Next year's offensive line
We all know that the interior line graduates, but what do you all think about Lewan? Is he back next year, or does he go pro?
If we don't have Lewan and Fitz at full speed next year, it could be a bit of a bumpy ride.
Thank you seniors, and let's go get 'em in Florida.
November 24th, 2012 at 3:43 PM ^
I think Lewan will leave, but he's worse this year than he was in 2011.
November 24th, 2012 at 4:45 PM ^
Serious question here -- doesn't this (Lewan's regression) cause you concern about Coach Funk? Obviously the interior line has been problematic all year, but with even Lewan regressing, I'm worried that we simply took a significant step back in coaching on the offensive side of the ball in 2011 (with an obviously significant step forward in coaching on the defensive side of the ball). Given that Mattison's staff continues to make something pretty good out of what we thought was nothing special, the results on the other side of the ball are very troubling to me. I'd be interested in other people's thoughts.
November 24th, 2012 at 4:52 PM ^
And it may not be fair given what Mattison and co. have done with the defense, but when you hold that coaching job up to the offensive side of the ball, and how things haven't progressed at the same level, it really makes you wonder.
November 24th, 2012 at 4:55 PM ^
Yes, I am concerned about Funk's coaching. Everyone except Mealer is a multi-year starter, and none of them took steps forward, in my opinion.
November 24th, 2012 at 10:32 PM ^
That's one of the reasons I feel Dawson started taking visits. I think it was week 2 he was tweeting about how great Floridas O line looked. Michigans O line has looked terrible since game one
November 24th, 2012 at 5:05 PM ^
I suspect Lewan's been playing hurt all year. He's been limping rather obviously, IMO, since mid-season.
November 24th, 2012 at 3:44 PM ^
With playcalling like that, it won't matter what our line looks like next year.
November 24th, 2012 at 3:54 PM ^
November 24th, 2012 at 4:21 PM ^
..........Hoke wants a power running game, Pro-style offense and the lineup we had made it difficult to run. I would argue that Borges' scheme was better than what many others could do with it.
November 24th, 2012 at 3:45 PM ^
If this years was an indication of anything with the lack of production from our rbs, we will have some serious growing pains next season. Probably will see some freshmen as well, so brace yourselves people.
November 24th, 2012 at 3:47 PM ^
November 24th, 2012 at 3:46 PM ^
November 24th, 2012 at 3:52 PM ^
It's not like he has improved under this staff. There is no reason for him to stay. All the talk about Borges being bad but, you have to look at the entire offensive coaching staff. The line was bad all year no improvement. Possibly it's a talent issue but even Lewan looked bad this year. The running backs looked bad , the receivers looked a lot better after Devin started at QB.
I'm just frustrated but I wouldn't be sad if Michigan terminated it's entire offensive coaching staff
November 24th, 2012 at 3:48 PM ^
Lewan got exposed by OSU tbh.. but he's still a late 1st rounder early 2nd rounder.... why would he stay? Next year we don't have a clear #1 RB, our interior line gets replaced, we lose Roundtree and replace him with.... who? and we no longer have the threat of Denard taking it all the way to the endzone... We'll still probably destroy the Purdues and Indianas of the world but it's a 7-5 or 8-4 team.
November 24th, 2012 at 3:58 PM ^
7-5 or 8-4? CMU, Akron, and Uconn in non conference should be 3 wins. ND is also losing 4-5 of there o-line, there TE, 2 starting WRs and top 2 RBs and significant parts of there defense. Our other 2 cross over games are Indiana and Penn St, who is going to take a significant step back. We played 4 ranked teams on the road this year and were close in all but one. Next no Alabama and the rest are home games.
November 24th, 2012 at 4:04 PM ^
I wouldn't pencil in ND as a win just yet. Indiana will be dangerous if this year is any indication, PSU will still be a year away from dropping off due to the sanctions, Neb and OSU are probably heavy favorites and I won't feel confident about MSU until we beat them 3 or 4 times in a row.
