Previously: Last year’s profiles. P Tommy Doman Jr. S Rod Moore. CB Ja’Den McBurrows. LB Jaydon Hood.

Thank you to Ryan Olthoff who helped me gather a bunch of these links.

Brentwood, TN – 6’2", 230
[Via The Tennessean]		24/7:            4.44*	4*, 94, #90 overall #10 LB, #2 TN
		Rivals:            4.54*	4*, 5.9, #83 overall #6 OLB, #3 TN
		ESPN:            4.33*	4*, 84, #63 SE, #144 overall #16 OLB, #3 TN
		Composite:            4.59*	4*, .9597, #102 overall #13 LB, #3 TN
		Other Suitors	Tennessee, Oregon
		YMRMFSPA	Ben Gedeon but fast
Previously On MGoBlog	Bonjou post by Ace. Spring bits.
Notes	Twitter.
Film
One Senior game: Junior highlights:

There were two architects of Michigan’s 2021 “Despite all THAT” class. We’ll get to the offensive one last, but the defensive quarterback of the class did almost as much to hold the class together and plan that get-together in Ann Arbor in lieu of official visits as J.J. McCarthy.

All-American Linebacker was an unlikely destination for Colson, whose family in Haiti gave him up for adoption for a chance at a better life in America after his father passed away young. One earthquake and of his elementary life in an orphanage later, Junior found it with the Colsons, including a true blue Michigan mom originally from the western side of the state.

Mom wasn’t supposed to influence the decision, and I’m not supposed to get sentimental about football recruits. But man, it’s hard sometimes. Junior told Orion Sang he committed on May 24 because it was the 7-year anniversary of the day he flew to America. Unless your faith in humanity is at 100%, you should stop and read that if you haven’t. There are versions of it from Austin Meek and Sam Webb.

[After THE JUMP: Is it true you can see through everything?]

How are you real? Everyone who comes across Colson has the same reaction. It’s the reaction Lois Lane had in the 1978 Superman movie that nailed the character.

The inspiring thing about Superman isn’t that he’s powerful, Zack; it’s that he’s GOOD.

This was the reaction from Ann Arbor when Mom brought Colson to a Michigan camp in July 2019 and they offered on the spot.

Colson’s coach was like “I don’t believe this.”

“doesn’t know exactly how physically gifted he is because he just loves to have fun and play the game. ‘Oh, you want me to squat 500 pounds. Okay, I’ll go do that.’ He just doesn’t even think about stuff like that.

His trainer was like “it’s okay to be less mature.”

“You see a lot of people going through some things and it hardens them, but he is the opposite,” said Buck Fitzgerald, Colson’s private trainer. “He is smiling, bright and a happy person that’s grateful for the opportunity that he has in life with his new family and school.”

These Tennessee insiders were ahead of the curve on Eric Gray and jumped in with this when Tennessee offered in April 2019 and their boards didn’t know couldn’t believe their eyes:

de1conley: NPA kid who has a crazy level of athleticism. We love him as an athletic defensive player. Has a nice body and can add weight. College position will be tbd.

VolsVFL: I saw this kid at NPA about a month ago. I thought he was a college kid on Spring Break coming to workout at NPA to keep in shape. He's big, fast and instinctive I can see him playing LB, he moved better than any DB on the field.

Steve Lorenz while collecting spring bits:

Junior Colson could be a star in the making: The Brentwood (TN) four-star was a prospect we and many users wondered about regarding whether or not his ranking was high enough, despite being just outside of the Top100 in our final 2021 Top247. So far, Colson is emerging as a young player who possesses the size and athleticism to become a difference maker in any defensive scheme. Colson was mentioned in Sam's report as a future standout and I was also told something similar.

Sam’s report:

One source mentioned the belief that “Junior Colson will be an All American before he leaves here. He doesn’t know what he’s doing right now, but somehow he’s always around the football.” I’m told that another impressive trait is his work ethic. Second to none among the freshmen. He is always seeking out extra meeting time with coaches or teammates in his quest to speed up his learning curve.

Yes, those two sentences are next to each other. Colson was a Khaleke Hudson for his team, returning kicks and punts, and odd jobs like upback on the punt team who takes the fakes—you know, the Michael Barrett jobs.

