Who do you think steps up next year?
I'm a little weary of all the articles saying 'some of these guys need to play a big role this year'. I come to the interwebs for OPINIONS and cat-based photoshop, thank you. So I'd like to see what you all expect from each of these guys this season; 'wildcards' if you will.
http://theineptowl.com/joomla/images/random/sunny_wild.gif
-Denard Robinson
-Mike Shaw
-Will Campbell
-Anthony LaLota
-JB Fitzgerald
-JT Turner
-Cullen Christian
-Demar Dorsey
-Marvin Robinson
-Vlad Emilien
I am really hopeful that Gerg's magic touch/hair will work on Obi and Mouton like it did on Stevie Brown last year. If those two step up and have really good seasons our defense will improve tremendously.
I think Obi, with proper coaching this year, will really step up. We saw his potential early and, even as a freshman, was good at making plays when he was in the right area. I know last year he may have missed some tackles but I think a lot of that was getting himself out of position. I see he being coached up and being a solid MLB in the big 10.
Shaw I believe will because many are over looking him. I know not everyone on this board is, as some people above commented on him, but being he is our most experienced RB it has to get to him that he isn't being talked about more, and hopefully that can really motivate him through next year and beyond. I think he can be a really good back for us, and with a little work on balance (and core strength addition thanks to several years of working out) I think he will step up next year.
Greg Banks and Adam Patterson are going to play big roles in our defensive improvement. Depth AND productivity can happen here. It always seems to be the guy(s) youre not counting on to make you better always pop up in November.
I hope you are right. Those two were always the big question marks in terms of defensive development. Guys who seemed to have decent press/praise out of HS, but have done next to nothing here. Granted, those happen all the time, but I'm hoping we can see something this year from both of them.
I think Will Campbell developing into a force is a big part of the success for the Defense. As stated earlier, the D-Line can really alleviate a lot of the pressure that is put on the back seven. This is especially necessary with the youth that we will have. I think Obi and Jonas are going to flourish in the second year of Gerg's system. They've shown they have the athletic tools and another year in the system will only due them good. One guy I'm interested in seeing progress is Vlad. If he can nail down a safety spot, that would probably allow Woolfolk to move over to corner and further solidify our defensive backfield.
Roundtree will continue to impress.
is my man. I'm really excited about his safety speed at middle linebacker.
Michigan
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Fitzgerald Toussaint!?!? He's been impressing on the scout team, ran a sub 10.6 100m dash as a junior in hs, and is apparently up to 205 lbs now. If he can maintain those crazy cuts and insane speed at that weight, I could see him edging out shaw/smith and being the breakout back in the big ten this year.
I did tear shit up with Fitz on the XBox...
I think they will be the two players that break out this spring, at least I hope so.
I could see Fitzgerald Touissaint coming up big for us at some point.
Its gotta be Touissant. I look for great things out of him this year. He is an amazing athlete with great skill. Cant wait to watch him tear shit up. Big Ten Freshman of the year potential. Go Blue!!