Has anyone heard anything about Jake Ryan?

Submitted by Erik_in_Dayton on

I was thinking about what Michigan's defense will look like in the next couple of years and I realized that I haven't heard anything about Jake Ryan.  Does anyone have any word on how he's looked so far?  Don't get me wrong, I'm not expecting him to play this year.  My hope, though, is that someday he can be for U of M what Anthony Schlegel was to OSU, nothing more or less than a mean run-stuffer. 

Erik_in_Dayton

September 21st, 2010 at 11:01 AM ^

Schelgel was the first guy I could think of (bad memories of 2005) who was really tough against the run but who wasn't athletic enough to do much of anything else.  I can't remember if Anderson, Morrison, Irons, etc. met that description or not.   I didn't want to damn them with a half-assed compliment. 

jg2112

September 21st, 2010 at 1:29 PM ^

Hmmm......didn't see you use the word "un-athletic" in your OP. Now it shows up when I mention David Harris.

Seems to me you've arbitrarily applied a euphamism to hide exactly what I think you're hiding, and........who is to say Jake Ryan isn't athletic?

Erik_in_Dayton

September 21st, 2010 at 1:43 PM ^

In the post you replied to I said, "Schelgel was the first guy I could think of (bad memories of 2005) who was really tough against the run but who wasn't athletic enough to do much of anything else." 

As far as Ryan's athleticism, I watched his high school highlights, and even in his highlights he looks kind of stiff.  He also doesn't have great measurables.  Don't get me wrong - I'm sure he's a hell of a lot more athletic than the average person, but as far as D-I linebackers go, I think most people can agree that he's not athletic. 

WolvinLA2

September 21st, 2010 at 1:44 PM ^

Come on jg, is un-athletic really that far away from "not athletic enough" or whatever he actually put?  Or are you just acting like that to hide the fact that you didn't read it carefully the first time? 

And I don't think people are saying Jake Ryan is unathletic overall, clearly he's athletic enough for Big Ten football, but some LB's are very athletic, and some are more of the "dig your nose in and stop the run" type of LB's.  Both are valuable, but I think many people thing Jake Ryan is more of the latter - a guy you can count on to stuff the run, but maybe not the best at dropping back and covering a receiver.

ChicagoBigHouse

September 21st, 2010 at 10:45 AM ^

That's as much as I've seen, he was on the sidelines for the UMass game.  I'm sure he's redshirting.  But I agree with you, perhaps contributing as a redshirt sophomore or junior.  That would be ideal...

evenyoubrutus

September 21st, 2010 at 10:46 AM ^

I remember seeing him in warmups at the UConn game, as I was down in the North endzone, row 12.  He looked a lot bigger than I expected, and I guess he seemed like he could hit pretty hard, but other than that I got nothin'.

Bodogblog

September 21st, 2010 at 10:56 AM ^

Looks the part of a run-stuffing MLB.  When he got in on a few plays that I saw in the fall scrimmage, he reacted well enough and I thought he looked good.  But that's based on admittedly very little data.  I think Bell, Jones, Demens, Ezeh are in front of him now, hope he redshirts and comes on in a few years. 

Magnum P.I.

September 21st, 2010 at 11:16 AM ^

I like this as a prefix for threads about lesser-discussed U-M players: "Has anyone heard anything about" --> HAHAA. There are a lot of hyped underclassmen buried in the netherregions of the depth chart that people may have heard practice snippets about, read an article about, etc.

Examples:

HAHAA Isaiah Bell

HAHAA Brandon Moore

HAHAA Dann O'Neill . . . oh, whoops (two "N"s, really?)

WolvinLA2

September 21st, 2010 at 12:43 PM ^

No real surprise he's redshirting, considering we have 2 senior LB's and a handful of other guys who have some experience, but I think Jake Ryan will be a good player, one of the overlooked guys in this past class.

TheOracle6

September 21st, 2010 at 4:50 PM ^

Jake Ryan is going to be a solid linebacker at this level.  The kid has a great work ethic and once he gets a nice year and a half under his belt with Barwis, he should be a monster.  I'm expecting big things out of this kid.  The star system does not matter, RR and company have done a great job with recruits I mean look at Omameh he was a 2* and now he's one of the best O-linemen we have and might be All Big Ten at some point.  I trust that Jake Ryan will be flying around like an Urlacher, a Ted Johnson, or a Teddy Bruschi.  The kid has game.  Watching his film he has a great knack for finding the ball and wrapping up.  He knows how to tackle which is OMG amazing. We will see him next year for sure.

Grobdelnick

September 21st, 2010 at 7:14 PM ^

This assessment of Ryan is based on nothing more than hope and prayers. MgoBlog has run some reports on Ryan, and they have been decidedly uninspiring.

Oh, of course, it is also based on the new "Stars don't mean diddly" thing, the new mantra of Michigan Fans who are willing to die for Rodriguez.

Yeah, you're right. The evaluation of high school football players is now irrelevant. Expecially because Rodriguez wins with less talent

Um, er, oh wait...

WolvinLA2

September 21st, 2010 at 8:28 PM ^

The thing is, Jake Ryan's rating wasn't that low.  In Rivals' Ohio top 75 list, Ryan was ahead of 2 OSU commits, 3 Wisconsin commits, 3 MSU commits, a UCLA commit, and a ton of commits from other Big Ten schools plus Pitt and Cincinnati.  He was actually ahead of 5 guys in our own class, from Ohio.  For reference, Jake Ryan was the #34 player in Ohio, the #30 kid in Ohio was Jake's teammate, Scott McVey, who was an early Ohio State commit. 

He was no 5-star, that's for sure, but if he merely lives up to his ranking he should be a solid contributor, at least.  Here's to hoping he blows it away anyway.