ross douglas
[Bryan Fuller]
Bill Greene reports that RB/WR/DB Ross Taylor-Douglas is going to transfer:
Ross Taylor-Douglas is leaving the Michigan program as a graduate transfer that will have two years of eligibility remaining. #MICHIGAN
— Bill Greene (@BillBankGreene) January 12, 2016
Taylor-Douglas bounced between various positions during his tenure at Michigan without ever finding a home; last year he got garbage time carries as a tailback. With a crowded depth chart the prospect of playing time was unlikely next year.
Taylor-Douglas's departure opens up a scholarship for next year. Michigan now has 24 recruits and approximately 17 spots if everyone on the roster right now returns. Obviously that will not happen, so prepare for a number of posts like this in the future.
Previously: Podcast 7.0. The Story.
IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE THREE *YARDS* AND A CLOUD OF DUST
-This preview, two years ago
IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE ANYTHING POSITIVE AND A CLOUD OF NOT EBOLA
-This preview, last year
IT PUTS THE FOOTBALL IN THE GAP OR IT GETS THE HOSE AGAIN
Rating: 3
FEATURE BACK | Yr. | SHORT YARDAGE | Yr. | 3RD DOWN | YR. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
De'Veon Smith | Jr. | De'Veon Smith | Jr. | Ty Isaac | So.* |
Ty Isaac | So.* | Derrick Green | Jr. | Drake Johnson | Jr.* |
Drake Johnson | Jr.* | Ty Isaac | So.* | Karan Higdon | Fr. |
This was a straight-up mess for much of last year. De'Veon Smith and Derrick Green had little idea of what functional blocking looked like (understandable after 2013) and a tendency to run at random. If—and this is entirely hypothetical—you were to rewatch some of these runs in detail you may—again, entirely hypothetically—find yourself reduced to screaming Happy Gilmore quotes about being too good for your home and then self-abasing because Happy Gilmore is a very bad movie enjoyed only by children and Ace. Hypothetically.
Late in the year Michigan tried out Drake Johnson and Justice Hayes and that went better, particularly with Johnson. Over the last four games of the season—Indiana, Northwestern, Maryland, and Ohio State—Johnson got the plurality of the carries and averaged 6.0 yards a carry to Smith's 4.7. Johnson had a reasonable day even against Ohio State, with 15 carries for 76 yards… and then he tore his ACL. Again. Sam Webb reported he only got fully cleared on Monday.
So it's back to those other guys, oh and Ty Isaac. Let's try it again, this time with coaching.
ARBITRARILY ORDERED TAILBACK CANDIDATE #1
HAIR ZOOM 2015 [Fuller]
Last year:
My Bayesian estimation is that Smith has a tiny lead that wouldn't even be worth mentioning except for the fact that I have to talk about someone first.
This year: ditto.
The first arbitrarily ordered running back is DE'VEON SMITH. Your author does admit that the order of this list may contain some meaning. He is of the opinion that Smith is the most Harbaugh-friendly of the guys currently on the roster.
At his best, Smith is a beefier version of Mike Hart. He's got great balance and generally feels like a nuclear-powered icebreaker.
If you're in an offense where the line consistently delivers you three yards, Smith's ability to bash out another two or three with his balance and power is hugely powerful. That turns third and medium into third and short or a first down. It radically changes the percentages you're working with. This is the kind of gentleman Harbaugh made some headway with at Stanford. Going over all my Smith clips from last year is an exercise in YAC YAC YAC, to the point where the times he doesn't scrape out something after contact come as a shock.
[After THE JUMP: Smith downsides and three other arbitrarily ordered guys.]
We get excited about certain things around these parts. Like fun-to-size ratios. And new official rosters with updated weights. We've had 24 hours to parse the Spring data, and with Brian on the road today it's up to me to see how they've grown:
Things of [a Certain Definition of] Interest:
- Brady Pallante is a fullback
- Ross Douglas is listed as Ross Taylor-Douglas, and is back at corner
- Ian Bunting is up to 6'7/243
- A.J. Williams is up to offensive tackle size (6'6/285)
Weight Gain/Loss 2000
A reminder of internet policy on weight changes: all weight gain is muscle fiber, all weight lost was fat, and all static weight means fat was replaced with muscle fiber. I've highlighted things discussed after.
