Michigan center Drake Nugent signs as NFL undrafted free agent
While in Indianapolis at the NFL Draft Combine, Michigan center Drake Nugent couldn’t help but notice a lot of familiar faces. Everywhere he looked he saw maize and blue.
“Walking around, you couldn’t do a 360 in Indianapolis without seeing a bunch of Michigan guys — or now that coach (Jim) Harbaugh is in the NFL — or coaches,” Nugent said. “It’s definitely something to appreciate on top of the incredible season we had.”
Now he has something else to appreciate, having been signed by the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent just after the 2024 NFL Draft concluded, according to Ryan Fowler of Bleacher Report and The Draft Network. Michigan set a program record with 13 draft picks.
Nugent came from Stanford for one year at Michigan and became a huge piece of a National Championship team. Though not the biggest guy (6-1 ½, 298), he more than held his own and did his job in the middle of the offense, getting the offense into the right plays and grading out especially well in pass protection.
Nugent ran the 40 in 5.23 seconds at the combine, which he called “the biggest job interview of your life,” but said it took some of the pressure off given there were 18 Michigan players at the event. Now, he’ll be facing a lot of them at the next level.
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“I look at him as just like an angry pitbull,” former teammate Trevor Keegan said with a laugh last year. “Everything he does is full go, full go, full go. Even winter workouts, spring workouts, summer workouts, everything he does is 100%. And he works his tail off.
“Obviously, he’s a little undersized, but his tenacity and his work ethic really make up for that.”
It remains to be seen if he can do it at the next level. But captain and defensive tackle Kris Jenkins, drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals on day two, said he knew Nugent was going to be a good one immediately. He called him a “tank” who paid incredible attention to detail.
“He’s a dawg,” Jenkins said of Nugent. “He came in from day one … I like him. He’s a dawg. From day one, he came in here one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen. He’s a complete freak of an athlete. He’s done stuff that had me and coach Herb [Ben Herbert] mouth agape. He’s the type of dude who wills it, trains to finish, definitely a huge football IQ guy.
“Basically, just his work ethic is unbelievable. From day one he walked in here and he got everybody’s respect quick. He’s been a guy who has constantly been trying to rep the block ‘M’ in the best way possible.”
Now Nugent will get his chance to prove it at the next level, ready to embark on his NFL journey.
