CFN UofM Preview
Not that I always put a lot of stock into their work, but CFN released their UofM football preview. Didn't see anyone post it - went back 5 pages or so.
http://cfn.scout.com/2/872378.html
They didn't have Turner on the 2 deep depth chart. Maybe because of the qualification question, since I expect him to make the 2 deep.
1. Space Emperor
2. Universe
CFN:
Ten Best UM Players
1. DE Brandon Graham, Sr.
2. LB Obi Ezeh, Jr.
3. RB Brandon Minor, Sr.
4. LB Jonas Mouton, Jr.
5. S Stevie Brown, Sr.
6. CB Donovan Warren, Jr.
7. P Zoltan Mesko, Sr.
8. QB Tate Forcier, Fr.
9. WR Martavious Odoms, Soph.
10. WR Greg Mathews, Sr. .
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MINE:
Ten Best UM Players
1. DE Brandon Graham, Sr.
2. P Zoltan Mesko, Sr.
3. CB Donovan Warren, Jr.
4. RB Brandon Minor, Sr.
5. LB Obi Ezeh, Jr.
6. DT Mike Martin, So.
7. S Stevie Brown, Sr. (only this high if he's a deathbacker)
8. QB Tate Forcier, Fr.
9. WR Martavious Odoms, Soph.
10. OC David Molk, So.
the gauntlet had been thrown down... bring it
Pretty good list. Why Odoms over Mathews though? Mathews is definitely a better receiver.
but c'mon, Steve Brown, until he proves differently, shouldn't be anywhere near a list like this.
Based on consistency of performance in live games against real opponents, I'd go with this:
Graham
Warren
Minor (If he hangs on to the ball)
Moundros (one of the few guys, sadly, who's pretty damn consistent)
Martin (more snaps affect his performance this year?)
Mathews (dependable, wish he had speed)
Odoms
Ezeh/Mouton/Van Bergen (oh crap, can't I just stop at 8?)
Schilling, maybe ...
Despite Zoltan's cool name, I can't in good faith include a punter.
Hopefully some red shirts or true freshman defy the odds and contribute large, altering this list by October because it's hard coming up with 10 guys who you can say, yeah, he's solid ... I'm an optimist and I still think hitting 7 wins will be very difficult for this team. 2010 can't get here soon enough.
I think you're a little confused, Stevie Brown will absolutely not be a Deathbacker.
I think they missed big time on probably the biggest strength of the team, the running game. Yes, they said Minor is the best offensive weapon "BY DEFAULT". IMO, I think Minor could have a monster year. And the offensive line really seemed to get better as the year moved on. They certainly showed glimpses of a good offense against the likes of PSU in the first half, Notre Dame (minus the TOs), Minnesota, and Wisconsin 4th quarter only.
you forgot Purdue
"New defensive coordinator Greg Robinson, the former Syracuse head coach, will use a variety of alignments including a hybrid safety/linebacker position to take advantage of the one area on the defense, safety, with a glut of talent."
Does Fiutak not know the meaning of "glut?" I think he's the first to use it in conjunction with "talent" and "Michigan safeties" in same sentence. Ever. His glut in the 2-Deep: a converted corner in Woolfolk, a true freshman in Vlad the Impaler, some kid I've never hear from who sounds like he should be playing baseball, and Williams, who saw spot duty last year.
This guy is like the grammar police, except for misused words.
with Futiak's logic, as if Michigan coaches looked at the roster and said, "whoah, we have too many talented safeties, fellas. What say create a hybrid position to we can get more of them on the field?" Whereas I think the reality is, this team is f'd at safety no matter how you look at it, so they decided to move Steve Brown closer to the line to at least try to leverage some of his physical talents that haven't brought him much success 10-15 yards off the line. In other words, I'm guessing they're betting totally inexperienced Woolfolk/Williams/Emilien or [insert player on roster] can't be much worse than SB back there.
I agree. We have the exact opposite of a glut of good safeties.
You probably have to go back at least a decade to find when UM might have had a glut of safety talent on the roster. Did Fiutak watch any UM games last year? If so, he'd realize they moved Stevie Brown from safety to this hybrid position because he sucked at safety.
By having Ezeh as the #2 best player, pretty much proves he didn't watch to many UM games last year and is probably just going off the stats the kids had last year. Mouton had a way better year at LB then Ezeh did - especially the latter part of the year.
odoms was the leading receiver as a true FR last year and broke the M record for FR receptions and yards. IIRC
That's because we couldn't throw the ball downfield last year. Mathews was awesome against Florida. If Tate can throw the ball like he did in the Spring game to Roundtree, Mathews could have a pretty good year.
led team in receptions (49) and receiving yards (443) ... holds U-M program record for receptions as a freshmen ... led all Big Ten freshmen in receptions (49) and all-purpose yards (1,040).
i've never been that impressed w/ mathews. good size, good hands, bad speed. not a great fit for the spread and won't be the #1 option for the passing offense.
