myles pollard

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

Depth Chart

Well, on the one hand you have two of the best defensive backs in America. On the other you have a great sea of uncertainty led by a UMass transfer. It'll be fine, in all probability, because Michigan has six or seven guys competing for one spot on the defense and the UMass transfer has almost literally as much experience as it is possible to have while still being allowed to play college football.

But, I mean, this is it. This is the Worry Spot. This is the most concerning thing about the entire 2023 Michigan Wolverines: who is going to play opposite the reincarnation of Charles Woodson.

CORNERBACK: MY NAME IS KIIIIIIIIID WOODSON

RATING: 4.

This preview series has now referenced two of Michigan's famous Musical Dirtbags and will undoubtedly work in some sort of juggalos reference before it ends. This is what you don't pay me for, folks.

[Fuller]

Anyway, WILL JOHNSON came in as a 6'2", five-star corner and those guys simply do not miss. The question was "when will he not miss" and the answer was right… about… now…

CB #2 to top

On the opening snap of The Game Michigan put him in press coverage with no safety help against Marvin Harrison Jr and he obliterated the first WR off the board in the 2024 draft. That was a statement of intent. (PFF, infuriatingly, did not count this as a target.) Ohio State targeted Johnson downfield exactly one more time (a comeback to Fleming that was complete for 15 yards) before it was 38-23 and Michigan started playing to bleed the clock.

[After THE JUMP: Hail, Hail to Sainristil]

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

Depth Chart

This isn't quite the halcyon days of five or so years ago when David Long and Jourdan Lewis were hanging out with Lavert Hill waiting his turn. It's not that far off, though, thanks to a belated but massive recruiting hit named DJ Turner and the addition of a can't-miss kind of five star recruit. Michigan has a couple of veteran guys to go with them, and so far they've kept their nose in front of the five star. It would be nice to have another top-100 guy floating around here but for this year that'll do.

CORNERBACK: SPIN THAT ISH

RATING: 4.

if you were a DJ calling yourself DJ Turner would be too on the nose [Marc-Gregor Campredon]

The emergence of DJ TURNER last season was unexpected. Sometimes guys burst through and are clearly the best option at cornerback after having scant roles early in the season, but almost always those are young players. Turner was in year three and didn't have world-beaters in front of him. Vincent Gray was a UDFA after entering the draft; Gemon Green had an up-and-down season we're about to address.

Since corner is the most ruthlessly physical position in football, if you're a dude you're immediately a dude. Sometimes you can go from a disaster to a guy (JT Floyd, Gray), but you usually cannot go from off the radar to dude. Unless you're Turner, who apparently decided to be one halfway through year three. Going over the UFRs was entertaining, because the summary section contained bits headlined "Maybe Turner can play?" and "Turner might be real?" for a solid month. Yes, Virginia, there is a cornerback.

Previously: Last year’s profiles. S Damani Dent, S/Nk Zeke Berry, S/HSP Keon Sabb.

Brentwood, TN – 6’2”, 185
[Marc-Grégor Campredon]		247:                    3.55*	3*, 87, NR overall #61 CB, #24 TN
		Rivals:                    3.68*	3*, 5.7, NR overall #47 CB, #17 TN
		ESPN:                    3.53*	3*, 78, #343 SE #79 CB, #25 TN
		On3:                    3.52*	3*, 87, NR overall #53 CB, #20 TN
		Composite:                    3.74*	3*, 0.8742, #603 ovr #53 CB, #20 TN
		Other Suitors	Aub, WA, Tenn, UF, UK, BC, VT
		YMRMFSPA	Jeremy Clark
Previously On MGoBlog	Hello post by me.
Notes	Twitter.
Film:
Senior film; suggested title: 6 minutes of receivers from the whiniest state in the union begging for PI:   vs D'Andre Martin. Junior film. Hudl page.

Oh no, we did not just insult all long and tall cornerbacks just because Don Brown's attempt to recruit a class of them yielded starters Vincent Gray and Gemon Green. For the kids whose football interest came online after the 2018 class, there was a time, back when all the Harbaugh jokes were still being written, when canceling was just something that happened to fade merchant receivers when they played Michigan. Strapping lads like Stribling and Clark explored the deepest reaches of the sideline. From Tom Curtis to Gemon Green, the gallant goliath cornerbacks of Michigan have long protected their enemies from contact with oblong spheroid projectiles in much the same way that Gary Gray here did not.

Pollard wasn't so much a guy that Michigan identified they wanted as a guy that Michigan fans demanded they go get after we all watched him and teammate Junior Colson take on IMG and J.J. McCarthy. In case you missed it, Pollard was the guy no-no'ing all the five-stars.

3 star CB Myles Pollard getting his called on ESPNU! @me1espollard @RavenwoodFB #GEICOShowcase pic.twitter.com/NKN9KipcoY

— NIBC (@NIBCOfficial) September 26, 2020

The receiver getting sorry'd there was Jacorey Brooks, a 2021 Bama 5-star signing, who drew Pollard all game and was held to 36 yards on three catches on something like (going from memory here) 9(?) targets.

Shortly before that Sam Webb had gone down to look at Colson, and returned singing panegyrics for the corner in the next class. Between the IMG game and 2020's ignoble end, Sam had everyone on board except Michigan, probably because Zordich/Brown knew they were out the door, possibly because they under orders never to touch anything that looked like the Sims+Faustin+Gray+Double-Greens class again.

That immediately changed with the hire of Mo Linguist, certified Tennessee recruiting magician. Agent Will Johnson was dispatched to court his fellow 2022 CB like a five-star, as Michigan frantically worked to catch the rest of Pollard's now impressive suite of suitors: Oklahoma, Washington, FSU, Oregon, and "Bama" having joined Kentucky, Virginia Tech, PSU, and BC.

When Linguist left to become head coach of Buffalo there was only guy Michigan could have hired to rescue, let alone improve their chances with Pollard, that being his main contact at Kentucky Steve Clinkscale. By June it seemed likely, but we sweated out trips to Florida, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Auburn before uncorking the champaign at Sam's.

Pollard enrolled early, so we got to see him in spring. In fact you already saw a photo of it in this profile. It was that play when converted linebacker Kalel Mullings turned the corner on a corner.

Maybe Mullings is really fast? [Marc-Grégor Campredon]

That's a one-play sample that may not mean what you think, but it's also the reason the twitchy, heady, physical playmaker who's taller than most of the guys he'll be covering wasn't ranked like a Will Johnson. Of course, it was a spring game, not The Game. Like the school who ultimately caught him, Pollard's a guy who might fall behind, might even stumble, flail, grasp around, but just when you think he's toast, he finds something nobody else has. And then there he is.

[After THE JUMP: I swear up and down that it's not 2018]