The Franklin thing in a nutshell. PSU's OL coach catching strays from Anonymous NFL OL Coach:

Penn State’s Olu Fashanu

“He’s extremely athletic for his size. Their system is hard to watch. You’ve gotta sift through that stuff. The guys shuffle. They play with high-pad level. They don’t snap and strike guys. But he’s got all the traits. He’s a good prospect.”

Phil Trautwein has been their OL coach since 2020, but PSU's grim OL goes back farther than that.

Also. A couple of Michigan takes from that article:

Michigan’s Michael Barrett

“This is a really good player someone will get in the fifth or sixth round. Just a tough-ass kid. He’s a junkyard dog. Plays faster than what he runs. I hate saying that because once you get to the NFL that stuff catches up to you, but I like him a lot. I think he’ll be a really good special teams player too.”

And on Sainristil:

On Michigan’s Mike Sainristil

DB Coach 2: “He is one of my favorites. The habits are just so good. I’m not leery of his size because I think he plays a lot bigger. I have no reservations about him. He’s so aggressive and plays the ball so well in the air. I think he uses his lack of size to an advantage because he’s super quick and he’s able to get around blocks and people can’t get their hands on him.”

Scout 1: “He’s one of the best football players on anybody’s board if he’s on their board. Some guys will think he’s too small. Some guys will take him too high. Really good zone nickel. Really good player. He’s versatile, but the size is a concern. I like big guys. If he adds to your culture, it makes sense.”

DB Coach 1: “I’m not as high on him as some people. I think he’s a really good zone nickel. He has all the production with his eyes on the quarterback. He’s really good at that but does that fit what you do at that position? To me the highest value of the nickel is, can he cover the slot? And you don’t really see that as his major skill set.”

[After the JUMP: additional basketball man?]

Things Discussed:

• Spring game takes:
• QB: Wasn't a good format (no zone reads, mostly under-center) for gauging Orji. It was him or Warren, and Warren wasn't a speed-reader upon further review.
• RB: Edwards is geared up. Tavierre Dunlap had a really good game.
• TE: Saw Marlin Klein's speed, has a good feel for timing blocks. Saw some Tonielli too.
• OL: Hard to judge Persi from guard, Gentry moved guys but also had some breakdowns. Big drop from there to Link, who looks like a future player. Like some young Cs, Raheem Anderson stood up to Grant, Guarnera looked plausible at guard.
• DT: Both Benny and Pierce were out so we saw Ike and some DEs they had to move down. Keep an eye out for Chibi Anwunah next year. Joey Klunder played hard.
• Edge: Guy is real.
• LB: Barham is big and can move. Hausmann looked really good. Rolder looked really good.
• S: Hard to tell, but Oden is a lot bigger than we thought, might be ready to contribute early.
• CB: Waller and Hill coming on.
• Waller to the portal: Sam says sometimes a guy asks for way more than the pay scale. There's a lot of nodding and talking around without actually saying that Kentucky has a reputation for promising more than they deliver. Schools have got to be sick of this by now. Sam: Gotta live in today, which means you gotta go tamper.
• Dusty May Builds a Dusty May Program Overnight! These guys were all primary creators for their teams; Rubin Jones is also an elite defender. Choosing to pursue Tre Donaldson of the two Auburn guys shows Dusty knew what he was doing, took the path of greater resistance. Roddy Gayle is in the draft if he doesn't shoot 28% from three, and he had a wrist injury to explain it. Sam Walters shot 43% on *contested* threes, because when you're a 6'10" pogo stick there's no such thing as a contest. Danny Wolf is a very underrated creator, should team with Goldin to be the best pair of Cs in the B10? Nimari Burnett can actually be Nimari now, and Tschetter can Tschetter.
• Concerns: They all have elevated TO rates (should come down as they aren't all forced to be creators), they're a bit weak defensively at the four (Walters has length but he was a beanpole freshman last year), and it's going to take time for everyone to get used to playing together.
• We're gonna LOVE Rubin Jones. Very good rebounder, very smart ballplayer, put Johnell Davis in a hell, which is probably why May wanted to go and get him.
• NFL Draft? Sorry out of time.

[Hit the JUMP for the player, and video and stuff]

I wrote a softball update a few weeks back, when Michigan was starting to show some promise offensively, with a few important weekends upcoming. Three weekend series have passed since then, with Michigan continuing to bank wins and stay near the top of the conference as we learn what this young team is made of. It's about time for another softball update and in turn, it's time to give Michigan's baseball team some love as well, after yet another series win in conference play, most recently over the rival Ohio State Buckeyes. Today we'll be accomplishing both, talking about developments in the softball season and the road ahead, before digging into where Michigan Baseball sits with a month to go in the regular season: 

Softball hitters: REAL 

When I wrote about softball last time, I was reporting on the genuinely encouraging developments on offense for the Wolverines that had suddenly materialized, following a moribund first month of the season. At the time I noted that we would gain more information on just what these young hitters were made of over the following couple weeks, with two solid pitching teams upcoming in Northwestern and Iowa. There were reasons to believe the offensive surge was real, but until they faced more deecent pitching staffs, it was difficult to buy in fully. 

So what happened? Michigan has continued to hit pretty well. They didn't bludgeon Northwestern, which no one was expecting against a team with a star ace like Ashley Miller, but after scoring just one in the first game in an abbreviated run rule game, they put up 4 and then 5 on the 'Cats. It was disappointingly not enough to win any of the games due to a pitching meltdown, but from an offensive standpoint, I came away encouraged. Northwestern has only allowed 4+ runs nine times this season in 38 games and two of those were against the Wolverines. That's something. 

Then came Iowa, who had allowed 6+ runs four times all season. Michigan put up 6+ in all three games, seeming to send their pitching into a tailspin that then carried over into a disastrous series against Indiana this past weekend. Michigan put up 11 and 5 in mid-week games against MSU over the past two weeks and then put up 4, 6, and 11 this past weekend against Nebraska. The pitching held up enough to sweep all of those games against Iowa, MSU, and Nebraska. To cap it all off, Michigan went on the road yesterday to Oakland and defeated the Golden Grizzlies for the second time this season, winning by a 9-4 final score.  

I don't believe that Michigan is one of the very best offenses in college softball, but we have enough evidence now that this is a good college offense. More importantly, it is an offense that is miles better than what they put out there in any of the last few seasons. The numbers over the past 29 games speak for themselves: in that span Michigan is hitting a quadruple slash of .324/.419/.558/.977 as a team. Their batting average, OBP, and SLG would all be top 25 in the country if sustained over a full season. Of course, they haven't been facing the most *elite* pitchers in the country during this stretch (mostly conference games against a weak B1G) and thus we wouldn't expect it to be fully sustained over a full season. but I've followed this team a while now. I've watched versions of Michigan over the years, particularly 2022 and 2023, that couldn't hit the ball against anybody. To now have a team that is bludgeoning the merely okay teams on the schedule is a significant development. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: digging deeper into softball + baseball talk]