High Upside. This EJ Holland interview was just the first of a series of recruiting people making Lois eyes at the kind of guy we weren’t sure Michigan’s allowed to hope for anymore. He also pointed out how surprised the locals were when the kid started tackling everything in sight in just his second year playing linebacker:

Colson still has a ton of upside and potential at the linebacker position. After all Colson just started played linebacker as a sophomore. He was a wide receiver before that. In his first year on varsity, Colson notched 34 tackles and grabbed the attention of college coaches. But last year is when he had his true coming out party, recording 175 tackles and 14 sacks. … There is still a lot of room for growth here.

Maize n Brew’s had Stephen Toski putting out videos that mostly regurgitate the written facts but this one stood out only because Toski’s reactions the whole time are this face.

And helpfully wrote out the summary in the comments:

What if you beefed up Jabrill Peppers by 20 pounds or so and added a few inches? … Junior Colson is definitely a linebacker, but has the level of athleticism and skillset necessary to play in space.

Local scout Carlos Younger has a site for Tennessee prospects that we’ll become more familiar with as Michigan continues to recruit the state. His comp is late-’90s UNC LB Brian Simmons, whom you probably don’t remember unless he played for your NFL team.

He is naturally athletic with the speed to chase down backers or drop in coverage. Colson has great instincts, simply seeing the ball and getting the ball and does so without hesitation. He allows his natural abilities to take over and play freely, so as he continues to get bigger and gain more football wisdom, the better he will be.

Loose hips, and a natural in coverage. The difference between Jaydon Hood and Junior Colson is one moves like a linebacker and the other can twist around like a defensive back or edgebacker. That’s according to Hood, and now I get to re-use this bit from Hood’s writeup last week:

“Junior Colson is extremely fast and physical off the edge,” Hood said. “I’m extremely instinctual and physical and violent in the middle. It’s a good combination to have. I’m excited to play with him.”

The 24/7 eval was by Barton Simmons from the week that Covid hit, and reads like it’s from memory:

Formerly slender, athletic linebacker with length that has already begun the process to add mass to support an in-the-box role on the next level. Former wide receiver that brings that kind of athleticism to the linebacker position. Loose hips and a natural in coverage. Good ball skills. Attractive as a nickel linebacker. Comfortable operating in space as a perimeter tackler. Good athlete that checks the combine testing box. Extremely productive on a one of the best teams in Tennessee. Sure tackler but not ferocious. Nothing jarring about point of attack physicality. More equipped to be an uncovered run and chase defender than a downhill box defender but is starting to evolve in that regard. Has flashed pass rush ability as a blitzer. Athletic traits and physical development points to an eventual Power Five impact starter with the potential to be a mid-to-late round NFL Draft talent.

They were serious about checking the boxes:

• Coverage ability 10
• Play in Space 9
• Instincts 8
• Pass-rush ability 8
• Tackling 8
• Size 8
• Striking Ability 7

And then he gave LSU’s Michael Divinity as a comp, which I’ll forgive you if you’re like “Who?” and tell you not to bother looking that one up. He means immediate-impact ILB/OLB tweener who was an excellent pass-rusher and plus player in space. (One thing I do not miss with Bart Simmons now working for Vandy are SEC HAWT TAEKS).

Colson was one of the first guys EJ Holland gravitated to when Rivals put him on the Michigan beat. He wanted Colson at MIKE but acknowledged he could do all the Viper things.

Colson is a plus in pass coverage, so he should have no issue handling safety duties. Colson was one of my top overall performers from the Pylon 7v7 Nashville tournament in February.

Coach Daniels:

He’s phenomenal in coverage for his size and strength. He moves really well, he’s got loose hips, and he likes to cover in the passing game. I know he was tested in the 4.5s in terms of his 40, and that probably would have been several months ago at this point.

Maize n Brew:

A ferocious outside linebacker. With great awareness in pass coverage, sideline to sideline capabilities, and affinity as a pass rusher.

