Spring Game Rewatch Notes
-Bobby Henderson is a good blocking FB vs. the starters, and murderous vs the walk-ons. Hard to bring down too. New Kerridge right here.
-Lawrence Marshall played SDE, was technically very sound, fought to a stalemate with Mags/Bunting. A bit undersized but looks useable in a Pierre Woods sort of way.
-Grant Newsome looked worse than he did live. Taco ate his lunch. Carlo Kemp (playing WDE) ate his lunch. Reuben Jones (playing SDE) ate his lunch. Brandon Watson(!) ate his lunch.
-(Possibly related) Braden was playing left tackle. Did okay not great against Winovich.
-Winovich Jake Ryan-style two-gapped Mags for a TFL.
-Brandon Watson looked as exploitable against Grant Perry as he didn't against Darboh et al last year.
-Isaac's cutback run where he ran past Peppers was on Mone. His other long runs were both Washington losing contain bad.
-On Butt's TD Michigan had #46 Mike Wroblewski (an ILB despite being a DE on the roster) playing free safety. Live I thought it was a pick play on Devin Bush Jr. but this was a Cov2 "safety" getting way out of position. The Shane Morris rub route got another walk-on LB, Cheyann Robertson (who was pretty bad all day) way out of position. I don't think this is something where M was hiding their answer. I think when O'Korn sees a bad linebacker in man with his crossing TE the call is that drag, and those LBs just played it exceptionally badly.
-Kinnel. Srsly.
-Not counting Peppers, Mike McCray is our best LB by some distance. Very good closing speed.
-M lined up in a hurricane punt formation then motioned to the spread punt. If they yelled "ha ha fuck you cook!" while doing so the audio didn't pick it up. Later they lined up in an Ace 11 then motioned to the spread punt.
-I could watch Godin use his hands all day. I get the feeling Mattison does.
-Ulizio can't pull but he's pretty good downfield. Patrick Omameh comparison is strong. They also had him playing RT for white.
-Runyan played LG next to Braden. He did fine pretty okay against Hurst and walk-on 3-techs. (and Wheatley).
-Kugler looked fine. He made the block to get O'Korn that last scramble TD.
-Speight's walk-in TD was a bad blitz by a walk-on (Dunaway) playing Backer.
-Brown had at least 4 CB blitzes, usually with Washington. These are run blitzes.
-Mone had a play where he started in the backside A gap, shed Mason Cole and made a TFL on a power play the other way.
-White team was using Wheatley as a 3-3-5 DE. He was two-gapping against Jon Runyan and a lot of O'Korn's scrambles came from picking the other gap.
-Winnning stop on the 2pt conversion was Hurst standing up to a triple team and Winovich coming around from behind.
April 22nd, 2016 at 11:17 AM ^
So is Newsome such a liability at LT that we see Braden end up there with Cole and Kugler starting in the interior? If the OL meshes this season could be very special, but the only chink in the armour right now is quite a precarious one.
April 22nd, 2016 at 11:18 AM ^
April 22nd, 2016 at 11:30 AM ^
Agree Newsome looked a bit shaky. My read is that Kugler is the 5th best lineman now, but Harbaugh hopes that by September Newsome will be ready. I see Harbaugh's vision of running left behind Braden and Newsome.
Giving Newsome reps also gives Cole lots of reps at center that he needs. Then, he subs Kugler in at center and both guard spots so he is ready to play any of the three if needed.
I assume if Newsome doesn't make the leap that Kugler starts at center and Cole goes back to LT.
April 22nd, 2016 at 12:32 PM ^
Newsome played and Kugler didn't. Glasgow easily could have moved off center.
Possible Kugler made a leap in the offseason but typically freshman-sophmore is a time of great improvement.
Dawson could well be the 5th or 6th best linemen too.
Probably best not to make too big of a deal of one spring scrimmage, but there is clearly some uncertainity on the OL.
It's a good point that Newsome played ahead of Kugler this year. To my recollection, when Newsome did play, he was typically the sixth lineman on a play that was most likely a short yardage run. Given his size, this situation plays to Newsome's strengths. It is possible in extended play or passing situations the substitution could have been different (or not).
Personally, my takeaway from the last 3 spring games was that Kugler looked pretty good, so what do I know.
they could really use dawson this year if hes capable - unfortunately i havent seen any evidence to this point indicating he can handle 1st team reps. hopefully im wrong or he somehow pulls it together this offseason. but usually not a good sign when guys have not risen to the occasion by year 4.
another year of injury-free ball at OL would be huge bc the depth just isnt there. hopefully bredeson catches on quick and can take it from the meeting room to the grass as a frosh bc hell almost certainly see time
last year. That's all the direct info we have to go off of. Maybe it was OG vs OC thing but again, Glasgow can easily move.
