Skip to main content
Join Now
Team Avatar
Michigan

Michigan DE Aidan Hutchinson wins prestigious award

ns_headshot_2024-clearby: Nick Schultz12/09/21NickSchultz_7
Michigan-football-Aidan-Hutchinson
(Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

The honors keep rolling in for Aidan Hutchinson.

The Michigan defensive end won the prestigious Rotary Lombardi Trophy, given to the nation’s best defensive lineman. It’s a great honor for Hutchinson, who also saw his Heisman Trophy hype build over the last couple weeks.

It’s been quite a season for Hutchinson, who set Michigan’s single-season sacks record with 13. He also had 58 tackles this year, including 15.5 tackles for loss.

What’s interesting is that Alabama linebacker Will Anderson won the Bronko Nagurski Award, which is given to the best defensive player. But he wasn’t a finalist for the Lombardi Trophy or the Dick Butkus Award, which goes to the nation’s best linebacker.

Nonetheless, it’s quite an honor for Hutchinson, who’ll be in New York this weekend for the Heisman Trophy ceremony. The winner will be announced Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Jim Harbaugh makes case for Aidan Hutchinson to win the Heisman following Big Ten title

Aidan Hutchinson’s Heisman Trophy candidacy has been a hot topic, especially the last two weeks. Jim Harbaugh is certainly doing his part to keep the conversation going, too.

Hutchinson is among the group headed to New York for the Heisman ceremony on Saturday, and that discussion picked up after the Wolverines’ big win over Ohio State. The Michigan defensive end had seven tackles and three sacks as the Wolverines defeated the Buckeyes 42-27 to close out the regular season.

After Michigan’s dominant 42-3 win over Iowa in the Big Ten title game, Harbaugh used his spot on the postgame show to campaign for his defensive star.

“He’s just a great player,” Harbaugh said. “It’s the way he plays every down. He never takes a down off and that’s the way he is in practice. He’s that way every day in practice. So just so much respect for him.

“He puts us on his back. He’s one of those guys. Hassan Haskins is another. Andrew Vastardis another. … But that all started with Aidan Hutchinson. No doubt about it.”

In that blowout victory, Hutchinson had four tackles and a sack to lead Michigan to its first College Football Playoff appearance. The Wolverines have quite a task at hand against Georgia on New Year’s Eve in the Orange Bowl.

Hutchinson has also watched his draft stock skyrocket, even moving up to No. 1 overall on ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr.’s latest Big Board. If the season ended today, that means he’d end up with the Detroit Lions. It’d be appropriate, too, because he’s from Michigan — and grew up saying he’d one day play at Michigan.