Brandon Brown:

He's got really good size for today's brand of college football and can really run. He's a natural blitzer, a sideline-to-sideline player, he can cover in space and he's a sure tackler

Instant impact? Colson exited spring apparently third on the LB depth chart, but still far behind the two ILB starters. The spring takes on Colson were eye-opening followed by squinting. This was Balas on March 29:

Frosh linebacker Junior Colson is running with the twos, but maybe not for long. He's been that good. Meritocracy is actually in play on the defensive side of the ball, to the point that a few high-profile veterans aren't really pleased with their standing on the depth chart right now.

Unless I mistake what he means by “high-profile” that means Josh Ross and Michael Barrett were still feeling the heat deep into spring ball. By the end of spring Harbaugh made it clear that was just heat:

“Before we leave the defense, Josh Ross is also that kind of class, I would put him in there up with Aidan Hutchinson. Mike Barrett had an extremely good spring. Some real good, young linebackers came to the floor: Nikhai Hill-Green, Kalel Mullings and then mid-year freshman Junior Colson stood out.

But when a guy is that close when he should still be in high school, he’s going to play sooner or later. That wasn’t a surprise, really. Rivals Mike Farrell things the new defense is a perfect fit, and took that into account when giving Colson a small ratings bump right at the end.

"He had a very solid season so that helped us distance him a bit from some other linebackers and that was the key to the slight move … I like the way he diagnoses plays and takes a direct line to the ball. His size is the first thing you see but it’s those instincts that could make the difference.

I think he could see the field early with a new defensive set of coaches and new style. He’s physically big enough to play it will depend on how he deals with the speed."

Does he grow out of ILB? The question with all the Vipers and Viper-like objects is where do they fit in Mike Macdonald’s defense. That’s especially true for the Uche-likes. I’ll save my thoughts and share what others were saying. To begin with EJ Holland, who got to know Colson pretty well through the process, was saying MIKE:

I feel like Colson is best suited for the 'Mike' position just because he has such a high football IQ and has great speed for his size. However, Michigan recruited Colson for the 'Viper' position, which will allow him to be more of a hybrid player.

His coach said all over the place:

“We utilized him in a way he’s going to be utilized at the next level, and that’s kind of all over the place,” said Daniels. “He played inside backer and outside backer for us depending on the matchup we liked. He wasn’t a pure pass rusher for us in a consistent outside linebacker spot. He was more of a blitzer.

Touch the banner thought Colson’s future (in a Don Brown defense) was at Uche backer:

There are reports that Michigan has talked to Colson about playing the Viper position, but I don’t see quite the athleticism necessary for him to do all the things that Jabrill Peppers and Khaleke Hudson have done from Viper in the past. … Colson does not have a lot of weaknesses unless Michigan plans to use him in situations where his skills do not fit. For example, I do not see Colson as an inside linebacker who can read and play sideline to sideline. And as mentioned above, he is not someone who should be filling the coverage roles that a Viper has traditionally had. If the coaching staff uses him as a force defender and edge rusher, I expect big things.

But Magnus apparently rethought that since the coaching change, or at least since the spring talk, especially since the OLBs are Aidan Hutchinsons now.

Colson is listed at 6’2″ and 230 lbs., and he looks like he runs in the 4.6 range. I think he could play outside linebacker or inside linebacker at Michigan.

That also may have been facilitated by Colson’s growth since his junior season. Holland again:

“I thought Colson was great last year, but man, he’s made great strides,” Holland wrote. “He’s faster, leaner and has added more muscle. I’m not sure that he’s gotten taller, but he looks longer, which could be a product of his leaner frame.

Highlights from that game indeed show a lot of versatility:

Anyway I agree with the coach. Colson is a guy who can do a lot of things well, and would fit best in a defense that disguises what various people in the front are doing:

“You don’t have to take him off the field. He’s not a package player. If you have a different package on each different down, he can play a different spot in all of those packages. All these coaches are looking for that type of guy, and to me, that’s him. He’s one of the best I’ve seen at this level, at being able to have such a wide skill set.”

Etc. If soccer was America’s sport he would play that. Coach’s grandma taught for 40 years at UM Music.

