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Michigan DE Taylor Upshaw announces return for fifth season

clayton-sayfieby:Clayton Sayfie•01/01/22•

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Michigan football Taylor Upshaw
Michigan football defensive end Taylor Upshaw will be counted on for an expanded role in 2022. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Michigan Wolverines football’s team will “never be fully the same,” head coach Jim Harbaugh said after his team’s 34-11 loss to Georgia in the College Football Playoff. Several players will graduate and move on, and others will elect to become an early entrant into the NFL Draft.

Defensive end Taylor Upshaw, on the other hand, will return for at least one more season, he revealed in an Instagram post Jan. 1. He has two years of eligibility remaining since he redshirted in 2018 and 2020 was a free year due to the pandemic.

“I couldn’t be more thankful for the experiences that the 2021 season had to offer,” Upshaw wrote. “The University of Michigan is a special place that preaches excellence and greatness. I am proud to call myself a ‘Michigan Man’ and happy to announce I will be returning for a fifth year to finish the journey I started.”

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The 6-4, 262-pounder didn’t play a major role this season, though he did battle an injury midway through the year. He registered seven tackles, including 4.5 stops for loss and 2.5 sacks, while adding three quarterback hurries. Three of his TFLs came against Indiana, one occurred at Wisconsin and the other was a half-TFL versus Washington.

Playing in in 207 snaps, Upshaw racked up 16 pressures as a pass rusher, while posting a 64.3 overall grade on Pro Football Focus (PFF).

Upshaw received significant playing time during the shortened 2020 campaign after Aidan Hutchinson suffered a season-ending injury. Upshaw racked up 17 tackles and 3.5 stops for loss in 109 snaps. He saw action on 22 plays in 2019, after redshirting in the 2018 season.

Michigan’s situation at the edge defender spots for 2021 remains unsettled. Hutchinson will go pro and likely be a top-five pick, while redshirt freshman outside linebacker David Ojabo has the option to head to the NFL as well. He’s projected as a first-round draft choice. Michigan second-year freshman Jaylen Harrell played the third-most snaps at the position, just several plays more than Upshaw, notching 15 stops, 2.5 tackles for loss and one quarterback hurry.

Hutchinson and others who will depart leave a void of leadership for the 2022 Michigan team, and Upshaw is a potential replacement. He already showed some of those qualities when meeting with the media earlier this season, and teammates have only spoken fondly of him.

“This defense sticks together,” he said in October. “We don’t flinch when mistakes are made or adversity hits. We face it with the same mentality as if it didn’t hit. If the offense scores three points, our mentality is that it’s all we need. That’s the difference.”

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