Perhaps the most hyped player of this Michigan football offseason isn't quarterback Bryce Underwood, running back Jordan Marshall, or edge rusher John Henry Daley -- expected to be among the Wolverines' top playmakers. But given the bona fides of former five-star tailback Savion Hiter, mixed with his solid spring game performance, it makes sense that fans would be excited about his prospects.
And it's not just the fans -- head coach Kyle Whittingham is excited to see what Hiter does this season, as well.
On Monday, Whittingham spoke with Jon Jansen on the Inside Michigan Football radio program and broke down the running backs room. He went into the most depth about what Hiter brings to the table. And the one thing he noted was that 'he's a complete
back.'
"Savion, based on what we've seen in practice -- now we haven't done a lot of live work in practice because we wanted to get to the first game healthy -- but my guess is that you're going to be really pleased with what you see in Savion, and he's a complete back," Whittingham said. "He's not a guy that can just run the ball. In pass protection, he's really good at picking up blitzes and sorting things out and making the correct pickups, and maybe the best thing he does is catching the ball out of the backfield. He's got soft hands. He catches everything you throw to him, and he can really hit the button and put the gas pedal down when he catches it and get upfield, so he's going to be a very valuable weapon for us as well."
Often when freshmen come in, the expectation is that they'll be brought along slowly. However, that won't be the case for Hiter, or some of the other talented first-year players on the team.
Whittingham notes that it is something of a transition, but Hiter has already shown in fall camp that he's ready for the challenge of college. Thus, there won't be much of a waiting period.
"Yeah, not too long. We're going to give them reps right out of the gate, and so we'll find out right away how he makes the adjustment from high school to college," Whittingham said. "But what we've seen in practice, like I said, has been outstanding. And so if that can translate from what we've seen in practice to the game -- and typically, my experience is how you practice is pretty close to how you're going to play the game, so we're excited to watch him do his thing.
"He's got to be, obviously, very conscious about ball security. Not that he has a problem with that, but that's something that is always job one, from an offensive standpoint, is take care of the football. And if you can't do that, then you're not going to see a lot of reps."
Fans will get a chance to see Hiter make his college debut in earnest when Michigan football hosts Western Michigan at The Big House.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Kyle Whittingham calls Savion Hiter 'a complete running back'
