Michigan's Depth By Class, 2011
This is the front-page version of the post that lives in the "useful stuff" tab updated for 2011. Since Hoke announced Michigan would be running a shifted 4-3 I've changed the defensive depth chart to reflect what's likely to happen in spring. Defensive ends have been split into strong and weakside positions and Ryan Van Bergen has been moved back into the DT row on the assumption Michigan's starting DL reads Black-Martin-Van Bergen-Roh next year. Large sections of the secondary are wild-ass guesses we won't get resolution on until Spring.
Right now Michigan has 16 slots for the 2011 class and two players who are obvious candidates to not get fifth years, so with normal attrition they'll be in the mid-twenties again next year.
As far as the end result of The Process: Michigan is two scholarships short pending tomorrow's Willingham commitment, which right now looks like it won't go M's way. In addition, they're carrying Mike Williams—a likely medical redshirt—and at least two more players who could have not gotten fifth years after graduating this spring. Michigan forewent up to five additional recruits thanks to the awkward timing of The Process. They didn't sock themselves with USC scholarship penalties—they socked themselves with half of USC's scholarship penalties.
Anyway:
MICHIGAN FOOTBALL DEPTH BY CLASS 2011 | |||||
| Position | Incoming (c/o 2015) | Freshmen (c/o 2014) | Sophomores (c/o 2013) | Juniors (c/o 2012) | Seniors (c/o 2011) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QB (3 + 0) | D. Gardner* | D. Robinson | |||
| RB (8 - 1) | J. Hayes T. Rawls | F. Toussaint* S. Hopkins | M. Cox* V. Smith T. Jones | M. Shaw | |
| FB (0) | Kerridge# | McColgan*# | |||
| WR (8 - 3) | R. Miller* J. Robinson* D. Williamson* | J. Jackson | J. Stokes | J Hemingway* D. Stonum M. Odoms | |
| Slot (5 - 1) | J. Gallon* D. Dileo | R. Roundtree* T. Robinson* | K. Grady* | ||
| TE (2 - 1) | C. Barnett | B. Moore* | K. Koger | ||
| OT (4 - 1) | T. Posada | M. Schofield* T. Lewan* | M. Huyge* | ||
| OG (4 + 0) | C. Bryant | P. Omameh* R. Barnum* E. Mealer* | |||
| C (4 -1) | C. Pace* J. Miller | R. Khoury* | D. Molk* | ||
| DT (6 - 2) | T. Talbott* | Q.Washington* | W. Campbell | M. Martin R. VanBergen* | |
| SDE (3 + 0) | K. Wilkins* | J. Black | W. Heininger*# | ||
| WDE (3 + 0) | J Paskorz* | C. Roh | S. Watson* | ||
| LB (12 - 2) | J. Ryan* K. Jones A. Poole F. Clark D. Morgan | M. Jones* | K. Demens* | B. Herron* JB Fitzgerald K. Leach*# | |
| CB (9 - 1) | Hollowell | C. Avery T. Talbott C. Christian | JT Floyd* | T. Woolfolk* | |
| SS (6 - 1) | J. Furman* | M. Robinson T. Gordon* C. Johnson | J. Kovacs* F. Simmons# | M. Williams* | |
| FS (2 + 0) | T. Carter | R. Vinopal | |||
| P/K (3 + 0) | M. Wile | B. Gibbons* W. Hagerup | |||
| projected starters in bold, returning starters in italics. | |||||
Allotted: 83 (Counting Kovacs and Grady as a scholarship players)
Seniors: 14.
Recruits: Right now Michigan has 16 scholarships. There are two redshirt juniors who may not get fifth years if Michigan finds it needs a little wiggle room: Terrance Robinson and Mike Cox.
Latest Update: 2/2/11 – Updated for 2011.
February 2nd, 2011 at 11:31 PM ^
Just looking at the 2-deep and based on what I personally think you'd like to have (as well as looking at some of Hoke's tendencies), I'd say this is the need for next year's class...
