Hello Gary Yerden - Preferred Walk-On
http://www.mlive.com/sports/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2011/04/parchments_gary_yerden_jr_will.html
Nice to see that quality preferred walk-on that looks like a diamond in the rough football player but a high quality and character person. Welcome to the University of Michigan Gary!
Height didn't leave the program...
...but the linemen in 2008 and 2009 were considerably smaller than your typical Michigan lineman from the early 2000's. They got bigger in 2010 due to a (reported) decree from Rodriguez that the linemen add weight.
The average weight of the starting OL in 2007: 313 lbs.
The average weight of the starting OL in 2009: 287 lbs.
I agree with your point but also consider that the line was likely younger in 2009 so the lower weight is, at least in part, understandable.
The 2009 team had a 5th year guy, a 4th year guy, a 3rd year guy, a 5th year guy, and a 4th year guy. So they might have been younger, but they weren't exactly young. And a difference of 26 pounds per guy, on average, is really large.
The date is Friday the 15th.
Expect him to don the Maize and Blue.
Based on his tweets and the fact he set his decision date after his Michigan visit, the man you met is probably right.
Clip in the strap, dippin through hoods. What hoods? Compton, Long Beach, Englewood!
That's a big fucking guy.
Holy crap, that is one big freeking kid. I don't care what you weigh, a 600+ deadlift is insane.
I have never coached or played FB, but my buddy who is a high school coach claims that OL is perhaps the easiest position to learn for a newbie.
but hard to master and learn the technique that is required to be a really good offensive lineman. I think we should turn him to be a center or a guard i mean if you want to play manball up the middle nothing is better than having a guy who can dead lift 630 and could sit any DT other than Ndamukong Suh.
Hopefully he can contribute after a couple years of development. It sounds like his build/strength won't be a problem.
Good luck, kid. I know the position well - was smaller than most at my position and dominated them because I was quicker off the ball. Had a 6'4" 300 LB OT on our HS team that played for Air Force. Could never crack the 2-deep there. I dominated the kid, but wasn't "big enough" for college ball. Size isn't everything, folks.
Quit being such a butthead.
I'm Tom Brady.
Nice to see this kid go blue. A lot of raw talent but plenty of strength I'd like to see some film from the only year that he played though. With that kind of strength and size, I am shocked he wasn't recruited any harder so I feel like we got a steal here. I don't think footwork or raw talent would be reasons why some teams didn't take a chance on him becuase like everyone says all O-lineman are raw talent at first. For that reason I wonder if he wasn't considering playing college ball until recently and didn't send film out to anyone. Moundros and other walk ons have made a significant impact on the field in the last few years and this kid seems to have all the character traits to be a true leader off it for sure. Does this change anyones mind that we need 6 offensive lineman in this recruiting class? I'm curious as to what everyone thinks.
I doubt it changes it. However - it makes it less necessary, so if we only have 5 guys we really l ike who want to commit and, say, a 4th linebacker who is a stud and wants to commit, we're able to do that a little more comfortably.
Also, by signing day the staff will know a lot more about who Gary Yerden is as a football player. If by December he looks like he'll be a major project (likely) then it shouldn't change our recruitment plan. But if after 6 months on campus this kid impresses more than expected (as in he's keeping up with the scholarship OL frreshmen), I could see the staff counting him as one of the six they intended to add.
I laughed since you saw where I was going with this with the 4th linebacker question. Ok, we are on the same page that is what I was thinking. I still would love 6 OLs but if we have 5 solid guys now and it was a mediocre OL or, say RJS or Ross, we could take the latter. I would definitely say this gives us quite a bit more flexibility since no matter what he is a body. Hopefully this kid can keep up with the other freshman OL recruits and turn out to be a real diamond in the rough.
4 would be preferred, but we'll probably pick up a kid who could play OG/OT. We have Stacey and Braden now, plus 3 OT's. If an all-world OG wants to come on, we won't say no.
I'd say 6 is still a safe bet. Great that we have this kid coming into the program though.
He looks like another Blake Griffin, but with more strength and power
Fred Jackson.
Walk-on lineman with B1G size? Woo! Great news at the end of a long day.
I am pretty sure I was at that meet to, and if this is the kid who I think it is then he's obviously a monster and looks fairly athletic on top of being so big.
