Depth Chartin'
This is slightly dated but we know why, right? Let's just skip the recriminations and go to the bits. Bits about the first depth chart release:
Offense
- Rumors of Greg Mathews' demise are apparently exaggerated, as he remains atop the depth chart at outside WR.
- Kelvin Grady is second to Odoms, and only Odoms, at slot. Massive rise there.
- Offensive line is exactly as expected.
Defense
- Adam Patterson is over, man. He's behind a redshirt sophomore walk-on. That's Will Heniger, by the way, and if Graham goes boom we're in serious trouble.
- Roh is second to Herron at deathbacker.
- Yikes: Brandon Smith is idling behind Kevin Leach; hopefully just inexperience at the position there.
- Where's Hawthorne in the Brown backups? 5-10 guy who I thought was a corner Floyd Simmons is third string.
- Mike Williams has apparently wrested the starting job opposite Woolfolk from Vlad Emilien.
- Oh, god, starting secondary, remain healthy.
Special Teams
- Olesnavage, as expected, is slightly ahead at kicker.
- Morales may have shaped up but he's not even on the depth chart at long snapper. Ryan Van Bergen(!) is.
- Odoms. Hold on to the ball. Hold it. Love it.
September 1st, 2009 at 11:32 AM ^
lack of depth on defense.
September 1st, 2009 at 11:43 AM ^
I hope our defense stays healthy. Brandon Graham or bust.
September 1st, 2009 at 12:26 PM ^
Jonas Mouton to step up and have a big year in '09. He showed improvement last year and looks much bigger and stronger as well as more aggressive this season.
September 1st, 2009 at 12:29 PM ^
Is the fact that the lack of depth on offense does not look so bad given the even worse lack of depth on defense.
Any injury almost anywhere and we are in trouble.
September 1st, 2009 at 11:35 AM ^
6 seniors, 6 juniors, 10 sophomores. That, alone, is scary.
Also, with Stevie Brown's position being referred to as the SLB now, does that mean that the deathbacker will start being termed as the OLB as denoted on the depth chart?
September 1st, 2009 at 11:43 AM ^
At least the sophomores have decent playing experience. Well, some of them.
September 1st, 2009 at 11:50 AM ^
...but those seniors?
graham, ouch.
beyond that, minor is good but not irreplaceable. ditto for moosman, ortmann, and matthews. i don't hate stevie brown as much as some other guys here, but obviously he hasn't been a great player. i do think he'll be good in the deathbacker spot this season, but clearly not irreplaceable.
we're going to be flat loaded in 2010.
September 1st, 2009 at 12:24 PM ^
is actually not playing the "deathbacker" position. Herron is playing this position, otherwise referred to as the quick end or the OLB. Brown is playing the SLB position. It has also been referred to as the spinner position, but that term has been shot down by coach Robinson.
September 1st, 2009 at 11:52 AM ^
Probably just because they are universal terms so that they show up when people (like the university) database these things by position.
September 1st, 2009 at 11:36 AM ^
PR#1 Odoms. KR#1 Cissoko. hmm...
go touchbacks!!!
September 1st, 2009 at 12:03 PM ^
those two have small hands. small hand lead to fumble. we need big hand return men. then big hand men hold onto ball.
September 1st, 2009 at 11:46 AM ^
Dear god don't let anyone get injured there.
September 1st, 2009 at 11:47 AM ^
"Heininger."
September 1st, 2009 at 11:59 AM ^
The devourer of all flesh, Will Campbell, is third at nose tackle? Is this something to be expected or has he been underwhelming in practices so far?
September 1st, 2009 at 12:49 PM ^
exactly where he was expected. behind martin and sageese.
September 1st, 2009 at 12:05 PM ^
This would be consistent with the "buzz" from the premium sites that Mike Jones was playing better than and ahead of Hawthorne. But I'm really shocked to see a walk-on as third string ahead of him. What about moving B Smith to that hybrid spot? I just knocked on wood that S Brown remains healthy.
September 1st, 2009 at 12:12 PM ^
"I just knocked on wood that S Brown remains healthy."
funny how much this year people want him ON the field.
September 1st, 2009 at 12:11 PM ^
man, adam patterson was a top 100 recruit. maybe he can move inside?
September 1st, 2009 at 12:40 PM ^
the sun coming up in the morning, which is why I'll be very pleasantly surprised if we're better than 6-6, given this depth chart.
