Junior Colson works to pack more powerful punch in 2023
Michigan football junior linebacker Junior Colson is seen as one of the lynchpins of the 2023 defense and embraces that role heading into his third season in Ann Arbor. An offseason lower-body procedure kept him off the field in spring, but he has been all systems go through fall camp so far.
Colson, a Freshman All-American in 2021 and second-team All-Big Ten selection last season, started all 14 games at linebacker and led the team with 101 tackles in 2022. Despite that, there is always something to work on.
For Colson, who is up 12 pounds to 6-3 and 247, the emphasis heading into Michigan’s fall camp was becoming more powerful.
“That’s probably one of my biggest things was more power,” Colson told the media at Schembechler Hall on Thursday afternoon. “I wanted to be more powerful at the point of contact and in a lot of things like when I strike. So that’s like one of the biggest things that I was focused on. I know my speed was gonna be good once everything healed up.”
While recovering from surgery, much of Colson’s offseason work was from a mental perspective. He spent a lot of time in the lab watching film and believes that it could lead to unlocking more of his potential.
“I watched a lot of tape this off-season on myself and I think you can always improve on everything,” he said. “I want to be a complete football player, so that was one of my biggest focuses especially with [a new position coach in Chris Partridge]. That was like our main focus He asked how can we round my game out to be perfect. You’re not gonna reach perfection, but just as close as you can get to that. That was like a huge thing for me going into the season.”
Better depth an emphasis for Michigan’s linebackers
Something that Michigan has taken seriously this year is making sure that there is a better rotation and enhanced depth at linebacker. Colson had a lot on his plate last season, and the hope is that guys like graduate Michael Barrett, sophomore Ernest Hausmann, sophomore Jimmy Rolder and junior Jaydon Hood can sub in and keep things fresh.
“We’ve got a lot of really great linebackers in this room,” Colson said. “We have a lot of great ones that can take reps off each other and learn off each other. Just being able to get us through every single game we have to play this year.
“That’s gonna be really good for us as a team, but also as a core because like of the way we mesh and the way we were able to play together.”
Hood’s name being thrown around as a threat on the two-deep depth chart is a new development. We had not heard much about him through his first two years with the program. However, he is an ascending player that has had a terrific camp, by all accounts.
“He’s ultra-focused on the moment and on now and you can tell he stays here, especially during camp,” Colson said of his classmate. “He’s been one of the last ones to leave watching film trying to get better, trying to get as good as he can football, and he’s asking a lot more questions than he normally did. Maturity wise he’s allowed his game to take that next step to reach that next level. He’s gonna keep going up and up.”
