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Brian

REMINDER A THING IS HAPPENING. I totally biffed this the first time by linking to last year's event. There is a Football Eve from Homesure this year:

Football-Eve-Banner-160-x-600-1[1]

First beer is on Matt, there will be a Q&A and… trivia? I think? We're asking people to RSVP because space is limited. Hit the link to do so.

WTKA friend with product on offer. If you're a fantasy guy or, uh, wagererer, Ed's got data for you. So much data. Binders full of data. You can parlay that data into non-data. Yeah.

Oh yes, this is going to get a lot of use. Via EDSBS:

The gif you now need in your life:

For life. Harbaugh on his future plans:

Speaking in a taped interview with SiriusXM Radio on Wednesday, Harbaugh was asked by a host if he can "legitimately" see himself coaching at Michigan "forever" -- meaning does he think he'll be at Michigan 20-25 years down the road.

Harbaugh's answer came quickly.

"Yeah I think that way," Harbaugh said. "I think, God willing and the creek don't rise, that'll happen. I love coaching, I love football and I love the University of Michigan."

Never say never and all that.

Yes, lots and lots of talent. CBS's Dane Brugler provides an extensive breakdown of Michigan's NFL draft prospects, of which there are many. Unlike ESPN he picks up on Ryan Glasgow as a thing:

Glasgow bursts off the snap and finishes each rep with the same fire. He has the grip strength to stack and dispose of single blockers, using push-pull technique to regain his momentum and penetrate the pocket. Glasgow lowers his head and attacks like a battering ram, but often loses sight of the ball and takes himself out of plays. Although his motor is always running, he is more of a one-speed athlete and lacks the closing burst to finish some plays in the backfield. Glasgow would benefit from improved discipline, but his hustle, mentality and strength are why he is a valuable member of Michigan's defensive line rotation. And also why several scouts grade him as a top-10 senior at his position.

The tenth DT in the 2016 draft was off the board at the beginning of the third round, albeit with a bunch of juniors in those spots. That feels about right. Mike Martin was a third round pick as well.

The rest of that article is a preview of what I'm going to say about a bunch of Michigan players in the season preview, down to a Manningham-Chesson comparison and questions about De'Veon Smith's ability to see things:

Smith makes it a chore on defenders to finish him off as linebackers have to him cleanly and finish or he refuses to go down. His vision and run instincts tend to run hot/cold, leading to questionable decisions, and with his lack of explosive traits, Smith needs to be more decisive and trust what he sees. He tends to leave you wanting more due to his marginal burst and instincts, but there is a place at the next level for Smith due to his power, ball skills and upside as a blocker.

Brugler's higher on Erik Magnuson than I am and doesn't mention Darboh or anyone in the secondary other than Lewis—though the latter might be because there were so many people to get to ahead of those gents—in a report that is otherwise extensive and right on point with both strengths and weaknesses. Read the whole thing.

This Peppers thing isn't even slightly weird. Peppers as SAM is part of a trend that is sweeping football at all levels, including the NFL. The Ringer has a piece on the continued evolution of NFL linebackers into 220 pound safety types:

NFL coaches say the change in thinking about linebackers started five or six years ago. Spread offenses were dominating college football, and the task for defensive coaches at that level was to find linebackers who could cover and tackle in the space created by this new, wide-open approach. “We started looking for guys who played skill positions or safety, and those were guys we actually looked to see if we could turn into linebackers,” says Cardinals defensive coordinator James Bettcher, who served as a graduate assistant at North Carolina from 2007 to 2009.

Michigan was not doing this; they were running Jake Ryan out as a SAM. They continued to suffer against spread teams; Don Brown is really the first guy in the history of Michigan football with any positive track record against spread rushing offenses.

The article above focuses on  Deone Bucannon of the Cardinals, who's actually a more extreme manifestation of the tiny linebacker trend than Peppers since he plays on a team with Tyrann Mathieu—he's not a "star" or walkout linebacker or nickelback, Bucannon is actually a 210 pound inside linebacker. This is actually a situation where the NFL is more spread than college. Michigan is unlikely to follow suit with safety-sized ILBs because of the nature of their opposition. The NFL is a passing league; Ohio State is a running team.

