Yahoo Sports’ Jared Quay sits down with the former Michigan defensive end to dig in to his preparations for the 2022 NFL Combine and NFL Draft. Is it tough to stick to a very specific workout and diet? What does he have in mind for his signature sack dance? What does the return of Jim Harbaugh mean to the Michigan football program. Is football Hutchinson’s best sport? Because Aidan calls himself the world’s best in another activity.

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Video Transcript

JARED QUAY: How are you preparing for the draft?

AIDAN HUTCHINSON: It's really every day just grinding and working my butt off. I'm having a lot of fun. And I cannot wait for the combine to light that thing up and then go to the draft and just wait and see who is going to pick me.

JARED QUAY: I remember training for the draft. And I remember it was just really like you couldn't eat what you wanted to eat, you had to work out every day. Like how are you? Have you ate a cookie in like the last three months or so?

AIDAN HUTCHINSON: No. I've been strict. I've been very strict. The dieting is not that fun, but it's paying dividends for my body right now and I'm feeling great. It's really good. So hopefully I'll be able to maintain it a little bit. It's kind of hard though. These diets are no joke.

JARED QUAY: At the combine, what's one thing you think you're going to surprise everybody at? What's something we don't know this about you, but you're like, wait till you see my vertical jump. Like what's the one event that you're going to shine at?

AIDAN HUTCHINSON: I think I'm going to be very consistently good in every single event. And a lot of people look at me and they don't think I'm that athletic.

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

JARED QUAY: I don't know who's thinking that, but all right.

AIDAN HUTCHINSON: Yeah, I'm going to I'm going to light that thing up though. And I'm going to open a lot of eyes I think with my performance.

JARED QUAY: I feel like the calling card of a defensive lineman is your sack dance man. Are you working on it? Do you have any moves? Do you have anything going with that?

AIDAN HUTCHINSON: In my college season I brought out a couple different things going on. I'm not a big dancer, but I've just got a couple of things in my back pocket. But I definitely need to trademark something when I get in the NFL. But that is still to be determined.

JARED QUAY: Obviously at Michigan you guys have to do some special things last season. And now your coach Jim Harbaugh is coming back. What does that mean to all the people at University of Michigan?

AIDAN HUTCHINSON: Yeah, I think it's huge for them and for all the players there. I think Coach Harbaugh has really become a guy everyone's come to rely on and be dependent on him. And now that he's got a Big Ten Championship under his belt, he's got that Ohio State win under his belt. I think he's got definitely a lot more credibility to his name from the fans and stuff like that, from the outside. But from the dudes on the inside, we've always believed in him and bought in to the culture that he's brought to Michigan.

JARED QUAY: Give us a Jim Harbaugh story, man. Give us one funny one or something good.

AIDAN HUTCHINSON: I mean, there's a few stories. But I think one that comes to mind is when I got injured my junior year, I broke my ankle. I was laying there, wincing in pain. Grabbed my ankle a little bit. Trying to catch my breath.

And it was like a circle of heads above me. And the first thing Coach Harbaugh says, he bends down and he's like, did you tape your ankles? I was like, I'm sitting there I'm like, no I didn't tape my ankles. And so that was honestly pretty funny because in that moment I didn't even know I broke my ankle. And he was just wondering if I had taped my ankles in all that pain. So that was a pretty Harbaugh esque thing.

JARED QUAY: I mean taping ankles is big. I know we'd get punishment if we didn't tape our ankles man.

AIDAN HUTCHINSON: Yeah.

JARED QUAY: All right. I was stalking a little bit because I had you on here man. I went on your Instagram account. And in the profile it said that you were the best corn hole player in the world.

AIDAN HUTCHINSON: That's right.

JARED QUAY: And you stand by that. Is that self-proclaimed or enough people told you, like yo bro you're the best.

AIDAN HUTCHINSON: Look man, I think my game speaks for itself. But I had to throw it on the bio because it's a weird talent that I have. I'm just really good at throwing those bags man. I had to put it in my bio to show the world what I can do.

JARED QUAY: I watched some of those competitions they put on TV, those guys never miss.

AIDAN HUTCHINSON: Never miss. They never miss.

JARED QUAY: Are we that good?

AIDAN HUTCHINSON: I'm not quite there yet, but I'm close.

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