Previously: Last year's profiles. S Quinten Johnson, S Daxton Hill, CB DJ Turner II, CB Jalen Perry, LB Joey Velazquez, LB Anthony Solomon, LB Charles Thomas, DE David Ojabo, DE Gabe Newburg, DE Mike Morris, DT Chris Hinton, DT Mazi Smith, OL Jack Stewart, OL Nolan Rumler, OL Zach Carpenter, OL Karsen Barnhart, OL Trente Jones, OL Trevor Keegan.

Fairfield, OH – 6'4", 216
[Bryan Fuller]		24/7	4*, #309 overall #13 TE, #12 OH
		Rivals	4*, 5.8 rating #16 TE, #15 OH
		ESPN	3*, 79 rating #10 TE-H, #17 OH
		Composite	4*, #346 overall #13 TE, #10 OH
		Other Suitors	ND, Wisc, MSU, FSU, Iowa
		YMRMFSPA	Devin Funchess
Previously On MGoBlog	Hello post from Ace. Future Blue Originals from Dave and Adam.
Notes	Twitter. Early Enrollee.
Film
Junior year:

 

Erick All is the variety of tight end who is either way too small to be a tight end or the perfect modern exemplar of the position. Or he is the variety of tight end who is a receiver. This makes him the TE version of the slots in this class: a guy who was a dubious fit with a manball offense who now makes perfect sense. Unless he is a receiver. Which he might be.

All made his name on his ability to go get the dang ball, both in high school and at camps. His offer blitz came after a 7 on 7 season in which he was a standout. Bill Greene:

From The Opening Regional to the Ohio State summer camp, this is one of the most consistent performers in the state of Ohio. Erick All is going to get open, and he is going to catch the football. PERIOD.

Greene more or less banged the table for OSU to offer All:

…pass catcher supreme, … hearing he's going to get a VERY close look from the Buckeye staff.  …OSU material

That did not happen as OSU' staff "[wanted] to see him add weight and hold onto it over the next few months" after he checked in at 212 pounds at their camp. Greene upon All's commitment:

Knows how to get open and has great hands catching the football. … can get off the line and go up and get the football. … can make the tough catch, but maybe more importantly, All does not drop the easy ones. … very solid, consistent, and steady performer …lack of game-breaking speed. … might not be the blazer people want busting down the seam, but he runs great routes and will get open.

[After THE JUMP: wants to block, but can he?]

Steve Wiltfong in the aftermath of an Opening Regional:

…. incredibly smooth and dependable … caught the ball all over the field. …created separation but he also used his frame to box out defenders for receptions as well.

MRS Ohio:

… long and slender. Runs really well. Excellent ball catcher. At the OSU camp, some of his catches were “Oh my” ones, especially some red zone catches. Speed to get deep on seam routes. Needs to get in and out of routes better. … Needs to be better disciplined on his cuts. … Excellent hands. Maybe best of all, he will look for players to block.

Josh Helmholdt:

…uncoverable in Wednesday evening’s 7-on-7, regularly beating linebackers and safeties tasked to cover him in the slot and making ridiculous one-handed catches when a defensive back did give him enough cushion.

Let's embed that link for the lazy; it's worth it:

#Michigan TE commit Erick All with the circus one-handed catch out here at 7-on-7 pic.twitter.com/DJ7cENaYku

— Josh Helmholdt (@JoshHelmholdt) July 11, 2018

When FBO took in one of All's games last fall Adam was enthused about All's ability to turn his physical gifts into separation:

..run[s] his routes with a smoothness and easy athleticism … exceptionally fast and smooth transition from an out to a fade …excellent route runner … routinely finds his assignment, whether that assignment is a corner 10 yards downfield or a linebacker four yards off the line. … has the route-running chops and speed to line up wide and the football IQ to line up at H-back and take on assignments in the run game.

You begin to get a grasp on why All is a tough cover when you combine the above takes and his 6'4" frame with his testing numbers. A 4.7 40 isn't going to blow anyone's mind but when you combine All's catching radius with a 4.2 shuttle—tops amongst combine-tested tight ends in last year's class; way better than Funchess's pro day 4.48—and a 35-inch vert and this is something Michigan can work with.

There are two main differences between Funchess and All. One is advantage Funchess, who ran a couple 4.5s at his pro day before the NFL draft. The other is advantage All. TE coach Sherrone Moore:

He’s tough as nails, he’s physical, and he catches everything. He has like suction mitts for hands, so he’s gonna be a really good player for us. … He’s just physical. … he will throw his face in the fan. He doesn’t care who it is, if it’s a linebacker, if it’s a defensive end, and he’s a physical, physical kid.

Nobody ever said that about Funchess, who hated blocking so much even the cavemen coaching him eventually pushed him out to wide receiver.

