Freshmen Participation Tracker after 6 games

Submitted by milk-n-steak on October 9th, 2022 at 3:45 PM

Per participation data on mgoblue.com:

  • All the players who had already burned their redshirts played against IU.
  • 3 additional freshmen played:
    • New burned redshirt for CJ Stokes.
    • Keon Sabb so he's up to 4 games played.
    • Alex Orji is up to 3 games played

blue in dc

October 9th, 2022 at 5:44 PM ^

Warning - everything in this post is 100% pure speculation.

Thought I read somewhere that Bowman was hurt.   That would make Orji at worst our 3rd string qb.  Could see an argument where he might be the quy they want to come in if McCarthy lost a helmet or had to come out for a few plays for some other reason.    Might figure they would want to be conservative and run and that Orji is the best qb on the roster for that.   If they are thinking Cade will be back by Michigan State, Penn State might be  the most important time for Orji to be available in that role.    In that case throwing him in for one snap (and maybe hoping that there was an opportunity to have him in for more might make sense.

Alternatively, maybe they are already talking to Orji about a position switch after the season.   In that case, next year might be an even more valuable year for a redshirt, so neither Harbaugh nor Orji are too concerned about blowing the redshirt this year.

Probably other reasons that might make sense if we had the info that both Harbaugh and Orji do. 

San Diego Mick

October 9th, 2022 at 5:03 PM ^

With Cade injured and his return unknown, we need to swing with Orji in case we need him to fuck opposing defenses deep in the zone.

9 guys have passed the 4 game threshold and that number could possibly approach 15.

With guys leaving early for the NFL and the portal and all, I say play guys that are worthy for experience and depth, it's different now than it was 10 or more years ago.

DairyQueen

October 9th, 2022 at 5:32 PM ^

very much appreciate this statistic!

but it would be awesome if this chart had positions listed as well, quite literally because they are freshman and we are not yet reflexively familiar

otherwise, very interesting and useful!

Couzen Rick's

October 9th, 2022 at 7:45 PM ^

I wonder if they’ll get orji to four and shut him down. Same question for sabb and Walker. 

All the kids at 5 games+ are too good to be redshirted so their usage makes sense. In all, no real head scratchers here. 

treetown

October 9th, 2022 at 8:03 PM ^

Thank you for updating this.

It is a brave new world with the transfer portal and the de-valuation of running backs by the NFL.

For some positions like the OL and DL, it makes sense to use the redshirt 1st year to build up strength, weight and experience playing players as big and quick.

For others especially the RBs, one only needs one good season, and 2-3 seasons of 25+ carries a game is probably a negative.