Tag: David Dawson

Review of 2013 TTB Ratings

I’ll just cut right to the chase and say that I did not do a good job with rating the class of 2013. A bunch of good recruits bombed, and in their absence, a bunch of so-so recruits starred. In some ways, it’s not that I whiffed on everyone. It’s that it was a huge boom-or-bust class.

Keep in mind that the ratings (fully explained here) are intended to project how players will fare at Michigan and, to a certain extent, in the NFL Draft. I do not take into account how players will do once they get to the NFL or how they will pan out if they transfer to other programs. I will give myself a grade of 1-5 like a 5-point grading scale (5 is best, 1 is worst) for each player; I reserve the right to give myself an incomplete if the guy never even got a chance to get on the field. I’ll work down the list from highest to lowest with a brief career recap for each player:

100

None

90-99

95: Derrick Green – RB – Richmond (VA) Hermitage
Green ran for just 898 yards and 7 touchdowns on 4.2 yards per carry during three years at Michigan. It didn’t help that his first two years were spent behind a Darrell Funk-coached offensive line, but he fell behind De’Veon Smith, transferred to TCU, and didn’t do anything there, either.
Prediction accuracy: 1. Big oops.

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Ex-Wolverines: Class of 2013

Shane Morris

If you’ve read this blog for long, you know I love to look back at past recruiting classes and – in some cases – what could have been. The 2013 class was extremely volatile, with elite recruits busting, players getting kicked off the team, and transfers galore.

TRANSFERS

Kyle Bosch – Offensive guard – Wheaton (IL) St. Francis
Bosch came from Wheaton (IL) St. Francis and committed in February of 2012. As a true freshman in 2013, he was forced into action due to injuries and underperformance by his elders. He started three games late in the year but was eventually replaced. In 2014 he played the final offensive snap of the season opener, and then it was reported that he was taking “an indefinite leave of absence” from the team that was related to a personal issue. He tweeted that he would return the following semester, but he ended up transferring to West Virginia. At WVU he started all 26 games at offensive guard in 2015 and 2016, along with another eleven in 2017, and he was First Team All-Big 12 in 2016. He was not drafted in the 2018 NFL Draft, and after spending some time with the Carolina Panthers and Dallas Cowboys, he is no longer on an NFL roster.
Current status: Out of football

David Dawson – Offensive guard – Detroit (MI) Cass Tech
Dawson took a roundabout path to Michigan by committing to the Wolverines, testing then Michigan coach Brady Hoke’s policy of not allowing visits to other schools, decommitting by visiting Florida, and then recommitting to Michigan. He redshirted in 2013 and then played as a backup offensive guard in twelve games throughout his career with the Wolverines. Following his redshirt junior year in 2016, he announced he would take a graduate transfer spot at Iowa State, but he left the Cyclones within a couple weeks of arriving. The 2017 season was spent helping out the Belleville (MI) Belleville football team, and he transferred to Grand Valley State University for the 2018 season. He started all twelve games for the Lakers in 2018.
Current status: Out of football

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Ex-Wolverine Player Updates: Post-2018 Recap

Keith Washington (#28, image via Zimbio)

At this point in Michigan’s program, along with the college football landscape, there are too many players to include in one post. There are at least 53 players who have either transferred or decommitted from Michigan in the last five full classes (2014-2018), plus the incomplete 2019 class. So I’m temporarily breaking up this concept into three separate posts, one for transfers, one for former commits, and one for coaches. It’s a lot easier to manage during the season when people are injured, redshirting, etc.

TRANSFERS

Devin Asiasi, TE (UCLA): Asiasi was second on the depth chart at tight end behind Caleb Wilson, who was the team’s leading receiver. Asiasi himself made 6 catches for 130 yards (21.7 YPC) and 1 touchdown. UCLA went 3-9 and missed out on bowl eligibility.

Ian Bunting, TE (Cal): Bunting was Cal’s leading tight end, finishing with 18 catches for 195 yards (10.8 YPC) and 0 touchdowns. Cal went 7-6.

