Michigan’s latest commitment comes in the form of Louis Hansen, a 6-foot-4.5, 222 pound tight end from Massachusetts. The four-star is ranked as the No. 8 tight end in the country, which is much higher than the last tight end from Massachusetts recruited by Michigan, Sean McKeon. Let’s take a look at some film to see how Hansen was able to achieve a high ranking in the relatively underscouted Northeast region.
After failing to find any full games on the Internet, these takeaways are coming from Hansen’s junior year highlight reel.
The most impressive trait that Hansen possesses is his catching ability. He always catches the ball with proper form, plucking it out of the air with his arms outstretched, rather than bringing it in with his body.
He maintains this form through a number of tough situations, whether it’s a ball behind him,
or in traffic over another guy,
or off target enough where he has to completely switch his body position near the sideline to catch it.
Hansen’s length and ability to track and high point the football creates a large catch radius for the quarterback to hit. You can tell that his quarterback will throw the ball higher to Hansen because he knows he’s the only one who can go up and get it.
I don’t think Hansen is super gifted athletically. He’s not very fast off the line, which is especially notable when he’s split outside. This play highlights his lack of acceleration after the ball is snapped. It takes him a while to stem the ten-yard cushion that the cornerback is giving him.
Since he’s not a burner, I’d like Hansen to become more savvy with his routes to create more separation. On this route, Hansen just runs at the defensive back until he starts to fade towards the sideline, eventually having to come back to catch the fly ball that the quarterback launched up.
Using a more exaggerated feint inside will help him separate more from defenders.
I’m not going to dive too deep into Hansen’s blocking ability without having an entire game to watch. It’s easy to capture your best blocks and put them in a highlight reel, but blocking is all about effort on a play-to-play basis.
From the clips that were included, Hansen has good hand placement but his pad level is usually too high and he’ll need to add some strength to finish guys off better.
Overall, I really like Hansen as a Jake Butt type of tight end that can be a safety blanket for the quarterback because of his strong, secure hands and wide catch radius. His body control and catch technique will allow him to catch balls in traffic or throws that are off-target with confidence. Once Hansen develops some savvy in his route-running and spends a year or two in the weight room, I think he’ll be a major target to get a first down in crucial situations for Michigan.