November 24th, 2012 at 4:17 PM ^
Not saying its a guaranteed win, but I'd say likely. PSU will have a hard time replacing McGloin and they are going to lose 5 starters off the defense. USC showed what a lack of depth will do to you
November 24th, 2012 at 4:10 PM ^
November 24th, 2012 at 4:14 PM ^
We could also conceivably lose 4 or 5.. if you can't see it you're wearing maize and blue glasses. We'll be rolling out a new OL and all our proven receivers either are slots or should be.
November 24th, 2012 at 4:14 PM ^
November 24th, 2012 at 3:48 PM ^
November 24th, 2012 at 4:07 PM ^
Fancy that.
November 24th, 2012 at 3:54 PM ^
I would be shocked if he didn't leave. His draft stock is high enough that he can't likely improve it, especially playing alongside several first-year starters.
The line next year certainly makes me nervous, but I'm not sure it should. The line this year was ok at pass blocking, but the run game never got going at all against quality opponents. I doubt next year's line could be worse in the running game.
If Fitz isn't full speed, not a big deal. The only real competition on the schedule before Oct 12 is Notre Dame in week 2. If the line isn't blocking, the difference between Fitz and Rawls is minimal. This is where the begging for Derrick Green is important.
Either that or let's hope this year's redshirts and next year's true freshmen can live up to their billing. Some of them are already close to college-ready size, so we could be in for a treat.
November 24th, 2012 at 5:08 PM ^
I'm not an expert on OL play. Why exactly is his stock so high? He seems like a solid all-around tackle, but not the monster road grader that some of our earlier high draft picks (Long, Hutch, Baas) were. It seems like if you have a 1st-round caliber OT, you should be able to run behind him on a regular basis for good yardage. In pass protection he seems decently athletic, but has had his hands full in some games . . . is he that much better than the norm?
November 24th, 2012 at 3:54 PM ^
Is it just me or are the same people calling for borges head the same people who called for richrods head. Express your opinion all you want, but be consistent. Richrod had a bad coordinator on defense, yet you called for his head. Borges is the coordinator that lost this game, yet you don't blame Hoke. "Oh, well Hoke doesn't know anything about the offense..." Yeah, I'm not calling for anyones head but I am definitely hoping Hoke and company feel some heat in a presser or in the media. I think the players deserve that for that great effort.
November 24th, 2012 at 4:06 PM ^
No need to bring RRod up unless we want to talk about how attrocious our depth at skill positions and OL/DL is.........
If Hoke had gone 3-9 and 5-7 his first two years I'd be calling for his head right now.
November 24th, 2012 at 4:08 PM ^
November 25th, 2012 at 8:34 AM ^
It's the second vowel you're looking for there, when you recite them a1ll. And I'm almost certain we didn't cross midfield in the second half. If we did, it was no more than five yards.
November 25th, 2012 at 8:40 AM ^
The farthest Michigan got was our own 48-yard line.
November 24th, 2012 at 4:24 PM ^
If RR had gone 19-6 in his first two seasons, criticism of him would have also been restricted to one side of the ball. Defense was his most glaring problem but it was not the only one. Special teams, recruiting, the NCAA thing, friction between RR and former players , friction between RR and the media. . . in pretty much every aspect besides his own personal area of expertise (offense) we seemed in disarray.
Hoke's staff has been successful in most areas. Offensive playcalling is the main knock people have on them. I do have questions about Funk's effectiveness as an OL coach after this season, though.
November 24th, 2012 at 4:41 PM ^
I don't want to pile on Rich Rod, but I'm tired of people going revisionist and acting like he was one different assistant coach away from being a national championship coach. Those three years were basically a total disaster in everything except the offense (and even then, it was only good for one of the three years). Incidentally, he got his first choice at DC this time around, at Arizona (Jeff Casteel) and his defense was still awful.
I am not happy with the game Borges called today, but I do want to see what he can do next season before I call for him to be sent packing. As for Hoke, how can anyone seriously call for the firing of a guy who may win 20 games in two years?
November 24th, 2012 at 4:04 PM ^
Why do you make people fumble the ball and miss their blocks why didn't denard throw the ball and run people over free my people borges they weren't recruited for that!!1!
November 24th, 2012 at 4:05 PM ^
November 24th, 2012 at 4:20 PM ^
The defense will probably be better (which is impressive), but replacing the production from Roundtree, Denard, and probably Fitz are all going to be hard to do. Lewan is kind of the least of the offensive problems as I see it. Lot of good young players on the O-line. Not so much elsewhere on the roster.
