linebacker

Previously: Podcast 15.0A, 15.0B, 15.0C. The Story. Quarterback. Running Back. Wide Receiver. Tight End. Interior OL. Defensive Interior. Edge.

LINEBACKER: LINEBACKING IS HARD

Not a Depth Chart

It's a fair bet the plurality of position-specific praying in 2022 was for the linebackers. Michigan went into the season with two playable options, one of those a true sophomore who could explode in any direction, and lost the other to a thigh injury for the whole of it. Options past Colson and NHG were Don Brown viper Michael Barrett, RB-ish Brown recruit whom Notre Dame, Wisconsin, and everybody at Michigan's spring game thought better left at RB Kalel Mullings, and freshmen. By the bowl game they were asking a former starting safety to move down.

And now? Different story. The twitching ball of azidoazide azide has reached the age of draftability. The viper used the opportunity to turn himself into a bona fide WLB. The thigh guy was sent down to Charlotte to make room for the top free agent in the portal. Last year's semi-playable freshman is now a playable sophomore trying to hold off a Don Brown doom squirrel we were getting ready to write off this time in 2022. The guy everyone wanted to play running back? He actually gets to play running back!

Depending on what happens with the immigrant infante's irises, this unit is headed towards something between pretty good and 12-15 Christmases.

SHADY'S BACK

It may or may not make a difference beyond recruiting, but the guy who rivaled Santa in gifts he's brought to Michigan reputably also knows his way around the second level.

You said five, so I'm here for five. [Barron]

Once and future Chris Partridge returned to Michigan this offseason after a rocky attempt to coordinate a defense at Ole Miss. The top recruiter among all the Harbaugh lieutenants who've come through Ann Arbor, Partridge was also the linebacking coach during the position's best years in the history of our charting. Granted, they had Devin Bush Jr. (a Partridge recruit) for most of those years. Events not related to Bush:

• Jabrill Peppers (a Partridge player in HS) was a Heisman candidate as a Viper.
• Ben Gedeon developed into a solid starter.
• Mike McCray hit his ceiling.
• Devin Gil became a serviceable Big Ten player.
• Josh Ross had an extremely promising early career.
• Khaleke Hudson did too.

Things got a lot worse in the years after Partridge. One reason to think they might take a leap forward is there isn't another LBs coach in the MGoBlog era with that kind of track record. Another is they have an elite athlete on hand who's badly in need of coaching.

[After THE JUMP: Back again.]

Previously: Podcast 14.0A, 14.0B, 14.0C. The Story. Quarterback. Running Back. Wide Receiver. Tight End. Offensive Tackle. Interior OL. Defensive Interior. Edge. 

INSIDE LINEBACKER: HAVE THE KIDS GONE TO SCHOOL?

RATING: 3

Depth Chart

NOTE: this piece is dealing with the true ILBs, excluding all the EDGE-like players. Players like Jaylen Harrell were discussed in the EDGE preview and will not be talked about here. 

The 2021 Michigan defense had one primary weakness. The edge rushers gobbled up all-conference tackles for breakfast, the defensive tackles held their own against the run, the corners managed to fight blow for blow with Ohio State's receivers, and the safeties included an athletic marvel who was impossible to edge, a trusty centerfielder who rarely ever busted, and several ahead-of-the-curve youngsters getting better each week. But linebacker? That was the the giant glaring weak spot on the defense. 

Michigan's linebacker room last season was set up to fail in several ways. For one, they lost Cam McGrone a year too early, perhaps the greatest example of a player making a poor decision to leave school to early in recent Michigan memory. Rather than rehabbing his ACL in school and coming back to be the man in the middle of an excellent Michigan defense, McGrone bolted to be a 5th rounder who, after one season, was cut by the team who drafted him. Losing McGrone deprived the LB room of one surefire and (likely excellent) starter, but it also further decimated an already thin LB room. 

Secondly, the LB room was set up to fail by transitioning defensive schemes, moving into one with Mike Macdonald that placed extra pressure on them to clean up mistakes that popped up in the 5-2 defensive front. A ton was thrown on their plate, and the loss of McGrone meant that most of that was put on the plate of very young players. Josh Ross played the role of the old dog forced to learn new tricks after spending four years under Don Brown, while the kids were either true freshmen or second year players whose first year was the COVID season. In other words, a whole bunch of guys starting from square one. 

The result was mostly what you expected. Ross was given the hard stuff, for the most part, and did his best, but mental errors and his athletic limitations in coverage dragged down the baseline. The kids rotated in and out, flashing promise and high potential but only occasionally knowing what was going on. Teams like Penn State, Nebraska, and Georgia tortured them with Sixty Minutes of Linebacker Hell, and the pieces beyond those kids were even worse, with the exception of one former VIPER who re-emerged when they reincarnated the position in a minor role. 

Now Ross departs, the Not A Viper is still around but is probably not a true ILB, and the kids are our only hope. Have they gone to school? We'll soon find out. 

IS HE RUNNING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION?

[Patrick Barron]

The athletic marvel of this positional group and arguably the biggest X-Factor on the Michigan defense is one JUNIOR COLSON [recruiting profile]. Colson's story is unique and memorable, a Haitian who endured the tragic earthquake and was placed up for adoption by his family with the hopes he could obtain a better life in America. That led him to the Colson family in Tennessee at age 9, a family that had ties to U of M and would help guide Junior to Ann Arbor. He didn't know about football until he got to America and was late at picking up the sport even after he got to the States.

[AFTER THE JUMP: No. Serious. Injuries. Please.]

Our ongoing series covering Michigan's 2010s. Previously: Our Favorite Blocks, QBs, RBs, and WRs, TEs, FBs, and OL, Defensive Line, The 2000s.

Methodology: The staff decided these together and split the writeups. Considering individual years but a player can only be nominated once. Because of the various iterations of defense over the decade we decided on three types: two interior linebackers who could play MLB or WLB, a DE-ish rush specialist like a 3-3-5 Quick, 4-3 Under SAM, or Don Brown's Uche position, and a hybrid safety, considering the guys who played Spur (2010), Nickel (2014-'15), or Viper (2016-'19).

INTERIOR LINEBACKER: Devin Bush Jr. (2018)

Picking a year for Bush is difficult because he is one of those players who burst onto the scene fully formed. His first game as a starter came against Florida, which is a delightful team to debut against when you are a rabid squirrel man.

His numbers were actually better in 2017, his sophomore year, but a large portion of that dropoff was a shift in defensive scheme that forced him to drop into anti-slant zones. He did this with aplomb because he did everything with aplomb. Another chunk of it was the existence of Chase Winovich and Rashan Gary, particularly the former.

Bush got picked 10th overall after 2018 so we'll go with that season. He was the same guy both years he started.

That was the fastest linebacker in the country. You could occasionally get Bush to take a false step; often it didn't matter. Attempting to edge him was a recipe for second and eight…

…if you were lucky.

Bush rewrote the UFR record book for a linebacker because he was a true triple threat LB, able to blitz, play the run, and cover. Not bad for a guy whom Florida State offered a couple of weeks before his commitment.

-Brian

[After THE JUMP: This is MGoBlog, what did you think we were going to carp about?]