I haven't been this excited for the upcoming football and basketball seasons since 2012. Me being a former basketball player and more involved in that sport I am most excited for bball. This is the deepest team since JB got here and I think could be the most talented if players progress as I expect. I think UM could finish as high as #2 (behind Maryland) and as low as #6. Go Blue!
Another great Indiana state championship was in 2000 when Zach Randolph and the Marion Giants beat Sean May & Jarred Jeffries and the Bloomington North Cougars.
Best high school team I have ever seen play in person was the 2002-2003 Pike High School (Indianapolis) team that finished #2 in the nation behind Lebron's SVSM squad. All 8 of the players in the regular rotation played DI, mostly high-major.
PG - David Barlow (IUPUI)
SG - Darren Yates (Ball State)
SF - Courtney Lee (Western Kentucky, currently with Memphis Grizzlies)
PF - Robert Vaden (Indiana/UAB)
C- Justin Cage (Xavier)
6th Man - Parnell Smith (SUNY Buffalo)
7th - Mike McCoy (Murray State)
8th - Devin Thomas (St. Joe's)
Lee, Vaden and Cage all played in the NBA at one point or another; however, only Lee still remains in the association.
Here's a link to the USA Today top 25 rankings from that year.
The 2005-2006 Lawrence North (Indianapolis) team would probably be #2 on my list. More top end talent (Greg Oden and Mike Conley) than the Pike team but not near as much quality depth.
I think this is a little different. Beilein was the one that said Donnal (and Beilfeldt) were "unguardable" at times in practice. Every single player at media day said that Duncan was by far the best shooter on the team and that it is nearly impossible to keep him from getting his shot off because of his size and quick release. I put more stock in what the players say as coaches will always talk their players up as much as possible.
Great post MichiganMan14. I agree with most of what you are saying but there are a few players I think you are undervaluing and overvaluing. While I hope LeVert stays, after our recent history with early entrants I just don't see it happening. Here is what I see as the lineup assuming he goes:
1 - Walton (6'0")
2 - Irvin (6'6")
3 - Robinson (6'8")
4 - Wilson (6'9")
5 - Doyle (6'9")
If LeVert stays, Irvin goes to the bench and Caris starts at the 2 guard. I think you, and many other UM fans do not realize how good of a player Duncan Robinson is right now. Many assume because he came from DIII he will be "just a guy". His progression reminds me an awful lot of a local Indianapolis player, Gordon Hayward. Both were small point guards entering their SO. year in high school (Robinson was 5'9" and Hayward was 6'0"). As a JR. Hayward had grown to 6'4" and then grew 5" the summer going into his SR. year. Still, only IUPUI and Butler had offered and he committed to Butler. Purdue came in with a very late offer his SR. year, but he stuck with Butler. Robinson grew 9" from his SO. to SR. year, then grew another 2" while at Williams (currently 6'8"). While they are not the same type of player, they do have similar traits. Robinson is a much better shooter than Haward, while Hayward is the better athlete. They both have very good handles for a player of their size and are able to attack the basket with either hand. So to sum things up, I am very excited for Duncan. I still think Wilson is going to be a star. He needs to get stronger and improve his handle, but the sky is limit for him.
If LeVery comes back I think this is a top 10 team. If he doesn't, as I suspect, I think this is a top 20 team.
I think Donnal will be able to keep a spot in the rotation, if for no reason other than he is 6'9" and can shoot. He has to improve his strength and athleticism but as long as he doesn't transfer, I think he will keep a spot in the rotation. Chatman is a bit more complex. I guess I am so used to following high school basketball in the Indianapolis area, where the level of competition is so high, that I didn't have a feel for just how bad the competition Chatman faced in high school was. I still think he is talented but he is playing with no confidence whatsoever and his lack of athleticism and outside shooting ability has been too much to overcome. I hate to speculate on guys transferring but if Wilson improves over the summer as I think he will, minutes are going to be very hard to come by for Chatman.
