February 26th, 2014 at 11:30 AM ^
February 25th, 2014 at 7:21 PM ^
That's no younger than any other team in America. Let's stop making excuses for third year guys. Time to put up or shut up.
February 25th, 2014 at 7:32 PM ^
I have my doubts about whether that's true or not. I would venture a guess that many teams - if not most - have at least a couple juniors and/or seniors starting.
February 25th, 2014 at 7:37 PM ^
Won't he actually be a RS Junior next year?
February 25th, 2014 at 7:51 PM ^
February 25th, 2014 at 7:54 PM ^
I don't think your point really hinges on this, but he's definitely a RS Junior.
http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/graham_glasgow_765118.html
February 25th, 2014 at 9:44 PM ^
3rd year
2nd year
4th year
3rd year
3rd year across the line. The time to produce is now, not next year ---> which we hear every year.
February 25th, 2014 at 7:46 PM ^
February 26th, 2014 at 10:41 AM ^
magnus, do you view what seems as a lack of elite succession plan at LT, as a fail on recruiting? i mean, it seems that there is no elite recruit that was planned to take Lewan's spot in our glorified LT history.... maybe it was Braden...maybe it was LTT.. i dont know.. .but Magnuson from the sound of it doesnt seem like hes big enough. Im wondering where that elite recruit is.
February 26th, 2014 at 10:56 AM ^
If there's no one ready within the next year or two, then yes, I would think it's a failure in recruiting/development. However, I don't really think that will be the case. I don't see why Magnuson can't be that guy, and personally, I have been expecting Magnuson to take that spot. His injury obviously hurts that plan, but that's kind of a different subject. I also think Tuley-Tillman has the ability to be a high quality left tackle if he works on his body and technique.
In summary, Michigan has two highly rated tackles (Magnuson, Tuley-Tillman) who were recruited to succeed Lewan, and another highly rated guy (Dawson) who was a guard-tackle tweener coming out of high school. If Michigan can't find a quality tackle out of those three, then something is wrong.
February 25th, 2014 at 7:36 PM ^
February 25th, 2014 at 7:39 PM ^
February 25th, 2014 at 9:40 PM ^
February 25th, 2014 at 11:32 PM ^
Not with that avatar, I'm not!
February 25th, 2014 at 9:26 PM ^
February 25th, 2014 at 7:22 PM ^
February 25th, 2014 at 7:31 PM ^
Mags - 3rd year
Glasgow/Bosch - 3rd year, 2nd year
Miller - 4th year
Kalis - 3rd year
Braden - 3rd year
February 25th, 2014 at 7:42 PM ^
February 25th, 2014 at 7:52 PM ^
pushing Miller onto the bench last year, didn't make an impression on you?
February 25th, 2014 at 9:46 PM ^
February 25th, 2014 at 11:49 PM ^
because of Jack Miller. I don't like putting players down but Jack Miller should never see real minutes again unless he MASSIVELY improves everything about his game. Go back and watch the tape, Miller was consistently giving up penetration and getting beat play after play because he was so small. It was one of the most impressive things about Gardners performance, he took hit after hit and stared down the rush and still stayed in the pocket to complete throws (except for a few exceptions like "the worst play in the history of football"). Miller couldn't block guys from Akron and UConn and the coaches didn't want DG getting killed (though he did anyway). That is because we didn't have an adequate replacement for Glasgow at LG. The coaches were stuck between a rock and a hard place, take out the undersized Center who you KNOW can't hold up in B1G play and put in the Freshamn at LG who have sized but have technique and playbook issues so they are going to make A LOT of mistakes, which they did. Miller was consistently blown up at the line of scrimmage in the first 4 games and would have looked worse in B1G play. If we had one more at least adequate player we would have been alright this year but we didn't, hopefully our interior plays a lot better cause I'm not holding out a lot of hope for the tackles.
February 26th, 2014 at 10:22 AM ^
I mean Miller may not have been great, but the offense worked with him (against ND, a team with the best interior DL we played all year). The offense did not work against... well basically everyone else when it was Glasgow's responsibility to make line calls.
