Kwity Paye is #1 on Bruce Feldman’s yearly “Freaks List” over at The Athletic (LINK).
Only three power-five WRs moved the chains on every 3rd-down catch last season:
— PFF College (@PFF_College) July 21, 2020
➤ Jauan Jennings, Tennessee
➤ Ronnie Bell, Michigan
➤ R.J. Sneed, Baylor pic.twitter.com/MoTSDpbI8F
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Name: Luke Schoonmaker
Height: 6’6″
Weight: 242 lbs.
High school: Hamden (CT) Hall
Position: Tight end
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #86
Last year: I ranked Schoonmaker #76 and said he would be a backup tight end (LINK). He caught 2 passes for 54 yards and 1 touchdown.
TTB Rating: 81
The big question that everyone’s wondering about with Luke Schoonmaker is this:
Is Luke Schoonmaker the tight end version of Michael Cox?
So far in his career, Schoonmaker is averaging 27 yards a catch with a touchdown on 50% of his receptions. That’s pretty impressive.
Then again, those catches came against Rutgers and Illinois.
Schoonmaker was the #4 tight end in 2019, but with Sean McKeon gone to the Dallas Cowboys, he now presumably moves up one spot in the pecking order. We saw that Schoonmaker runs pretty well, but he still looked pretty willowy 231 pounds and blocked like the part-time quarterback he was in high school.
The added weight this off-season should help him, along with an additional year in the system. While Nick Eubanks should be entrenched as the #1 guy, Schoonmaker will be battling sophomore Erick All for backup snaps. All is probably a superior blocker and reportedly has some of the best hands on the team, but I think Michigan has three pretty good options at tight end this year.
Prediction: Backup tight end
Name: Trevor Keegan
Height: 6’6″
Weight: 316 lbs.
High school: Crystal Lake (IL) South
Position: Offensive tackle
Class: Redshirt reshman
Jersey number: #77
Last year: I ranked Keegan #92 and said he would redshirt (LINK). He redshirted.
TTB Rating: 81
Keegan went the typical route in 2019 of redshirting as a true freshman. Michigan had four seniors starting on the offensive line, and the two guys battling for the open tackle position were redshirt freshmen with some recruiting hype themselves. Keegan also came in with a body that needed to be reformed a little bit, so I think the redshirt was a good plan.
Now those four senior linemen are gone, and Keegan would seem to have a shot at the open tackle position. He seems unlikely to win that battle against redshirt sophomore Ryan Hayes and others. Of the tackles in that 2019 class, Keegan earned the most practice hype and will probably find himself on the second unit. The staff needs to find out who can play, because there has been some buzz about the potential for Jalen Mayfield to jump to the NFL following his redshirt sophomore season.
Prediction: Backup offensive tackle
Name: Nolan Rumler
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 321 lbs.
High school: Akron (OH) Hoban
Position: Offensive guard
Class: Redshirt freshman
Jersey number: #55
Last year: I ranked Rumler #85 and said he would redshirt (LINK). He redshirted.
TTB Rating: 87
Rumler came in as a guy who perhaps would have played in a lot of years. He was already 6’3″ and 310 lbs., and his feats of strength are pretty well documented. But with four senior offensive linemen who would eventually get drafted, Michigan didn’t need contributions from true freshmen up front. So Rumler got a year to percolate.
I expected Rumler to create more practice buzz than he did, but that hype belongs to Zach Carpenter and Karsen Barnhart. Carpenter is projected by many as the starter at center, while people keep saying Barnhart needs to see the field without a specific position for him. Rumler appears to be in that next tier from the 2019 class, along with offensive tackle Trevor Keegan. It’s doubtful that Rumler starts in 2020, but he should start to get some playing time. He’s penciled in as a backup offensive guard, and he may have to wait until redshirt juniors Andrew Stueber and/or Chuck Filiaga move on. I expect Rumler to make an appearance on the field goal protection unit and get some backup snaps at guard this year.
Prediction: Backup offensive guard
Name: Roman Wilson
Height: 6’0″
Weight: 175 lbs.
High school: Honolulu (HI) St. Louis
Position: Wide receiver
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: N/A
Last year: Wilson was a senior in high school (LINK). He caught 61 passes for 1,025 yards and 11 touchdowns.
TTB Rating: 78
Wilson is a speedy wide receiver who was maybe a little undervalued during the recruiting cycle because he played high school football in Hawaii. He won a state championship while putting up crazy numbers. What I like about Wilson – aside from his speed – is the fact that his highlights show a guy making plays in a variety of ways, including catches over his outside shoulder, catches lying on his back, running after the catch, etc.
I see Wilson playing on the outside more than in the slot, and because of that, I think he will spend the majority of this season as an understudy. Nico Collins and Cornelius Johnson will probably get more playing time, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ronnie Bell play a little more on the outside, too. Wilson should get his feet wet in 2020 to prepare for his sophomore season, when Collins will be off to the NFL.
Prediction: Backup wide receiver