Key Michigan defensive lineman remains out this spring, expected back for fall camp

ANN ARBOR – Defensive lineman Rayshaun Benny left Michigan’s Rose Bowl victory over Alabama on Jan. 1 with an injury and was seen in the locker room after the game on crutches with cast on his right ankle and lower leg.

The rising senior has not returned to practice this spring as he continues to rehab from the injury that kept him out of the team’s national title game Jan. 8, according to new defensive line coach Lou Esposito.

“He’s still injured,” Esposito told reporters Tuesday inside the team’s practice facility. “When you (reporter) says available, he’s not available to play. But he’s done an unbelievable job this spring of coaching guys and helping guys out.

“If you watch him at every practice, he’s grabbing guys. That’s the one thing I talked with him about is ‘How do you keep guys involved when they’re not able to physically go out there?’ He’s done an unbelievable job. He meets with me twice a week. We watch his plays from last year, and then when we’re out on the field, he becomes another coach for some of those guys that we’re trying to build depth.”

During Tuesday’s interviews, Benny was spotted off to the side of the field doing resistance band work with a staff member.

“He should be back for (fall) camp,” Esposito said. “He’ll be ready to rock.”

The 6-foot-4, 296-pounder was a rotational player along Michigan’s defensive line in 2023, playing 28% of defensive snaps and recording 27 tackles, including 5 1/5 for loss and one sack.

With the Wolverines losing starting defensive tackle Kris Jenkins and reserve Cam Goode, Benny is expected to see an expanded role in 2024 behind rising juniors Kenneth Grant and Mason Graham, two of the top returning tackles in the country.

Esposito, who spent the previous seven years as defensive coordinator at Western Michigan, was just hired on March 29, but he recognizes the importance the Wolverines’ depth up front played in their national championship season in 2023.

Behind Graham, Grant and Benny, the Michigan has very little game experience on its roster along the interior.

“The interior D lineman, the reps, you don’t want to get their reps too high because then their level of play comes down,” Esposito said. “You want them playing at a high level. The reason why we were so good up front is because they were so deep (last season). They could just roll bodies in and not skip a beat. That’s what we’re trying to get to right now.”

Michigan’s spring schedule concludes Saturday with its annual scrimmage at the Big House (noon, FOX).