Previously: Quarterback, Running Back

Part III of our series is unveiled today, covering the receivers for the teams on Michigan Football's 2023 schedule. As it did last year, this piece covers both wide receivers and tight ends, though it does not cover receiving running backs who catch passes (that was discussed last time). Maybe some day in the future when positionless football fully takes over we'll have to amend the format for the piece, but for now, this is what we're running with. So here we go, counting down receiver rooms from 12 to 1: 

 

12. East Carolina

As they are at QB and RB, ECU is rebuilding at the receiver position this upcoming season after losing their top three passcatchers from 2022. It will be up to the returners who spent last year low on the depth chart, as well as the P5 transfers that ECU brought in, to pick up the slack. In the returner category is deep threat Jsi Hatfield, who dealt with injuries last season and caught only eleven passes. Hatfield has caught at least one pass in four straight seasons for the Pirates, so he brings with him a glut of years in the program to draw from, but the team will need him to stay healthy. Jaylen Johnson is the leading returner after bringing in 26 balls for 340 yards and 4 TDs last season, a former Georgia transfer who started the year strong but tailed off due to injury. He too, will need to stay healthy. 

In case of injury and to round out the WR group as a whole, the Pirates brought in four P5 transfers, the most notable of which are Kelan Robinson from Kansas and Chase Sowell from Colorado. Neither player has much of anything in the way of production to their name but are hoping that a drop down to a lower level will help pick things up. At TE Mike Houston does have a returner coming back in Shane Calhoun, but he too was a reserve behind '22 starter Ryan Jones. Calhoun did catch 25 passes, but will obviously be in line for a large step up in responsibility. As a unit, the receivers for ECU are seeing a high degree of turnover and will be filling in the cracks with unproven down-transfers and the promise of existing players on the roster, some of whom dealt with injury last year. That's a bit of a creaky situation and it's why they take the cellar of the list. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: the next ten teams before OSU]

 

No longer Green & White [UNLV Athletics]

11. UNLV 

One notch up from the Pirates are the Rebels of Vegas, who, unlike ECU, do return their top receiver. His name is, uh oh, Ricky White. Yes, that one. The ex-Spartan caught 51 passes for 619 yards last season and figures to play a lead role as a prized target of QB Doug Brumfield. Though he fell short of All-MWC honors last year, I would bet White will reach that platform this season if he stays healthy. The next two receivers in yards from last year depart for UNLV, but Senika McKie and Jeff Weimer are both back after each reeled in 200+ yards worth of passes last season. Jacob De Jesus, a JUCO speedster joins the fold at WR as well and so does Dom Gicinto, a journeyman transfer most recently at NMSU and before that, Missouri. This WR room isn't particularly potent or deep but the return of a #1 in White and the transfer options having marginally more experience than ECU's gives them the edge, in addition to having a returning starter at TE in Shelton Zion. Michigan's DB coaches probably aren't circling this game on their schedule, but the Rebels should pose a marginally bigger threat in Week 2 than the opponents in Michigan's season opener.  

 

10. Bowling Green

Just a nose ahead of UNLV is Bowling Green, the "best" non-conference receiving room on Michigan's schedule, but frankly that's not saying a whole lot. Like UNLV, BGSU brings back its leading receiver from last season in Odieu Hilaire (our name of the week winner right there). Coming off a 700+ yard, 6 TD season, Hilaire was second team All-MAC last season (the only returning All-Conference receiver among the three non-con teams) and seems like a wise bet to do so again. Shooting for the stars, Scot Loeffler landed Abdul-Fatai Ibrahim from Alabama A&M, who dealt with injuries in 2022 but has two seasons of nearly 1,000 receiving yards to his name. It's a step up in competition to the FBS, but this is also the MAC we're talking about so it's not a giant leap. I expect that Ibrahim will be decent. 

