evan link

Last season was the final word on a uniquely American pastime, a maximalized rugby/soccer offshoot that began with a spring 1879 trial of Walter Camp's new rules, and concluded with its final championship last January.

Stipulating that Michigan is the final victor of college football's remarkable 144-year year run, like any good MMRPG reaching the end of original content doesn't mean we have to stop playing.* The winners of the first and last games of the mainline series not only plan on continuing to compete in the endgame, but are actively preparing to do so right this very moment. Let's see what's happening. But first the ground rules.

How spring lies: The vast majority of spring chatter is pablum. Established starters get praised for their leadership, focus, and offseason workout regimens. Obvious new ones get compared to the guys they're stepping in for. Coach pressers spin vagarities then name some dudes. Insider information is often more precise, but also usually planted.

How spring truths: Typical things that stand out as positives are players that every practice observer feels they need to mention (e.g. Sainristil), surprisingly short position battles (same), and young depth guys who don't need to get hypes but are brought up anyways (Loveland in '22). Typically negative heuristics are position changes, getting named after a younger player at one's position, battles that go on longer than they should, and when the questions they're answering aren't the more pressing ones we're asking (conversely if we're worried about backups and they talk about the starter it's a good thing).

Thus the format where we start with expectations, and measure what we're hearing against those.

Quick note on paywalled info. There is some, noted with ($). If I'm sharing it anyways it means there's either a lot more for subscribers at the link, or the info therein is so old it's already well percolated through social media and by that point it's better to credit the original source than pretend it doesn't exist.

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* [That only happens once the corporate overlords who bought the IP stack so many subscription fees, microtransactions, shortsighted DLCs, and too-disruptive in-game ads into the thing that the critical mass of people who were hanging onto the diluted product for nostalgia finally let go.]

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Quarterback

Oh Denegal is having a bad week, is he?

The question we're asking is: Who's the quarterback?

But they're acting like it's: That.

What are we hearing? No thought of portal, Jadyn Davis has INTANGIBLES, and Orji is seizing the job because nobody can throw well enough at this point to make up for what Orji can do with his legs.

With Tuttle "working through something" the official channels are making every candidate equal. Tyler Morris:

Each one has their own thing that they're good at, I would say," Morris explained. "I wouldn't necessarily say there was one that's caught my eye, but there's been days where one might stand out for the day and then the next one -- the next practice, another guy. … Alex, obviously he can move. Davis just getting the ball to people. Jayden Denegal, he made some good throws. Jadyn Davis, I mean, he's made some great throws too."

Mason Graham seemed to confirm some insider notes I've gotten that Orji's running ability is standing out from a group that's been struggling to throw it to their own guys.

"I mean they’re all doing a good job — but Alex Orji can make plays with his legs ... You don’t know what he’s doing, even when he doesn’t have the ball because he’s a weapon. … when there’s somebody back there that can just run at any given time and you’ve gotta chase him down, it’s in the back of your mind throughout the game."

Brian Jean-Mary also noted that while he's been impressed by the ground game, the offense is "finding its footing." That is a nicer way of saying the first practices with pads have resembled an Iowa spring game via both Sam and Josh Henschke ($):

Wink’s pressures and blitzes “handled” the offense thoroughly. As for quarterbacks, we’re told that a lot of interceptions were thrown this week and there were some inconsistencies from all quarterbacks. … the offense needs time to get rhythm and gel, a lot of early pressure by Wink doesn’t necessarily allow that but it’s good practice.

When we do hear about a play in the passing game it's not coming from the pocket, which there's one guy who's likely to still be standing when not in it. Josaiah Stewart on Orji:

He can escape the pocket, but believe it or not, he can throw," he said. "People might not believe that, social media or whatnot, say he can't throw, but he can throw. I've seen him throw dots down the field, and it's worse when you just almost get there and he gets the ball off, and it's a touchdown. He's great at doing that. He's great at escaping and getting the ball downfield."

On their podcast (video) Henschke shared that his insiders think Orji is #1, Davis Warren #2, not far behind is Jadyn Davis, who is your presumptive starter in 2025, and then Denegal, who didn't have that great of a week. Jadyn "continues to stack good days."

What it means?

Orji hasn't grasped the offense but he's probably going to have to lead it, because his legs are a bona fide Big Ten-caliber weapon, and none of the other QBs' skills rise to that yet. Denegal shouldn't be written off for one bad week but it sounds like it was quite the bad week. Jadyn Davis chatter is meaningful for the future.

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[After THE JUMP: Focused on becoming the best on and off the field.]

