“The rules are simple: they lie to us, we know they're lying, they know we know they're lying, but they keep lying to us, and we keep pretending to believe them.”
― Elena Gorokhova, A Mountain of Crumbs

Let’s wrap up spring practice, shall we?

We didn’t get a spring game—I’ve said enough about that—and all of the information these days is filtered through Pravda. It’s a bummer, but as long as this stance lasts you need to add three layers of negativity to everything the program releases to feel half-reasonable. I’ll lead each section with the tiny bit of insider information then share what the program’s saying.

Quarterback

BA life. [Patrick Barron]

What we want to hear: Soviet passing economy strong like Comrade Putin rectus abdominis muscle. Comrade McNamara is people’s chain mover. Comrade McCarthy has talent that is bigger than Soviet Union. Ha ha is joke, nothing is bigger than Soviet Union.

What we’re hearing: If you heard one thing from the spring game it’s that passes were batted at the line…a LOT($). Cade’s got a much better command of the offense, but gets a lot of passes batted down due to his height; ITF’s guy compared him to Ian Book($), which, uh, yeah, that guy gets a lot of passes filed BA. McCarthy’s talent is evident but he’s making lots of true freshman in his first spring practice mistakes.

A guy I spoke to thinks quarterback will be a limiting factor again this year and “you didn’t miss much” about Cade’s spring game performance, a sentiment echoed by ITF’s source($). Sam Webb shared on our podcast that McCarthy’s just a matter of when($):

That being said, the excitement about JJ McCarthy ’s future is palpable. Physically, he is just on another level compared to the other quarterbacks. One source offered the same assessment of McCarthy that he’d offered previously about Donovan Edwards… “he is what a five-star is supposed to look like.”

Jansen’s In the Trenches podcast said Cade was better at directing his offensive line and knowing where the rush is coming from. He does a great job of letting his receivers make a play. As for JJ: You saw what you’d expect from a 5-star recruit with regards to ability, and he’s faster than he expected.

New QB coach Matt Weiss was featured, and they summarized his bits:

So, what does Weiss think of the Wolverines' three scholarship quarterbacks?

On McNamara: "You can say he's not enough of this or not enough of that, but at the end of the day, he's really smart. He makes great decisions. He processes things very fast, and his accuracy and arm strength are more than enough to win with."

On Villari: "He has arm strength. He has mobility. I love working with him. He's a guy who, for sure, could develop into a really good player for us."

On McCarthy: "Arm strength, mobility, great athlete -- all that stuff is obvious as soon as you step on the field with him -- but I've been even more impressed with his approach to things. His maturity is far beyond his years."

Gattis also went on the Jansen pod, and Isaiah Hole of WolverinesWire painstakingly typed up and organized all the things the OC said. From that: the players believe in Cade, who moves the ball and commands the offense well. JJ’s working on “understanding every day is a new day.”

Gattis also pointed out Villari was the scout team QB last year so he’s getting in his first reps as well.

What it means: We’ll have to keep an eye out for the batted passes thing—those tend to stick to certain QBs because of release points and styles of play.

Read nothing into J.J. McCarthy’s struggles this spring, or the suggestion in Gattis’s comments that the true freshman is frustrated with his play. I strongly disagreed with Sam when he suggested on WTKA last week that you might as well roll with the kid if it’s a lost season. Quarterbacking is about comfort, so yes, game reps are important. Reps when you have no protection however are counterproductive, and can ruin a guy. Unless McCarthy himself gives you a timeline, I prefer to take it slow.

Projected depth chart McNamara, [Bowman], McCarthy, Villari

[After THE JUMP: No CCCP2 jokes today]

Running Backs

Puny linebacker I crush with thighs [Patrick Barron]

What we want to hear: Industrious backfield where all comrade abilities join in great communist system for many yards. Comrade Haskins break through tackles like shackles of capitalist oppressors. Corum is hero of Soviet Labour. Komsomol Edwards will be great Octoberist.

What we’re hearing: Corum and Edwards have been “really explosive”($) according to Balas’s source, with more in there about Edwards, who’s “blazing fast” according to one of their guys. Several people reported Edwards looked worn down at the end of spring, which is understandable since he went right from winning the state championship to spring ball. Corum is Lorenz’s breakout candidate, and the backs are his pick for

Jansen’s observation was Hassan Haskins is “going to be a stud.” Corum going to be a star. Edwards and Dunlap you could see the scouting come through.

