Courtney Avery practicing at FS
Hmmmm
Courtney Avery said he's working at safety...
Courtney Avery says he's getting more reps at free safety right now.
August 16th, 2013 at 6:27 PM ^
Dymonte.
August 16th, 2013 at 6:29 PM ^
August 16th, 2013 at 6:34 PM ^
August 16th, 2013 at 6:56 PM ^
August 16th, 2013 at 9:08 PM ^
So did Michigan State and Ohio State. Floyd was the guy they targeted when going down field.
August 16th, 2013 at 10:25 PM ^
August 17th, 2013 at 9:48 AM ^
I believe Countess is, and I believe Taylor will be this year.
August 16th, 2013 at 9:08 PM ^
August 17th, 2013 at 8:51 AM ^
August 16th, 2013 at 9:09 PM ^
August 16th, 2013 at 6:30 PM ^
August 16th, 2013 at 6:33 PM ^
Not when freshmen like Delano and Dymonte are impressing Mattison.
August 16th, 2013 at 6:45 PM ^
... freshmen.
August 16th, 2013 at 8:02 PM ^
August 17th, 2013 at 5:56 AM ^
I'm not being snarky or sarcastic; I really want to know why so many people think less of him than I do.
August 17th, 2013 at 9:50 AM ^
August 16th, 2013 at 6:31 PM ^
I don't believe he's "moved" -- I still think he'll get snaps at nickel. But I do think he has a firm enough grasp on that position, and Thomas has shown enough to steal some snaps. The coaches probably want the best talent and experience on the field. Avery could be the equivilant to an MLB utility infielder, stealing snaps at CB, Nickel, and FS to keep our guys fresh while not sacrificing experience or grasp of the position.
August 16th, 2013 at 6:45 PM ^
August 16th, 2013 at 7:05 PM ^
August 17th, 2013 at 10:36 AM ^
August 16th, 2013 at 6:48 PM ^
August 16th, 2013 at 6:49 PM ^
I guess they want more experience at FS besides Wilson and T. Gordon there is a lack of upperclassmen (well there's Furman... who is likely more of a SS IMO) so perhaps they feel more comfortable with Avery there in case of emergency and Thomas as the Nickel.
Taylor and Hollowell could take care of the #2 CB spot and there's Richardson and Douglass behind them, also AFAIK CB is an easier position to learn/play as a freshman than FS.
August 16th, 2013 at 7:07 PM ^
Based on some things ive read on rivals, it sounds like Jourdan Lewis is shooting past some of the other corners. Elite ball skills and a knack for making big plays, its possible he could be on the 2-deep right now.
August 16th, 2013 at 8:43 PM ^
It would be great for one of these Cass Tech corners to really hit it big with the Wolverines. I almost never hear Lewis talked about but he was top 150 on Rivals and 10th in the country at corner. Hope he is chugging along and running up the depth chart.
August 16th, 2013 at 8:46 PM ^
I think Brian said in the MGoPodcast that Lewis is getting looks in the return game.
August 16th, 2013 at 6:50 PM ^
August 16th, 2013 at 8:10 PM ^
August 16th, 2013 at 8:33 PM ^
August 16th, 2013 at 9:18 PM ^
August 17th, 2013 at 9:52 AM ^
August 16th, 2013 at 9:46 PM ^
are two different position and the reads are completely different. To say that the transition will be seamless because they got experience at CB is wrong. They have different keys to read and have different responsibilities.
August 16th, 2013 at 10:33 PM ^
August 16th, 2013 at 7:02 PM ^
August 16th, 2013 at 7:07 PM ^
It could very well be this. About a week ago, Mattison had this to say about Dymonte Thomas via NFL.com, oddly enough:
"The thing that impressed us was we felt he was going to be a very good blitzer and could really run," defensive coordinator Greg Mattison told thewolverine.com. "For an incoming freshman, he really seemed to want to play early. Through the ups and downs that attack a guy, he came out in camp and just continued to go up."
