Tag: Tarik Black

Nightly Roundup: February 21, 2019

Tarik Black is working on making sure he’s healthy for 2019 (LINK). Speaking of wide receivers, Ronnie Bell and Oliver Martin are both looking for more playing time in 2019 (LINK).

New Bowling Green head coach Scot Loeffler is hiring a bunch of former Michigan coaches, including Jim Herrman and Erik Campbell (LINK).

Football Study Hall discusses UCF’s offense (LINK) and how close they are to being an elite offense.

Zavier Simpson is one of ten finalists for Defensive Player of the Year in college basketball (LINK).

2018 Season Countdown: #9 Tarik Black

Tarik Black (image via Michigan Daily)

Name: Tarik Black
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 215 lbs.
High school: Cheshire (CT) Cheshire Academy
Position: Wide receiver
Class: Redshirt freshman
Jersey number: #7
Last year: I ranked Black #27 and said he would be a starting wide receiver with 35 catches for 450 yards and 5 touchdowns (LINK). He caught 11 passes for 149 yards and 1 touchdown.
TTB Rating: 82

Black had a great start to his career, making 2 catches for 83 yards and 1 touchdown in the season opener against Florida. He was less effective against Cincinnati (4 catches for 11 yards) and had 5 catches for 55 yards against Air Force. Unfortunately, he also broke his foot against Air Force, which ended his season. Black entered college playing second fiddle to fellow receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones, but early on it looked like Black was more ready to contribute in college.

Now that he’s healthy again, Black looks to be a starter on the outside. He should be one of the guys who benefits most from having an experienced, talented quarterback in Shea Patterson. Black is big and strong with good speed and ball skills. Normally a guy with 11 career catches wouldn’t be ranked this high in the countdown, but Michigan doesn’t have a lot of numbers at outside receiver now that Maurice Ways, Drake Harris, Kekoa Crawford, and others have moved on to greener pastures. Black is going to need to play – a lot – or else the Wolverines will find themselves with huge question marks on the outside.

Prediction: Starting wide receiver; 45 catches for 600 yards and 6 touchdowns

Michigan 33, Florida 17

(image via MGoBlue)

The elephant in the room. Wilton Speight doesn’t look any better than he did in the spring. He was 11/25 for 181 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions. He threw more touchdowns to Florida (2) than he did to his own guys. I don’t believe this is a Jim Harbaugh thing. Harbaugh has shown elsewhere that he’s capable of coaching the quarterback position. Speight is the lone guy in Harbaugh’s history who has regressed. I hope Florida was just really good defensively – despite having 10 players suspended and a starting safety out with a torn Achilles – but I have no faith in that being the case. Speight consistently overthrows balls, a frustrating thing when guys are wide open, and a dangerous thing when guys are in traffic. I’ve seen people insisting that the first pick-six was on Kekoa Crawford, whose hands it bounced off of, but that throw was high and a tough catch. The second pick-six in the general vicinity of Grant Perry was wildly overthrown.

The hippo in the room. John O’Korn looked about the same as he did last year, too. I don’t understand yanking Speight in order to have O’Korn hand off the ball three times before punting, either. You don’t need a backup QB to hand off the ball. Speight is better with the ball handling, anyway, so that first O’Korn series was a waste, and the draw play on third down was awkward.

The armadillo in the room. I sure hope Brandon Peters gets some playing time this year.

Hit the jump for more on the game.

read more

2017 Season Predictions

Tarik Black (image via MLive)

Please consider supporting the site by making Amazon purchases using this link (LINK) or by clicking on the Amazon ad on the sidebar. Thanks!

LEADING RUSHER
There has been talk over the past few months that there’s a race for the #1 running back spot, but so far I have yet to see evidence of that. Chris Evans and Karan Higdon are thought to be the top two by most, and some have said that Ty Isaac looks to be in the mix for #2, as well. Until I see otherwise, I’m going with the front-runner.
Prediction: Chris Evans, 900 yards

LEADING RECEIVER
This one is really a crapshoot with no returning yardage producers to speak of and a bunch of freshmen in the running to play. The top returning receiver is Grant Perry, who had some off-the-field troubles and lost jersey #9 to freshman Donovan Peoples-Jones. Peoples-Jones, Kekoa Crawford, and Tarik Black also seem likely to play a bunch. I’m going with the guy who looked best in the spring, and that was Black.
Prediction: Tarik Black, 830 yards

Hit the jump for the rest of the season predictions.

read more

2017 Season Countdown: #27 Tarik Black

Tarik Black (image via BCSN)

Name: Tarik Black
Height: 6’4″
Weight: 208 lbs.
High school: Cheshire (CT) Cheshire Academy
Position: Wide receiver
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: #7
Last year: Black was a senior in high school.
TTB Rating:

Black was a big recruiting win for Michigan out of Connecticut. In the final composite rankings, he was the #17 wide receiver and #118 overall. The Wolverines beat out Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, and Notre Dame, among others. He was a U.S. Army All-American and then enrolled early in Ann Arbor. During the spring, he looked like perhaps Michigan’s best receiver, and he was a go-to target, at least against fellow freshman Benjamin St-Juste.

Black looked faster than I expected from him in the spring game, and there are some who think he has looked like Michigan’s top wideout. I can’t see anyone arguing that he’s lower than fourth, which is still pretty solid for a true freshman receiver; personally, I think he’s one of the top two guys on the outside and should start this coming fall. He has good speed and very good size, and he’s a solid route runner. He has been more impressive than superstar classmate Donovan Peoples-Jones, but it’s hard to rank any freshman receiver too highly. After all, Michigan’s best freshman receiver was Mario Manningham in 2005, when he had 27 catches for 433 yards and 6 touchdowns. I don’t think Black’s yards per catch will supersede Manningham’s 16.0, but I expect roughly similar production.

Prediction: 35 catches, 450 yards, 5 touchdowns