September 1st, 2009 at 12:48 PM ^
I was watching our bowl game against Florida the other day and remembered that we used Greg Mathews to handle punts back then, why not now? Just to have a guy who can secure the ball and fair catch it every time without fear of turning it over. I would rather no punts returned for touchdowns then have multiple game changing turnovers.
September 1st, 2009 at 12:58 PM ^
I think JT Floyd is the cornerback you were thinking of as opposed to Floyd Simmons, who I think has been playing LB all along.
September 1st, 2009 at 1:03 PM ^
Burning Woolfolk's redshirt was such a waste.
September 1st, 2009 at 1:05 PM ^
Rumors of Greg Matthews' demise? I haven't heard any of those.
We're going to be really good next year. Graham is the only loss that we don't appear to have a replacement for.
September 1st, 2009 at 1:12 PM ^
Yeah, seriously, who starts there next year? Greg Banks?
September 1st, 2009 at 1:26 PM ^
How about a slightly bulked up Roh backed up by a developing Lalota?
September 1st, 2009 at 2:54 PM ^
more along the lines of sliding Van Bergen over to Grahams spot and then having a developing William Campbell alongside Mike Martin to make up the Dline. It would be a different formation than we have now (2 DT's again instead of 2 DE's), but then Roh and Herron take up the other DE spot (the hybrid one). But yeah, if LaLota develops fast, that helps depth.
September 1st, 2009 at 1:16 PM ^
Can we stop with this shit?...
Out of all of those comments I might have seen 4 or 5 that were actually positive.
Brandon Graham has as much a possibility of going down as anyone else. For those of you who believe in RR, you know that if someone does go down that he will have someone on the back burner to come in and do the job.
I'm looking forward to this season and seeing our young players step it up. I personally love our LB crew and I think we can be just as good in the secondary.
September 1st, 2009 at 1:35 PM ^
Ann Arbor Pioneer alum, I remember he had some baseball offers coming out of high school but decided to walk-on. Great kid, hard worker, and seems to have really filled out. Coaches must see something they like if he's above Patterson.
September 1st, 2009 at 1:33 PM ^
5 walk-ons on the defense made the depth chart, (also 5 true freshman and 5 more redshirt-freshman) 14 of 30 listed either freshman or walk-ons. Feel a little like the guys reading the roster before the season in Major League Will Heininger, Kevin Leach...Jordan Kovacs? Who are these freaking guys?
September 1st, 2009 at 2:00 PM ^
Cross him off, then.
September 1st, 2009 at 10:26 PM ^
"Some of these guys are way past their primes!"
"Most of these guys never had a prime."
September 1st, 2009 at 2:29 PM ^
Well it would be really cool if that Kovacs guy is related to Rorschach from Watchmen.... then again, that's probably unlikely since Rorschach is a fictional character.
Also im not being overly negative here, but the DBs average 186 lbs and the 4 LBs average 225. I admit that I don't have the intricacies of this defense down, but hose numbers are shocking to me... I'm thinking about pulling guards and tight ends getting into the back 7.
September 1st, 2009 at 2:48 PM ^
Pulling guards and tight ends very rarely block defensive backs. Remember, there are usually only 5 or 6 lineman/tight ends on the field at a time, yet there are 7 defensive lineman/linebackers. Our linebackers may be a bit small, I don't know a lot about linebacker size
September 1st, 2009 at 2:25 PM ^
Meh, walk-ons play fairly regularly on good teams. Penn State's team last year had a few starting walk-ons and they did just fine. I know we don't have a lot of depth, but I don't think people are quite giving these guys enough credit. They worked hard, even though they had no scholarship, and have moved up the depth chart because of it. It happens in every program
September 1st, 2009 at 2:42 PM ^
some may have been recruited to other schools but preferred to walk on here. ( I hope )
September 1st, 2009 at 4:24 PM ^
The first string secondary must stay healthy. SS is probably the weakest position on the team besides QB, with an unproven Woolfolk and two walks ons backing him up. Not good. The backup corners are also very young. There cannot be a single injury in the secondary or I'm afraid we'll see more big plays.
Offense looks solid. Lots of variety and experience at RB and the O-Line looks shored up with all starters having at least 2 years on campus along with solid backups at every position with no true freshman. A good running attack facilitated by a good O-Line is a very positive sign. Depth has also developed at the receiver positions. You can make the argument that the only hole on offense is at QB and maybe at RT with Huyge.
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