jeremy jackson

Previously: 2008 Offense2008 Defense2009 Defense2009 Quarterbacks, 2009 Offense

It's apparently that arbitrary down time in the offseason when I take a look back at Brian's recruiting profiles for the class that just finished their time at Michigan. In this case, that class is the infamous 2010 group, the last full class brought in by Rich Rodriguez during his time at Michigan.

So, uh, you've been forewarned.

I'll start with the nine offensive players in the class, five of whom were wide receivers. If that sounds like a strange and dangerous way to contruct a roster, you may be a longtime reader of this here blog. Or maybe you just watched the offensive line the last few years. Either/or, really.

We're Really Sorry About The Coaching Thing



As a Pioneer grad, I have no idea how Pioneer won this game.

By the time Brian wrote up Devin Gardner's profile, he'd already enrolled at Michigan and participated in the spring game. The comparison that came up the most in his profile—and, really, the most reasonable one to make at the time—is a pretty good indication of the level of expectation for Gardner's college career:

Why Vince Young? The combination of size, speed, a wonky throwing motion, and the multiple comparisons from gurus tips the balance over to Young, who redshirted despite being the top prospect in the country and didn't come into his own as a passer until he played Michigan in the Rose Bowl—awesome timing!

Guru Reliability: High. Ton of exposure to him. Elite 11 camp, UA game, all that stuff. 

General Excitement Level: Towering. Vast. Expansive. 

Gardner, of course, stayed on track—except for the cameo at wide receiver—by looking like a future star when he took the reins after Denard Robinson's injury in 2012, and while he had some disappointing outings in 2013, those were largely chalked up to the O-line and playcalling. It came off the rails last year for a host of reasons covered so thoroughly they're not worth bringing up again. Needless to say, reading through his profile leaves one with serious what-could've-been feels.

[Hit THE JUMP for Dramatic Cupcake Hopkins and, well, mostly disappointment.]

NOTE: UFR will be later than usual today, because of Dos A Cero IV. Lo siento.

BONUS: Soon to be number one in Google for highly competitive search term "mesh goofball punish." Dolla dolla bill  y'all. See you on my yacht.

Michigan had seen enough of Notre Dame's maniac linebackers by the second quarter to expose their aggression. On their drive after ND had kicked a field goal to make it 17-13, M opened with four straight runs.

The one tailback touch in there was a one-yard loss on power. A Notre Dame linebacker shot the gap, meeting Kyle Kalis two yards in the backfield, and Toussaint bounced it outside without having any hope of doing something out there. The other three plays all worked because they used Devin Gardner's legs to punish the overcommitting Notre Dame defense. Each of these plays could have been a 35-yarder.

The sequence:

  1. Michigan fakes inside zone, has Gardner run for 7.
  2. A false zone read keeper breaks outside for 35.
  3. Toussaint stuffed for loss of one on power, holding on Houma.
  4. Inverted veer keeper for nine, phantom holding on Miller.

One of them did go for 35. We discussed the veer keeper a bit in the last picture pages post: it sucked a Notre Dame linebacker well into the backfield and may have been a touchdown if Funchess didn't spin around.

The opener is an interesting play; it follows.

Michigan has it first and ten from their 37 and comes out in a pistol 3-wide formation. Notre Dame goes with their 3-4. (I swear ND was mostly a 4-3 team in this game.) Shembo is tight to the LOS over the tight end with Day next to him. ND has two deep safeties and Jaylon Smith in the grey area over the slot.

false-mesh-1

Michigan will show inside zone, with quickly aborted doubles on Nix and Tuitt forced by the usual hard reaction by the ND linebackers.

[The jump]

Previously: Podcast 5.0, The Story, Quarterback, Running Back.

"LITTLE AND DEADLY OR INEXPERIENCED AND TALL

MICHIGAN HAS IT ALL"

-Robert Frost, "Leaves Falling In A Wood"

Depth Chart

WR Yr. WR Yr. SLOT Yr. Flex Yr.
Jeremy Gallon Sr.* Jehu Chesson Fr.* Drew Dileo Sr. Devin Funchess So.
Jeremy Jackson Sr.* Joe Reynolds Sr.* Dennis Norfleet So. Jake Butt Fr.
Jaron Dukes Fr. Csont'e York Fr. Da'Mario Jones Fr. -- --

They may not look like much on the football field or even at Benny's when you're making your customary scan for football players, but Michigan's mighty-mite wide receivers can play a little ball. This year they'll be joined by the vanguard of the Michigan receiving corps' future: enormous friggin' dudes.

