Taylor v Graham

Submitted by baleedat on
Who will be the more dominant force on the UM d-line this year, Terrance Taylor or Brandon Graham?  I hear they both lost 30+ pounds of fat since the Florida game, and are reportedly stronger and faster.  Have you all heard anything else about them this off season?

PinballPete

July 14th, 2008 at 6:19 PM ^

Jamison(5.5 sacks last year) vs Graham (8.5). Taylor (3.5) looked much less the force last year than he was in '06 with Branch occupying two O-lineman. Maybe after a season of getting used to the double team he will show a little more, not that he was a disappointment.

I think that Graham is the one to watch. At times he looked dominant. Remember when playing passing or spread teams, which was about half the games, Crable played D-end and Graham moved inside. I wonder if he'll play more D-tackle and have Banks or whoever play end.

baleedat

July 14th, 2008 at 7:10 PM ^

Maybe a better question is who will be more improved. 30 pounds is a lot of weight. I read Graham got so fat at one point last year Lloyd threatened to move him to DT.

Yahtzee

July 15th, 2008 at 10:12 AM ^

Well being from Muskegon I would like to see Taylor shine the brightest.  

I think all of them will be much improved from last year (eeeeBarwis + New DC who likes to blitz).

WolvinLA

July 15th, 2008 at 4:24 PM ^

I can't believe Brandon Graham can bench 475. That's a crazy big number for bench. And he's lighter - what the hell. Those dudes are gonna be hella dominant I think. We might win every game 7-0 on a defensive touchdown. I wouldn't be surprised if we beat Utah 4 to nothing.

baleedat

July 15th, 2008 at 6:44 PM ^

475 lbs is more than five 45 pound plates on each side. thats nuts...and he put it up twice. and he's not even the strongest guy on the team (will johnson). but to go from putting up 315 to 475 is a huge jump.

i think there were a few players who put in very little effort before this year, and lloyd just let them get away with it. graham was clearly one of them. in an article in the wolverine, graham himself admitted to taking off plays and not giving 100%. he was light enough to play LB in HS, but he was nearly 300 lbs just a few years later. the article claims that lloyd almost moved him to DT last year because of all the weight he had gained. think about that; lloyd's solution to his massive weight gain was not to make him work harder, but to move him to DT.

littlebrownjug

July 16th, 2008 at 12:14 PM ^

I never really thought that Taylor was any great shakes, and I am surprised when I see him on all-Big Ten lists. He is not consistent, and he has never been dominant without Branch. Maybe, the new s&c can get more out of him. Graham came in as a MLB, and I knew that he was probably going to be an athletic DE. Kudos to him for working hard, and I think it will be interesting watch our development athletic development under eeee Barwis! There really seems to be a method to his madness (science), and I would love to see the other sports teams at Michigan jump on board (esp. hoops). The note that Hobson made in the Barwis article about Michigan becoming like Miami (in the sense that alumni in the NFL will come back to train with Barwis) would be awesome, and would be a potentially huge chip in recruiting. What narcissistic, egomaniacal recruit wouldn't be geeked about the chance to work out with Brady, Woodson, Edwards, et al?

mjv

July 16th, 2008 at 12:40 PM ^

LBJ, I seem to recall that when Beilein (spl?) arrived on campus he hired his own S&C group because he was so underwhelmed with the existing Gitt led group. I believe that the same article mentioned that the b-ball team at WVU trained under Barwis. There was a story about how Beilein's son and another player decided to take a run at Barwis and wound up getting put into some hold that caused him to black out. I assume that b-ball will train under Capt eeeeee. The point about having all of former players spending the summer on campus should be a huge recruiting chip. Not only does it stoke the kids ego to see of the NFL guys around, it will also imply that the guys at the next level train in AA in this fashion... hence, I should train in AA to make it to the next level.