The Question:

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO HEAR FROM FALL CAMP?

The Responses:

Running Backs

The key to life is to surround yourself with others who appreciate Tru. [Patrick Barron]

Seth: I struggled with the "What we want to hear" part of bits because practice notes can't do better than the snaps we've seen from most of the starters, meaning news is either about who's playing in 2020 or the kind of offseason chum they feed the non-obsessives.

Brian: Everyone is fully healthy and it doesn't matter that Tru Wilson is an A+ pass protector because Zach Charbonnet is Jim Brown.

David: Or Christian Turner can pass block.

Seth: There is a sort of funny dynamic going on with the running back depth chart where the program is trying not to push too hard against the Charbonnet hype while letting people know Tru ain't some chopped liver, and the huge number of woke Michigan fans who are already perfectly naturalized to this idea of a great pass blocker with super-plus vision who got 5.9 YPC last year.

Brian: I would not call the number of Tru Wilson truthers "huge." It's like me and @Due51 and Tru Wilson's immediate family.

Seth: I see have culled my Twitter followers better than thou.

BiSB: While it isn't necessary, I would like to hear some rapturous, over-the-top hype about some slot guys.

David: Like Guy-les Jackson has better moves than Dante Hall

Seth: That'll be tamped down by the "NEVER HYPE A FRESHMAN" rule.

BiSB: Is "flashes of Rondale Moore" too much to ask? Really?

Seth: Gattis has the keys to the offense, no doubt, but he's also got to suspect by now that the red button installed in front of Jim Harbaugh's seat shortly after fullbacks were abolished means go easy on the slot mite hype.

Brian: I am down for some absurd Jackson hype.

Seth: You've only been pronouncing his name correctly for what, 24 hours?

BiSB: A bold card for you to play, Seth.

Alex: [bursts into room] I like Tru too.

[After THE JUMP: My kingdom for a secondary]

---------------------

Defensive Tackle

If they keep saying it's happening we might believe it. [Barron]

BiSB: As the issue that launched this TWO, I'll take the obvious and say…"Donovan Jeter is burninating the countryside." Hearing good things about any of the DT's would obviously be nice, but we have a baseline on Kemp and Dwumfour, and the freshmen are still going to be freshmen. Jeter is entering his third year, but is an unknown quantity at this point.

Plus, he's going up against probably the most 'known quantity' position groups on the entire team in the interior OL.

Seth: So this is a good opportunity to share a thing a guy emailed me after I posted Football Bits yesterday:

Jeter's hype is real. He is one of the most improved players on the team. That includes, his size, technique, and effort. Our OL is not pushing him off the ball or taking him out of plays. He has really stepped and stymied our ones, but most often shuts down our twos and threes.

This means our interior offensive line is terrible, right?

Anyway I'd rather have Michael Dwumfour pop than hear more about Jeter. It's nice to have a big DT who won't get pushed and can't get combo'd around. What's essential if you want to stop a big-time offense--an Ohio State or the kinds of teams you meet in the playoffs--is the ability to get pass rush from the interior, because those offenses can get the ball out before your DEs arrive. Dwumfour has that—he also had terrible technique and was a bad run defender, things that might get fixed if he can stay on the field for more that two practices.

Brian: Yeah the right answer here is probably a non-freshman at a thin position who bursts into upperclass excellence out of nowhere.

BiSB: Any other options meeting that description?

Safety

Always on the periphery. [Marc-Grégor Campredon]

Brian: Brad Hawkins is drawing some hype.

Seth: Hawkins news is some great news, because the guy has upside after playing receiver until just a few years ago and then moving between viper and safety since.

BiSB: I do worry about the "hype the guys who absolutely have to come through" type of hype.

Seth: I'd be more worried if they were touting J'Marick Woods. I really don't blame Hawkins for the Notre Dame play. Josh Metellus made a really bad play too, and he's low-key one of the best safeties in my Michigan fan memory.

Brian: I'm not sure I would classify any practice chatter as "news," but it is true that Hawkins got a fair bit of playing time last year in which he mostly looked solid when not getting dunked on by that Finke kid or, uh, outrun by Isaih Pacheco. The first can happen to anyone. The second is the reason I've been leery of Hawkins hype.

Seth: If you're going to get flat beat by a Rutger, at least it's a running back. They're good at that one thing.

Linebacker

BiSB: Linebacker has enough guys that they seem like they'll be fine, but Cam McGrone emerging as the clear leader alongside Josh Ross would be nice.

Seth: I know it's discounted because he's got to replace a top 10 draft pick, but I'm ripping the tags off all the Josh Ross hype whether it fits or not. He was better than Devin Gil last year. In any linebacker room that didn't just lose Devin Bush Jr. he'd be a guy we're overjoyed to have.

David: Yes, McGrone or Jordan Anthony would be nice.

Brian: Particularly McGrone, because a younger guy flying by veterans is usually stardom-track material. And beating out Gil, who saw about half the snaps last year, would say something.

Offensive Line

If we're judging the line by weight [Barron]

Brian: In a similar vein, I'm rooting for Jalen Mayfield at right tackle.

