donovan jeter

I just want to show you my arms. [Bryan Fuller]

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.

Series: RB Hassan Haskins, OL Andrew Stueber, DT Chris Hinton, DT Donovan Jeter, DE Aidan Hutchinson, DE David Ojabo, LB Josh Ross, S Daxton Hill, S Brad Hawkins, CB Vincent Gray.

Quickly: Long-armed build-a-bear with bad pad level.

Draft Projection: Undrafted free agent (signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers).

NFL Comp: Foley Fatukasi. A little too tall and a little too thin DT who doesn't generate a lot of stats, but remains useful because his long arms make him impossible for linemen to stay attached to him long.

What's his story? As with cornerback, DT is a pretty straightforward position in recruiting—the 300-pound guys with long arms who can move are good at it—and therefore hard to get if you're not going to recruit like a Georgia. Donovan Jeter came in a DE with a frame to hang a tackle on, the 4th ranked in his class of five(!) DT-like objects. But 5-star Aubrey Solomon, 4-star James Hudson (after converting to offense), and 4-star Deron Irving-Bey were washed out and gone in a few years. As the position fell into weakness over 2018-'20, the failure of the 2017 class to produce even one starter was ever-present. It wasn't helping that every spring the program was set to convince us anew that Donovan Jeter was going to work out.

Jeter was by no small margin *THE* clubhouse leader for spring practice hype in 2019, followed by a season when he was unplayable and/or injured (Michigan started recently converted walk-on OL Jess Speight against Alabama in the Citrus Bowl), and then another spring of all the hype, and a season when he was kinda-sorta usable, if that's what you call Michigan trying to run a 3-3-5 with 280-pound Carlo Kemp at nose rather than lean on Jeter for too many plays. There was one fumble return TD in the opener, then reality. In 2021 the hype was self-awarely muted. He had also settled into a backup role behind the 5-star and 4-star recruited in 2019, in a defense that used odd (like a 3-4) fronts as often as not, and had a new generation of backups starting to look worthy of the field.

In this environment, weirdly, Jeter did well. Sometimes he was downright good. Charting suggested the home-grown, long-armed senior was something of an acid test for offensive line coaching. He never did grow into Don Brown's dream of a 4-3 three-tech who kept the DE's explosion. But he made for a decent 3-4 DE, one Michigan tried to get back for a COVID shirt this year before Jeter decided to move on for good.

Positives: The arms. Jeter is very hard to stay attached to, and keeps a good base when engaged, so unless you're under him he's really not going anywhere. Surprising speed, though not with much control, if he does get free as a pass-rusher, and unlike with many of the DTs immediately preceding him, that did happen. The Steelers are also getting a hometown kid; Jeter is from Beaver Falls, just outside the Pittsburgh metro area.

Negatives: Plays high, and that means good OL are able to get under him and move him off his spot to dangerous effect. Not remotely explosive—if Jeter does make it into the backfield it's through a tear in the line that most NFL QBs should be able to dodge or render moot with a quick throw. Middling athleticism for college. Never a starter.

[After THE JUMP: What others say, scheme fit, grading, video, conclusion]
All of the seniors in this photo seem to be departing [Patrick Barron]

A pair of exits are on tap today for Michigan Football. The first one is official, as DL/OL Jack Stewart entered his name into the transfer portal yesterday: 

Stewart was the lowest-ranked member of the six man offensive line class back in 2019. A three star recruit, Stewart ranked 573rd in the 24/7 Composite, listed as an offensive lineman out of New Canaan, Connecticut. He was considered a lottery ticket recruit and Brian described him as a "wildcard" in his recruiting profile three years ago. Stewart enrolled in the summer of 2019 and over three seasons at Michigan, never saw the field.

Stewart underwent a positional switch during that time, as he moved from OL to DL during the 2020-21 offseason, when it became clear that it wasn't happening for Stewart on the offensive line and defensive line seemed weaker. Still, he didn't appear in a game on the defensive line in 2021 and with young prospects like Rayshaun Benny and George Rooks passing him on the depth chart, the writing was on the wall. Not much else to say about a guy who we never saw play football at Michigan. 

The second exit is not official, but after an offseason of confusion surrounding his status and now an ominous Instagram post, it seems like DT Donovan Jeter may finally be moving on: 

Jeter was a four star prospect way back in 2017 out of Beaver Falls, PA. His long and winding Michigan career began rather quietly, as not much was heard from Jeter during his first two seasons, redshirting in 2017 and appearing in only seven games in 2018 as a reserve. Then during the 2018-19 offseason we were treated to heaps of Jeter praise by Don Brown and the Michigan coaching staff, who had penciled him in for a starting DT role next to Carlo Kemp. That largely turned out to be the "well this guy has to be good or else we're in trouble" type of hype that often busts. And, well, if you remember the 2019 Wisconsin game, you know that it did. Jeter missed the first two games of the 2019 regular season, returned against Wisconsin, and was subsequently paved into oblivion. 

Despite a rough 2019, the Jeter hype did not die off heading into the 2020 COVID season, where he was again a starter. The opening game of that season saw Jeter get the highlight of his career, the ole Fat Man Touchdown after Michael Barrett rocked Tanner Morgan on a blitz and Jeter caught the loose ball out of mid-air and scampered for a score: 

That highlight was really the only memorable part of his 2020 season, where he was an adequate run defender but offered little-to-no pass rushing ability. Jeter stayed at Michigan for his fifth year in 2021, but this time was no longer a starter, passed on the depth chart by Mazi Smith and Chris Hinton. 2021 Jeter was mostly the same player he'd been the previous year, a merely decent rotational piece who would make the occasional good play in run defense. The good play that stands out from 2021 was this one in The Game: 

The most recent talk about Jeter was that the coaching staff was interested in having Jeter return for a sixth season using his COVID-shirt, but he was not with the team during the spring. Though we don't yet have final clarification, the Instagram post embedded in this piece seems to be pointing towards one outcome. If that changes, we will update his status with a future post. There is no content after the jump. 

What it says on the trophy. [Bryan Fuller]

Formation/Nomenclature Notes: OSU would line up their TE as a deep H-back which I called “F” so this is “Pistol F Wk,” meaning the slot receiver (H), is opposite the side the TE is on.

image

Substitution Notes: Barrett came in for Ross on a few passing downs, probably to get a little more speed out there. Snap counts.

Lexicon Note: I also started tracking “WRDIS,” which stands for Wide Receivers Doing Insane Shit, because OSU’s three dudes were making incredible plays against coverage that would have beaten anything less. This is an acronym, pronounced like “whirr diss,” because I had to break it out so many times that it was cumbersome to read it as an initialism. Hopefully it becomes a thing in offensive UFRs as BROYLES WINNER JOSH GATTIS’s wards get to the part of their careers where they can grow full beards. For now it’s an OSU receiver thing with enough exasperation in it that you’re forgiven if you start pronouncing the ‘h’ sound with the ‘w’.

[After THE JUMP: Domination punctuated by many opportunities to practice saying “WRDIS” with an ‘h’.]

Camp rumors, of course, come in bits.

Not a lot of great DL's on this year's schedule.

Football bits returns and brings with it loads of (possibly false) hope! 

putting a mustache on Franz and calling him "Dave" didn't work 

scrabbling for walk-on silver linings 

not great bob

hot take segment: secondary edition

barrett go boom

they thought wrong