2017 NFL Draft Preview: Michigan

Tag: Jake Butt


27Apr 2017
Blog, homepage 21 comments

2017 NFL Draft Preview: Michigan

Taco Charlton

Players are listed in order of how I expect them to get drafted.

1st ROUND

Taco Charlton – DE
Charlton didn’t particularly enjoy playing a 3-4 defensive end role in 2015 under defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin, and he was more productive as a weakside end in 2016’s version of the 4-3.  He’s projected by NFL scouts as a 4-3 end, and mostly I’ve seen him pegged as going in the last third of the first round, though he has moved up to the middle third of the first round in some mock drafts over the last week or two.
Teams to watch: Saints, Bears, Dolphins, Falcons

Hit the jump for the rest of the draft preview.

read more

31Dec 2016
Blog, homepage 107 comments

Florida State 33, Michigan 32

Mike McCray II scored his first career TD (image via NewsOK)

Jabrill Peppers is worth 1 point. I predicted a 24-20 win in my game preview (LINK), but that was before any of us knew that Peppers wouldn’t play in the game due to injury. It turns out Peppers hurt his hamstring on Thursday and didn’t have enough time to heal up before kickoff. I tweeted out just before kickoff that I thought Michigan would lose the game without Peppers. It was going to be a tight game, anyway, and Michigan needed Peppers to make a difference. His replacement at Viper was Josh Metellus (with some Noah Furbush at SAM). Metellus did return a blocked extra point for a 2-point conversion, but he did very little on defense and left some plays on the field that Peppers might have made. His replacement on punt returns was Jourdan Lewis, who did nothing with the short punts. His replacement on offense was . . . the same guys who haven’t been playmakers all year long.

Hit the jump for some more thoughts on last night’s loss.

read more

27Dec 2016
Blog, homepage 9 comments

Orange Bowl Preview: Michigan Receivers vs. Florida State Secondary

Tarvarus McFadden (image via Warchant)

MICHIGAN

Starters: Fifth year senior Amara Darboh (52 catches, 826 yards, 7 TDs) has been more productive this year than any Michigan receiver since Jeremy Gallon in 2013. Darboh has had some key drops, but that’s because he’s the go-to guy for quarterback Wilton Speight and gets the ball thrown to him in crunch time. Otherwise, he has made some highlight-reel catches and turned in some big plays this year. Michigan likes to use him as both a possession guy and a downfield threat, although he’s not a huge weapon in the deep passing game. Classmate Jehu Chesson (31 catches, 469 yards, 2 TDs) has seen his production fall off dramatically from the second half of the 2015 season, and he just doesn’t look like the same player after a knee injury against Florida in last year’s bowl game. Senior tight end Jake Butt (43 catches, 518 yards, 4 TDs) stands 6’6″, 250 lbs. and won the Mackey Award for the country’s best tight end. He’s not a great blocker, but he’s a very good route runner with sure hands.

Key backups: Michigan will be without the legally challenged Grant Perry (13 catches, 183 yards, 1 TD) due to legal troubles, and he’s the only other wideout who has been regularly targeted this season. The next most productive guy is 6’0″, 180 lb. freshman Eddie McDoom (5 catches, 59 yards; 15 carries, 154 yards), a speedster who has clearly made more of a mark on end arounds and reverses than in the passing game. Fellow freshman Kekoa Crawford (4 catches, 47 yards, 1 TD) and redshirt sophomore Drake Harris (2 catches, 11 yards) may also see some additional time. The backup tight ends haven’t factored into the passing game much: five tight ends have caught either 1 or 2 passes. We should see a lot of 6’6″, 276 lb. redshirt freshman Tyrone Wheatley, Jr. and 6’3″, 287 lb. freshman Devin Asiasi in mostly blocking roles.

Hit the jump for the rundown of Florida State’s defensive backfield.

read more

12Sep 2016
Blog, homepage 14 comments

Michigan vs. Central Florida Awards




eddie-mcdoom-388x

Eddie McDoom (image via Twitter)

Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . Eddie McDoom. I’m not calling for anyone to get benched here. I just really like what I’ve seen out of McDoom so far. He’s shown speed, agility, willingness to fight for extra yardage, an ability to catch the ball in traffic, etc. He needs to get in the weight room this off-season, but there’s a lot of potential here.

Hit the jump for the rest of this week’s awards.

read more