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

TACKLE: I HOPE YOU DIDN'T EXPECT TO GET SOME OF THAT BACON BECAUSE THERE ARE SO MANY OFFENSIVE TACKLES IN THIS ROOM THAT THEY'RE PROBABLY GOING TO EAT ALL OF THE BACON AND WHY ARE YOU HAULING BACON AROUND LIKE THIS ANYWAY IF YOU ASK ME THAT'S PRETTY WEIRD BEHAVIOR

RATING: 4

[Bolded player rules: not necessarily returning starter, but someone we've seen enough of that I'm no longer talking about their recruiting profile (much, anyway). Extant contributor.]

Well… it's going to be a little weird. Harbaugh liked his quarterback competition from last year so much he's going to replicate it wherever he can:

“There’s four starting tackles that we have and it'll go through camp. I envision starting two tackles one game — the first game — and two tackles the second game."

Those four guys are Karsen Barnhart and LaDarius Henderson on the left with Trente Jones and Myles Hinton on the right. Compounding the lack of clarity is that guys are perfectly capable of flipping sides—Barnhart played right tackle last year plenty—and this is really just a pile of tackles that Michigan will select two from. Our chart above has to say something, so we're going with the current depth chart, but this space believes that Henderson will move into the starting lineup after a few games, leaving Barnhart and Jones fighting over the right tackle spot. Hinton is a longer-term play. Probably.

In any case, Michigan has five different tackles with college starts and four different guys with extensive experience. Nobody is an established, elite college tackle but short of having one of those this is about the best possible scenario to find yourself in.

Previously: Last year’s profiles, K Adam Samaha, K James Turner (Tr), S Brandyn Hillman, CB DJ Waller, CB Cameron Calhoun, CB Jyaire Hill, HSP/LB Jason Hewlett, LB Hayden Moore, LB Semaj Bridgeman, LB Ernest Hausmann (Tr), OLB Breeon Ishmail, DE Aymeric Koumba, DE Enow Etta, DE Josaiah Stewart (Tr), DT Brooks Bahr, DT Cameron Brandt, DT Trey Pierce

Washington (Gonzaga), DC – 6'6"/290
		247: 6'6/290                          3.79*	3*, 88, NR overall #45 OT, #3 DC
		On3: 6'5.5/290                          4.51*	4*, 93, #124 overall #9 OT, #2 DC
		Rivals: 6'6/290                          3.98*	4*, 5.8, NR overall #26 OT, #3 DC
		ESPN: 6'5/290                          3.95*	4*, 80, #36 East #31 OT, #3 DC
		Composite                          4.10*	4*, #269/#285 Ovr #22/#21 OT, #2/#3 DC
		MGoAverage                          4.07*	4*, #336/789 Ovr #30/54 OTs since '90
		YMRMFSPA	Andrew Stueber
Other Suitors	PSU, Stanford, VT, Wisconsin
Previously On MGoBlog	Hello by Alex Drain
Notes	May be a package deal with Navi.
Film:
Senior Highlights:Junior Highlights:Hudl. EJ's game clips vs Nyckoles Harbor's team. Sam clips vs Harbor.

Maybe don't mention this one to your Penn State friend. Since James Franklin arrived, his Nits have recruited a dozen four-star tackle prospects in the hopes of maybe getting one of their five-star quarterbacks to the NFL with his ribcage intact. So far only one of those bookends—Olu Fashanu—hasn't been a disappointment. This explains why PSU folk were understandably excited to go back where Fashanu came from for another underrated, super-academically minded mauler.

Wisconsin was part of it too, but Stanford was the main threat. Evan Link made it clear from the outset that elite academics were his main priority, and his process made it clear this was more than the normal lip service. Michigan was hanging around, and had some connections—Grant Newsome's brother went to Gonzaga College, and Link worked with Mike Dillon, the trainer who had Tristan Bounds moving pickups when his COVID season was canceled. But after Link had to cancel his official visit to Ann Arbor for illness, and with Shaw's Stanford program on its last legs, the crystal balls flew in for Penn State.

The night before Evan Link's commitment announcement, the On3 prediction machine gave the Wolverines a six percent chance of winning it. Even now, the PSU recruiting people are lamenting the week they lost both Link to Michigan and their fallback plan to Michigan State. I'm not saying Drew Allar should get out of Happy Valley immediately—Fashanu is still there after all—but if their latest statue winds up as squishy as Christian Hackenberg, Trace McSorley, and Sean Clifford in a few years, you can know that Michigan's superior academics and Harbaugh's quoteboard are to blame.

After THE JUMP: There's always a contrarian.]