Player | '11 | '12 | '13 | S'14 | F'14 | Sp'15 | '11- '12 | '12-'13 | '13-'14 | '14- 15 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Quarterbacks | ||||||||||
Shane Morris | 202 | 202 | 204 | 209 | 2 | 5 | ||||
Wilton Speight | 230 | 234 | 235 | 1 | ||||||
Alex Malzone | 218 | N/A | ||||||||
Running Back | ||||||||||
Derrick Green | 240 | 227 | 220 | 234 | -20 | 14 | ||||
DeVeon Smith | 224 | 223 | 220 | 228 | -4 | 8 | ||||
Drake Johnson | 203 | 213 | 212 | 211 | 207 | 10 | -2 | -4 | ||
Ty Isaac | 225 | 240 | 15 | |||||||
Fullback & Tight End | ||||||||||
Joe Kerridge | 238 | 247 | 244 | 249 | 6 | 5 | ||||
Sione Houma | 221 | 231 | 240 | 242 | 243 | 10 | 11 | 1 | ||
Wyatt Shallman | 237 | 243 | 239 | 244 | 2 | 5 | ||||
Brady Pallante | 263 | 276 | 13 | |||||||
A.J. Williams | 282 | 265 | 263 | 260 | 285 | -17 | -5 | 25 | ||
Jake Butt | 237 | 250 | 249 | 248 | 12 | -1 | ||||
Khalid Hill | 258 | 255 | 252 | 252 | -6 | 0 | ||||
Ian Bunting | 227 | 243 | 16 | |||||||
Wide Receiver | ||||||||||
Amara Darboh | 218 | 212 | 214 | 211 | 216 | -6 | -1 | 5 | ||
Jehu Chesson | 183 | 196 | 195 | 197 | 207 | 13 | 1 | 10 | ||
Dennis Norfleet | 170 | 169 | 167 | 169 | 168 | -1 | 0 | -1 | ||
Freddy Canteen | 170 | 176 | 185 | 9 | ||||||
Da'Mario Jones | 192 | 198 | 196 | 199 | 4 | 3 | ||||
Jaron Dukes | 190 | 200 | 197 | 204 | 7 | 7 | ||||
Maurice Ways | 195 | 205 | 10 | |||||||
Drake Harris | 180 | 176 | 174 | -2 | ||||||
Brian Cole | 200 | N/A | ||||||||
Offensive Line | ||||||||||
Jack Miller | 263 | 287 | 290 | 297 | 299 | 297 | 24 | 3 | 9 | -2 |
Patrick Kugler | 287 | 295 | 299 | 297 | 12 | -2 | ||||
Graham Glasgow | 303 | 308 | 311 | 303 | 8 | -8 | ||||
Kyle Kalis | 292 | 302 | 304 | 298 | 292 | 10 | -4 | -6 | ||
David Dawson | 297 | 295 | 296 | 309 | -1 | 13 | ||||
Dan Samuelson | 283 | 282 | 292 | 289 | 9 | -3 | ||||
Ben Braden | 299 | 318 | 319 | 322 | 331 | 19 | 4 | 9 | ||
Mason Cole | 275 | 292 | 287 | -5 | ||||||
Erik Magnuson | 290 | 285 | 295 | 294 | 296 | -5 | 9 | 2 | ||
Blake Bars | 282 | 291 | 290 | 294 | 281 | 9 | 3 | -13 | ||
Chris Fox | 338 | 310 | 309 | 303 | -29 | -6 | ||||
L. Tuley-Tillman | 300 | 290 | 290 | 309 | -10 | 19 | ||||
J. Bushell-Beatty | 319 | 319 | 0 | |||||||
Defensive Line | ||||||||||
Ryan Glasgow | 294 | 300 | 300 | 296 | 297 | 6 | 0 | -4 | ||
Bryan Mone | 315 | 312 | 325 | 13 | ||||||
Ondre Pipkins | 337 | 315 | 313 | 306 | 317 | -22 | -9 | 11 | ||
Willie Henry | 302 | 306 | 297 | 293 | 311 | 4 | -13 | 18 | ||
Matthew Godin | 270 | 280 | 283 | 286 | 287 | 10 | 6 | 1 | ||
Maurice Hurst Jr. | 270 | 277 | 282 | 281 | 12 | -1 | ||||
Chris Wormley | 268 | 289 | 292 | 295 | 300 | 21 | 6 | 5 | ||
Taco Charlton | 270 | 275 | 275 | 273 | 5 | -2 | ||||
Tom Strobel | 250 | 265 | 268 | 268 | 270 | 15 | 3 | 2 | ||
Henry Poggi | 260 | 271 | 270 | 273 | 10 | 3 | ||||
Mario Ojemudia | 223 | 250 | 250 | 251 | 252 | 27 | 1 | 1 | ||
Lawrence Marshall | 241 | 238 | -3 | |||||||
Linebacker | ||||||||||
Desmond Morgan | 220 | 230 | 228 | 232 | 232 | 236 | 10 | -2 | 4 | 4 |
James Ross | 225 | 220 | 225 | 227 | 232 | -5 | 7 | 5 | ||
Joe Bolden | 230 | 225 | 225 | 231 | 232 | -5 | 6 | 1 | ||
R. Jenkins-Stone | 206 | 225 | 221 | 234 | 240 | 19 | 9 | 6 | ||
Allen Gant | 196 | 212 | 222 | 223 | 225 | 16 | 11 | 2 | ||
Ben Gedeon | 236 | 236 | 240 | 241 | 4 | 1 | ||||
Mike McCray | 237 | 242 | 241 | 242 | 4 | 1 | ||||
Chase Winovich | 220 | 227 | 7 | |||||||
Noah Furbush | 210 | 217 | 7 | |||||||
Jared Wangler | 219 | 230 | 11 | |||||||
Safety | ||||||||||
Jarrod Wilson | 190 | 200 | 202 | 205 | 210 | 10 | 5 | 5 | ||
Delano Hill | 205 | 205 | 205 | 204 | 0 | -1 | ||||
Dymonte Thomas | 190 | 191 | 193 | 191 | 0 | 3 | -2 | |||
Jeremy Clark | 191 | 205 | 206 | 205 | 205 | 14 | 0 | 0 | ||
Jabrill Peppers | 202 | 205 | 3 | |||||||
Cornerback | ||||||||||
Blake Countess | 176 | 182 | 182 | 183 | 180 | 185 | 6 | 0 | -2 | 5 |
Jourdan Lewis | 170 | 174 | 175 | 176 | 5 | 1 | ||||
Terry Richardson | 154 | 167 | 172 | 170 | 174 | 13 | 3 | 4 | ||
Ross Douglas | 176 | 186 | 189 | 186 | 13 | -3 | ||||
Reon Dawson | 170 | 178 | 178 | 175 | 8 | -3 | ||||
Brandon Watson | 185 | 188 | 189 | 1 | ||||||
Channing Stribling | 171 | 176 | 178 | 178 | 7 | 0 |
[Hit the jump for discussion on this and other bits I could glean.]
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