Is John Ferrara an indicator of D-Line confidence?
It wasn't a secret that Michigan needed to recruit more defensive linemen after the relatively light years at the end of the Carr regime. After Pearlie and DeQuinta signed elsewhere on February 4th, the defensive line is left without a lot of depth for the 2009 season.
Without diving into who will play where on the line, a quick rundown of the team provides that Graham, Martin, Van Bergen, and Sagesse could start, with Campbell, Banks, and Roh in the rotation (this scenario would see LaLota redshirt).
We'll get a pretty good indicator of how much confidence Rodriguez and Robinson have in the D-Line by whether players are shifted there from other positions. We will probably see this by the spring game. Which leads to the forum topic. If a player or two is NOT moved to the D-Line by spring ball, should that non-development be a cause for concern or optimism for the 2009 season? Or, would the transfer of a player or two like John Ferrara and one of the excess of tight ends (Webb or Moore, for example) be a cause for concern, and yet, a stopgap solution to ease minds at the same time?
My hope would be that Moore or Webb get the switch in assignment to the defense if it's needed, so that LaLota can redshirt. I wouldn't be concerned about a Ferrara switch either due to depth on the O-Line and his experience on defense.
Steve Watson, Marell Evans, and Brandon Herron have all been moved to stand-up DE.
...that gives me some more confidence for that position.
Among those three, who do you think is the most likely to actually contribute? And where does that leave us in terms of linebacker depth? I hope that means that some of the younger guys like Demens and the incoming safety-types were expected to move ahead of Evans and Herron on the linebacker depth chart.
Almost by default, I would expect Evans to come out on top (if the competition is just between those three). Watson is a position switcher. Herron has basically only played on special teams. Evans was a part-time starter last year until he blew a couple plays early in the season (against Utah, I think) and was playing like a stud in spring practice last year, from what I heard.
That being said, Greg Robinson apparently told Craig Roh that he would be playing that position, and I think Roh will eventually be playing that spot. I doubt Roh will start this year due to his age and not being an early enrollee, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Roh take over that position in another year or two.
Overall, though, I'm not sure what this question is asking.
Would Ferrara's switch to the defensive line mean that Michigan doesn't have confidence in their other defensive linemen? Well, yeah. Obviously.
Would Ferrara (and other players) remaing at their current positions mean that we should be concerned about depth on the defensive line? Well, yeah. Obviously.
Ferrara is the incumbant starting guard - I don't imagine he's switch positions.