January 16th, 2024 at 12:42 PM ^
Play*.
Also TE depth is getting concerning after Loveland.
January 16th, 2024 at 12:45 PM ^
Bredeson too, right?
January 16th, 2024 at 12:48 PM ^
I don't consider Max a true TE. After those two we have just young guys with no game experience at all. We were already looking for another transfer at TE because Barner is leaving. Hopefully we get a transfer or someone can prove they are ready because if Loveland went out we are screwed.
January 16th, 2024 at 1:10 PM ^
You mustn't fear the unknown to that degree. What kind of record did Ojabo have prior to '21? Sometimes new players emerge as major contributors. It happens all the time.
January 16th, 2024 at 2:47 PM ^
O-JA-BO!
January 16th, 2024 at 1:27 PM ^
Expect to see Maliq Carr transfer in at some point
January 16th, 2024 at 1:32 PM ^
Maliq Carr already went to Houston
January 18th, 2024 at 12:27 PM ^
Dang, another Carr legacy recruit going elsewhere
January 16th, 2024 at 3:20 PM ^
I get WRs and QBs not coming here in droves or as top 50 recruits. I don't get having a barren TE room. We needed a transfer last year and need another one this year. I get All was supposed to be here the prior year but with the landscape NIL transfers and such it seems something went amiss in balancing classes or we just struck out on a lot of guys.
Oh well we snagged 2 nice ones this year but seems like with this offense there should be 2 per year.
January 16th, 2024 at 4:03 PM ^
NIL is a real thing and it's doing us no favors on the recruiting trail.
January 16th, 2024 at 9:18 PM ^
Its what happens when a freshman gets a ton of playing time. Nobody wants to sit for 2 years before they even get a shot
January 16th, 2024 at 3:08 PM ^
44 Bredeson is a beast. He often gets overlooked because he mostly just blocks, but man does he block. Dude is fun to watch and has some major dog in him.
January 16th, 2024 at 3:36 PM ^
He is a beast and is perfectly suited for the fullback/H-back role, but at 6’2”, 240 pounds, he’s undersized to be an in-line tight end.
January 16th, 2024 at 1:29 PM ^
Somewhere I'd read Hibner was portaling out before the NC game, so I was glad to see him in there getting a lick on a returner on kickoff coverage vs UDub.
Got his ring, now seeking PT. Go forth young man & prosper!
As for depth, when did we add Barner last year? Plenty of catchy-type TEs on the team now, but maybe they add a more blocky-type? 🤷♂️
January 16th, 2024 at 1:42 PM ^
If you can find a guy like him you take him.
Otherwise between the two sophomores (4* Deakon Tonielli came in at playing weight) and two freshman (Hansen's knock was he blocked too much in high school) hopefully one will hit.
January 16th, 2024 at 1:58 PM ^
I too thought Hibner was already in the portal and I was surprised to see him get snaps in the playoffs. Glad he did. Says something about the teams culture.
January 16th, 2024 at 5:42 PM ^
We added Barner before Spring practice cuz he played in Spring game.
January 16th, 2024 at 2:17 PM ^
Personally I see this as a good sign for the tes. Clearly someone is making a push for more pt.
January 16th, 2024 at 3:10 PM ^
Honestly, depth is a concern across the board with next year's team. One of the great things about Team 144 was the level of depth across the board. That enabled them to rotate heavily, and I suspect contributed to them largely staying healthy over the course of the season.
With Team 145, even the defensive depth is concerning. The starters will all be great, but there isn't much behind them.
January 16th, 2024 at 3:17 PM ^
This is what the hypemasters are missing. Last year's team was literally loaded, 2 and 3 deep at most positions. This year's team isn't nearly as deep. Which is particularly scary on the offensive side, which will be breaking in 9 starters.
January 16th, 2024 at 3:23 PM ^
Yep
And Michigan really didn't have any major injuries aside ZZ. I realize we had a LB playing with 2 clubs on his hands but vs a typical year we had injury luck big time.
January 16th, 2024 at 3:38 PM ^
You get depth by playing. They will do that again thus year. The depth will come as players get snaps.
January 16th, 2024 at 5:38 PM ^
OK but what about the 2022 team, before that season everyone though we were taking a step back beause al the seniors that left in 21. Plenty of freshman and sophomores will have to play, it happens.
January 16th, 2024 at 12:43 PM ^
We literally just addressed tight end last year.
January 16th, 2024 at 12:50 PM ^
What do you mean? We added 2 freshman and that is it last year and we add 2 more. Maybe we get another Loveland and that would be great but chances of that are slim.
January 16th, 2024 at 12:58 PM ^
Alrighty then. Adding two is bad. Gotcha!!