The lack of production/development from the frontcourt players on this team (Doyle, Donnal, Wilson, and Chatman) is what is holding them back, in my opinion. I do think Michigan will be much improved next year, but until they can find a defensive anchor in the paint (Jordan Morgan) their potential is going to be limited. If Doyle and Wilson can develop over the summer as I think they will, Michigan might actually have a formidible front line next year. A colleague and I were talking last week during the Illinois game and I made the comment that if Caris LeVert comes back next year I think Zak Irvin will become the 6th man, which I think suits his skillset perfectly. I believe Duncan Robinson will surprise many and is going to start at either the 3 or 4 (depending on Wilson's development). I still see Wilson as having the highest ceiling on the team and truly believe his progress will determine whether Michigan has a good or great team next year. If he can develop his handle and jumpshot, next year's lineup will be the biggest of the Beilein era, with only 1 starter below 6'7", assuming LeVert returns (1 starter below 6'6" if he does not return).
I certainly respect your opinion but I disagree about the ceiling of this team. I still think they are a 3/4/5 seed type team. The trio of Walton, Irvin and LeVert is unmatched in the Big Ten and might be the best backcourt in the country. Several teams, especially young teams, struggle during the early stages of the season. The same Kentucky team that beat Kansas by 30 was losing to SUNY Buffalo by 5 at halftime AT HOME. UConn struggled last night against Charleston, 'Nova probably should have lost to Bucknell, Wisconsin struggled for a while against Green Bay a couple nights ago, and they are one of the more experienced teams in the country. Now, players like Wilson, Chatman and Donnal certainly need to improve but I have absolutely no reason to believe Beilein won't have this team ready for another deep run come tourney time.
While there is no positive way for ND fans to look at this, I will say good for them for actually punishing the guility parties. It is refreshing (probably the wrong word to use) to see cases where academics are put ahead of athletics.
He was saying that Miller probably benefitted more than any other OL from the switch to zone blocking because he was never going to be the type of player to simply move DT's out of the way. The best thing about that OL is every player would be in at least their third year with the program.
Take this for what it's worth, but a commenter on another site who has apparently been to a few practices says Miller is the clear choice at center and is the most improved OL on the team. He then went on to say the starting OL (once Glasgow is available) will be Mags at LT, Glasgow at LG, Miller at C, Kalis at RG, and Braden at RT.
I can definitely see the other side of the argument. I guess I am much higher than others on the freshman. Chatman reminds me so much if my favorite player growing up, Jalen Rose, though he isn't quite as athletic. Dawkins is extremely talented and the type of player Beilein can mold from a low ranked recruit to a star. Wilson, like Dawkins is someone that will take a year or two to get there, but I could see being a star. Then again neither could get there but I think Michigan is blessed to have one of, if not the best coaching staff in the country.
I should have worded my comment better. I am not saying Michigan will be better this year (though I do think they will be more of a 3-5 seed), I'm saying when you look at the roster 5 years from now, this years team will prove to have more overall talent front top to bottom than last years. I was trying to say I think the freshman (including Donnal) are a very impressive group.
You could have just said you feel differently. I think Mitch and Nik will be solid pros. I believe there is more potential on this team than there was last year. I think Caris, Walton, Irvin, Chatman, Wilson, and even Dawkins have that sort of long term potential. You disagree.
Oh yeah, Michigan's trip is completely different. The teams they are playing are professional squads. I remember somewhat of the last trip to Belgium and the rosters were mainly former good college players that weren't quite good enough for the NBA. I believe Michigan went 1-3 on that trip.
If I remember correctly, mgoblue.com had some limited coverage of the 2010 trip to Belgium but I don't remember any video. I'm hoping there will be some sort of local (Italian) media covering the games and we can piggyback off that.
This was an awesome read! I certainly can't recall Mattison sounding like this in any fall camp prior to this one. The closest thing I remember was after the 2011 Illinois game when he was in tears because he was so proud of the defense.
In college you can make contact with the receiver at any point as long as the ball is not in the air. The NFL has the 5 yard contact rule but no such rule exists in college.
I will say that there is a clear difference between making contact 20 yards downfield and blatant holding. MSU CB's seemed to get away with quite a bit of holding, except against ND, of course.
I remember some of Frank's teammates (and opponents) talking about his freak athletic ability. And then he went out and had an all-conference season, despite having virtually no other playmakers on the DL. With much more talent and depth on the DL, I expect him to do even better this year.
I agree with your comment for the most part, I would just have LB #1 and QB #2 due to the fact that LB has more "proven" depth. I think Devin is a special talent and is going to have a fantastic year, but I'm not completely sold on Shane being ready at this point.
1) LB - Best unit in the conference, in my opinion.
2) QB - Some will disagree, but I think Devin is a first round NFL talent.
