garrett taylor

Run for your life, Shea. Run. [Bryan Fuller]
Run for your life, Shea. Run. [Bryan Fuller]

Previously: The Offense

Resources: My charting, PSU game notes, PSU roster, CFBstats, Last Year

I remember a game I FFFF'd one year for Michigan State against PSU, and I got furious at one point because the usual suspects were taking cheap shots at the PSU NT's knees, and finally knocked the guy out of the game. Part of that was this occurred right after Robert Windsor had a string of great pass rushes on a series of all long downs. I don't remember the exact series but it went something like false start-sack-throwaway-defensive penalty-sack-sack-give up and punt, and Windsor had gone OFF. The next series the cheap shots started, and Windsor left the game, and from there he developed a reputation as a guy who screams upfield every play, damn the consequences, and is utter hell on bad OLs. State's certainly was.

Maybe he's still that guy? I dunno. But I have a theory that defensive tackle play in this day and age is to defense what quarterback play is to offense, i.e. of outsized importance. If you want a good example of this, pull up any Clemson, Bama, or Ohio State game in the last five years. Or Mo Hurst highlights. Or for a more recent demonstration, the last quarter of Penn State, when I couldn't tell if anyone else was any good because the poor quarterback had only half a second to fling the ball out of the backfield before #54 was in his chest.

The film: Penn State at Iowa last week.

Personnel: My diagram:

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PDF Version, full-size version (or click on the image)

Hope you print this one out because hooo boy are there a lot of guys to remember. A lot of them have site tags if you want to torture yourself with when Michigan tried to recruit them (or didn't).

The front seven are all returning starters or heavy rotation players replacing nominal ones. NT Robert Windsor (+27/-0) we'll discuss later, and I'm sure you're familiar with WDE Yetur Gross-Matos (+13/-3 against Alaric Jackson) by now. SDE Shaka Toney (+9/-6) is a pass rush sort who split time last year with the more stalwart Shareef Miller. Toney avoided a pretty clear targeting penalty late in the Iowa game that should had him pulled for the first half of ours—thanks John O'Neill. DT Antonio Shelton (+7/-3) is the guy I liked better than Windsor last year because he's more responsible. He's ceding a lot of snaps to the backups, mostly Fred Hansard (+3/-3), a very large top-250 type, and 2018 top-100 DT PJ Mustipher (did not chart).

The rotating cast of pass rushing backup ends starts with Toney's new platoonmate, Jayson Oweh (+3/-4), the #76 composite recruit last year, who did some work inside on Tristan Wirfs, and an equal amount of freshman errors in edge protection. Shane Simmons (+3/-0) was a fringe five-star back in 2016, and is only just now starting to pay that off. Daniel Joseph (+1/-0) was in the same class, just outside the top 250. They can also throw the linebacker depth chart on the edge. I mention them all because Gross-Matos limped off at the end of this game.

Linebacker recruiting clearly benefitted from going through the early part of 2016 without any. They still have some familiar faces. SAM Cam Brown (+4/-0 run, +2/-3 coverage) is the same weird, tall, anti-tight end specialist. WILL Micah Parsons (+6/-2 run, +3/-7 coverage) was last year's #5 overall player to the 24/7 composite, and the #2 prospect at weakside end. His athleticism is still well above that of a typical linebacker, but his coverage remains very much "this guy is an elite defensive end prospect"-ish, mostly because he tends to get mesmerized by the backfield and doesn't get enough depth. His slow reads don't matter as much in the run game because he accelerates like a running back. Between Brown and Parsons starts the same walk-on they put out there against us in '16, MLB Jan Johnson (+2/-0 run, DNC in coverage), who's fine, but now just technically the starter. Most of his minutes have gone to Ellis Brooks (+3/-0 run, +0/-1 coverage), a 4-star in 2017, and Jesse Luketa (+1/-1 run, +2/-2 coverage), a top-250 guy last year. Brown comes off the field often for a nickel safety, and Parsons doesn't leave it, but they'll find a few snaps here and there for #18 overall true freshman Brandon Smith (+0/-3 run, DNC coverage), who's not quite ready.

[After THE JUMP: And they all have stars]

Goodbye: Mike Weber

As for his visit plans, per Rivals' Josh Helmholdt, we'll have to wait:

Since Detroit Cass Tech four-star running back Mike Weber de-committed from Michigan earlier this month, the question has been which schools will receive his official visits.