November 24th, 2012 at 4:26 PM ^
November 24th, 2012 at 4:32 PM ^
Yes Gardner replaces Denard, but who replaces Denard's running? Gardner is a good scrambler, but he's no Denard.
As for Gallon, yes he's back, but anytime your #1 WR is a 5-8" guy that's not going to fly against a lot of teams. His and the rest of the WR production will depend heavily on Darboh and others being legit threats. For Gallon to be successful, he needs another Roundtree level talent opposite him.
And as for Fitz...I don't think the team should count on him for much of anything next season. With the way that ankle/leg broke he's going to have a long rehab ahead of him and quite possible will never be the same back he was before.
November 24th, 2012 at 4:29 PM ^
Roundtree and Toussaint quite honestly did not put up that much production for guys at their positions (outside WR and tailback). I don't think it will be that hard for us to equal if not surpass what they did. Denard's rushing numbers will be tougher, although I think our passing game will be much improved.
November 24th, 2012 at 4:37 PM ^
The WRs could be just fine. Not a lot of standouts there this season anyways, so its not a very high bar that they need to reach. As long as one of the redshirt guys can catch, he'll be an immediate improvement over Joe Reynolds.
The running game scares the hell out of me though. There are NO backs on the roster that give me any sort of hope. This team's running success is probably going to live and die with Derrick Green's decision. Or barring that, DeVeon Smith being a lot better than most recruiting gurus give him credit for.
November 24th, 2012 at 4:46 PM ^
I agree that tailback is a concern. I do think Toussaint will be back. He has enough time to recover. I have a suspicion that he was nursing some kind of injury this year that limited his explosiveness. (Now whether he can come back and be improved, I don't know.)
November 24th, 2012 at 5:03 PM ^
Fitz wasn't very productive and RB is one postion where a freshmen can be successful.
November 24th, 2012 at 4:06 PM ^
RT-Schofield
RG- Burzynski
C- Miller
LG-Bryant
LT- Lewan if he's back (Magnuson)
November 24th, 2012 at 4:11 PM ^
Getting Lewan back actually makes me feel pretty good about the OL for next year because of the flexibility it provides. Obviously Lewan would hold down the LT spot, and Miller the center. Then you have Bryant, Kalis and Burzynski battling it out for the 2 gaurd spots and then Magnuson battling with Schofield for RT. And if Magnuson is a good RT? Well then they have to option of kicking Schofield down to gaurd where he was actually pretty dang good in 2011. That also lets us absorb more injuries than this year with minimal freshman playing.
November 24th, 2012 at 4:21 PM ^
Forgot Schofield played guard a year ago...even if Lewan does leave, it still leaves that option open. I checked the depth chart to see where Kalis was projected and OT was where he was listed....so who knows.
I think we could see some surprises as well, I don't know if anyone saw Mealer playing center this year after spring ball.
November 24th, 2012 at 4:14 PM ^
Kalis might be able to make it into the mix. If our red shirt freshman can develop we may have a descent/pretty good o-line but that's putting faith in a lot of people who haven't seen the field yet. There's definitely a lot of potential talent for next year's o-line.
November 24th, 2012 at 4:17 PM ^
but you're an idiot if you think Kyle Kalis won't start over Burzynksi and Bryant
November 24th, 2012 at 4:21 PM ^
I'm not sure if this is true, but I heard that if either of Michigan's offensive guards went down with a significant injury, then the coaches would have burned Kalis's redshirt. Luckily, Barnum and Omameh stayed healthy, but Burzynski played occasionally just to preserve Kalis's redshirt.
November 24th, 2012 at 5:22 PM ^
No Kalis?
November 24th, 2012 at 4:06 PM ^
November 24th, 2012 at 4:07 PM ^
The D should be a little better, but I just don't see us having much of a running game next year. 8-4 or 9-3 would be a very solid year next year.
November 24th, 2012 at 4:07 PM ^
The D should be a little better, but I just don't see us having much of a running game next year. 8-4 or 9-3 would be a very solid year next year.