Freshmen Redshirt Check-in after 4 games
According to mgoblue.com (which is acting strangely on their "Participation" page) this is the data for Freshmen after 4 games:
We'll have to see if the ones near the top keep playing. Stats don't tell the whole story but here are what they have:
- Moore has 2 catches for 18 yds
- Waller has 7 tackles (5 solo)
- Morgan has 3 catches for 61 yds and a TD
- English has 0 catches
- Hill has 7 tackles (4 solo) and 1.5 TFL
- Pierce has 1 tackle
- Etta has 1 tackle
Go Blue
September 25th, 2023 at 10:07 AM ^
A single observation: Waller may be well on his way to outplaying his recruiting ranking.
September 25th, 2023 at 10:21 AM ^
He's a tall dude and but has looked very smooth out there. I didn't really watch him much from snap to snap, but he at least looked the part
September 25th, 2023 at 10:52 AM ^
Totally. I had to look up his Hello, and was quite surprised.
September 25th, 2023 at 4:44 PM ^
The fact that I have no idea how he has played this season but he has those stats already is telling. Boring freshman CB all day erry day!
September 25th, 2023 at 10:10 AM ^
DL Brandt has played 3 and I think safety Hillman has played in all four
September 25th, 2023 at 12:56 PM ^
You are correct. Hillman's number was listed as 46 on the original roster I used when the season started. He's now wearing #6 and when I scanned through, I missed that change.
Hillman has played in 4 games and has 2 tackles (1 solo)
September 25th, 2023 at 8:39 PM ^
Hillman is going to be a dude; Waller is also on that trajectory; Hill is showing promise at CB. Add another year of Johnson and Sabb, no one should be overly concerned about the secondary thru 2024 and probably 2025.
September 25th, 2023 at 10:17 AM ^
I think we'll see the WRs and DBs burn their redshirts for sure as we need depth and experience at those positions for next year, and Moore, Morgan, Hill and Waller all seem to be playing their way into meaningful minutes anyway. We'll see about the others
September 25th, 2023 at 10:17 AM ^
bah double post. NEGBANG
September 25th, 2023 at 10:32 AM ^
Just for that I +1 you
September 25th, 2023 at 10:21 AM ^
I'm pretty shocked that Waller has already played 4 games. I assume most of his snaps have been on special teams? I know he played in the 4th quarter in the first few games, but I also didn't hear his name which seems like a good thing as a CB?
September 25th, 2023 at 11:47 AM ^
Would have thought the same, but the story is:
• Twice named Defensive Freshman of the Week for his performance against UNLV and Bowling Green
• Made a solo tackle playing defensive back and contributing on special teams against ECU
• Made four tackles (three solo) playing defensive back and contributing on special teams against UNLV
• Registered two tackles playing cornerback against Bowling Green
• Played snaps at cornerback against Rutgers
Per Jim Harbaugh, "He has a great skill-set that is rare for his size. You get tall guys and the question becomes, what’s their change of direction? Can they flip their hips? He’s got unique athleticism for his size. I just think under Coach Clink’s mentorship, that DJ is gonna play and have a long career in football at the corner position."
OTOH, Seth said, "The cornerback depth chart may be screaming for a 2nd and 3rd guy right now, but that guy isn't DJ Waller. Redshirtiest player in the class, and we're almost certain extending that development through 2024 as well."
There is still a good chance that he's this year's Jimmy Rolder, but I prefer to think that Jim is right and that Clink is taking his size and athleticism and turning him into the next shutdown corner.
September 25th, 2023 at 11:54 AM ^
Now you got me thinking, where has Jimmy Rolder been this year? Is he dinged up?
September 25th, 2023 at 12:17 PM ^
Early reports said he’s injured.
September 25th, 2023 at 10:21 AM ^
Was hoping to see more Cole Cabana, but I know he's a bit undersized and probably projecting to flexback/slot.
Pry hitting the weightroom hard.
September 25th, 2023 at 10:34 AM ^
I was thinking this too. This team needs a number 3 back and I had hoped Cabana would be the one to come on but I wonder if the coaches prefer the older more experienced/dependable Mullings. Coaches are like that.
September 25th, 2023 at 10:53 AM ^
With his Garbage time Rutger play, I'm more than happy with Mullings at #3.
September 25th, 2023 at 5:21 PM ^
Mullings is the most Haskins thing (not wearing number 2) on our roster and I think he will be a big part of next years team.
September 25th, 2023 at 10:35 AM ^
He still looks high school sized. Definitely needs a year in the weight room.
September 25th, 2023 at 11:11 AM ^
Before the season I compared Cabana to McGuffie in terms of size, and most of the responses were along the lines of "No, he's bigger and more filled out than McGuffie ever was."
Apparently not filled out enough.
September 25th, 2023 at 12:16 PM ^
i think he was also dealing with a leg/knee injury that limited him in spring ball.
