Previously: Quarterback, Running Back, Wide Receiver & Tight End, Offensive Line

I'm bringing back this preview feature from before my time off; the exercise is to rank Michigan's opponents, as well as the Wolverines themselves, in each position group. This is particularly useful to do in a year when roster turnover and late-offseason changes (laaaaaaaaaaaaaate-offseason changes) are so prevalent; I'll do my best in these posts to highlight significant opt-outs, opt-ins, and the like.

Maybe we'll start the defensive line with something fun and different ah fu--

Tier I: Not Something Fun and Different

Jonathon Cooper is still here, somehow [Barron]

1. Ohio State. So the good news is the Buckeyes lost a lot, including #2 overall pick Chase Young and pretty much all their DT production, from last year's stellar defensive line:

Returning production

1. Linebacker: 75 percent of tackles; 63 percent of TFLs; 68 percent of sacks
2. Defensive end: 54 percent of tackles; 43 percent of TFLs; 40 percent of sacks
3. Defensive tackle: 39 percent of tackles; 28 percent of TFLs; 0 percent of sacks

The bad news, which you saw coming a mile away, is that the replacements are talented even by OSU standards:

Average rank as recruits, according to the 247Sports Composite

1. Defensive tackle (0.9389)
2. Defensive end (0.9326)
3. Linebacker (0.9298)
4. Cornerback (0.9282)
5. Safety (0.9194)

DE Zach Harrison, the #12 overall recruit in the 2019 class, is the next edge terror in the Young/Bosa/Bosa lineage; he posted 3.5 sacks in limited, impressive time last year. Taron Vincent was the #1 DT in the 2018 class and should be healthy after a shoulder injury forced a sophomore-year redshirt. Both could break out in a huge way this year.

DE Jonathon Cooper was a serviceable starter and team captain before injuries derailed his 2019 season; he's back for a fifth year. DE Tyreke Smith was the #34 overall prospect in 2018. Two seniors and a junior fill out the two-deep at tackle. The only potential concern is if a couple DTs go down—and there's still plenty of young talent around to fill gaps. Blergh.

2. Penn State. While PSU finished 25th nationally in sack rate instead of first like the Buckeyes (sigh), they posted essentially the same line yards allowed, with both teams finishing in the top ten.

Like OSU, the Nittany Lions lose a top-flight pass-rusher: Yetur Gross-Matos, a second-round pick after recording a combined 35 TFLs and 17.5 sacks over the last two seasons. They also have a replacement who may be up to replacing much of that production right away: Jayson Oweh, the #76 prospect in 2018 who was billed as a higher-ranked version of Josh Uche. At the other end, Shaka Toney returns after nearly leaving for the NFL himself; he's a solid pass-rusher who plays better against the run than you'd expect of a lineman listed at 236 pounds.

There's also fifth-year DE Shane Simmons, a top-50 recruit who's yet to live up to expectations but has been behind some very good players. There's a lot of experience on the interior, with Robert Windsor—mostly a pass-rush specialist—the only significant loss from last year's group, which was fantastic against the run. While there may be some pass-rush dropoff, this will at least be a difficult line to move off the ball, and Oweh provides them with a potential edge-rushing nightmare.

[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the rankings.]

Tier II: Solid and Unspectacular or Talented and Worrisome

[Barron]

3. Wisconsin. The Badgers generally have strong D-lines that are overlooked because of the nature of the 3-4 defense, which funnels most of the statistical glory to the linebackers. This one is no different. They finished second in the country in sack rate despite no lineman surpassing four sacks. None of them had more than a couple run TFLs, either, even though Wisconsin finished top-30 in most advanced run metrics and first in power success rate.

All three starters return. You won't hear their names much. They're the guys who absorb blocks and won't move off the got-dang ball while those pesky linebackers fly around the field unabated. Isaiahh "Spellcheckk" Loudermilk and Garrett Rand are senior starters at DE. Nose tackle Bryson Williams returns after missing eight games to injury in 2019. In his stead, Keeanu Burton played so well that some who follow the program consider him the team's best lineman heading into his sophomore year.

Surprise! A Wisconsin position group is rock-solid.

4. Michigan. There's plenty of tantalizing potential on this line. DE Kwity Paye landed atop Bruce Feldman's Freaks List following an outrageous team combine performance. He's already a productive technician; evidently he also has enough edge-bending upside to make him a first-round prospect in the eyes of some draft projectors. Meanwhile, the end most team insiders believe is going to be the best on the team plays across from Paye:

So much, of course, depends on the state of the tackle position. Paye and Hutchinson spent a lot of 2019 crashing inside to help the DTs stop the run or generate some interior pressure. Carlo Kemp was miscast as a nose tackle. The hope is Kemp is able to be more impactful at three-tech while former high school All-Americans Chris Hinton and Mazi Smith shore up the nose in their second years on campus. Donovan Jeter is the requisite size to play nose and could be the plugger Michigan needs, too.

