2023 nfl draft

Hello, fan of an NFL team. MGoBlog excruciatingly scouts every Michigan play, and scores them to inform our coverage. Since mi atleta es su atleta now, here we share what we're sharing. Previously: TE Luke Schoonmaker, C Olu Oluwatimi, OT Ryan Hayes, NT Mazi Smith, CB DJ Turner II, K Jake Moody

QUICKLY: Powerful and versatile OLB/DE/Rush DT.

DRAFT PROJECTION: 4th-5th Round.

NFL COMP: Chris Wormley. Even if Wormley hadn't played at Michigan this would be the comparison, since Wormley was drafted by the Ravens, and picked up by the Steelers, to play the same position in the same system as Morris.

WHAT'S HIS STORY? The position was called "Anchor" and we trusted Don Brown knew what he was doing whenever he offered a prospect there. Kaleb Ramsey, Harold Landry, and Zach Allen did it for him at Boston College. Chris Wormley, Rashan Gary, Kwity Paye, and Aidan Hutchinson all starred in turn at the role, a kind of strongside DE-plus whose job it was to soak up attention from the tight end and tackle so the system's safety-sized SAM (a Matt Milano, Jabrill Peppers, or Khaleke Hudson) could spend an extra beat in coverage then fly down to collect what spilled.

With Brown's hit rate at the position already well established, nobody batted an eye when Brown raided FSU for the high-3-star son of former Seminoles star (and recruiting coordinator) Mike Morris. Junior had been committed to the Noles since his freshman year of high school, but Texas A&M had purchased Jimbo Fisher, FSU's interest was partly a courtesy to his father, and Morris had expanded to a reported 6'6"/250, stalling his projections as schools wondered if he was maybe more of a tackle. An offer to play an outside tweener position was too good a fit to pass up. On our end the recruiting comp was slam dunk Chris Wormley because,

Wormley was a jumbo strongside end with the ability to play three-tech. He was a premiere tight-end mauler and superior run defender as an anchor; as a rusher he was useful but not explosive.

Since the tight ends had Paye and Hutchinson to deal with, Morris was put into development. Another son of a pro, Taylor (son of Reagan) Upshaw, drew into the lineup over Morris when the stars were both hurt in 2020. Since Upshaw was a B run stopper with absolutely zero pass-rushing ability, that reflected poorly on the rest of the depth chart. The few backup snaps that Hutch allowed to slip by him in 2021 were split among several candidates, Morris among them, but grading suggested the job should be Morris's only. He was also carving out a niche as Michigan's quasi-DT in Mike Macdonald's 5-2 sets, averaging 25 snaps a game and altogether starting to look like another Don Brown hit.

Mike's name shot to the tip of Michigan tongues in spring 2022. For one, Hutchinson had been joined in going pro by breakout rush edge David Ojabo, and "Who's going to rush the passer?" became the program's #1 panic point. For two, Mike was the younger brother of Mimi Bolden-Morris, the first female GA at any Power 5 program. The consensus was Mike Morris was going to replace Aidan Hutchinson, and while he wasn't going to be a gamebreaker, he was clearly a team leader, an effectual pass-rusher, and one of Michigan's best players. Had he not been the only good option at edge, Morris probably would have also been able to keep that 3rd DT job, which went to Upshaw. It played out pretty much how it was scouted: Morris was excellent against the run, effectual, though mostly a bull-rusher, on passing downs, and several notches above anyone else. He also began demonstrating an uncanny knack for timing bat-downs.

This was a Problem until mid-November, when Morris, still inexplicably on the field in garbage time Nebraska, got his ankle rolled trapped under Upshaw. Fortunately for the Wolverines, While Morris tried to go in the Fiesta Bowl, he was clearly playing hurt, and had to come off the field. That shouldn't be held against him, but when you're only the starter one year and you miss Illinois, Ohio State, the B10 Championship, and the Playoff game, it's going to be.