September 25th, 2023 at 10:22 AM ^
Think Semaj Morgan is getting that redshirt burned. He looked really quick on that 1st run and catch, and caught that TD while being interfered with.
Kind of reminds me of Jeremy Gallon - if we can get anywhere near that, going to have a helluva young receiver in the future.
September 25th, 2023 at 1:48 PM ^
I hope Michigan uses him constructively. I am also worried that this was just a "show and tell" and he gets shelved till next season.
September 25th, 2023 at 6:26 PM ^
Was tied 7-7 in a competitive game at that point - strange time for "show and tell"...
The kid has some shakes - think we will see more of him this year.
September 26th, 2023 at 12:01 PM ^
Bruh, Semaj is playing. No if ands or buts about it.
September 25th, 2023 at 11:09 AM ^
My ERROR
I missed DL Cameron Brandt in the list.
He's played in 3 games and has no counting stats.
Corrected List:
RECORRECTED AGAIN LIST: Sorry everyone.
Thanks to all of you who helped me notice that I missed Brandt and Hillman. The original roster on mgoblue had Hillman listed as #46 and he's now wearing #6 so I messed that up. Brandt was an error without any reason other than I didn't check a third time before posting.
September 25th, 2023 at 1:01 PM ^
I’m really confused at the glee this blog gets over players not playing so they can come back for a fifth year that may not happen at all and is increasingly unlikely to happen here.
September 25th, 2023 at 1:23 PM ^
It's an opportunity cost situation. If a player is not going to make an above replacement level impact in his first year then in my mind he should redshirt. Of course there are other reasons to play them, perhaps if they are a player that has said they are only staying 4 years no matter what or want to get to the NFL ASAP.
The potential of a 5th year player >>> a freshman season where all they do is play garbage time or special teams.
The above is true EVEN IF they don't stay for a fifth year.
September 25th, 2023 at 1:53 PM ^
I understand how redshirting works, I don’t understand the hope and giddiness over players not being good enough to play.
September 25th, 2023 at 2:11 PM ^
I haven't seen what you are concerned about. Can you give an example?
September 25th, 2023 at 2:45 PM ^
No one is giddy that they aren't good enough to play. Maybe your issue is in this misunderstanding
September 25th, 2023 at 5:25 PM ^
The ratio of "I wish this guy had one more season" to "I wish this guy had more snaps his freshman season" leans heavily to the "one more season" takes
September 26th, 2023 at 12:05 PM ^
I think I get it. Are you saying that guys like Moten, Anthony, or AJ Henning were a little long in the tooth but would probably be more serviceable that the freshmen who just aren't ready???
September 25th, 2023 at 4:57 PM ^
I think this was useful and generally true before the new transfer rules and the portal. Now I think this line of thinking is completely outdated.
You're not going to be able to stash good players on the bench very long in this era, get the guys out there and see if they can play. If you can do that in 4 games and they are so far down the depth chart that they are unlikely to play even in a blowout, sure, go for a redshirt. If they can't play, they can move along and likely will, and you can go recruit more lottery tickets. Use the portal to fill out the roster with 5th year guys that want to up transfer or want a to play for a better team. Higher roster turnover across the board is the new normal.
September 25th, 2023 at 1:31 PM ^
Good to see they are playing the guys they think give them the best chance to win.
And might we be preparing for the transfer of Darrius Clemons? So much hype and such high hopes, only to see it looks like he’s been passed on the death (edit: depth) chart by both Moore and Morgan. He only got three snaps this past week, same as Peyton O’Leary.
September 25th, 2023 at 2:13 PM ^
That's one chart I would not mind being passed by on.
September 25th, 2023 at 3:07 PM ^
I believe both Clemons and O’Leary are still working their way back from injury. Will be interesting to see what contributions they bring next week as it may be telling for which of the freshman wide receivers burn their redshirt.
September 26th, 2023 at 12:11 PM ^
I hope not. I really wanted to see what these two guys could do. Both Clemons and O'Leary have so much potential but I haven't seen much of them. Perhaps they're not blocking?
September 25th, 2023 at 3:18 PM ^
I'm thinking that if you have 3 by now, you're not redshirting.
I think the 1s and 2s all redshirt at this point. Also, remember that you can play in the postseason and it doesn't count towards your 4 games.
Meaning Cabana could get 3 more games, then have great bowl practices and play in a CFP semifinal and national championship game...and still keep his redshirt.
September 25th, 2023 at 5:27 PM ^
Is the Big Ten championship postseason? Once we are up 3-0 on Northwestern we can run out all of our deep bench.
September 25th, 2023 at 3:49 PM ^
Might make for a fun offseason data analysis project to try and figure out if it really matters whether guys play more than 4 games. Does position matter? Intuitively, you'd think it would for linemen who need the year to grow and might be more likely to stick around for year 5 (or 6). But does the data back that up? Do stars matter? Can you project future playing time based on year one participation?