Beyond those mostly unproven players, though, there's not much else. Julius Welschof is a fascinating prospect as a German import entering his third year in the program; hopefully it's not too soon to expect production out of him. Depth is perilously thin at tackle, a spot where you normally want 4-5 viable players rotating through. Still, it's hard to ignore two potential NFL DEs, and there are at least some former blue chips entering the phase when they should be making an impact.

This is a situation where outsiders may have a more optimistic and accurate read on the situation than those like us prone to fretting over worst-case scenarios—so long as there aren't any absenses on the interior, at least.

Tier III: Meh

5. Michigan State. MSU's three best defensive linemen from last year are gone, including a couple standouts in DT Raekwon Williams and DE Kenny Willekes. DT Naquan Jones, who's been a decent rotation player, is a former top-250 prospect and a lock to hold down a starting spot. Jones has plenty of (largely untapped) potential, which is more than you can say for most of the guys plugged into the two-deep:

Other than Jones, there aren’t any four-star prospects on the roster. At defensive tackle, he’s joined by Jacob Slade — a good-looking player who wasn’t highly recruited out of high school, ranking outside the top-1,000 in the 2018 class. Jalen Hunt has drawn rave reviews as a reserve defensive tackle. At defensive end, Jacub Panasiuk and Drew Beesley are the projected starters. Panasiuk was the No. 579 prospect in the 2017 class, while Beesley is a walk-on.

The only returning starter is Jacub Panasiuk, whom we've referred to interchangeably as "The Bad Panasiuk" or "The Cheap Panasiuk" to distinguish him from his now-graduated brother Mike, the other departed starter at DT. Yes, Willekes starred as a walk-on, but expecting anything similar out of Beesley seems optimistic.

This was one of the best run-stopping D-lines in the country last year and decent at getting to the quarterback. MSU retained most of their defensive coaching staff, including eighth-year DL coach Ron Burton. You can expect a certain level of competence, particularly on the ground.

6. Minnesota. There are some decent players but all the stars from across the 2019 defense are gone, leaving behind mostly the unspectacular and the unproven. Minnesota had a decent pass rush, but a lot of it came from the departed Carter Coughlin; they'll need redshirt junior DE Boye Mafe, an offseason darling who flashed in a rotation role, to put up much bigger numbers.

They could be pushed around a bit on the ground, though they have upperclassmen with experience set to rotate through the interior. That run defense may get better; the pass rush is likely to drop off unless Mafe breaks out.

7. Indiana. From HTTV:

No lineman had more than five sacks or 7.5 tackles for loss in 2019. Jerome Johnson posted both of those figures and is a solid starter at three-tech. They need more from the edge; junior weakside end James Head had 2.5 sacks in a backup role and may be their best bet for a high- level pass-rusher. If that doesn’t sound like a great bet, well, I agree.

While, as mentioned, that doesn't sound great, there's at least some experience, and IU was merely subpar in both rush defense and pass rushing instead of abject.

Tier IV: Abject

can Michael Dwumfour save the Rutgers line? probably not. [Barron]

8. Maryland. As BiSB described in HTTV, the Terps run a base 3-4 or 2-4-5, which puts a lot of pressure on the line to stand up to blocks. They were not so great at this because they were asking people to defy science:

Much of this was physics; starting nose tackle Oluwaseun Oluwatimi is 5’11” and 297 pounds and starting defensive tackle Sam Okuayinonu is 6’1” and 285 pounds. Unless they’ve man- aged to gain the COVID 20 like the rest of us, Maryland will have to consider an expanded role for unproven commodities like redshirt freshman Anthony Booker Jr. and junior college transfer Ami Finau. Finau in particular is reportedly over 330 pounds, so his emergence would be a massive boost.

They were among the ten worst pass-rushing teams in the country. That's usually the thing you might be good at if you're undersized. Alas.

9. Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights finished 108th in line yards and 88th in sack rate in 2019. The latter figure overstates the rush generated by the line; the DL finished with only seven sacks of the team's 18 sacks in 12 games. They lost their best DT and best DE. Their best lineman may be Mike Dwumfour, the Michigan transfer whose inconsistent play kept him from making a major impact despite the team's significant need at the position.

It's a Rutgers unit.