Spring Items: Offense
[Bryan Fuller]
Hello. Here are some spring practice items. Please read responsibly: these are impressions from a couple of practices, not even a whole spring session. The latter is notoriously unreliable; the former is even more so. Even if everything in here is the gospel truth the rest of spring and fall camp will change the picture considerably.
BTW: more rumblings at Touch The Banner.
Quarterback
Not a lot of intrigue: Wilton Speight is an unchallenged #1. John O'Korn is still a nose ahead of Brandon Peters for second-team snaps. Peters is flashing talent but is still behind the veterans with his command of the offense. He will offer a little dual threat if and when he ascends to the starting job. Speight's been up and down early.
Running back
Similar situation here: Chris Evans is the guy. He's added a little muscle—up to 212 at the latest—and has full command of the offense. He knows why he's doing the things he's doing, and occasionally makes spooky jukes based on his anticipation of the situation. Breakout year is likely.
Because it's running back Michigan will rotate a bunch. Various reports note that Ty Isaac is looking good and Kareem Walker is coming on, which continues a theme from Michigan's bowl practices. Higdon has been limited with a minor injury.
Kingston Davis's decision to transfer was his alone—Michigan was already at 85 before his departure—and is likely because he was fifth on the depth chart with more guys arriving this fall and it was fullback or nothing for him. This should be a very deep and good platoon.
Wide receiver & tight end
One of the biggest questions entering spring: who is the #1 receiver? Early returns are very encouraging about Donovan Peoples-Jones. Top five receivers are immediate impact guys about 33% of the time, and Peoples-Jones looks to be in that group. It took him just a few practices to establish himself. He's also got a minor injury and hasn't been in pads for a few days but that hasn't stopped the rumbles.
Kekoa Crawford lacks DPJ's explosiveness—as do most humans—and looks about like he did when he got on the field this year: very good blocker, big target, good routes. Strong belief he can be a quality #2 receiver this year, and an okay #1 if necessary.
With Grant Perry still being held out, Eddie McDoom is getting a long look in the slot and "doing McDoom things," which I interpret to mean breaking tackles on end-arounds. A surprise name is Nate Schoenle, a redshirt freshman walk-on from Ann Arbor. Schoenle has good size—listed at 6'2" on the roster—for a slot and when he committed his coach thought he had a shot:
“Nate’s a late bloomer but his upside is pretty steep, so they’re getting a pretty good preferred walk-on candidate,” said Gabriel Richard coach Mike Girskis. “He’s got fantastic speed, decent size and he’s working really hard in the weight room. His potential is exceptionally high from what I can see; I think he’s going to start as a project and wind up a steal.”
Girskis has called Schoenle the best receiver Gabriel Richard has had, citing his 40-yard dash time of below 4.5 as proof of his ability to excel at the college level. He also said his high academic scores are evidence of his capabilities as a quick learner.
Those academic scores were enough to get him pre-admitted to Ross. He's making the most of his opportunity. Slot is a place where 'Bama's running out Oregon State and BGSU transfers, so Schoenle's in the right spot to make an impact as a walk-on. There's one report that's not sure who #29 is; a dollar says it's Schoenle.
Folks who have been intermittently available include Drake Harris and Moe Ways. Tarik Black has also sat out some; when he's in he's a tough cover with his size and physicality. He's a contested-ball guy at worst with some long speed upside.
At tight end (or maybe wide receiver), Zach Gentry has been making a ton of catches early with the second unit. Nate Eubanks is getting a significant amount of run, some problem with drops. With Asiasi gone, TJ Wheatley is getting first team reps—Bunting's been held out some. Wheatley looks like a terrific receiver but his blocking remains a work in progress.
Offensive line
Ruiz is key
As always, difficult for sideline observers to discern much about the most complicated spot on the field but one thing seems clear: Mason Cole is going to move back outside. Michigan is running Patrick Kugler, Cesar Ruiz, and redshirt freshman walk-on Andrew Vastardis at center, and while Cole has probably taken some reps there all the reports I have talk about him on the outside with various mentions of the other three guys at center.
