It’s been a long road to recovery for Michigan Wolverines DE Aidan Hutchinson.
A fractured ankle ended what was expected to be his final season with the Wolverines last year, but he’s back on the field now. However, he’s encountered another obstacle.
“He had March 11 circled on his calendar,” Chris Hutchinson’s, Aidan’s dad, told the Stoney & Jansen Show on Friday. “That was the day for the orthopedic surgeon to clear him 100 percent for activity, which they did. But quickly thereafter the athletic trainer had to tell Aidan that, ‘Unfortunately, the coaches are not going to release you for complete competition.’
“Needless to say, the competitive Aidan was not very happy about that. I think he and the trainer may have had an interesting interaction, if you will. Ultimately it was Macdonald’s choice. Aidan and Macdonald had to talk about the decision and Macdonald is quite aware that Aidan wanted to play and he said, ‘Listen, we’re going to let you do some things.’”
“But as far as full-team periods, (Macdonald) is like, ‘I realize that you are cleared, but you’re too valuable to this team to have some freshman offensive lineman trip and fall on your ankle and then hurt your chances for next year,'” Chris said. “While Aidan understood that, when you want to play ball it’s a kick in the gut when somebody says you can’t.”
Under new defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, Hutchinson could be used in a variety of ways this season.
“He’s now a senior, he now has a skillset that he can do a lot of things, so they’re going to move him around,” Chris said. “Aidan realizes that he is going to be a marquee piece in this defense and they’re going to put him in specific matchups in individual games that are going to benefit the team. He may line up in the base defense here, but depending on who we’re playing and what their weaknesses are, he may move anywhere. He’s aware of that, he’s excited about that.”
– – Quotes via Will Burchfield of 97.1 The Ticket Link – –
