Gabe Newburg’s path to Michigan, outlook for 2022

Michigan defensive lineman Gabe Newburg grew up in Ohio and made the (smart) decision to head north to spend his college years in the great state of Michigan.

In four seasons at Northmont in Clayton, Ohio, Newburg was absolutely dominant along the defensive line and became the school’s all-time sack leader, despite battling injuries during his career. As a senior, he dealt with injuries the most, but was still able to put up some good numbers — 44 tackles, 13 for loss and 5.5 sacks.

247Sports gave Newburg a three-star rating for his recruitment, ranking as the 49th weakside defensive end in the nation and the 32nd-best player in Ohio. Two other Big Ten schools offered Newburg, Iowa and Michigan State, but he decided to come join the Michigan Wolverines.

Newburg has had an interesting career thus far in Ann Arbor. He was a freshman in 2019 and did not see any game action that first year. He then took a big leap and appeared in four out of the six games in the shortened 2020 season. He picked up three tackles and was named an Academic All-Big Ten honoree.

However, Newburg took a step back last year and did not see the playing field during his junior season. With a stacked depth chart, it was hard for a lot of guys to find time.

The 2022 season will probably be pretty similar for Newburg. There are certainly some guys ahead of him on the depth chart, but I would expect to see him on the field at the end of some blowouts, particularly in the non-conference portion of the schedule.