Fall Roster Overanalysis 2014! Comment Count

Brian

The phonebooks are here, ladies and gentlemen, and you know what that means.

TO THE SPREADSHEET!

QUARTERBACK

Player 2011 2012 Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Fall 2014 11 to 12 12 to 13 13 to 14
Devin Gardner 205 206 210 218 216 1 4 6
Russell Bellomy 189 201 215 210 206 12 14 -9
Shane Morris     202 202 204     2
Wilton Speight       230 234     N/A

RUNNING BACK

Player 2011 2012 Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Fall 2014 11 to 12 12 to 13 13 to 14
Justice Hayes 176 183 192 190 194 7 9 2
Drake Johnson   203 213 212 211   10 -2
Sione Houma   221 231 240 242   10 11
Joe Kerridge     238 247 244     6
De'Veon Smith     224 223 220     -4
Derrick Green     240 227 220     -20
Ty Isaac         225     N/A
Wyatt Shallman     237 243 239     2
Ross Douglas     176 186 189     13

WIDE RECEIVER

Player 2011 2012 Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Fall 2014 11 to 12 12 to 13 13 to 14
Devin Funchess   225 235 230 230   10 -5
Amara Darboh   218 212 214 211   -6 -1
Jehu Chesson   183 196 195 197   13 1
Dennis Norfleet   170 169 167 169   -1 0
Jaron Dukes     190 200 197     7
Csont'e York     180 194 191     11
Da'Mario Jones     192 198 196     4
Freddy Canteen       170 176     N/A
Drake Harris       180 176     N/A
Mo Ways         195     N/A

TIGHT END

Player 2011 2012 Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Fall 2014 11 to 12 12 to 13 13 to 14
Keith Heitzman 251 254 280 271 258 3 26 -22
AJ Williams   282 265 263 260   -17 -5
Jake Butt     237 250 249   12
Khalid Hill     258 255 252     -6
Ian Bunting         227     N/A

OFFENSIVE LINE

Player 2011 2012 Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Fall 2014 11 to 12 12 to 13 13 to 14
Jack Miller 263 287 290 297 299 24 3 9
Blake Bars   282 291 290 294   9 3
Ben Braden   299 318 319 322   19 4
Kyle Kalis   292 302 304 298   10 -4
Erik Magnuson   290 285 295 294   -5 9
Kyle Bosch     302 301 303     1
Logan Tuley-Tillman     300 290 290     -10
David Dawson     297 295 296     -1
Graham Glasgow     303 308 311     8
Dan Samuelson     283 282 292     9
Patrick Kugler     287 295 299     12
Chris Fox     338 310 309     -29
Mason Cole       275 292     N/A
Juwann Bushell-Beatty         319     N/A

DEFENSIVE LINE

Player 2011 2012 Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Fall 2014 11 to 12 12 to 13 13 to 14
Frank Clark 228 260 277 270 277 32 17 0
Brennen Beyer 225 252 250 256 256 27 -2 6
Matt Godin   270 280 283 286   10 6
Willie Henry   302 306 297 293   4 -13
Ondre Pipkins   337 315 313 306   -22 -9
Tom Strobel   250 265 268 268   15 3
Chris Wormley   268 289 292 295   21 6
Mario Ojemudia   223 250 250 251   27 1
Taco Charlton     270 275 275     5
Maurice Hurst     270 277 282     12
Henry Poggi     260 271 270     10
Bryan Mone       315 312     N/A
Brady Pallante         263     N/A
Lawrence Marshall         241     N/A

LINEBACKER

Player 2011 2012 Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Fall 2014 11 to 12 12 to 13 13 to 14
Jake Ryan 230 242 240 235 236 12 -2 -4
Desmond Morgan 220 230 228 232 232 10 -2 4
Allen Gant   196 212 222 223   16 11
Royce Jenkins-Stone   206 225 221 234   19 9
James Ross   225 220 225 227   -5 7
Joe Bolden   230 225 225 231   -5 6
Ben Gedeon     236 236 240     4
Mike McCray     237 242 241     4
Michael Ferns       233 239     N/A
Noah Furbush         210     N/A
Chase Winovich         220     N/A
Jared Wangler         219     N/A

