Mason Cole impressing

Submitted by dnak438 on

Those of you on twitter will have seen this:

Another early enrollee opening eyes at Michigan is OL Mason Cole. Competing for starting LT job. Funk says Cole has great chance to play.

— ESPN Big Ten (@ESPN_BigTen) March 31, 2014

And Brian's response:

can it be basketball season again RT @ESPN_BigTen Another EE opening eyes at UM is OL Mason Cole. Competing for starting LT job.

— mgoblog (@mgoblog) March 31, 2014

Good news, bad news. Competition is good. True freshman starting at LT: generally speaking, not so good. I choose to believe that Cole's emergence is good news and will create competition on the OL. Let's really hope that we don't have a true freshman starting at LT. Even Jake Long took a redshirt.

switch26

March 31st, 2014 at 2:46 PM ^

meanwhile funk gets fired at the end of the season for never developing the top class of Oline players in the country

markusr2007

March 31st, 2014 at 3:01 PM ^

and our response?  The thread degenerates into major Debbie Downerage.

Look 6-5 275 lbs Mason Cole is not going to be the starting LT at Michigan in 2014 you guyz. Just chill. Jeezus.

Bodogblog

March 31st, 2014 at 3:13 PM ^

well, based on this and some recent 7 seconds of video, he's probably shoved David Dawson to LG.  This bothers me because 1) Dawson gets worked over at LT in some of those fraction-of-a-second videos, and getting moved quickly away from a spot they just put you in isn't a good sign, and 2) coaches watched Dawson on scout all last year and still thought LT would be a good spot behind Magnuson, and 3) it appears no one else is stepping up at LT.  HEY THAT'S NOT GREAT  

LTT to LT optimism downgrade.

Space Coyote

March 31st, 2014 at 3:21 PM ^

So that video isn't really telling you much. Most thought Dawson was a more optimal fit at OG anyway.

Still not sure if Fox is in great shape.

LTT certainly is still refining his body, not to mention he's playing with a huge club on his hand.

You can certainly fret about the OL situation, but I wouldn't let Cole getting reps at LT as an EE (remember, they're likely trying him a bit of everywhere so they can get a good feel of where he fits within the OL depth chart along with his class and where he's best) make you fret more. It's spring, and spring is for trying new things and getting players in positions that fit better so most of that's out of the way by the time fall camp starts.

WolvinLA2

March 31st, 2014 at 4:30 PM ^

Don't forget that guards have an easier time transitioning to RT than LT, and if Magnuson just can't hack it we can play Braden at LT and put any of the interior guys getting reps (Kalis, Bosch, Dawson or Glasgow) at RT.  This is especially true if Kugler is a legit option at Center or if the kid from Alabama transfers here.

Don

March 31st, 2014 at 3:36 PM ^

Greg Robinson = Al Borges and Tony Gibson = Darrell Funk

I'm not saying this is remotely fair myself, but the huge skepticism about our OL reflects this.

Bocheezu

March 31st, 2014 at 3:48 PM ^

of the Spring Practice Hype Guy That Never Plays a Down

Previous versions

3.0 - Nathan Brink

2.0 - Mark Moundros

1.0 - some guy before Moundros that I can't remember

We thought Glasgow was going to be the guy last year.  Little did we know.

WolvinLA2

March 31st, 2014 at 4:02 PM ^

You are listing all walk-ons though, and now Mason Cole is a highly touted scholarship player.  So that doesn't really jive with your list.  And Glasgow was one of our most consistent OL last year, and certainly our best non-senior offensive lineman.

these wolverines

March 31st, 2014 at 3:51 PM ^

I dont care which 5 starts, it says something that the young man can in hungry and looking to compete. Its not ideal that a true freshman starts at oline, but he wont be the first and if the man can ball then let him ball out !

I dumped the Dope

March 31st, 2014 at 4:03 PM ^

The media is searching, scraping, scratching for any little tidbit they can blow up into a story...and we/us are slavering for anything, any news, just something....the biggest example might be we are willing to focus on a single OL player, when somewhere we know its the play as a Unit which determines success or failure of the offense.  Why are there no stories of the entire OL play...

As the Space Coyote said, just relax.  We had a poor year, and the mobs are forming to tear down the big house, extract the steam shovel for environmental reasons and build a spring water bottling plant on its site.  The offseason is going to be long, lets just hope for continued quietness with respect to off-the-field incidents.

I think the EEs deserve a little media buzz for being motivated enough to graduate HS early and enroll early.  That obviously took some work on their part.

Last year Howard Griffiths said "its **STARTING** to look like a Michigan team" on the bus tour.  I think that eloquently summed up the beginning of progress and also the size of the gap to being a team that's going to knock you off the ball for 4 quarters.

WolvinLA2

March 31st, 2014 at 4:07 PM ^

This is exactly it.  There aren't too many actual stories that come out of spring practice, and most of the good stuff the media isn't privy to anyhow.  So they run with what they have.  They aren't going to title an article "Mason Cole will likely not play, but listen to what I have to say about him anyway" because no one would read it.  The coaches say "he's competing" which, duh, of course, and the writers say "has a chance to start at LT."  

The reality of it is Erik Magnuson will start at LT, and if it's not him, then it's quite possibly David Dawson, Kyle Bosch or Ben Braden because one of those other two are starting at RT.  It's very unlikely Mason Cole has passed all of those guys, but it's good to hear the coaches say good things about him.

turtleboy

March 31st, 2014 at 5:48 PM ^

I refuse to get the slightest bit excited about spring practice buzz. I just can't do it again. That said, the instant Mason Cole starts a game and rides his donkey from the LOS all the way to the parking lot I'll spontaneously combust from bottled up enthusiasms.

briangoblue

March 31st, 2014 at 7:53 PM ^

I like how "whatever happened to" can be applied to a kid still in his academic freshman year (Fox). Cole may be threatening to play, but how many linemen are out? Sure, it's not a great sign, but let me know when he actually wins the job before the panic begins. The black cloud hanging over this team (and more annoyingly, this blog) cannot dissapate soon enough.

STW P. Brabbs

April 1st, 2014 at 7:29 AM ^

Also, the obvious answer with regard to Fox - even aside from the 'is freshman' one - is: injury.

Fox was very highly regarded, and I remember seeing some Buckeye fans saying he was the OL they were most upset about losing to us. He ballooned to about 350 after the injury, if I'm not mistaken, but if he continues to get back into shape he may be a big part of the story for the OL this year, I think.

Mr. Yost

March 31st, 2014 at 10:54 PM ^

WTF...I swear.

I know Mags is hurt but are we EVER going to get older on the OL or are we just going to play 1st and 2nd year players ALL the time.

chatster

April 1st, 2014 at 6:18 AM ^

As I’ve discovered during the past three years, whenever something leaks out of Fort Schembechler, whether through press conferences, MGoBlue video clips, interviews with coaches and players and tweets, vines, Instagram photos or Facebook posts, it’s best to start playing some Marvin Gaye who sang the words of Barrett Strong and Norman Whitfield, recalling the quote first attributed to some guy named Benjamin Franklin (don’t know where Benjamin Franklin played or coached):

People say believe half of what you see, son, and none of what you hear. I can't help bein' confused.

I probably won't stop reading and viewing those "leaks" from the Fort, but it might be safest to wthhold expectations about Michigan Football Team 135 unitl they go through the tunnel and play the first real game of the 2014 season.

 

Eye of the Tiger

April 1st, 2014 at 11:14 AM ^

This is a position coachspeak for "I want to draw attention to how well this freshman is playing and I want to use that to push my older players to practice harder."

Nothing more