Spring Football Roster

Posts by: touchbann_adminuser

14Mar 2009
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Spring Football Roster

Mgoblue.com released the spring football roster today. Most of the players seem to be pretty svelte, but there are a few interesting weights and position tidbits.

J.T. Floyd is listed as a cornerback. This seems to be his position for the foreseeable future.

Anthony Lalota was listed at 6’6″, 260 lbs. on his Rivals recruiting page. The roster lists him at 6’4″, 235 lbs. This is a considerable difference. Considering Lalota’s raw skills, his size was one of the things working for him. Now it’s apparent that he’s smaller than some of our linebackers, and I think a redshirt is even more likely than I thought before.

Greg Banks is 275 pounds. That’s the heaviest he’s been in his career. Perhaps he’s bulking up to play strongside defensive end.

As reported earlier in the week, Steve Watson is listed as a defensive end. He’s now up to 251 lbs.

Former fullback Vince Helmuth has ballooned to 299 lbs. He’s now a DT on a team that only has four defensive tackles listed on the depth chart, so it’s very likely that he’ll see the field this coming fall.

Both Kenny Demens (6’1″) and Marell Evans (6’3″) are 237 lbs. It’s been reported that Demens might be able to play MIKE. If he becomes a viable option at MIKE, that allows a little more flexibility amongst the linebackers. It might allow Obi Ezeh to move from MIKE to SAM and let J.B. Fitzgerald find his best fit as well.

Last year’s starting offensive line averages 289 lbs.

Mike Cox (6’0″, 215) is virtually the same size as Brandon Minor (6’1″, 216), so there’s a big back on the roster to take over once Minor and Kevin Grady (5’9″, 226) leave.

Vincent Smith is 5’6″ and 158 lbs. He will almost certainly redshirt.

Brandon Smith is listed at 6’3″, 211 lbs. If he’s able to keep his weight/musculature in check, he should be able to remain at safety.

Mike Jones is listed at 6’2″, 202 lbs. as a safety. He’s been doing drills with the linebackers and probably will end up there eventually. Both Brandon Herron (222 lbs.) and Marell Evans (237) began their careers around that size, so it’s obviously possible for him to get to linebacker size. Brandin Hawthorne is 195 right now.

Junior Hemingway is 6’1″ and 226 lbs. That’s very large for a wide receiver.

11Mar 2009
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Devin Gardner to announce commitment on Monday

Reports on Scout and Rivals have stated that Devin Gardner will announce his commitment on this coming Monday. The overwhelming sentiment on these sites and other message boards is that Gardner will be a Wolverine.

UPDATE: Ah, the fickle minds of youth. According to Rivals.com, Gardner will not hold a press conference on Monday to announce his decision, but he will decide on Saturday. Since he is scheduled to attend Michigan’s spring practice on that day, that bodes well for the Wolverines.

8Mar 2009
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Position switch: Steve Watson

With Greg Robinson as Michigan’s new defensive coordinator, the Wolverines will probably be running a hybrid 4-3 defense in 2009. Robinson’s employment of the 4-3 often involves a stand-up defensive end/outside linebacker.

Unfortunately for Michigan, the Wolverines don’t have an established player who is an ideal fit at that defensive end position. Shawn Crable would be an example of a player who could play the position well, but he’s entering his second year in the NFL. Incoming freshman Craig Roh was told by Robinson that the coaches wanted him to be used as that DE/OLB, but he’ll be new to the college game and might need some extra time to adjust.

Three Michigan players have been identified by the staff as potential contenders: linebackers Marell Evans and Brandon Herron, as well as converted tight end Steve Watson.

The Evans idea makes some sense. He was a star in spring 2008 practices but vacated his starting outside linebacker job early in the season to John Thompson. At 6’3″ and 231 lbs., he has the size and the speed to be a decent contributor. He’ll probably need some size and strength to hold up against the run, but he has an entire offseason to bulk up a bit.

Brandon Herron also seems to fit. He’s slightly smaller than Evans at 6’2″ and 218 lbs. He played some on special teams as a redshirt freshman in 2008, but never garnered much attention as a full-time linebacker. Herron is only a redshirt sophomore, but he perhaps seems destined for a career on the bench.

The Steve Watson position switch is the most intriguing. As the #15 (Rivals) or #19 (Scout) tight end in the class of 2007, he was supposed to battle for the tight end position after Carson Butler left. But with class of 2008 tight end Kevin Koger apparently outplaying everyone on the roster – causing Butler to move to defensive end – that position seems to be filled for the foreseeable future. While Koger, Martell Webb, and Brandon Moore compete for playing time at tight end, it seems Watson has decided to try his hand at defense.