That's not to say Glasgow did not do a decent job on his assignments; I'm just of the assumption that we messed with something that was working. After we messed with the pieces that were working and putting up points, we no longer had a functioning offense.
February 26th, 2014 at 11:47 AM ^
February 26th, 2014 at 11:47 AM ^
It had absolutely nothing at all with teams having film to view at that point which showed them the best way to attack was up the middle.
February 26th, 2014 at 3:48 PM ^
Are you serious? Video evidence? So you're telling me that Max Bullough running un-impeded up the middle twelve straight times right at Glasgow shows he was a far and away a better option? I will take Miller getting pushed back by an All American at ND and 41 points any day over -48 rushing yards vs MSU and an offense that couldn't move the ball against a blind Northwestern defense.
February 26th, 2014 at 10:37 AM ^
I thought the OL got far worse after Miller went to bench.. .... maybe it coincided with the Big Ten schedule starting.... it appeared to be a panic move because they werent playing ideal, but then when Miller to bench, it did ok the first game or two then faded fast and appeared to be far worse... at this point Id rather see Miller at C.
February 26th, 2014 at 10:39 AM ^
I was never too down on Miller. I just thought that he wasn't physically strong enough at this point to hold up. It was a weird season. Like you mention, it seems whenever they made a move or switch up, it seemed to work well for a short time then it would fall apart.
February 25th, 2014 at 8:05 PM ^
Glasgow is also 4th year, as someone pointed out above.
February 25th, 2014 at 7:33 PM ^
Hopefully these young guys bond together, become a brotherhood, and wear a chip on their shoulders. The talent is there, and if they have the right attitude, approach, and scheme and they'll be better than our line last year.
February 25th, 2014 at 7:41 PM ^
I get the feeling this offensive line, while better than last year's, will struggle in a different way. I can picture an improved run blocking line, and probably a little better at handling the blitzes up the middle, but I would also be conerned about teams with good pass rushing DEs now. I'm not looking forward to OSU running Spence, Washington, Bosa, etc. up aginast our tackles. I am hopeful Kalis blossoms this year and Dawson and Bosch show that mean streak and give us a little toughness up front, but I'm a little concerned...oh well what else is new.
February 25th, 2014 at 7:56 PM ^
February 25th, 2014 at 8:24 PM ^
February 26th, 2014 at 12:16 AM ^
Agree, but at the same time that's the 12th game in the season so the line will have a lot more experience and hopefully have improved quite a bit. If the OSU game was in September, it'd be a whole different story.
February 25th, 2014 at 8:56 PM ^
February 25th, 2014 at 9:28 PM ^
Translation:
LT: uh....anyone wanna try tackle while Magnusson and LTT are hurt?
LG: The true freshman we were playing there last year.
C: At the moment we're not yet ready to move the best returning player of the unit.
RG: We're going to keep putting him here until he turns into Steve Hutchinson, because that is about the only way we're going to get a Steve Hutchinson out of him.
RT: At least "he's a right tackle and nothing else" is a plausible response to why he didn't play when the interior was a tire fire.
February 25th, 2014 at 10:44 PM ^
Am curious what big recruit was to be Lewans successor at LT. seems like its patchwork now.
February 25th, 2014 at 11:57 PM ^
Glasgow had TWO snap issues that I remember!!! Its not like this was a systemic issue where he had multiple every game or even ONE a game. Of the hundreds of plays he snapped the ball he had 2 mistakes, for a guy playing center for the first time in his life I'll take that. While it'd be awesome if Glasgow could be kicked back out to guard it's not because he's a bad center, he was more that adequate last year, it's because I think he is a pretty darn good guard and it would mean having a 3-4 year starter at center in Kugler which would be the best case scenario going forward.
February 26th, 2014 at 6:28 AM ^
I believe there were 3 or 4 bad snaps, actually, but regardless, the snapping issues disappeared by the last couple games (Ohio State, Kansas State). So that doesn't appear to be an issue, and I'm guessing he'll get that sorted out even better through spring ball and by the fall.