3) CB/S - With Countess back at 100%, experience in Taylor and Wilson mixed with huge talents like Lewis, Stribling, Thomas, and Peppers, this group could be #1 by the end of the season.
4) WR - Some will point to lack of experience, but no denying the talent
5) DL - Clark is an All-Big Ten player, Beyer is experienced, if a bit limited physically. Pipkins, Henry, Wormley, Taco, etc. all have huge upsides.
I understand that but my overall point still stands. If Cole was a high 5-star I doubt people would be "pissed off" as a commenter mentioned in the OL thread Friday night. If he is the best LT on the team then he should start, right?
Also, don't get me wrong, it is certainly worrisome that a true freshman might be the best LT. I'm just saying there could be a chance that Cole is a special player. Or it could mean DOOM.
Completely agree. Recruiting rankings are fun to watch and keep up with but people put way too much stock in them, in my opinion. I remember when Kalis was a true freshman and wasn't starting people were upset because he was a 5-star. But now it appears there is a very real chance Mason Cole, also a true freshman, might start and it is the end of the world because he was only a high 4-star. The OL is obviously the biggest question mark on the team but let's wait until the season starts before we start up the "fire Hoke and Funk" train.
The reporter (don't know who it was) said "...the guys in the spring". If you listen to the presser again you can hear him say it, but it is very hard to hear. It's right around the 5.55 mark in the video.
I mentioned this in another thread where a poster pointed out Hoke didn't mention Peppers while talking about the freshman that might have an impact. The question was about the freshman that were there in the spring.
Hoke didn't mention Peppers amongst the group of freshman because the question was about the freshman that were there in the spring. Peppers wasn't there in the spring. I will say, Hoke really seems to like Mason Cole so I would not be completely shocked if he actually does end up playing or even starting this year. Obviously not ideal to start a true freshman but if he is already the best LT on the team then he deserves to play. I'll believe all of this when we see it on the field because, like I said in the freak out thread last night, Hoke shows and tells nothing to the media.
I will definitely leave the critiquing to more knowledgable posters like yourself, Reader71, SC, Magnus, etc., but I thought Jack Miller, Glasgow and Bosch were the most impressive OL in this video. DL I thought Pipkins, Taco, Clark, Mone, Hurst, and Poggi looked good and at LB, Joe Bolden looked great in his rep. Ty Isaac gave James Ross the 'ole truck stick in their rep. 3 more weeks!
Edit: also, AJ Williams and Heitzman looked very impressive.
Yeah I was editing my comment to say I was wrong about that. I didn't know he spoke with the media today and clearly didn't pay attention to the OP. I thought the media was just allowed to watch for a brief period.
Just to be clear, Hoke didn't announce anything today. The media was allowed to watch 20 minutes of practice and this was the first group of OL on the field. Reminds me of last year when the Big Ten Network was at practice and Tom Strobel and Matt Godin (I believe he was the other one) were with the "first team defensive line". Hoke doesn't like to show the media anything. People are reading way too much into this, in my opinion.
I like the pickup. I think he can be a very effective offensive weapon in JB's system, though I do worry about his defensive abilities. He has a pretty quick release and seems to move well without the ball, so I think offensively he should be solid at this level. Congratulations to Duncan! Looking forward to watching him for the next three years.
I completely agree with everything you said. I thought it was pretty apparent Countess was not back to full speed last year, and he was still one of the 5 top CB's in the conference. He should be 100% this year and I expect him to break out. I think he and Lewis will be the starters, then Countess will slide to NB and Taylor will come in to take the other outside spot. Peppers and Wilson at safety and I believe you have the ingredients for an elite secondary. The back seven will be one of, if not the best in the conference.
I'm very excited to see Ben Gedeon this year. 6'3", 240 lbs. while also being one of the more athletic LB's on the team, I think he will be a starter by Big Ten play. Too bad Beyer wasn't able to pack on more weight. Seems pretty light to be a SDE.
Edit: Also Ryan Glasgow is up to 296 now. That gives UM at least 5 able bodies (Pipkins, Henry, Mone, Wormley, and Glasgow) at DT/NT that are in the 295-310 range. Good to see some beef in the middle of the DL.