(total scholarships used on position for 2012 season in parentheses)
QB-1 (Gardner/Bellamy/Frosh after Denard graduates) (4)
RB-1 or 2 (replacing Shaw (and possibly Cox) as far as numbers go) (8)
FB-1 (replacing McColgan with a possible transition away from the Slot and to a FB) (1)
Big WR-1 (after Hemingway leaves we'll have Jeremy Jackson and Ricardo Miller as big targets, Borges and Hoke like their pro-style targets) (3)
Small WR-0 (3)
Slot WR-0 See above. I gotta believe the Slot position will disappear after Roy and Tae depart) (3)
TE-2 (With Koger gone and only Moore/Barnett on the roster, we'll need depth) (4)
OT-3 (Lewan, Schofield, Posada would be our only 3 OTs on scholarship) (6)
OG-2 (like to have 3 deep on each line position and we'll have 4 OGs next year) (6)
C-0 (Rocko, Pace, Miller) (3)
SDE-1 (building depth) (4)
NT-1 (see SDE) (4)
DT-2 (unless we move to a defense with 2 space eaters at the tackles, we'll need a more mobile guy outside of Talbott) (3)
WDE-0 (we've got enough of these guys-Roh, Heitzman, Beyer, Paskorz) (4)
OLB-0 (not seeing the need here with predicted Furman switch) (7)
MLB-1 (Demens and Morgan, not sure Bell will be a contributor) (4)
CB-0 (8 CBs on scholarship by my count in 2012 regardless of if Woolfolk plays CB or S) (8)
SS-0 (a lot of guys fit here especially after going away from the 3-3-5) (4)
FS-1 (this is the position I'd love to not have to play Vinopal/Carter at in the future) (3)
K/P-0 (good here for the time being) (3)
That gives us 85 without standard attrition. Obviously any attrition will probably increase the need at the position we lost a guy at.
February 3rd, 2011 at 12:54 AM ^
can Mateus and Gunderson contribute? Gunderson played Brink well in last year's spring game - but that doesn't make me feel any better.
I would hate to see Bryant and Posada lose a RS to our needs up front - but it's unlikely we will go a full season with no injuries there. It's rare that a freshman can step up and play on the line. Rare for good reason. Both Chris and Tony are big - but big doesn't mean ready for B1G. Life is not fair.
Mealer, Schofield, Khoury and Pace...sounds like a law firm... here's to a healthy off season. There are barely enough bigs to do a full 1vs2 practice. Back to a modified spring game.
At least the kickoff coverage will be solid come the fall.
We may not have seen the last of Washington or Campbell on OL - but the DL is short bodies as well in a 4-3 scheme. A lot is contingent on how Talbott and Ash progress and overall health.
I'm assuming Miller gets a RS due to the depth at center.
February 3rd, 2011 at 1:10 AM ^
We won't burn those redshirt unless we have a lot of injuries. Some of the guys like Khoury and Barnum can move around a bit if necessary. We have three tackles, if one goes down, Schofield replaces him. If another tackle goes down, Barnum moves to tackle and either Khoury or Mealer goes in for Barnum. If we have multiple people injured, then it gets tricky.
But you bring up an interesting point with Gunderson and Mattias. Gunderson was a true freshman in the spring game last year and Mattias wasn't even on campus yet. Those guys are 2 and 1 years, respectively, older than Bryant and Posada, so they might get thrown out there before we burn a redshirt on one of those guys.
Gunderson and Mattias aren't exactly scrubs either. They are both like 6'7" ro 6'8" and between 305 and 310 - this is per the roster from last fall. An extra year in S&C and one of those guys might be a valuable back-up. Most likely Gunderson as he's a year older and the slightly more accomplished high school player.
February 3rd, 2011 at 10:51 AM ^
year. Lewan blossomed with a RS. Posada and Bryant aren't ready - but either one could have special upper class years compromised by our recruiting wiffs and DB's offensive schematic indecision. It's rare to get a Hutchinson type kid out of HS.
