The early enrollees have hit campus and rather than making us sleuth through frames of 18-year-olds’ Instagram videos the program has helpfully put out a hype video. Even more helpfully, they’re doing football things that relate to how they’ll be used in football.

Officially in the Maize and Blue 〽️ pic.twitter.com/ozrVgMqaXT

— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) January 19, 2021

Things of Modest Football Relevance:

ANDERSON IS AT CENTER

Both Greg Crippen and Raheem Anderson are shown snapping the ball. If this was Hollywood I would infer from the camera only framing Anderson’s arms above the elbow—not showing the ball—that the director wants to foreshadow a move to guard. It’s not Hollywood, so you’ve just learned some film school shit about how they screw with your brain that will ruin movies for you for no reason; Anderson is a center for now.

COLSON IS AN OUTSIDE LINEBACKER, PROBABABLY VIPER

This is a bit more extrapolative: Junior Colson is shown seeing motion and pointing, then moving inside. Yes, there are circumstances where a MIKE linebacker could do the same, but where you see that call most often in Michigan’s legacy defense is from Viper, who aligns to the tight end, and is therefore the guy most likely to see the shift and call it out. He does move into an interior LB position, as opposed to switching with the safety, which would have been an extreme Viper giveaway. So Colson could be showing us a walkout WILL who comes back into the box on slot motion away from his side, or more likely a VIPER who just saw a tight end head to other side, turning Colson into WILL.

THE LINEMEN ALREADY LOOK LIKE COLLEGE LINEMEN

It’s not that much of a surprise given their backgrounds—Crippen was the starter at IMG, Anderson started four years for Cass Tech, El-Hadi has been the best lineman in the state for years, and Willie Allen is old enough to play basketball for Wisconsin. Only Tristan Bounds looks smaller than your standard Power 5 starter. Errr, less thicc I mean. He's humongous.

CRISTIAN DIXON IS SKINNY

He is shown running a route and making a one-handed catch, and the whole way you’re sympathizing with his pads and the enormity of space left to fill in them. They also point out Dixon’s scar.

THE PROGRAM THINKS ANTHONY WEARING #1 IS THE HEADLINE

Maybe this was made by a Hollywood filmmaker, because they storyboarded this to highlight the lede. The video starts and ends with WR Andrel Anthony wearing the #1 jersey. Ten years ago we’re going ooooooohhh I bet Braylon’s gonna have something to sayyyyyyyy. In a post-Kekoa Crawford world where we’re equally familiar with Harbaugh’s freshman number conventions (wear whatever you want now and we’ll see where you are when you hit the field) and Braylon’s penchant for melodrama it earns a shrug.

If it turns out that Anthony = THAT Anthony, they'd better find a jersey that fits him. Or thirty of them.

XAVIER WORTHY IS NOT AMONG THEM

This has been discussed much in the last few weeks on the paid message boards. There was some sort of admissions issue that prevented Worthy from enrolling early; you can pay for a sub if you desire what details exist. Clearly, it’s not great when the best athlete in your class feels jerked around by your admissions department.

My opinion: If the school intends to admit Worthy later on, I can’t think of any good reason to hold off, since the player’s better off in the football program’s academic environment than sitting at home for a semester. If they don’t think he should be at this school, there is no good reason to jerk him and the football program around. All indications are it’s the former, so I assume this is some pettifogger pipe smoker in admissions making a show of athlete academic standards that haven’t existed here since 1970. I would ask that person, if they're serious, to instead write a letter to Schlissel recommending Michigan drop down to FCS and apply to the Ivy League. You know, get that Cornell rivalry going again #BEATBIGRED.

[After THE JUMP: Things of numeric relevance]

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NERD TIME!

#1 WR ANDREL ANTHONY

You don’t need me to tell you about #1, but I can give you the preferred order for listing the#1 club, relative to their deeds at wide receiver while wearing it.

