#1 jersey

Formation Notes: Nothing new in the annals of MGoCharting but there were a few that probably need refreshers. They use a Double-Eagle on passing downs (see last year’s UFR that I did over the summer). I’ll note it as Eagle then where the LBs are on the line, e.g. Eagle AAD.

Michigan also brought back the Pistol Diamond formation we call Fritz. Hello again Fritz.

MSU had a lot of formations with two semi-safeties at about 7 yards and then a deep middle one. Often (as in this case) one or both walked down to LB depth at the snap so I just counted it at as “high.”

Substitution Notes: Barnhart got the start at LG but 11-manned two plays and got pulled for Keegan, who was reinserted in the 2nd half and stuck despite still clearly being injured; Zinter went the whole way at RG. Trente Jones came on wearing #80 as a sixth OL. Andrel Anthony took Baldwin’s spot, broke out.

[After THE JUMP: Many drives of opportunity.]

Looking for the Maryland Preview? You can scroll down or take the link here.

The early enrollees have hit campus and rather than making us sleuth through frames of 18-year-olds’ Instagram videos the program has helpfully put out a hype video. Even more helpfully, they’re doing football things that relate to how they’ll be used in football.

Officially in the Maize and Blue 〽️ pic.twitter.com/ozrVgMqaXT

— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) January 19, 2021

Things of Modest Football Relevance:

ANDERSON IS AT CENTER

Both Greg Crippen and Raheem Anderson are shown snapping the ball. If this was Hollywood I would infer from the camera only framing Anderson’s arms above the elbow—not showing the ball—that the director wants to foreshadow a move to guard. It’s not Hollywood, so you’ve just learned some film school shit about how they screw with your brain that will ruin movies for you for no reason; Anderson is a center for now.

COLSON IS AN OUTSIDE LINEBACKER, PROBABABLY VIPER

This is a bit more extrapolative: Junior Colson is shown seeing motion and pointing, then moving inside. Yes, there are circumstances where a MIKE linebacker could do the same, but where you see that call most often in Michigan’s legacy defense is from Viper, who aligns to the tight end, and is therefore the guy most likely to see the shift and call it out. He does move into an interior LB position, as opposed to switching with the safety, which would have been an extreme Viper giveaway. So Colson could be showing us a walkout WILL who comes back into the box on slot motion away from his side, or more likely a VIPER who just saw a tight end head to other side, turning Colson into WILL.

THE LINEMEN ALREADY LOOK LIKE COLLEGE LINEMEN

It’s not that much of a surprise given their backgrounds—Crippen was the starter at IMG, Anderson started four years for Cass Tech, El-Hadi has been the best lineman in the state for years, and Willie Allen is old enough to play basketball for Wisconsin. Only Tristan Bounds looks smaller than your standard Power 5 starter. Errr, less thicc I mean. He's humongous.

CRISTIAN DIXON IS SKINNY

He is shown running a route and making a one-handed catch, and the whole way you’re sympathizing with his pads and the enormity of space left to fill in them. They also point out Dixon’s scar.

THE PROGRAM THINKS ANTHONY WEARING #1 IS THE HEADLINE

Maybe this was made by a Hollywood filmmaker, because they storyboarded this to highlight the lede. The video starts and ends with WR Andrel Anthony wearing the #1 jersey. Ten years ago we’re going ooooooohhh I bet Braylon’s gonna have something to sayyyyyyyy. In a post-Kekoa Crawford world where we’re equally familiar with Harbaugh’s freshman number conventions (wear whatever you want now and we’ll see where you are when you hit the field) and Braylon’s penchant for melodrama it earns a shrug.

If it turns out that Anthony = THAT Anthony, they'd better find a jersey that fits him. Or thirty.

XAVIER WORTHY IS NOT AMONG THEM

This has been discussed much in the last few weeks on the paid message boards. There was some sort of admissions issue that prevented Worthy from enrolling early; you can pay for a sub if you desire what details exist. Clearly, it’s not great when the best athlete in your class feels jerked around by your admissions department.

My opinion: If the school intends to admit Worthy later on, I can’t think of any good reason to hold off, since the player’s better off in the football program’s academic environment than sitting at home for a semester. If they don’t think he should be at this school, there is no good reason to jerk him and the football program around. All indications are it’s the former, so I assume this is some pettifogger pipe smoker in admissions making a show of athlete academic standards that haven’t existed here since 1970. I would ask that person, if they're serious, to instead write a letter to Schlissel recommending Michigan drop down to FCS and apply to the Ivy League. You know, get that Cornell rivalry going again #BEATBIGRED.

[After THE JUMP: Things of numeric relevance]

You know you're a Michigan football geek if you obsess over the weights. The real nerds get into position changes, number changes, and walk-ons. I have updated my big roster file.

Just so you know what you're getting into if you progress any further in this article, I'm going to lead with the thing only I obsess over.

The Curse of B-Will Continues

THE Brandon Williams with the Devin Gardner* jersey I had just bought for my nephew the night before Gardner switched to 98.

With this roster it's official: no player at Michigan will have managed to wear the #12 for his entire eligibility for two entire decades. The last man to do it is the man above, cornerback Brandon Williams**, who donned it in 1999 as a freshman and wore it through his graduation in 2002. Since then:

• QB Matt Gutierrez (2002-'05) got Wally Pipp'ed by true freshman Chad Henne in 2004 and transferred to Idaho State.
• QB David Cone (2006-'08) left with a season of eligibility remaining.
• CB JT Floyd (2008-'10) switched to #8 for his final two seasons.
• WR Roy Roundtree (2009-'11) switched to the #21 Legends Jersey as a senior in 2012.
• QB/WR Devin Gardner (2012) switched to #12 from #7 for the one year he was a wide receiver, then switched to Legends Jersey #98 for the 2013 season opener.
• LB Allen Gant (2012-'14), too slow for safety and too small for linebacker, might have made a good viper, but graduated and left the program right after Michigan hired Don Brown. Gant did come back a few years later as a grad assistant with the vipers, before moving on to coach DBs at Slippery Rock. He was recently named the defensive coordinator at D-II West Virginia Wesleyan.
• P Blake O'Neill (2015) was just a one-year rental.
• QB Alex Malzone (2015-'17) got his degree in 2.5 years and grad transferred to Miami (NNTM)
• RB Chris Evans (2016-'18, 2020) was THIS CLOSE to breaking the curse—he did the hard thing, which was take a year off from the team to serve penance and make up for a gross academic misconduct that got him booted from it with a year of eligibility remaining. Then he went and switched to #9. Bah!

Linebacker Josh Ross is a redshirt junior, so if he manages to stick around and not change digits through 2021 the curse will finally be broken. If Ross heads to the NFL or something, the next shot is QB Cade McNamara, now a redshirt freshman.

*I am being told by the CLC that Adidas did not make #12 jerseys in the summer of 2013 for the presumptive new starting quarterback, because you're not supposed to profit from amateur athletes.

**Brandon Williams is also the namesake of that play when the opponent muffs a punt and you field it on the run, take it to the endzone, and start celebrating before the refs signal the ball was dead where you touched it for some arcane reason.

[After the JUMP: Freshman numbers and what they have to live up to (according to me, an unathletic fat guy with a home office)]