Anyone can catch 49 passes when they are thrown right at the line of scrimmage. He had less than 10 yards per catch. That's awful. He has bad hands too. Hopefully he improves drastically.
I agree 100%! It was annoying not seeing enough passes down field. I do think that Odoms will improve a great deal though. He will have more help around him so it should open some things up. I don't think that he or Matthews will be the #1 receiver next though. My bet is it will be Roundtree or even maybe Je'ron Stokes.
If Odoms and Mathews traded positions last year, their stats would probably be flip, flopped too. The UM QB's couldn't hit the broad side of barn more then about 5-10 yds downfield. I'm guessing Odoms will have another solid year, because it's pretty hard to defend the slot receiver when he's catching the ball at the los. However, if Forcier has a decent year I look for Mathews numbers to improve quite a bit.
I think the way most people feel about Mathews can be summed up in one play. Go back and watch the Wisconsin game from '08. 3rd quarter, 2:44 left to play, 1st and 10. Threet throws a beautiful ball to Mathews into the endzone, but he can't come up with it. Mathews tried to catch it awkwardly instead of just going up and getting the ball. UM scored two plays later on a fantastic catch over the middle by Koger.
Mathews has unequivocally the best hands on the team, in my opinion. I will raise you the catch he made against Minnesota in '08 at the 12:10 mark of the first quarter. See for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MMosjutIyc&feature=PlayList&p=58FD216B0…. Sorry for the ugly link.
The knock on Mathews has never been his route-running or catching ability, but rather his speed. Simply put, he is a possession receiver, albeit a good one.
I think he's got good hands too. The problem I see is that he's not a "go-to" type of receiver. I remember him muffing a punt, at PSU, out of bounds. Either way, I don't think he's the type of receiver that will go out and take the ball out of the air. Here's the play in question. If he would have turned his shoulders to the ball, it would have been a much easier catch. It's more visible in the replay.
http://s31.photobucket.com/albums/c373/tpilews/?action=view¤t=Mat…
My problem is that great receivers make those plays when his team needs it the most. Yeah, I've seen him make some good catches, but I've also seen him drop a few.
Ok, we're in basic agreement then: he is not a great or "go-to" receiver. I do think he has good hands overall, but last year he was prone to fumbling some, which I think surprised all of us.
However, he is generally reliable and probably our most consistent receiver. Hopefully, that translates into a consistent target for Tate (or whoever) this year.
Yeah, that's the way I see it too. I really hope some of the younger guys can establish themselves as goto guys. Someone like Hemingway. I think he could be really good. Perhaps a new guy like Stokes.
You seem to be implying that Mathews isn't getting the most out of his ability. I think he is; he's just not quite as talented as some of our past #1 WRs. He really should be the #2 option.
He's the most experienced WR we've got.
In 2006, Mathews was overshadowed by Breaston, Arrington and Manningham.
In 2007, same story. Arrington and Manningham were the go to guys.
Last year, UM quarterbacks rarely connected with Mathews at all.
I'm thinking that'll change this fall with Forcier/Robinson or at least I'm reallyhoping it does.
The reason turner's not listed is because there is a glut of talent at safety and there's just no way a true freshmen saftey will be able to crack the two deep this year with all the amazing talent UM has coming back at this position.
If Odoms and Mathews traded positions last year, their stats would probably be flip, flopped too. The UM QB's couldn't hit the broad side of barn more then about 5-10 yds downfield. I'm guessing Odoms will have another solid year, because it's pretty hard to defend the slot receiver when he's catching the ball at the los. However, if Forcier has a decent year I look for Mathews numbers to improve quite a bit.
1) odoms is a slot and GM is not. odoms fits the offense better and has more experience *in this offense*.
2) QBs not hitting a barn... that should help odoms this year too.
Agreed regarding #2: When Odoms got separation downfield, our QBs last year constantly overthrew him. Obviously, some of that is owing to his height, but mostly it was our QBs' accuracy. I think we all remember yelling profanities when the team missed open receivers.
On the whole, it's a pretty good preview. Yeah, there are a couple of things I'd change, but keep in mind that these guys have to write these things about every team in the country. Of course they don't follow us as closely as we do.