Some football talk- a post spring football depth chart
Offense-
QB-
1. McCaffrey
2. Milton
3. McNamara
RB-
1. Charbonnet
1. Haskins
3. Evans
WR1-
1. Collins
2. Johnson
WR2-
1. Bell
2. Henning
Slot-
1. Jackson
2. Sainristil
TE-
1. Eubanks
2. All
3. Schoonmaker
LT-
1. Hayes
2. Keegan
LG-
1. Filiaga - or-Barnhart
C-
1. Carpenter
2. Vastardis
RG-
1. Stueber
2. Rumler
RT-
1. Mayfield
2. Jones
Notes- year 2 of Gattis, and more players in more defined roles will be huge for this team. Also getting Nico back as a clear #1, puts the rest of the WR pieces in place perfectly. Non Fr. playmakers, will also be big for this team, Jackson, Evans, Sainristil, Charbonnet should all have a nice uptick.
Improved positions-
RB- older plus Evans
WR- DPJ wasn't 100%, all year and something wasn't right with Black. Collins, Bell, Jackson, Sainristil, and CJ all fit their roles perfectly.
TE- these 3 fit what Gattis wants to do with TEs better than McKeon
Worse-
OL- lost 4 NFL lineman. Still a lot of talent coming back, biggest X factor will be center, every other spot will be good to great.
????-
QB- I think it will be better, but nobody really knows yet. Rumors last year that Gattis liked McCaffrey better, but we will have to wait and see.
Defense-
WDE-
1. Paye
2. Villain
DT-
1. Hinton
2. Jeter or Speight
NT-
1. Kemp
2. Smith
SDE-
1. Hutchinson
2. Upshaw or Ojabo or McGregor
Viper-
1. Barrett
2. Solomon
MLB-
1. McGrone
2. Thomas
WLB-
1. Ross
2. Mullings
CB-
1. Thomas
2. Green
CB2-
1. Grey or Turner II
FS-
1. Hill
2. Faustin or Paige
SS-
1. Hawkins
2. Johnson or Moten
Nickel-
1. Seldon or Hill
Defensive notes- D line will be back to dominant, the only underclassmen in the top 6 is a 5* Sophomore.
Improved positions-
1. DL- older, more experienced, and talented. The only Fr in the 2 deep is Smith a RS fr and a top 100 recruit.
2. LB- a fully weaponized McGrone, and for a full season, Ross healthy is huge
3. S- Dax will be the breakout player of the year for the defense
Worse-
1. CB- Maybe ??
????-
1. Viper
2. Nickel
Special teams-
P-
1. Hart
2. Robbins
K-
1. Nordin
2. Moody
PR-
1. Jackson
2. Sainristil or Bell
KR-
1. Jackson
Special teams are going to be special.
I really hope this season happens on time, I really like the way this schedule lines up with Wisconsin and PSU at home. Minny on the road will be tough. My guess right now is 10-1 heading into osu, and I'm not predicting that yet. Go BLUE! Stay healthy and safe
April 17th, 2020 at 10:54 AM ^
Takeaways:
OL will be fine...eventually
RB room will be a strength
Too many little WR's on the roster
Solid front 4...DT recruiting outside of Smith/Hinton continues to be a disaster
Ross/McGrone will be a hell of a LB tandem
Ambry/Dax will be studs, everyone else will be the fish that Ryan Day picks on
Final thoughts: Stars matter, and we aren't signing enough of them
April 17th, 2020 at 11:06 AM ^
Was looking forward to some actual football talk, but the first thing I get to see is you posting the same whiny shit you always post. Thanks for fucking up my mood. I suspect that was your goal.
April 17th, 2020 at 11:12 AM ^
This is football talk. But you should get that anger checked out. It's just football and we're all entitled to our opinions and mine shouldn't make you mentally unstable. I mean we're 2-17 against OSU in the last 19 years. Aren't you people tired of that? Or do you want to go another 20 years where we lie to ourselves that we're better than we are. I would rather have an honest discussion about where things are and why. Look at OSU's recruiting now look at ours, and people wonder why these games aren't close?
