zak zinter
Tonight the football world turns its attention to downtown Detroit and the 2024 NFL Draft. Over the years of the Jim Harbaugh era we've grown accustomed to Michigan to having quite a few players drafted, but the next three days has the opportunity to be historic. Harbaugh himself was talking up the possibility of Michigan setting NFL Draft records in 2024 last summer and now with only a few hours to Draft Day, it remains plausible. Georgia's 2022 draft remains the record, with 15 players taken off the Bulldogs' national title winning roster. Can Michigan tie, or exceed 15? Today we'll go through each player, their chances of getting drafted, and what NFL Draft scouts are saying about the heroes from Team 144:
Certain to be drafted (7)
JJ McCarthy
Consensus Big Board ranking: 23
Likely Draft Day: Thursday
What scouts are saying: In all likelihood, the first Wolverine off the board will be the QB, JJ McCarthy. Where exactly he goes is up in the air, as it could be as high as #2 (theoretically) and could be somewhere in the teens. The consensus of scouts seems to be more bearish on McCarthy when it comes to actually ranking him, as the consensus big board puts him 23rd, but the sense is that because QB is a premium position, JJ will go higher than that in the actual draft.
Scouts seem to like McCarthy's athleticism, intangibles/leadership, and arm talent (velocity and accuracy). His winning ways in both high school and college, in addition to his raw tools and mobility as a passer are certainly tantalizing. However, McCarthy's reads and decision-making are seen as areas for uncertainty. The low volume of throws that JJ has made over his Michigan career relative to some of the other top quarterbacks are another example of that uncertainty, a bit more of a mystery component than other QBs posses. Some suggest that it may be best for JJ to sit a year behind an experienced QB, while he continues to develop as a QB reading through his progressions. We shall see whether whichever team inevitably drafts McCarthy in the first round has that plan in mind.
Kris Jenkins
Consensus Big Board ranking: 49
Likely Draft Day: Friday
What scouts are saying: Jenkins has been on NFL Draft radars for several years now and he seems likely to follow Mazi Smith's path into the league. Smith was drafted 26th in last year's draft, a bit higher than anticipated, but Jenkins' profile and projected ranking is in a similar ballpark. Good, and among the best DTs in the class, but perhaps not an elite stud a la Byron Murphy II or Jer'Zhan "Johnny" Newton. Jenkins generally falls in that second tier of tackles after Murphy and Newton, alongside Ohio State's Michael Hall Jr. and Florida State's (formerly WMU's) Braden Fiske.
Jenkins' profile is a bit of an unsexy one to a lot of scouts, but with some safe projection. Like most Michigan players, he's lauded for his work ethic and intangibles, the sort of guy NFL teams want to draft. His run defense generally gets favorable reviews from scouts and he graded out very well athletically at the NFL combine. There's also more safety in Kris Jenkins' NFL pedigree through his father, even though the two are built rather differently. Jenkins' counting stat production and general pass rush is what grades out a bit more negatively to scouts, wondering if he has that explosive, home run upside. Still, for teams looking to beef up the D-Line with a safe run stopper who may still have upside to explore (remember Jenkins' body transformation at Michigan), Jenkins is a solid bet and I'd expect him to go in the 2nd round on Friday night.
[AFTER THE JUMP: all the other guys]
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1/8/2024 – Michigan 34, Washington 13 – 15-0, 9-0 Big Ten, Big Ten Champs, Rose Bowl Champs, National Champs
The opponent was almost as different as it could possibly be, but the game held to almost the same script. Michigan dominates early, then their offense goes in a hole for about a half while the defense valiantly attempts to bar the door. Thanks to a couple boggling misses from a harried Michael Penix, they had. Michigan led by seven instead of trailed by seven when the offense entered Win The Game mode, again. JJ McCarthy fired a high hard one at Colston Loveland, who caught it and ran past an erroneously airborne safety in an echo of Roman Wilson at the Rose Bowl. Emboldened by newfound field position, Sherrone Moore called some play action that got Michigan in the red zone.
First and goal from the fifteen, eight minutes left in the national championship game. The guy two seats to my left says "take us home, Blake." Michigan runs duo up the middle for three yards. Second and seven, seven minutes left in the national championship game. The guy two seats to my left says "take us home, Blake."
Michigan lines up in an unbalanced set they'd used on the previous play and earlier in the game, a tight bunch to the field—all TEs, naturally—with a flanker outside of it. They got a chunk duo off of it earlier and three yards on the last play, but this one is counter. Blake steps left as Keegan and Barner pull the other way. The MLB is not fooled. He does not false step, instead reading the pulls and taking a scrape angle deeper than Karsen Barnhart, releasing free from guard, has any hope of chasing. Trente Jones has authoritatively turned in the playside end; Barner kicks out the force guy. Now we are two on two.
This is how Michigan gets home: the playside Washington end charges inside. He wants to spill Corum outside into that middle linebacker. All year, Michigan has handled this with aplomb, sealing that guy inside and letting fate dictate what happens at the point of attack. This has not worked as well as it did last year, when Blake Corum would juke any fool willing to occupy a phonebooth with him into the ground. It still works pretty well.
