Vince Gray, Charbonnet Stood Out. Which Other Newcomers/New Starters Did You Notice?
Vince Gray stood out last night. He played very well. Aubrey described him as a "baller" post game and someone they knew would shine back in spring ball.
Charbonnet looked great, as hyped. Really has good speed and vision from what I saw on TV.
I like Giles in the kick return game. He has a low base and stays on his feet really well. Can he not return punts?
Ross played well too. Realize he's seasoned already but kind of a newish starter.
Who else did you see for first time or starting in blue that impressed?
September 1st, 2019 at 10:19 AM ^
Cornelius Johnson! He had a couple nice catches and looked sharp out there.
Sainristil didn't do a whole lot, but he did have a nice block on that Bell punt return.
September 1st, 2019 at 10:21 AM ^
Loved Charbonnet's ability to pick up the blitz!
September 1st, 2019 at 11:22 AM ^
This was a very pleasant surprise!
September 1st, 2019 at 12:23 PM ^
Yes this was the most notable thing in the game imo. He had some awesome blitz pickups. So did Wilson but the talent level as a runner is not in the same planet. Looks like Charbonnet is going to be *the* guy if he can keep pass blocking like that.
September 1st, 2019 at 10:23 AM ^
Gray is the answer for me only because he’s the one I knew least about.
Love Charbonnet. He should be the primary back after he proved he’s an adequate pass blocker.
Off topic relative to the OP’s question, but the defense has a quite a lot of work to do. I know guys were out, but this Army game now has me a bit nervous even tho Rice almost beat them.
September 1st, 2019 at 10:30 AM ^
Rice is possibly the worst team in America and Army barely beat them at home. How are people still worried about this game?
September 1st, 2019 at 10:34 AM ^
There will be no way Army holds UM's offense in check. Even if they still haven't worked out the kinks.
UM takes this game easy. The game will probably be over the moment UM takes the lead.
September 1st, 2019 at 10:53 AM ^
Also the defense was fine. Only TDs the first team D gave up were two short field TDs.
Minus the last garbage drive, we gave up 4.4 YPA passing. We gave up 2.4 YPC rushing. By non QBs it was 15 carries for 35 yards. O'Hara only had 32 yards on 13 carries, or 2.5 YPC. If you remove the 2 sacks and the fumbled snap it's 10 for 60 which is less good. But by the same token it's fair to remove the 18 yard TD where he was sacked in the backfield but wasn't brought down (I think because it was Dwumfour and his one hand). That's 9 carries for 42 yards, or 4.6 YPC.
I don't see how any of that warrants the depression on the board currently, especially since our weakest position was down its 2 most hyped guys and the freshman.
September 1st, 2019 at 10:55 AM ^
Those are good stats against a decent P5 team. We weren't playing a decent P5 team. The DL looked bad against the worst OL they will see all year. It's natural for people to be worried.
September 1st, 2019 at 11:21 AM ^
They played a team that's been to two straight bowl games. It's not like they were playing Tulsa.
September 1st, 2019 at 11:33 AM ^
Four straight bowl games.
September 1st, 2019 at 11:47 AM ^
They played a team with a 6’2 250lb OT. That was the worst line they will face all year.
Rutgers will be the only team that’s potentially worse, and I’m not sure they actually wouldn’t beat them too.
If people want to say that Michigan will improve, I’d agree. If people want to say Michigan played well against a good team, I’d disagree.
September 1st, 2019 at 2:15 PM ^
Must have watched a different game cause I didn’t see a game where the dline could be judged adequately. I watched MTSU throw quick swing passes. The times they did try to throw down field the dline got pressure and their quarterback rolled out of the pocket.
September 1st, 2019 at 11:57 AM ^
How did the dl look bad? People keep saying this but other than the garbage time touchdown I don’t think mtsu completed a pass that traveled more than 5 yards downfield in the air. The mtsu offense was entirely built around making the oline meaningless with nothing but quick screens and few if any runs up the middle. It’ll get you some yards but isn’t a sustainable form of offense which is why you know, they didn’t sustain any offense.