April 17th, 2020 at 11:21 AM ^
I'm not angry. My point was that we can't even talk about the current depth chart without you bringing up the same whiny shit you always do. We know you don't like the current players and we know what you're going to write. Why waste the time to do it? We all know what the record is against OSU. It doesn't need to be brought up in every single conversation because that isn't going to fix it. It's like you're on a mission to derail every conversation about current players.
April 17th, 2020 at 11:42 AM ^
Go gargle Ryan Day's perpetually blushing nuts some more.
Yeah, we are all tired of losing to OSU and not winning championships. You are a fool if you think we arent. But we are also all tired of you posting on here like your the only fucking one who cares or the only one who realizes UM isnt as good as OSU. We are tired of you turning every.single.damn.post into a worthless discussion because we can't actually talk about the team because we spend so much time arguing with an idiot. We are tired of not being able to enjoy the blog because you turn every recruiting post into this self-important need to be the only one who sees what's going on. We are tired of how obtuse you are and how you cannot realize that the reason everyone fights with you isnt because we think you are wrong or dont care about UM being a better football team, but because you are a jerk who feels like sounding smart on message board makes you better than everyone.
April 17th, 2020 at 11:25 AM ^
Michigan is lacking 5*s, but guys who were either top 250 recruits OR playing like it-
QB- 3
RB- 4
WR- 6
TE- 1
OL- 8+
Offense- 22 that's a 2 deep
DE- 5
DT- 3
LB- 6
CB- 3
S- 5
Defense- 22, another 2 deep
April 17th, 2020 at 10:54 AM ^
If it were up to me, I would keep Ronnie Bell in the slot. He's a basketball player and has proven that he's not afraid to go over the middle, so he can catch those high throws and run after the catch. No, he's not the fastest guy, but he breaks a crap-ton of tackles and has great balance.
April 17th, 2020 at 11:12 AM ^
Totally agreed. He reminds me of a Julian Edelman. Not the fastest guy in the world but he just knows how to get open and find the soft spots in coverage between the numbers.
April 17th, 2020 at 11:37 AM ^
I think you're going to see Nico, Bell, and Johnson play a LOT of the WR snaps and then there will be a gap until you get to the slot guys. Those two will be important, but I think they're going to try and get Bell's play making and Johnson's hands on the field a lot regardless of position.
April 17th, 2020 at 11:53 AM ^
I agree that Johnson should be the other boundary WR and Bell should be in the slot, but I don’t think there’s going to be a ton of playing time gap between them and Jackson and Sainristil. I could see both of them on the field as a 4th WR or Jackson also lining up as RB and motioning out of the backfield. Gattis will have to get creative because speed kills and these are some of the fastest players we have.
As a side note, I wouldn’t rule out Nate Schoenle as another taller WR who gets playing time. The staff clearly liked him a lot and he would have played last year if he wasn’t hurt.
April 17th, 2020 at 11:51 AM ^
I'm not sure if that's a fair comparison. Edelman is a real lunch pail guy; a gym rat. He's a hard working, scrappy receiver with sneaky speed. He really has the knack to get the most out of his abilities.
April 17th, 2020 at 11:55 AM ^
How about lining up Bell outside and having lots of crossing patterns for him?
My concern is that the dynamic small receivers like Jackson may struggle with press coverage and need to be in the slot. I won't be shocked to see two slots out there together at times with Jackson or Evans in a hybrid RB/slot role.
Yeah, agreed. We have a lot of quick players and they need to be on the field. Jackson was a real weapon last year, so we need to find ways to keep him out there as much as possible.
April 17th, 2020 at 10:57 AM ^
Also interested to see where some of these freshman fit in.
April 17th, 2020 at 11:08 AM ^
Yeah, I'm not entirely sold on the O-Line like most people seem to be. You can't lose four starters to the NFL and say the back-ups, with minimal experience, are going to be "great" They will struggle early and "hit their stride" towards the middle of the season. Unfortunately, Washington, PSU, and Wisky are early.