February 26th, 2014 at 10:39 AM ^
Im referring to actually slowing down, having to now snap a ball.... he could move well at guard...had decent 'movement' as Bo would say... but not at C. I wasnt referring to any bad snaps, at all.
February 26th, 2014 at 12:55 AM ^
I like the idea that the OL is going to have to develop a new leader from presumably Taylor Lewan. Nothing against TL, but theres something powerful about having to find a new leader, new direction and a do it yourself attitude (meaning as a group there are no more All-American type players to rely on).
Its one thing to weigh like an OL, quite another to develop that mass into a machine that can roll back aggressive DLs.
Last year seemed really disjointed in so many ways it was hard to identify a single cause. I've read that the latest strategy hints of desperation. I'll take a little desperation in the face of adversity (just not despair!), sometimes it can break down philosophical barriers and open up new ways of thinking or doing that previous conservatism or paternalistic thinking wouldn't allow.
Hoke is ultimately going to be judged on a 6 year body of work. I dont care if we find Saban crying and sucking on his thumb on the corner of Stadium and Main, wringing his hands and begging for a chance to coach the Maizen Blue for a dime a year. Hokes going to get 6 years. Personally I hope its an easy choice at that point to offer 6 more, because it will mean recruiting is stabilized and the orderly progression from underclassmen to upperclassmen will have stabilized as well, so the organization doesn't have to rely on throwing a bunch of first year players on the field and hope they don't get run over by the veterans from other squads.
I'm going to put up a sign post here (a little prematurely) but if Hoke can make it to the 12 year mark he's going to be my favorite Michigan HC of alltime. Not that I didn't like the others...but Hoke will have steered the ship thru the rocky shores of adversity without sinking it in a way that the others didn't have to.
February 26th, 2014 at 8:51 AM ^
was my question. I mean, if this is the starting five that gets us to Indianapolis, I'm all for it. Dawson always struck me as an interior guard, Magnuson and Kugler had frames better suited for tackle, although Kugler might be the best player so we'd put him at center. This was how I understood things.
Granted, I think Glasgow staying at center is good. I really don't want to see more "shuffling" like we saw last year. And the fact that Hoke is able to list a starting five OL this early should be something of a relief. Last year, we didn't even know who was center going into the spring game or coming out of the spring game or going into August. So, my gut says this is good that we have an answer this soon.
I JUST WANT THE OL TO BE EFFECTIVE DAMMIT! Then Green and Smith can each get 1,000 yards Wiscy-style and we can put all this nonsense to rest!
February 26th, 2014 at 9:14 AM ^
Any word on Chris Fox's recovery?
February 26th, 2014 at 10:59 AM ^
Yeah, forgot all about Fox. It would be nice to get him in the mix. He was one that alot thought would challenge for playing time early in his career.
February 26th, 2014 at 10:33 AM ^
I read the thread title and thought that the J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Head Football Coach at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor had become so enamored with his new title that he also had made himself a first stringer on Michigan’s offensive line. (Now, has anyone purchased the naming rights for Michigan's offensive line this season?)
February 26th, 2014 at 11:44 AM ^
I think it's going to be FEMA.
February 26th, 2014 at 11:27 AM ^
What say you about the current line configuration and where do you think the player project best? For example a lot of people seem to like Glasgow better at Guard than center. Are Miller or Kugler capable enough at C to allow Glasgow to move back to guard or is that just weakening 2 spots in an effort to improve 1?
February 26th, 2014 at 11:50 AM ^
I realie you're not paging me, but asking if Miller and Kugler are capable of bumping Glasgow back to guard seems like kind of an odd question. First of all, Glasgow already unseated Miller for the center position. Secondly, nobody has seen Kugler play football since high school, so how would Space Coyote know the progress he's made?
Anyway, my opinion is that this is just about the best configuration possible. Miller looked bad last year, and I've never been high on Bars or Samuelson. Considering Cole is just a freshman and Tuley-Tillman is out with the hand injury, there aren't really many other configurations that could even make sense.