2017 defense concerns.....(youth)

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on

I was just thinking about this today.

Take a look at some of the starters and players that will see significant time in 2016 on defense. We are guaranteed to lose 9 of 10 of these guys after the 2016 season. 

Defensive Line
Taco Charlton DE
Ryan Glasgow DT
Chris Wormley DL
Linebackers
Ben Gedeon LB
Defensive Backfield
Jeremy Clark DB
Delano Hill S
Jourdan Lewis CB
Jabrill Peppers (draft eligible after 2016) DB
Channing Stribling CB
Dymonte Thomas S

The defensive backfield is especially horrifying. I can't remember such an attrition at one spot excluding Never Forget. 

Which young guys will play this year? The DL isn't completely scary as we'll have Hurst and Mone in terms of guys that have experience. 

I think David Long is gonna see time this year. 

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Farnn

April 19th, 2016 at 9:32 PM ^

Every team has a scary depth chart if you look ahead 2 years from now.  There are lots of young guys who people forget about between the time they are recruits and when they actually see the field. 

As I see it the only scary spot it DT:

At DT you have, Gary, Pallante, Hurst, Mone, Dwumfour and Paea.

At DE you will have Gary, Kemp, Johnson, Jones, Marshall and WInovich.

At LB you get Bush, Uche, Gil, Mbem-Bosse, Ross, Furbush.

At DB you get Washington, Long, HIll, Watson, Kinnel, Hudson, Metellus, Woods, St-Juste.

On top of this there are more recruits who will be in this class and may contribute as freshmen.

Joined: 07/07/2008

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BlueKoj

April 20th, 2016 at 9:27 AM ^

DB is the bigger worry for me just because none (except for Watson's few) of the guys you've mentioned have played meaningful snaps in the B1G. Love them as recruits, but they're all unknowns at this level.

Mone and Hurst are well-known and Gary is a different beast from our DB recruits.

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Bodogblog

April 19th, 2016 at 9:36 PM ^

You say this as if it's new. Alum96 and many others besides him have been mentioning this for about a year. But since we're more than a year from this roster changeover, and this thread is offering nothing new on the subject, there's no need to re-hash this bash.

Joined: 06/08/2010

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Wolfman

April 19th, 2016 at 9:43 PM ^

and they have been receiving coaching. Besides, relax and enjoys what goes on in 2016. That staff, if you haven't noticed, gets paid for more than we to take care of that stuff.

Actually, that is one of the things I've always enjoyed about  M football, watching the kids we forgot about that were either RSing or just waiting for the seniors to move on out. The good ones always gave us previews of coming attractions.

I recall one season where Bo basically introduce an entire new starting 11 on D. Damn, they were so good, it took an opposing coach to point out just how  young  they were. When asked about Michigan's D, he replied, "Yes, they are great and we'll have to  get used to them. We'll see them for two more years." Good things happen with good coaching.

 

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evenyoubrutus

April 19th, 2016 at 9:59 PM ^

Accounting for attrition 2014 and 2015 are really half a class each, which means we are short an entire recruiting class going into 2017, of players who should be starting. We will have a handful of upperclassmen but the young guys will really have to step up. Fortunately on offense we should have a veteran offensive line, a veteran QB and a ton of talent at the skill positions. Oh and by the way have you seen the stable of tight ends? Wheatley/Gentry/Bunting/Asiasi/McKeon/Icouldprobablykeepgoing etc. Even if the defense is average this could still be a very good team.

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evenyoubrutus

April 19th, 2016 at 10:23 PM ^

But Dawson, Kugler and Cole will be seniors, with Newsome as a junior. And there will be a few other 3rd year players on the depth chart as well, along with Bredeson and Onwenu. So our starting o line could potentially be 3 seniors, a junior and a sophomore. That's a pretty veteran of line. Of course trying to project and argue about a starting offensive line 18 months from now is pretty much useless I guess.

Joined: 11/04/2008

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Yooper

April 19th, 2016 at 10:20 PM ^

The reality is that the top talent are increasing three and done. Assuming freshman year is at best an adjustment year you get two years out of guys. To be successful you better recruit guys who have the talent and take to great coaching by their sophomore year are you are in trouble. The best schools today make it work and we should be one of them as well.

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dragonchild

April 20th, 2016 at 7:43 AM ^

Road to the CFP goes through The Game.  Let's start winning that before we dream of a title.

That said, OSU has been consistently elite for a while now, so if we beat them we're pretty much bona fide contenders anyway.  But we didn't just lose last season; we got destroyed.  We should narrow that gap next season, but I don't know if we can completely close the distance in one season.

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Wolfman

April 20th, 2016 at 8:02 AM ^

They'll have their trigger man, a good start to that offense and a star-studded team by time they face us. We'll have tape on everything they did rigth with people that had been in their system for a long time. We have more pieces in place. We have a coach that says, "No one runs agains us," and a greatly improved Michigan team merely  because it's Harbaugh's second season. He hates more than anyone having a ready made excuse to fall back on. He likes to straighten things out and more than any coach I've ever seen, he wants and realizes the importance of sending a message, "Hey, we're not waiting for a down year by you to break through. I accept the team I have now. Kick the damn ball. Only way to decide a winner is to start the game." I like that about him.

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DealerCamel

April 19th, 2016 at 9:56 PM ^

is that the future starters have another year to grow and develop.  So we'll see what happens. 

If our defense is terrible in 2017, you may tell us that you told us so.

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CorkyCole

April 19th, 2016 at 10:13 PM ^

2017 defense will have some growing pains and will probably be a little more mistake prone, but we have some crazy talented youth that will be playing a lot of minutes (which will be fun to watch by the way). I've seen MSU defenses do great things with less top end talent and just as much youth thanks to coaching. Our coaching will bring these defenses to at least that level even with the youth. We are no longer at a coaching disadvantage.

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GoBlue C4

April 19th, 2016 at 10:14 PM ^

Wde- Winovich 3T- Hurst NT- Mone Sde- Gary LB- McCray LB- Bush LB- Furbush CB- Long CB- Washington/ Hill S- Kinnel Will all play this year, and this doesn't include alot of very talented 2016 freshman.

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