I agree that Denard covered up a lot of issues and the jury is certainly still out on Funk. I don't agree with you last sentence that "there's every indication that this year's line will be worse than last year's." I know most people say "well they lost 2 tackles to the NFL so they have to be worse". As others have said before, an OL is only as good as its weakest link and last year the weakest link (guards) were pretty terrible. So we had 2 great tackles, an average center and 2 pretty bad guards. While the tackles will surely take a step back this year, if the rest of the line can improve to average I think the OL as a whole will improve. I am also an optimist and have convinced myself that there is no possible way the line can be worse than last year.
I don't know if your comment was directed specifically at me, but I agree with everything you are saying. I was just pointing out the Auburn did not start 4 freshman and a sophomore in either 2010 or 2013, as was mentioned above.
I honestly don't mean to call you out but you are wrong again about that. Their 2010 starting OL had only one non senior starter, Brandon Mosley, who was a RS junior.
I've seen you say "started all freshman and a sophomore on the OL" a couple times now and I'm not quite sure where you saw or heard that. Last year their starting OL was a RS sophomore at LT (Robinson), a RS freshman at LG (Kozan), a true junior at C (Dismukes), a RS junior at RG (Slade), and a RS freshman at RT (Young). Now, I will certainly agree with you that their RS freshman played much better than our RS freshman on the OL, but they did have some experience mixed in there as well.
Thank you, friend. Perhaps it is just me, but I am more worried about the MSU game than OSU. Neither seems particularly winnable at this point, but it is really hard to envision a win in East Lansing this year.
I wonder what he is basing that on. Most likely a combination of the spring game and last season, I would guess. I don't think it is too crazy to expect the OL to at least look a little better than they did in the spring. I'm with you though, with all the talent the OL has (on paper), there has to be some improvement...right?
Man I can't wait for the season to start. These next 7 weeks are going to be agonizing listening to everyone tell us how afwul Michigan is because of last year. It would be interesting to see what similiar previews had to say about MSU prior to last season.
Eh, I think the TFL and sack numbers were so low because last years DL (especially DT's) was pretty bad. Maybe I'm just crazy but I think the DL will be much improved. If the NT/DT combo is actually as good as I think they will be, that should really help the DE's and LB's be able to get after the opposing QB more. Add to that my belief that the CB's are going to be very good this year, I think that will help the sack numbers as well.
The reason I think the defense will be much improved is they return 3 top players from injury that either didn't play much last year (Pipkins) or were not 100% while they played last year (Ryan and Countess). The DL is still somewhat of a question mark but I am very confident that the back 7 will be among the best in the country. Also, UM returns something like 20 contributors from last years defense and, although some will say differently, players can actually get better as they get older and gain more experience.
I'll go with my same prediction as last year (which was way off) of 10-2. Losses at ND and MSU. The talent is certainly there to be very good. The only team on the schedule that I feel has a talent advantage is OSU, and like UM, they also have questions about the OL entering this season. I believe the defense will be very good (top 10/20 nationally) and if the offense can just be average (somewhere between the 2011 and 2012 offenses), there is no game that UM can't win. So 10-2 it is. Unless of course it isn't.
I'll go one on offense and one on defense. On offense, I think Erik Magnuson will be an All-Big Ten OT by the end of the season. Not saying he will be first team, but he will prove himself to be one of the top six OT's in the conference. On defense, I think Jarrod Wilson is going to have a big year. He has the size/speed combination to be special, and I think (hope) he puts it all together this year.
Thank you for the response. That was very informative. My football knowledge is not close to yours so I really don't know what to look for when watching games/film. For example, when I watch Randy Gregory from Nebraska he looks the part of a top 5/10 NFL pick, but I do not see that with Calhoun (and obviously Clark). Below is a video of every defensive snap of last years UM vs. MSU game and to me, at least, it looks like Calhoun has little to no success any time he was matched up with Lewan or Schofield. He did get a sack while matched up with Schofield, but that one seems as though it was due to Gardner rolling right into Calhoun than Schofield getting beat. But again, thank you for the informative response.
You know what is interesting is that I have the same thoughts for Shalique Calhoun from MSU. He is projected to go top 10 in several mock drafts and I really don't get it. They are in the same class, though Calhoun was able to redshirt his first year on campus and Clark was not. Stats from last year:
Clark - 13 TFL, 5 sacks
Calhoun - 14 TFL, 7.5 sacks
Keep in mind that Calhoun had 2.5 sacks and 4 TFL against UM, something Clark was not fortunate enough to be able to do.