Like last year's son-of-a-pro/classmate Chris Hinton, there was a strong consensus outside of the program that Morris should put another year on film, and as with Hinton that conflicted with vibes from a program treating him like they were already on borrowed time. Morris clearly made a mistake in trying to compete in the Combine while clearly still injured. A smart enough GM shouldn't have trouble identifying what Morris is, though. He's the Anchor.

POSITIVES: Powerful and very quick-witted 3-4 DE who can dominate at the point of attack and make life easy on his linebackers. High motor, team leader, scion of a football family who carries himself like a pro. Versatility to play DT, could be a plus NFL pass-rushing 3-tech as well as a 4i or 5-tech. Great feet and length destroy stretch zone blocking. Can drop into coverage. Height and vertical contribute to a lot of batted passes.

NEGATIVES: Was miscast as Michigan's best pass-rusher (out of necessity). Can play outside but needs to be a bull-rusher and back-protector. Tweener who's more valuable to 3-4 schemes. End of the year injury robbed NFL of the tape they most wanted to evaluate, and was clearly still hampered at the combine.

Hello, fan of an NFL team. MGoBlog excruciatingly scouts every Michigan play, and scores them to inform our coverage. Since mi atleta es su atleta now, here we share what we're sharing.

Quickly: Solid, athletic Y TE with multiple years of production at Michigan and proficiency in many areas of the game. 

Draft Projection: Seems like a standard mid-round TE, probably 3rd to 4th round. Schoonmaker doesn't do much of anything that make NFL Draft scouts go crazy, but in a deep TE draft where players like Darnell Washington and Michael Mayer are the sexy names threatening the first round, Schoonmaker could be a great value pick deep in the draft. He's got elite athleticism for the position, with ideal speed, size, and strength to play TE in the NFL. He rarely jumped off the page at Michigan and his age (25 in September) likely limits his upside, but Schoonmaker feels like a solid high floor pick that a team will zero in on. 

NFL Comp: I am far from an expert on this kind of thing, but Dawson Knox and Cole Kmet are names I've seen thrown around for Schoonmaker. 

What's his story: Schoonmaker came to Michigan back in the 2018 recruiting class as a pretty low rated 3* out of Connecticut. At the time he committed, multiple sites didn't even have rankings of him and one had him in mid-major territory. As a senior in HS he transitioned from a left-handed QB to a more receiving-focused role, setting him up for his jump to college. When Schoonmaker committed to Michigan, he seemed to be comparable to two Michigan TEs at the time, Sean McKeon in that he was a low-rated, TE-shaped person from New England, and Zach Gentry in that he was a former HS QB moving to the position. There was good reason to believe in Schoonmaker's development as a result. Another reason was that he seemed to scream "Jim Harbaugh type of guy":  

Schoonmaker arrived at Michigan in the fall of 2018 and did the standard redshirt year at a program that was reasonably deep at TE. In year #2 he got on the field consistently as a special teamer, occasionally seeing time on offense and catching two passes, one of which for a TD. The third season in 2020 was abbreviated and again saw Schoonmaker mostly buried on the depth chart, appearing in all six games but not recording a reception. 

2021 was the breakout for Schoonmaker, though he was still below Erick All on the depth chart. He caught 17 passes for 165 yards, including 3 TDs, and really shined against Indiana when All was out with injury. That foreshadowed his senior season, when All went down with injury early in the year and Schoonmaker became the #1 tight end. His production doubled, up to 35 catches for 418 yards, though the emergence of true freshman Colston Loveland overshadowed Schoonmaker some by the end of the season. That was around the time that Schoonmaker battled injury and missed a pair of games (in addition to an early exit from the Fiesta Bowl). He did enough to earn All-B1G team according to the coaches, while Schoonmaker was a media honorable mention both seasons that he played significant snaps. 

Positives: Athletic, with good size for the position. Runs fine routes and has reliable hands, very few drops of routine balls. Does a lot of things well, grew into being an effective blocker over time. 

