isaiah williams

Luke Fickell is patrolling a different sideline this season [Bryan Fuller]

Yesterday we concluded our The Enemy, Ranked series, covering the nine B1G teams who find themselves on Michigan's schedule this 2023 season. But how about the four teams not on the schedule, all out of the B1G West? As I mentioned throughout the series, some of these teams are among the stronger B1G foes and feature talent in the trenches and in the secondary/at QB missing from The Enemy series. Today we will break down each of those four teams, their strengths, weaknesses, and project out their season. 

 

Wisconsin

No team in the B1G underwent a larger change this offseason than Wisconsin, and I'm including Northwestern in that. The Badgers opted to abandon the DNA of what made Wisconsin Football successful for nearly three decades, not just moving away from the Barry Alvarez coaching tree by hiring Luke Fickell, but letting Fickell scrap the bully ball offense in favor of an Air Raid attack(!) led by former North Carolina OC Phil Longo. On defense, Jim Leonhard's 3-4 system that churned out star OLBs is out in favor of Mike Tressel's 3-3-5, a seismic shock to the program on par with the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Everything about Badger football is about to change and it makes Wisconsin one of America's most fascinating teams in 2023. 

Offense

It's not just that the scheme has changed... the roster looks significantly different as well. Yes, Braelon Allen is still around, a star RB who is probably the second best back in the conference behind Blake Corum. The run game he engineers in tandem with Chez Mellusi is a great balancing weapon to have next to the completely re-made passing attack headed up by transfer QB Tanner Mordecai from SMU. Over two seasons with the Mustangs after transferring from Oklahoma, where he was coached by Lincoln Riley as a backup behind Jalen Hurts, Mordecai completed 66.4% of his passes for 8.0 Y/A, 72 TD to 22 INT. The upgrade Mordecai represents over Graham Mertz is astronomical and gives Wisconsin the best QB in the B1G West. 

Rebooting the receiving corps was an area of emphasis for Luke Fickell, even though the top three pass-catchers off last season's ho-hum Wisconsin WR room return, with Chimere Dike being the top target. Fickell added four transfer WRs(!) in addition to those three established returners, two transfers from Cincy, a promising RS Fr 4* from USC, and Bryson Green, who racked up 723 receiving yards over two seasons with OKST. I'm not sure if there will be a Dude in this receiving corps, but between seven lottery tickets, at least three should be solid targets for Mordecai to throw to. 

The biggest question with the offense is the offensive line. OL Coach Bob Bostad is out (hired by Indiana), with Longo bringing Jack Bicknell Jr. with him from UNC. Bicknell's first order of business will be finding a line of five starters and then teaching them a brand new blocking system that is diametrically different from what Wisconsin has run forever. The Badger OL also declined considerably in the last years of the Chryst era, finishing only 70th in average line yards last year. The good news is 3.5 starters return and Fickell brings two former All-AAC OL with him from Cincy (Joe Huber and Jake Renfro), so experience is here, but getting five guys to gel as a unit and get a hang of a new scheme is the big question. If they can get even a decent OL, between Mordecai leading the passing game and the prowess of Allen on the ground, the Wisconsin offense could be terrific. But there are also a lot of moving parts, possible transition costs and it's not a sure thing that it all works in year 1. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: Wisconsin defense and the rest of the teams]

Time To Not Watch This Highlight Video Again

After previously being eliminated in a move that came as a surprise, Michigan is back in the mix for four-star NC DT Alim McNeill. McNeill had planned to announce his decision on September 9th, almost certainly for stated leader NC State, but with some nudging from the Wolverines he's put that decision off until he can take some official visits, per Scout's Michael Clark:

“I’m going to take some official visits before I decide,” said the 6-foot-2, 272-pound McNeill. “I’m definitely taking officials to Michigan, N.C. State and Virginia Tech.”

Michigan is making a late push for McNeill.

“They’re just Michigan,” McNeill said. “Coach (Jim) Harbaugh and the coaching staff stand out. I also like the tradition and they’ve always been a top football program.

“I had a talk with (defensive coordinator) coach (Don) Brown. Coach Brown really sold me on their defensive tradition.

“He talked about how they feel they could develop me as a player and how they could use me in the defense. He said they like my versatility. I’m ready to go up there and see what they have to offer.”

McNeill maintains NC State leads the pack, while Virginia Tech is also in his top group and Florida State is lurking. That said, it's always good to be the school the causes a prospect to rethink his timeline. This one should get interesting if/when McNeill makes it to campus. Getting back into contention with him is big for Michigan, which is in contention but not the outright leader for their top defensive tackle targets in the 2018 class—adding McNeill back into a target group including Tyler Friday, Michael Thompson, and Rick Sandidge makes it that much more likely they'll land at least one coveted DT.

I continue to recommend against watching his sophomore highlight video.

[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]

BBQ Visitors: McGrone Ready To Commit

The annual BBQ at the Big House takes place this weekend; in fact, some visitors are already on campus. As usual, it's one of the biggest visit weekends of the year, and it should produce at least one commitment. Four-star IN LB Cameron McGrone, who recently shot into the top 50 in 247's rankings, is visiting and will then announce his decision on Monday at noon between Michigan, Notre Dame, and Indiana, per TMI's Evan Petzold.

The Irish were seen as Michigan's biggest competition but the Wolverines have all the momentum; they have the last 19 picks on McGrone's Crystal Ball, including those from Steve Wiltfong, Allen Trieu, and (most tellingly) Irish247's Tom Loy. It'd be a shock if McGrone went elsewhere, so expect a lot more on him in this space come Monday.

Along with many current commits, some top 2018 prospects will also be on campus this weekend. The notables, culled from 247's Steve LorenzTMI's Brice Marich, and The Wolverine's Brandon Brown:

  • Top-100 MO DT Michael Thompson, who has Michigan in his top five but looks to be leaning towards in-state Mizzou at the moment.
  • Four-star CA S Bryan Addison, who Lorenz believes is M's top safety target in the cycle. USC is the favorite but this is his first visit to campus.
  • Four-star TX OT Rafiti Ghirmai, a longtime target despite being somewhat off the radar who may be a tough pull from Texas.
  • Three-star FL CB Sammy Faustin, who Lorenz says M "quietly lead" his recruitment with Don Brown spearheading the effort.
  • I usually don't take much note of visits by current commits, but in the case of Emil Ekiyor, who's coming off a visit to Alabama, his is worth mentioning.
  • Four-star MO DE Ronnie Perkins, an Oklahoma lean and perhaps M's top defensive end target, is a maybe as he's looking for transportation to Ann Arbor, per Lorenz.
  • Lorenz reports that Michigan is also expecting top-100 MD DE Eyabi Anoma, who plays for Biff Poggi at St. Frances, to be on campus this weekend. TomVH subsequently reported, however, that Anoma plans to visit Maryland. Crootin!

Michigan may not add to the 2018 class this weekend beyond McGrone, but if they can make progress towards solidifying Ekiyor's pledge it'd be a successful BBQ. A big visit for Thompson is high on the wish list, too.

Meanwhile, there's a star-studded group visiting from the 2019 class, which I'll cover after the...

[JUMP]