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Another great Indiana state championship was in 2000 when Zach Randolph and the Marion Giants beat Sean May & Jarred Jeffries and the Bloomington North Cougars.
Best high school team I have ever seen play in person was the 2002-2003 Pike High School (Indianapolis) team that finished #2 in the nation behind Lebron's SVSM squad. All 8 of the players in the regular rotation played DI, mostly high-major.
PG - David Barlow (IUPUI)
SG - Darren Yates (Ball State)
SF - Courtney Lee (Western Kentucky, currently with Memphis Grizzlies)
PF - Robert Vaden (Indiana/UAB)
C- Justin Cage (Xavier)
6th Man - Parnell Smith (SUNY Buffalo)
7th - Mike McCoy (Murray State)
8th - Devin Thomas (St. Joe's)
Lee, Vaden and Cage all played in the NBA at one point or another; however, only Lee still remains in the association.
Here's a link to the USA Today top 25 rankings from that year.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/preps/basketball/2003-final-boys-…
The 2005-2006 Lawrence North (Indianapolis) team would probably be #2 on my list. More top end talent (Greg Oden and Mike Conley) than the Pike team but not near as much quality depth.
I could be wrong but I don't recall McLimans receiving much hype from his teammates. Who would be the others?
I didn't neg you, by the way. You have a differing opinion than me, and that is perfectly fine.
I think this is a little different. Beilein was the one that said Donnal (and Beilfeldt) were "unguardable" at times in practice. Every single player at media day said that Duncan was by far the best shooter on the team and that it is nearly impossible to keep him from getting his shot off because of his size and quick release. I put more stock in what the players say as coaches will always talk their players up as much as possible.
Great post MichiganMan14. I agree with most of what you are saying but there are a few players I think you are undervaluing and overvaluing. While I hope LeVert stays, after our recent history with early entrants I just don't see it happening. Here is what I see as the lineup assuming he goes:
1 - Walton (6'0")
2 - Irvin (6'6")
3 - Robinson (6'8")
4 - Wilson (6'9")
5 - Doyle (6'9")
If LeVert stays, Irvin goes to the bench and Caris starts at the 2 guard. I think you, and many other UM fans do not realize how good of a player Duncan Robinson is right now. Many assume because he came from DIII he will be "just a guy". His progression reminds me an awful lot of a local Indianapolis player, Gordon Hayward. Both were small point guards entering their SO. year in high school (Robinson was 5'9" and Hayward was 6'0"). As a JR. Hayward had grown to 6'4" and then grew 5" the summer going into his SR. year. Still, only IUPUI and Butler had offered and he committed to Butler. Purdue came in with a very late offer his SR. year, but he stuck with Butler. Robinson grew 9" from his SO. to SR. year, then grew another 2" while at Williams (currently 6'8"). While they are not the same type of player, they do have similar traits. Robinson is a much better shooter than Haward, while Hayward is the better athlete. They both have very good handles for a player of their size and are able to attack the basket with either hand. So to sum things up, I am very excited for Duncan. I still think Wilson is going to be a star. He needs to get stronger and improve his handle, but the sky is limit for him.
If LeVery comes back I think this is a top 10 team. If he doesn't, as I suspect, I think this is a top 20 team.
I think Donnal will be able to keep a spot in the rotation, if for no reason other than he is 6'9" and can shoot. He has to improve his strength and athleticism but as long as he doesn't transfer, I think he will keep a spot in the rotation. Chatman is a bit more complex. I guess I am so used to following high school basketball in the Indianapolis area, where the level of competition is so high, that I didn't have a feel for just how bad the competition Chatman faced in high school was. I still think he is talented but he is playing with no confidence whatsoever and his lack of athleticism and outside shooting ability has been too much to overcome. I hate to speculate on guys transferring but if Wilson improves over the summer as I think he will, minutes are going to be very hard to come by for Chatman.
The lack of production/development from the frontcourt players on this team (Doyle, Donnal, Wilson, and Chatman) is what is holding them back, in my opinion. I do think Michigan will be much improved next year, but until they can find a defensive anchor in the paint (Jordan Morgan) their potential is going to be limited. If Doyle and Wilson can develop over the summer as I think they will, Michigan might actually have a formidible front line next year. A colleague and I were talking last week during the Illinois game and I made the comment that if Caris LeVert comes back next year I think Zak Irvin will become the 6th man, which I think suits his skillset perfectly. I believe Duncan Robinson will surprise many and is going to start at either the 3 or 4 (depending on Wilson's development). I still see Wilson as having the highest ceiling on the team and truly believe his progress will determine whether Michigan has a good or great team next year. If he can develop his handle and jumpshot, next year's lineup will be the biggest of the Beilein era, with only 1 starter below 6'7", assuming LeVert returns (1 starter below 6'6" if he does not return).
