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| Logan Tuley-Tillman (image via MGoBlog) |
NOTE: Due to a clerical error on my part (I counted Michael Ferns twice on my list), we’re skipping from #81 to #79 on the countdown.
Name: Logan Tuley-Tillman
Height: 6’7″
Weight: 290 lbs.
High school: Peoria (IL) Manual
Position: Offensive tackle
Class: Redshirt freshman
Jersey number: #72
Last year: I ranked Tuley-Tillman #90 and said he would redshirt. He redshirted.
Tuley-Tillman enrolled early in January of 2013 and was listed at 285 lbs. He did not look very good in the spring game, and he was never in the discussion for playing time during the 2013 season. He’s a tackle through and through, so that makes sense when he was blocked by seniors Taylor Lewan and Michael Schofield.
Now the tackle position has been thinned out considerably, and Tuley-Tillman should be in the conversation. Unfortunately for all parties involved, he does not seem to have worked his way in there. He broke his hand and spent most of the spring wearing a large cast, but he was still working with the second- and third-teamers during the spring game. A left tackle by trade, he was passed up for playing time by true freshman Mason Cole and fellow redshirt freshman David Dawson, who also plays some guard. Aside from the two presumed starters at tackle (Erik Magnuson and Ben Braden), there appear to be at least a few more guys who would be inserted into the lineup before Tuley-Tillman: Cole, Dawson, and perhaps starting center Graham Glasgow or backup guard Blake Bars. Tuley-Tillman will probably find himself mired on the bench for another year, and since nobody is scheduled to graduate after the 2014 season, he might be sitting yet again in 2015.
Prediction: Backup left tackle
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Has your floor or ceiling for this guy changed since you first evaluated him?
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Not really. This is pretty much exactly what I predicted for him when he committed (http://touchthebanner.blogspot.com/2012/02/logan-tuley-tillman-wolverine.html). Poor technique on the offensive line will get you beat like a drum. He still needs to work out the kinks.
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Feels like the season just got closer!
Fair ranking, though you never know when the light will come on. At least enough to pass some of the other unproven options at Tackle.
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UM really could use one or two guys from the group of Braden, LTT, and Fox to step up as a quality OT. My gut tells me that UM is OK if Magnusson and Glasgow are bookends. Of course in Glasgow's case, a C needs to emerge to free him up. But if those three guys cannot develop into quality players, UM will have to start over-recruiting OT again.
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Other than size, what did the coaches see in LTT, Fox and maybe Bars that they offered them a scholarship? Was this the best they could do? Seriously! Tell me, I can't see offering a guy a scholarship if they best they're going to do is to sit the bench and not compete. If you saw their limitations as freshmen coming in, I would assume the professional coaches who do this for a living would have seen the same thing. What am I missing here?
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OL generally take time to develop. Both Fox and LTT have phenomenal size and thus great potential to play down the road. However, we always knew LTT needed some time to develop and Fox tore his ACL at the end of his senior season. His rehabilitation was done without the assistance of a premiere college football medical team. It's probably knocked back Fox a year in readiness. Both are RS freshman so give them another year before we start throwing our arms up about them. As for Bars, he was the lowest rated OL coming in for his class and needed to put size on. He was also considered likely to eventually end up at G. Maybe he won't pan out but recruits don't pan out all the time. It wouldn't be a surprise and wouldn't be a knock on Hoke. That being said, I damned do hope he continues to develop into a contributor and enjoys his time at michigan.
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You're missing that the majority of kids recruited aren't 4-year starters and that recruiting is hard. Even the very best coaches in the country miss all the time.
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If we only recruited the guys without limitations (and even that is a stretch, since almost everybody has a weakness), then Michigan would offer about 20 kids in each class and whiff on most or all of them.
Coaches have to take the good with the bad. Sometimes they see a kid with an attitude they like who needs to be coached up. Sometimes they see a kid with good technique and attitude who has athletic limitations. It's nothing to get worked up about. There will be hits and misses.
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