1. Anthony Carter. He’s the reason we care.
2. Braylon Edwards. Established the scholarship associated with the #1 jersey. Also had to do the most to earn it.
3. Derrick Alexander. Patron saint of receivers who took the #1 to reference Carter, and made good.
4. David Terrell. 5-star receiver whose interest in #1 helped in his recruitment, made good.
5. Greg McMurtry. Underrated star from Massachusetts unfortunately wiped our memories when we all decided to forget Bo’s maddening aversion to passing long after the game went West Coast.
6. Paul Goebel. Great end from the early 1920s, the reason why the flowers in Ohio Stadium’s rotunda are maize and blue, later a regent and important Grand Rapids politician. Switched to #1 as a junior. Equally dominant edge defender.
7. Devin Funchess. Switched to #1 his senior year, a season he mostly mailed in while playing hurt. Also notable for having a different number all three years he was here, switching to #1 from #87, a Legends jersey meant to honor the great TE Ron Kramer. The fact that this is all depressing is why Funchess is so low on this list.
8. Tyrone Butterfield. Tiny mid-‘90s receiver now unfairly remembered as a guy only people who write Michigan trivia questions remember.
9. Kekoa Crawford. Got some people mad by wearing it as a freshman in 2016. Transferred after 2017 after a forgettable career.

FWIW Harry Kipke wore #1 his senior year, 1923, when he captained Michigan to a national championship. But he was a fullback, which could equate to HB or QB or Punter in a modern offense. He was a wingback earlier in his career but didn’t wear #1. Let me add that I’m very much in favor of Jim Harbaugh’s approach to giving out jersey numbers, which makes life hard on roster-watchers, and does lead to icky things like a Crawford wearing #1 at times, but gives the players agency in a thing they’re going to be literally identified with for the rest of their lives.

#7 HB DONOVAN EDWARDS

The #7 has been mostly a quarterback number (Leach, Henne, Henson, et al.) on offense. The most notable running back to wear it was Chris Floyd, who’s best remembered for his work at fullback and won’t remind anybody of the WR-ish Edwards. The only other notable running back to wear #7 was Eddie Usher, one of Michigan’s star freshmen on the weird national championship 1918 team I wrote about in last year’s HTTV. There’s also forgotten Rich Rod slot receiver Terrence Robinson, and the even more forgotten late Bo era RB/Flanker Huemartin Robinson. What I’m saying is Edwards can make this number his own.

#9 QB J.J. MCCARTHY

Count me among the happy that McCarthy didn’t ask for Tom Brady’s #10 or the #2 that J.J. wore at Nazareth, which would have brought up the mixed feelings over Shea Patterson. #9 is what McCarthy wore at IMG last year.

You can tell a Michigan fan’s age by asking if #9 is a quarterback number. If he’s under 40 he’ll say no. If she’s under 50 she’ll recall Michael Taylor, and likely will have an Opinion about him versus Demetrius Brown. Over 50, and get ready for a lecture about how the youth don’t understand how great Dennis Franklin was. I should have mentioned this earlier, but between the early ‘20s, when numbers first became associated with players rather than positions and such, and the 1960s when players realized they were on TV, single digits were rare. This was both because rosters were way smaller (teams traveled with as few as 25 players), and because there was a rather strong cultural taboo in pre-WWII generations about calling attention to yourself.

#10 WR CRISTIAN DIXON

For a receiver at least this remains the Jeremy Gallon number to me despite many of Gallon’s heroics coming while donning the #21 Legends jersey as a senior. Thanks to Brady this number’s been locked up by various quarterbacks (McCaffrey, Threet, Clayton Richard) on offense this century, so the only other receiver was Da’Mario Jones. Dixon is a lot taller than Gallon and Da’Mario was as memorable as a bad night at Scorekeeper’s, so the freshman can shape his own aesthetic.

#22 RB TAVIERRE DUNLAP

The compact Karan Higdon had a very productive and very recent career, and the overlap between Dunlap’s freshman physique and Higdon’s rocked up senior build could fire off some recognition cells. But give it time and the older guys will start being reminded of Harbaugh (as a player)-era running back/fullback Gerald White. White himself was a throwback to some other big backs for Bo, like Glenn Doughty and Ralph Clayton. Both of those guys eventually became wingbacks, which was kind of an off tight end position that could also be an interior blocker or pitch option. I’m sure Dunlap’s not trying to bring to mind these B.J. Askewian quasi-fullbacks from Sap’s Youtube page, but I appreciate it anyway.

