Name: Tyree Kinnel
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 206 lbs.
High school: Huber Heights (OH) Wayne
Position: Safety
Class: Junior
Jersey number: #23
Last year: I ranked Kinnel #35 and said he would be a backup safety. He made 17 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and and 1 forced fumble.
TTB Rating: 74
Kinnel was a solid player in 2016, but he was behind seniors Dymonte Thomas and Delano Hill. He was valued as a key backup and special teamer, but unless an injury or two took place, he was not expected to be a huge contributor. He fared well throughout the season whenever called upon, and he made a very impressive tackle for loss against Maryland where it looked like he knew the play before the snap. In many years, Michigan’s starting safeties have looked comparable to or worse than Kinnel; yet he was #3 or #4 in 2016, depending on how you view Jabrill Peppers.
This year he’s the grizzled veteran in the safety group, and he has to start. In fact, he could have spent all off-season eating buffet dinners and lying on his couch, and he would still be the starter at free safety. Michigan lacks skill and depth at the safety positions. Sophomore Joshua Metellus, redshirt sophomore walk-on Jordan Glasgow (who just earned a scholarship, actually), and freshman J’Marick Woods are all on the two-deep at safety, and they’re all extremely inexperienced. It’s key for Kinnel to stay healthy and direct the back end of the defense, because things might get rather tense if he’s not out there in crunch time. He’s a smart, solid tackler with decent speed, and I’m not sure we can say that about those other guys yet.
Prediction: Starting free safety; 70 tackles, 1 interception
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Agree on kinnel, though I think QB, LT, and he ate all tightly bunched at the top of this list
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Excellent write-up. I like the spot for Kinnel.
I just feel there’s an argument to be made for putting Cole, Hurst, Gary, Kinnel, McCray, and even Mone ahead of Speight.
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I am still amazed that some people still want to believe that UM is okay if Speight goes down. No. It’s Speight at # 1 by a mile and a half.
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I think a Harbaugh coached QB will be just fine, and I don’t believe Speight is an exceptionally irreplaceable talent. Harbaugh walked into the Colosseum with a backup QB and took down #2 USC.
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Stanford went 4-8 that year.
Michigan could barely move the ball when Speight went down last year and needed a career game from Deveon Smith to sneak by.
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Stanford went 1-11 the year before, with the last winning season coming in 2001 before Harbaugh, so I see 4-8 as a huge improvement.
If you want to cite single games, go for it. We could also cite the OSU game. Michigan’s defense held us in the OSU game during regulation, but the pick six, the pick returned to inside the 5, and the goal line fumble did not help us win that game.
I never wanted Shane Morris to start, I still feel for Gardner and Morris. Gardner had one of the worst hands dealt to a Michigan QB, period. Morris should have never been thrown into the Minnesota game, nor back into the Minnesota game.
After Hawaii and UCF last year, I thought Speight was going to be a stud. I hope he knocks my socks off. I’m not expecting it, but I’m hopeful. Speight didn’t win big games last year when the defense gave him every opportunity to do so.
Based on what I’ve seen, I still believe Peters is the most talented QB on the roster. To define what that means, I think he’s the most physically gifted. The touch he puts on his throws looks great, his arm strength looks great, and he has great mobility.
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Harbaugh didn’t have a great season at Stanford until he got a returning starter back at QB.
I’m citing the one game Speight missed because he missed only one game. It was the worst passing performance of the year by far.
This shouldn’t really be worth debating: the starting QB matters a lot.
Speight’s INTs cost us against OSU, he also carried an offense that couldn’t run to a near victory, despite playing hurt. The Michigan defense gave up 33 points to FSU. They lost that game. Again, Speight carried the O to near victory despite woeful pass protection and very little run game. Speight put the team up 3 with <2 min to go.
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It appears being “physically gifted” isn’t as important at QB as some might think.
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Speight’s talents – accuracy, pocket awareness, composure, reading defenses, decision-making are more important than being able to chuck a ball 90 yards or run a 4.65 40.
See: Brady, Tom. Average arm, average height, below-average speed. Maybe that’s “lacks talent” to some people.
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Speight is accurate? I don’t know… Too many bad short passes to list, but I don’t remember considering that a don’t suit of his
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completion percentage and efficiency indicate yes
nobody is 100%
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I checked game highlights, but finding tape of speight hitting a Receiver in stride are not easy to find. Completion percentage doesn’t tell the story
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youre absolutely right, those other traits rule while crazy arm talent and athletic QBs are more of a bonus.
id love to see m with athletic QBs capable of punishing D with their legs or dudes capable of consistently making all the throws…but reading the D, directing your guys, and calmly delivering accurate balls are key and would make this current O tough to handle
(though i think speight is overrated in some of those areas – ie his tendency to stare down his receivers and also lock on to his primary too often).
speight is what he is and i dont expect him to alter his funky mechanics but i do hope hes worked on some of those issues bc he could make real strides in some those areas (progressions, not locking on primary reads, taking better advantage of big plays and downfield balls when possible, etc) and then be really dangerous
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You keep talking about “talent”. The guy you said is the most talented is currently 4th string. I’m guessing you argued similar things for Shane Morris. Maybe time to reassess what talent means.
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Great job on the countdown again Thunder. Beyond the math/omission issues you did an excellent job. As always, I hope you take my critical comments along the way in the conversational/debate spirit they are intended.
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I think Kinnel has high potential for being the most disappointing player relative to preseason expectations. M fans are treating him like a proven commodity and high caliber starter and I hope they are right – but we haven’t seen it yet.
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Agreed, and the biggest question mark for the safeties is coverage skills. We’ve seen flashes of nice plays from Kinnel and Metellus in run support and tackling, but we have little to no evidence of coverage/ball skills.
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Good news is that UM plays in the Big Ten. Kinnel has very good instincts in pass coverage. Been impressed with his play although limited.
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Agree – coverage ability is big for the entire secondary. An optimist might hope that the corners can cover well enough to not make coverage too big of an issue for the safeties and that the safeties are strong enough in run support to cover for the CBs.
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