Tag: Karan Higdon

2017 Spring Game Thoughts: Offense

Brandon Peters (#18) with Michael Onwenu (#50) and Ty Isaac (#32)

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The Maize team won Saturday’s spring game by a score of 31-29 with a last-second field goal by Kyle Seychel. You can find videos and highlights here (LINK).

Hit the jump for some position-by-position thoughts on what we all saw. (Note: not every player will be mentioned.)

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Orange Bowl Preview: Michigan Running Backs vs. Florida State Linebackers

Matthew Thomas

MICHIGAN RUNNING BACKS

Starters: Michigan’s starter is 5’11”, 228 lb. senior De’Veon Smith. Smith has twice as many carries as any other player on the team, totaling 165 carries for 810 yards (4.9 YPC) and 10 touchdowns. Smith is a powerful back who breaks tackles and runs hard, but he’s not much of a big-play threat. The high point of his season was a 23-carry, 158-yard, 2-touchdown effort against Indiana in mid-November. However, that was sandwiched by two games in which he averaged 2.3 and 2.9 YPC, against Iowa and Ohio State, respectively. Smith is also a solid pass blocker, though he doesn’t offer much in the way of receiving (13 catches, 59 yards). Redshirt junior fullback Khalid Hill (6’2″, 263 lbs.) leads the team in total touchdowns, including 10 rushing scores on goal-line attempts. He also has 14 catches for 105 yards and 2 TDs.

Key backups: Freshman Chris Evans (565 yards, 7.1 YPC, 3 TDs) got the most carries of the backups by a fairly slim margin. He’s a speedster with big-play ability. Redshirt junior Ty Isaac (417 yards, 5.6 YPC, 5 TDs) plays sporadically and offers a nice combination of size and skill at 6’3″, 228. Sophomore Karan Higdon‘s (422 yards, 6.2 YPC, 6 TDs) star was rising during the first two-thirds of the season, but over the final four games, he had 15 carries for 19 yards. I’ll list redshirt junior Henry Poggi here, even though he gets about 50% of the fullback snaps; he has 1 carry for 4 yards and 6 catches for 45 yards in mostly a blocking role.

Hit the jump for more on Florida State.

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Michigan 41, Illinois 8

Karan Higdon (image via Atlantic Broadband)

Michigan shakes up the offensive line. After the injury to left tackle Grant Newsome a few weeks ago, Michigan has been searching for some consistency on the left side. Redshirt sophomore Juwann Bushell-Beatty was the first player to draw into the lineup in Newsome’s spot. I know some people said he was doing fine, but I saw a guy who was struggling with his assignments. This week the Wolverines started fifth year senior Ben Braden at left tackle and true freshman Ben Bredeson at left guard, which I think is a superior lineup. I said since he committed (LINK) that I think Bushell-Beatty can play left tackle down the road if he manages his body properly, but I also thought he would be a guy to potentially start late in his career, not necessarily as a redshirt sophomore. There are still some things to work on for the future. Meanwhile, I thought the line had a decent day outside of right guard Kyle Kalis, who I think probably played his worst game of the season.

Hit the jump for more in the win vs. Illinois.

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Michigan vs. Penn State Awards

Karan Higdon (image via Newsday)

Due to time limitations, I wasn’t able to get this post done for Monday, so here it is two days later.

Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . Karan Higdon. I’ve never been that sold on Higdon before, but I’m intrigued. He had 9 carries for 81 yards (9.0 yards/carry) and 2 touchdowns in this one, including a 40-yard touchdown on a toss sweep. He looks bigger and stronger this year after sitting out the spring and summer with injuries and illness. I definitely think he earned himself some additional carries.

Hit the jump for more.

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2016 Season Countdown: #72 Karan Higdon

Karan Higdon

Name: Karan Higdon
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 189 lbs.
High school: Sarasota (FL) Riverview
Position: Running back
Class: Sophomore
Jersey number: #22
Last year: I ranked Higdon #85 and said he would redshirt (LINK). He played in three games, carrying the ball 11 times for 19 yards (1.7 yards/carry) and catching 1 pass for 3 yards.

I thought Higdon would redshirt last season because of a good number of talented, experienced players ahead of him. Despite the presence of those guys, he played a bit. He wasn’t very effective, averaging 1.7 yards/carry. His “biggest” game was against Northwestern, in which he ran 8 times for 16 yards. This spring he missed some time due to injury, so the pecking order wasn’t clear now that Derrick Green is gone.

I don’t see much of a reason for Higdon to move very far up the depth chart this season. Even with Green’s absence, the starter will probably be De’Veon Smith, with Ty Isaac and Drake Johnson as very experienced backups. The Wolverines also brought in three freshman running backs (Kingston Davis, Chris Evans, Kareem Walker), and it would be odd to let all three of those guys redshirt. Davis, Evans, and/or Walker is virtually guaranteed to play, and Higdon is probably third or fourth on the depth chart, at best. He obviously earned the coaching staff’s confidence last season, so he probably won’t waste away on the bench, but his value is questionable right now.

Prediction: Backup running back