CORNERBACK

Player 2011 2012 Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Fall 2014 11 to 12 12 to 13 13 to 14
Raymon Taylor 169 183 183 182 184 14 0 1
Delonte Hollowell 164 177 180 175 178 13 3 -2
Blake Countess 176 182 182 183 180 6 0 -2
Terry Richardson   154 167 172 170   13 3
Jourdan Lewis     170 174 175     5
Channing Stribling     171 176 178     7
Reon Dawson     170 178 178     8
Brandon Watson       185 188     N/A
Jabrill Peppers         202     N/A

SAFETY

Player 2011 2012 Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Fall 2014 11 to 12 12 to 13 13 to 14
Jarrod Wilson   190 200 202 205   10 5
Jeremy Clark   191 205 206 205   14 0
Dymonte Thomas     190 191 193   0 3
Delano Hill     205 205 205     0



ITEMS OF INTEREST

Peppers is big and stuff. He's over 200 while no other corner cracks 185; he is essentially the size of Michigan's safeties. Which might be good because he might be a safety. Also of note: the other freshman corner is also larger than all other corners.

Derrick Green continues being serious. Down a full 20 pounds from last year's 240.

Yo-yo-ing is bad for your health, Keith. Or whatever. But he put on all that weight to play DE/DT and now Michigan is all like SYKE.

Jenkins-Stone now plausible. A worrying drop to 221 in spring was followed by a rebound and now he's pretty decent size for a WLB. Or SAM in the over. You know what I mean.

I thought you were supposed to be huge? I listed Furbush at 240 in his recruiting profile and thought that was a bit conservative since many recruiting evaluations started with "as big or bigger than his listed size." Instead he checks in at 210. Typo? Malaria? Weird optical illusion wherein everyone sees a much larger person than is actually there? I mean, dude is not ten pounds lighter than Jared Wangler, right? I'm confused? I keep asking questions?

More generally. There really seems to be no reason to play any of the freshman LBs other than Ferns. You've got a three deep and they're 220. Redshirts for all.

Funchess 2.0? I see Bunting listed at 6'7", 227 and see visions of busted blocks and eventual resignation to the fact that you've got a 6'7" WR with skillet hands. For a given definition of "resignation." 

Hello redshirt. Drake Harris was already dinged up and now he's dropped weight. He's now the same weight as Canteen and listed at three inches taller.

DL increments. Not a ton of huge swings there but Henry did drop 13 pounds, hopefully so he can stay on the field longer without tiring out and seeing his technique fall apart. Hurst is still a bit short of ideal at 282. Wish Beyer could have added more than six pounds from last year; must be physically tapped out. Ditto Ojemudia. Seems like he's just about done expanding.

Cole expanding. Mason Cole going from 275 to 292 means breaking the glass on his redshirt is only 90% of a Total Panic Experience instead of 100%. The rest of the OL seems to be converging on 300 pounds from various directions with the exception of Ben Braden, who is just enormous.

Big enough. I think it's 50/50 Glasgow starts at tackle. Both Kugler and Miller are 299, which is large enough, and he looked good there in spring.

Comments

FreddieMercuryHayes

July 24th, 2014 at 1:51 PM ^

My analysis:

Derrick Green is going to be so fast at 220.  The OL is finally going to be super strong with the general weight gains.  With only one DL at 300+ that is not a freshman, I can confidently say UM will have the fastest, most athletic DL in the league.  Same concept with the DBs, they're going to be super quick with those weights; will be hard to beat them with all that quickness.

