Michigan vs. Ohio State Awards

Tag: Lavert Hill


27Nov 2016
Blog, homepage 16 comments

Michigan vs. Ohio State Awards

taco-charlton-705x

Taco Charlton (#33, image via Zimbio)

Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . someone with speed. Eddie McDoom, Jehu Chesson, Jabrill Peppers, Chris Evans, Jourdan Lewis, anyone. There’s a saying everyone’s heard, and that saying is “Speed kills.” Michigan hasn’t had a ton of speed for the past few seasons, but the roster isn’t entirely devoid of those players. What I didn’t see on Saturday was a great effort to get those fast guys the ball in space. It was De’Veon Smith (one of the slower backs in recent Michigan history), Jake Butt, and Amara Darboh touching the ball most of the time. Out of 40 non-Speight rushing attempts, only 12 went to explosive players (Chris Evans had 6, Jabrill Peppers had 4, and Jehu Chesson had 2). Out of 23 receptions, only 2 went to explosive players (Jehu Chesson had both), unless you count Darboh. In my opinion, that’s only 14/63 touches for players who are dangerously speedy, and that’s not enough. Additionally, if you’re going to use Peppers on offense, you have to be more creative. He either has to play more offense so the defense forgets about him a little bit, or the coaches have to use him the same amount but in ways defenses haven’t seen yet.

Hit the jump for more.

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3Oct 2016
Blog, homepage 30 comments

Michigan vs. Wisconsin Awards

Ryan Glasgow (#96, image via Oakland Press)

Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . Jabrill Peppers. Peppers played some Wildcat quarterback and flipped the ball to Jehu Chesson on a reverse, but he didn’t register in the offensive stat book. Michigan struggled to score points and averaged a mediocre 4.0 yards/carry, taking a 7-7 lead into the fourth quarter before scoring the game-winning touchdown with fewer than eight minutes left. So far this year, Peppers has 2 carries for 24 yards. Maybe Michigan doesn’t need him much against Rutgers next week, but they will need his contributions down the road.

Hit the jump for more on the Wisconsin game.

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27Jun 2016
Blog, homepage 12 comments

2016 Season Countdown: #74 Lavert Hill

Lavert Hill

Name: Lavert Hill
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 175 lbs.
High school: Detroit (MI) King
Position: Cornerback
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: N/A
Last year: Hill was a senior in high school (LINK). He made 12 interceptions, 3 of which he returned for touchdowns.
Final TTB Rating: 84

Hill has had a long relationship with Michigan. The younger brother of senior safety Delano Hill, Lavert originally attended Detroit (MI) Cass Tech – a Michigan pipeline for several years – before transferring to King for his last couple years of high school. Then he surprised many people by committing to Penn State. He seemed solid for a while, started waffling a bit, and eventually decommitted before picking the Wolverines. In the meantime, he was not known for making a bunch of big plays early in high school, but he capped his prep career by making 12 picks and scoring 3 TDs on defense. He was rewarded by earning a trip to San Antonio for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

This year Michigan’s top three cornerbacks return. There wasn’t much of a need for fourth corners to play last season, outside of Jabrill Peppers occasionally moving to the outside from his slot corner position. With Jourdan Lewis, Channing Stribling, and Jeremy Clark set to return – all of whom are seniors – Michigan needs to groom some people for a starting gig in 2017. I’m guessing that Hill’s classmate, David Long, will earn more playing time this season. Hill is in that swing spot where he could probably redshirt and use that time to get stronger, but then he would be inexperienced going into a redshirt freshman season that might see him starting. Regardless, Hill is probably no higher than the fifth corner on the roster, so the value he brings is relatively minimal.

Prediction: Backup cornerback

4Feb 2016
Blog, homepage 8 comments

2016 National Signing Day: Mini-roundup

As you can probably imagine, I spent so much time writing commitment posts and updating the 2016 Offer Board last night that I didn’t have time for a substantive post for this morning. So here’s a mini-roundup in case you missed anything.

  • Rashan Gary, Wolverine (LINK)
  • Devin Asiasi, Wolverine (LINK)
  • Lavert Hill, Wolverine (LINK)
  • Quinn Nordin, Wolverine (LINK)
  • Every commit so far has been updated on the 2016 Offer Board (LINK). Scroll down to the comments section to see yesterday’s action if you don’t want to read through all 255 players’ biographical information.
  • I updated the All-Time Recruit Rankings with all the 2016 commits (LINK). Rashan Gary is our #1 recruit during the modern recruiting era, but someone who may not be getting enough hype is offensive lineman Ben Bredeson. Believe it or not, he is our 15th-best recruit since 2000. In fact, if he were in any of the 2008-2012 classes, he would have been the top recruit in our class.
  • If you want to watch video of the Signing of the Stars event, here it is: (LINK).
3Feb 2016
Blog, homepage 6 comments

Lavert Hill, Wolverine

Lavert Hill 609x

Lavert Hill

Detroit (MI) King cornerback Lavert Hill committed to Michigan on National Signing Day. He chose the Wolverines over offers from Clemson, Georgia, Miami, Michigan State, Ohio State, Texas, UCLA, and USC, among others. He was also a one-time Penn State commit.

Hill is 5’10”, 172 lbs. Playing receiver as a senior in 2015, he caught 33 passes for 786 yards and 9 touchdowns; he also made 12 pass breakups (note: I don’t have great faith in the accuracy of Detroit PSL stats sometimes). He was a U.S. Army All-American and named the Army Defensive Back of the Year, a national award.

RATINGS
ESPN: 4-star, 80 grade, #21 CB, #278 overall
Rivals: 4-star, #14 CB, #176 overall
Scout: 4-star, #7 CB, #97 overall
247 Sports: 4-star, 95 grade, #6 CB, #88 overall

Hit the jump for more on Hill’s commitment.

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