Detroit Lions' Aidan Hutchinson got his start in dance: 4 things to know about him
A true consensus from the Detroit Lions' fanbase is perennially unlikely — especially in the debate between Aidan Hutchinson, the Michigan product who finished No. 2 in 2021 Heisman voting and Kayvon Thibodeaux, seen by many as the defensive end with the highest upside in the draft — but this was as close it might get.
In the end, Detroit went with the hometown star in Hutchinson — here are some things to know about the Lions' new defensive end.
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A southeast Michigan man
Aidan Hutchinson was born and raised in Plymouth.
His high school — Dearborn Divine Child, where he became a four-star recruit — is 13 miles to the southeast.
His college — in Ann Arbor, where he led the Wolverines to their first Big Ten championship — is 18 miles to the west of Plymouth.
So, by comparison, Hutchinson's journey llen Park, for Lions headquarters, and Detroit, for games, almost qualifies as a big move: 25 miles back to the east.
Hutchinson has southeast Michigan in his blood. His father, Chris, played four years at Michigan (winning Big Ten championships every year) and was named a first-team All-American in 1992.
Every sport but football
Hutchinson's parents didn't allow him to play tackle football until he was in the seventh grade.
Instead, he did a bit of everything else, from longboarding to cross-country and even lacrosse — in which he said he most enjoyed, "smacking dudes.” He was allowed to play flag football, but he spent almost all of his time at quarterback.
He may have developed most of his agility on the dance floor. Hutchinson traveled with his sister doing competitive dance — everything from contemporary to hip hop, though he said he never liked ballet.
More than a ‘motor’ guy
Many draft analysts called Thibodeaux athletic and painted Hutchinson as "the motor guy." Hutchinson likes to think of himself as a production guy.
Since 2019, Hutchinson ranked No. 1 among all Big Ten edge rushers in QB pressures (126), run defense grade (91.8), pass rush grade (92.4) and overall grade (93.7), according to Pro Football Focus.
Hutchinson ranked No. 6 out of all athletes in his three-cone drill (6.74), and all five players ahead of him were wide receivers or defensive backs. He also finished first in the 20-yard shuttle among defensive ends.
"People, they don’t classify me as a high-ceiling player, they classify me as a motor guy," Hutchinson said Wednesday in Las Vegas. "I’ve had that label for a while now and it’s something that it’s hard to break the label, but you look at my combine, I’m top of the line in a lot of those drills so I think I’m extremely athletic and I think I haven’t even touched my ceiling yet as a player.
"And people, they want to say I have a low ceiling because I may have had a 14-sack season, but I think I’m just starting to get a hang of this thing."
Mainfest it and make it happen
It started when Hutchinson was a little kid, telling his dad he was going to play football at Michigan.
It continued throughout high school and into college, where every night he would journal, constantly writing down his goals and his vision — a major reason he returned to Michigan after a 2-4 season as a junior.
On Thursday, many of those thoughts and messages he had written to himself made their way on stage — but not in a notebook, diary or journal.
“Mom made this suit,” Hutchinson told NFL Network’s Melissa Stark, opening the jacket to embroidered words on the entire. "It’s all my visualizations and manifestations from my journaling the past five years. We put it on both sides of the jacket.
“Stuff like, 'I’m going to be a first team All-American,' 'I’m going to be a Heisman finalist,' and you know a lot of that stuff came true, and it’s my beliefs about myself.”
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions NFL draft pick Aidan Hutchinson: 5 things to know about him