Why Ben Gedeon but fast? Non-huge, instinctive linebacker with great athleticism. People didn’t know what Gedeon was going to be either. This was Gedeon’s scouting report out of high school (Alan Trieu):

He's an athletic kid who has played all over the field. …going to be able to run to the football and drop into coverage. …has all of the tools you look for.

and…

We saw Gedeon at two camps in the off-season. In early season film, though, he has looked even more athletic than when we saw him running around in just shorts and a t-shirt. At each new evaluation, Gedeon seems to have lost a little of the stiffness we saw out of him in our first evaluation. He may not quite be the 6-3, 215 pounds he is listed, and he does not blow running backs up, but Gedeon can run with backs and tight ends and will make for an athletic linebacker at the next level.

He played at a much lower level so the early parts of the career won’t be the same. By the latter part of Gedeon’s career however he should have been starting over Joe Bolden, and when Gedeon did get a year to start he was an underrated part of an excellent defense. Colson is a much more highly rated player out of high school because he has the coverage wiggle to play Viper, and Gedeon was definitively a middle linebacker.

Other comps are Lavonte David from Nebraska, or (I’m sorry we’re too old to use this one) Dhani Jones. The Lavonte David one is pretty tight.

Guru Reliability: High. Colson went to all the camps, played for a major program in Tennessee and trained with a well-known trainer there. The sites were all tweaking their rankings of him right up until the end. Not Very High because he’s a little bit difficult to project.

Variance: Low. They all believe he’s a top-100 or -150 player.

Ceiling: Very Very High. I am staying under Vast because that’s reserved for the instant five-stars, but this is a consensus top-150 guy everyone thinks has barely scratched the surface of the football he can play. He’s already climbing the two-deep. And there’s the orphan thing, which after Darboh/Chesson/Paye I think there is something to guys who’ve already seen more life than most American adults are mature beyond their years. Also—with no offense to anybody else’s parents—but there are good people, and then there are people who fostered 11 children, went on a mission to Haiti to rebuild hospitals and orphanages, and spent 2 years going back and forth with governments to adopt an 8-year-old orphan. Some people deserve to have their faith rewarded.

General Excitement Level: Very high. Do you like… pink? One of the reasons I had to go outside the family was Michigan hasn’t recruited many impact WLB types. Lots of Don Brown Bush-likes—and don’t get me wrong, I make Magic: The Gathering cards for Doom Mammalia just as much as the next ADHD blogger—but guys with Colson’s natural ability don’t come around very often. Then you have to take into account the fit. I thought Viper was underutilized the last few years because Michigan needed that guy to cover for the ends who were covering for the DTs.

Macdonald’s defense is a restart, and he’s done wonders with super-athletes who can operate in space. He also pulled a safety down to play WLB when he couldn’t have that. He uses the meat of the defensive line to keep the linebackers clean so they can use their instincts and fly to the ball. He wants them fast and agile so they can cover that ground and get into places they’re not supposed to. If the biggest knock on a linebacker prospect is he doesn’t generate big hits, I say gimme that all day.

I think if Brown stuck around Colson was going to end up at WILL anyway. I much prefer having those coverage skills at a position that is regularly in zone and has to take running backs down the sideline more often these days.

Anyway the WLB job at Michigan is going to be a neat fit for a guy like that, and the MIKE position will work if the DTs keep him clean. He’s not small in the way the running back/doom squirrels are small, but Colson is still something of a receiver-linebacker who fits well in a Cover 2 at SAM and is a hella-dangerous blitzer because he can shift his momentum so quickly.

Projection: A Devin Bush freshman year where he rotates in behind the established starters. Next year Josh Ross probably departs and Colson is the most likely to inherit the job, even if MIKE isn’t what he’s best suited for, since he’s still more suited than Barrett. Those jobs are not so different that it will make a huge deal, and small linebackers are just fine for this system. Notre Dame has been doing similar things with their linebackers, and making it work until they get to someone who can single-block their front.

By 2023 the defense can be bent around Colson’s strengths. It may not look like stardom all the time because what he does won’t be the flashiest parts of the defense. I think just the way college football is going he’s going to be an excellent fit. All Big Ten as a junior or senior because he wracks up so many tackles, and a 2nd round pick after that.