lathan ransom

Previously: Quarterback, Running Back, Receivers, Offensive Line, Defensive Line, Linebacker 

We have made it to the end of The Enemy, Ranked 2023. Just like last year, I'm counting DB-shaped HSPs as DBs, but in reality that really only affects one team on this ranking, which is Indiana's "HUSKY". Most teams here have five positions listed with the nickel being included because this is 2023 and most CFB teams play with 5 DBs most all of the time. At the end of the piece I will briefly drop in special teams rankings and then will wrap this whole series up by reviewing what we learned about the opponents on Michigan's 2023 schedule. 

12. East Carolina

This is pretty grim. On the plus side of things, Teagan Wilk and Julius Wood are a pair of returning safeties, two-thirds of last year's safety rotation. On the down side, they weren't particularly special. More concerning: the top four corners from last season and nickel Gerard Stringer all are out the door. Yikes!! The wreckage that remains are the following names: Shavon Revel (ex-JUCO who played sparingly last year), Isaiah Brown-Murray (3*, RS last year), Jonathon Jones (good at FCS Campbell), and TyMir Brown (ex-3* UNC down-transfer who never played for North Carolina). Take your pick of those names, it's likely not going to be pretty! This is bad even for a Group of 5 program and in the context of this list, ECU is easily last. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: more DB rooms]

[Isaiah Hole]

That escalated quickly. The above-the-break portion of last week’s roundup was dedicated to coverage of Daxton Hill’s upcoming visit because obvious things are obvious. I did not expect to be writing about him in the same portion of the round up again a week later. Sure, the articles linked in that post were packed with restrained optimism, but this was a Michigan v. Alabama recruiting battle. And yet.

Things started to pick up with a Sam Webb board post that detailed Hill’s visit as close to minute-by-minute as possible and detailed everything from who Hill sat with to his body language. He closed that post by saying “My read on the confidence level in Ann Arbor coming off the visit is it's as high as ever.” Then WolverinesWire’s Isaiah Hole interviewed Hill on his podcast and Hill responded with a hesitant “Uh, I really don’t know” when asked about whether he was going to take any other officials and how long it would be before he made a final decision about committing. That’s no surprised in hindsight, as Steve Lorenz reports that the Michigan staff knew Hill was going to commit to them after his official visit. Hill even shared with Hole in an off-the-record conversation that, though he wouldn’t say where, he knew what school he would commit to but wasn’t sure when he would do it.

Then Hill dropped the news publicly on Tuesday night, and the recruiting sites are still surveying and reporting on the aftermath. Any recruit rated as highly as Hill by all of the services naturally induces some by-the-numbers content after he commits of the “highest-rated since…” variety like this post from The Wolverine, this post from Nate Wiggins of The Wolverine Lounge, and this list of 15 quick-hitters from The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen; Hill’s verifiably insane verified testing results from The Opening also lend themselves to these articles.

Analysis posts of various sorts have also popped up, such as this Josh Helmholdt piece and accompanying video (which features film of Hill from field level) on Hill’s skillset and what adding him to the class means to Michigan fans. WolverinesWire’s Isaiah Hole sat down with Devin Gardner for their weekly segment and Gardner gave a detailed scouting report based off of Hill’s ludicrous highlight reel. 247 has a few bits about who helped with the recruitment behind the scenes, including this Steve Lorenz piece that mentions lead recruiter Sherrone Moore, about whom Brice Marich has more.

Another round of articles were published after reporters had a chance to reach out to others for comment. Sam Webb put up a piece with some choice quotes based on an interview he did with Stan Edwards (yes that Stan Edwards) on the radio.

“Daxton Hill the player…I think you described him perfectly,” said Edwards. “I would agree with you because I was around when Tripp Welborne came through here. That is a pretty good comparison. I sat next to Daxton (at the SMU game). Berkeley (i.e. Stan’s son) is on the team now, so our tickets are always in the same area. So I got a chance to sit next to Dax during the game. We talked about safety play. I said, ‘listen, you’ve got skills like Eric Berry. You’ve got skills like Ed Reed.’ I said, ‘don’t ever forget about your man to man cover skills.’ He stopped me in the middle of conversation, put his hands on me and said, ‘nah, I work on that every day. That’s something I always work on.’”

[After THE JUMP: More on Hill. Also, remember that other five-star, the one who was supposed to commit and still hasn’t?]