The little buzz that Kugler has generated has not been real positive. Most of the hype is still stuff lingering from recruiting profile.
You also have to consider the circumstantial evidence - Michigan made a big push for the OC from Texas (Raulerson), who himself wasn't a starter.
April 22nd, 2016 at 12:28 PM ^
Good to have some 'pump your brakes' moments amidst the sea of offseason hype.
- Washington and Watson have come in for praise at various times but it seems clear they aren't pushing our top 3 corners and will be in a fight against the incoming freshman for '17.
- OL is a worry, again, like it has been every dang year since 2012. Hoke/Borges Ugh.
- If Newsome doesn't start, that 'burned red-shirt' is going to look like a bad decision. Let's just hope he had a bad day. I imagine he'll play through some bumps, coaches knowing they'll need him in November.
- If Ulazio is Omameh we found a gem. Omameh has to be the most underappreciated OLmen in modern Michigan history. People were actually glad his 5 years were up - "it can't get worse". It did, which of course it did; he started 41 of 45 games while here under 2 different coaching staffs. Now he's starting in the NFL.
- Godin's another dude that's wildly underrated. It should surprise no one if he's playing more snaps than Gary, Hurst, or Mone. Last year he was playing snaps on par with Wormley. When he got hurt (about the same time as Glasgow IIRC) is when the M defense really collopsed, but it rarely gets pointed out. Yeah he was back by OSU but he was clearly not the same player. And oh hey, 5 weeks later when he's healthy our DL looks great again. Hmmmm
- It would be a surprise if Charlton starts at WDE rather than his natural SDE position. Playing him at the rush end position is like playing Dale Davis at PF in the modern NBA. Speed >> Size.
- Whoever starts, DL is decidedly NOT a worry. An embarrasment of riches, even with Henry's departure. Mattison FTW.
- Not sure I buy that McCray is better than Gedeon, given Gedeon's been playing since he was a freshman, despite all the vets ahead of him. But it's probably good news if true.
(maybe he is)....but rather that McCray was the best that saw significant time?
I didn't notice Gedeon at all during the game and I assume - without a complete rewatch - that he played as much as Darboh, Lewis, Stribling etc.
But Peppers wasn't either and Seth mentioned him in the same comment. In any case, the coaches sitting Gedeon is a good sign of their confidence in him.
Taco Charlton is relatively fast. His drop in speed for the next option does not make up for the loss you take in run situations.
I think Taco starts at WDE automatically.
April 22nd, 2016 at 12:26 PM ^
A) It is interesting
B) It is football talk about actual football
C) It is better than 90% of the inconsequential and insight-free satellite camp wankery that's been posted in the last few weeks. (That school-vote graphic was cool tho).
NOT front page worthy??? (Shakes head woefully). Seth, you are greatly under-estimating how desparite we are for breadcrumbs and sips of water during this spring game to summer camp desert.
April 25th, 2016 at 11:18 AM ^
So, if we were to give letter grades to each area of the offense and defense, would it look something like this? (Overall thought as of now heading into the fall, not necesarily based on this Spring game alone.)
QB: A (because both QBs look capable and one will emerge as beating the other)
RB: B (Smith probably elevated from C to B as of bowl game?)
OL: C+
WR: A
TE: A+
Overall Offense: A-
---------------------------
DL: A+
LB: B (with Peppers move from Secondary to LB this goes from C to B)
Secondary: A (with Peppers move from Secondary to LB this goes from A+ to A)
Overall Defense: A
Thoughts?
For comparsion, last year I would've given the Offense a B and Defense an A-.
DualThreat, I think you're a bit optimistic with some of your grades. Team looks pretty good, but still some improvement needed if we want to beat MSU/OSU:
QB - B/B-
While it's nice to have multiple guys battling, no one really stood out. Whoever wins will still be a first-time starter at Michigan. Yes, Harbaugh - but there's no way our QB situation is an A.
WR - A-
Maybe a quibble; it's great to have two quality, experienced starters, but we're still lacking a game-breaking deep ball threat, and we don't have much experienced depth. A- is more realistic, still very good.
Overall Offense - B+
Still lacking explosiveness, and O-line not the terrifying road-grading machine we look forward to seeing soon. TE's are elite.
LB - B-
Again, just a minor adjustment. Sill too many unknowns, and not enough depth. An injury would dramatically impact our LIB's.
LB's.
