The Future at Guard: 0 Jrs / 4 Sophs / 0 Fr. / 0 Recruits
While updating the Depth Chart by Class (in light of the Campbell / Q. Washington position switch) it first dawned on me that all Guards on the roster are Sophomores. This position switch just made Guard recruiting for 2010 a priority.
Even with a great recruiting class at guard in 2010, in 2013, the most experienced Guards on our roster will be Redshirt Sophs with no Juniors or Seniors (and this is with 0 recruits at this point to fill that void).
This, of course, doesn't consider possible future position switches (Khoury to Guard if Pace is ready to back-up) or playing a true Freshman at the position -- the last option could be more of a sign of necessity (as in playing true freshman CBs this year) than the readiness of a true freshman starting on the line in the Big 10.
Tackle in 2011: 1 Sr - 2 Soph - 2 Redshirting Fr. (Posada, Fisher)
Center in 2011: 1 Sr - 1 Jr. - 1 Fr. - 1 Redshirting Fr. (Miller)
Gaurd in 2011: 4 Jrs. - No Recruits
It looks like Zettel, UM, and OG is a match made in heaven - hopefully Cyrus Hobbi can get back in the picture too. And the consistent recruitment of James Elliott makes a lot more sense to me after seeing the "situation" we will be in down the road.
October 29th, 2010 at 10:35 AM ^
I think people were projecting Posada to be more of a guard than a tackle, FWIW.
Also, Chris Bryant is still out there as well and he could end up at G.
October 29th, 2010 at 12:45 PM ^
Posada is a guard
October 29th, 2010 at 10:30 AM ^
Aren't centers and guards somewhat interchangeable? I'd assume one of the two Fr centers would move to guard rather than sit for 4 years. This might make more sense as interior lineman:
1 Sr, 5 Jr, 1 Fr, 1 Redshirting Fr
Still an obvious recruiting need, but not as gaping of a hole.
October 29th, 2010 at 11:11 AM ^
2 words: shotgun snap. See 2009.
October 29th, 2010 at 11:15 AM ^
I think he means centers switching to cover the apparent lack of guards, not the other way around.
October 29th, 2010 at 3:58 PM ^
Moosman played center in nine games last season. It was only in his first start that we had big snap issues (and that was partly on Tate anyway). Our larger problem last year was that Moosman just wasn't as talented an interior lineman as Molk.
October 29th, 2010 at 10:32 AM ^
Posada is an OT but an OG at Michigan I believe and Chris Bryant hopefully will give his verbal a few days after The Big Chill.
October 29th, 2010 at 10:34 AM ^
pushing one of the Soph's back a year. Gotta think if the position switch looks worthwhile, a redshirt year wouldn't be out of the question to work on form/technique and give him a real shot at the spot.
October 29th, 2010 at 10:36 AM ^
Thanks for the breakdown, but as we've seen before, guys shake out where they are going to help the team the most once they get on campus. It matters less the position they played in HS or even how they project by the ratings services.
October 29th, 2010 at 10:36 AM ^
It's something to keep an eye on, but remember we thought Omameh was headed for tackle and we thought Barnum was definitely a guard, but he's been playing some tackle too.
October 29th, 2010 at 10:37 AM ^
O linemen tend to be interchangeable, IIRC both of our starting guards were originally tackles and they are pretty darn good guards now.
October 29th, 2010 at 10:37 AM ^
Jack Miller will play an interior lineman spot
October 29th, 2010 at 11:36 AM ^
He's said the coaches are recruiting him specifically for center, not just "an interior line spot," which I think is an assumption built into the analysis.
October 29th, 2010 at 12:02 PM ^
thanks. Didn't realize it was that determined.
October 29th, 2010 at 10:39 AM ^
Not sure. Why don't we all wait for Dr. STeve to weigh in before we panic.
October 29th, 2010 at 10:59 AM ^
I need to stop reading this blog in class.
October 29th, 2010 at 12:13 PM ^
This past weekend I was in line to order my first Blimpy Burger in nearly three decades when some woman behind the counter screamed, "Rodriguez don't recruit no guards!" I asked a follow up question and she shouted, "He ain't never had no guards in the East Coast Conference!" Then she attempted to deep fry my belt and serve it to me with a side of ranch.
If this is true Rodriguez should be fired immediately because he obviously doesn't know anything about football (I mean, you need two guards at a time, how complicated is that?). If it isn't true, I apologize and deserve your sympathy because I am old and clueless and too lazy to Google the ridiculous assertions of strangers before sharing them with the board. Dr. STeve.
Dr. Steve
October 29th, 2010 at 4:37 PM ^
You win. Unless my laughing gets me fired.
