CHICAGO -- Coaches and players spent much of their time looking forward Wednesday at Big Ten media days, but not Michigan offensive tackle Taylor Lewan. He was asked to spend a lot of his time assessing the past.
Much of his session with the media focused on whether he made the right call by returning for his senior season as a Wolverine instead of entering the 2013 NFL Draft.
Lewan insisted he has no regrets.
"I knew at the end of the day I made the right decision," Lewan said. "Even if everything doesn't work out for me. If my draft stock goes down or whatever, then obviously I wasn't good enough to go last year. If I do my job, then I'll put myself in the right position and get to do all the things that I could have done last year."
Three of the first four picks -- including first and second overall picks Eric Fisher and Luke Joeckel -- in this year's draft were offensive tackles. In fact, more than a quarter of the first 19 picks were offensive tackles.
Lewan, an All-American last season, certainly would have been in the mix to be selected early, and, barring a setback, he will be among the top prospects in the 2014 draft. NFL.com draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah ranks Lewan ninth on his Talented Top 50 list and had this to say about Lewan, who is one of only two offensive linemen on the Walter Camp Award watch list, earlier this month:
Focus could become an issue for Lewan with the hype and buzz about his senior season and what might come after it, but Lewan said he does not think it will. Michigan coach Brady Hoke seemed to agree Wednesday.
"I think every coach goes through (concerns about focus) when you have guys that have a certain degree of skill, talent, size -- all those things that go with it," Hoke said. "I was at Michigan for a long time before when a guy named (Charles) Woodson and some of those other guys were there who were focused all the way first and foremost on Michigan. That's what I see in Taylor."
