247 Michigan Top 25 Players for 2017
A few days ago, 247 writers Steve Lorenz, Isaiah Hole, and Zach Shaw completed their countdown of the Top 25 most important players for Michigan this season. The link to the final list can be found here.
I copied the list below, and have the returning starters in bold.
Rank | Position | Name | Class |
---|---|---|---|
1 | DE | Gary | So |
2 |
QB | Speight | RS Jr. |
3 | LT | Cole | Sr |
4 | DT | Hurst Jr. | RS Sr. |
5 | RB | Evans | So |
6 | LB | McCray | RS Sr. |
7 | OG | Bredeson | So |
8 | FB/TE | Hill, K | RS Sr. |
9 | DE | Winovich | RS Jr. |
10 | FS/S | Kinnel | Jr |
11 | S/LB | Hudson, K | So |
12 | TE | Wheatley Jr. | RS So. |
13 | DT | Mone | RS Jr. |
14 | LB | Bush Jr. | So |
15 | C | Kugler | RS Sr. |
16 | S | Metellus | So |
17 | WR | Peoples-Jones | Fr |
18 | WR | Black | Fr |
19 | WR | Crawford | So |
20 | CB | Long, D | RS Fr. |
21 | OG | Onwenu | So |
22 | TE | Bunting | RS Jr. |
23 | CB | Hill, L. | So |
24 | RT | Runyan Jr. | RS So |
25 | WR | McDoom | So |
I decided to breakdown their rankings by class and which side of the ball they are on. I used a basic point system, where the #1 ranked player is worth 25 points, #2 is worth 24, etc., etc.
Below is a table breaking down the number of points per class:
Class | Count | Points | Average/Player |
---|---|---|---|
Fr | 2 | 17 | 8.5 |
RS Fr | 1 | 6 | 6 |
So | 10 | 118 | 11.8 |
RS So | 2 | 16 | 8 |
Jr | 1 | 16 | 16 |
RS Jr | 4 | 58 | 14.5 |
Sr | 1 | 23 | 23 |
RS Sr | 4 | 71 | 17.75 |
Below is the breakdown of offense vs defense:
Side of Ball | Count | Points | Average/Player |
Offense | 14 | 166 | 11.86 |
Defense | 11 | 159 | 14.45 |
What to take from all this? Do we even agree with their rankings? Should two true freshman receivers be ranked ahead of one or both of Higdon and Isaac? Should the inexperienced CB's be ranked higher? Should the young OL-men be ranked higher?
Of course all this is up for debate, but I think this is a decent snapshot of our team build this season. Every player in the Top 10 has plenty of experience, even if only 5 are listed as returning starters. We can also see that the the more senior players are ranked higher than the underclassmen. Also, that's a lot of sophomores on this list.
August 10th, 2017 at 9:13 PM ^
Stud receiver. 40-50 catches this year.
August 10th, 2017 at 9:16 PM ^
I'll be surprised if any of our receivers hit 50 catches, just too many mouths to feed. Last year in 12 games Speight completed 204 passes. I dont see any receiver getting 50 tbh
August 10th, 2017 at 10:06 PM ^
August 10th, 2017 at 10:16 PM ^
August 10th, 2017 at 10:18 PM ^
August 10th, 2017 at 10:18 PM ^
Are you going to Raback it?
Also, I think you're wrong.
August 10th, 2017 at 10:47 PM ^
The name's not boy, it's Roy.
August 11th, 2017 at 8:17 AM ^
1. Are you the real Kenny Higgins?
2. Am I the only board member that knows who Kenny Higgins is?
3. Of course you're all in on Schoenle
p.s. not sure if I'm rooting for your prediction or not. Would love to see the kid succeed, but would also love to see Peoples-Jones/Black/Collins/Martin succeed too!
August 10th, 2017 at 9:14 PM ^
more of our best players came from Jim Harbaugh's first full recruiting class than Brady Hoke's final 2 combined.
August 10th, 2017 at 9:59 PM ^
classes. There would be more but a bunch are in the NFL. It seems unfair to blame him for the combined class after he was fired.
August 10th, 2017 at 10:20 PM ^
Ummm...I don't know what it says a lot of. It says that mediocre/poor teams don't recruit well, which is only news if you don't understand stuff.
