Mo Hurst Crushing It in the NFL
Likely to the surprise of nobody on this board (but absolutely shocking to certain draft-day analysts who clearly never watched him play), Mo Hurst is one of PFF's top graded rookies so far this year.
According to the chart included in this article, Hurst is 4th overall among rookies with an 82.5 grade--behind only Derwin James (86.6), Leighton Vander Esch (86.4), and Mr. "Academics-Are-Super-Important-to-Me-So-I'm-Taking-My-Talents-to....Alabama" Da'Shawn Hand (85.2).
October 15th, 2018 at 4:38 PM ^
Aww man now you made me sad, I wish we had deshawn hand.
Cheap shot at him was uncalled for, let the kids decide where they play. He's in the nfl and doing well, he never had legal trouble, why be butt hurt about it?
October 15th, 2018 at 4:40 PM ^
I think it's more... just be honest. Alabama is a football powerhouse. That's why you went. Don't mention academics when everyone knows Michigan is one of the top schools in the country in regards to academics. While Alabama... is not.
Good for him! I'm glad he's succeeding! Recruiting is dumb.
October 15th, 2018 at 4:45 PM ^
I think he wanted to do engineering IIRC. Michigan told him no, you're not going to be able to handle that with football.
October 15th, 2018 at 5:43 PM ^
I doubt it. Furbush seems to be doing alright in that field.
October 15th, 2018 at 6:14 PM ^
It is possible that his record and test scores qualified him for the Alabama engineering program but not Michigan's. I can't criticize him for having confidence in himself and wanting to prove he could do it. There is no reason to take shots at him.
October 15th, 2018 at 8:05 PM ^
What? I didn't take a shot at Hand. I expressed skepticism that the coaches told him he couldn't come to Michigan and take engineering courses. You may recall that when Harbaugh was coaching at Stanford he threw Bo under the bus (he waited until Bo was dead) and claimed that Bo wouldn't let players take difficult courses.
I suspect that the coaches would have been happy to take Hand and let him find out if taking engineering and playing football would work for him. It would be worth it even if he lost a year to redshirting like Walker did.
October 15th, 2018 at 6:08 PM ^
Sam Webb said he wanted some sort of petroleum engineering degree. Michigan didn't directly offer what he wanted. They were also intrigued by the presentation from the sports management department. Michigan told him he could still achieve his goals through its engineering program. He went to Alabama for football. It seems to have paid off.
October 15th, 2018 at 6:18 PM ^
Yea, for the next few years
October 15th, 2018 at 6:50 PM ^
Hand is making $480k with a $680k signing bonus this year.
He will make $540k next year, and if he continues to be productive will get a renegotiated extension worth minimum a few million a year.
He did just fine
October 15th, 2018 at 10:11 PM ^
Almost as much as he made in college?
October 15th, 2018 at 6:32 PM ^
Dupicitous post
October 15th, 2018 at 4:46 PM ^
Yes, this was exactly my intent on all points. And yes, good for him as well--his decision worked out for him, and he successfully avoided the end of the Hoke era here.
October 15th, 2018 at 4:49 PM ^
redacted
October 15th, 2018 at 4:40 PM ^
How dare he not want to play for Brady hoke?
October 15th, 2018 at 6:33 PM ^
Damn. .. This puts things in perspective.
October 15th, 2018 at 6:33 PM ^
Damn. .. This puts things in perspective.
October 15th, 2018 at 7:23 PM ^
Well considering at Bama he didn’t even play until Harbaugh was here.. and we had Mattison, so it’s not like he’d have been ruined by Home.
October 15th, 2018 at 5:01 PM ^
Aww man, now you made me think about Jake Butt. Sad again.
October 15th, 2018 at 7:22 PM ^
It’s a completely valid and fair criticism, not a cheap shot. As someone else said, just be honest.
October 15th, 2018 at 8:45 PM ^
You can actually get a good job without going to a top school. Time and again the stats show your major matters way more than where you went to school.
October 15th, 2018 at 9:12 PM ^
Purdue has a solid engineering program
Michigan has a solid engineering program
you can choose one for "academics" without saying that the other is inferior
October 15th, 2018 at 4:46 PM ^
DaShawn Hand’s goal was to make it to the NFL and he succeeded. End of story.
October 15th, 2018 at 4:49 PM ^
Agreed--I clearly should have left out the sophomoric cheap shot on this post to keep the focus on Mo, who is one of my favorite Wolverines of recent vintage (and maybe ever).
October 15th, 2018 at 7:01 PM ^
Given your handle you must be a George Orwell fan. I believe Animal Farm remains the greatest satire ever written.
October 15th, 2018 at 7:20 PM ^
And didn’t make a major impact at Bama at all, and still would have made the NFL at Michigan ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
October 15th, 2018 at 4:47 PM ^
For the zillions of hours and dollars NFL teams spend on scouting how is it the two of the four highest rated defensive rookies went in the 4th and 5th round?