#25 LB JUNIOR COLSON

I mentioned that he looks like he’s a viper right now, both in build and what he’s up to in the clip. As long as he doesn’t grow a mustache he’s probably safe from Greg Robinson shoving a stuffed beaver in his face, but Colson’s scouting report is full of coverage accolades that should be familiar to anyone who knows the first thing about Kenny Demens.

A couple of reserve linebackers in the mid-‘80s also wore #25. We could also reference Ernest Shazor, especially if Colson sticks at a hybrid safety position, since Shazor was very much a linebacker playing safety.

By the way, Cornell Wheeler took #25 last year and remains on the team, so under Harbaugh rules the first guy to get on the field gets to keep it.

#51 C GREG CRIPPEN

Obviously, Cesar Ruiz, who like Crippen moved from the Northeast (New Jersey) to IMG before arriving at Michigan as a playable freshman, and evolving into an excellent and heady two-year starter at center. But this was the Michigan center number long before Ruiz, mostly thanks to the viking Steve Everitt. Also Bo-era centers Tom Jensen, Jeff Felten, and Mike Krauss wore #51. And Bo was continuing a tradition of slapping #51 on centers under Bump, most recently Youngstown boy Paul D’Eramo. D’Eramo inherited it from offensive (it also meant middle linebacker back then) center Brian Patchen of the nearly national champion 1964 team. Directly before him it belonged to Gerald Smith, Michigan’s last two-way center, and before him, WWII rental Russ Kavanaugh, Michigan’s first one-way center. If you noticed an interruption in the 1950s, a) you’re very good, and b) that’s only because George Muellich was bumped out to right tackle.

#58 OT GIOVANNI EL-HADI

This was El-Hadi’s high school number and after a high school career that’s going to be remembered among the best in state history, that alone is a fine reference. It’s also mostly uncharted territory at the state’s predominant football program (until such time as we reclassify to Ivy for Tweedie over there). The only guy who kind of qualifies is John Ghindia, who was a guard pulled outside by necessity.

#62 C RAHEEM ANDERSON

Anderson is the one recruit in the last decade you could actually suspect is aware of the history of obscure Michigan numbers, since he actually follows the Michigan history geeks. He also chose a number that has a long history with Center/Guard tweeners, from Mad Magician Quentin Sickels to Carr-RR backup Tim McAvoy, and every Dan Yarano, Ante Skorput, Marc Ramirez, and Courtney Morgan in between. More recently it was Blake Bars. If Anderson wants to try defense, Bo favs like Bob Lang, Kevin Masterson, and Bob Strozeweski wore #62.

#72 OT TRISTAN BOUNDS

Even Michigan’s talented filmographer can’t get all of Bounds in one shot.

Here’s a guy who might have found my All-Numbers Team project from a few years ago and jumped on an underappreciatedly legendary digit. While OT #77 is up there with WR #1 at the top of Michigan numeric associations, the list of #72s includes four All-Americans at tackle: Rob Wahl (the guy who blocked the punt that won the Snow Bowl in 1950), Dan Dierdorf, Ed Muransky, and Jumbo Elliott. There’s also Doug Skene, John Partchenko, Mark Huyge, Rueben Riley, and Juwan Bushell-Beatty. Plus some ancient guys like Jim Balog, Clem Bauman, Tage Jacobson (and son Robert), Jimmy Orwig, Bill Pritula, Ray Phillips, and onetime The Teams guest John Yanz.

#73 WILLIE ALLEN

Allen has some serious old man energy, helped by being an old man

Last but sizably not least is Michigan’s great grad transfer. That #73 doesn’t have as deep a tradition as the one before it, but it’s got a good one as numbers go, since it’s filled with Bo’s favorites, starting with Bill Dufek. Tom Dohring was a 73, as was Jim Coode, and Joe Marinaro (a G/T tweener). Even legendary Mike Kenn leant his (sophomore) year to the 73 prestige. Going back there are a bunch of old starters at tackle: Robert Flora until he went to WWII (he changed numbers after), Jim Atchison of the Mad Magicians era, Jim Davies after him, and Dick Schram after him. More recently Alex Mitchell wore it, and of course Jalen Mayfield just had a short but prestigious run with it.

Last thing: Seriously good videography. Kudos to whoever put it together.