August 10th, 2017 at 10:37 PM ^
Actually, it mainly affects us in two areas:
1. The OL. We're looking at putting two or three players on the field that are true freshmen or true sophomores. The center will probably be a fifth-year senior that is an open question, and if the total is only "two" it's because the young kids couldn't beat out a guy in JBB that is at best problematic. The Hoke/Funk combination was a complete and total disaster that Harbaugh is left picking up the pieces from. You can try to drill down on what happened with individual players, but the results speak for themselves. Hoke's OL development destroyed his HC tenure and has been a serious challenge for Harbaugh as well.
2. QB. Harbaugh has mitigated this somewhat, but Hoke and Borges doubled down on Morris and he didn't work out. Speight was acquired as a 3-star insurance policy and has exceeded any expectation we could have had of him; nonetheless, if QB recruiting and development had been normal, there would be at least one other quality guy on the roster competing for that spot.
There are lesser effects in the secondary, at LB, and at WR, but unless the secondary turns into a flaming tire fire those effects appear to have been mitigated by talent coming through. And even QB has been mitigated a bit. But this team was a solid OL from the playoff last year and that might be the difference this season as well.
August 11th, 2017 at 7:26 AM ^
Yep, solid points...
#1 The QB is the single most important position in football, period. Hoke did poorly recruiting QBs and then didn't develop the ones he had.
2011 - Mid to Low 3 star (.8416) Bellomy was added in a short recruiting season.
2012 - No QB was taken.
2013 - Solid 4 star (.9674) in Shane Morris was signed, remember though he missed half his senior season of HS football.
2014 - High 3 star (.8728) in Wilton Speight was landed.
That is not championship recruiting at the most important position. A 3 year period where you take only 2 QBs, a 3 star who had no other big offers and a highly regarded QB that missed half his senior year.
You should average at least 1 QB signed a year due to injuries, not working out, off field issues, etc so that you have depth...this is what forced Harbaugh to go for not 1, but 2 QB transfers right off the bat (Rudock and O'Korn).
#2 It was more difficult to develop the lacking QB recruits, because the Oline was never developed into a cohesive unit under Hoke.
August 11th, 2017 at 8:29 AM ^
August 11th, 2017 at 8:44 AM ^
Borges took over the QB recruiting and offered Speight over several higher ranked recruits that were seriously interested. Maybe he will be proven correct.
Hoke did not seem to understand the importance of the QB in CFB. If he had, we would have gotten two QBs in Speight's class. That would have been the insurance policy.
August 10th, 2017 at 9:17 PM ^
I don't see the reason why TW Jr. is rated so highly. There are alot more important players on this team who aren't situational and at a position with depth. Plus, the added stress on more WR sets would suggest a lower total of plays featuring the TE.
August 10th, 2017 at 9:22 PM ^
August 10th, 2017 at 9:28 PM ^
"Be it talent, positional need or other factors, we're breaking down the players most crucial to Michigan's success."
Any list that does not include Quinn Nordin is over looking how important it is to have a reliable kicker.
August 10th, 2017 at 9:33 PM ^
I agree. In terms of "importance", I think having Nordin being a reliable kicker is way more important than if DPJ or Black exceed expectations for a freshman wr.
August 10th, 2017 at 9:28 PM ^
I am not sure when they compiled this list, but it sounds like Higdon should be somewhere in the top 25. Supposedly, he should be ranked higher than Evans. UM BIG 11 mentioned that Higdon may be moving ahead of Evans and Chris Balas has said the same.
August 10th, 2017 at 9:32 PM ^
Easy
August 10th, 2017 at 10:16 PM ^
By all accounts, it appears Gary is about to explode onto the college football scene like Pickle Rick through a rat's head.
But.. Speight is the most important player. If Gary doesn't live up to the hype, Michigan's defense is still a near-lock to be a top 25 unit. If (when, IMO) Speight starts and isn't at least his 2016 self, the entire offense goes down with him.
August 10th, 2017 at 10:21 PM ^
That ain't nothin'.
August 10th, 2017 at 10:25 PM ^
I don't understand the methodology of this list. If they mean, who will be the "best" players, sure, Gary is right near the top.
But I'm not concerned about Gary. He may be good, he may be very good, he may be great, he may be a terror that parents in Columbus tell their children about for generations to scare them into good behavior. But it doesn't matter that much--the DL will be a high quality, questionable depth position group. He is "important" because he's expected to be great, but the DL will be fine.
