the mystery of #12

The new phonebook's here, but since they don't list weight changes in spring there's even less than usual to glean from the updated rosters. The big notes:

• Jalen Perry is gone.
• Alessandro Lorenzetti moved to DL.
• Kalel Mullings is an LB/RB. Order of the positions seems significant?

The new guys have numbers, and some of them have interesting weights. Also there were some position changes among younger players. So let's be thorough anyways.

DEPARTURES

One guy in Michigan remembers Perry. [Patrick Barron]

The only one that wasn't announced already was cornerback Jalen Perry. Can't say that's much of a surprise since he barely played in four years, and when he'd get mention it was behind all the freshmen. Aside from his special teams work (see photo above), he did get in as Michigan's backup nickel last year, in non-competitive situations.

Here's the the full list of guys not back from last year's roster, with destinations and years of eligibility remaining where applicable.

• Quarterback: Cade McNamara (Iowa, 2), Alan Bowman (Oklahoma State, 1), and walk-ons Peyton Smith and Andy Maddox
• Running Back: Everybody's back.
• Wide Receiver: Ronnie Bell (NFL, 1), Andrel Anthony (Oklahoma, 2), Matthew Harrison
• Tight End: Luke Schoonmaker (NFL, 1), Erick All (Iowa, 2), Joel Honigford, Louis Hansen (UConn, 3), and Carter Selzer.
• Offensive Line: Olu Oluwatimi, Ryan Hayes (NFL, 1), Mica Gelb, and Kraig Correll
• Defensive Tackle: Mazi Smith (NFL, 2), George Rooks (Boston College, 3)
• Edge: Mike Morris (NFL, 2), Eyabi Okie (Charlotte, 1), Taylor Upshaw (Colorado, 1), Julius Welschof (Charlotte, 1)
• Linebacker: Deuce Spurlock (Florida, 4), Ryan Zimmerman
• Safety: Everybody's back.
• Cornerback/Nickel: DJ Turner (NFL, 2), Gemon Green (NFL, 1), Jalen Perry (Unknown, 2), Jahre Fish.
• Specialists: Jake Moody, Brad Robbins, and Rhett Anderson

POSITION CHANGES

Everybody give a demi-yay for for Mullings being an "LB/RB" now. [Bryan Fuller]

The big one everyone's talking about is Amorion Walker to cornerback. He's listed as a WR/DB on the roster.

The big one that we didn't know about is Alessandro Lorenzetti has been moved to defensive line in place of Dominick Giudice, whose move to offensive line was known about last year. I don't know what to make of Lorenzetti. This program does try its deep depth at other positions sometimes, if only to get them some snaps, and Lorenzetti came in more of a raw frame than a football player. It probably means they feel Lorenzetti is years away from helping on the offensive line, and that they want to shore up depth at defensive tackle after moving Giudice and coming up one guy short at the position in recruiting. It probably downgrades Lorenzetti's ceiling a few notches, since deep depth positions switches are often the first step to irrelevance (see: Jack Stewart, Phil Paea).

Of particular interest to me is Chibi Anwunah moving to tight end. Chibi was a super under-the-radar guy they found who's rumored to have Ojabo-level athleticism. Both positions require lots of it, but the fact that Elston was willing to let him try something else suggests he maybe preferred to focus on the almost-as-raw recruits he brought in.

Kalel Mullings is officially an "LB/RB." Half-Yay! issued:

Ya

It's interesting that they list LB first; that position is suddenly stacked, while he's probably the #3 guy at running back if that's his focus, with a clear path to starting next year if/when Corum/Edwards leave.

Micah Pollard moved from Edge to LB. This was something that happened during the season, since they needed linebackers, and he was always kind of a Jaylen Harrell-esque tweener.

Noah Stewart moved from OL to TE. Stewart was a 6'7"/283 offensive tackle last year, his fourth in the program. With a redshirt and a COVID year he's got a couple years left. Probably nothing, but he also could be their Honigford this season.

And for completion's sake, James Kavouklis is just a long-snapper now (lost his OL/ designation) and walk-on center Peter Simmons was moved to defensive tackle. He was a 6'2"/291 redshirt sophomore last year.

[After THE JUMP: The new numbers, weight changes, twelves.]

Michigan released a spring roster update this week. Does it have much information in it? Nope. Are Yellowpages even thick enough for a kid to sit on anymore? Nope. Are we going to do The Jerk anyway? Of course we are. Other sites that cover Michigan checked it for things a casual fan might want to know about. But here at MGoBlog, we (use various Excel functions to) notice everything. Let’s =if(B2=vlookup all the columns!

Here’s my comprehensive roster file, and our updated Depth Chart by Class. Let's rosterize!

Many Former DTs Are Not On It

Consider this the exit post for the following contributors:

DT Donovan Jeter. I held out hope that last year’s top backup would come back for his 6th year, but Jeter hired an agent and is going to try to catch on in the NFL.

DT Jess Speight. Speight could have taken a COVID 6th year but the program is listing him as out of eligibility.

