It’s tough to be a true freshman in college football, especially in this era where players are being granted extra eligibility and staying well into their mid-20s.
As a freshman, you’re basically a kid playing a grown man’s game. It takes time to develop and to get used to not just the speed difference between high school ball and college ball, but the talent difference.
Most star recruits are the best players in their county. Once they get to the college ranks, they’re just one of many star recruits.
That’s why it’s intriguing to hear that Michigan Wolverines’ freshman running back Savion Hiter is gunning for playing time early on in his college career.
Hiter was a 5-star running back recruit, ranked as the No. 1 player at his position, according to the 247Sports Composite.
So far at Michigan fall camp, he’s lived up to his 5-star billing.
“There’s been a lot of buzz around Savion and deservedly so,” offensive coordinator Jason Beck said on Thursday, according to Trent Knoop. “And a lot of times you can get the buzz in the recruitment. But he showed up here and is what stands out with him. He has talent. When you meet him and see him, he’s an impressive-looking kid physically. But what stands out about Savion is he just works so hard all the time.”
Savion Hiter could be the real deal for the Michigan Wolverines
Beck relayed that Hiter has only one speed, and that’s 100 miles per hour all the time. He doesn’t have an off button and gives total effort on every single rep.
He believes that tenacity mixed with his 5-star talent will allow Hiter to hit the ground running, pun intended, at Michigan.
“My experience is when you have freshmen like that, they have a chance to play early,” Beck said. “Where some freshmen are, they got to find themselves in how this whole college football thing works. So he’s been, yeah, been impressive.”
As a senior at Louisa High School in Mineral, Virginia, Hiter rushed for 1,440 yards and 24 touchdowns on 13.1 yards per carry despite missing three games due to injury.
He very well could be the real deal, as the Wolverines are finding out.