I think it's Mateus (sp?) ... MGoBlue took the roster down.
The need for Gunderson, Mateus or Ciullo (who could still play a year right?) would only be stop gap - but could save a very productive Senior campaign for Bryant or Posada.
Tim should add a roster with weight deltas season to season on the useful links.
February 3rd, 2011 at 2:17 AM ^
Ive been stuck at work for 2 days thanks to 30 inches of snow. I thought we were leading for willingham, what happened?
February 3rd, 2011 at 3:23 AM ^
What about Jack Kennedy? Hopefully he's still on the depth chart. Kid is an inspiration and an all around cool dude
February 3rd, 2011 at 8:00 AM ^
I think these are just the scholarship players
February 3rd, 2011 at 8:02 AM ^
What is the likelyhood that Bellomy redshirts and they only use him in an emergency situation. It seems Gardner is the future at QB and there is nothing to suggest he can't manage a pro style offense. I understand adding depth to QB, but they can't possibly think Bellomy will start over Gardner when the time comes can they? Gardner, all be it limited minutes, looked pretty good throwing the ball last season...
February 3rd, 2011 at 8:57 AM ^
He suggests they will try to redshirt Bellomy unless he's willing to take on the backup role behind Gardner for the duration -- I mean the primary backup who actually sees snaps in practice (and playing time when possible) in preparation for coming in if there are injuries. But I guess you never know -- he could be an NFL talent -- the thing about all these kids is they play against such different levels of competition in high school that it is hard to evaluate them until you've got them in front of you.
February 3rd, 2011 at 8:52 AM ^
I like what Hoke and company did this year in the short time they had. But I am a realist. Especially with Nebraska in the Big 10 now they will have to step it up quickly. Big 10 is now a tougher conference with more big games. I don't expect a drop in wins like RichRod had, but it will take a couple of top 10 recruiting classes to get back on top where Michigan belongs. I do think Hoke and company will get them there.
Though I still think that RichRod with a DC like Mattison would have done it as well.
February 3rd, 2011 at 9:34 AM ^
What are those bolded things on the right? Ohh yeeahhh...upperclassman starters. Gosh - haven't seen those things for years.
February 3rd, 2011 at 9:47 AM ^
I don't know, maybe it's the 43 front, but I like the look of that (projected) defense. The front four can/should dominate the LOS, leaving Demens and company to flow and shut down the run. Still a little weak in the secondary, but more at the safety spot than the corners- I'd take that. Need to balance the safety numbers and move some bodies over from SS to FS, but as long as the Angry Michigan-Secondary-Hating God stays in his cavern, that should be a decent defense.
February 3rd, 2011 at 10:34 AM ^
I think if we really run a 4-3, there is a good chance some of those linebackers end up as defensive ends. Our defensive end depth is scary. Then again, so is our defensive tackle depth. Honestly, if we are fitting our scheme to personnell, it makes a lot more sense to run a 3-4 with VanBergen a strong side defensive end. Hopefully Roh can continue to get more muscle now into his true junior season so he could manage at wde in a 3-4.
Our oline and dline should be good next year but a few injuries and it could all fall apart.
February 3rd, 2011 at 11:48 AM ^
Other than your snarky comments about being USC-esk in our scollies (which I don't really agree with - but whatever) I appreciate you getting this depth chart up. It's nice to finally see players in all four columns and Junior/Senior starters! It's going to take some time, but I foresee Michigan returning to prominence. Go Blue!!
February 3rd, 2011 at 12:27 PM ^
What happened to Obi Ezeh? He's not on there!
February 3rd, 2011 at 5:55 PM ^
Last we heard about Marvin, I believe he was in the running for the WLB job Mouton recently vacated, yet the depth chart (while hypothetical) has him listed as competeing again for a SS spot. Has there been some sort of update I missed?
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