Graham Back, Zirbel Gone, McGuffie Concussed Comment Count

Brian

A some serious newsbits from Rodriguez's recently completed press conference:

Brandon Graham should return. Rodriguez said he'd talked to Graham and he plans on coming back. Corroborating evidence:

"I'm going to eat it up right now and make sure it doesn't happen next year," Michigan junior defensive end Brandon Graham said. "This is motivation for next year to go out there and work even harder than we did this year.

This won't be official until January 15th, obviously, and I've heard that Graham will submit his stuff to the NFL's draft evaluation thingy. But, hey, thumbs up for now. That would be huge.

Corey Zirbel is done. They'd like to get him back as a grad assistant but his playing career is over.

Sam McGuffie was concussed again. This is not much of a surprise since McGuffie did not return after getting sandwiched on a kick return. This is, I think, McGuffie's third concussion of the year; we're now  getting into the territory where this is a threat to end his career.

Eastern Michigan is the third nonconference opponent next year. Western and Notre Dame are the other two, if you didn't already know. Western's actually pretty good this year—they beat Illinois—and they return their star quarterback; Eastern should be dire as always. The bye week in the Big Ten schedule remains open and this year I'd be totally okay with something like The Citadel or Coastal Carolina or Southwest Canada State.

An unnamed fourth year senior was not at the team meeting. One guy with eligibility didn't show. Here are guys who could be redshirt seniors next year:

  • Kevin Grady
  • David Moosman
  • LaTerryal Savoy
  • Tim McAvoy
  • Carson Butler
  • Zoltan Mesko
  • Mark Ortmann
  • Andre Criswell

Ortmann, Mesko, and Moosman are obviously not the guy. It could be any of the others.

Your OL mentioned as potential contributors next year: Patrick Omameh was number one; he was on the travel team this year and was clearly the freshman they had the most faith in. Number two is Ricky Barnum; number three was Rocko Khoury. Other guys were not mentioned.

This will spur "what about O'Neill?" questions, no doubt, so a repeat of something I've said earlier: O'Neill came to Michigan in serious need of technique and strength work and was rated highly in high school mostly because he has that left tackle body (6'8", long arms, thick enough, etc). He retains high upside but I don't think you'll see him seriously challenge for a starting job until 2010.

Comments

lhglrkwg

November 24th, 2008 at 11:45 PM ^

nobody said anything about this so i will: WOOO BRANDON GRAHAM!! seriously, that's huge if he does come back. he'll make the d-line 2x as good by a. being awesome himself and b. taking attention off of martin and whoever else is on the line.

Joined: 07/03/2008

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blueman

November 25th, 2008 at 9:12 AM ^

I saw 3 practices last fall, one before the season started, then mid season, and one before NW. In general, the young OL were unimpressive. There are no Jake Long's among them. Having said that, some will be solid starters. Barnum, Omameh and Khoury are ahead of the rest. O'Neill has the body but plays "soft." Mealer has been slowed by his auto injury recovery, he may have significant upside. Wermers is coming along may have a limited upside. All of this is my opinion and I hope all exceed my predictions. For next year, Barnum looks most ready to me. However, what the team needs is OTs. So, Barnum is caught up in the plan to move Schilling inside if either Dorrestein or Omameh can start at OT. Omameh is athletic but needs strength, weight and technique. He may make it by next Sept, but it will be a quantum leap. Khoury is a battler who has surprised some. If I had to predict the starters today, I would say Ortmann, Ferrara, Moosman, Schilling, Dorrestein, left to right. The likely possibilities are Barnum replacing Ferrara or Omameh replacing Ortmann or Dorrestein. Another possibility is that Schilling stays at RT and the interior becomes Barnum, Molk and Moosman.

Joined: 06/30/2008

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chitownblue (not verified)

November 25th, 2008 at 11:27 PM ^

I really think Molk keeps playing. Of the 5 we settled on, finally (Dorrestein and Schilling at tackle, Mooseman and Ferrara at G, and Molk at C with Ortmann filling in everywhere but C) the weakest link was Ortmann. I really think we'll see that same starting 5 out there this year, with the possibility of Omameh beating out Dorrestein. Barnum, I think, becomes depth for the 3 interior positions. Remember - ideally, we don't start an offensive lineman until their RS Sophomore year.

Joined: 12/12/2017

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caup

November 25th, 2008 at 11:03 AM ^

Sam was not concussed in the Toledo game. Know this for a fact. He got the wind knocked out of him there. He suffered 2 concussions this season, according to Paul Schmidt: MSU and OSU.

Joined: 06/30/2008

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