Phil Steele's pre-season All American team (2 UM players)
Phil Steele has posted the selections for his pre-season All American teams on his site today. He has Molk at 2nd team Center and Martin at 2nd team DL, but no mention of Denard.
Side note: he has OSU at #15 in his pre-season countdown on his site as well with a PDF file of the 2 page coverage that will be available in his 2011 preview which should be in stores next week.
Denard is a question mark because of Borges...I think everyone is reserving judgement on the offense.
Great news for Molk and Martin. Martin, if healthy, could be a first round pick next spring kind of like Graham.
...who made the Phil Steele Pre Season All-America Team:
1st team
- Ohio State C Mike Brewster
- Nebraska DT Jared Crick
- Nebraska CB Alfonzo Dennard
2nd team
- Michigan C David Molk
- Michigan DT Mike Martin
- Nebraska LB Lavonte David
3rd team
- Michigan State RB Edwin Baker
- Wisconsin RB Montee Ball
- Michigan State G Joel Foreman
- Iowa T Riley Reiff
- Michigan State DT Jerel Worthy
- Ohio State DE Nathan Williams
4th team
- Iowa WR Marvin McNutt
- Wisconsin G Kevin Zeitler
Isn't he a projected top 10 pick in the NFL???
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<br>I mean Crick is for real but I would've thought he'd he higher... Crazy to think about the depth the big 10 has at d-line this year...
He really doesn't put up big stats so that hurts when it comes to awards, but not getting drafted. He isn't the type of DT or in the type of system that requires a DT to get huge stats. His job and his style of play is to let the LBs stay free of blockers and get the stats. He is a good DT though.
So Denard isn't even one of the TOP FOUR quarterbacks in the country, according to Steele? Yeesh, I don't want to be him at the end of the season looking back on these prognostications. We might have questions about the offense, but Denard can still run -- faster than anyone on the planet.
I peeked at a copy of Steele's magazine today. He has Denard at #22 nationally. FWIW, Cousins was ranked sixth.
I only had a few seconds to read, so I just went ahead and read his "outlook" for Michigan. Reading that outlook has me thinking that this is a BS publication. Two paragraphs of information about previous Michigan players and teams, and one sort of-ish sentence about how he feels the team will do this year. If I wanted a history lesson on teams, I would not be buying a college football preview magazine.
Regardless, it's hard to know how Denard will do in a new system. People aren't sure how much he will run and how much he will struggle with the change. So to rank him high is difficult, you have to speculate how everything is going to turn out. With all that in mind, #22 isn't terrible. I also don't think Cousins should be that high, but he probably is top 10 returning in an offense where he potentially has a very good run game to have to face a lot of 8 man boxes and rack up very efficient stats. His problem is that he gets phased by pressure. If MSU faces a good D-line where the defense doesn't need 8 in the box and can still get pressure on a suspect O-line against the good D-lines, than Cousins has a lot of trouble (more so than most top 10 QBs would IMO).
Im not a big fan of pre season "all" teams...or watchlists for various awards etc....because it throws pre conceptions out there that people who dont watch all of the games, make their assumptions based on... and that leads to lots of bs articles and bloggers going on about how great this or that player is, when in reality a lot of the pre conceptions are what steers peoples opinions....
that said, its pretty cool that Dave Molk and Mike Martin are getting some recognition. Molk in particular, for an undersized kid at center has had a really great career.
Hopefully Will Campbell breaks out this year and has 8 sacks and a bunch of tackles and ends up on the pre list for next year.
I think the absence of Denard on these lists probably has to do with his lack of efficacy inside the twenty. He and the Michigan O were definitely the most dangerous team (by far) between the twenties last year. And he is certainly able to blast off a 70 yard run at a moment's notice. But...
Maybe I'm alone on this, but I don't feel like Denard was able to make the quick passes between DBs once the offense was stacked up. This led to many points and many wins being left on the field. I chalk this up to being a true Sophomore, and part of the natural progression of a developing quarterback. With another year, I'm guessing (hoping) he'll have faster reads and a stronger/more accurate arm that could take him to the next level of being an All-American.
He was downright scary on the field last year. In his last two years with us, he certainly has the potential to make an impact on the level of Charles Woodson. I can't f%&$ing wait for football!
I cannot believe Andrew Luck is listed as 2nd team QB. Glad to see Martin and Molk on the list.
Jones at OU was solid last year, but he is a getting a ton of hype right now. Luck is going to be playing in a very similar offense and was heads and shoulders better than anyone in the draft at QB last year. Unless he just crumbles without JH, I don't understand that pick.