BiSB: OTOH, Andrew Stueber would make this the heaviest line in the history of the universe.

Brian: I'm sure there are Wisconsin or Arkansas lines that can still top it. Aaron Gibson existed. Shoulda taken Faalele. /shakes fist

The Mathlete: I have Wisconsin 2012 as the heaviest line in Big 10 history, average starter weight 336. A Stueber starting line would average 330 which would have been the heaviest starting OL of all college football last season.

BiSB: Plus Stueber is only a redshirt sophomore. I don't think him winning the job would necessarily say much about either guy's floor or ceiling.

Seth: Stueber would have to be clearly better than Mayfield to win that job since Mayfield has a higher ceiling athletically.

Brian: And there's usually a big difference between year two and year three OL (see: Bredeson, Ben; Onwenu, Mike).

Seth: My point is Stueber can't win this with anything under a B+. If he's the guy, he's probably going to be a Dude. They're also saying they would be very happy to go into the season with either of them, and that they'd put Runyan inside if a thing happened to a guard.

BiSB: I do find it comforting that they think that three of their six best linemen are tackles.

Brian: Yeah if that's not balderdash and Tackle #3 is > redshirt junior Spanellis... lfg.

BiSB: Especially this year, where the Big Ten's monster defensive ends are many, and they are angry.

Seth: If there's a Jake Long among the tackles it's probably not Mayfield or Stueber to be honest.

BiSB: Hayes?

David: He probably needs another year, I'm guessing.

Seth: And Michigan can afford to wait finally. There are more pressing concerns. Like I'm increasingly nervous the closer we get to the season without any of the young corners making much noise.

Cornerback

The last guy from that 2017 class is the first guy [Barron]

David: I'd like to hear Vincent Gray is beating every WR in 1v1 races.

BiSB: I feel like corner falls into the "there are like three healthy guys so they are all going to get some hype" category.

Brian: Yes I think the right answer here is someone emerging as a quality option at CB, a spot where you absolutely need three guys and if one of them is even a Brandon Watson level very-good-but-kinda-slow guy, well...

Seth: In Gray I think they have found a guy who can start 10 games and run their Cover 1 without issue. As was pointed out in the comments of bits, we are putting an outsized  emphasis on finding someone for those other games. In things that are not "let's transform a guy into Charles Woodson," the one shot at Michigan finding a guy who immediately pops is their one fall enrollee, DJ Turner. And it kinda sounds like he's popping.

Brian: As Bryan notes, strong possibility of Johnny Sears Effect for any CB.

BiSB: Does anyone have that BTN Tour tweet about Michigan creating a Bama-style line in 2013-ish? This seems relevant to the Johnny Sears Effect.

Brian: Gerry DiNardo, 2013:

"When I saw them in the spring it was like a war at the line of scrimmage. It was what you imagine it looks like at Alabama and all the downhill teams. It changes your entire program. Just like the spread makes your defense soft, the West Coast offense makes your defense tough."

BiSB: I forget, how did that 2013 line turn out?

Brian: MGoBlog, 2014:

Michigan finished 11th in the Big Ten in sack-adjusted rushing, ahead of only Purdue, and was last nationally in TFLs allowed.

But "Michigan Offensive Line 2013 effect" doesn't roll off the tongue.

BiSB: It's probably a slightly different effect. This one is "the team is doing the thing I think they should do, which means it is better." DiNardo was happy that Michigan banished the evil Denard to Springfield (because he was haunted), as turnip juice is the stuff championship teams are made of.

Brian: That was part of a larger Snyder article that has to be the most wrong thing ever written about Michigan football:

Every spring and fall, the network analysts would attend a practice, try to absorb the flavor and make nice about the impact of an offense they knew didn't fit.

Then they strolled into Ann Arbor this spring and had to check their GPS — or their mirror to see if they rolled back a decade.

This was Michigan playing smashmouth football, the game's nastiest, purest form.

But we're digressing.

Seth: I can tell you one bit of happy news: via Isaiah Hole, Ambry Thomas is back to his pre-whateverthatwas weight already. He could be back for Big Ten season.

Overall Themes?

Faster than any Mone [Barron]

BiSB: Anything on a meta level we can hope to glean from practice talk, or do we just have to ignore "the defense is playing fast and the offense is clicking and the special teams exist" as the usual fluff that accompanies every team every year?

Seth: I'm taking "the defense is fast" as the nicest possible spin you can put on "Carlo Kemp is our nose tackle" and nothing more. You don't replace Bush-Gary-Winovich with Ross-Hutchinson-Paye and get faster. I do think the drop-off won't be nearly as severe as that sounds though.

Brian: Replacing Mone with Not Mone will help.

Seth: Final thought: is there anything new this fall that we do believe?

David: I'm so close to believing we won't be using all of our timeouts b/c the play clock is at 4 and we're still in the huddle.

Brian: I believe Harbaugh has the humility to hand the keys over.

BiSB: I will believe any and all Shea Patterson Did A Thing stories you want to share.

Seth: Well okay then, here's that same insider:

It has been impossible to stop Shea at times. He finds an open receiver on every broken play.

Brian: I will not believe that Mike Onwenu is 350 pounds.