mustapha muhammad

Sponsor Note. Annoyed by the fact that approximately 10% of UV links go to the Athletic? Well, tough nuts, buddy, they've got Brendan Quinn, Nick Baumgardner, and Bruce Feldman so that's how life is these days.

The good news is that the Athletic has hired damn near everyone so you can get coverage of all your teams in one place. Speaking as a beleaguered USMNT fan, they are best-in-class there as well.

Also good news: they're running a 40% off special if you use our link right here. No ads, no pop-ups, no clickbait. Even we can only say two of those three things.

Fumble numbers. We had the Mathlete run the numbers on Michigan's fumble rate and ahyup this is an absurd outlier. Here's a graph of fumbles lost on run plays during his D-1 college career (ie, Stanford and Michigan):

Over the years in his database the average teams fumble on 2.2% of plays and lose those 1.1% of the time; Harbaugh has been at 1.8% and 0.9%; this year it's 4.5% and 2.2%. So: Harbaugh teams generally fumble a little less than average and while that's probably just luck it is also luck, of the very bad and hair-pulling variety, that Michigan's losing fumbles at double the rate of an average team out of nowhere.

[After THE JUMP: Onwenu arises.]

Previously: Podcast 11.0A, Podcast 11.0B, Podcast 11.0C. The Story. Quarterback. Running Back. Wide Receiver.

Depth Chart

For eight solid years this section started off with a fine-grained sifting of various blocky/catchy guys into bins, because manball. No more. Ol' Murderface is (mostly) a 270-pound DT. Josh Gattis insists his offense doesn't have a fullback, and the distinction between a "tight end" as a glorified offensive lineman and a "flex TE" as a whiz-bang downfield guy is pointless now. All tight ends are flex.

RIP, annual explanation of the fine gradations of blocky/catchy. RIP.

This preview is still going to designate a fullback because Harbaugh mentioned that Ben Mason was going to get some time on offense, and if this happens he will be used as a hammer. The fine distinctions are gone. Despite that, this position remains as critical as ever. In a spread-to-run world the tight end has a ton on his plate.

TIGHT END: THE TESLA EFFECT

RATING: 4

McKeon (#84, left) was Patterson's arc sidekick [Patrick Barron]

SEAN MCKEON broke into the open field against Wisconsin, but instead of waving his hand in the air for a pass he was seeking someone to hit. A baffled cornerback presented himself. McKeon shoved him and continued on, arcing outside. He eventually caught linebacker Ryan Connelly and knocked him over; 81 yards and a couple of goal-line plays later Michigan had broken a zero-zero stalemate.

McKeon had just signed up for a whole offense.

[After THE JUMP: blockin'. Murderin'?]

THE PHONEBOOKS ARE HERE

This morning the football program updated the weights and heights of the official spring roster, which previously published measurements from last fall, and then at 3 today they published the rest. That gift gave me enough lead time to arrange my annual weight gain/loss chart, without all the "here's the new walk-ons and numbers" analysis the American Society of Completionists demands.

Remember the rules: All weight gain is muscle, all weight lost was fat, and all guys who remained the same did so by replacing fat with muscle. I'll highlight the changes worth talking about.

Freshmen Note: Early enrollees' spring weights, and fall enrollees' weights that were previously on MGoBlue are listed under 2018, since those are mostly from high school weigh-ins.

[Hit THE JUMP for the position-by-position excessively optimistic obsessiveness]