"Alabama, Ohio State and Michigan State is all I really know right now. I haven't decided on the other two," Weber said. "I haven't set them up yet. I still have to sit down with my parents and see which ones I should take and when. I think I will take at least two in December."

Michigan is still under consideration. Alabama, Georgia, and Notre Dame didn't wait long to offer Weber after his decommitment.

Tyree Kinnel Waits

From Sam Webb:

["]So I’m not too worried about if it Hoke is fired, what I’ll have to do.  I know I’ve got other scholarships to schools that said they would take me.  At the end the day I know I’ll be fine, so I’m just focused on the state championship right now with my team.”

That isn’t meant to suggest that the longtime Wolverine pledge is definitely headed elsewhere if the current coaching staff is removed.

“They would still be a school I consider,” he said.

Kinnel has no visits planned, yet.

Cole and Clark Wait

From Webb's latest in the Detroit News:

"As [Brian Cole's] daddy I'm telling you we're still evaluating everything. We're looking around, but we're still committed to Michigan."

"I'm just trying to get some other options in case the coaches I have a really good relationship with at Michigan end up going," [Chris Clark] told Scout.com. "And then I'll just have other options.

"I want to see what new coach they get -- if they get a new coach. I just really like my tight end coach at Michigan, Coach (Dan) Ferrigno. He's been with Coach Hoke for a while. If Coach Hoke goes, then he's going to go too."

Grant Newsome, Andrew David, Jon Runyan Jr., and Alex Malzone are solid, at least.

John Kelly, Uncommitted, Waits

Per 247's Steve Lorenz:

"I'm not really worried about that stuff," he said. "They will probably find a good replacement with whatever they do. I've heard about Jim Harbaugh. That would be a really big hire if they could get him. That would help a lot. Besides that, I'm just waiting and seeing. I'm in no hurry to make a decision right now and I'm not favoring any certain schools over another at this point."

Michigan State and Minnesota are also under serious consideration; Kelly has also fielded recent offers from Iowa and Tennessee.

Auden Tate, After A "Great" Visit, Waits

Via Scout's Sam Webb and Amy Campbell:

“I’m a solid commit to FSU still,” Tate insisted.  “I’m just taking some visits… just making sure.”

That begs the question, did Michigan give him something to think about?

“I don’t know,” he replied.  “Kind of.”

Tate also visited Florida last weekend. They're waiting, too, but in a much different way.

Not Waiting: KLS, Garrett Taylor

Happy trails to Keisean Lucier-South, who committed to UCLA, and former M commit Garrett Taylor, who committed to Penn State.

Well?

If you're here for the Brandon post, scroll down or click here.

Real Talk

TomVH posted a lengthy article in the wake of Garrett Taylor's decommitment in which he quotes several recruits—including Taylor, Chris Clark, and Thiyo Lukusa—discussing the impact of Michigan's poor season and the accompanying uncertainty on their recruitments. As you'd imagine, it's not a fun read ($):

"I wanted to be a part of a program that knows what it takes to win and the players and coaches develop that culture. I felt like Michigan lost that while watching them play," Taylor said. "As well as the fact that I felt like Michigan wouldn't put me in the best position to get to the next level after college, especially with the problems they've had in developing their players." 

Oof. Taylor will not be reconsidering Michigan as his recruitment moves forward, which... sounds about right.

Tom also posted a rundown of the commits he believes are likely to stick at Michigan despite the turmoil in his Big Ten roundup. With only nine commits left in the class, this should come as no surprise, but the list isn't a long one ($):

Quarterback Alex Malzone, offensive lineman Jon Runyan and kicker Andrew David are prospects who would likely stay committed no matter the coach, which is good for the future. Keeping Malzone will be a big deal as current quarterback Devin Gardner will be gone after this season. 



...



Outside of Malzone, Runyan, David and most likely Brian Cole, there is a chance most of the other commitments look elsewhere. 

Complicating matters is the fact that Malzone, Cole, Clark, Darrin Kirkland, and Mike Weber have all at one point or another stated an intention to enroll in December; if Michigan's coaching situation isn't resolved by then, it would put those recruits in a tough spot.

[Hit THE JUMP for Michigan's latest 2015 offeree—a recruit who might actually come, even!]