Kugler is leading right now but the Ruiz hype is real. Like Mike Onwenu he's shed a significant amount of weight and is still stunningly large for an underclassman: he's at 320, down from 340, and people expect him to push his way into the starting lineup sooner or later.
Onwenu, meanwhile looks the part, "bullying" various folks lined across from him. You can mark his name down in pencil as a starter.
Right tackle is currently Juwann Bushell-Beatty, with Bredeson sticking inside at guard. I assume they'll look at Bredeson on the outside if they think Ruiz and Kugler can play together; this is not based on any practice reports but rather your author's charting of last year's OL.
OL numbers are currently very low with a couple of guys not in pads, with a significant number of walk-ons on the second unit. Michigan of course tried to recruit a bazillion OL last year, and until the rest of the folks arrive in fall it's going to be patchwork.
MGoBlue.com has a piece up about Kugler where he talks about wanting to prove the doubters wrong. It's worth a watch.
http://www.mgoblue.com/collegesportslive/?media=552202
Kugler reminds me of Ricky Barnum. Barnum was the presumed starter at center in 2012, but he got bumped to LG. That was his only season starting. That line was solid, paving the way for 4.8 ypc.
I'd like to have some experience on the line. Maybe they are featuring Kugler on MGoBlueTV to keep him motivated so he'll stick around for a 5th year if only for depth purposes, but it would be nice to have 6 solid guys for 5 spots. That 5th guy could be one of Kugler/JBB/true frosh. I think I know who I prefer.
I actually remember the 2012 line as being awful, with Denard inflating stats with his 40 yard scrambles.
That was the year Fitz broke his leg and Denard got injured against Nebraska. If those two guys had been healthy all year, that team probably produces our 4th best ypc in the last 25 years. Yes, a lot of that is because of Denard and in spite of Borges/Hokian-play calling.
That line went Schofield (3rd round NFL draftee,) Omameh (NFL starter,) Mealer, Barnum, and Lewan (1st round pick.) The talent was certainly there.
If you thought 2012 was awful, you might want to close your eyes when we're on offense this year.
Year | Attempts | Yards | YPC | YPG | YPC rank | YPG rank |
2016 | 574 | 2768 | 4.8 | 212.9 | 5 | 5 |
2015 | 491 | 2057 | 4.2 | 158.2 | 14 | 18 |
2014 | 425 | 1954 | 4.6 | 162.8 | 8 | 16 |
2013 | 498 | 1634 | 3.3 | 125.7 | 24 | 24 |
2012 | 502 | 2389 | 4.8 | 183.8 | 7 | 10 |
2011 | 560 | 2884 | 5.2 | 221.8 | 3 | 3 |
2010 | 556 | 3101 | 5.6 | 238.5 | 2 | 2 |
2009 | 494 | 2234 | 4.5 | 186.2 | 9 | 9 |
2008 | 453 | 1771 | 3.9 | 147.6 | 18 | 22 |
2007 | 540 | 2144 | 4.0 | 164.9 | 15 | 15 |
2006 | 535 | 2282 | 4.3 | 175.5 | 12 | 13 |
2005 | 499 | 1939 | 3.9 | 161.6 | 19 | 17 |
2004 | 481 | 1843 | 3.8 | 153.6 | 21 | 20 |
2003 | 538 | 2287 | 4.3 | 175.9 | 13 | 12 |
2002 | 505 | 1929 | 3.8 | 148.4 | 22 | 21 |
2001 | 480 | 1716 | 3.6 | 143.0 | 23 | 23 |
2000 | 542 | 2581 | 4.8 | 215.1 | 6 | 4 |
1999 | 462 | 1462 | 3.2 | 121.8 | 25 | 25 |
1998 | 526 | 2020 | 3.8 | 155.4 | 20 | 19 |
1997 | 558 | 2188 | 3.9 | 182.3 | 17 | 11 |
1996 | 512 | 2015 | 3.9 | 167.9 | 16 | 14 |
1995 | 600 | 2621 | 4.4 | 201.6 | 10 | 7 |
1994 | 505 | 2460 | 4.9 | 205.0 | 4 | 6 |
1993 | 526 | 2260 | 4.3 | 188.3 | 11 | 8 |
1992 | 567 | 3217 | 5.7 | 268.1 | 1 | 1 |
Jeez, those numbers suck for the entire range of included years. Only 3 seasons where they average 5.0 ypc or better vs. 10 seasons with an average less than 4.0 ypc. Woof!
