Which Michigan Freshman Football Player has the Biggest Impact?
While it's obvious that Wile will make an immediate impact at kicker, I'm personally excited to see what Thomas Rawls brings to the table. He is a hard nosed runner and could punish people in a tandem with Stephen Hopkins. Which Freshman is everyone most excited to see take the field this season?
Mod Edit: No Bleacher Report. However, it's June 21st and the question hasn't been asked in a little while, so the question stands. [zl]
I was under the impression that "nice article" and "Bleacher Report" were mutually exclusive.
jeeez who cares really about the article, its actually a good conversation question. I think Kellen Jones or Desmond Morgan could be special teams freaks early in their UM career. Im excited for those two guys.
So you made it to a 100 points and posted a Bleacher Report article. Bye Bye 100 points :(
He seems to have more people interested in him than any three-star recruit I can remember. Of course, one of those people is admitted Flint homer Sam Webb. It will be interesting to see if he stands out or is just another okay back.
Thomas Rawls should be able to contribute early. He will be a nice compliment to whoever starts.
Kellen Jones is the one I'm most excited about. I think he is very underrated and is an instinctive player with great field vision. If he's not redshirted, which I don't think he should be, he will have an opportunity to get some PT. He's been focusing on adding pounds n size this offseason.
level of competition. There is a bad level of competition in Texas and unfortunately he played in it. He still could be a could one though. I am more concerned about his history of concussioins at the HS level. He is definately a good kid.
The premium sites admitted he was not ranked higher higher because they were worried about him qualifying. There is a reason he broke all of Ingram's records. We also have a lack of a top back to carry the rock and stay healthy.
Obviously didn't pay attention while accumulating points.
Without clicking IMO freshman I want to see is Furman, think he could be solid in the secondary.
More importantly he has red-tipped dreads... that is much more important than his physical ability
Lesson #1: citing Bleacher Report as a news source, as implied in the word "article," usually doesn't end very well. For many here, BR is held in esteem similar to that of posts at RCMB.
BR is basically a giant forum that many people see as an outlet for journalism. It does a decent job of being the "voice of the fan," but is not a "news source." Also, those slideshows are a way to make you give them more clicks. Five clicks from one article makes their numbers look pretty good at the end of the day. It's pretty cool that this one only has five instead of some of the more irritating ones with twenty-five, though.
Anyway, I think the phrase you may be looking for is "fan post." BR doesn't pretend to be a valid news source, but they don't seem to mind of you mistake them for one. Have fun clicking through all of those slide shows. They will probably be entertaining for awhile until you realize you are being "utilized" and "maximized" by "click ho's."
Then they will become just another fan page.
I'll answer the question:
I'm most excited to see Matt Wile make field goals to take pressure off the offense.
After that? Blake Countess and Greg Brown giving the defensive secondary some depth.
Matt Wile, please be good. :(
I'm most excited to see Matt Wile make extra points after the offense destroys the B1G.
The NCAA has a long history of field goal kickers stinking as 18- or 19-year olds under pressure, but being adequately competent by the time they were 20 or 21. I recall LSU had a kid like that, missed a bunch early on, later became very reliable. Boston College had a walk-on who sucked when he, well, walked on (more or less came out of the crowd, I think), then went on to a good career.
OK so our scholie kicker last year had issues. He kicked well in practice but couldn't do it on the field. Don't assume that's his ceiling for 4 years. He just needs some confidence, and coming into a brand new season, it's likely his confidence will be better.
So personally, I think our kicking game is likely to be better, but it might be the same faces as last year.
gameday nerves cause a kid to hook a kick, not to kick squibs that never get 15' off of the ground. Gibbons might be a great kid and hopefully he can be a solid member of the team, but unless Wile gets hurt, he is never going to see the field again.
Gameday butterflies cause all kinds of reactions. I remember getting nervous before big soccer games. Now multiply that by playing in front of the largest football crowd in the county. Plus, once you start missing some, it goes downhill rapidly from there.
Ideally everyone but Wile would be able to redshirt, but I'd be very surprised if Countess and at least one of the other true freshman CBs aren't needed. Unless all 4 of the 2-deep CB spots are nailed down by veterans before the season starts, some freshmen will have to be in the mix at least in the early season. The only returning scholarship CBs are Woolfolk, Avery, Floyd, and Talbott-22, and Woolfolk still might end up having to play safety.
I'm curious to see if Poole can win a starting spot outright. Rawls has an awful lot of guys to beat out to get up to second on the depth chart, which I think is the lowest point at which burining a guy's redshirt year can be justified.
I agree. The kicker is going to absolutely have the biggest impact. This guy is going to change games for us because we'll finally be able to get 3 points on the fringes of the red zone.
Our conversion rate was horrible and kept us from keeping games close. This will change with the new kicker.
I don't really think he's trying to pass it off as a news source...Anyway I think Rawls has a real shot to take over the starting job. He runs with a lot of authority.
Nice article and Bleacher Report do not belong in the same paragraph.
I apologize guys. I thought they did good job pointing out 5 freshmen that I also thought would make an impact. They gave a little more info on them, and had some nice youtube highlights in the post.
There's more angst on this blog about what gets posted than there would be at a convention of German hippies watching a filmography of the rise and fall of the Third Reich...The article (or fan-piece or slideshow or whatever it is) raises an interesting question.
I will go along with it being an interesting question but it's still fucking Bleacher Report.