August 16th, 2013 at 7:16 PM ^
I actually liked Brian and Ace's discussion on this yesterday. If Thomas can emerge as a guy who can blitz, cover the slot, and be solid against the run, this defense gets really good, really fast. Jake Ryan gets to stay at linebacker/rush on passing downs and we can play a two-wide team out of the nickel. It's also a nightmare for Notre Dame's, Nebraska's, Northwestern's, and Ohio State's offenses--who also conveniently project to be our toughest opponents.
The crazy thing is that while he probably won't get there this year, Thomas should be able to do all those things given his combination of size and speed along with his experience playing linebacker. I think he's got potential to be a lot like Ryan Shazier at OSU. He'll have flashes of brilliance and confusion this year before settling in to being awesome as a sophomore.
August 16th, 2013 at 7:05 PM ^
I think has less to do with competition and is more a case of the coaches looking at what they've got behind Wilson and realizing we need another option in case he or Gordon gets hurt.
August 16th, 2013 at 7:11 PM ^
This, too, was very likely considered by the coaches, no doubt.
August 16th, 2013 at 8:14 PM ^
August 16th, 2013 at 7:09 PM ^
This switch at this point in fall practice isn't a good thing. The best case scenario is that Furman is never going to be able to play and they're comfortable with Thomas at nickel. The worst case is they've decided Wilson isn't ready yet and they think plugging Avery at safety is the best of two bad choices.
Either way, it's not ideal. Michigan needs the secondary to play well given that, Clark hype or not, we don't have anyone who's shown consistent ability to get to the quarterback while rushing four.
August 17th, 2013 at 2:53 AM ^
August 16th, 2013 at 7:20 PM ^
This is the ultimate opportunist vs. pessimist move.
Glass half empty: things are so bad at safety we need to move him.
Glass half full: things are so good at corner/nickel his best shot to see the field is at safety.
Optimists and pessimists, declare your side!
August 16th, 2013 at 7:32 PM ^
I think this has to be a depth thing. I think Avery is without a job right now and they are prepping him to be a backup several different places.
Look at this from Avery's perspective: he had a solid grasp on the nickel corner gig the past two seasons, but some hotshot freshman enrolls in January and takes over that spot by the end of spring practice. So, Avery goes looking for somewhere else to play. First we hear he's giving Taylor a run for his money at CB, but Taylor beat Avery for that spot last year so it shouldn't be surprising that Taylor is still ahead. So then, why not FS? Two of the guys behind Wilson have already left (Gant for SAM linebacker and M-Rob for Ferris State), the third guy, Furman, looks at this point like a career special-teamer, and then Hill & Dawson are both true freshmen. If you are Avery and you show that you can play FS, now you have three chances to get back on the field: (i) something happens to a corner, in which case you could be the third guy in; (ii) Dymonte goes down or has issues, in which case you're probably still next at nickel, or (iii) Wilson gets hurt, and you come on at FS.
Now, if Avery winds up starting head of Wilson, then yeah--that's a bad sign. But that seems unlikely to me. So I'm remaining optimistic for now.
August 17th, 2013 at 2:12 AM ^
Exactly correct. Avery taking reps at safety gives us more quality depth... period.
August 17th, 2013 at 3:34 AM ^
Unless he's starting.
August 16th, 2013 at 7:36 PM ^
This can't be good..I was hoping Wilson would seize that spot.
August 16th, 2013 at 8:53 PM ^
August 16th, 2013 at 10:22 PM ^
August 16th, 2013 at 10:49 PM ^
That's blunt, yeah I've heard that he was running with the first team, still, both Countess and Taylor have starting experience ahead of Avery who is a senior, perhaps Avery is more suited for backup safety than Taylor, behind Wilson we don't really have much experience and Avery is one of the most experienced players in our secondary.
If Avery is going to be a back up, with his experience and seasoning he might as well back up the thinnest of our positions across the secondary, now, if Avery comes ahead of Wilson once the depth chart is released, well that might concern me a little bit.
August 16th, 2013 at 7:40 PM ^
Good God, I hope this doesn't speak to Wilson's unpreparedness for prime time.
August 16th, 2013 at 7:53 PM ^