We have game-breaking deep ball threat in Jehu Chesson. He was torching guys all year including 1st round NFL picks. Just needed a consistent QB connection and viable run-game to keep defenses honest.
We have an ideal partner across the field from him and both are seniors.
Not sure how much depth is needed beyond the top 3 guys with how many FB, H-back, TEs this offense uses.
You also have to consider the high liklihood of a freshman slot making an impact, just by the probability of sheer numbers taken at the position.
This is the best WR group we've had since Edwards/Avant/Breaston.
April 23rd, 2016 at 11:12 AM ^
That's exactly what I was thinking. Chesson seemed like a beast last year especially in the Florida game. I don't get why he doesn't get more hype. He seems like he can catch and run routes well, is fast (10.7 100m in HS), and can definitely block .
BTW-- people were talking about a player running an 11.3 100M the other day. Looking on the internet that is good but not elite speed. Was that trolling, or is 11.3 decent for a back? Serious question.
April 24th, 2016 at 12:32 PM ^
I would take him over any other WR in college football
I may be wearing maize-colored glasses here but here are the big names that might be preferable:
- Artavious Scott - excellent player, but would Chesson look even more dangerous in that offense?
- James Washington - great athlete but are the WR skills legit or product of OSU offense?
- Isiah Ford - can't argue it's the offense at VaTech. Ford's good.
- Camerson Ridley - the next great Bama WR, but Chesson has an experience advantage
- Christian Kirk - pretty good, but youth and system are both a factor here
- JuJu Smith-Schuster - OK, I'd take him over Jehu. But he's the only obvious one IMO.
Given his experience and fit within the Michigan offense (no other true deep threat) there's not a lot of college WRs that I'd rather have than Jehu.
#Jehu4Heisman
I'm coming to this over 24 hours after your post, but I have to ask:
In what world does Chesson not qualify as a game-breaking threat? Vernon Hargraves may be the 1st "true" CB picked next Thursday (the FSU kid is a Peppers-type I believe) and Jehu torched his ass in the Bowl...
Capable is low bar. I think our RBs have proven to be more than capable, and we have 3 veterans who can play. QB is a BIG question. Speight looked pretty bad in most of his action last year and didn't challenge Ruddock. O'Korn, for all his hype, hasn't beaten him.
QB: C+ (The plus only because 2 guys is better than 1.)
RB: B+
OL: C- (This was on of the worst run-blocking OLs in the country last year, per advanced stats, and lost their best guy.)
WR: A (#Chesson4Heisman)
TE: A (Nobody has proven they can replace Williams yet, but there's plenty of reason for optimism)
-----------------------
DL: A (A++ everywhere else, but we don't have a proven rush end)
LB: B (Peppers is an A, Gedeon a B+, McCray + depth are unknown)
DB: A+ (We have 5 seniors, elite talent, Kinnel and highly impressive freshman on the way - it don't get much better than that)
The offense is a B and I think that's generous given the OL and QB questions for a system that depends on both.
The defensive personnel is an A+. I can't imagine ever returning more experience, talent, and depth than this defense has. Wormley, Glasgow, Charlton, Peppers, Lewis, Thomas are all going to get drafted by the NFL and they probably aren't alone.
Lanknows, you've sold me on A for WR. I'm a little spooked by Chesson's injury; hopefully he's good as new by fall. Lots of fresh troops heading our way; hopefully someone can contribute as a frosh (and/or light comes on for Mo or Drake)
QB - if we didn't have JH, I'd agree with you. Dude turned ruined/demoralized Alex Smith into a very good NFL QB overnight. Speight and O'Korn are talented enough IMO to be successful with Harbaugh as sensei.
OL - 2nd year with system and better coaching > loss of Glasgow IMO. I think steady improvement continues.
Hope you're wrong about the line; if you're right, there's no way our O will be a B.
One final factor. Last year Harbaugh helped a whole bunch of guys make big leaps; no reason to believe we won't see strong contributions from unexpected guys this year too.
but if Andrew Luck is an A, Jake Ruddock is a B, then Speight/OKorn have to go into the season somewhere around a C.
There's a very good change we're in A or B territory headed into 2017 (with the same personnel) but if you're grading right now you can't discount the inexperience of our QBs. We are still talking about a guy who lost his job at Houston and transfered and an Al Borges recruit. Put another way, if Al Borges was our OC and Hoke our head coach, these QBs would be getting a D or worse.
Harbaugh can work wonders but it's not till Peters and McCaffrey have a few years in the system that our QBs are going to play like A grade player.
Wow, if it takes being top 10 or 20 all-time like Luck to get an A, you have high standards!