I certainly respect your opinion but I disagree about the ceiling of this team. I still think they are a 3/4/5 seed type team. The trio of Walton, Irvin and LeVert is unmatched in the Big Ten and might be the best backcourt in the country. Several teams, especially young teams, struggle during the early stages of the season. The same Kentucky team that beat Kansas by 30 was losing to SUNY Buffalo by 5 at halftime AT HOME. UConn struggled last night against Charleston, 'Nova probably should have lost to Bucknell, Wisconsin struggled for a while against Green Bay a couple nights ago, and they are one of the more experienced teams in the country. Now, players like Wilson, Chatman and Donnal certainly need to improve but I have absolutely no reason to believe Beilein won't have this team ready for another deep run come tourney time.
While there is no positive way for ND fans to look at this, I will say good for them for actually punishing the guility parties. It is refreshing (probably the wrong word to use) to see cases where academics are put ahead of athletics.
He was saying that Miller probably benefitted more than any other OL from the switch to zone blocking because he was never going to be the type of player to simply move DT's out of the way. The best thing about that OL is every player would be in at least their third year with the program.
Take this for what it's worth, but a commenter on another site who has apparently been to a few practices says Miller is the clear choice at center and is the most improved OL on the team. He then went on to say the starting OL (once Glasgow is available) will be Mags at LT, Glasgow at LG, Miller at C, Kalis at RG, and Braden at RT.
If I remember correctly, mgoblue.com had some limited coverage of the 2010 trip to Belgium but I don't remember any video. I'm hoping there will be some sort of local (Italian) media covering the games and we can piggyback off that.
This was an awesome read! I certainly can't recall Mattison sounding like this in any fall camp prior to this one. The closest thing I remember was after the 2011 Illinois game when he was in tears because he was so proud of the defense.
In college you can make contact with the receiver at any point as long as the ball is not in the air. The NFL has the 5 yard contact rule but no such rule exists in college.
I will say that there is a clear difference between making contact 20 yards downfield and blatant holding. MSU CB's seemed to get away with quite a bit of holding, except against ND, of course.
Any idea who the other two guys standing with him are? Is the dude standing there smoking (a cigarette?) a football player?
I remember some of Frank's teammates (and opponents) talking about his freak athletic ability. And then he went out and had an all-conference season, despite having virtually no other playmakers on the DL. With much more talent and depth on the DL, I expect him to do even better this year.
I agree with your comment for the most part, I would just have LB #1 and QB #2 due to the fact that LB has more "proven" depth. I think Devin is a special talent and is going to have a fantastic year, but I'm not completely sold on Shane being ready at this point.
1) LB - Best unit in the conference, in my opinion.
2) QB - Some will disagree, but I think Devin is a first round NFL talent.
3) CB/S - With Countess back at 100%, experience in Taylor and Wilson mixed with huge talents like Lewis, Stribling, Thomas, and Peppers, this group could be #1 by the end of the season.
4) WR - Some will point to lack of experience, but no denying the talent
5) DL - Clark is an All-Big Ten player, Beyer is experienced, if a bit limited physically. Pipkins, Henry, Wormley, Taco, etc. all have huge upsides.
6) RB - See WR's, with a slightly lower ceiling.
7) OL - Obvs.
I'm very excited to see Ben Gedeon this year. 6'3", 240 lbs. while also being one of the more athletic LB's on the team, I think he will be a starter by Big Ten play. Too bad Beyer wasn't able to pack on more weight. Seems pretty light to be a SDE.
Edit: Also Ryan Glasgow is up to 296 now. That gives UM at least 5 able bodies (Pipkins, Henry, Mone, Wormley, and Glasgow) at DT/NT that are in the 295-310 range. Good to see some beef in the middle of the DL.