PFF ABT. Pro Football Focus's All Big Ten team has a number of Michigan guys on it, as you might imagine:

  • First team: Jehu Chesson, Maurice Hurst, Jabrill Peppers, Jourdan Lewis
  • Second team: Jake Butt, Mason Cole, Erik Magnuson, Taco Charlton, Chris Wormley, Delano Hill

That's a lot of guys. PFF projects almost half of Michigan's starters as ABT players. We already knew that Hurst was a fave-rave of PFFs and that they like George Kittle of Iowa better than Butt because of his blocking ability. The most interesting item there is the inclusion of Delano Hill as a second team safety. That would be very nice if it came to pass.

PFF on JT Barrett. Barrett is the single-most important opposition player on Michigan's schedule, the last tentpole from the last couple years of Ohio State teams. He had a weird 2015, seeing his passing production dip radically. Which guy is it? PFF:

Intermediate and deep accuracy have been consistent issues for Barrett both seasons. On throws longer than 10 yards in the air in 2014, Barrett completed just 44 of 111 attempts, and in 2015, he was 20 of 45.

Barrett’s passes traveling 10+ yards in the air during 2014 season

Barrett 2014 passes over 10 yards thru air

Barrett’s passes traveling 10+ yards in the air during 2015 season

Barrett 2015 passes over 10 yards thru air

Keeping in mind the fact that he was throwing to the likes of Michael Thomas, Jalin Marshall, Devin Smith, Braxton Miller, Jeff Heuerman, and Nick Vannett, all of them currently playing in the NFL, it’s difficult to expect his consistency to improve on deeper passes with newer, less experienced receivers and tight ends.

Barrett's not great against pressure, either, but OSU's system sometimes makes that hard to apply. He's an outstanding runner and there's always the chance of a leap forward, but he's a guy who has some limitations that Don Brown might be able to exploit.

Good luck with that. Per Pat Forde, the NCAA is expanding its Ole Miss probe:

NCAA Enforcement representatives have visited Auburn and Mississippi State, and perhaps at least one more SEC Western Division school, this summer to speak with players who were recruited by Ole Miss. The players were granted immunity from potential NCAA sanctions in exchange for truthful accounts of their recruitment, sources said.

If these guys are all telling the same story about 500 dollar handshakes on visits that could get really ugly for Ole Miss. They're already facing down a suite of Level 1 violations. I'm beginning to believe this could be an actual hammering, the first since USC that didn't involve… you know what at Penn State.

Hinton rates everything. Matt Hinton has done his usual preseason data-jam, evaluating every D-I school on their recent performance, crootin, experience, and projected competency. 17 categories go in the blender, and this is what comes out for the top 40:

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Nebraska is relatively high; MSU relatively low. PSU, Iowa, and Wisconsin are all in the 8-4, 7-5 range. This will no doubt enrage highly enrageable Iowa fans.

Etc.: NLRB reverses an earlier decision that was relevant to the Northwestern unionization push. A reason to hate every Big Ten school. Just because someone else is getting paid to abuse our national namespace doesn't mean you have to participate. Herky The Hawkeye is too angry for one Iowa professor. Hank Aaron will honorarily captainize a game this fall.

Comments

Blue In NC

August 26th, 2016 at 4:46 PM ^

That IU "reason to hate every B1G school" piece is quite amusing.  From the MSU section:

"Hearing every Spartans’ game described as "old-school smash-mouth football" as if it’s a compliment erodes my soul a little bit more each time it happens. You know what else is old-school? Using candles as your primary lighting source, rarely surviving childbirth, and contracting pertussis if you somehow manage to. "

Steves_Wolverines

August 26th, 2016 at 4:49 PM ^

MICHIGAN STATE

Michigan State heads into 2016 fresh off a controversial end to the season in which they elected to skip the College Football Semifinal that they worked so hard for. The 22-play drive that lasted over nine minutes and ended in the go-ahead touchdown to nudge Iowa out of the postseason picture was described by many middle-aged sportswriters as "gritty" and "epic" when, in fact, it was "virulently boring" and an "affront to God."

