Mason Graham (‘22 DT) named LA Times Player of the Year
December 19th, 2021 at 11:07 AM ^
That is a bold prediction but I LIKE IT!
October 8th, 2023 at 12:16 PM ^
I'm from the future.
It's 2023, he's a Sophomore, and will probably be an All American this year.
December 19th, 2021 at 11:25 AM ^
Curious what the historical track record is for la times player of year…would have to imagine they are typically top 50 types
December 19th, 2021 at 11:35 AM ^
They didn't award it last yr because of Covid, but Bryce Young won it in 2019, and Bru McCoy won it in 2018.
December 19th, 2021 at 11:53 AM ^
I believe this is accurate
2021 Mason Graham #353 247 Composite
2020 It looks like they did a spring season POTY, Matayo Uiagalelei (2023 recruit- #19 next year)
2019 Bryce Young #2
2018 Bru McCoy #9
2017 JT Daniels #16
2016 Wyatt Davis #24
2015 Mique Juarez #11
2014 Josh Rosen #11
December 19th, 2021 at 12:00 PM ^
Yeah, you have to go back to 2013 to find a recruit who wasn’t elite nationally — Jared Lebowitz, a 3-star QB who I think went to UNLV.
Certainly not all of the above players had great success in college, but the award typically aligns nicely with high school rankings, which would imply that Graham is very underranked as a prospect.
December 19th, 2021 at 12:04 PM ^
I would imagine he is bumped to solidly top 75 on 247 on the final rankings.
December 19th, 2021 at 12:54 PM ^
I always felt like this year would be a deceptive recruiting cycle since so many of these guys have gotten a lot less exposure than usual. After listening to Brian, Seth, Alex and Lorenz talk about each player, there wasn't a single low ranked player who they thought shouldn't be higher in the rankings. In contrast I remember some of those Hoke-riguez classes where Brian was down on almost every last one of them.
December 19th, 2021 at 2:12 PM ^
The 2022 class as a whole is going to be an interesting one to watch across all of college football. A lot of the 2022 prospects had limited or no junior film and could not camp with COVID. I think the correlation between ranking and performance in the class is going to be lower than normal, and that may have consequences down the road for a lot of schools. These prospects also were limited in how much travel they could do for unofficial visits during their junior years. I think both of those factors put together may end up leading to an even crazier transfer portal for this 2022 class.
December 20th, 2021 at 12:08 PM ^
And its not just that a lot of players didn't have Junior year film... they didn't have a junior year! Missing a huge chunk, if not all, of normal football activities at such a developmentally pivotal time for these guys didn't exactly allow them hit the ground running in their final season. In a lot of cases you'd have to think the tape the were putting out in the first half of the year probably wasn't their best work.
December 19th, 2021 at 12:51 PM ^
How many LA area kids are ranked ahead of Mason this season?
December 19th, 2021 at 1:00 PM ^
just took a look, I stopped counting at 25 kids.
December 19th, 2021 at 1:06 PM ^
Theres a much easier way of doing this. Go to a player’s profile and there’s an in-state rank. He’s the 28th ranked player in California on the 247 Composite.
December 19th, 2021 at 3:21 PM ^
sure, but I asked about LA area kids since the LA Times chose him as the player of the year, not the entire state.
December 19th, 2021 at 3:58 PM ^
Exactly. Zeke Barry, for example, is ranked ahead of him in CA but he's a Bay Area kid and therefore not part of LA. I just looked, and according the composite, he's the 22nd ranked kid in the LA area (I included LA, Orange, SB and Riverside counties). Crazy thing is he's the 3rd highest ranked kid at his own high school (and their rival HS, Mater Dei, has 4 of the top 6 in the state).
December 19th, 2021 at 5:31 PM ^
Thank you, glad you understood what I was getting at.
December 19th, 2021 at 2:14 PM ^
And as a player not playing QB. My guess the track record for those players might be even better.
December 19th, 2021 at 4:01 PM ^
Well, he beat out Domani Jackson, so there’s that . . .
December 19th, 2021 at 4:14 PM ^
I hope it won't be the last time for that too!
December 19th, 2021 at 4:58 PM ^
Domani missed the season with an injury
December 19th, 2021 at 11:26 AM ^
Fun news! Thanks.
December 19th, 2021 at 11:43 AM ^
The lifeblood of any program is the trenches on both sides, and man, we have some real deal players with crazy depth. So excited that we're at the point where 2 edge rushers can jet off to the NFL (following Kwity, Chase, Rashan and before that Mo Hurst and the whole 2016 group) and yet still feel confident about DT, DE, and other spots with so much young talent waiting the wings.
Go Blue!
December 19th, 2021 at 4:03 PM ^
Love this team, love what we're building - BUT...
With Hutch & Ojabo both almost certainly gone in '22, there isn't an obvious heir apparent for either. And to say they played a pretty significant role in this team's success would be a pretty major understatement!
If we can keep scoring like we have the last few games tho?
That'd be great!
December 19th, 2021 at 4:28 PM ^
No heir apparent for them specifically, but it's possible our D is about as good as this year with so much returning talent on the DL and guys like Jaylen Harrell and hopefully McGregor ready to step into the vacated Edge roles. We also return Colson, NHG and Barrett at LB and despite losing Hill and Hawkins, we return all 3 corners who started this year plus Moore, Moten and Paige at safety, leaving us with a ton of experienced depth on D.