I agree that Denard covered up a lot of issues and the jury is certainly still out on Funk. I don't agree with you last sentence that "there's every indication that this year's line will be worse than last year's." I know most people say "well they lost 2 tackles to the NFL so they have to be worse". As others have said before, an OL is only as good as its weakest link and last year the weakest link (guards) were pretty terrible. So we had 2 great tackles, an average center and 2 pretty bad guards. While the tackles will surely take a step back this year, if the rest of the line can improve to average I think the OL as a whole will improve. I am also an optimist and have convinced myself that there is no possible way the line can be worse than last year.
I don't know if your comment was directed specifically at me, but I agree with everything you are saying. I was just pointing out the Auburn did not start 4 freshman and a sophomore in either 2010 or 2013, as was mentioned above.
I honestly don't mean to call you out but you are wrong again about that. Their 2010 starting OL had only one non senior starter, Brandon Mosley, who was a RS junior.
I've seen you say "started all freshman and a sophomore on the OL" a couple times now and I'm not quite sure where you saw or heard that. Last year their starting OL was a RS sophomore at LT (Robinson), a RS freshman at LG (Kozan), a true junior at C (Dismukes), a RS junior at RG (Slade), and a RS freshman at RT (Young). Now, I will certainly agree with you that their RS freshman played much better than our RS freshman on the OL, but they did have some experience mixed in there as well.
Thank you, friend. Perhaps it is just me, but I am more worried about the MSU game than OSU. Neither seems particularly winnable at this point, but it is really hard to envision a win in East Lansing this year.
I wonder what he is basing that on. Most likely a combination of the spring game and last season, I would guess. I don't think it is too crazy to expect the OL to at least look a little better than they did in the spring. I'm with you though, with all the talent the OL has (on paper), there has to be some improvement...right?
Man I can't wait for the season to start. These next 7 weeks are going to be agonizing listening to everyone tell us how afwul Michigan is because of last year. It would be interesting to see what similiar previews had to say about MSU prior to last season.
Eh, I think the TFL and sack numbers were so low because last years DL (especially DT's) was pretty bad. Maybe I'm just crazy but I think the DL will be much improved. If the NT/DT combo is actually as good as I think they will be, that should really help the DE's and LB's be able to get after the opposing QB more. Add to that my belief that the CB's are going to be very good this year, I think that will help the sack numbers as well.
The reason I think the defense will be much improved is they return 3 top players from injury that either didn't play much last year (Pipkins) or were not 100% while they played last year (Ryan and Countess). The DL is still somewhat of a question mark but I am very confident that the back 7 will be among the best in the country. Also, UM returns something like 20 contributors from last years defense and, although some will say differently, players can actually get better as they get older and gain more experience.
I'll go with my same prediction as last year (which was way off) of 10-2. Losses at ND and MSU. The talent is certainly there to be very good. The only team on the schedule that I feel has a talent advantage is OSU, and like UM, they also have questions about the OL entering this season. I believe the defense will be very good (top 10/20 nationally) and if the offense can just be average (somewhere between the 2011 and 2012 offenses), there is no game that UM can't win. So 10-2 it is. Unless of course it isn't.
I'll go one on offense and one on defense. On offense, I think Erik Magnuson will be an All-Big Ten OT by the end of the season. Not saying he will be first team, but he will prove himself to be one of the top six OT's in the conference. On defense, I think Jarrod Wilson is going to have a big year. He has the size/speed combination to be special, and I think (hope) he puts it all together this year.
Thank you for the response. That was very informative. My football knowledge is not close to yours so I really don't know what to look for when watching games/film. For example, when I watch Randy Gregory from Nebraska he looks the part of a top 5/10 NFL pick, but I do not see that with Calhoun (and obviously Clark). Below is a video of every defensive snap of last years UM vs. MSU game and to me, at least, it looks like Calhoun has little to no success any time he was matched up with Lewan or Schofield. He did get a sack while matched up with Schofield, but that one seems as though it was due to Gardner rolling right into Calhoun than Schofield getting beat. But again, thank you for the informative response.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g93jnXYt3XI
You know what is interesting is that I have the same thoughts for Shalique Calhoun from MSU. He is projected to go top 10 in several mock drafts and I really don't get it. They are in the same class, though Calhoun was able to redshirt his first year on campus and Clark was not. Stats from last year:
Clark - 13 TFL, 5 sacks
Calhoun - 14 TFL, 7.5 sacks
Keep in mind that Calhoun had 2.5 sacks and 4 TFL against UM, something Clark was not fortunate enough to be able to do.