That’s right. Michigan’s 2016 season begins in a few months, so that gives me enough time to count down the most important players of the upcoming season. I will be counting down from the least important players on the roster to the most important. The least important players will probably be guys who redshirt or stand on the sideline. The most important players are not just the best players, but the least replaceable. For example, Michigan had a fair amount of depth on the defensive line last year, so that lessened the importance of any one individual player in the position group. (Of course, three players were lost for the season due to injury – Bryan Mone, Ryan Glasgow, and Mario Ojemudia – so Michigan’s defensive line came in for some criticism late in the year.)
For the sake of discussion and reminiscing, here’s the 2015 Season Countdown list (LINK). A few guys I overrated are Wayne Lyons, Kyle Seychel, and Brandon Watson. A few guys I underrated were Jehu Chesson, Grant Newsome, and Sione Houma.
From now until the beginning of the season, most days will have a fresh player profile waiting for you.
Feel free to make your case for certain players in the comments. Happy season countdowning!
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Always worth looking forward to!
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Please tell me Gary is top 10
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I am guessing Gary will be in the top 20 but not the top 10. There will be qbs, backs, receivers and other linemen ahead of him. My wild guess for Gary is #15.
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Gary doesn’t belong in the top 20. Our DL is so deep and would be fine if he red-shirted. If the statement “we are fine if he doesn’t play a snap” applies, that player doesn’t go in the top 20.
Anyway, most freshman DL are part-time players at best. Brandon Graham red-shirted, Mike Martin was a backup, etc.
Gary will likely have an impact in the DL rotation but he’s unlikely to come in and be better than our top 3 DL (Wormley, Glasgow, Charlton).
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I think that Gary has a higher ceiling than both Graham and Martin, and as the year progresses he can establish himself as a starter even on our deep DL but I wouldn’t argue if he was ranked somewhere between 20-40 because he has yet to prove himself at this level.
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Some great points Lan. We are loaded across the DL, even without Gary. That said, Gary isn’t your typical freshmen DL. He’s considered the best DT prospect in the last 15+ years and the only DL on the same level coming out of high school would be Clowney.
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Don’t get me wrong – I’m excited too.
If we’re talking about talent – who the NFL was drafting of current Michigan players, Gary is in the top 5 right now. But the countdown is just as much about the team needs as the players.
Peppers was a special talent too but he still didn’t look like he was one of the top 20 players his freshman year either (before he got hurt).
If Gary was going to get slotted at OLB or WDE (where we have significant needs) I could see him belonging in the top 20, and I expect he’ll be in the top 10 a year from now when most of our DL heads off for the NFL. But for now, he’s a luxury. He’ll learn under Mattison, he’ll probably get some highlights, and by OSU he may even be getting as many snaps as Charlton, Hurst, etc.
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We thought our Dline was deep last year, and look what happened. Red-shirting him would be nuts-he will play and be very, very good. And if you think he couldn’t step right in and be as good as anyone we have right now, your standards are low. SEC teams have true freshmen DTs who kick ass and look like NFL prospects right off the bat, and Gary is in that class or better. Charlton particularly is a decent player, but nothing special. Gary could easily supplant him by the middle of the season.
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Gary is top ten.
I swear I’m not crossing my fingers.
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BOOM!
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Hopefully you come to your senses by August.
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I’m rooting for…..De’Veon Smith TOP 10!!! Really hoping he finishes his senior year strong. If he does well then it makes everything else offensively pretty lethal IMO….
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Smith could be a top 10 player if the OL keeps blocking like crap. But if they improve significantly, it shouldn’t matter as much how great our RB is at breaking tackles and should be more about who gets through the hole faster.
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That’s very valid. Didn’t think of it that way. I just keep on remembering that relentless run that he had against BYU which made me an instant fan of his…
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You also underrated AJ Williams and overrated Ty Isaac for like the 9th year and 6th in a row, respectively. I bet only one of those happens again.
I can’t wait for the countdown. Bring it on!
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Well, get ready for A.J. Williams to be in the top five this year.
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If only!
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You asked, so I’m making my case for certain TYPES of players.
Keep backup skill position guys low on the list, especially indistinguishable RBs.
Don’t rank serviceable role players (like AJ Williams and Houma) too low because they aren’t stars, especially if they don’t have backups.
Ignore nominal ‘starters’ at positions that rotate a lot or are only used in some packages. In today’s football the 4th DT might get used more than a ‘starting’ OLB and the nickel CB is far more important than the backup MLB. In Harbaugh football the backup FB/H-back might get used more than the ‘starting slot WR’.
As for specific players I like:
Channing Stribling may (or may not) have been outplayed by Jeremy Clark last year but either way he was pretty good last year and handled playing opposite Jourdan Lewis without getting targeted by opposing offenses. The big spring means his impressive potential may finally be realized.
