How Uche Put Together Monster Breakout Season to Become Defensive MVP
12/31/2019 5:32:00 PM | Football, Features
By Steve Kornacki
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Josh Uche had a monster season, a breakout season. The electric strong-side outside linebacker spent so much time wreaking havoc across the line of scrimmage that his University of Michigan teammates voted him their defensive MVP.
Uche had only 21 tackles entering his senior season, but totaled 34 in 2019, including a team-high 8.5 sacks among 11.5 tackles for loss, and also broke up two passes. Pro Football Focus credited him with 43 quarterback hurries. So, Uche averaged disrupting a pass attempt four times a game, once per quarter.
That was an extremely consistent impact.
Uche went from being unable to break the starting lineup to breaking up offensive drives, and was asked how he accomplished such a turnaround season.
"Honestly," began Uche, "I am my own biggest critic. I don't believe anyone is harder on themselves than I am. Even if I have a good game, I'm going back and looking at how I could've done better and gotten another sack, made more plays. I look at everything as a challenge. People looked at me as a pass rusher and said I can't do everything, and hearing that motivates me to do anything.
"I was just so motivated this year to prove I could drop into coverage, prove that I could lead the team in sacks again, and that it wasn't just a fluke, that I could play traditional linebacker, that I could be in the box. I'm not pigeon-holed into being just a pass rusher. I can do anything you want. I can do it, and can get it done."
Uche tapped his right hand into his left palm to emphasize those points, and said the Army game, when Brown asked him to play every down against a triple-option running attack, proved his point about being more than a pass rusher. Uche had a career-high eight tackles.
Michigan assistant coach Anthony Campanile, hired this season to coach vipers and outside backers, also had a huge impact.
"He changed my life and my game," said Uche. "Before he came here, like I said, I was pigeon-holed as a pass rusher. He came in here and showed me a bunch of different techniques, different schemes. His intensity made me so detailed not just in pass rush, but in coverage. My anticipation of different routes, different concepts and formations helped so much. He made me an all-around player.
"I give most of the credit to him for the player I've become. He's made me love the game, and I look forward to coming to meetings, where he's joking with me. And then he's pushing me hard in practice. Even if I do well, he's going to find something to critique me on. But he will let me know when I do well. He tells us he loves us, and I love Coach Camp to death.
"He changed my life by talking about the importance of family and the legacy you leave behind as a man, and how everything you do now is leaving a legacy for the kids you are going to have. How you act, he tells us, reflects on your parents and siblings, and will reflect on your kids. He says, 'Make sure you put something out in the world that you're proud of.'"
Campanile
That motivation fueled changes.
Uche hit the weight room hard and put on 30 pounds in 18 months prior to this season. Now, at 6-foot-2 and 250 pounds, he is strong enough to deal with offensive linemen and make an impact over the course of a game. He did make his presence felt, though, in limited playing time in 2018, making his 15 tackles in 2018 count. There were seven sacks among eight tackles for loss.
He credited strength and conditioning coach Ben Herbert, and noted that his defensive line coach at Christopher Columbus High, Pedro Marti, got the ball rolling in his career.
"The passion people see in me today," said Uche, "he kind of molded me into that. I was a raw kid coming out of Miami Palmetto and transferring to Columbus. He gave me a lot of discipline, a lot of structure. He bottled my energy into the pass rush and was very strict, very serious, detail oriented. He got me to the point I am today, and his family is very important to me. His wife is like a second mother and he made my official visit to Michigan with me. He's a father figure."
Uche's dad, Emmanuel, an engineer and architect, also was "very strict, I want to emphasize very strict." So, the tough love of his father and high school position coach was the perfect primer for playing under Campanile and Wolverine defensive coordinator Don Brown, whom Uche pointed to as the top reason he chose Michigan.
They all prepared him for success in life, academics and football.
Uche, expected to be a top-100 pick in the NFL Draft, opted to pass on his final season of eligibility to go pro. And, while announcing that in a tweet, also pointed out that he was looking forward to playing against Alabama, a team that had recruited him out of Miami Christopher Columbus, in Wednesday's (Jan. 1) Vrbo Citrus Bowl.
"Deciding to leave was just a culmination of things," said Uche. "I did constant prayer about it with my family and had a good season. I made a lot of plays that don't even show up on the stat sheet or highlight plays, and was just very efficient in pressuring the quarterback, winning my one-on-one pass rushes, playing in coverage, showing I could play traditional linebacker. I'm going to graduate in May (with a degree in political science), and feel it's just time, and it's right to leave right now.
"What went into the bowl game decision was, I can't get into the mindset of, 'What if this happens? What if that happens?' If I was thinking like that, I couldn't have played the whole season. So, why start thinking that way now? You've got to be humble. My brothers are playing and it's my last opportunity to be out there with them. Why not play against Alabama? Why not take on that challenge? Why not have that experience? Why not compete? So, there was no way I was going to sit out, how competitive I am."
What does his roommate and close friend, senior viper and team tri-captain Khaleke Hudson, admire most about Uche?
"How he stays grounded," said Hudson. "Early in his career, Josh hurt his knee. He still kept pushing. He was getting playing time in his sophomore year, and kept pushing, kept staying focused, kept working hard, doing whatever he can to get on the field.
"And when he got his chance, you see what he did. You see the numbers. He was sacking everybody. I'm just really proud of him and his journey, and how far he came."
Forever Go Blue ???? pic.twitter.com/PtZxSrYuFm
— Josh Uche (@_Uche35) December 4, 2019
What got him through everything?
"I leaned a lot on prayer," said Uche, "and Khaleke and (Wolverine tailback) Chris (Evans), too, honestly. I was frustrated, even angry, and I would pray a lot, and I had them as my support system. They knew what I was after, and they just told me to keep going, keep working hard, and pushing me even when I didn't want to push myself.
"They always have my back, and without them I wouldn't have had as clear of a vision or focus. They always brought me back into focus."
Uche said his faith in God has given him the strength to stay the course, and he credits his family for that. His mother, Grace, and father emphasized regular church attendance and being prayerful.
"Growing up and seeing everything my family's been through personally, the trials and tribulations, are my testimony," said Uche, whose parents both emigrated from Nigeria. "It's easy to tell someone that you should believe in something, but I was seeing it with my own eyes, things that just don't happen, and I developed my own faith.
"God brought me to this school for a reason. I stuck it out and God did the rest of it. And the rest is history."
He had offers from Alabama, Florida, Auburn, Oregon and others, but was sold on everything about Michigan, had a dream one night that he was a Wolverine, and knew Brown "would coach me hard, be tough on me, and mold me into a really good football player."
Now, the course is set for a new chapter, and he hopes to discuss pro football with Brian Griese, the quarterback of Michigan's 1997 national champions who went onto star in the NFL, and also began his playing career at Christopher Columbus. They haven't met yet, but Uche's always been impressed with Griese, calling him "a legend."
"Hopefully," said Uche, "I get to talk to him in the near future, and he can give me some advice on what to expect as a professional. I hope we can get connected, and that would be really good."
Josh also credited his mother and the strength and faith she displayed in dealing with the struggles of coming from Nigeria with no family members, and becoming a shining example to him and his siblings on how to succeed.
"I admire her so much it's ridiculous," said Uche.
He credits family, coaches and teammates for getting him where he is today, and does so with the same deep passion he displays on the field. He has taken so much from those he loves, and made so much of himself. That "legacy" Campanile emphasized is well on its way to being a very special one for Josh.
