A bye week for the No. 19 Michigan football team means junior defensive lineman Enow Etta won’t be barreling through a 300-pound offensive lineman Saturday. Instead, an arguably more loathsome task is in store for the Earth and Environmental Science major this weekend: chemistry homework.
“For my major, (balancing school and football) is a little tough because I take like chemistry, so I have a lot of lectures and laboratories I have to do,” Etta said Tuesday. “… But it’s just like the stories of life, like sacrifice. I’m not gonna have a lot of time to do extra stuff, squeezing in film and then school and football. … I think that’s a sacrifice, because when it gets to the off season, I’m going to look back and be like, ‘You know what? It was all worth it.’ ”
Sacrifice is not only the “story of life” as Etta sees it — it’s been a big part of his career with the Wolverines as well. Coming to Michigan meant moving far from his home in Texas, something that he admitted makes it difficult for his family to see him play. Though his mom and sister did make the drive to Norman, Okla., and his dad has the Ohio State game circled on his calendar.
In a pure football sense, too, Etta has had to make concessions to play for the Wolverines. For starters, he played just three games his freshman year to preserve his redshirt status. But that’s not uncommon, even for a prospect who was ranked just outside the top-100 in his class. At that point, Etta was at least playing his desired position.
One of his primary reasons for committing to Michigan was then-defensive line coach Mike Elston’s vision for Etta to line up as an edge rusher. After Etta’s freshman year, Elton left along with Jim Harbaugh, and Wolverines coach Sherrone Moore brought in Lou Esposito to replace him.
The new regime made a big ask to Etta: They wanted him to play defensive tackle instead. Etta lamented the move at first. After mulling it over, he decided it was another sacrifice — like coming to Michigan — that would pay off in the long run.
Part of the tradeoff coming with the position change was sitting behind Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, who became first-round picks at the end of his sophomore season. Etta was coming into his own, seeing the field in 10 games, but his lack of snaps still kept him from making an impact in year two.
“We do things now on defense this year that we didn’t do on defense last year,” Moore said Monday. “It’s different when you have (Mason Graham) and (Kenneth Grant) versus you don’t. So our players are really good. They just do things a little different. So you have to adapt to them.”
After Graham and Grant’s departure, the Wolverines brought in a couple of transfers and Etta didn’t just slide right up on the depth chart. But this year’s plan involves rotating through several defensive lineman. That includes scheming for Etta, putting him on the field and in position to succeed.
Etta’s stats aren’t gargantuan, but they’re well outpacing what he did behind Graham and Grant. Through four games, he has five tackles, two-and-a-half of which are tackles for loss.
“My technique has come a long way, especially from last year,” Etta said. “What I haven’t liked so far, kind of, my pass rush. I want to be more decisive. … And so that’s one of my biggest goals, is just creating a plan. What are my best, what are my great moves I do in practice? And just continue to work on them, to have the confidence to really go out there and trust myself to do them.”
Etta always has his goals in mind. It’s given him the foresight to have made tough choices to get to this point. And he’s not done making them. But as Etta continues to establish himself on the defensive line, the rewards of those earlier sacrifices are now coming to fruition.