October 29th, 2010 at 10:39 AM ^
Doomed! DOOMED I SAY! WE WILL NEVER RECOVER!!!!
October 29th, 2010 at 10:39 AM ^
What I hear about both Bryant and Posada is that they will probably move to guard. If that's the case, our tackle situation is pretty worrisome. We could have really used one stud tackle in addition to Fisher in this class.
October 29th, 2010 at 10:48 AM ^
I will continue to bleed Maize and Blue until 2013 at which point I will switch to being a Golden Gopher because we dibanded the football program due to a lack of guards.
October 29th, 2010 at 10:56 AM ^
No RR will reinvent his offense with only a center and two tackles on the OL in 2013. He will use 3 QB's and it will be awesome.
October 29th, 2010 at 11:05 AM ^
"Michigan comes out in their standard seven-wide set... now a tackle motions out to make it eight-wide... Now the center motions out... Jim, I question this new scheme"
October 29th, 2010 at 11:24 AM ^
Louisiana Tech come out with a 3 lineman set against Boise..the announcers were like...ahhh offensive mad scientist.
October 29th, 2010 at 11:34 AM ^
interesting, how did it work out for them?
October 29th, 2010 at 11:44 AM ^
Great... they covered the spread!
October 29th, 2010 at 2:03 PM ^
I only saw them run it once. 3 O linemen, with 4 WRs and I think 2 RBs. From the Shotgun obviously. It was a quick pass that went incomplete.
October 29th, 2010 at 4:41 PM ^
I'm having a hard time figuring out how this worked. There have to be seven men on the line of scrimmage, so if you have three lineman and four or five receivers on the line, that means two of the receivers are covered up and can't go out in patterns or be eligible receivers, so they're basically just light-weight blockers
I could see this being valuable for a bubble screen to one of the eligible guys, but there are very few plays you could run that would be better from this set than a normal one.
October 29th, 2010 at 5:50 PM ^
You have to have 7 on the line of scrimmage meaning two of the four WR would be covered and ineligible to go out for a pass. Which explains the quick pass, but the formation still makes no sense.
October 29th, 2010 at 10:53 AM ^
Bryant's buddy Jordan Diamond loves Michigan and should be in the next class and they should pick up another kid.
The OL is the very least of my worries.
October 29th, 2010 at 11:46 AM ^
October 29th, 2010 at 10:56 AM ^
Bryant. Enough said
October 29th, 2010 at 11:14 AM ^
We will be fine. Worry about D recruiting.
October 29th, 2010 at 11:24 AM ^
http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/long-term-ol-depth-concern
Most people seem to be extremely confident that the 2011 or 2012 classes can fill the void. I wonder if finding two sophomore/freshman starters is such a slam dunk, but I guess we'll see in a few years...
October 29th, 2010 at 11:28 AM ^
Just to avoid any confusion: We are currently recruiting for 2011. Last year's class was the 2010 class.
/captain obvious
October 29th, 2010 at 12:11 PM ^
Here is a list of the OL on the roster, I don't see much to worry about.
9 | Perry Dorrestein | OL | SR |
74 | John Ferrara | OL | SR |
52 | Stephen Schilling | OL | SR |
72 | Mark Huyge | OL | RS JR |
61 | Zac Ciullo | OL | RS JR |
50 | David Molk | OL | RS JR |
65 | Patrick Omameh | OL | RS SO |
63 | Rocko Khoury | OL | RS SO |
57 | Elliott Mealer | OL | RS SO |
56 | Ricky Barnum | OL | RS SO |
77 | Taylor Lewan | OL | RS FR |
76 | Quinton Washington | OL | RS FR |
75 | Michael Schofield | OL | RS FR |
69 | Erik Gunderson | OL | RS FR |
70 | Kristian Mateus | OL | FR |
64 | Christian Pace | OL | FR |
October 29th, 2010 at 1:40 PM ^
I doubt they'll keep 4 guys at center. At least one of those guys will move to guard.
Not worried. There is still room in this class for another OL and they'll likely recruit a 2-3 guards next year.
October 29th, 2010 at 2:39 PM ^
There are a lot of things to be worried about on the depth chart for future years. OL is not one of them.
October 29th, 2010 at 4:04 PM ^
Along these lines, I'm curious to know what we're planning for the TE position down the road. We currently have three TEs on scholarship: a senior (Webb), a junior (Koger) and a sophomore (Moore). We have no commitments at the position for next season. Are we thinking of phasing the TE out of our offense, or possibly moving someone else there? I know RR often went without a TE at WVU, but we've made ample use of them as lead blockers this year and I can't imagine us going without them in the future.
October 29th, 2010 at 4:10 PM ^
Didn't we bring in a couple walk-on fullbacks a couple years back? If we did does anyone have info on them, such as their name and what not.