JTrain

July 24th, 2014 at 1:59 PM ^

I know this sounds crazy but how cool would it be to have Strib at 6-3 playing corner with Jpeppers (jacked weighing in @ over 200#..... with track speed to boot)...throw in a little countess and the rest of our depth....

Mmmmm-hmmmm. Tommy likey.

ish

July 24th, 2014 at 3:56 PM ^

I think that's one of the most important takeaways here. We were all concerned that he would put on a lot of weight as a result of the injury, but he lost weight. Good sign for his fitness and ability to contribute come the first game.

stephenrjking

July 24th, 2014 at 2:02 PM ^

Hard to read much into weights... But I'm excited about Green. Both because the new weight will almost certainly be a better quickness/power mix for him, and because the change suggests a work ethic that will produce improvement in other areas of his game.

alum96

July 24th, 2014 at 4:10 PM ^

So it's fair to say all those who last year said Green at 240 was no big deal and he will be a battering ram will now come back and say oops, I was wrong?  I'll hang up and get negged from here ;)  (was not directed to you - a general comment about how everyone was explaining away the weight gain last year)

stephenrjking

July 25th, 2014 at 12:25 AM ^

I was a bit concerned about it, but I think a lot of people were in "wait-and-see" mode more than "he's sure to be great" mode.

In fairness, he didn't have a great breakout year, but he also had absolutely nowhere to run. For all we know he would have looked like Jerome Bettis against a good OL; he also might have hit the holes late and fallen over easily. We'll see if the line can open holes for him this year.

Big_H

July 24th, 2014 at 2:05 PM ^

The offensive line will most likely average over 300lbs no matter what... so I guess that looks nice. Hopefully they can put it all together this year. All we need is average O-Line play this year.

MGoLogan

July 24th, 2014 at 2:24 PM ^

I'm very excited to see Ben Gedeon this year.  6'3", 240 lbs. while also being one of the more athletic LB's on the team, I think he will be a starter by Big Ten play.  Too bad Beyer wasn't able to pack on more weight.  Seems pretty light to be a SDE.

Edit: Also Ryan Glasgow is up to 296 now.  That gives UM at least 5 able bodies (Pipkins, Henry, Mone, Wormley, and Glasgow) at DT/NT that are in the 295-310 range.  Good to see some beef in the middle of the DL.

WestSider

July 25th, 2014 at 12:42 PM ^

what Braden will do at RT and 322-ish. I am always awed by how massive he is; I know he has a mean streak and will to battle; and I believe he will demonstrate what a great RT he can be this fall. I also thought he might eventually move to LT, but who knows. Braden seems like a bit of a sleeper in some ways. He has impressed alot of observers, but there is not alot of discussion about him.

sundaybluedysunday

July 24th, 2014 at 2:10 PM ^

I'm curious as to why we don't have more guys on the lines over 300 when we're not a spread team. Alabama has 15 guys over 300 pounds, and while I know they play a 3-4, we also have a nose tackle position. It just seems like guys like Kalis and Dawson should be headed in the opposite direction.

wbpbrian

July 24th, 2014 at 2:17 PM ^

I don't know if all of our guys are working hard enough to get bigger. Surely they are being pushed in the gym, but that is only the half of it. I am wondering if the nutritionist at Michigan are not hounding players to eat more to become bigger. I know for a fact that these lineman need 6000+ calories  to grow with all the training they go through and I think many of them don't eat enough. I was disappointed to see that Brennen and Mario didn't get past the 265 mark this year let alone the 260 one. There need to be a more attention paid to the growth of some these guys. 

