Pharoah Brown switches to TE
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"
November 9th, 2011 at 4:37 PM ^
Fantastic news
November 9th, 2011 at 4:38 PM ^
Se'von Pittman.....???
November 9th, 2011 at 4:42 PM ^
Leftover snake oil?
November 9th, 2011 at 4:39 PM ^
Good news, but not surprising. He's going to dominate that position. If Rivals rates him as a TE, he should be one of the tops in the country.
November 9th, 2011 at 5:39 PM ^
Sounds reasonable.
November 9th, 2011 at 10:43 PM ^
I've been thinking all season while reading his stats in Ace's column that that's where he should be playing.
November 9th, 2011 at 11:03 PM ^
Yeah, and if you're like me, you read AJ Williams's reports and thinking "this guy seems a lot more like a lineman than a TE." The switch just makes sense.
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
November 9th, 2011 at 4:45 PM ^
We did just get a RB commit yesterday, right? I don't think we take another RB that isn't Dunn.
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.
November 9th, 2011 at 5:04 PM ^
Since most of the TEs on the projected roster (Miller, Funchess, Brown) are going to be receiver types, the 'pure' TE depth is nil. Williams won't move to OL unless there is a need for it (i.e. other OL recruits not panning out.)
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.
November 9th, 2011 at 5:16 PM ^
Hey man, Ace was completely wrong thinking I took Pharaoh's position switch news from anybody...in fact...Pharaoh and I speak frequently and he just tweeted that he told me first. So f*ck off Ace.
November 9th, 2011 at 5:18 PM ^
November 9th, 2011 at 6:07 PM ^
This comment is pointless now that mspeedkills stuff has been deleted.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
November 9th, 2011 at 6:49 PM ^
Schofield is like 6'7, which screams tackle. Seems to me he's only playing interior out of need.
November 9th, 2011 at 7:10 PM ^
I had no idea that Barnum was able to play center.
November 9th, 2011 at 11:40 PM ^
Catching TEs can also be good blockers.
November 10th, 2011 at 10:53 AM ^
Agreed, O-Line might be the hardest position to project from HS to college.
November 9th, 2011 at 6:20 PM ^
Meet Mr. Gholston's and Gholston takes his knees home in a bag.
November 9th, 2011 at 6:27 PM ^
while he is definitely enormous and agile, the next time I see him play with a nasty streak will be the first.
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.
November 9th, 2011 at 9:16 PM ^
Give him some time with one of the best OL coaches in the country. He'll be finishing his blocks with vengence.
November 9th, 2011 at 9:43 PM ^
Have him live with Molk for a couple of days.
November 9th, 2011 at 7:21 PM ^
Any chance Drake switches to WR? I don't know how his hands are, but he would have pretty decent size for a WR and has good speed too. A switch might neutralize his supposed lack of BCS caliber RB skills. Just an idea.
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.
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
November 9th, 2011 at 4:43 PM ^
how do you get away with that handle?
November 9th, 2011 at 5:15 PM ^
Just lucky i guess...
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.
November 9th, 2011 at 4:43 PM ^
How is his speed? I know he is putting up big numbers, but please tell me he is faster than Koger.
November 9th, 2011 at 4:51 PM ^
Last year he played DE and QB. This year he played WR/DE.
From his highlight tape he looks faster than Koger
November 9th, 2011 at 4:55 PM ^
If he turns out to be Kevin Koger I think we'd be in pretty good shape. I don't think koger gets enough credit.......not used enough and IMO will be a decent pro.
November 9th, 2011 at 6:02 PM ^
He def looks fast, especially for his size. Im excited for this move. He will be a matchup nightmare in the future for B1G linebackers and safeties.
November 9th, 2011 at 4:42 PM ^
Noah Spence?
November 9th, 2011 at 4:57 PM ^
Don't tease me...
November 9th, 2011 at 5:29 PM ^
Florida and I think LSU are ahead for him at this time. If the coaches want another DE then he is one of the best still uncommitted.
November 9th, 2011 at 4:44 PM ^
"matchup nightmare" see: Finley, Jermichael
November 9th, 2011 at 4:50 PM ^
If we could use him and Funchess the way the Patriots use Gronkowski and Hernandez together that would be awesome.
November 10th, 2011 at 12:02 PM ^
actually, see: Graham, Jimmy
November 9th, 2011 at 4:44 PM ^
As Brian notes, Borges's offense needs a blocking TE, and Michigan doesn't obviously have one next year.
November 9th, 2011 at 4:50 PM ^
I dont know.. Pharoah is 6'6 230ishj.. could probably be up to 240 245 by next year with good weight.
Koger is only 255.. and hes our blocking TE.
November 9th, 2011 at 5:07 PM ^
He's just a 'regular' TE.
November 10th, 2011 at 10:48 AM ^
Koger & Moore were ranked much higher than Brown coming out of HS.
November 9th, 2011 at 4:55 PM ^
Wrt Williams, are the requirements of a blocking TE and tackle significantly different such that he couldn't do both or switch back and forth as needed?