New Michigan defensive line coach has a keen eye for potential on the scouting road

Sherrone Moore’s latest hiring has a wealth of expertise turning low-ranked recruits into stars.

Late last week, it was announced that the Michigan Wolverines would hire Lou Esposito to fill the unfilled defensive line coach position. Sherrone Moore had little time to replace Greg Scruggs, who resigned eight days earlier due to an OWI arrest.

Esposito came to Michigan after working as Memphis’ co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach for about two months. Prior to that, he spent seven years as Western Michigan’s defensive coordinator and line coach. Esposito has previously worked at two other lesser programs in Michigan, Ferris State and Davenport.

Coming from only minor football programs, you might be wondering what kind of recruiter Esposito is. Well, I can promise you that he has an eye for talent on the trail, having helped bring in multiple players who were underestimated coming out of high school but eventually blossomed into professional-caliber talents.

Braden Fiske, ranked No. 1,590 overall on the 247Sports composite, was one of the players Esposito evaluated and recruited while in Kalamazoo. His only other offer out of high school came from Illinois State. Fiske was a standout in the MAC at Western Michigan University before transferring to Florida State for his last season of college football. He had 148 total stops, 27.5 tackles for loss, 13.5 sacks, three pass breakups, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, and one blocked kick.

Fiske’s one year in Tallahassee, during which he was selected a third-team AP All-American and second-team All-ACC player, significantly increased his draft stock, but none of this would have occurred if Esposito had not recruited him in the first place.

Florida State DT Braden Fiske over the past three seasons:

🏹 88.8 PFF Grade
🏹 18.0 Sacks
🏹 109 QB Pressures
🏹 84.8 Run Defense Grade
🏹 27 TFL’s/No Gain pic.twitter.com/q3LcL2vNQN

— PFF College (@PFF_College) March 27, 2024

Marshawn Kneeland, another athlete you may be familiar with, was recruited by Esposito. Kneeland, a Grand Rapids native, was ranked No. 3,427 overall by the 247Sports composite. His only other offers were from Western Illinois and Grand Valley State University.

Unlike Fiske, Kneeland completed his entire career at WMU. Kneeland totaled 149 tackles, 28 tackles for loss, 13 sacks, three pass breakups, three forced fumbles, and one blocked kick while under Esposito’s tutelage. He was chosen to the All-MAC Second Team in 2023.

Kneeland is currently preparing for the NFL Draft, where he is likely to be taken on Day 2. He scored very high at the NFL Combine, which most likely helped boost his stock.

Marshawn Kneeland is a DT prospect in the 2024 draft class. He scored an unofficial 9.87 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 22 out of 1620 DT from 1987 to 2024.

Splits projectedhttps://t.co/8WD8Ov9CdT pic.twitter.com/c53DSauYDi

— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) March 1, 2024

Finally, Andre Carter, who signed with WMU but transferred to Indiana this season, is worth noting. Carter, another Michigan native who played at Cass Tech in high school and was ranked No. 1,406 overall, started every game for the Hoosiers this season and was given an All-Big Ten honorable mention after recording 49 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, three pass breakups, and two sacks.

Prior to his Big Ten success, Carter produced 68 tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss, seven sacks, two forced fumbles, one interception, and one safety in his senior year at Western Michigan. That outstanding performance helped him receive national notice and transfer to the Big Ten, and hopefully, he will be selected in the NFL Draft at the end of the month.

Brandon Kimble is the head coach at Godwin Heights in the Grand Rapids region, where Kneeland went to high school. Kimble got to know Esposito well during Kneeland’s recruitment and talked highly of him to Allen Trieu of 247Sports ($).

“I was super excited as soon as we heard,” Kimble remarked. “He’s been talking to Marshawn, and Marshawn is delighted for him. As an in-state coach, I’m excited. Lou excels at relationship development. He’s a down-to-earth, cool gentleman, and I don’t know many people who have the opportunity to be around him who don’t appreciate it. He is sincere, and he demonstrated this during the recruiting process. Marshawn was a late offer for him, but he had been following him, talking to him, and they had filled up, but he maintained in touch constantly, and when the space opened up, they jumped on it, which I’ve always admired.

“The next step is development. I can’t say enough about what he told us. He explained everything, including the plan and what he observed in him physically. He predicted what weight he would be. Many people said he shouldn’t become as heavy as he is, and that has been shown as he might go in the second round in a month or so, with the majority of that credit going to Lou for his development and plan to go up and get him bigger, and he has always thought he could move inside.

But he kept him outside; it was his idea to have him stand up and blast him off the edge before bringing him through the middle. Braden (Fiske) and Dre (Andre Carter) planned to conduct a variety of activities with him. That was the goal for the following year, and if they could have kept all three together, they could have accomplished tremendous things in the MAC.”

Esposito appears to be a fantastic fit for Michigan, since he has a flair for recruiting and developing men into NFL-caliber athletes.