Gattis admitted it’s hard to get a feel for Haskins in a no-contact scenario, but that they’re seeing the patience in Corum that wasn’t there last year:

I think one of Blake’s biggest challenges last year is he relied so heavily on speed. He didn’t have patience going to the hole.

Gattis echoed the sentiments above re: Edwards. Tavierre Dunlap also had a “solid spring.”

What it means: We’ve seen these guys on film enough to know the scouting matches the tape. I think we’ve got more questions about how they’ll be used, but on paper this is a perfect mix.

Projected depth chart: Haskins, Corum, Edwards, Dunlap, with AJ Henning in the old Giles Jackson role.

Wide Receiver

Pinkies at the ready. [Bryan Fuller]

What we want to hear: Three-year Cornelius Johnson plan was genius policy, Michigan now leading receiving power. Soviet passing architects will use AJ Henning to punish ugly capitalist aggressors. Ignore party traitor Xavier Worthy, future of party is strongest ever, evil fat cat Texans will be punished very much by people’s national collegiate athletic association.

What we’re hearing: Everybody seems to have their own version of “Cornelius Johnson and ______ are doing stuff,” followed by “Oh yeah, Ronnie Bell of course.”

We’ll lead with Gattis, though his admission that he’s accumulated enough speed may be the biggest lie of the offseason:

We entirely have the speed needed and now I feel better that we’ve come along with the details. We’ve got some guys right now that are playing at a high level from a details standpoint. Cornelius Johnson and Mikey Sainristil — those two guys stand out when you walk out to our field. Seeing the level of consistency that they’re playing with, plays that they’re making are plays that they’re making because of their details. Not because of how athletic or how fast that they are. They’re applying the whole toolbox to allow those guys to be open.

This was before the Worthy news, of course.

While Gattis talked about Mike Sainristil, some of the practice reports were really excited about Andrel Anthony, whose ability to get deep was a common silver lining when the Xavier Worthy news dropped. The [blank] in my guy’s case is AJ Henning, which it isn’t hard to deduce he was part of the reason Giles Jackson bailed—Henning got the end-around in the highlight video. He, Bell, and Roman Wilson were all on the maize team, IE the one getting McCarthy pressured all day, so it was hard to tell with any of them.

ITF’s read on this situation was the receivers were having a hard time getting open, and that Gattis coaching the blue team (hence better play-calling) was part of that. Chris Balas had the most interesting fill in the blank($): Cristian Dixon, which I think is just reflection of the spring game events.

What it means: I think we were expecting them to say nice things about Cornelius Johnson, and Ronnie Bell is basically an avatar of the program right now in that they’re careful not to say anything nice for risk of getting all the boo birds on their backs that they haven’t had a breakout receiver since.

We all knew Gattis likes Sainristil—that was a camp theme last year. Roman Wilson and AJ Henning getting mentioned in the back end of comments says they’re not quite there on the details aspect.

Projected depth chart: Bell, C.Johnson, Sainristil are the 1s, with Henning #2 at the slot and Wilson, Anthony, Dixon in that order outside. I think they like the first three a lot better than the freshman backups.

Tight Ends

What we want to hear: Backbone of Soviet economy.

What we’re hearing: The most recent ITF was mostly basketball stuff, but one football bit is Matt Hibner could have a role this fall($). My guy said Erick All really came on in the second half of spring, and finished spring on a streak of catching literally every target. He also said that’s important because none of these guys save Honigford is much of a blocker but All can make some plays there with his athleticism.

ITF was hinting hard about an impending transfer($) a month ago, but that threat seems to have gone away.

Gattis kind of said the quiet part.

We got a handful of guys that we would consider great practice players, but we now gotta find a way to allow those guys to be great game players. Erick (All) is another one of those guys, his talent really hasn’t displayed itself in game-like situations. The catches, the ability he’s displayed each and every day in practice, we gotta build that confidence up with him, making sure we don’t let him hang on a negative play.

I like Gattis’s approach, which is to give a guy a second shot after a flub, and it sounds like that’s now more All’s career than a series against Rutgers. Carter Seltzer gets a mention after Schoonmaker, Hibner, and Honigford.

What it means: A series of drops was all we saw of Erick All and it’s not hard to guess this affected the guy deeply in the course of the spring. Like the program, the only way to tell is in games.

Projected depth chart: All, Schoonmaker, Hibner, [Hansen], Selzer, with Honigford a sixth OL.

Offensive Line

More might. [Barron]

What we want to hear: Our magnificent Kossaks have no names, all are now Yuri. All Yuri interchangeable specimens, consume many ribs.

