After leading the Michigan football team with 95 total tackles — a full 30 tackles more than the Wolverines’ next leading tackler, graduate linebacker Michael Barrett — junior linebacker Junior Colson told ESPN that he is foregoing his remaining eligibility to enter the NFL Draft.
Colson was integral to Michigan’s 15-0 National Championship season. Rising in the season’s biggest moments, Colson led the team with 11 tackles in the high-stakes clash with Ohio State — tying a season best he set against Michigan State earlier in the season. He also led the Wolverines with 10 total tackles in the Rose Bowl against Alabama. He tied for a team-leading eight tackles in the Big Ten Championship against Iowa, and helped secure Michigan’s title over Washington with six tackles.
As he elevated his game down the stretch with the Wolverines’ season getting tougher and tougher, he did so while playing through injuries to both of his hands. At points playing with casts wrapped around each one at the same time, he didn’t let that deter him from filling gaps to stop rushers that made it to the second level and locking down shallow routes in the passing game.
“Just to be able to go out there and show that I’m that true sideline-to-sideline linebacker,” Colson told ESPN of his NFL traits. “I do have every tool in the box — a big wingspan and everything that a team is looking for. I do see myself as the best backer in this draft.”
Ranked as a top-three linebacker by multiple ESPN analysts and a top-50 prospect overall, Colson is sure to be in contention for first linebacker off the draft board. After reaching the highest collegiate heights possible in Ann Arbor that culminated with a national title, he’ll try to begin searching for new career heights in the NFL. That starts right up the road in April’s NFL Draft in Detroit.