I'd say Luck is a clear A+, and Rudock a solid B+.
In my estimation, Michigan had a pretty long run with a lot of A/A- QB play.. Back in the day we had Leach and Harbaugh (and Denny Franklin and Johnny Wangs weren't too shabby); later Henne, Brady, Henson, Elvis, Collins, even Griese (maybe a B+). More recently, Denard, of course.
It kills me to think how good Devin would have been under JH.
I'm optimistic that JH can work his magic with one of our current guys. Remember, before last year Rudock was just a guy who'd lost his job at Iowa. Harbaugh!
I agree Luck is an A+ and Rudock a B+.
Devin would have been awesome under Harbaugh if he had arrived in 2011.
I think the difference betwe Rudock and Speight/OKorn is that Rudock had proven ability as a starter and a few years experience advantage. Speight/OKorn are more uncertain but at least they've had a full year under Harbaugh's system.
I think we'll be fine, but it's a leap of faith on our part to asume we won't miss Rudock.
April 22nd, 2016 at 10:53 PM ^
O'Korn stuck around and just lost his job. Herman's system is different but it's not unfriendly to passing and O'Korn's supposed to be a good athlete.
Harbaugh's great, no doubt, but the raw material we are talking about here is probably lower than anything he's had since when he arrived at Stanford.
I'm not WORRIED about QB because we have 2 guys who look like they have a decent shot (plus Peters), but you can't assume QB is going to be an asset until we see it.
for the reason you mentioned, but they were baaaaad last year (at least at run-blocking).
Pass blocking improved from '14, but run-blocking really didn't (hopefully due to the major scheme change).
No question OL is still a question mark. I'm cautiously optimistic because we have a good number of experienced players who finally got some quality coaching last year. Pass blocking was miles better than '14.
Losing Drake last year definitely hurt our running game; without him we didn't have much speed other than the occasional Peppers rush, especially once Isaac got fumblitis and ended up in JH's doghouse.
This year we have a pretty deep backfield, with lots of experience. If Drake is fully healthy (big if) and Isaac finally lives up to his obvious potential, we could have a formidable three-headed beast at RB.
Will be fun and interesting to watch!
Lanknows - I downvoted ya mainly for "Ruddock" - it's way past time to do that even inadvertantly. But if you boil down Speight's total game action last year to a handful of garbage time snaps + 1 game winning drive, I'm the type to weight the drive more heavily than the garbage snaps. So, you dissed him too! Boooo!!!!!!
But you're right there with me on the Jehu Hype-train, so it's all good...
April 24th, 2016 at 10:13 AM ^
QB: I (noway to tell. I could easily see anything from a C to an A at season's end)
RB: B (agree)
OL: pass protection (B+, if newsome not ready, Cole could move back to LT)
run (C, hope I'm wrong, but they have a long way to go)
WR: A- (if Chesson is okay)
TE: A+ (agree)
---------------------------
DL: Run DL = A+; Pass Rush = B
LB: B (Fingers crossed for A+ for blitzing, GO Peppers)
Secondary: Corners = A+; Safties = B+
Overall Defense: A
I watched Carlo Kemp pretty much own Newsome and also make some nice plays. I was hoping those were positive signs for Carlo being a stud player, and not so much Newsome being bad. Carlo should be in HS right now and he played great. Got pad level and leverage on Newsome several times and drove him back.
Not front page news worthy?? The first bullet alone was muppet worthy.
This is THE year. So much returning talent on both sides mixed with QBs going into their second year of Harbaug tutelage. Plus, if there's ever a time to go on the road versus both MSU & OSU, this year is as good as ever with their roster turnover. This is it. I'm bracing myself for an incredible run.
I'll tend to agree. Butt and Lewis stayed for more than just additional seasoning - the whole team senses something. They have everything they need for a championship run, although maybe a bit raw around the edges. They won't have this team next year, too many departing starters. The next window is two-three years out. Should be a fun ride!
April 24th, 2016 at 12:44 PM ^
thanks, it will be interesting to see how everything gels by Penn State. We need to double down on a starting offensive line by late August, though. None of the musical chairs shananigans we had under Borges/Funk. It seems like Harbaugh/Drevno see a really high ceiling for our run game if Newsome 'clicks,' but it doesn't seem like impending doom if it doesn't work out. Cole can bump outside and we have other options for the interior. Alternatively, we can try to use TE and blocking RBs to compensate for Newsome, so long as he figures out run-blocking. Really sweating the bizarre events that led to a lack of tackle recruits last class, though.
April 24th, 2016 at 11:42 PM ^
Good to see a positive Lawrence Marshall sighting.
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