The QB position is completely unknown. Again, I'm not now quite sure how the back-ups are going to be better then what we had last year. Both players have minimum experience on the field. And when on the field, there were minimal successes.
RB, WR, and TE should be better.
Defensively, I'm still worried about that DL. We're banking on two guys with, again, minimal experience and catapult this defensive unit.
LB should be the strength of the defense. Fast dudes.
DB's should be solid, probably not great. Is there enough speed in the backend to keep up with crossing routes and fly routes? Don't know.
Sure would be nice to lockdown a Punter and Kicker that displays consistency.
April 17th, 2020 at 11:13 AM ^
And this is the problem with UM's recruiting in a nutshell. Good in some spots but average in too many others. Good team that is never great. Get their heads pounded in by OSU.
Wash rinse repeat.
April 17th, 2020 at 11:56 AM ^
And this is the problem with (a certain percentage of) UM's fans in a nutshell. Unwilling to accept that the NCAA won't stop cheaters, and yet unwilling to accept that UM isn't going to cheat to beat them. Consistently top 15 = great, end of line. You want trophies? Go be a Dabo fan. UM will still be great after Clemson's stepped back (or do you want to be a Nebraska fan right now? Or a Miami fan right now? Or do you want to be a USC fan right now... )
Get us back to top 15 every year, year in year out, I will be very happy. No I'm not accepting of the record against OSU, and yes, I would love playoffs. I've seen what glory chasing is, it's 3-9 with the worst defenses in school history, which lead to 5-7 with offenses that can't score with a $1000 in a cheap brothel. To hell with both of those. 10 win seasons most of the time, class, integrity, great kids I can be proud to cheer for, a couple spectacular memories here and there. I'll be a happy fan.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
April 17th, 2020 at 12:19 PM ^
You could, you know, go root for the Buckeyes. You get the stars you dream about, the wins that define your existence and you clearly are an absolute loser douche canoe so you hit all the checkboxes for their fandom.
April 17th, 2020 at 11:33 AM ^
This is how college sports work, you get guys for 4 years, they move on, and sometimes the next guy coming in is better. When you get guys like Hinton and Smith, a 5* and a top 100 recruit at a Beast position like DT, they aren't going to come in and dominate. Look at Gary, Hutch, Graham, and many other, and then look at their Sophomore leap.
So. Hinton > 280 lb Dwumfour
Dax Hill > Metellus etc.
IMO all 8 spots in the 2 deep at DL will be better, especially DT and SDE. Hinton and Hutch are about to blow up
April 17th, 2020 at 11:46 AM ^
Hutch is already there in my mind. He's where Kwity was last year if not a nose ahead. Guy is an animal.Looking forward to Hinton and Mazi getting more reps. Thank God Carlo is there to keep things stabilized.
April 18th, 2020 at 12:02 PM ^
Wisconsin did it last year, they lost 4 and came back just as good. You have to think about who the replacements are at OL and remember that Ed Warinner is one of the best OL coaches. Replacements-
LT- Ryan Hayes 4*, top 150, 6'7, athletic, a few starts and 1 game ball.
LG- Filiaga 4*, top 150, AA, Sr, 3 years with Warinner
C- Carpenter, beat Clemson and Oklahoma for him, scout team player of the year.
RG- Stueber 4* tied for a starting spot last year before acl. Sr. , 3rd year with Warinner
And if the Sr. Guards dont work out,you have 2 4*, top 150 rs FR ready to step in.
So you have everything you need to have a great OL. Top level recruits, size, experience, competition and the best OL coach.
April 17th, 2020 at 11:23 AM ^
Anyone else notice how all of our QBs last names start with M? Even McCarthy in 2021. Maybe this is some Michigan Man superstition or something?
April 17th, 2020 at 11:24 AM ^
OL will be the difference maker.
