Jim Harbaugh announced that Wilton Speight will be out for multiple weeks (LINK). Word is that he has a broken vertebra and will be out for the rest of the season. This came after a Purdue defensive lineman jumped on Speight’s head/neck area as he was going down to the ground. Purdue’s coach thought it was a clean hit.
Hit the jump for some pictures of Nicky Gile.
Nolan Ulizio is my nomination for “most underrated” in the 2017 Countdown
First of all, thanks for reading. I can’t tell you how monumental of a task it was to write approximately 100 posts about the upcoming football season. This year was more of a Herculean task than others, and I thought about cutting it off numerous times. There were several times where I was up at 4:00 a.m. or staying up until midnight to get posts ready. It brings a literal sigh of relief to have this thing finished.
Below is the countdown from beginning to end. Due to a couple stupid omissions and counting errors, I have rearranged the following list to hold true to a numerical countdown, rather than keeping the 3A, 3B, 5A, 5B, etc. This should give you a truer sense of the ranking, even if the actual posts themselves might have slightly different numbers.
Wilton Speight (image via SI)
Name: Wilton Speight
Height: 6’6″
Weight: 243 lbs.
High school: Richmond (VA) Collegiate
Position: Quarterback
Class: Redshirt junior
Jersey number: #3
Last year: I ranked Speight #9 and said he would be the starting quarterback. He completed 204/331 passes (61.6%) for 2,538 yards, 18 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions.
TTB Rating: 77
Speight probably wasn’t the fan favorite to win the job going into 2016. That honor probably went to John O’Korn, who had starting experience at Houston and supposedly looked even better than Jake Rudock during his 2015 redshirt season. But Speight did indeed win the gig. He started off great. From Hawaii through Maryland, he threw 15 touchdowns and just 3 interceptions, leading the team to a 9-0 record. In the final three games of the season, he threw 3 touchdowns and 4 picks while falling to 0-3 down the stretch. (He missed the Indiana game, a narrow win for O’Korn.) Speight’s ability to evade and shake off pass rushers led people to call him a Baby Roethlisberger, but that comparison didn’t stop fans from calling for the most popular guy on the team: the backup quarterback.
That continued into this off-season. The spring game pitted Speight against rising redshirt freshman Brandon Peters, and Peters looked better by far. It probably helped that Peters had a better supporting cast, but still, Speight threw some ugly passes and made some dumb decisions. He didn’t perform under pressure and dump off the ball like one would hope for a veteran quarterback, and that’s what he has to be. He’s going to face pressure behind an unproven offensive line, and he wont’ have a crew of veteran receivers to throw the ball to this fall. Hopefully, Michigan can find some offensive playmakers and carry on with their superior defensive effort from last fall, because they’re going to be playing some tigher games. Speight has reportedly improved his deep ball from last year, when he struggled to consistently hit guys deep. Now Michigan has more speed and playmaking ability at receiver, even though many of them are young. This is going to be a trying season for Speight.
I have Speight up here at #1 because Michigan needs his experience, calm, and leadership. O’Korn is 1-0 as a starter, but that was an ugly win against Indiana. He has reportedly improved, but that one starting performance left more doubt in my mind than I had before I ever saw him play in crunch time. Meanwhile, Peters has supposedly fallen off during fall practices, perhaps because he realized he wouldn’t surpass Speight. I believe Michigan has a backup or two whom Harbaugh can game plan to use well enough to prevent the season from totally tanking if Speight gets hurt, but it will be difficult to win games down the stretch if QB1 isn’t available.
Prediction: Starting quarterback; 2,800 yards, 20 touchdowns, 9 interceptions
Rashan Gary (image via Rivals)
Name:Â Rashan Gary
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 287 lbs.
High school: Paramus (NJ) Catholic
Position: Defensive end
Class: Sophomore
Jersey number: #3
Last year: I ranked Gary #23 and said he would be the starting strongside end with 35 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, and 5 sacks. He made 27 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, and 1 sack.
TTB Rating:Â 100
Gary was one of the most well known recruits in the 2016 class, especially when considering that he doesn’t throw the ball, run a 4.3 forty, catch touchdown passes, or return kickoffs for touchdowns. He was just a big, lithe defensive lineman whom many thought of as a future first round pick. Prior to the season, word started to filter out of insiders that Michigan planned to start Gary at Anchor (a.k.a. strongside defensive end) with Chris Wormley at defensive tackle. That turned out not to be true, and probably for good reason: Wormley was a 3rd round pick. Still, Gary played well and probably would have been just fine as a starter.
This year there’s a lot riding on Gary. Not only does he have immense talent, but Michigan lost all four defensive line starters. With an even more unproven secondary, the Wolverines need the defensive line to be outstanding, make plays in the backfield, and pressure quarterbacks into quick or bad decisions. Because of that, Gary is a very important player. Michigan can’t afford to take injuries on the defensive line, and the backups are totally unproven. Carlo Kemp has been earning rave practice reviews, and he’s Gary’s primary backup. Beyond him is Ron Johnson and air. If Gary or Kemp were to get injured, there would probably have to be some reshuffling of personnel. Practice observers have been salivating about Gary, and I hope the hype comes true this year, but I’m trying to reserve outlandish excitement until we see him putting things together on game day.
Prediction: Starting Anchor
Name: Maurice Hurst, Jr.
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 282 lbs.
High school: Westwood (MA) Xaverian Brothers
Position: Defensive tackle
Class: Fifth year senior
Jersey number: #73
Last year: I ranked Hurst #24 and said he would be a part-time starting defensive tackle. He made 34 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery, and 1 pass breakup.
TTB Rating: 78
Hurst was considered by some to be a top-30 national player going into 2016, but I had him ranked #24 on the team. He didn’t start a game, and he still put up some outstanding numbers for a nose tackle. Most offensive linemen can’t handle his combination of quickness and power by themselves, and they can’t always get help. Hurst was 10th on the team in tackles, 5th in tackles for loss, and 4th in sacks – not bad for a backup.
It was a little strange that a potential first round pick in Hurst was behind Matt Godin last season, but it kept intact a solid second unit that never gave offenses a rest. Michigan still has a good group of defensive linemen, but they’re younger and thinner, and Hurst’s playmaking is needed more. The Wolverines don’t have the same room for injury this season, and Hurst is a guy who can play virtually any position on the defensive line. This should be a big year for Hurst, and he fits well into a defense that likes to slant and blitz. He’s a potential All-American if he produces in a starting role, and he should also be a first team all-conference selection.
Prediction: Starting defensive tackle