October 15th, 2018 at 4:52 PM ^
In Mo's case the fall to later rounds is at least defensible given the medical reports leading up to the draft. If teams were scared away by that, fine. But there were also a number of NFL draft folks on Twitter whose names I don't recall who insisted that Mo was falling in the draft because he wasn't actually that good. If scouts watched Mo's game film and thought "yeah, that's a mid-round pick," well, they might want to consider a different line of work.
October 15th, 2018 at 5:03 PM ^
Could it be, in Da'shawn's case, that he was surrounded by too much talent and didn't have the chance to showcase his own?
If I were one of the blue bloods competing with Alabama on the recruiting trail I would use this exact note against them. Da'shawn potentially lost millions by being "another good Alabama d-lineman."
October 15th, 2018 at 6:17 PM ^
Would you, as a coach, really want to make the pitch, "Come play for me - we aren't as good as Alabama!"
The finesse way to do that is "early playing time / you're our top priority at your position" etc.
October 15th, 2018 at 5:10 PM ^
The two professions that gets paid for being right sometimes-weathermen and scouts
October 15th, 2018 at 7:28 PM ^
You're seriously underestimating the number of professionals who get paid to be wrong.
October 15th, 2018 at 4:56 PM ^
TBF, many analysts had him going in Rd. 1 or at worst, day 1 before some health concerns popped up. I won't fault a team for doing that. For every Gronk there are many guys who's injuries don't let them perform up to expectations.
October 15th, 2018 at 7:21 PM ^
Uh, round 1 = day 1
October 15th, 2018 at 5:27 PM ^
Nice pick Lions
October 15th, 2018 at 5:47 PM ^
Assuming Hurst's medical condition never stops him from playing, I think it is clear he will end up being the best value pick in the 2018 draft. A (now) clear first-round talent taken in the 5th round.
October 15th, 2018 at 6:21 PM ^
What I never understood about Hurst - plenty of guys in the 2nd-4th rounds are busts (if you can even call a 4th rounder who doesn't pan out in the league a bust). They always are. If you're batting .500 in those rounds you're doing GREAT. Hell even the 1st round has busts every year.
Mo was as close to a can't miss from an on-field performance perspective as you're going to get. Is his medical issue, which apparently had no effect on his time in college or the NFL so far, really a greater risk of busting out than your average 2nd-4th rounder?
October 15th, 2018 at 6:26 PM ^
I miss the post sack belly rub. One of the great UM celebrations dances I can remember.
October 16th, 2018 at 9:18 AM ^
I prefer the Alan Branch Memorial Walk-Off-the-Field-Nonchalantly-While-Anthony-Morelli-Dies-Alone...
October 15th, 2018 at 6:27 PM ^
Another point to make here is that through last week, he was in on 61% of Oakland's defensive plays. That's a full load for a defensive tackle in the NFL. Pro teams do not skimp on medical evaluations, and it's unlikely the Raiders would risk the fallout if they overworked Hurst and caused harm. They are not holding him back in the slightest.
Since there really are no secrets in the NFL and the Combine is designed to provide opportunity for medical evaluation, I'm really puzzled by this case. Why was he drafted so low if A) he has first-round ability and B) he apparently passed what he needed to pass to assure teams he was healthy?
Frankly, this is a mystery to me. Admittedly, I don't know everything about the NFL, but I've got nothing here.
October 15th, 2018 at 6:59 PM ^
and there is the big middle finger to the nfl. kudos to mo.
October 15th, 2018 at 7:07 PM ^
glad to see he is proving himself
October 15th, 2018 at 7:18 PM ^
NFL teams are idiots for letting him fall beyond round 3 honestly.
October 15th, 2018 at 8:13 PM ^
Hand is actually tearing it up as well. I think if he could do it again he would of chose Michigan. Just throwing that out there.
October 15th, 2018 at 8:33 PM ^
My understanding is that Hand chose Alabama over Michigan because Alabama had no problem with his plan to major in civil engineering whereas Michigan wasn't exactly thrilled with that idea. Though he didn't end up pursuing civil engineering, he did graduate from Alabama in three and a half years with a 3.4 GPA. Not sure the shot at his academics is warranted.
October 15th, 2018 at 8:55 PM ^
I know that I’m in the minority on this but I feel strongly that Mo Hurst was one of the top three defensive Michigan players in the past 25 years. He was absolutely dominant and unblockable. He ruined the development of countless offensive plays of opponents. I’m glad he’s doing well in the NFL.
October 15th, 2018 at 11:01 PM ^
Its a fucking travesty he didn't get first round money.
One of my favorite Mo Hurst moments wasn't even on the field though, it was his Uber ride with the asian dude who didn't know who he was. "Do you watch football?"