Ad Disclosure
Rashan Gary is already showing off his freakish strength in the weight room
Published:
The legend of Rashan Gary has already begun.
Ok, before we put the former No. 1 recruit in the hall of fame, let’s take a moment to acknowledge that he’s never played a college down. There’s no guarantee that he starts right away as a true freshman with how loaded Michigan’s defensive line is.
But he won’t exactly quiet the hype with his first weight-room feat.
According to fellow Michigan freshman Elysee Mbem-Bosse, Gary benched 225 pounds a whopping 26 times in a recent off-season workout.
RELATED: Jabrill Peppers reportedly recorded quite the 40-yard dash
How good is that? Well, none of the B1G’s top defensive linemen in the 2016 draft — Joey Bosa, Austin Johnson and Jihad Ward — reached 26 reps at the NFL Scouting Combine. Nobody is saying Gary is as skilled as any of those now-NFL linemen. At least not yet.
For a kid who just got on campus and hasn’t had been through a Division I strength program yet, Gary’s starting point is obviously as high as can be.
It remains to be seen if he’ll play any defensive tackle as a freshman or if he’ll stay at defensive end. His versatility was one of the reasons that he was the consensus No. 1 recruit.
It’s safe to say that ranking was justified.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Tradition. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.