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Name: Jalen Mayfield
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 296 lbs.
High school: Grand Rapids (MI) Catholic Central
Position: Offensive tackle
Class: Redshirt freshman
Jersey number: #73
Last year: I ranked Mayfield #78 and said he would redshirt (LINK). He played in three games.
TTB Rating: 87
Mayfield had an outside shot to win an offensive tackle position in 2018. Michigan made a somewhat surprising personnel decision when they moved offensive guard Jon Runyan, Jr. to left tackle, and that move stuck. Mayfield played in three games as a backup, but he was not needed in a major role and preserved his redshirt.
This off-season there has been additional hype about Mayfield. Jim Harbaugh himself has discussed how much he likes Mayfield’s athleticism. Will that translate to winning the tackle position vacated by Juwann Bushell-Beatty? That has yet to be seen. Andrew Stueber was the guy who stepped in for Bushell-Beatty at the end of 2018, so I give Stueber a slight edge. This might end up like the 2017 season when Nolan Ulizio started a few games before giving way to Bushell-Beatty, but on the plus side for Michigan’s future, I think both Stueber and Mayfield are better than both Ulizio (who is now at Pitt) and Bushell-Beatty (who is not in the NFL). I think Mayfield will be the guy who steps in at either tackle position if either Runyan or Stueber gets injured, but he could very well win the right tackle job.
Prediction: Backup offensive tackle
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While it’s important to acknowledge that RT could still be a disaster for all we know, the level of confidence this year in the last OL spot is dramatically better than previous seasons. Finally, the OL isn’t scrambling to fill holes and shuffling people between positions. Instead, just a good old fashioned competition going on between a junior and a sophomore who have both drawn various degrees of positive buzz.
Our OL coach is reportedly walking around with a big smile on his face. Our top returning starter is boasting a paraphrased version of my RB mantra: “We want to make it simple enough, anybody can run through the hole.”
It’s good to be Josh Gattis right now.
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Yep, looking MUCH, MUCH better!
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