DT Jack Stewart. This one passed unnoticed somehow despite Stewart being a scholarship player. Recruited as an OL, Stewart tried to make the switch to nose tackle last year and never resurfaced. Just last week Stewart made MLive’s list of players returning. He was going into his 4th season but with COVID and a redshirt year he had sophomore eligibility, so there was plenty of time left to transition if it was going to happen. Apparently it is not. I’ll see if his name is in the portal; Stewart enrolled in Fall 2019, so if he took spring/summer classes along the way (most players do) it’s plausible he could have a degree before next season.

DT Joey George. Another walk-on DT who threatened to get significant snaps at times last season. He appeared in 9 games over his career, but only in garbage time. He made UFR exactly once: on the last play of the 2021 season, moving a Georgia OL off the point of attack then missing the tackle to give up a 1st down and run out the clock.

OL Griffin Korican. Korican was a Class of 2018 preferred walk-on who flipped to Michigan from Oregon State late, and occasionally popped up on depth charts, playing in 8 games. With a redshirt and the COVID year he had 2 years of eligibility remaining, but stayed 4 years so I assume he’s graduating.

You’ll note four of these guys are all from the defensive tackle depth chart. Adding Chris Hinton gives us five interior linemen who got on the field last year who left with eligibility remaining. Tack on transfers Jordan Whittley and Elijah Pierre, who both ran out of eligibility, and it brings that number to seven(!) DTs from last year’s depth charts who won’t be on this one.

This is kind of significant, in that it puts a lot of pressure on younger guys to be ready. Mazi Smith is back, fortunately, and Kris Jenkins came on late in the year to look poised for a breakout. However DT/DE Julius Welschof is reportedly gunning (or depending on whom you ask, leading) for one of the open “OLB” jobs, as is Michael Morris. Everybody else on the roster was a freshman last year (Rayshaun Benny, George Rooks, Ike Iwunnah), or arrives this year (Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant). Considering Michigan likes to play up to three of these guys at a time, that is a thin depth chart indeed.

Presumably this means they’re confident Benny is ready to step in, some of the Don Brown anchors (Welschof, Morris, Gabe Newburg, Dom Giudice) can move down, and/or someone else from the list of young DTs is a better option than the departed. It’s not a panic moment yet, but it’s a concern, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they seek help from the transfer portal this spring.

You know you're a Michigan football geek if you obsess over the weights. The real nerds get into position changes, number changes, and walk-ons. I have updated my big roster file.

Just so you know what you're getting into if you progress any further in this article, I'm going to lead with the thing only I obsess over.

The Curse of B-Will Continues

THE Brandon Williams with the Devin Gardner* jersey I had just bought for my nephew the night before Gardner switched to 98.

With this roster it's official: no player at Michigan will have managed to wear the #12 for his entire eligibility for two entire decades. The last man to do it is the man above, cornerback Brandon Williams**, who donned it in 1999 as a freshman and wore it through his graduation in 2002. Since then:

• QB Matt Gutierrez (2002-'05) got Wally Pipp'ed by true freshman Chad Henne in 2004 and transferred to Idaho State.
• QB David Cone (2006-'08) left with a season of eligibility remaining.
• CB JT Floyd (2008-'10) switched to #8 for his final two seasons.
• WR Roy Roundtree (2009-'11) switched to the #21 Legends Jersey as a senior in 2012.
• QB/WR Devin Gardner (2012) switched to #12 from #7 for the one year he was a wide receiver, then switched to Legends Jersey #98 for the 2013 season opener.
• LB Allen Gant (2012-'14), too slow for safety and too small for linebacker, might have made a good viper, but graduated and left the program right after Michigan hired Don Brown. Gant did come back a few years later as a grad assistant with the vipers, before moving on to coach DBs at Slippery Rock. He was recently named the defensive coordinator at D-II West Virginia Wesleyan.
• P Blake O'Neill (2015) was just a one-year rental.
• QB Alex Malzone (2015-'17) got his degree in 2.5 years and grad transferred to Miami (NNTM)
• RB Chris Evans (2016-'18, 2020) was THIS CLOSE to breaking the curse—he did the hard thing, which was take a year off from the team to serve penance and make up for a gross academic misconduct that got him booted from it with a year of eligibility remaining. Then he went and switched to #9. Bah!

Linebacker Josh Ross is a redshirt junior, so if he manages to stick around and not change digits through 2021 the curse will finally be broken. If Ross heads to the NFL or something, the next shot is QB Cade McNamara, now a redshirt freshman.

*I am being told by the CLC that Adidas did not make #12 jerseys in the summer of 2013 for the presumptive new starting quarterback, because you're not supposed to profit from amateur athletes.

**Brandon Williams is also the namesake of that play when the opponent muffs a punt and you field it on the run, take it to the endzone, and start celebrating before the refs signal the ball was dead where you touched it for some arcane reason.

[After the JUMP: Freshman numbers and what they have to live up to (according to me, an unathletic fat guy with a home office)]