Any insider word on how Big Will is handling the S&C program? Any chance we see him have a Mike Martin type freshman year?
rundown of Michigan's riser
I go to the same high school as Martin went to. Some of the stuff he could do was just ridiculous. He'd be benching 400-450 with no problem at all and everyone in the weightroom would just be watching him.
Then my compliments. I haven't noticed any dumb posts from you, which means you are in the top quintile of high school kids fo sho.
Edit-not meant to be condescending at all to you, but to HS sports fans in general
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Will has dropped a ton of weight. There's no question that enrolling early has helped him immensely. I expect him to be a solid contributor this fall.
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He did really well in the spring in regards to S&C, but has a lot of technique work to do with his play. Like Rorschach said a RS would be necessarily normally, but he probably won't.
I doubt he'll play like Martin did, but you never really know.
Thats good news. Especially when dealing with big guys. If they don't stay dedicated in the weightroom and to the diet, they put on the pounds fast.
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He will also probably have fewer opportunities to contribute than Martin did. Martin could rotate in with both DTs last year. This year there will be large amounts of time in which there's only one true DT on the field, with guys like Van Bergen, Banks, and Patterson playing the under tackle.
Yeah, I think Sagesse's ahead of Campbell on the depth chart as of now.
Magnus, is there any chance of Big Will being able to redshirt?
I'll jump in and answer this one - no, not really. If there was more depth besides Martin and Sagesse, maybe. But there isn't, so he'll be in there.
Big Will, like pretty much every PSL player, is very raw coming out of high school. They don't really teach proper technique, and with a guy like Big Will, they probably didn't even bother trying to at all since he could just throw the guy in front of him backwards. Obviously that won't work at this level, so he has some big adjustments to do, and a huge part of this is his attitude, which I am happy to say is 100% dedicated to learning. He's completely bought in to Barwis's workouts and reshaped his body, and he is very focused on learning from Tall (and his fellow D-linemen). He has the perfect attitude to succeed, and while I wouldn't expect much out of him this year, he has all the makings of being a monster down the line.
So The Other Brian and Magnus, do you guys feel Sagesee is in front of Campbell because Sagesse has actually performed well in practice, or is it because you guys just don't feel Campbell is ready? As much as I think Martin is going to have a great season, any injury he might sustain could doom our defensive line. Unless, of course, you guys feel like Sagesse (or maybe Patterson or Banks) is a decent option as a back-up
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At this moment, Sagesse is ahead of Will as Martin's backup. Not so much because Will isn't "ready", but Sagesse has been around longer. And at this point it's not really important. Anything can happen once fall practice starts.
And Martin is VITALLY important to any sort of success Michigan has this year. Graham and Minor are the best players on the team...but in terms of "most important", it's (in my opinion anyway), Graham and Martin, followed by Tate. Michigan needs Martin to not only stay healthy, but be a difference maker.
Even in the spring game, I saw a shortage of technique on Campbell's part. Even though he had about 13 practices up to that point, he still wasn't where he needs to be. He might know some techniques, but it's difficult to employ those things instinctively within a few days of learning them. It's one of those things where he might take the right step or use his hands properly in a drill when that's the only thing he's concentrating on, but when he has to worry about the snap count and different blocking techniques and finding the ball and maintaining leverage and so forth, his own technique probably goes out the window.
So I do think that a big part of it is that Will won't be ready for a big role. Sagesse is a big body and he has pretty good athleticism. I don't think we'll see him getting drafted to the NFL or anything, but he can hold his own.
As The Other Brian said, no, I don't think there's any chance that Campbell will redshirt. There's too little depth and Helmuth probably isn't a viable option on the DL at this point. At the very least, I would expect Campbell to get some snaps in goal line and short yardage situations where we need three DTs on the field.
given the supposed progress of the o-line depth?
"Everyone gets dumped Gabe. Let me give you some advice: a little coverup on your Adams Apple will make it appear smaller. Which will make you appear less like a transvestite."
I doubt it. He could be a starter next year, once Moosman leaves. Banks, Patterson, Martin, Campbell, Sagesse, etc. all have at least two years of eligibility left. Making a position switch would basically just be conceding a chance to ever see a meaningful snap. It's not that easy to play offense for a couple years and then immediately revert back to a defensive mentality.
