micah pollard

Previously: Podcast 15.0A, 15.0B, 15.0C. The Story. Quarterback. Running Back. Wide Receiver. Tight End. Interior OL. Defensive Interior. Edge.

LINEBACKER: LINEBACKING IS HARD

Not a Depth Chart

It's a fair bet the plurality of position-specific praying in 2022 was for the linebackers. Michigan went into the season with two playable options, one of those a true sophomore who could explode in any direction, and lost the other to a thigh injury for the whole of it. Options past Colson and NHG were Don Brown viper Michael Barrett, RB-ish Brown recruit whom Notre Dame, Wisconsin, and everybody at Michigan's spring game thought better left at RB Kalel Mullings, and freshmen. By the bowl game they were asking a former starting safety to move down.

And now? Different story. The twitching ball of azidoazide azide has reached the age of draftability. The viper used the opportunity to turn himself into a bona fide WLB. The thigh guy was sent down to Charlotte to make room for the top free agent in the portal. Last year's semi-playable freshman is now a playable sophomore trying to hold off a Don Brown doom squirrel we were getting ready to write off this time in 2022. The guy everyone wanted to play running back? He actually gets to play running back!

Depending on what happens with the immigrant infante's irises, this unit is headed towards something between pretty good and 12-15 Christmases.

SHADY'S BACK

It may or may not make a difference beyond recruiting, but the guy who rivaled Santa in gifts he's brought to Michigan reputably also knows his way around the second level.

You said five, so I'm here for five. [Barron]

Once and future Chris Partridge returned to Michigan this offseason after a rocky attempt to coordinate a defense at Ole Miss. The top recruiter among all the Harbaugh lieutenants who've come through Ann Arbor, Partridge was also the linebacking coach during the position's best years in the history of our charting. Granted, they had Devin Bush Jr. (a Partridge recruit) for most of those years. Events not related to Bush:

• Jabrill Peppers (a Partridge player in HS) was a Heisman candidate as a Viper.
• Ben Gedeon developed into a solid starter.
• Mike McCray hit his ceiling.
• Devin Gil became a serviceable Big Ten player.
• Josh Ross had an extremely promising early career.
• Khaleke Hudson did too.

Things got a lot worse in the years after Partridge. One reason to think they might take a leap forward is there isn't another LBs coach in the MGoBlog era with that kind of track record. Another is they have an elite athlete on hand who's badly in need of coaching.

[After THE JUMP: Back again.]

Help, what are all these words? The UFR Glossary. Addition: "PRO" in the Type column is "pass-read option," to help me differentiate an RPO that goes with the pass option.

Okie Dokie: Eyabi Anoma is now Eyabi Okie. Please update the phonebooks.

Substitution Notes: Starting to see tiers. Tier 1 (the starters) is Smith/Jenkins/Graham, Morris/Harrell, Colson/Barrett, Turner/Sainristil/Green, and Moore/Moten. Tier 1.5 is Upshaw and Paige—vets they trust who rotate behind the starters.Tier 2 are kids they're trying to get up to speed but will trust when the starters need a breather: Benny, McGregor, Mullings, and Johnson. Rooks, Eyabi Okie (formerly Anoma)/D.Moore, and Rolder are another tier down of kids they're trying to get snaps but maybe don't trust yet, though Okie was on the field much earlier. Everyone else is deep bench.

Formation Notes: Michigan amoeba'd. I noted the personnel then the formation which might not match it at all. This 5-1 odd front has Barrett as the edge at the top.

Yada yada. Hawai'i was mostly 11 personnel spread with a TE flexed out like above.

Help, what are all these words? The UFR Glossary.

Substitution Notes: Backups got a lot of play. Morris and Harrell were the starters at edge, with Taylor Upshaw matching them for snaps as Morris slid down to DT for pass rush packages. Backups were Derrick Moore and Braiden McGregor, with spot appearances at weakside for Eyabi Anoma. DTs were Mazi and Jenkins with Graham and Benny rotating in (more for Jenkins than Smith) and a third team of Rooks and Goode. Safety was Rod Moore and Moten, who rotated with Paige until Moore came out with the starters for Kolesar. Sainristil held down nickel all game, including when CSU went 2TE. CB was DJ Turner and Gemon Green mostly with Will Johnson rotating in for a drive here and there.

Formation Notes: Updating the “Hi” column this year to provide more information on the secondary alignment. Press/Off are self-explanatory. “Fld” or “Bdy” mean only the field or boundary CB is playing off. Reminder that "Hat" (as in: tip o' the…) means the other team's player did a thing all on his own. It can be positive (helped) or negative (nice job, guy on other team).

CSU's favorite formation was a 3-wide with the TE half-flexed. Michigan's formations were mostly the same as last year's plus this 5-1 look from Nickel personnel (that's Barrett at the top). I called it "Nk 5-1"

They also rolled out a 3-3-5 look with Upshaw (on the 45 below the hash) dropped back like a LB. Nk 3-3-5.

And this was the look before the 4th and 7 strip-six, which I called "Y-Stack" because the SS, WLB, and Edge are all over the TE, with Paige down near the LOS. Michigan brought the house.

On epithets, pseudonyms, sobriquets, and general patronymity: When I say "Green" I mean Gemon; I'll use "German" when it's his brother. The Johnson is Will, and if Quinten plays he can be Q-Jo. "Moore" is Rod Moore, and Derrick Moore is "D-Mo." The Pollards are going by their first names, Micah (the LB) and Myles (the CB). NHG=Nikhai Hill-Green. Juice=Julius Welschof. And Kody Jones is K.Jones for the purposes of future-proofing. Apologies to the people who asked me to use full names, but the tradeoff is fewer mistakes.

Also "PR" means pressure, "cov" is coverage, and "RPS" is rock-paper-scissors, IE effects of the play calls. Let's do this!