It obviously would have been better to see the defense stiffen in the red zone since the td percentage we gave up was a problem last year but I don’t see how anyone can take anything away from the dline performance from that game
September 1st, 2019 at 12:39 PM ^
how did the DL look poor?
Did you watch the game carefully? There was zero pressure from the interior DL. It looked like OSU level pressure against a totally mediocre OL.
September 1st, 2019 at 2:31 PM ^
Totally agree. Didn’t seem like they even had many chances to get pressure with all the quick passes. But when they did try anything that took longer it seemed like the DL was getting preasure
September 1st, 2019 at 12:02 PM ^
MTSU went to the CUSA game last year. They *are* a decent G5 team.
OSU best FAU by 24. FAU who is probably the equal of MTSU. MSU beat Tulsa by 21. Another comparable squad.
September 1st, 2019 at 1:12 PM ^
Small point but FAU was worse than MTSU last year. Worse record (under .500) while MTSU went to the CUSA title game.
September 1st, 2019 at 1:36 PM ^
Plus MTSU has Nettie Potts
September 1st, 2019 at 2:45 PM ^
is that fatal? can you get a shot for that?
September 1st, 2019 at 12:14 PM ^
Lol those are great stats against any team with a pulse. MTSU has a pulse. FAU and Tulsa don't.
I swear to god this board would be furious unless we scored a TD every play while not giving up a single yard.
September 1st, 2019 at 11:30 AM ^
Certainly the stats tell us they played well, which they did. But they got 0 pass rush with just bringing 4.
Probably won’t be a big deal against Army, but the DL needs to improve immensely by time they travel to Wiscy.
Hopefully everyone will be healthy by then.
September 1st, 2019 at 1:09 PM ^
We got pressure. It's just hard to get sacks when their average dropback lasted 1.2 seconds.
September 1st, 2019 at 11:38 AM ^
Those are good stats and are somewhat encouraging. But I think the angst on the board regarding the defense is playing much better D5 offenses - like Wisconsin coming up shortly. Even with the injured guys back, that DL is going to have some real problems with Wiscy's big OL and Taylor.
September 1st, 2019 at 12:11 PM ^
Obviously. We know the DL/DTs are a concern, especially against better teams. But what more could we have realistically done this week to assuage those concerns? Unless you were expecting MSU vs Tulsa level stuff (which isn't realistic) I don't think much.
We don't know what our DL will actually play like and look like until Dwumfour/Jeter are healthy. If those guys aren't healthy vs Wisconsin then sure, I get some freaking out. But with those guys healthy our DTs should be better than last year, when we held them to 13 points. Also that's a few more weeks for freshmen to develop.
People need to R E L A X.
September 1st, 2019 at 12:47 PM ^
I think the great point you mention is that there's 3 weeks for freshman to develop. Get guys back, and get Hinton and Smith in the mix, and all of a sudden, it could be a very serviceable interior. However, seeing their qb have some good plays when it broke down, does give me some concern and flashbacks to troy Smith and Braxton Miller, jt barrett. With what appears to be a competent justin fields, OSU will still be a very difficult game this year.
September 1st, 2019 at 11:31 AM ^
Agree that Our offense will move at will on Army. But if we are forced to play Kemp/Mason on 90% of DT snaps then they will be worn down and exposed all night.
Jeter’s return, Dwumfour’s health, and getting Mazi and Hinton on the field is the difference between an easy win and a close game with only 40 offensive snaps
September 1st, 2019 at 11:28 AM ^
because that’s what army does. They never blow teams out and never get blown out. They took Oklahoma to OT last year but only beat Hawaii, North Texas, and Miami OH by 7 or less.
September 1st, 2019 at 2:09 PM ^
Way to ignore the 70-14 win over Houston. I think that would be considered a blow out.
