by Smoothitron

The Question:

X spring tidbit so far that has you unreasonably excited about Y?

Brian: Well obviously I'm going to go with ​Ian Bunting​ making waves as an enormous skillet-handed dude. This is true to the spirit of this question because all we have is one tweet. But I like the tweet.

Bunting just snagged a fastball on skinny post with one hand. took it to the house. Drew raves from his teammates. Nice ball from malzone

— Sam Webb (@SamWebb77) March 1, 2016

Rivals recently had some team tidbits that oddly and explicitly trashed Bunting's ability. If that's accurate that makes me almost as much of a sad panda as Michigan ditching the spread punt, but it's unclear what that is even based on given the timing. Last year's offseason chatter—Morris is a real contender, watch out for Lawrence Marshall, this time Joe Bolden has put it together—had very little relationship with reality, so I'm hoping that gets put in the Big Bin Of Some Anonymous Guy Is Wrong.

I'm not even expecting Bunting to have a huge impact this year since he's a flex guy and one Jake Butt is still around, but I am hoping that we see him emerge into a clear heir apparent in preparation for a two-year run as an upperclassman. There isn't a tight end on the roster with quite the receiving upside of Bunting. I mean, maybe Gentry. But you know me and Ol' Skillet Hands.

[After the JUMP: more tweets that we treat as confirmation bias of good things]

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Seth: It's this video of linebackers doing a get-off-block-and-get-to-your-hole drill:

New defensive coordinator Don Brown is making an immediate impact. #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/8O6S2hTHY5

— Michigan Football (@umichfootball) March 1, 2016

I'm naturally concerned about the middle linebackers since Michigan graduated three guys for two positions and what's left couldn't displace Joe Bolden (spotted preparatory Gedeon* snaps nonwithstanding).

There's so much good news to unreasonably extrapolate from this video.

​1. Don Brown coaching linebackers. Nothing against Partridge but Brown has a long record of good things from coaching that position and it wasn't a sure thing he'd be spending a lot of time with them. It appears he is.

​2. Mike McCray​ has rejoined the land of the living. His injury last year sounded baaaaad, so confirmation that he's got four hale limbs all properly affixed to his torso, AND is the presumptive starter going into spring rekindles hope in a 4-star pickup that will be nearly as galling to every Ohio State fan as Borens are to us (except the McCrays aren't universal tools).

​3. Hi Devin Bush.​ Also Devin Bush looks a lot shorter than the other guys but he's got some thickness. Larry Foote/Ian Gold memories flash to mind.

​4. Reuben Jones​ has already climbed to the two-deep. Position switches often mean bad things for the switcher or the position, and when it's a guy you hoped would grow into a DE getting moved to the non-outside linebacker ranks it's an ill omen for both (see: Brandon Herron). But Jones doesn't look out of place. Granted it's two preferred walk-ons (Dunaway and Kaminsky) behind him. This #4 sucks. Shut up! Horse metaphors!

5. Jabrill Peppers​ is in the LB line too. And while you don't get to see him do the drill, it's more confirmation of all we've been hearing about Michigan using him as more of a "Star"/spacebacker/SAM than Woodson (with the Packers)-esque nickel. While I'm a bit nervous about our safeties taking on the increased difficulties of Quarters football, having Peppers in the 2nd level opens up all sorts of nasty things Brown can do to spread offenses.

By the way that's not scissors that happened to his jersey; practice reporters confirm that's just what happens what Jabrill gets angry.

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* [Insert Brady Hoke redshirting gripe Alpha Z6]

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Ace: There have been other revelations that may be more relevant when the team hits the field this fall, but ​_good lord_​, I can’t get over this:

Most impressive showing in speed drills may have been Chris Wormley finishing in top two of one heat with Tyler isaac

— Sam Webb (@SamWebb77) March 1, 2016

Chris Wormley is not a running back, or a wide receiver, or a defensive back, or even a particularly freaky strongside linebacker. He is a 6’5, 303-pound strongside defensive end. He does not so much tackle players as he engulfs them.

[Bryan Fuller]

I saw that tweet and cackled. Opposing quarterbacks probably did not react the same way.

Since we’re already well aware Chris Wormley is good and terrifying, I’ll add another thing: Mike McCray is getting first-team reps at WILL.

