question about conditioning

yes and yes. 

We are undersized because we have some smaller players.  But we are also undersized because our players are 18-19 years old on D, not 22-23.  The latter can be fixed.  The former cannot.

Generally, it takes 2 years of college level S&C to gain an appreciable amount of muscle and speed.  Not that gains cannot be made in 1 year, but I have always heard that the biggest difference in size (not skill) comes between the sophmore year and the junior year, not the freshman and sophmore year.  This makes sense - most HS kids know very little about weight training - the offseason after the freshman year is spend developing a base.  The offseason after the sophmore year is when that base is built upon and really translates into strength and speed.

its easy for almost anyone to gain 25lbs, just sit still for a month and eat mcdonalds 4 times a day.  but for highly conditioned, high performance athletes like these, its a bit more difficult.  the younger guys, specifically the redshirted guys (ash, talbott) the true freshmen (black) and even some sophomores (roh, etc) have a better chance of putting on that weight in terms of muscle, because they havent grown into their frames physiologically as well as say, mike martin has.  

martin for example could probably only put on 10-15lbs more maximum, which would put him at 310-315.  i wrestled mike in high school when he was at Novi CC, and he struggled to get under 285lbs to qualify for the heavyweight division.  he was a beast then, a beast now, and will continue to be one.

if you want something like 2 dt's weighing 330 a piece, and 2 de's weighing 275 a piece, its probably not going to happen.  like i said, it varies from person to person, but i think what you see is what you get, give or take 15-20lbs

Check here for an answer: http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/grading-mike-barwis

Is there an association between increased risk of injury and playing with poor fundamentals?

Um, I think we need bigger guys.  Our starting defensive line was decent sized.  But when your backup NT is 275 lbs., that's a problem.

That being said, we can get plenty big in the offseason.  It's not out of the question to expect all those young guys to put on 10-15 pounds in the offseason (Jibreel Black, Terry Talbott, Jordan Paskorz, maybe Craig Roh, etc.).

Putting on 10-15 pounds for an 18 or 19 year old will be no problem. This is why they usually redshirt in order to physically and mentally prepare for future playing time. I think Roh has a monster year next year which should have been when he saw the field as a starter under normal circumstances.

I tip my hat to guys like Roh and others who will inevitably sacrifice a year of peak performance at UM due to playing before their time. It may even cost some of these guys in the NFL draft, you never know.

It's the turkey from Thanksgiving, I swear!!  It's the holiday season, it happens to everyone!!  Get off my back! Who asked you!!!  Who are you to judg--

Oh, the conditioning of the team.  Oh, yes.  Right.

Was that not a plan once upon a time.