January 16th, 2024 at 8:07 PM ^
That isn't the point I am trying to make. Not very often do freshman TEs come in and play let alone make an impact. Sophomores here at Michigan are few and far between as TE is a hard position to master. We have people but no experience to know how they will perform under the lights. We have no players with experience in games that matter.
January 16th, 2024 at 1:21 PM ^
staff was very high on Preiskorn and Hansen as early contributors out of this recruiting class. Last year we had Marshall (3 Star) and Tonielli (4 Star) who have been on the team for a year. Don't think they'll have trouble finding a second tight end to go with their All American. And that's not even considering the transfer portal, where id think we'd be a destination given our TE usage and history with portal additions.
January 16th, 2024 at 1:56 PM ^
Also, everyone seems to be forgetting Marlin Klein. He was always a high upside prospect that was a going to take a couple of years to develop as he is from Germany and started playing football later.
Well, next year is year 3 and there was some positive buzz about him this past year - I remember Harbaugh bringing his name up a couple of times. I feel good about this kid adding depth in 2024 and then blowing up into a star after Loveland goes to the NFL.
January 16th, 2024 at 5:44 PM ^
Loveland was a major contributor as a freshman. If I remember correctly Jake Burt was also. I expect Preiskorn to be similar in that regard. A position we definitely have good depth.
January 16th, 2024 at 12:44 PM ^
Sorry no link as I saw on another Michigan site and wasn't sure what the rule was to other sites.
January 16th, 2024 at 12:49 PM ^
January 16th, 2024 at 12:51 PM ^
Thanks MGrowOld!
January 16th, 2024 at 12:48 PM ^
I believe this has been known for a while but I saw some new updates popping up on this.
he redshirted this year to preserve a year in prep for a transfer I understood.
January 16th, 2024 at 12:56 PM ^
He played in the Bama game
January 16th, 2024 at 1:07 PM ^
Bowl games do not count against eligibility.
January 16th, 2024 at 1:07 PM ^
Last year, as a result of the bowl game opt-outs, the NCAA said that players could participate in postseason games (including conference championship games, bowl games and CFP games) without it counting against their four-game limit for a redshirt. They extended the rule to this season as well.
January 16th, 2024 at 1:08 PM ^
I am almost postive that post-season games do not count, so if he played in 4 regular season games and 2 post-season games he would still be fine
January 16th, 2024 at 12:56 PM ^
Yeah, I thought I heard this a few months ago. But I thought he was sitting out the rest of the year to preserve his eligibility (i.e. kept it to four games), not that he played in six. Or was that another TE?
January 16th, 2024 at 1:31 PM ^
Yep. For example, from Dec. 6 MGoBlog:
FIRST OFF: DUNNO. Give or take Matt Hibner, who stopped playing in order to maintain a redshirt and transfer somewhere next year, Michigan is the last P5 team without someone in the transfer portal. This obviously isn't going to last, but I mention it because that fact combined with the peak COVID-shirt year means just about anyone could come back, or leave, for 2024.
https://mgoblog.com/content/portal-primer
January 16th, 2024 at 12:48 PM ^
This has been known for months. There are a LOT of promising young guys at TE on the roster and Michigan has shown the ability to develop the position.
TE is the least of our concerns. WR depth is much more problematic.
January 16th, 2024 at 12:50 PM ^
He was a top 140 player? Was it by one recruiting site, or was this an average? I thought 247 had him in the top 30 at his position, which would not be top 140 overall.
January 16th, 2024 at 12:54 PM ^
Most likely the site pulled out his best ranking from the sites
January 16th, 2024 at 12:59 PM ^
247 had him as the 7th TE (134 overall), and 12th on the composite (400 overall).
January 16th, 2024 at 12:51 PM ^
Preiskorn will do fine as a freshman
January 16th, 2024 at 12:55 PM ^
He might his brother is a stud at OLE Miss and he played quite a bit at Ole Miss as a freshman
January 16th, 2024 at 1:06 PM ^
Caden Prieskorn is great. But he was not a freshman sensation. He played at a prep school for a year, then played four years at Memphis (including both a redshirt and a COVID year). His fourth year at Memphis was good, and led to him transferring to Ole Miss, where he had a breakout year in year five.
January 16th, 2024 at 8:12 PM ^
Definitely deserve a downvote for that. I thought he played at Ole Miss his whole career. I watched a couple games and one game an announcer said he played his whole time at Ole Miss but I know assume this is wrong. Thanks for getting it right.
January 16th, 2024 at 12:52 PM ^
His recruiting profile suggested that he had potential to be something like Loveland -- really good receiver who ran well and could do something after that catch; hopefully passable blocker. Not sure where it wasn't happening for him -- and maybe he is currently pretty good but there just haven't been enough snaps to go around.
January 16th, 2024 at 12:59 PM ^
That's a bummer, he looked great in the spring game.