The player who just shut down one of the Big Ten’s best receivers wasn’t even supposed to be a starter this season.
Sophomore Montre Hartage, who barely played as a redshirt freshman in 2015, entered the year third on the cornerback depth chart. By Week 3, though, both Keith Watkins II and Matthew Harris had been lost for the season, and he was thrust into action. That led to mixed results.
There were highs, most notably his highlight reel interception against Indiana, but there were far more lows as the inexperienced Hartage learned on the fly.