April 17th, 2020 at 11:40 AM ^
On offense I think the key is going to be...how fast the QB and OL can get up to speed. I don't think it would take a lot to match Shea's performance but I also don't know whether our guys will go through growing pains as they learn. Same on OL - we're going to take a big step back initially. I love that we have a ton of depth and versatility....but the lack of experience will be real.
On defense we're worse at CB and Viper for sure. We need these young DTs to be an upgrade over a hobbled Dwumfor.
April 17th, 2020 at 11:52 AM ^
I think lots of people take a highly talented, experienced, capable qb like Shea for granted because he didn't fulfill the expectations of a five star. 2017 still has me shook. Lucky for us there's still a ton of talent in that group. Dylan has shown some promise but you gotta worry about him staying healthy if they're going to run him a ton(I think they will).
If Milton turns the corner watch out, but I'm leaning McCaffrey right now.
April 17th, 2020 at 11:44 AM ^
Very hopeful one of the QBs pans out to to be great. Given what we saw last year, I'm not sure that's likely to happen, but sometimes you just don't know what you have until you give someone the reigns. There's reasons to believe in both Milton and McCaffrey but the fact that neither guy seems to seriously push Patterson seems......concerning.
I think the season hinges on this (assuming there is a season). The O-Line will be fine, though may have some rough patches. Too much talent there. RB/WR will be good. D-Line should be improved, LBs should be good, secondary is young but talented.
Give the above team a great quarterback and they could be right there with anybody in most games. Give them another year like last year and we'll lose a few games along the way. Not crapping on Patterson here, it is what it is, but there's not enough game breaking talent on either side of the ball to win big games without lights out QB play.
April 17th, 2020 at 12:00 PM ^
I am a believer in McCaffrey.
I know there is little evidence but the dude seems like he has the 'it' factor in his limited playing time.
For the record though, I also liked Peters more than Shea
April 17th, 2020 at 12:09 PM ^
This idea came to me the other day...
How do things play out differently if Peters avoids that concussion in 2017? Do we pull off the W at Camp Randall or the game or do things play out like the Outback Bowl? Shea probably doesn't come here... Van Ginkel really created a wrinkle effect.
April 17th, 2020 at 12:14 PM ^
ah the "Van Ginkel Wrinkle", that old chestnut
April 17th, 2020 at 12:19 PM ^
That's ripple, is it possible to have a Freudian slip with rhymes?
If Peters plays vs OSU we win that game as well. JOK had the worst QB performance in that game for any Michigan quarterback not named Nick Sheridan.
April 17th, 2020 at 12:59 PM ^
That is a better roster than we had last year. Can't wait to see Dylan finally let loose. Plus year 2 of Gattis.
I don't know about that.
They play have a similar or slightly better record, but it's WAAAY too soon to say they're better.
New QB. WR is worse. Missing TEs and OL.
No Uche or Hudson. CB is inexcusable and a fucking disaster.
...now can QB and WR end up better because it's year 2? Yes. Can't OL get better under Warriner? Yup. Can we find pass rush with Paye, Villain, Ross and McGrone? Sure.
Can't we fix CB? Okay, no. That's not happening.
But most of those COULD be better. But as of right now, with limited spring practice?
Naaaaah.
If we had Tarik Black and recruited CBs at an acceptable level, I'd say we have a shot if everything fell into place.
Unless we're going Air Raid and playing Big 12 defenses, I don't see it.
That said, it's passable. But this is the most unpredictable team we've had since Devin Gardner was QB.
DL will be better on the interior but losing Uche hurts. All 3 LBs can blitz, but can they cover?
Speaking of which, CB is unacceptable. We've had great success there and the recruiting just stopped at that position.
Dax is going to be 1st team All B1G.
Also, isn't Sainristil ahead of Jackson?
Without letting this years lackluster recruiting class that has nothing to do with the 2020 team taint my view...I could see anywhere from 6-6 to 10-2.
That type of variation is Hoke-esqe.