Jourdan Lewis is still better than Jabrill Peppers.
All 3 top corners should be considered as starters.
Every starting OL is really important. Freshman OL may play this year.
Khalid Hill is really important because his backups are limited.
Ty Wheatley is getting too much hype, but we need him to block.
The freshman WRs, at least one of them, is probably going to have an impact. McDoom is the one I’m irrationally excited about.
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Here’s a fun link. http://gbmwolverine.com/2016/04/28/michigan-football-top-10-running-backs-of-all-time/
Which got me thinking that it’s going to be even tougher ranking QBs this year than it was last year. I’m thinking that we will have our first QB controversy of the Harbaugh era this fall.
Anybody that has been coming around here for a while knows that I like Wilton Speight, I think he throws a real nice ball to really good spots, I also think he has plenty of arm for college football and will prove out to be a solid college QB.
I also think it’s going to be O’Korn that wins the gig. Jamie Morris comes in at three on the above list. They have a nice tribute, I believe from WolverineHistorian, that you’ve probably seen over and over if you are anything like me. It’s that video that makes me think O’Korn gets the gig because on it you will see jim Harbaugh doing just a really nice job running the option out of the Wishbone, among other sets. This caused me to remember some not stellar passing days where Harbaugh got it done for us running the football via the option.
I’m thinking that Coach Harbaugh remembers those days even more acutely than I do and goes with the wild, gunslinger with wheels.
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Are you implying that Iowa’s backup QB beating out the golden child Sugar Shane wasn’t controversial? I think you forgot how great he looked as a freshman against KSU and how much better Michigan was going to be once he replaced Devin Gardner for good….
I suspect the schedule is going to be too easy (and the defense too good) to really set up a QB controversy. Whoever wins the job in August will probably look pretty good well into October and establish themselves firmly as starter. I suspect Harbaugh gives the job to O’Korn knowing that he can go to Speight if O’Korn makes too many mistakes.
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Not. We mostly all had seen enough Shane Morris and everyone knew why Rudock was here.
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I think that by the start of the season most had come around to the side of reality, but when Rudock committed the general reaction seemed to be “more competition is good”. There’s always a segment of the fanbase that is convinced recruits are going to make an instant impact at QB (and will hold on to their convictions for years.) But I hear them because I still think Freddy Canteen is going to DOMINATE anyday now (for some other team butstill.)
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I’m late to the party, but here’s my ranking:
Chesson, Lewis, Peppers, D. Thomas, Mone, Wormley, R. Glasgow, M. Cole, Braden, D. Hill, Magnuson, Darboh, Kalis, Butt, Hurst, Charlton, O’Korn, Gary, J. Clark, Gedeon, Stribling, Speight, McCray, K. Allen, D. Smith, Isaac, Newsome, Perry, Drake Johnson, Ways, Godin, Kinnel, Bunting, Winovich, Kugler, Marshall, Wheatley, Furbush, Morris, K. Hill, Gentry, D. Bush, Runyan, Washington, Drake Harris, Watson, Ulizio, Long, Poggi, Nordin, Bredeson, Walker, Bushell-Beatty, Sypniewski, Pearson, Jocz, D. Dawson, Henderson, A. Mitchell, Asiasi, Hudson, Crawford, Pallante, McDoom, Foug, S. Johnson, McKeon, R. Johnson, Uche, Peters, R. Jones, J. Glasgow, Dwumfour, Kemp, L. Hill, Mbem-Bosse, Davis, Higdon, Malzone, Shallman, Onwenu, Wroblewski, Jared Wangler, Gil, G. Miller, Metellus, Hawkins, Sloss, N. Johnson, Eubanks, David, Moores, Evans, Tice, A. Robinson, Pliska, Hewlett, J. Dunaway, Dalimonte, Beneducci, C. Robertson, Jack Wangler, Kaminski, Froelich, Spanellis, Grodman, Whitted, Offerdahl, Brenner, White, M. Mitchell, Mauricio, West, Volk, Krupp, Hart, T. Wilson, S. Smith, Cochran, Vastardis, Jokisch, Kay, Meyer, Edmunds, Hahn, Shoenle, J. Martin, Cheeseman, P. Bush, Files, Drobocky
Players I’ve not seen on video and have no opinion on: Spencer Dickow (FB) 6-0, 233, Brian Chu (FB) 5-10, 223, Bradley Deeg (LS) 6-1, 178, Kenneth Ferris (TE) 6-4, 229
Obviously, players at deeper positions are ranked lower than their abilities.
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That’s not a bad list. I don’t rank every walk-on, particularly first-year walk-ons. They almost never play, so I just choose not to include them since the chance is almost nil.
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