I don't know shit compared to Magnus, but I will give you my 2 cents worth. I would not want him to redshirt because he seems to have the kind of talent to leave college for the pros after 3 years.
OT. does anyone know how in the hell Vick was redshirted, what a waste of a redshirt.
Looking at the crimes he committed he probably was too stupid to understand the offense.
There is very little interest in turning over the reins of the offense to a true freshman unless the situation absolutely dictates it, even if that freshman is as physically talented as Michael Vick.
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There are VERY few redshirt sophomores who head off to the NFL. I'm sure there are more, but I can only think of Randy Moss, Larry Fitzgerald, and (I think) Amobi Okoye off the top of my head. I'm not into making guarantees, but I'm pretty sure we'll get at least three seasons of football out of Campbell.
Yeah, I don't think he'll be as good as those guys. Bradford could have left and could have been the #1 pick. I'm thinking he didn't want the Lions to ruin his career so he stayed.
Knowshon Moreno? I think he was a RS Soph last year.
We ARE Michigan....COME GET SOME!!!
as were Crabtree and Maclin.
McFadden was a junior.
I have a bad feeling he maybe more of the Big Gabe type rather than a Alan Branch type. I hope I am wrong.
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Completely inaccurate comparison. Watson was never in shape, and he was a softie to boot. He was like a giant teddy bear. Big Will's mindset is essentially the exact opposite.
The problem is that Watson had all kinds of expectations from the start (being a 5-star from Southfield) and Branch was a 3-star (Scout) or 4-star (Rivals) from a galaxy far, far away (New Mexico) who had very few expectations.
Alan Branch looked huge from row 100, I have never seen a Michigan D-lineman anywhere near that big.
Jason Kates' girth made Alan Branch look like a middle schooler.
He was standing next to the "water cooler"...
...the one he paid a GA to fill with bacon grease.
I tell youth what, that Williamth Campbell ith a heckth of a football player.
We're gonna go inside, we're gonna go outside, inside and outside. We're gonna get 'em on the run boys and once we get 'em on the run we're gonna keep 'em on the run.
Well the shape Big Will came in at may suggest he is a bit lazy. Lets hope it can be killed early and he won't become a big bust..Like Big Gabe.
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You will be hard pressed to find many DTs who are in excellent shape. It's the nature of the beast. It's pretty difficult to be 300+ pounds and fit enough to be on the cover of romance novels. Mike Martin is the exception, not the rule.
It's already been killed.
Teric, Thomas, and Will all have a really good mentality of wanting to be the best, and doing anything it takes to get there. Will is going to be fine.
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1. Alan Branch was from Rio Rancho, NM. It is essentially a suburb of Albquerque, middle class, and features a large Intel plant.
2. Although Branch performed better in college than Watson, I see Watson on the field for the Cardinals, and I do not see Branch on the field. Discuss.
3. Both of them dropped because of concern over work ethic.
4. Who is the last really good Michigan DT to be a starter in the NFL? Is this one of our weakest positions, and can we be a valid BCS team (i.e. at least competitive with USC etc.) without better DTs?
2. I believe Branch has suffered from injury problems in both of his NFL seasons so far. To what extent, I don't know. You might know more than me since you're from NM.
4. I don't know that Michigan has ever produced a really good NFL defensive tackle, at least not in the modern era. Sometimes I wonder if this hurts our recruiting for the position, because our biggest success stories in the past 20 years have been guys like William Carr (played for the Bengals a little, I think he was a late-round pick), Watson (4th rounder, hasn't done much), and Branch (see above). For that matter, production of defensive linemen altogether has been pretty poor. James Hall has been the best NFL player we've produced in the last two decades at those positions*, and he's been a solid NFL starter, but never a star.
*I'm not counting Woodley, since he's an NFL linebacker, but I guess you could make the argument that he should count.
Martin was a noted gym rat and was in terrific playing shape coming in. (sidenote: did Martin enroll early? I can't remember.)
Will apparently came in around 335 thanks to inactivity and poor dieting. Having enrolled early may give him enough time to get in playing shape though. We'll see.
I'd expect he probably sees some time in the rotation later in the year. Ideally he would redshirt, but d-line depth == scary.