What we’re hearing: I’m going to start with my own source because I didn’t know this:

You guys keep talking about Ed. You guys know that [the 2019 OL] was Juan Castillo not Ed Warinner right? The kids love Sherrone. He’s in there with them. He’s been there and they respect him.

Castillo was an analyst who took the Bears job last year. The gist was Warinner was more of an unnamed run game coordinator, and that those duties are passing now to co-OC Sherrone Moore.

Grad transfer Willie Allen didn’t stick. The Daily Hoosier also learned why Zach Carpenter transferred—his mom has Lupus.

The staff loves true freshman Greg Crippen, who’s up to #2 on the center depth chart($) over Reece Atteberry, who missed part of spring with illness according to Chris Balas on Inside the Fort. They were both on the blue team, which made it on the short highlight reel:

That’s Zak Zinter at center. The blue OL here is (L->R) Ryan Hayes, Trevor Keegan, Zinter, Chuck Filiaga, and Griffin Korican, with Matthew Hibner at tight end. Projected starting Andrews Stueber and Vastardis were on the maize team; Vastardis started for the maize team but came out early($) for Raheem Anderson to get a lot of snaps.

We’ve heard they’re cross-training Zinter at center so it’s not too odd to have him getting reps there.

Ryan Hayes gave a presser, likes Moore’s energy. Jansen of course had his own guy on In the Trenches:

I’m like “Who’s this 75?” It was Nolan Rumler.

Nolan is just one of those kids I kept waiting for that light to go on because he’s so strong, and moves well, bends well. He’s starting now to play with that natural awareness of what’s going on around him. As a former tackle, he endeared himself to every tackle that has ever played this game of football because … he went and found some work. He found some ribs. He went out there trying to help his offensive tackle and just absolutely demolished—he found work, and that’s what I love. And there were other times when he’d come in and he would help his center. It was just a thing of beauty. I’m excited about it because that tells me that’s a conversation that’s being had by Sherrone Moore. I’m excited for [Rumler] but it also makes me excited for this offensive line because that is something I need to see more from every single individual.

Moore went through his guys on In the Trenches. To summarize, Vastardis understands the game, on and off the field. Stueber’s versatile. Filiaga has to “continue to learn and grow.” Ryan Hayes is getting stronger, close to being really good. The 2019 class—Barnhart, Trente Jones, Trevor Keegan and Nolan Rumler—could be four hits. Zinter’s been great. Grad assistant Grant Newsome is money.

What it means: This is the spot on offense where the lack of a spring game bothers me the most, because I do think there’s reason to be positive about the offensive line if we can back it up with some film. Last year’s new-built line was so devastated by injuries, and so backed up against the wall by playing from behind all the time, I give them a pass in pass protection. The guys who messed up blocking assignments most were either a true freshman or a guy who seems to be third on the depth chart this year.

Willie Allen transferred to play immediately and decided that’s not here, which says only good things about Trente Jones, Karsen Barnhart, and/or any guards who are pushing Stueber back into the tackle conversation.

Zinter at center probably isn’t the final form, but if something happens to Vastardis I believe that’s where they want to go before the freshmen. It does lend credence to the spring reports that Atteberry and Crippen are not ready to play yet, which is understandable.

I think losing Zach Carpenter really messed with their plans, and it’s also quite plausible they’re not sold on Vastardis over some of their options at guard. If you can shoehorn one of them into center—and Zinter would be the guy they want on the field regardless—you have now have three spots (RT, RG, LG) you can fill with your best two of Stueber, Filiaga, Keegan, Nolan Rumler, or Karsen Barnhart.

Speaking of Rumler, I love that we’re getting something nice about him, but I also know the program often starts saying really nice things about a guy when he’s thinking of leaving. Sometimes it works too.

Filiaga feels like he’s fading—his shot was to seize the job last year, not lose snaps to Keegan.

Projected depth chart: Zinter, Stueber, and Hayes seem like locks, Vastardis leads at center but if Zinter can pick it up they might move him out to get both of Keegan (at guard) and Barnhart (at tackle, moving Stueber to RG) on the field. Trente Jones is the next guy at tackle, and then there’s another drop to Filiaga and Rumler, who remain ahead of the freshmen. If I’m making an NCAA 2014 depth chart it looks like this:

LT	LG	C	RG	RT
Hayes	Keegan	Vastardis	Zinter	Stueber
Barnhart	Stueber	Zinter	Stueber	Barnhart
Jones	Filiaga		Rumler	Jones

We’ll see how things shake out in fall. A Hayes-Keegan-Zinter-Stueber-Barnhart line seems like it’s got the highest upside.