Austin Osborne, who missed most of last year with injury but had 500+ yards receiving in 2021, returns for the 2023 season in another boost for this WR room. CMU transfer Finn Hogan (19 catches last year) and Jaylon Tilman (All-Conference at Grand Valley) help round out the WR depth, while the TE position (BGSU often plays with two on the field) is headlined by Harold Fannin and Levi Gazarek. All-MAC TE Christian Sims is gone, but Fannin at least played a decent amount last season. Again, not an incredible unit, but a returning All-Conference player, some talented up-transfers (and intra-conference transfers), and a quality returner coming back from injury is a combination that is just enough to land the Falcons at the top spot among non-con foes but still a decent bit behind the B1G opposition on this list. 

 

Back when Johnny Langan was a wildcat QB [Marc-Gregor Campredon]

9. Rutgers

The first B1G team to make an appearance on our list is the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, who lose three of the top four receivers by yardage from last season, off a team that was already not exactly loaded with talented passcatchers. Last year's offensive Dangerman for Rutgers, fade/jump ball artist Sean Ryan, is one of the many Scarlet Knights to exit the squad. What's left behind is a very questionable collection, Chris Long at WR and ex-wildcat QB turned TE Johnny Langan. Langan is an interesting player who can do a bunch of different things for you but I don't anticipate him being on anyone's All-B1G watchlist and wasn't a major threat last year. Long caught 15 passes a year ago, his first year making an impact on offense, but again does little to excite you. 

To fill the gaps left by players exiting, Greg Schiano's team is scrolling further down the depth chart and adding a supplemental transfer. Isaiah Washington caught three balls for 59 yards last season for RU but had marginally larger supporting roles in prior seasons. Christian Dremel is entering his fifth year in the program but has been seldom-used to this point. They imported Naseim Brantley, who hauled in nearly 900 yards worth of catches last season for Western Illinois (previously of Sacred Heart), a seemingly decent pickup, but we are talking about an FCS up-transfer on his third program. Overall, it's a mix of in-house options who have little experience or pedigree or transfers making a big leap forward. This group wasn't terribly good last season (they were 7th in this series last year) and now it's hard to feel like they're anything but quite a bit worse. That spares our friends in East Lansing the cellar among conference foes. 

 

8. Michigan State 

Want to talk about a group that feels a zillion miles worse than last year? Enter MSU. I ranked the Spartans fourth on this list last year and that's before I knew that Keon Coleman was going to be a certified Dude. In fairness, Jayden Reed's injury issues docked them some in the other direction, but on paper, the Spartans had a very talented collection of receivers. It was the strength of their offense and now it is right up there with QB and secondary as the biggest questions on the entire team. Why? Well, Reed is now in the NFL, Keon Coleman is suiting up for FSU, and the replacement options are names that may or may not be real people (hard to know since we've seldom ever seen 'em play). 

The two returners are Tre Mosley at slot WR and Maliq Carr at TE, but the bad news is that these were the complementary options for the Spartan offense. I liked Mosley quite a bit as a guy who could create space for himself and get open over the middle as a contrast to Reed and Coleman's abilities to toast you down the sideline. I like Mosley a lot less if you're relying on him to be the focal point of your passing game. Carr is an alright tight end, beefy and hard to bring down but I haven't seen much reason to think he's got Dangerman status around the corner. 

Which leads us to the outside WR spots, where Coleman and Reed have left and crucially, 2022 4* recruit Germie Bernard, who was expected to be a big part of this year's offense, bailed for Washington. Which leaves a long list of names who could start. Who will actually start is anyone's guess and something to watch at camp. Here are the options: Montorie Foster, Christian Fitzpatrick, Antonio Gates Jr., Alante Brown, Jaron Glover, and Tyrell Henry. Foster has the most experience as a Spartan, Brown has some experience at Nebraska. Everyone else is pretty green (and not just because of the jersey color). I ranked MSU ahead of Rutgers because I like Mosley and Carr a bit more than I do Chris Long and Johnny Langan, but both teams have far too much of their receiving corps defined by a giant question mark to find themselves anywhere but the bottom. 

 

[Patrick Barron]

7. Purdue

If you recall the B1G Championship Game, you may remember that the Boilers had some pretty good receivers, Charlie "Chuck Sizzle" Jones and Payne Durham, a big time red zone target at TE. They'd have ranked fairly highly on last year's The Enemy, Ranked if I had oracle powers and had known Purdue would show up on the schedule, but alas, they were not. Regardless, if we imagine where Purdue would've ranked last year, we can now dock them a bunch of spots thanks to both Jones and Durham's exits, a receiver room turning over just like the team's coaching staff. 