Maybe UM's recent oline play has just been the norm, not the exception.
5 YPC on volume is a really good number for an entire season, even more impressive on a good team that is running the ball into 8+ man boxes at the end of games to burn clock.
If you think all of these seasons are terrible you must hate modern football.
I'm not sure how we improved by 1.3 YPC from '13 to '14. It felt like the offense was completely inept once you remove the App St and Indiana games.
Look at the box score--they averaged 9.7 yards a carry.
If you take that out, the 2014 average drops by half a yard. The only real blowout the 2013 team had was against Central, and they didn't have nearly the same success.
I'm curious if that's sacks removed, since Gardner got murdered in 2013 (and irreversibly broken). Also, there were a lot of plays I would call, "the Nuss," where we ran draws on 3rd and ___ to gain shy of the line.
The 2012 line was definitely not great. That was the year we tried to get Thomas Rawls involved and he couldn't do anything. That was the year of "poor Fitz." That was the year Vincent Smith got annihilated by Jadaveon Clowney in Florida.
After the season most of us here convinced ourselves that it was a personnel problem, and that despite losing a lot of experience (including Lewan) getting Hoke's hot recruits onto the line would result in a better unit in 2013. We told ourselves that the problem was the RR guys that Hoke and Borges had been forced to work with, guys who couldn't run manball. The new guys were more talented. They were recruited to the offense. They would be better.
Boy were we wrong.
Of course, what caused the downfall of Brady Hoke (moreso than even the Shane Morris situation or various other problems) was that Hoke believed the same things we did, but as the head coach he SHOULD have been able to see otherwise. There's a reason nobody who made those judgements is employed on a coaching staff--we aren't coaches. But the powers that were seemed to be just as oblivious, and the result was the utter annihilation of Devin Gardner as a serviceable quarterback and a smoldering crater in the space that Michigan football used to occupy, a crater that Jim Harbaugh is still pulling us out of.
but not awful (as others have claimed) either. Out of 120 teams in 2012, we were 41st in YPG and 38th in YPC. I've been making the mistake of comparing our lines to ourselves. When you expand the database, you'll find that 5.5+ YPC is elite (top 10ish,) 5+ is top 25, 4.4-4.5 is the average and anything less than that is bad. I'm content with 4.8 YPC or greater because when you combine that with a traditional Michigan defense and passing game, good things happen.
http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/natlRank.jsp?year=2012&rpt=IA_teamrush&site=or…
The problem with the 2012 OL wasn't just our perception, though. The stats are skewed by Denard's 1200 yards of rushing at 7.2 ypc. And that's a problem, because Denard running was not what the offensive staff wanted Michigan to do; they wanted to run tailbacks from under center, and when Michigan attempted to do that in 2012 they typically failed, often catastrophically.
Yeah, the numbers come up to something resembling average, and the line in 2013 was much worse, but the memories of Michigan plunging helpless TBs into unblocked defenders in 2012 weren't illusory and the issues were real.
Right, we had a generational talent running the ball. Denard was the only guy who was able to do anything on the ground (and Gardner on scrambles). IIRC, 2012 was filled with Toussaint getting blasted at the LOS before he broke his leg. He had 4ypc that year after getting 5.6 the year before.
I would assign more of the blame to the coaches than the players
was due to the OL being so young. Looks likes the line coaching failed, since many of the OL players Hoke recruited were highly rated. Harbaugh will make no such excuses. I think the OL will be below average again but if some of the young talent gets to mature and play together, we could have an above average OL in a few years. The OL may be the missing key from winning the B1G until 2019 but Harbaugh will still be a few plays away from wining the B1G. I'm not expecting it this coming season but we do play OSU at home and will have close games at PSU and at WI. A few key plays could help this team win 11 games next season or we may end up with only 8 wins.
1997 was all about the D. Offense was good, but definitely not great.
pass protection was pretty strong but run blocking was meh i agree
I remember thinking 2012's OL was awful. Then 2013, 14 happened and I learned what awful actually was.
