Carl Myers (image via 247 Sports)
Name: Carl Myers
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 268 lbs.
High school: Grand Rapids (MI) West Catholic
Position: Defensive tackle
Class: Sophomore
Jersey number: #54
Last year: I did not rank Myers. He played in one game.
This may seem like an odd place to spot a sophomore walk-on with only one game of playing experience, but here he stands anyway. Myers was a preferred walk-on coming into the 2016 season, so he seemed like a shoo-in for a redshirt. After all, how often do freshman interior lineman play, let alone walk-ons? He’s the first in my memory at Michigan. When Greg Mattison talks up walk-on linemen, I’ve learned not to disregard them. Will Heininger, Ryan Glasgow, etc., they all seem to be better than initially thought. Even Nathan Brink – who never contributed as much as the aforementioned guys – earned a scholarship, and he was unable to finish out his career due to injury.
Michigan has a way of coaching up these guys, so I don’t see any reason to expect much less from Myers. He probably won’t be a mid-round draft pick like Glasgow, but I imagine he’ll be serviceable at some point. And Michigan could use “serviceable” at backup defensive tackle. I have Myers, Lawrence Marshall, Jr., and James Hudson III bunched up here in the 60s, and any one of them could factor into the rotation this fall. With Maurice Hurst, Jr. starting at 3-tech and Michael Dwumfour penciled in as his backup, there might not be a huge need for crunch-time snaps from the trio; however, Dwumfour has been held back by injury, and it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see one of these players have to step up. Myers saw action in game one last year, and the coaches seem to like him. All other things being equal, the coaching staff might want to reward Myers while also letting him serve as a motivational ploy for others.
Prediction: Backup defensive tackle
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268 ….. oof.
Eat Carl … Eat!!!!!
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In fairness to Carl Myers, those are the weights from the 2016 roster. No new weights have been posted since August.
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My initial reaction to this was “OVERRATED!” but you make a good argument. I’d still have Hudson over him but the argument is sound. Good post!
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Be nice if he got coached up and was able to contribute, but for every walk-on that gets used for prime time snaps, there is probably a corresponding scholarship recruit who is a bust, or at best is developing much less quickly and effectively than we need.
If we have aspirations to be an elite program, walk-ons should probably not be as big a part of our two deep as they are.
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Does a 4-star being good also mean that another 4-star is a bust?
Michigan would be better off with fewer busts (obviously) but it’s not a zero-sum game. The Glasgows and Griese illustrate why this logic is wrong.
Myers, if he plays, will probably be doing so somewhat by default. Or not. People said the same thing about Heininger and Glasgow and Kovacs until those guys proved otherwise.
Michigan has a lot of youth on the DL and those guys not all being ready doesn’t mean they are busts.
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