TJ Sheffield is back, who caught 46 passes for 480 yards and 4 TDs. Sheffield is pretty good and should get a lot of targets in this offense, I wouldn't be surprised if he challenges on the periphery of All-B1G conversation and I like him more than the projected #1 receiver Rutgers or MSU offers (a big part of why I ranked Purdue here). Jeshawn Rice is also returning, 23 catches for 283 yards for Purdue last year, while the in-house options to replace Durham at TE are more questionable. Garrett Miller dealt with injuries last year but had a role on the '21 team, while Paul Piferi was the #2 behind Durham last season. Neither guy are going to be Durham. Purdue also picked up Jahmal Edrine at WR out of the portal, an up-transfer from FAU, 500+ yards and nearly 40 catches last season for the Owls. Nothing spectacular but a solid option who has produced in the FBS before and whose size (6'3) contrasts Sheffield well. This room isn't great, but it has four returning options with at least 10+ receptions in their Purdue career + an FBS transfer coming in, which is better than RU or MSU can say. 

 

6. Nebraska 

There's a bit of a break between 7-9 and 5-6 on this list, with Nebraska representing the start of a new tier, if you should want to describe it that way. Star receiver Trey Palmer headed to the pros, the fifth straight season in which Nebraska's leading receiver does not return for the Huskers(!!). Starting TE Travis Vokolek is gone, as is Old Friend Oliver Martin, though that isn't a terribly notable loss (just felt like pointing it out for old time's sake). The top returner in terms of production is Marcus Washington, a former Texas transfer who came to Nebraska with Casey Thompson last offseason. Washington caught 31 passes for 471 yards, not Trey Palmer but solid. At 6'2, he's a bigger option and represents the first pillar of the receiver room. 

The next piece to discuss is Virginia transfer Billy Kemp IV, a 5'9 hybrid sort of player who can lineup all over the field but will likely come out of the slot. Kemp dealt with some injuries during Virginia's 2022 season, which was tragically cut short after the shooting on campus. It was that horrific event that gave Kemp eligibility for the 2023 season (NCAA made a ruling granting seniors on the team an extra year), which he opted to use for Matt Rhule's Huskers. If nothing else, Kemp is a versatile piece that can contrast Washington and he comes with 192 career catches over five seasons of college football. 

Beyond those two, how Nebraska's receiver group ends up performing may well hinge on injury luck and development of multiple former or current blue chip recruits. Zavier Betts is a burner who hasn't been able to see his full potential through in Lincoln so far due to injuries but is a guy who could raise Nebraska's ceiling dramatically. The same could be said for TE Thomas Fidone II, who has also spent a couple tough seasons in the program. They picked up TE transfer Arik Gilbert from Georgia, a 5* once upon a time, and have top 100 4* Malachi Coleman coming in, a prospect Michigan was interested in late in the 2023 cycle. No idea who, if any, of these players can perform up to their potential but if any can, that's good news for Nebraska, because otherwise you're looking at decent fallback options like Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda. He was an okay bit player last season, but if the Huskers want to end up higher than sixth, it'll be on those names who were once atop recruiting stargazers' lists to come through. 

 

Cam Camper [Bryan Fuller]

5. Indiana

The Hoosiers finish narrowly ahead of Nebraska, but they are very very close on my rankings and I went back and forth with these two. Like Nebraska, Indiana returns a solid receiver in Cam Camper, not a star but a good player. However, unlike Nebraska's Isaiah Washington, Camper was functionally IU's #1 option last year due to the extensive injuries to DJ Matthews, a receiver I really liked. Camper's line finished at 46 catches for 569 yards and 2 TDs, not too bad. Emory Simmons is also out the door but Andison Coby is back after hauling in 18 catches and Donaven McCulley, who started at QB for Indiana against Michigan in 2021, returns after catching 16 balls following his move to WR. I expect to see Coby improve in his second season at IU after a journeyman career prior to arriving in Bloomington and the same can be said for McCulley in his second year at WR. 

