnesota last year when he was playing with a club on one hand and still just eating everything up in the run game and getting after their quarterback.”

“He has the ability to take over games. He shows up in the big moments. We talked about this last week on the podcast with our top ten plays of the season from last year. But right before the Jalen Milroe stop, two plays before, Mason Graham darts into the backfield and has a tackle for loss of five yards on Jace McClellan and sets them back. They get close to the goal line, but not close enough and Michigan gets the stop. He was a big part of that play on the final snap. So those are just a few examples of what he can do. He’s got as high upside as anybody to me when you watch him in college football. It’s fair to say that was a miss in recruiting rankings, but now that you get three years later, it doesn’t matter. He’s a dominant player, and I think he still has room to improve, which is kind of exciting for what he could become this season.”

Also covered on the episode are full breakdowns of both groups, a Q&A section from The Fort and more. Watch using the video player above, on our YouTube channel or wherever you get your audio podcasts.

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