The system for depth charting:

And if his name's in red they plan to redshirt him.

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Quarterback

Can your friends pull this out their little haaaat? [Bryan Fuller]

The question we're asking is: Would Orji be really mad if we look in the portal?

But they're acting like it's: How cool does Orji look in pads?

What are we hearing? Orji has some wow moments, and the next moment he'll throw another pick. Devin Gardner went to a practice then went on with Sam. Orji:

he looks like a GI Joe… like an action figure (with) a Michigan uniform on, and obviously a bigger version. This dude is built like a rock. When you say hey, what do I want the athlete to look like? That's exactly what it should look like. … The thing for Orji is he's got all the talent in the world, man. (But) you see some opportunities in practice where he missed some throws that… man… you want him to make that throw.

GI Joe like he's shooting blue lasers?

He has some things where his feet aren't always in the right place. His feet aren't as clean as you want them to be. Sometimes you lose accuracy, and you lose timing.

Then Semaj Morgan joined them.

I feel like every quarterback has their unique quality. Orji he just a freak athlete; anything you can think about in a football player he probably can do. Then we got Davis Warren like strong powerful arm, and he's really fast; he be running 22 miles per hour when we run Sprints. Then we got Jayden Denegal; he can throw the ball real accurate. And he big; he can run you over—he's gonna get that first down when we need it. Then we got Jaydyn Davis although very young he's very well-rounded. And I will tell you he's not scared to throw the ball, and that's that's something that I love about a quarterback. I don't care what the coverage is; I don't care who's on me; if you feel like the person in front of me's not better than me, throw me that ball! Jayden Davis understands that.

In the aftermath, Sam devoted a 3R Report($) that said they've been focusing on dropback passing with Orji, and also that Jayden Denegal's struggles didn't continue past the first four practices.

There was clear separation between Orji and him at that point, but not as much since then. He's closed the gap in recent practices with his improved accuracy and has shown better skills on the move than outside observers might expect at first glance.

Davis Warren has a cannon that can't hit the broad side of NCAA hypocrisy, and Jadyn Davis is not going to be put in a position to jeopardize his future, but his accuracy is excellent, especially on the run. From a practice insider, Orji is still in the driver's seat but there's going to be a major drop-off from McCarthy. Botched snaps, interceptions, and plays where the QB doesn't see anything and starts to panic are things that happen to teams that don't have JJ under center, in case you've forgotten, but they've been jarring to some of the used-to-JJ the people seeing them in practice.

Tuttle's still hurt, but Michigan is expected to poke around the portal, which opened this week, and wherein Chris Hummer thinks Michigan will have their pick of the litter. 247's Matt Zenitz adds that UCLA and Northwestern are the only schools currently desperate($) for a starter, but USC and Auburn might provide competition if an elite name enters. Henschke thinks Michigan will be in the market ($).

What it means? Michigan probably does want to add some competition from the portal, but going about it without triggering a tampering investigation or losing one of their own is tricky, and probably only worth the risk for a game-changer. Odds are just as good they stick with Orji and put Jadyn Davis, who could use a season to gain weight before facing Big Ten linemen, on the McCarthy plan.

Depth Chart? I'm still expecting them to redshirt Jadyn Davis unless he passes Denegal.

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[After THE JUMP: Let's talk about 4th tight end and 9th OL.]

Previously: The Story. Quarterback. Running Back. Wide Receiver. Tight End. 

INTERIOR OL: YOU'VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY

Michigan's offensive line is coming off back-to-back Joe "Sherrone" Moore awards. They get back six guys who started games last year and added two of the Pac-12's best OL, plus a former five-star with a season and change of starting experience. Cocky? Nah. Call it confid—

On Zinter's proposed formation with 10 offensive linemen and a running back

You know, I get ... every day the linemen are sending me plays and formations. I'm like, 'can you guys just worry about what you got to do?'

Ok, cocky.

I am rapturous about Sherrone Moore rolling into the building every morning only for Keegan and Zinter to confront him with their latest ludicrous offense against God and football. They are both wearing full pads and helmets. Keegan sports his trademark faceful of eyeblack. They show him a play where three offensive linemen pull in different directions and then the ball is lateraled to a fourth OL. Moore tries very hard to remember that these guys are his ticket to a head coaching job next year and says he'll take it under advisement. Zinter and Keegan high five, elated. Exit stage right, repeat every day of the summer.

In addition to those two guys, Michigan added a two year starter and All Pac-12 honorable mention center to go with two more guys who I'd be perfectly comfortable starting. And the top backup at guard looked like he'd start at a majority of Big Ten schools last year, when he was a redshirt freshman.

Sometimes I think back to that time Rich Rodriguez got the Michigan job and arrived to find out he had a total of seven scholarship OL, one of whom was immediately lost for the season. This section's title is a riff on old lady cigarette ads, and I assume Rodriguez smoked several packs of lady cigarettes upon beholding the roster. That's over! ALL OF THAT IS OVER.

Michigan's offensive line is now a zombie apocalypse. You can shoot as many guys in the head with a shotgun as you want but the pile is gonna lurch forward with you under it.

[After THE JUMP: there is a PFF intern who deserves a whoopin']

Previously: Podcast 14.0A, 14.0B, 14.0C. The Story. Quarterback. Running Back. Wide Receiver. Tight End. Offensive Tackle. Interior OL.

BEFORE WE GET STARTED

War never changes, but the preview posts do. We've held onto the idea that a 3-4—really a 5-2 since one of your starting "OLBs" is 292 pounds—is not really a thing in 2022 even if Michigan says it is. They did last year, and we didn't believe them, and then they ran out one linebacker for big chunks of the Michigan State game. Was this a good idea? No. Does it force us to reconsider some things, preview-wise? Yes.

Also. I worked on this depth chart for a month and then Harbaugh … just podcasted it out, with full on OLB/tackle/nose/end Ravens 3-4 nomenclature. So. Here is what we believe will happen with the defense this year:

• ANY SPREAD LOOK, STANDARD DOWN: 4-2-5 nickel that looks bog standard Don Brown pre-snap complete with viper-type person who is either Michael Barrett or Mike Sainristil.
• ANY SPREAD LOOK, PASSING DOWN: Exotic blitz pu-pu platter.
• BEEFCAKE: 5-2-4. Nominally a 3-4 but the SOLB is 290 pounds and the weakside end probably isn't dropping much, so functionally a … yep, 4-3 under.

This means that Harbaugh naming about 16 defensive starters sort of makes sense. Is Mason Graham a starter against Maryland? No. Mike Sainristil is. Vice versa against MSU.

The major difference here is that the nickel adjustment is "remove DT, add DB" instead of the more traditional "remove LB, add DB." Since it's 2022, though, the nickel is really your base and a heftier front is more unusual. We have adjusted our depth charts to reflect Michigan's approach but continue to assume base nickel personnel. Like the rest of football, we've given up on calling things defensive ends: welcome to the "edge" era.

DEFENSIVE INTERIOR: PRESS F TO PAY FOR SPINAL SURGERY

The last couple years this was a pain point, or at least expected to be one. Last year the DTs were expected to be an Achilles heel and were instead decent-to-good. This year Michigan loses Chris Hinton, a solid guy without a lot of upside, and brings back the two biggest bust-out candidates on the team.

This looks like a dichotomy: there's every reason to believe that Michigan will have a couple of stars here, but you need four guys, not two, even when you don't run a defense that effectively has 3 DTs starting. Michigan's going to get plays here, in bunches. The threat is that other teams make plays based on youthful backups if they can stay on the field.