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Newsstand: Joel Klatt links Michigan star to Tom Brady in NFL Draft

Anthony Broomeby:Anthony Broome•about 18 hours•

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The Michigan Wolverines should have one of the most top-heavy draft classes of anyone in the country with four first-round picks expected this spring in the 2025 NFL Draft. Cornerback Will Johnson in particular should be near the top of the list, and come off the board early.

One potential fit is the Las Vegas Raiders, who are rebuilding under new head coach Pete Carroll with former Michigan quarterback and NFL legend Tom Brady running the show as a part owner. Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt thinks Johnson is a perfect fit with the Raiders at No. 6 overall.

“If you see coaches that have success a certain way, they generally try to go back and follow that blueprint,” Klatt said recently. “So, what did Pete Carroll have success with? Defense, defense… There’s a guy that just screams Pete Carroll defense to me on the board right here and that’s Will Johnson, the corner from Michigan.”

He continued: “Will Johnson has great length,” Klatt said. “He reminds me a lot of Richard Sherman. He’s great in zone, Pete liked to play zone, at least in his past with post-safety defense… Will Johnson is a shutdown corner, he’s got great ball skills, he’s great in zone, he can play man. He’s very smart, he’s physical, he likes to rally up and make tackles in the run game. He screams Pete Carroll to me. I think that fits a lot… If (Tom) Brady is involved at all, then he gets a Michigan man in his first draft.”

Tweets of the day

Michigan quote of the day

“I speak frequently to a lot of the former players, and to be honest, I was thinking it was odd because I started getting texts about a week ago about players, and people were coming in for the MSU game. And I was saying, you know we play OSU first like we’ve got a lot of players that are coming in for the MSU game, and I was saying, you know we play OSU first like we’ve got we’re on the road in Columbus so yeah, people are obviously very excited. We know what it means, but we also we have to play we have to focus on us playing really good basketball against a quality team.”

– Michigan head coach Dusty May on the basketball rivalry with Michigan State

Headlines of the day

Into The Blue: Position-by-position breakdown of Michigan’s 2026 recruiting needs on offense
Dusty May: ‘I love being the basketball coach at Michigan’
Podcast: Breaking down Michigan’s win over Ohio State, taking your football and basketball questions
Monday Afternoon Recruiter: NIL, staff ties leading to more Michigan recruiting success in Texas
Top 100 OL Felix Ojo on why Michigan is a top school, plans for return visit

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