Freddy Canteen, WR (Tulane): Canteen – who had injuries at Michigan, transferred to Notre Dame, had more injuries at Notre Dame, and then transferred to Tulane – missed the 2018 season with yet another shoulder injury. His spate of injuries may allow him to apply for a sixth year of eligibility in 2019 if he wants to continue playing.

Brian Cole, S (Mississippi State): Cole played in the first five games of the season for Mississippi State until a shoulder injury sidelined him for the remainder of the year. During those five games, he made 11 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 1 interception, and 10 kickoff returns for 225 yards (22.5 yards/return). Mississippi State went 8-4.

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Ex-Wolverine Updates: 2017 Pre-season Edition

Shane Morris (image via Twitter)

TRANSFERS

OG Kyle Bosch: Bosch is expected to start at offensive guard for West Virginia. He’s currently ranked as the #11 offensive guard in the 2018 draft class by NFL Draft Scout.

WR/S Brian Cole: Cole spent the 2016 season at East Mississippi Community College, the school that’s the subject of the Netflix docuseries Last Chance U. Cole isn’t featured prominently, though he makes a couple cameos. Anyway, he made 54 tackles, 1 sack, 3 forced fumbles, and 2 fumble recoveries at safety. He enrolled at Mississippi State in January but he will have to redshirt this year to get in compliance with academic requirements.

RB Kingston Davis: Davis ran 2 times for 17 yards against Hawaii in last year’s season opener, and now he’s transferring to Independence Community College in Kansas. The assumption is that he’ll try to transfer back up to an FBS program in 2018.

Hit the jump for many, many more updates.

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David Dawson, Ex-Wolverine

David Dawson

Offensive guard David Dawson, who would be a fifth year senior at Michigan this fall, is seeking a graduate transfer elsewhere. He announced Monday via Twitter that he would be leaving.

Dawson attended Detroit (MI) Cass Tech, transferred to Texas for his junior year, and then returned to Cass Tech as a senior. He committed to Michigan in February 2012 as a part of the 2013 class, decommitted, and then later recommitted to the Wolverines. In fact, he broke Brady Hoke’s infamous “no visit” policy when he took a recruiting trip to Florida while committed to Michigan, so the coaching staff moved on without him. Eventually, fences were mended and he was “re-offered.”

I took a lot of flak for my thoughts on Dawson when he committed (LINK). You can see there that I was not fond of his abilities, and people were annoyed in the comments. My Twitter mentions weren’t a happy place, either. I gave him a TTB Rating of 71 (at the low end of being an eventual solid starter), and even that was generous. I didn’t see great bend in him, nor did I see a lot of nastiness in his play. Those things seemed to play out at Michigan, as well. He played in twelve career games without ever starting, and when he did play, he did not excel. He played in just three games as a backup in 2016, though an arm injury in the spring hampered him somewhat.

You’ll also see in the link above that I was afraid Michigan would fill up in the 2013 class without having room for the likes of Ethan Pocic. In fact, Pocic was turned away by Michigan and ended up signing with LSU. How did Pocic’s career go in Baton Rouge? He was First Team All-SEC in 2016, Second Team All-SEC in 2015, and started for his entire sophomore year after backup duty as a freshman. He’s considered to be one of the top couple center prospects in the 2017 draft. Imagine if Michigan had an all-conference center the past couple seasons to free up Mason Cole or Graham Glasgow to help at tackle or guard. Considering Michigan lost three games by a total of five points this season, it’s not inconceivable that it could have put Michigan in the playoff, if not at 12-0 in the regular season.

The loss of Dawson should not affect the team much in 2017. He was not expected to start, and he probably would not have been a key backup, either. He was obviously passed on the depth chart by the likes of freshman Ben Bredeson, classmate Patrick Kugler, sophomore Grant Newsome, redshirt sophomore Juwann Bushell-Beatty, and others. Next year’s starting interior could very well be Bredeson, center Mason Cole, and rising sophomore Michael Onwenu. With some highly rated recruits coming in and with some other promising young players, Dawson would have been battling just to be second string.

Michigan has 87 scholarship players scheduled for the fall of 2017 (LINK), so I expect some more departures. Quarterback Shane Morris and long snapper Scott Sypniewski have already begun seeking grad transfers, too.

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