Growth from those two + Camper isn't a bad place to start, but the Hoosiers also scooped up Dequece Carter out of Fordham, 1st team All-Patriot League last season. To say that Carter is going to have some transition costs from moving up to another level of CFB is an understatement, but it's another option to have and there's nothing wrong with that. The TE spot for IU is a bit weak after losing AJ Barner to Michigan, with Aaron Steinfeldt or James Bomba being two of the likeliest options to start, underclassmen with limited experience to this point and neither have big time recruiting rankings. This isn't a great receiver room, WR much stronger than TE obviously, but it isn't terrible by any means. I ultimately opted to rank Indiana higher than Nebraska because Camper was their top receiver last year and he returns, as well as them banking on less injury luck than the Huskers are for success. But it was close. 

 

4. Penn State 

This marks the next step up in tiers so to speak, up to a grouping that lasts from 4 until 2. Penn State's receiver room is in a bit of a reload phase after seeing some attrition in the offseason. Multi-year standout Parker Washington and former WKU transfer Mitchell Tinsley led the team in receiving yards last season but both players moved on to professional endeavors, leaving complementary receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith as the most decorated returning receiver. One could compare this situation to MSU losing Coleman and Reed and being left with Tre Mosley as their top returner. The difference, and why PSU ranks so much higher, is the possible options to fill in those gaps are much much better in State College, both in college production and talent level. 

James Franklin fished Dante Cephas out of the portal from Kent State, a first team All-MAC receiver for the Golden Flashes after catching 48 balls for 744 yards and 3 TDs in 2022. Perhaps not quite as impressive a resume as Tinsley had last year but a pretty similar sort of fit, taking an upper tier, accomplished Group of 5 receiver and importing him to the B1G. Not too shabby. In-house options at WR are led by Harrison Wallace III, a 4* in 2021 who is now entering his RS So season. Last year Wallace caught 19 balls for 273 yards, so it's not like he's never seen a CFB field like some of the MSU names. They also got 6'4" Malik McClain and his 33 career catches over two seasons at FSU to join the ship, giving them a bigger option with P5 experience. 

At TE, Penn State loses Brenton Strange but are hoping for better health for the talented Theo Johnson, who caught 20 passes for 328 yards after he got up to full strength. Once a highly touted recruit that Harbaugh's staff wanted, the Nittanys hope that this season will be the year Johnson puts it altogether. At the very least, he should be a solid B1G starter at TE and that combined with the talent and other options in the receiver room makes it 4th in the conference. Not tip top because of the turnover, but they aren't starved for quality like MSU or Rutgers. 

 

[SI.com]

3. Minnesota 

Coming into this piece, I can't say I was expecting Minnesota to be as high as they are, but it's not the strongest year for receiving rooms in the B1G and PJ Fleck has done a solid job putting together a receiving corps. Like the next team on the list, Minnesota brings back its top receivers by yardage from last season, one at WR and one at TE. Daniel Jackson is the receiver, a three year contributor for the Gophers who is looking to have his strongest showing yet. Brevyn Span-Ford is the TE, coming off a season where he caught 42 passes for 497 yards and 2 TDs, which ranked 3rd among B1G tight ends in yardage. If Athan Kaliakmanis gives Minnesota's passing game a bit of a jolt relative to late-stage, half-dead Tanner Morgan, I think Span-Ford is a decent bet to get All-B1G honors. 

That's a good place to start, but it's improved by Fleck going back to the ole WMU well at WR (like he did at RB), snatching up Corey Crooms, an 800 yard, All-MAC receiver in KZoo. If 85 year old receiver Chris Autman-Bell (committed to Minnesota during the Obama administration) can get and stay healthy, that's a third quality receiving option. In case Autman-Bell is unable to leave the nursing home and play football, they have Autman-Bell Insurance in the form of Charlotte transfer Elijah Spencer, a 900+ yard receiver for the 49ers last season. If Minnesota just went with Jackson/Spann-Ford/Autman-Bell as their big three, they'd be in a solid spot, but the addition of two transfers in Spencer and Crooms have them sitting pretty, a very experienced room with decent depth. Not quite good enough to break the top two in my mind, but in the upper third among B1G opponents. 

