The system for depth charting:

And if his name's in red they plan to redshirt him.

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Quarterback

Can your friends pull this out their little haaaat? [Bryan Fuller]

The question we're asking is: Would Orji be really mad if we look in the portal?

But they're acting like it's: How cool does Orji look in pads?

What are we hearing? Orji has some wow moments, and the next moment he'll throw another pick. Devin Gardner went to a practice then went on with Sam. Orji:

he looks like a GI Joe… like an action figure (with) a Michigan uniform on, and obviously a bigger version. This dude is built like a rock. When you say hey, what do I want the athlete to look like? That's exactly what it should look like. … The thing for Orji is he's got all the talent in the world, man. (But) you see some opportunities in practice where he missed some throws that… man… you want him to make that throw.

GI Joe like he's shooting blue lasers?

He has some things where his feet aren't always in the right place. His feet aren't as clean as you want them to be. Sometimes you lose accuracy, and you lose timing.

Then Semaj Morgan joined them.

I feel like every quarterback has their unique quality. Orji he just a freak athlete; anything you can think about in a football player he probably can do. Then we got Davis Warren like strong powerful arm, and he's really fast; he be running 22 miles per hour when we run Sprints. Then we got Jayden Denegal; he can throw the ball real accurate. And he big; he can run you over—he's gonna get that first down when we need it. Then we got Jaydyn Davis although very young he's very well-rounded. And I will tell you he's not scared to throw the ball, and that's that's something that I love about a quarterback. I don't care what the coverage is; I don't care who's on me; if you feel like the person in front of me's not better than me, throw me that ball! Jayden Davis understands that.

In the aftermath, Sam devoted a 3R Report($) that said they've been focusing on dropback passing with Orji, and also that Jayden Denegal's struggles didn't continue past the first four practices.

There was clear separation between Orji and him at that point, but not as much since then. He's closed the gap in recent practices with his improved accuracy and has shown better skills on the move than outside observers might expect at first glance.

Davis Warren has a cannon that can't hit the broad side of NCAA hypocrisy, and Jadyn Davis is not going to be put in a position to jeopardize his future, but his accuracy is excellent, especially on the run. From a practice insider, Orji is still in the driver's seat but there's going to be a major drop-off from McCarthy. Botched snaps, interceptions, and plays where the QB doesn't see anything and starts to panic are things that happen to teams that don't have JJ under center, in case you've forgotten, but they've been jarring to some of the used-to-JJ the people seeing them in practice.

Tuttle's still hurt, but Michigan is expected to poke around the portal, which opened this week, and wherein Chris Hummer thinks Michigan will have their pick of the litter. 247's Matt Zenitz adds that UCLA and Northwestern are the only schools currently desperate($) for a starter, but USC and Auburn might provide competition if an elite name enters. Henschke thinks Michigan will be in the market ($).

What it means? Michigan probably does want to add some competition from the portal, but going about it without triggering a tampering investigation or losing one of their own is tricky, and probably only worth the risk for a game-changer. Odds are just as good they stick with Orji and put Jadyn Davis, who could use a season to gain weight before facing Big Ten linemen, on the McCarthy plan.

Depth Chart? I'm still expecting them to redshirt Jadyn Davis unless he passes Denegal.

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[After THE JUMP: Let's talk about 4th tight end and 9th OL.]

WHY THINGS HAVEN'T HAPPENED YET

We're at a somewhat frustrating stage where it seems like Michigan is on the verge of picking up several commits but has not actually landed anyone except for George Washington III, who withdrew from the portal. And here is the crux: Washington isn't transferring. Michigan infamously got dunked into the center of the Earth by admissions when they tried to bring Caleb Love aboard, and my guess is that Dusty May thinks this is a bad thing so nobody's going to announce until the Ps are crossed and Qs dotted.

Thus the delay for Vlad Goldin, who everyone on the planet is saying will transfer to Michigan. There are rumors of silent commits that I believe—Goldin is certainly one—because there is an obvious reason why the commits would be silent: Michigan is checking transcripts prior to any public announcements. Yes, even with grad transfers.

Thus, we wait.

VISITS PENDING

Friday will be a Large Day, in the parlance of our times. Auburn PG Tre Donaldson and OSU CG Roddy Gayle will both be on campus. 247's Eric Bossi asserts that Michigan is the "team to beat" for both. Isaac Trotter says May is a "huge player" for Gayle. 

Bossi also says that Wisconsin SG Connor Essegian and Auburn PG Aden Holloway will be on campus this weekend. Essegian's pending visit was known but that's the first I've heard that Holloway would be in Ann Arbor. Essegian was at Maryland this weekend and is visiting Indiana today. Holloway will be visiting Alabama on Thursday, to the general merriment of the Alabama internet.

[After THE JUMP: NSFMF]

When Michigan lost in the Frozen Four each of the last two years I wrote a game column style piece about the loss in the aftermath. This year, after Michigan's 4-0 defeat to Boston College in St. Paul last Thursday, I didn't quite feel the same way. There wasn't much of a game column to write because there wasn't much of a game that happened. Michigan trailed less than two minutes into the contest and never scored. They were competitive for awhile but before the 2nd period was up the game was over. The third period was simply obligatory. The Wolverines were dispatched by a far superior side. 

I have no narrative to speak of but certainly have some thoughts on the games and the season as a whole. So, today we'll go through it all, Hockey Weekly style: 

HockeyBullets About BC 

Overall... okay? I wasn't particularly despondent about the way Michigan played against Boston College. They went up against a team that was definitely better, Michigan played maybe a B-level game and BC played an A-level game. Michigan also got pretty unfavorable puck luck (the double deflection goal stands out) and that combination makes the score 4-0. Perhaps you do that game over again and Michigan loses 3-1 instead. They didn't choke, they just ran into their reasonable finish, having gotten as much out of this roster in the postseason as one could've expected. 

Pulling back the curtain on the underlying numbers. We talked about Boston College's possession numbers in the preview and this game was a pretty clear example of what those possession metrics look like. BC doesn't play with the puck as much as some elite teams and do let opponents shoot a decent amount, but they are a strong defensive team that limits how much the opponent gets near the net. They're well structured in their own zone and kept Michigan to the outside. The Wolverines held the zone, took shots, but with a good goalie in net and a roster of players who use their sticks and block shots well, it makes it difficult to score on even if you have the puck a lot. 

And then of course BC gets the opportunity to attack you in transition the other way. Michigan held the zone in the opening minute, got a look or two, and suddenly Seamus Casey is trapped in the OZ, the puck's turned over, and it's a 2v1. BC finishes it off and Michigan is trailing just like that. The Eagles didn't get a tremendous amount of rush chances, but they got some dangerous ones, also getting a breakaway that Cutter Gauthier scored on and a mini-break for Ryan Leonard that Jake Barczewski made a great save on. 4v4 play was an issue for Michigan, which was going to be a worry against a team as skilled as Boston College and allowed them to score off the rush even more. Michigan was spared by less PK time against this lethal PP, but the flip side was the 4v4 time, which proved just as deadly. You pick your poison against this team, Michigan was maybe moderately unlucky in their goal prevention, but at the end of the day they didn't score and that's a testament to BC's underrated defense and goaltending. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: takes, grades, 2024-25]