2008 Defensive recruiting class: progress report.
Here are our 2008 recruits in the defensive side still with the team (original class commits Marcus Witherspoon and Taylor Hill transfered, list generated from Scout):
-Cissoko
-Mike Martin
-J.B Fitzgerald
-Kenny Demens
-Brandon Smith
-JT Floyd
Cissoko has struggled, to put it moderately. Smith is playing on most special teams and was moved to LB, Floyd had an opportunity after Cissoko, the coaches evaluated, then moved Woolfolk back to corner in his place. Demens and Fitzgerald are backups, and despite the struggles of Ezeh and Mouton have not been able to merit real playing time, with Kevin Leach, a walk on, logging more playing time. Martin is a man-beast that should have a great next couple of years.
So. These kids are sophomores/redshirt freshmen. Therefore they can and do have time to improve and contribute to the defense in later years. But I think it's fair to say that with the lack of top talent on the defensive side, that this class would ideally provide a critical layer of depth, and you would hope that some would be pushing upperclassmen for playing time. That has not happened yet apart from Martin obviously. Keep your fingers crossed that growth, Barwis, maturity and another year of age changes the fortunes of this class for the better, because we need them.
October 26th, 2009 at 9:02 AM ^
is that 8 of the 25 guys in the class are on the defensive side of the ball. That helps to explain the lack of depth.
October 26th, 2009 at 9:11 AM ^
that sounds a lot like, uh, the 2010 class the we have coming in so far..... A little cause for concern.
October 26th, 2009 at 9:29 AM ^
Mike Barwis can goad and cajole and berate his charges to bushelbaskets full of weightlifting records, but he can't turn slow-footed, mediocre linebackers into fast, good linebackers. If weightlifting records alone were worth anything, our offensive line wouldn't find itself dominated physically by MSU and PSU.
October 26th, 2009 at 1:34 PM ^
You can get stronger, gain or lose weight, develop endurance, improve flexibility. Quickness and speed, though, I think is just something you have or don't. They've got to bring it in via recruiting.
October 26th, 2009 at 11:19 PM ^
What does Barwis have to do with this? Last I knew, Barwis didn't coach football. He makes them faster and stronger, and I think we are faster and stronger.
You can have the biggest, strongest team in the country, but that doesn't mean you'll be good. That takes good football intellect and consistent coaching.
October 26th, 2009 at 10:36 AM ^
was sort of depressing. All the more reason Michigan needs a good defensive haul this recruiting season.
October 26th, 2009 at 10:40 AM ^
Does anyone know why Smith didn't see any significant playing time in the Delaware State game? I understand he might not be ready for 1-A games yet, but it seems like everyone else played in that game. He's played well on special teams for us, I was hoping to see what he is capable of on defense (even against DSU)
October 26th, 2009 at 1:41 PM ^
I still think it's too early to pass judgment on a number of these players. The typical trend in college football is not to start until your junior or senior year. Now, things have changed immensely because players are coming out of high school physically and mentally ready to play; but that isn't the case for every player.
I guess it's just important to be patient. And recruit, recruit, recruit.
October 26th, 2009 at 1:50 PM ^
I'm not really sure if this is meant to be a complaint or just an observation, I guess the latter.
I don't really think there is cause for concern. If you look at your post from a different perspective, we have 1/6 of that class playing above his head and above expectations. The rest of the guys, they've yet to disappoint because I don't think they were expected to be major contributors yet.
Sure, it would be nice to have a couple more underclass studs who can play at a high level, but it'd be nice to have a couple more upperclassmen guys doing so as well.
We'll see how it plays out, the jury is definitely still out on this class, and rightly so.
October 26th, 2009 at 11:28 PM ^
Wow.
That's disturbing.
So, we have 6 defensive players - not viable players, mind you, just total bodies - from that class. No wonder our depth is scary - we *literally* have no depth!!
Which begs the question why the hell we're spending 9 or so schollies on WRs, RBs, or slots in this class. Looks like we should have a good DB class if all goes as planned *knock on wood*, but man, we need some LBs and DTs, pronto.
October 26th, 2009 at 11:46 PM ^
The full list of defensive commits from 2008:
Marcus Witherspoon (transferred to Rutgers)
Taylor Hill (transferred to Youngstown State)
Cissoko
Demens
Fitzgerald
Floyd
Martin
Smith
To be fair to the coaching staff, we also needed bodies on offense at the time. We took 6 offensive linemen and now we're all fairly happy with the depth there. We took a bunch of guys who are contributing or will contribute soon (Shaw, Cox, Roundtree, Odoms, Koger, Stonum, etc.).