The Michigan football team begins its fall camp in a matter of weeks, and if the Wolverines want to make the College Football Playoff after last year’s 8-5 season, they will need new breakout stars to emerge on both sides of the ball.
If recent history is any guide, that will need to continue on defense, as Michigan’s dominant run from 2021-23 was filled with new breakout stars thriving in their new roles on defense.
So who can step up for the maize and blue this fall? Below, we break down our five picks for the biggest breakout stars on the Wolverines’ offense. While a “breakout star” can be a wide-ranging term, in this story we’re defining it as a player with less than three career starts and under 250 snaps played.
So take a look at our pick at each position group below. If you missed it, here is our piece predicting offensive breakout stars from earlier this week.
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Defensive line: Trey Pierce
Enow Etta would be a solid choice here, too, as the former top-150 recruit has reportedly bulked up to 6-foot-5 and 320 pounds. But with 211 career snaps played and one career start, Pierce qualifies for this story, and seems like a player on the cusp of a breakout season.
The 6-foot-2, 315-pounder essentially emerged as Michigan’s No. 4 defensive tackle last season as a redshirt freshman, logging seven tackles, five run stops and two quarterback pressures. That’s a quiet box score total, but Pierce earned the trust of Michigan’s coaches in key spots last season, and was touted for his awareness and decision-making on the line, as well as his leverage and ability to stop the run. When Graham and Grant turned their focus on the NFL Draft, Pierce earned his first-career start and logged 38 snaps in Michigan’s bowl win over Alabama.