I mean, when you get into the SHW class, deads are a toss up, but north of 600 is good for anyone, especially a 17 year old.
Gary is not a slow, fat out of shape lineman. He has some athleticism. He played basketball too! He didn't play football growing up because his parents had religious beliefs that didn't encourge sports. He's raw. Coach Funk can mold this kid into a killer.
Wow - way too early to make any kind of judgment call on this kid but there is a lot of info pointing to him being a very moldable OT for the future.
This pleases me.
Wha??? Did they suddenly lose their religion or something?
They took a tour of Michigan Stadium at night and Denard's smile lit up the place clear as day.
You can't teach someone to be 6'6'' and 330 lbs. He obviously has the strength needed. The kid has only played 1 year of organized ball. It will be exciting to see what quality coaching can do with a guy who already possesses those physical characteristics. At worst, he adds depth, at best he is a sleeper who develops into a usable lineman in a few years.
My son was a classmate and basketball teammate of Gary's at Parchment. I am not qualified to say how successful Gary could be as a football player at Michigan, but I can tell you he is a great young man and I am excited both for him and for U-M.
My lil bro lives in SC and is a diehard Bama fan, You have no Ideal how much shit I get everyday .
are willling to walk on at UM. Go blue!
Sometime this year, we will see this kid, Jihad and the slow walkon WR with glue hands from last year on the field that the same time.
Most OL do, and someone with as little experience as this kid will for sure. To be honost, I highly doubt he ever really sees meaningful minutes at Michigan. I hope he can turn out great and play, but it's very difficult, regardless of size, to beat out people that have been playing their whole lives.
The most important thing is that this kid provides depth, particularly in practice. Still, I hope he proves me wrong.
Book it always means "what I will say next is obviously crazy, but it sounds fun."
Raback it. My bad
I think it is now known as "BKFinest" it.
That's it. I gotta get my mgoblog game back in order, that was just sad.
return to whatever Andy Moeller may have been doing with our lineman, even if it involves Gittleson Pizza, if it means that we don't lose every game against decent in conference opponents.
Finally.... it finally comes full circle... I used to get so pissed at those here who would diss Gittleson to praise Barwis... and when Id tell them to show some respect, I'd get neg-bombed, and had to change my screenname.
I've experienced the same thing. The way some spoke of Gittleson was ridiculous, especially measuring his effectiveness by belly fat. Have these people ever looked at some of the OL in the NFL? It's all about strength and Gittleson was good at straight-line power training.
I wasn't one who negged people for not liking Barwis, but the reason this team lost against good teams did not begin or end with the S&C coach. That running attack last year was the best in UM history, and except against elite defenses held up pretty well. If anything, the defensive line needed to get bigger/stronger/better and, hopefully, that will happen this year. But I never put much real stock into what Barwis did except that lots of kids seemed to like him.
FB, we'd all like to get back to winning seasons, but let's not be silly.
Do you seriously want to return to a dark area of Michigan offensive lines? I'm not sure Andy Moeller was solely responsible, but in the years prior to RichRod's arrival a once-proud area of Michigan football decayed significantly. Oh, and don't say "ORK! Jake Long would like a word with you. HUH!" That's just one guy, FB.
To put it succinctly, separate the issues, 'k? Rodriguez had a lot of problems, but the offensive line (except, to be fair, for run blocking against upper-end defenses) was a relative bright spot. Did you see Omameh block on Denard's 87-yard run? Lewan "donkeying" people? Molk reach-blocking? Schilling probably playing his way into the NFL draft?
Pete Schermerhorn! I love that man hahahaha
Who says he ends up at OT???? Mattison recruited him....just because they said initially hes slated for offense, don't be surprised he ends up on the DL.
"Four weeks later, Yerden accepted an offer to join Michigan's football program next fall as a preferred walk-on, slated to play offensive tackle."
ahhh...ok.... so magnus, please go tell quinton washington to go back to the offensive side, where he was recruited. remember that? just get them in the door, then have them change positions if need be.
Defensive much? The article clearly says he's being brought in for offensive tackle, you just missed it.
Could he change positions later? Sure, why not. But there's no reason for you to be so adamant that he could be a defensive player based off of nothing but your own supposition.