That being said, Poole and Barnett seem to be the most physically ready to compete early, they also play at positions of need. Barnett and Wile will see the field this year for sure.
I think these guys have a great chance at getting some playing time and making an impact early.
They definitely have a shot if they can pick things up quickly. They're talented and play in underperforming areas. I'd be more comfortable if they enrolled early and I knew they were in Ann Arbor working now.
Although bleacher report is very sketchhy, I do think this is a good conversation started. Five recruits I expect to see making a big impact include Matt Wile, Chris Barnett, Justice Hayes, Kellen Jones, and (I hope I don't have to see this person) Blake Countess
1. Matt Wile
2. Thomas Rawls
3. Chris Barnett
4. Justice Hayes (In the return game)
5. Antonio Poole (A lot of buzz about him lately)
Edit: Including RS Freshman I'd have to add Furman, Jake Ryan, Christian Pace, and Richard Ash
Coach Mattison is on the record as saying "Michigan will have the best special teams in the country". MGoBlue.com interview with ST/TE coach Dan Ferrigno. Obviously, the coaches have big plans for the unit, which comes as a big relief to those of us who know more than ten years of our team's history.
1. M. Wile
2. T. Rawls
3. K. Jones
4. A. Poole
5. J. Furman
Antonio Poole and Kellen Jones.... Both of them FLY to the ball... I mostly notice how they shed blocks... Obi seemed liked he was trying to block himself the way he engaged blockers... We'll see how they do with 300 pound linemen, but I can see them both getting playing time...
Same here.
I hope they are physically ready for Big Ten football because they both can make a big impact. Kellen is probably my favorite recruit from this past year and I think Poole is very underrated. I think if these two guys can make an impact right away, it would be a huge step for the program as they could lead the way for guys like RJS, Ross, Bolden, and Ringer and possibly take some of the pressure off those guys. Whether they play this year or not, I think Jones and Poole are expected to be impact players for us. Looking forward to seeing what both of them bring to the table.
I actually don't think Rawls will have much of an impact this year...Besides Wile, i think it's a no brainer which freshman will have the biggest impact: Jake Ryan. Or doesn't that count since he's a RS Fr?
I'm curious to see where Cam Gordon fits in this defense... With a few true linebackers arriving on campus (poole, jones) and Jake Ryan coming into his own... I could see a pretty fluid rotation at SAM this season
I listed Poole and Jones above, but other than them, I think we can expect some things form Blake Countess. As many have said, everyone doubts the guy because of the size, but he always impresses. I think he'll surprise a lot of folks when he comes in.
Lets get Wile!!!
Am I the only one who kind of strangely forgot we even had a 2011 recruiting class given how early all of our 2012 homies have been pulling the trigger? That gives me such a broner.
That being said, chalk my vote up for Wile. If he can just be average, that will be a HUGE impact when compared to last year.
That went well! Let's project kickers as awesome!
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<br>In sum I'll go with Poole or someone like that
Bleacher Report is many times a good and fun read. I know the writing isn't dripping with cynism and arrogance like what Brian does (obviously not the quality either). Telling it like it is: it is way better writing and gives more back to the community than I see out of a lot of the people on here who like to pass themselves off as experts.
Having some policy against is over the top and reminds me of the New York Times for years griping about the internet and bloggers not being real journalists.
Always a fun question you pose and definitely don't waste another second apologizing about it.
Did you want to answer the fun question or just rip on brian's writing some more?
for the record, i think talbott and ash on the DLine are going to need to make solid contributions
Blake Countess and Antonio Poole.
I'll be excited to see Rawls on the field if that means he's good enough to surpass all the older guys. But I'm not necessarily expecting it.
I think it will be Barnett. However, I can certainly see Countee and Poole making an impact. With our new offense I think Barnett will come in and make some noise late in an out of conference game and then be consistent throughout the season. Just a hunch.
I dont think there will be any true freshman starting on either offense or defense this year, but I think that Antonio Poole could have an impact playing on special teams. He seems like a very solid all-around player. From watching his highlights he looks like a pretty solid tackler plus he has pretty good size for an incoming freshman
While this might sound odd, I think that Joey Kerridge (Walk on FB from Traverse City) could have a big impact. When I watched his film, I was impressed, and I think that there is a gaping hole at FB. It looks like he could be an instant special teams standout, too.
TTB countdown started with #89 and he's down to #71. Obviously, it's one man's opinion, but you know, it's TTB, so there's some authority there. Of the "bottom" 19 players in terms of expected impact, 13 are incoming freshmen. Still left on the board as of this morning are, in the order that I expect them to drop:
Carter
Taylor
K. Jones
Countess
Brown
Rawls
Wile
Maybe of more importance is the appearance of six returning players. They are:
T. Jones
Gibbons
Paskorz
Talbott (big)
Bell
Talbott (small)
among these names, there is probably a guy or two who will no longer be with the team by September. Otherwise, Hoke's not going to get to the 26 signee's he's purportedly been telling recruits about.
Brennen Beyer has high football IQ and a legit 4.5/4.6 forty and is 6'4" 230 pounds. He has been working out as intensely as anyone getting ready to be on campus. Love the idea of a guy that big and fast running down the field on kickoff coverage. Check out Rockford game highlights from the playoffs last year to remember what a gamer he is. Super quick off the edge.
Also excited for Rawls, Countess, and Poole.