This was the year Rivals started to take the Northeast seriously. Two Massachusetts guys, including Standard Northeast Grow-a-Butt Louis Hansen, made the top-250. Also three guys from Connecticut made four stars, and CT #1 Kechaun ended up closer to the top-250 than where former commit/fellow 4-star Quinton Somerville ended up. And it’s hard not to blame them considering the DEs Don Brown has consistently pulled out of New England. Kwity Paye was the latest, but Harold Landry, Wyatt Ray, Ray Smith, Zach Allen, and if EJ Holland’s squees are to believed, classmate TJ Guy were guys nobody seemed to care about until the great mustache twitched. 247 isn’t of the same opinion on Bennett specifically, but they’re the site that did an extensive series a few years ago on what the ideal NFL edge prospect looks like coming out of high school and #1 for edge defenders was: Takeaway No. 1: The weight will come This has been a running theme throughout almost every position. The guys that hit aren’t typically maxed-out physically. They’re guys that add weight and develop at the next level. The 11 drafted guys averaged 6-foot-4, 223 pounds. Those 11 drafted guys averaged 261 pounds at the NFL Combine. Seven of the 11 gained more the 40 pounds in college. The undrafted four averaged 6-foot-3 3/4 and 242 pounds, nearly 20 pounds more than the drafted group out of high school.
They also like guys who test well, multi-sport athletes, especially wrestlers and above-the-rim basketball players. Their example for the perfect kind of prospect to blow up was David Ojabo. They list Bennett at 6’4”/220 (Michigan says 6’5”/241, call him “accomplished wrestler” and a bendy athlete. They don’t have the testing numbers, and Bennett didn’t get a senior season, so we’re still in the dark. Nobody’s takes were quite baked when Bennett committed past old man bedtime right after the whole athletic department went into lockdown, hence all the recruiting people have a “Where were you when” story when you bring up Kechaun. Penn State and Notre Dame decided Don Brown’s departure was their cue to move in on all of Michigan’s Northeast pledges, but Bennett was having none of it. Bennett was still, at least publicly, the least thrilled member of the class that Brown was let go. It’s hard to tell if he’s pleased they’re going to a system where he can be a Uche all the way up to 260 and beyond, because he went quiet again after signing. It’s not hard to tell, given the kinds of guys the new staff immediately began pursuing, that they really appreciate the type. [After THE JUMP: What do they say about guys with good pad level]