Gedeon's the MIKE and McCray's the WILL right now. Freshmen will have a say of course. https://t.co/ADMDrHfVgx

— Nick Baumgardner (@nickbaumgardner) March 2, 2016

McCray became the forgotten man among the linebackers after a shoulder injury put his career in peril. It’d be great if he’s able to provide some depth; it’d be even better if he can prevent Michigan from putting a true freshman or position-switch starter out there. McCray’s talent hasn’t been in question; he was a four-star All-American coming out of high school, not to mention the son of a former Ohio State captain. If he’s able to put it to use, that dispels a lot of the concern surrounding the linebackers.

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BiSB: One year ago, the most obvious concern was "who is going to catch the football?" One year later, between Jehu Chesson's emergence and the number of quality recruits in the slot, that is obviously less of an issue. But there are two tantalizing (but very different) but as-yet Potemkin targets who could have a major impact on Michigan's ability to go full Harbaugh.

The fist is T.J. Wheatley. He redshirted last year after a camp injury, but he reportedly showed up to said camp at 290 pounds which threw up a bunch of red flags. However, his father (one "Tyrone Wheatley") told Angelique this week that Junior is currently at 275 pounds.  And if he really does weigh 275 pounds, and can move like this and catch the ball:

Tyrone Wheatley Jr. TE has caught everything last two days pic.twitter.com/ZMOBXZcKup

— Chris Balas (@Balas_Wolverine) March 1, 2016

...that seems like a guy who can step into A.J. Williams' shoes (Williams was also listed at 275 last year). Michigan was never going to be short on blocky-catchy types (see: Brian's comments about Ol' Skillet Hands), but they were somewhat short on the in-line quasi-6th-lineman variant. Wheatley's emergence would take some pressure off of Devin Asiasi to come in and be the primary jumbo TE from day one, and frees up things like, say, Khalid Hill to fullback.

The other guy is, well...

O'korn just connected with Drake Harris for 45 down the sideline for 6. Delano Hill and channing stribling in coverage

— Sam Webb (@SamWebb77) March 1, 2016

In the words of one Ace Anbender, I will not read way too much into this I will not read way too much into this I will not read way too much into this.

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Adam: Versatility is important enough to Harbaugh that it should have its own section on the Harbaugh Pyramid of Greatness, and while it's not one of his infamous offense-to-defense switches, Mason Cole's move to center allows Michigan to put Cole and Grant Newsome in the positions they're best suited for. The move says almost as much about Cole, a guy who had never played center until the coaching staff decided he had the skillset to do so while Graham Glasgow was suspended last spring, as it does about Newsome, who developed quickly enough that the coaching staff tore the redshirt off him and played him in four games last season.

At 6'7 and 300 pounds, Newsome has the size to play left tackle, and he looked good in limited action last fall. With another season of Drevnoing under his belt, he should be able to at least hold his own run blocking (consider that Michigan first used him as an extra OL in goal-line sets). Cole was very good last season, and his struggles against the Joey Bosas of the Big Ten will be mitigated by moving to the middle. Michigan was 53rd in adjusted line yards and 33rd in stuff rate in 2015, and I'd be surprised if they weren't about as good in 2016 with four of five starters returning and the fifth a sophomore who earned playing time as a true freshman.

1st string OL from l to r in drills appears to be Newsome, braden, cole, kalis, magnuson

— Sam Webb (@SamWebb77) February 29, 2016

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Alex: Peppers's potential move to the SAM position is really intriguing: he looks like a big enough player to spend a lot of snaps in the box, and with the uncertainty at linebacker in general, you'd love to see a guy who erases tons of mistakes with his speed, athleticism, and tackling ability. We've seen how he can virtually eliminate bubble screens as a nickel; his coverage ability was good in general as a freshman but one of the weaker parts of his game (relatively speaking, of course). With Michigan's talented secondary -- Lewis, Stribling, Clark at corner; Hill and Thomas at safety -- the need for Peppers to play back there is somewhat minimized. Even if Peppers only plays at linebacker in certain packages (which is what I'd expect), it's a sign that Don Brown is creative enough to maximize Peppers's all-around skill-set.

And he's the fastest guy on the team, evidently. It's really rare to have a player with Peppers's natural ability on both sides of the ball, so projecting his improvement from his first full year of college football to his second -- which is when you're most likely to see a jump -- he could potentially be the type of playmaker on both sides of the ball that gets some Heisman hype. Even if he does play mostly defense and return punts (like last year, which definitely worked out well), the impact a player like that has is huge.