But here is a thing that Trevor Keegan does. Keegan could be forgiven if he's heard nothing but "Zinter, Zinter, Zinter" in this season after both guys came back to chase a ring. Last year Donovan Edwards's lightning bolt finishers went between Zinter and Olu Oluwatimi; this year it's Zinter getting first round hype and Keegan rounding out the draft eligibles. I don't think Trevor Keegan gives a good goddamn about any of this, except maybe for an itch in the back of his mind. I mention it out of professional obligation. I have been yelling at PFF about this man. He owns that 77 just as much as Jake Long now.
Anyway. Here is a thing that Trevor Keegan does. He engages the DE, shoving him down the line, and in the same motion realizes that guy is done. He's overcommitted. He will never get back to Corum even if left. So Keegan leaves. Physics being what it is, this is an act of optimism. He's never getting to that linebacker, and indeed he does not. Keegan never touches him.
It's still enough. The LB has to extend a little further outside—a step, maybe—to clear Keegan. He remains in flow mode an extra beat, unable to get square as he rounds the blocker. Corum cuts back, and then cuts again as the linebacker makes contact. The step; the bend; the flow: all of this means that there is a man trying to tackle Blake Corum by wrapping him up around the shoulders.
To describe this act as "futile" doesn't capture it. Bail out your boat with a colander. Watch the first season of a quirky sci-fi Netflix drama. Attempt to get to a destination flying Spirit Airlines. These are all as likely to get you to a satisfactory conclusion as tackling Blake Fucking Corum by the shoulder pads. Especially when you're not even square to the guy. Corum shakes like he's Ryan Day watching Lou Holtz say something true and the linebacker falls off; Keegan and Barnhart put the last guy in the center of the Earth. Ballgame.
Almost, anyway. Close enough when you have approximately two of the best defenses in America on one team.
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I still read physical books. I also have a disease wherein if I start a book I have to finish it, even if I loathe it. ("Of course you do," sighs every single person who's ever encountered this blog.) Sometimes when I finish one it is a great relief to have that trial in the rear-view mirror. I slam the book back onto the shelf, where it will sit for the end of time, remembered but never encountered again.
Sometimes the end of a book is a tragedy because it gave something to me and now it is over. There is no more of it. When this happens I close the book and hold it in my hands, turning it back and forth, looking at the back cover and front, reading the silly blurbs on it for the first time if it happens to have them. I think about what just happened, and while I know I cannot ever have the experience of encountering this for the first time again I know that it will go back on the shelf, too, and I can revisit it when I want to get a shadow of the feeling I had the first time.
I've mentioned this before: once that happened immediately, when I was frustrated by Infinite Jest's sudden, indeterminate stop and shifting timelines. Remembering something from the beginning of the book that I could connect with something towards the end, I flipped back to it, and after a while I realized that David Foster Wallace had pulled one over on the ol' Brian Cook. I mentally issued DFW the Robert Deniro finger wag meme. I did not actually get stuck in a loop of reading Infinite Jest, getting mad at it, and reading it again, like I was someone who had encountered The Entertainment in real life.
I thought about it, though.
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Afterwards, I waited. I wanted to see the last I could see of those who had just finished their Michigan careers. The next time Blake Corum takes a snap he will not be wearing a winged helmet and there will be something subtly wrong with the universe, so I watched him walk through the tunnel 20 minutes after the game. Donovan Edwards, Mike Barrett, an assemblage of walk-ons who are doing their part by convincing OSU fans that Michigan has 44 seniors and will go 3-9 next year. Every one a champion.
Sainristil was the last one. He came over to the section by the tunnel where the players' families were camped, and his dad held his legs and lifted him so he could talk to someone there. Then he came down, took pictures, and gave an impromptu interview that I imagine was the most polished post-championship interview in the history of the genre.
A stadium worker came down to kick us out. I did not move. She then came down to kick me out, specifically, because I was the last one in the section, and mercifully this was the moment that Sainristil had discharged all his on-field obligations and could stride down the tunnel to the locker room, also a champion. The last champion.
Now we close the book, and turn it back and forth in our hands. The shelf can wait a little while longer.
[After THE JUMP: Awards! And an apology that the bric-a-brac is coming tomorrow!]
Reacts. Rich Eisen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w91s6-n9BgQ
Joel Klatt on the aftermath of the Zinter injury:
https://youtu.be/kYKnvx1quLc?t=1785
Here's a brief Journey segment about what Klatt is referencing:
' , ! ' , ! ' , ! @BTNJourney spotlights the emotional scene at the Big House after star OL Zak Zinter's injury.
— Michigan On BTN (@MichiganOnBTN) November 28, 2023
@AutoOwnersIns pic.twitter.com/T3eOGb6wqs
Some guy in Cleveland:
It took a while, but @KenCarman & @KeithBritton86 worked @SportsBoyTony into a shoot, and he unleashed a rant about his Buckeyes. pic.twitter.com/NQ1DZwTSnA
— 92.3 The Fan (@923TheFan) November 27, 2023
This guy:
FIRE RYAN DAY pic.twitter.com/pyOjgMp4IK
— clg. (@UncGerm) November 26, 2023
Big Sean catching strays.
[After THE JUMP: JJ items]
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