Name: Jeffrey Persi
Height: 6’7″
Weight: 305 lbs.
High school: Mission Viejo (CA) Junipero Serra
Position: Offensive tackle
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #79
Last year: I ranked Persi #82 and said he would be a backup offensive tackle (LINK). He played in two games.
TTB Rating: 82
When Matt Dudek was Michigan’s recruiting coordinator up through 2020, Persi was the poster boy for staff evaluation. Maybe the recruiting sites didn’t love Persi – he was a low 4-star at #322 overall – but the staff did. But if it’s not plainly obvious that a guy is going to be good right this minute, that guy is probably not going to make an impact as a true freshman. But Persi also didn’t make much of an impact in 2021, playing in just a couple blowouts.
This post predicts quite a leap in 2022, as Persi goes from #82 to #43. Michigan likes to use a sixth lineman as a tight end, like they did in 2021 with Trente Jones. It’s not a coincidence that Jones is penciled as the starting right tackle now that Andrew Stueber is gone. So if Jones is Stueber in 2022, who is Jones in 2022? It probably comes down to Persi or Karsen Barnhart. Barnhart seems to be the #1 backup at a few positions – he started four games at left tackle in 2020 and two games at left guard in 2021 – and the staff will either make him the sixth lineman as the “tight end” or keep him ready at tackle/guard. Either way, I expect Persi to start to see an increased role as the seventh or eighth lineman, whether he enters in certain packages or is just in the two-deep as a backup.
Prediction: Backup offensive tackle
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