Jim Harbaugh names seven captains for Michigan football's 2020 season

Michigan football has yet to officially announce the team captains for the 2020 season.

But coach Jim Harbaugh leaked the news himself Monday night during his weekly appearance on the "Inside Michigan Football" radio show with Jon Jansen.

According to Harbaugh, there are seven captains: defensive tackle Carlo Kemp, defensive end Kwity Paye, defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, linebacker Josh Ross, fullback Ben Mason, tight end Nick Eubanks and center Andrew Vastardis.

It is the second consecutive season that Kemp, a fifth-year senior, will serve as a team captain after sharing the role with former offensive guard Ben Bredeson and former linebacker Khaleke Hudson in 2019.

It's the most captains Michigan has ever had under Harbaugh; there were two between 2015-17, four in 2018 and three in 2019. There are three fifth-year seniors (Kemp, Eubanks and Vastardis); two seniors (Paye and Mason); one redshirt junior (Ross); and one junior (Hutchinson).

Paye and Hutchinson will be entering their second season as starting defensive ends. Ross was the top weak-side linebacker in 2018 and the starting middle linebacker entering 2019 before missing most of the season due to injury. Mason has played in all 39 games during his career, either on special teams, offense or defense. Eubanks has appeared in 30 games with 15 starts, 10 of which came in 2019. Vastardis, a former walk-on, has played mostly on special teams but has emerged as the team's starting center this season.

Contact Orion Sang at osang@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @orion_sang. Read more on the Michigan Wolverines and sign up for our Wolverines newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football has seven captains for 2020 season, Jim Harbaugh says