Name: J’Marick Woods Height: 6’3″ Weight: 210 lbs. High school: Florence (AL) Florence Position: Safety Class: Junior Jersey number: #26 Last year: I ranked Woods #42 and said he would be a backup safety and special teamer (LINK). He made 13 tackles and 1 blocked punt. TTB Rating: 80
Woods came into the 2018 season as a guy with a reputation for being a heavy hitter and run supporter, but a guy who couldn’t be trusted a ton in coverage. Tyree Kinnel and Josh Metellus handled most of the safety snaps, with Brad Hawkins stepping in to handle most of the coverage duties when necessary. We always knew Woods was a bit of a project when it came to being an all-around safety. Woods had a big punt block against Florida, but otherwise he didn’t accomplish a lot of noteworthy achievements as a sophomore.
J'Marick Woods (@WoodsJmarick) blocks the punt and Jordan Glasgow recovers. Michigan has the ball at the Florida 30-yard line with 7:54 left in the first half. pic.twitter.com/yz1XqvgNbx
The 2019 story might be different. With Kinnel having graduated, there’s an open safety spot. Freshman safeties are dodgy, so Woods and Hawkins seem to be in a race for that starting position. Based on practice reports and coach talk, it seems like they want to give Woods every opportunity to be the guy. I would not be surprised to see the two play a pretty equal number of snaps, because they offer different strengths. That’s why they’re ranked back-to-back here in the countdown. Safeties seem to really come into their own as junior and seniors, so this competition ought to breed some pretty good play.
Thank you to David, Ashley, John, Lenton, David, Melissa, and Anonymous for their very generous Paypal donations! You guys are awesome!
West Bloomfield (MI) West Bloomfield safety Makari Paige committed to Michigan. He chose the Wolverines over offers from Kentucky, Ohio State, and Penn State, among others.
Paige is listed at 6’3″ and 182 lbs. He claims a 4.38 shuttle.
Name: Brad Hawkins Height: 6’1″ Weight: 213 lbs. High school: Suffield (CT) Suffield Academy Position: Safety Class: Junior Jersey number: #20 Last year: I ranked Hawkins #57 and said he would be a backup safety/Viper (LINK). He made 24 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, and 1 pass breakup. TTB Rating: 78
Hawkins played a little more than I expected in 2018, likely in part due to the absence of Jaylen Kelly-Powell for a chunk of the year. Tyree Kinnel and Josh Metellus were slated to be the starters, with J’Marick Woods, Kelly-Powell, and Hawkins vying for backup snaps. However, Kelly-Powell suffered an injury that caused him to miss half the season, increasing the opportunities for Hawkins. Hawkins struggled at times but came up with some solid plays, which seems about on par for a sophomore safety.
After losing Kinnel to graduation, there’s room to step up for someone at the safety spot. The options there include Kelly-Powell (who has reportedly been spending much of his time time at nickel corner), but mostly the coaching staff seems to be looking at Woods, Hawkins, and freshman Daxton Hill. I get the sense that the coaching staff wants Woods to get first crack at the starting gig so Hawkins is free to play the nickel spot. There are rumors about next year seeing a position switch for either or both of Hawkins and Woods to end up at the Viper position once Khaleke Hudson and Jordan Glasgow graduate.
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It took me February, March, April, May, and part of June this year to earn what I made in February 2017 alone. Falling ad revenue across the internet (a.k.a. Google AdSense) combined with Google AdSense forcing me to delete “NSFW” content back around the turn of the year has drastically reduced traffic. And in a nutshell, it took me those 4.5 months mentioned above to just pay off Flywheel for hosting the site – not to mention bills for site maintenance and the domain itself. So all donations are appreciated!