It’s not often you see Jim Harbaugh beg for something.

Last December, Harbaugh did just that. At Michigan’s annual football banquet, he asked for some outside help to keep Maurice Hurst in Ann Arbor for one more season.

“I’d love to see Mo Hurst come back for a fifth year,” Harbaugh told the crowd last December. “Text him. Twitter him. Encourage him to come back.”

As his luck would have it, Harbaugh got his wish. Ever since Hurst announced he would return for his fifth season, his stock has been going through the roof. National college football pundits are high on him. NFL evaluators like what they see. The analytics favor him, too.

Lord knows Harbaugh knew all of that when he made his plea to keep his promising defensive tackle around 2017. Never mind the fact that Hurst wasn’t technically a starter last year. There were only a handful of teams in college football that Hurst wouldn’t have started for. Michigan happened to be one of them.

So why is everyone so high on a guy that only has four career starts? And what kind of year is Hurst in for?

Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

When Don Brown was at UConn, he recruited Hurst. Brown remembered him being a quiet, unassuming kid that had a rare skill set. He was known more as a running back. Yes, Michigan’s 290-pound defensive tackle had that kind of speed and agility.

Perhaps that’s what partially why Hurst is so effective getting off blocks. In 2016, he had 34 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss (his best mark), 4.5 sacks, one pass breakup, one fumble recovery and one forced fumble. Those are solid numbers for a defensive tackle, but they’re not going to turn any heads.

These Pro Football Focus numbers from 2016, however, are why Hurst projects so well:

  • Highest-graded returning player on Michigan’s roster (86.5)
  • 34 total pressures in 173 pass-rush reps (first among all returning FBS defensive tackles)
  • 18 run stops on 155 run downs (eighth among all returning FBS defensive tackles)
  • Top-ranked pass rush productivity among all eligible defensive tackles in 2017 NFL draft

That last stat is most impressive, and perhaps why Harbaugh was so grateful that Hurst returned. He easily could’ve gone pro and stacked up well against the 2017 class defensive tackles. Instead, he’s in position to finally start on Michigan’s defense.

With Chris Wormley and Ryan Glasgow off to the NFL, there are plenty of snaps available for Hurst. He won’t have games like he did against Penn State last year when he only played 30 snaps. Fittingly, Hurst racked up seven tackles, three tackles for loss and a sack in what was arguably the best game of his career.

Playing alongside former No. 1 overall recruit Rashan Gary, Hurst could still avoid double teams. That bodes well for a guy with his versatility.

The question is how productive can Hurst be with this new workload? Is it crazy to suggest that he’ll produce one of the best seasons we’ve seen from a B1G defensive tackle in the 21st century? Not at all. Brown raved about Hurst’s offseason work ethic and how even as a fifth-year senior, he’s a different person on the field.

That could translate into a spike from his 11.5 tackles for loss in 2016. Michigan finished No. 2 in FBS in tackles for loss in Brown’s first year, and 63 percent of that production is gone. Hurst certainly could become the first B1G defensive tackle in the last decade to rack up double-digit sacks. That’s a feat that even NFL stars Kawann Short and Mike Daniels couldn’t accomplish in their productive college careers.

A number like 10 sacks would certainly speak for itself. Hurst won’t have to do much campaigning to get eyes on him. He already earned the No. 48 spot on ESPN’s top 50 players entering 2017. Pro Football Focus actually had Hurst at No. 22 in its top 25 players ranking. He’s expected to have a first-team All-B1G season, get some All-America attention and possibly even get drafted in the first round.

There are, of course, still questions about Hurst. Can he make the transition from rotational player to three-down guy? How will he adjust to being at the top of the scouting report? Has he been the benefactor of playing alongside a bunch of future pros?

Soon enough, he’ll have a chance to quiet the few concerns about his game. Soon enough, we’ll be talking about whether or not Hurst is the best defensive tackle in the 2018 NFL draft class.

And soon enough, Harbaugh will probably try to find an NCAA loophole get Hurst to stay in Ann Arbor for one more year.