Moore's opinion was not isolated. Touch The Banner's scouting report was a lot more muted than those above except when it came to face-in-the-fan bits:

… decent frame … ready and willing blocker … nothing about All that truly stands out other than his willingness to run at and through people.

MRS Ohio also noted this characteristic:

… blocked all of the time. A skinny kid with talent, who actually looked for defenders to block. He blocked and did it well.

247's summary also asserted he "plays physically" and "does a good job as a blocker."

Is All ever going to be a good point-of-attack blocker who moves people to create angles? No. Are there things that a bloody-minded, somewhat skinny 6'4" guy can get done in an offense that will strive to match him up with confused second-level players? Yes.

Funchess's advantage in athleticism pops up in various assertions that All is "not a burner," which is probably true but also may not be fate. Absolutely nobody thought Funchess was going to put up his Michigan pro day numbers after he ran a 4.7 at the combine proper; a guy like All who's clearly still homing in on what his ideal playing weight is could be a significantly different athletic package in a couple years. As 24/7 put it:

College strength and conditioning will be important for him as he is a very good football player, but not an elite tester at the moment.

So: receiver or tight end? Could be either. Michigan explicitly broached the Funchess comparison…

…they might use him as a bigger wide receiver, much like the Wolverines did with Devin Funchess

…and when Sherrone Moore was asked about how much he was sharing All with the receiver corps he say "uh, you know, he's still in my room." He did assert he's a "tight end by nature," but he's the tight ends coach so… yeah.

One thing points pretty strongly towards WR: All's weight. He's listed at 216 on the official site. Even if that's outdated now—All enrolled early—that number is below, sometimes significantly below, those being thrown around last summer. Various articles reported him at 227, 223, and 220. Generally you like to see your guys who are supposed to fill out to, you know, do that.

Couple that with assertions that generally see All topping out under 250 if he maxes out…

…should be able to add some weight to that frame, but I imagine he’ll top out around 245 lbs. or so.

…along with his immediate effectiveness this spring and Michigan's depth chart and, well, this space is team WR. It was in fact one of our takeaways from the spring game:

All is not a tight end yet and honestly… does he have to be one? He gave off a Funchess vibe as a WR.

So if he's already a dude, and the roster needs a dude at outside WR, why change? Assertions from the program are positive in seemingly meaningful ways; Harbaugh was trying not to get ahead of himself when he named All a spring standout: "I don't want to talk too much about him and give him a big head, but man is he doing good." Also:

…competing right now until he drops and he’s really athletic and catching the ball as good as anybody out there.”

Let it ride.

Why Devin Funchess? Obvious. Virtually everyone else made this exact comparison. 6'4" jumbo WR or flex tight end ranked on the 3/4 star borderline because he's obviously really good at catching footballs but fields questions about his speed on the outside and his blocking as a tight end. Funchess immediately popped out as a dude and was one as long as he was never, ever asked to block. Michigan asked him to block for two years before resigning themselves to the fact that he was just an NFL outside WR. Brady Hoke!

All may lack the athleticism Funchess has but it sounds like he actually likes contact.

A more recent comparable that you're probably familiar with is Miles Boykin, the burly ND receiver who was 6'4" 220. Boykin put up a 4.4 40 and a 44-inch vert(!) at the NFL combine, so… yeah, that's impressive. If you're looking for a TE version, Jake Butt.

Guru Reliability: High. Near identical scouting, significant camp times. Relatively little spread.

Variance: Low-plus. Tweener potential is obvious. Natural ability as a pass catcher counteracts much of this. Fact that he was immediately a standout in spring counteracts much of the rest of it.

Ceiling: High. The only thing preventing me from being bonkers here is that 40, and if he's consistently getting open despite the 40, whatever. 6'4" guy with that shuttle… yes.

General Excitement Level: Very high. Created more buzz than any early enrollee other than Sainristil, and I think he can hack it on the outside. High floor, high ceiling.

Projection: Borderline redshirt. He'll certainly get his four games in; past that it'll depend on whether he projects to TE or WR and his potential spot on the WR depth chart. If he's a TE, redshirt, obviously. If he feels like a contender to play as an outside WR next year Michigan will have to think about giving him meaningful run past the redshirt limit.

In the event that two guys get sucked away to the NFL next year the outside two-deep will have Remaining Senior, Ronnie Bell, and then dudes from this class or Nate Schoenle. (/shakes fist at Oliver Martin transfer.) All just has to be better than either Cornelius Johnson or Quintel Kent to be in line for meaningful snaps at outside WR.

TE, meanwhile, will have McKeon/Eubanks/Schoonmaker/Muhammad. All is probably going to be a WR, and that's fine.