Miami football: Edge rusher Gregory Rousseau looks like the next Chase Young

Miami football star Gregory Rousseau may be the next Chase Young.

Gregory Rousseau is expected to do big things at The U in 2020.

Miami football will be in year two under head coach Manny Diaz. The Miami Hurricanes will battle for ACC Coastal supremacy with Mack Brown’s North Carolina Tar Heels this fall. While graduate transfer quarterback D’Eriq King has gotten a ton of love this offseason, we have to pay attention to arguably the best player on the team in Rousseau. He’s incredible.

The NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah had to have been looking at Rousseau’s redshirt freshman tape at Miami when he tweeted this out Wednesday, “Miami edge rusher Greg Rousseau is LEGIT!”

For The NFL Network’s lead draft analyst to be this ecstatic about Rousseau, it has to get you fired up for Miami football, as well as the 2021 NFL Draft should he leave school two years early. Rousseau will be a redshirt sophomore in 2020, projecting as the next Chase Young.

Can Gregory Rousseau become the next Chase Young in college football?

Young went No. 2 overall to the Washington Redskins in the 2020 NFL Draft. He took home every major defensive award you could think of last season, as well as earned his invitation to the Heisman Trophy presentation last December.

To say Rousseau will make a trip to New York in December sounds a bit overzealous. However, he can be a sure-fire First-Team All-American and one of the biggest breakout stars on a national level this year.

As a redshirt freshman, Rousseau had 54 combined tackles, 19.5 went for a loss of yardage and 15.5 of them went for sacks. And he didn’t even start the whole year. Yes, Rousseau had more sacks than games played as a redshirt freshman for Miami, as he was named ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year and earned a spot on All-ACC First Team.

Outside of a pair of starting quarterbacks in Trevor Lawrence of the Clemson Tigers and Young’s former Ohio State Buckeyes teammate Justin Fields, Rousseau is in a group of a select few players who could end up being the first non-quarterback off the board next spring.

Along with Oregon Ducks offensive tackle Penei Sewell and LSU Tigers wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, last year’s Outland and Biletnikoff winners, it wouldn’t be the least bit shocking if these are the first five players taken in the 2021 NFL Draft. The production from Rousseau somehow supersedes the hype. Could you imagine if The U was a slightly better football program?

Because Rousseau has two more years of eligibility beyond 2020, he may could to Coral Gables for his redshirt junior season if he thinks the Canes are close to winning the ACC or contending for a College Football Playoff berth. Rousseau has plenty of good options to choose from. All we know is he’s an absolute pass-rushing monster over in the ACC Coastal. We can’t wait to watch him play.

You have time to get on the Rousseau hype train, and you will not regret hopping on it either.

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