Hearing every Spartans’ game described as "old-school smash-mouth football" as if it’s a compliment erodes my soul a little bit more each time it happens. You know what else is old-school? Using candles as your primary lighting source, rarely surviving childbirth, and contracting pertussis if you somehow manage to. Every three yard gain on that drive should have been held against MSU when the playoff committee made their case. "Well, they had a great year but 13 of those 22 plays in that championship-winning drive went for three yards or less so instead of putting them in the playoff we should probably hide them in the Independence Bowl for the good of society."

I’m honestly surprised half the fanbase didn’t keel over and die after the blocked punt / walk-off touchdown against Michigan. I’m honestly surprised it doesn’t happen any time the mayonnaise jar under center throws past the sticks, complete or not. Who is Michigan State’s quarterback this year? Does it matter? I’m betting the house that his name is Chad.*

*It’s probably going to be Tyler O’Connor which is spiritually the same.

CoverZero

August 26th, 2016 at 5:15 PM ^

Its funny that they tried to make Detroit look like 80's LA in that newspaper commerical.  Pretty white too.

gwkrlghl

August 26th, 2016 at 5:31 PM ^

I know there are a lot of parallels to us with winning and losing several close games, but the big difference is Harbaugh is in year 2 and it's reasonable to expect a year 2 leap. Butch Jones is stupid and is in year 4 and they probably are what they are.

I just don't see it as likely that Tennessee is going to have some massive breakthrough with Butch Jones at the helm, though it will be amusing if they do and sign the guy riding Brian Kelly's coat tails to a 10 year extension

Sarasota13

August 26th, 2016 at 5:35 PM ^

Not sure about the $500 payment, but I do have information of a $5,000 payment to a parent of a recruit. When the player decommitted, he was concerned that the booster would ask for the money back. The coaches where the player committed told him not to worry about it. There was no request for return of the money.

ST3

August 26th, 2016 at 5:55 PM ^

1. MSU at 25? That's a healthy serving of disrespekt right there.

2. A caution to the Ole Miss recruits who went elsewhere, MLB said the steroid test results were going to be confidential and we all know how that worked out. But please, rat out Ole Miss. No /s.

M-Dog

August 26th, 2016 at 7:15 PM ^

Don Brown is really the first guy in the history of Michigan football with any positive track record against spread rushing offenses.

I think this was discussed before, but it may be worth a rehash on the eve of the season.  What was his track record and how well has he done defending spread rushing offenses?

Mongo

August 26th, 2016 at 10:16 PM ^

Our defense is going to need to stay healthy and dominate on the road. Offense is more suspect with no clear QB stud and big unknown at left tackle. We need to get ball in WR playmaker hands and QBs are biggest weak link. Personally, I would choose O'Korn for playmaking swagger. Need that to win big games on the road - arm strength and scramble skills are key and O'Korn has IT.

Bando Calrissian

August 27th, 2016 at 1:52 AM ^

I'm dead serious when I say that it was a crushing blow to my childhood memories to find out that "Stand Up and Tell 'Em You're From Detroit" was a standard jingle used in a significant number of news markets across the world...

 

There's a bunch of them. And they're all just... Disturbing.

Though the Brisbane, Australia one has some nice moments:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/NrTfxlurJZg

jpi82392

August 27th, 2016 at 11:50 AM ^

Jayden . although Heather `s stori is cool, I just bought a great Porsche 911 after making $7002 this-past/four weeks and-just over, ten grand this past munth . with-out a doubt this is the most-financialy rewarding Ive had . I actually started 7-months ago and almost immediately began to make over $82.. per-hr
 
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mitchewr

August 29th, 2016 at 9:15 AM ^

So I'm just curious, why would a "football eve" party be hosted on a Thursday...which is not actually the eve of the start of the season? Wouldn't it have made more sense to hold the event on Friday night? Aside from actually being on the eve of the season, it would also be better as most wouldn't haven't get up and go to work the next day. 

 

I mean, I'll still be there and everything =), but I'm just curious that's all. Am I the only one?

ien31371

August 29th, 2016 at 10:56 AM ^

 
 
William . I can see what your saying... Raymond `s article is surprising, last week I bought a top of the range Acura from making $4608 this-past/month and-a little over, $10,000 this past month . with-out any question its the easiest work I've ever had . I began this five months/ago and almost straight away startad bringin in minimum $82 per-hr 
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