INDIANAPOLIS — Mike Macdonald understands how important Aidan Hutchinson is to Michigan football's defense.
That is why, earlier this spring, the first-year defensive coordinator sat down with Hutchinson and said he would be holding the senior edge-rusher — who fractured his right ankle last November and underwent season-ending surgery — out of spring practices.
“I got cleared to practice in March but coach Macdonald held me out, and we had a little argument about it,” Hutchinson recalled Thursday at Big Ten media days. “So they held me out of spring ball.