Considering our O could take a solid step forward, we could be in for a similar season next year.
December 19th, 2021 at 5:14 PM ^
I like Harrell, he could possibly make a leap like Ojabo did. But Hutchinson is a generational talent (don't think he has a younger brother coming behind him, like the Bosa's?).
There's absolutely no way the D doesn't take a step back next year. Rewatching the osu & Iowa games, Hawkins was in on so many plays! Very underrated!
Just means we'll have to score more. And that should be fun!
December 19th, 2021 at 8:08 PM ^
You can take a step back in one position group and still be just as good as a unit. We've seen that happen at Michigan (and other schools) before. And I'm guessing our D might be slightly inferior but with an offense that will almost certainly be at least slightly superior, that sets up for another very good season.
December 19th, 2021 at 8:29 PM ^
They’ll have a bunch of guys who get another year of development coupled with hopefully a lot of extra practices because of being in the playoff. You’re not going to just “next man up” two first round draft picks but the some of the parts on the DL next year assuming all projections come back is a deeper group with albeit less of a ceiling on the edge. However that should mean MacDonald can disguise pressures differently and use that experience to running more complex schemes like Oklahoma State and OSU’s new DQ did this past season in Stillwater.
December 19th, 2021 at 11:43 AM ^
Interesting considering the LA area is stockpiled with elite talent and I imagine this award is typically going to top-100 or more likely top-50 overall recruits. I’m sure Mason absolutely earned the honor and major kudos to him, but is this just a situation where his ranking just doesn’t reflect his level of play? Did he just blow up over the last year and he wasn’t heavily scouted prior, due to COVID or something like that?
Really curious.
December 19th, 2021 at 11:53 AM ^
Yeah he's a late-riser in a state that missed a season last year. Had a monster senior year playing one of the toughest schedules in the country. 247's West Coast guy said he was the best lineman in California on either side of the ball this year. All in all, we're very lucky he's not going to Bama or Ohio State, let alone USC
December 19th, 2021 at 12:57 PM ^
It’s really just another instance of the Blue Wall overhyping a Michigan recruit while preventing MSU players from getting their deserved accolades.
December 19th, 2021 at 4:06 PM ^
Just saw a term used today that I was previously unfamiliar with, but would work perfectly for sparty conspiracy theories: BlueAnon!
December 19th, 2021 at 11:44 AM ^
Why is Harbaugh wearing a jacket in that photo? LOL.
Pretty cool about Graham. He is going to destroy the OL. Future is very bright
December 19th, 2021 at 12:51 PM ^
The picture was taken outside in December, you realize that right? Even in SoCal, it gets chilly sometimes. It's in the upper 40s where I live right now and we've had a few days lately even colder than that.
December 19th, 2021 at 1:14 PM ^
the national guard usually gets called out whenever the temps plunge into the 50's.
December 19th, 2021 at 1:46 PM ^
Thin blood. It's real.
December 19th, 2021 at 2:49 PM ^
mine never thinned. i was always hot when i lived out west, and was good-naturedly merciless to my california friends who complained about what they thought was 'cold' weather.
December 19th, 2021 at 1:16 PM ^
I know what you mean. No one else was wearing one and Harbaugh is the guy I expected to run around without a shirt. Just a clumsy observation that is not based on logic. ;)
December 19th, 2021 at 4:02 PM ^
Haha sure. But two of them are wearing pullovers and a third is wearing a hoodie so it must have been a little chilly.
December 19th, 2021 at 1:26 PM ^
He put that on right before he jumped into the pool
December 19th, 2021 at 11:49 AM ^
Didn’t have a ton of major offers. Great find!
December 19th, 2021 at 12:36 PM ^
I don't understand how that's possible. Servite is one of the highest-profile programs in California and the country.
December 19th, 2021 at 12:37 PM ^
Part of that was him committing to Michigan pretty early in his rise as a prospect. The non-local schools pretty much just moved on at that point. Which is how most recruitments tend to go outside of the truly elite kids.
December 19th, 2021 at 12:54 PM ^
He was initially committed to Boise State.
We stole him from them.
December 19th, 2021 at 1:10 PM ^
Yes, right as he was becoming recognized as a rising prospect. It’s much easier for a program like Michigan to steal a kid from a Boise State than it is for a team like Florida to steal a California kid from a team like Michigan.
So most of the time, only local schools will try to get kids committed to other P5 schools. Meaning for the most part, non-West Coast schools didn’t bother getting involved after he committed to Michigan, which impacted his offer list.
December 19th, 2021 at 11:50 AM ^
I love players like Mason Graham who don’t take plays off and go all out on every snap. This is the part of the game you can’t measure that separates him from everyone else.
December 19th, 2021 at 12:05 PM ^
December 19th, 2021 at 12:05 PM ^
Nice find. Elite. Go Blue!
December 19th, 2021 at 12:25 PM ^
This matches what I read and heard toward the end of the recruiting period where everyone who saw him thought he was criminally underrated and would be a great find. Past winners of this award include Bryce Young, JT Daniels (USC/UGa QB), Wyatt Davis (first rounder OT from OSU).
December 19th, 2021 at 12:27 PM ^
YES!!! A defensive lineman who wrestled in high school. Our best tackles in my lifetime were always state champion wrestlers. Love it!
December 19th, 2021 at 12:27 PM ^
A perfect Baltimore Raven defensive end in the 3 - 4 in which the we are transitioning.