September 1st, 2019 at 1:10 PM ^
Because every team seems to bring their A game when playing Michigan.
September 1st, 2019 at 10:40 AM ^
Pretty sure the defense spent the last few weeks practicing for teams not from MTSU.
We'll be fine against Army, it's Wisconsin I'm worried about.
September 1st, 2019 at 1:51 PM ^
Also, Ben Mason can survive against Army. They run the option because of their unique situation when it comes to recruiting. Gap integrity is the most important thing when it comes to Army.
September 1st, 2019 at 10:28 AM ^
I noticed that Charbonnet looked like a fucking man and was then promptly taken out, just like the last 3 years with a running back playing well.
September 1st, 2019 at 10:32 AM ^
I don’t get why he only had 8 carries. I hope this changes a lot going forward. We need to ride him to take pressure off the Qb
September 1st, 2019 at 10:54 AM ^
I don’t get why he only had 8 carries.
Because he was pretty clearly the best RB on the team, it wasn't close, and getting him beat up against a nobody in the first game is dumb.
September 1st, 2019 at 11:42 AM ^
Maybe he is the best, but Turner looked very good too. And we didn't see Wilson at all. Aside from that, your point about not playing him so he doesn't get "beat up" is not really valid. 8 carries for a big RB like Charbonnet is not much at all.
September 1st, 2019 at 11:46 AM ^
Wilson played. He got hurt picking up a blitzing LB.
September 1st, 2019 at 6:50 PM ^
He got back in the game late - good to see.
September 1st, 2019 at 12:14 PM ^
Turner looked outstanding! He has exceptional vision and great feet with serious burst. He was getting yards that were not there.
I like our RB situation better this year. Backs hitting the right holes is a good thing.
September 1st, 2019 at 12:42 PM ^
Turner wasn’t bad, but he looked like another higdon. Zach is going to be something else.
September 1st, 2019 at 12:49 PM ^
Huh? Not in the vision department.
Higdon ran hard but Turner has much better vision and upside. He is still a young back.
Zach’s performance yesterday was extraordinary for a true Frosh.
September 1st, 2019 at 2:53 PM ^
You're complaining about having another Higdon as our #2 back? And Turner seems to have better vision than Higdon
September 1st, 2019 at 12:36 PM ^
This game was essentially a scrimmage, there would be absolutely no purpose to giving any running back, particularly a true freshman you are going to need to be healthy and strong come November, even a moderate workload. Pitch counts.
September 1st, 2019 at 11:20 AM ^
Rotating backs like they did works at Alabama because they have multiple, high quality options, which isn’t the case with Michigan. It’s already obvious that Charbonnet is the real deal and is healed and shoulders above the other backs. He should get the bulk of the snaps with Turner as the occasional change of pace.
September 1st, 2019 at 11:26 AM ^
Charbonnet will get most snaps, and Turner is a worthy changeup whenever needed - regardless of game situation. Both are legit lead backs. Wilson has seen his best days as Michigan RB already pass him by...
September 1st, 2019 at 10:29 AM ^
Mason, and not in a good way, as a newcomer to the DL. Zach looked elite. He's going to be great.
September 1st, 2019 at 10:30 AM ^
Ambry!
September 1st, 2019 at 1:47 PM ^
This is an underrated point. We've seen Thomas around a lot in a lot of roles, but this is the first time he's been a primary corner for an entire game against the other team's ones. Especially given his illness and practice situation, Thomas looking really good is a huge plus for the secondary and the defense overall.
September 1st, 2019 at 10:30 AM ^
I thought Turner looked great, maybe better than Charbonnet. Charbonnet had some fantastic blocking to set up some of his runs.
September 1st, 2019 at 10:50 AM ^
Charbonnet showed great vision and the ability to make the proper cuts. Sure he had good blocking, but he also took advantage of the blocking. This is what was most frustrating about Higdon, he had terrible vision and cuts. Left a lot of yards out there, during his time here.