The most important players are guys like Patrick Kugler and Michael Onwenu. Because a lot of what this season will become hinges on whether or not they take those crucial steps in growth that can make the difference between the OL being bad and the OL being decent.
Speight is vital, too, because he's the QB. And our CBs are going to be, basically, true sophomores on islands tasked with halting Trace McSorley's downfield passing game.
Much hangs on these players. The optimists suggest 10-2 or even 11-1 is a possibility: I'm skeptical, but if we approach such a performance this season it will be because Kugler is a solid center and his right flank is at least steady. And because the secondary held up.
The DL, the RBs? They'll be fine either way. Kugler is the most important player for Michigan this season.
August 11th, 2017 at 9:11 AM ^
player makes. If Gary reaches that level, he makes the rest of the defense better in a way that his replacement could not.
When you look at where we might be in trouble if we lost a player, that's important. But so is losing a real difference maker. They are few and far between. I have some confidence that our depth can supply a player who will be adequate at any position. Of course, there's always some fear that won't be the case, but we do have a lot of depth, even if unproven. Is Kemp really different than someone like Runyan in that regard?
That said, the depth behind Cole is scary. Same with Kinnel.
August 11th, 2017 at 9:56 AM ^
August 10th, 2017 at 11:51 PM ^
August 11th, 2017 at 1:43 AM ^
I would put Kinnel ahead of Chase Winovich. I like Chase but we have options at DLine, Safety not as much.
August 11th, 2017 at 3:22 AM ^
August 11th, 2017 at 7:52 AM ^
This should be fun!
1. Cole - I don't think much explanation is needed.
2. Hurst - Not only is Hurst a stud, but we only have Dwumfor behind him. Gary could move over, but then Kemp is the SDE with limited options behind.
3. Mone - NT is an integral part of this defense. Have to be strong up the middle. Behind Mone is true freshman Solomon, or position changers.
4. Gary - I really like Gary's backup, Kemp, so I feel the dropoff wouldn't be catastrophicly different. Because of his talent, I feel #4 is an insulting spot for him, but depth at spots #1-3 are driving this.
5. McCray - Our LB depth is not phenomenal, McCray is a proven player.
6. Kinnel - He's played. We don't have a ton fo safeties. Backups are limited.
7. Winovich - WDE looks like a true freshmen will serve as backup, or maybe a name will emerge I haven't heard much of yet.
8. Speight - He's probably our starter even though everyone loves to talk about Peters. From what I saw in the spring game, I do believe Peters could come in and the dropoff wouldn't be catastrophic, he may even develop into the better option as the season progresses.
9 . Bredeson - I don't have starts in front of me, but he could be #2 for most starts on the line.
10. Hudson - Shown some things, backups at viper are limited.
11. Bush Jr. - He is an excellent linebacker who is probably 2nd most experienced at this point.
12. Metellus - See Kinnel.
13. Onwenu - We're going to need this svelt mountain to step up at guard.
14. Long - It seems like he's penciled in as CB #1. Someone please correct me if this isn't the case.
15. Evans - I'm hesitant to put him here, as the chatter of Higdon as the #1 back has emerged, but from what I saw last season, Evans will have the most carries, and will do the most with them.
16. Crawford - Experience and blocking should keep him as #1 WR for now.
17. Bunting - Jake Butt Lite
18. Kugler - I think he'll step up.
19. L. Hill - Penciled in as CB #2, but Washington looks like a very capable option.
20. T. Black - I think he'll be WR #2 this year. Could be DPJ. Could be another. Who knows?
21. Nordin
22. Solomon - top NT backup. He's going to rotate in heavily.
23. JBB - I put a backup in front of him, because who knows if he's going to be the starter? Runyan could step in.
24. Washington 3rd corner in for nickle packages.
25. K. Hill - hammering panda has a capable backup in Poggi, otherwise would be higher on the list.
26. DPJ, 27. TJ Wheatley, 28. Dwumfor, 29. Kemp, 30. Peters
August 11th, 2017 at 10:11 AM ^
August 12th, 2017 at 8:20 AM ^
August 11th, 2017 at 8:16 AM ^
He was one of my favorite players on one of the best defenses Michigan has seen (which is saying something).