Negatives: Nothing that really wows you in the receiving game (not much circus catch ability), doesn't maul on the ground like some of the Michigan TEs he played with. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: What others say, grading, video, conclusion]

Hello, fan of an NFL team. MGoBlog excruciatingly scouts every Michigan play, and scores them to inform our coverage. Since mi atleta es su atleta now, here we share what we're sharing.

QUICKLY: Bear-strong, non-fat, no frills nose tackle.

DRAFT PROJECTION: Late 1st to 2nd Round.

NFL COMP: Haloti Ngata. Huge, strong, freakishly athletic doubles-eater who could get low, and created a lot more sacks than he collected early in his career, but developed as a pass-rusher as he went along.

WHAT'S HIS STORY? Poke a Michigan fan in 2018-'20 and you'd get a lecture on (the history of Western warfare and) defensive tackle recruiting. Mo Hurst graduated after 2017, they recruited a couple of guys for 2019, and we sat around wringing our hands for a few years asking when the couple of the guys from 2019 would be ready. Mazi Smith was the lower ranked, and the one expected to be further from the field because he needed to slim down before building back up. The recruiting profile was essentially "Is Bear." Since the players on the field were getting clubbed with Duo, we got in this cycle through the curtailed 2020 season where we'd ask "Where Bear?" and the program would put fellow 2019 recruit Chris Hinton out there to demonstrate why young DTs shouldn't be playing. Insiders hinted the issue was conditioning.

Bear arrived in early 2021, and WMU promptly hit him with a slip screen that involved a ton of running afterwards. To our amazement, Smith stayed on the field. To our greater amazement, Washington decided to play into our slow and methodical hands, and were eaten alive. By a good measure, Mazi was the better of the 2019 pair; we were shocked when Hinton (undrafted) was the first to go pro.

Various strategies were tried to defeat this. Nebraska gave single-blocking him a shot. Iowa and Ohio State tried stretch zones. Rutgers had a good plan built around Belly and Bash to grind Bear down, but nobody else (with a prayer of an OL) had the running QB to do that.

The big question for 2022 was can Mazi have a Suh senior year? He was #1 on Bruce Feldman's freaks list because the strength and athleticism in a 340-pound dude is unreal. With Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo off to the pros, Michigan needed pass rush in the worst way. They didn't get it. Smith could get push, but usually he hung out at the line of scrimmage. He also let scrambles get past him. One of the enduring nightmares of the Fiesta Bowl was Smith turning down a free run at Max Duggan, then falling down and allowing an uncanny 3rd down conversion. Balanced against Smith's constant doubles-eating, around which the rest of the defensive structure relied, this only made him a star instead of a superstar. Michigan played with safeties back and clean linebackers, and his teammates routinely reminded the fans why that could be. Occasionally we'd come across a bad offensive line—CSU, UConn, Maryland, Indiana, MSU—and the fans wouldn't need a reminder. Both years The Big Ten Championship Game was decided in the first defensive series, when Smith announced there would be no running on Michigan today.

Deeper into the season though Smith started to look like he was wearing down; and teams that can run tempo especially were able to get movement. Extended drives cascaded into redzone shoving matches that Michigan fans, so used to the Good Bear, were unprepared to go against us. This can be overstated—Smith would also proverbially *Summon It*—many a 1st & Goal at the six resolved into tough 4th down decisions. It's not a "motor" thing. It's a 340-pound human seeing 30 double-teams a game thing.

POSITIVES: Freakishly strong, freakishly athletic, fantastic teammate, and warrior poet. Dominates single-blocking, flipping sides quickly enough to be trusted to two-gap. Insanely strong punch and low center of gravity allow him to routinely defeat doubles and clog up the LOS. Excellent push-pull technique, doesn't get locked onto blockers. Can drop into coverage—M loved to use him to take away mesh on 3rd downs.

NEGATIVES: Two things: Gets worn down, and Pass-rushing is way worse than it should be for his quick feet. Comes in from twists out of control to open scramble lanes, tends to panic when he's got a QB in his crosshairs, leading to bad results from sack-worthy rushes. Mostly stayed at the LOS as teammates rushed, but not agile enough to spy.