Space Coyote

July 24th, 2014 at 2:21 PM ^

You can get him there, but it won't be optimal for him. Players max out with where they can continue to grow and maintain athletic ability, my feeling is that neither Beyer or Mario should be above 265, Mario, IMO, isn't even close to someone that should get to that size (245-255 is likely optimal for him).

wbpbrian

July 24th, 2014 at 3:13 PM ^

The reason why you want many of your players to come in a little chubby up to this point in the season is because it takes so long to put quality size on people. In Green's case last year he came in at 240 lbs. I don't see that as a problem as long as he can control his diet. Which was the problem I heard he had last season. The best thing is to come into the fall a little big and with a great diet you can trim fifteen to twenty pounds off in a month. While to put fifteen to twenty pounds of size on it could  take the whole year to do. So lets say if Beyer got up to 265 and we found out he doesn't play well that big, then he can drop the weight in a matter of weeks and end up where he is now. But if he wanted to get bigger that would be nearly impossible in a months time. That's why I would rather see weight gain in most of my players than weight loss, but that is just my opinion.

panthera leo fututio

July 24th, 2014 at 6:06 PM ^

As you say, it takes a while to put on good weight without also adding a lot of bad weight. But it also takes time to lose a lot of bad weight without losing good weight.

In other words: a guy who slowly gets to a lean 250 lbs is probably going to be a lot stronger than the same guy who gets to a fluffier 275 and then drops down to 250 in a month.

ND Sux

July 24th, 2014 at 2:34 PM ^

when Green put on the extra weight, the OLine just stopped blocking for him. 

Joking aside, I like the effort there and I think 220's is great for him.  He was already quick enough for a power back, but I can't wait to see the extra burst. 

Space Coyote

July 24th, 2014 at 2:26 PM ^

Needed to improve how well they move, not their functional strength. They are still now in the process of reshaping their bodies in a way that helps them maximize their strength and how they move. I don't think the direction of their weight or the weight they're at now is a big issue.

I think eventually, Bars, Braden, Kalis, Mags, Bosch, LTT, Dawson, Glasgow, Kugler, Fox, and JBB will all get above 300, but you have to put weight on the right way to be affective. They aren't asking them to be 270-290 spread stretch OL. They are in teh 290s to 300s and working their way appropriately to optimal weight. WIth the switch in scheme, there is probably at least a little bit of change how they want to build their bodies, so you see a bit of a slide in that regard as well (different movements, techniques, styles for mostly zone blocking compared to man blocking).

FWIW, Alabama's OL averages 308 lbs (I'm just going to take out the FR that came 385), Michigan is 301 lbs.

Avon Barksdale

July 24th, 2014 at 2:13 PM ^

Little disappointing he hasn't been able to bulk up at least over the 190 mark. That's what an inury will do to you. I was expecting him to make an impact immediately when he first committed.

It definitely looks like a WR core of: Funchess, Darboh, Chesson, Canteen, and [throw in completely unproven name here as well] will have to get us through 2014.

Our offense should have the talent to be truly elite in 2015. I expect our defense to be at the top of the B1G this year. Too much experience not to be one of the best.

pearlw

July 24th, 2014 at 2:52 PM ^

We didnt hear much about it...but alot have pointed to an interview that Speight gave where he said Drake Harris had mono in the spring so that probably had as much of impact as the hamstring.

Here is relevant part of the interview:
“Drake is my roommate and is a great guy. Unforunately, he hurt his
hammy and also got Mono so he missed some time. Freddy is a freak and
is going to shock everyone. We called him Freddy ‘Footwork’ because
his feet are so fast. He loves to work, we worked out a lot after
spring practice and he’s just an unreal talent.”

http://steveclarkson.tumblr.com/post/90368106038/one-on-one-with-wilton…

bronxblue

July 24th, 2014 at 2:13 PM ^

Bellomy down 9 pounds?  I know he was traumatized from the Nebraska game, but someone should really make sure he's eating.

Otherwise, pretty uneventful.  Freshmen (outside of Peppers) are all pretty small and should redshirt, which means we'll see 2-3 waste redshirts against App St. or something and get a couple of mop-up spots here and there.  But otherwise, looks like the type of weight sheet you'd expect from a team that is maturing at a normal rate.