Pharoah Brown switches to TE

Submitted by maizedandconfused on

EDIT X 2* According to MSpeedkills who received a direct message and to TomVH...Pharoah Brown will be playing TE in AA..

This could mean AJ Williams moving inside, and staff getting after another DE.

https://twitter.com/#!/mspeedkills

http://insider.espn.go.com/insider/michigan/forums/_/the-den#!/topic/1320872557-19-432

essentially, the coaches have told Brown he can play whichever position he wants, and he wants to play TE.

Edit. Per Ace.. Stats.

" 25 catches for 614 yards (24.6 ypc) and four touchdowns in the five games where I could find complete offensive stats"

freernnur5

November 9th, 2011 at 4:39 PM ^

Yea that seems to indicate Williams moving to OL (or being used as a blocking TE in his freshman year until he bulks up more). Which would indicate WR/WR/RB/either DL or CB left

freernnur5

November 9th, 2011 at 4:49 PM ^

Yes that RB position is probably the most fluid we have in terms of what it could be. I think it is only a RB if it is Dunn. If not it is something else. Maybe opens up a spot for a DT so that we don't have to hope one of our DEs can bulk up to play the inside.

But I still think the two WR spots are WR only.

maizedandconfused

November 9th, 2011 at 5:12 PM ^

based on pure hype, Kalis is going to potentially start in the interior next year. It is rare for an OL recruit to get hype and not pan out (shut your mouth when your talking to me about bwc)

Secondly, Ben Braden has had the rumblings of being the actual gem of this class.. he is postively enormous and plays nasty.

And then theres Magnusson. Who is a beast.

 

UMaD

November 9th, 2011 at 5:19 PM ^

"It is rare for an OL recruit to get hype and not pan out" is 100% wrong.  I'd suggest that recruiting rankings for OL have little to do with liklihood of panning out.  Check the list of 4 star and 5 star OL recruits under Carr.  Dann O'Neill was the top guy in his class.  etc.

Kalis may be needed but it'll come because of injury.  Barnum, Omameh, Schofield, Bryant are ahead at guard.  Maybe Mealer and Khoury too.  Schofield may move outside, Khoury or Barnum to center, but that's still 3 guys at least.  In 2013 things open wide up though.

If a freshman starts in '12, I'd expect it to be at tackle (meaning Schofield stays inside.)

I'd say the Kalis hype makes him a strong candidate to skip his red-shirt year and contribute sooner rather than later, but I doubt he passes over 5th year seniors who've proven to be quality starters.

 

 

ken725

November 9th, 2011 at 5:27 PM ^

I don't expect Kalis to start over guys like Barnum and Omameh either.  But...from all I've heard he has the size already to be able to make an instant impact.  If anything I expect him to be in the two deep as soon as he steps foot on campus because of our depth issues. 

It would be really nice to give redshirts to all of our OL commits. 

UMaD

November 9th, 2011 at 5:44 PM ^

I know the reports are glowing, but it's easy to read too much into that.  OL are notoriously hard to project, because of the transition from HS to college.

As I pointed out above, it's not just Barnum/Omameh but Chris Bryant (who is another guy that people pegged as ready-for-action straight out of high school) and a few others who are in the mix as well depending on positions and retention.

Assuming everyone is healthy and back next season (probably a stretch) you might be able to red-shirt all the freshman in 2012.  More likely one or two have to provide depth, and Kalis does SOUND like a good candidate for that.

ken725

November 9th, 2011 at 6:06 PM ^

I expect Bryant to be the in the two deep as well.  I know people said that he had the size to be ready to play, but when he actually got on campus we all saw that it wasn't functional weight. 

I think Schofield is going to slide to RT which leaves Barnum, Omameh, Bryant and Mealer as returners.  I might be getting caught it the hype, but I have to think that Kalis might be better than Mealer.

UMaD

November 9th, 2011 at 6:25 PM ^

I think Schofield moves to Tackle too, only because - who else is going to play it?  Mealer's probably the backup tackle.

Center should be Khoury/Miller, but if they don't like Khoury, Barnum could move inside and Khoury can provide depth.

Established guards are Omameh, Barnum, with Bryant there as well.

That's 8 guys total, which should be enough if you assume no attrition (which is probabably dumb).  Only 4 are really proven (Lewan, Barnum, Omameh, Schofield) as starters and only 2 are proven to be functional depth (Khoury, Mealer).

So yeah, I think a freshman will play at some point, but I doubt he beats out 4 of the 8 veterans hanging around to start.

WolvinLA2

November 9th, 2011 at 8:15 PM ^

This is what I've heard about Braden as well, which worries me.  He's obviously huge and pretty athletic, which you can't teach.  And obviously the more size and agility you have, the less nastiness you need.  But to be a starting OT at Michigan, you need to want to hurt people, and we'll see if that's somethign Braden can do.

snakedog

November 10th, 2011 at 8:51 AM ^

Look for Drake Johnson to try out at a few positions. I know Drake Johnson is an unranked prospect, but at 6'1" 205 he is one of the most athletic kids in the state. He will have an impact special teams, and he will probably get tryout reps at rb, wr, and db.

MichTits

November 9th, 2011 at 4:41 PM ^

As his senior season has gone on, I was wondering if this switch would take place.  Good to see that it has, he has been putting up monster stats as a TE

ish

November 9th, 2011 at 4:42 PM ^

he's a better fit at TE, so this is great news IMO.  he can stretch the field and he's 6'6".  he has the prototypical NFL TE body.