 

2. Maryland

Last year I was singing the praises of Maryland's receiver room, as they were returning an already-talented group and then had picked up a surprisingly accomplished SEC transfer. What happened? Well, they were good but not great. The high volume of options, plus the team's willingness in using running backs in the receiving game, meant that no one got the sort of eye-popping numbers that were expected. Rakim Jarrett, Jacob Copeland, and Dontay Demus now all bid adieu but Jeshaun Jones, who actually finished with the most receiving yards of the bunch (I said Jones would be WR4 last summer!) is back. Also of note, TE Corey Dychess, who emerged as a first-year starter and finished second on the team in receiving yards, is also back. In other words, the two players who outperformed expectations return and the three with relatively disappointing seasons depart. I'd venture to guess most Maryland fans would take that! 

The turtles were apparently not satisfied with their in-house options at wide receiver because they went straight to the portal and imported two likely starters, Kaden Prather of WVU and Tyrese Chambers of FIU. Starting with Chambers, he's a Baltimore area kid who at long last has made it to his dream school. All it took was a strong showing at Sacred Heart, followed by two seasons of balling out in the CUSA with FIU, catching 96 passes for 1,618 receiving yards in two years in a Panther uniform. Prather is 6'4 and just put up 50+ catches and 500+ yards for West Virginia, a Power 5 program with a legit passing offense. While the Terps get docked some because you have some transferring going on that can make projections less reliable, they return their two leading receivers from last year and add two players with 500+ yard receiving seasons in the FBS and in a year where no one in the B1G besides TTDS looks overflowing with talent at WR, it's enough to put Maryland at #2. 

 

1. Ohio State 

Surprise, surprise. The Buckeyes! Who'd have guessed they'd be 1st on the list? The presence of Marvin Harrison Jr. alone is enough to put them at #1 because the guy is a goddang mutant. Having those recruiting rankings on the roster alone is enough to put them at #1 as well. That everyone, including Harrison, comes back... yeah, they're #1 in the country and it ain't even close. Harrison is a contender for the Heisman. Emeka Egbuka, while I'm not as high on as some draft scouts, is still extremely talented. That 1-2 punch could take the top two slots for All-B1G in the conference at WR. They also get a veteran starter back at TE in Cade Stover. Then toss in Julian Fleming, Jayden Ballard, and Xavier Johnson as returners at WR and it's starting to get outrageous. Oh and then you remember that 5* Tr Fr Carnell Tate and Brandon Inniss are on the roster and it's time for me to stop writing. No second paragraph is needed here. OSU is #1. Duh. 

 

Hehehe [Patrick Barron]

Where would Michigan rank? 

Unlike the first two pieces, I can't say #1 for obvious reasons. I'm also not entirely sure Michigan is #2 either. I like the TE tandem of AJ Barner and Colston Loveland, with the upside of Loveland obviously being immense given what he showed at the tail end of the season (11 catches for 196 yards and 2 TDs in the final five games). That's as good as any TE group in the B1G, though it's not as established as having a true returning starter at the position like Minnesota/Maryland/OSU all have. At WR, the team loses its top receiver by yardage from a year ago (by a wide margin) in Ronnie Bell, but brings back Cornelius Johnson and Roman Wilson, who are both decent bets to have true breakout seasons. They are not too far off from a Daniel Jackson or KeAndre Lambert-Smith that Minn/PSU bring back, solid players who have yet to emerge as true All-B1G studs.

The Bell hole will likely be filled by some mix of Darrius Clemons and Tyler Morris, both very talented recruits. What does that come out as in summation? Michigan being placed firmly in the 2-4 tier with the Gophers, Terps, and Nittanys, but not necessarily obviously #2. If I had to rank them, I'd probably put them third, but with high upside in the room and obviously excluding the fact that Donovan Edwards doesn't count for this category and he's arguably Michigan's most dangerous threat in the passing game.