Any reports of how much O-line coaching Drevno is doing? I know they had a nominal breakdown of Frey with OT/TE and Drevno with C/G, but I wonder if Frey is more the primary guy for everyone and Drevno when he can so he can focus more on OC duties.
Drevno has no greater OC responsibility than before. In fact, Frey is now the run game coordinator, so he may have a little less. What could Drevno be doing in practice that's more important than coaching his linemen? It's a very inexperienced group, a good reason to bring him some help.
Who said anything about more responsibility? I said more focus on OC activities, meaning he's focusing more on higher level offensive things more than he had in previous seasons due to needing to coach the OL 100% of the time.
FWIW, Cole was playing some center at the beginning of the spring, but he seems to be playing less of it (or maybe none of it?) as practices go along. I presume that's because the coaches weren't sure whether Kugler/Ruiz could hack it, but now they think one of those guys can get the job done.
Sure hope you are right. The alternative is they saw the other options on the outside and decided Cole was the only viable tackle.
Interesting considering the rumors of him coming back only to play center due it being his natural draft position.
If true, I wonder how it went down...did Cole look to his left and realize he couldn't watch a human turnstile any longer? Did Harbaugh give him the "my way or the highway?" Maybe Speight got "would be blindsided" by Gary a few times and now us paying Cole to save his own health and well-being?
No matter what may have happened, IMO, Cole at LT provides a lot more flexibility.
I like Kugler/Ruiz/Runyan for 1-2 positions (C and maybe LG if Bredeson kicks out to RT) over JBB/Ulizio/??? for 2 positions.
It sucks we don't have all of the freshman right now just to find the best 5 and build chemistry this summer/fall.
Personally, I like Ruiz/Kugler over JBB. I'd like to see Bredeson play RT. Whoever can master the shotgun snap between Ruiz/Kugler is the one who plays C. The other, LG.
Toss these freshman and one of the best OL coaches in the country, and we may have something decent by opening kickoff. There's some talent there to provide a little competition where the best rise to the top. Especially if it's just for 2 positions and the other 3 are locked in as they seem to be.
Ruiz. Four year starter, mark it down. Super excited for him.
Do centers usually declare / get drafted early?
No, of course not. But spring football is time for wild optimism. Personally, I don't see how Ruiz would come back for his fourth year after consistently defeating triple teams of Dlinemen and blowing through to pancake linebackers en route to his Heisman trophy.
after you've won three national championships in a row?
To win a 4th
am sure that you meant to say his 3rd consecutive Heisman trophy.
Well I wasn't sure if you count the Co-Heisman trophy that he had to share with Grant Newsome in 2017.
I thought Drake Harris showed a lot of promise in his few snaps after Perry's suspension. Has he been taking snaps at the slot or on the outside and what are his chances of locking down a starting position?
Glad UMBig11 confirmed that's where he's playing as that first offensive play against MSU where he burned the Sparty is what he has potential to do quite a bit...if he can stay on the field. That's too bad to see him a little dinged up recently. Hoping he should be ready for the spring game, though?
I've said this before on here, but I am interested what happened towards the very end of last season. he started getting more snaps in that MSU game and some of the games shortly and also including a big 4th quarter reception against Iowa. But then the last 2 games, even with Perry out for one of the, he saw zero snaps (correct me if I'm wrong).
April 10th, 2017 at 10:19 AM ^
Can't wait to see him destroy LBs and DBs in space.
I was a huge fan of Evans's running last year. I really can't wait to see him this year. And the year after that. Honestly, he has major first-round potential IMO.
Well, he kinda does...
But but but they "promised" me in November and December Peters was hand picked by Harbaugh and thus the chosen one, and would pass the "mediocre" (with no upside) Borges blue light special Speight for #1 in spring. Is Harbaugh this blind!!???!
Did they deceive me???
"Mason Cole would only return to play center. Harbaugh would not do him like that and hurt his NFL stock by taking him away from his pro position. That's the only reason Cole came back! Raback it!"
Man there were a lot of lies around here 4 months ago. ;)
Is there a point to these posts?
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