Unfortunately, Amara Darboh checked out of the season with a foot injury, but there's enough here to provide Devin Gardner all the targets he wants.

FWIW, you might think there will be more opportunities for these guys to get their hands on the ball, with Robinson's departure, but Gardner averaged just over one attempt more per game than Robinson and Bellomy. He was more accurate, and should be more accurate still in year two, but that only adds maybe 30 catches to the 169 Michigan had a year ago.

[NOTE: though flex tight ends are listed above since they will fill some of the WR snaps they are addressed in the TE & Friends post, not here.]

OUTSIDE RECEIVER

Rating: 4.

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AnnArbor.com

Okay, I know that JEREMY GALLON is sporting a close-cropped hairstyle that blows this comparison up, but is that tradition? Does that fill your heart with a mixture of joy and despair at both the passage of time and the Gordian Knot that is the American inner city? NO. JEREMY GALLON STILL LOOKS LIKE SNOOP FROM THE WIRE GODDAMMIT.

jeremy-gallon-mugsnoop-the-wire

one more time

Reality bows to sentimentality. Rule #1.

JEREMY GALLON
hitches you to death…
hitch go hitch
can't stay close
…then gets over the top
against 'Bama even
also Minnesota!
gets drilled, hangs on
makes tough catches
leaps for corner
over the shoulder
interfered with
secretly 6'4"
productive on screens
Heiko's favorite play
throwbackin'
houses it against Illinois
quicks make dudes miss

When Gallon is not looking exactly like Felicia Pearson no matter what he does, he specializes in leaping over guys a half-foot taller than he is. Here's the full-season UFR receiver chart with departures excised:

[Passes are rated by how tough they are to catch. 0 == impossible. 1 == wow he caught that, 2 == moderate difficulty, 3 == routine. The 0/X in all passes marked zero is implied.]

Player 0 1 2 3
Gallon 16 3/7 7/12 41/43
Dileo 5 2/5 4/4 14/15
Jackson 5   0/1 5/7
Reynolds 2     3/3
         
Funchess 8 2/5 2/4 11/11
Williams        
Toussaint 1 0/2 1/2 5/5
Kerridge   0/1   1/1

Gallon was not only Michigan's most prolific receiver, he was amongst its most efficient. With a 25/25 mark on routine 3s last year he's averaging a drop per year since Brady Hoke came to town. While a 7/12 hit rate on 2s isn't great, the entire 2011 Michigan team came up with four circus catches, which Gallon almost matched by himself. Football Study Hall's WR targeting data has Gallon seventh of 41 qualifying Michigan receivers (2005-2012, 20 targets minimum) in yards per target, but that's not the whole story. For one: of the guys he is chasing is the 2011 version of himself. For two: at the top of the list only Mario Manningham approaches Gallon's 79 targets (he had 64). He was rather good.

Combine the frequency with which he was targeted with the number of yards you get per attempt and you have a credible case that Gallon's 2012 was the best Michigan receiver season since 2005*. FSH slams all the targeting data together in an attempt to come up with one receiver number to rule them all in a stat it calls RYPR; Gallon's 2012 leads Michigan receivers since 2005 and finished 14th nationally last year.

Pretty good. Then consider Gallon's yards per target leapt from 9.6 under Denard to 11.4 under Gardner at the same time his target rate shot up (33 targets in the first eight games versus 45 in the last five). Yeah. Full-season Gallon was one of the most efficient receivers in the country. Gardner Edition Gallon was an All-American. If you want it in the most basic numbers possible, average Gallon's production in the last five games and multiply by 13. You get 81 catches for 1330 yards. Why does that yardage number sound familiar?

image

who the hell is Jack Clancy and why have I never heard of him?

Oh. That's why.

So don't even ask. Jeremy Gallon is a legit #1 receiver and a lock for All Big Ten. His quickness means he's open on hitches all the time and once you get sick of that he shoots over the top:

In the redzone he is effective because his wiggle gets him open in tight spaces and he is wearing special rocket cleats:

He has a crazy mind-meld going on with Devin Gardner that only strengthened over the offseason. He is going to make any worries about wide receiver depth much less worrisome, because he's going to absorb 40% of Gardner's attempts. He's short, yeah. Okay. You got me there.

Gallon's going to be on that list of best Michigan receiving season at the end of the year, and the leading receiver in the league.

*[IE, 1 After Braylon. Would be fascinating to see where he ranks in here.]

[after THE JUMP: life after Darboh, the secret weapon, NORFLEET]