The problem? Watson barely even played defense in high school. At J.K. Mullen High School in Denver, Colorado, he accumulated a total of 15 tackles and 3 sacks in his career. He does not seem to be possess a great chance of contributing on defense, but I admire his willingness to give up his most familiar position to compete elsewhere. At 6’4″ and 242 lbs., he has the size but probably lacks the instincts and technique to be successful. The good news is that he’ll only be a redshirt sophomore in 2009, which means he has a couple years to hone his skills. He might contribute down the line, but I expect that Evans or Roh will develop a stranglehold on the position before Watson can adjust.

Predicted depth chart:
DE/OLB
Marell Evans – Jr.
Craig Roh – Fr.
Brandon Herron – RS So.
Steve Watson – RS So.

4Mar 2009
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Mike Barwis balloon slightly deflated

Almost more so than the hiring of Rich Rodriguez in December 2007, the arrival of West Virginia’s strength and conditioning coach, Mike Barwis, excited Michigan football fanatics. Rumors abounded that Barwis was an ex-cage fighter, owned pet wolves, and drank battery acid protein drinks. The speed of West Virginia’s football team and the success of its undersized offensive line had the Michigan faithful believing that Barwis could turn middling recruits into supermen and good recruits into gods and really good recruits into Barry Sanders.

While Michigan looked faster on the field in 2008, Barwis’s program obviously didn’t translate into victories. And to be fair, experts say that it takes a full year for a new program to really take effect. So while Brandon Minor and Greg Mathews, in particular, seemed to gain a step in 2008, the coming season is perhaps when we will see the results of Barwis’s newfangled approach to strength and conditioning.

So with the 2009 NFL Combine wrapping up last week, I thought I’d take a look at Michigan’s invitees and see if Barwis deserves the hype.

Terrance Taylor – DT
As a high schooler, Taylor reportedly ran a 4.85 forty-yard dash as a 6′, 285 lb. defensive tackle. Considering that many high school times are inflated, let’s add one-tenth of a second to that time and call it a 4.95. At 6′ and 306 lbs. this past weekend, Taylor ran a 5.24 forty-yard dash. Taylor supposedly benched 185 lbs. a total of 32 times coming out of high school, a max factor of 381 lbs. This weekend Taylor put up 225 lbs. a total of 37 times (max factor: 500), second in the Combine only to Louis Vazquez from Texas Tech.

Tim Jamison – DE
As a high schooler, Jamison’s profile suggests he ran a 4.7 forty-yard dash as a 6’3″, 240 lb. defensive end. He checked in at the combine as a 6’3″, 256 lb. defensive end – and ran a 5.09 forty-yard dash. Even adding the obligatory +.1 to his high school forty time, he apparently got .29 seconds slower as a sprinter in his time at Michigan.

Morgan Trent – CB
Trent is more difficult to judge. In high school he supposedly ran a 4.4 forty-yard dash, which doesn’t seem infeasible, considering he holds the Michigan state record in the indoor sixty-yard dash and the indoor 200-meter dash. Reports out of Indianapolis have him running anywhere between a 4.42 and a 4.53 at the Combine, so he probably didn’t get any slower – but he probably didn’t get much faster, either. Speed seems to be a wash with Trent. He did, however, bench 225 lbs. twenty-three times at the Combine, which tied him for fourth amongst cornerbacks and seventh of all defensive backs. At 6’1″ and 193 lbs., Trent’s weight didn’t fluctuate much since Barwis’s arrival, although he did seem sturdier and made some excellent hits in the 2008 season.

Sean Griffin – LS
Griffin’s numbers at the Combine probably affect him less than the other three. He checked in at 6’2″ and 242 lbs. As an excellent college long snapper, his snaps aren’t the issue. The biggest question about Griffin will be his strength and speed for getting down the field and making tackles. Long snappers are often the first ones off the line to release and start covering punts downfield. Griffin turned in a 5.14 forty yard dash at the Combine, which is not a particularly good number for someone who weighs just over 240, whether he’s a long snapper or not. It’s somewhat curious that Griffin even got invited to the Combine, considering that he never played a down at any other position.

Conclusion
The stories about Barwis improving strength seem to hold some truth. Morgan Trent and Terrance Taylor both did very well in the bench press. Regarding speed, Trent’s 4.53 forty time was somewhat disappointing, considering he has generally been considered one of the two or three fastest guys on the team. However, he did better than expected in the agility drills, so perhaps he’s faster than a 4.53 and that was just an aberration.

These players – in addition to safeties Brandon Harrison and Charles Stewart, linebacker John Thompson, defensive tackle Will Johnson, and tight ends Mike Massey and Carson Butler – will have a chance to improve these numbers at Michigan’s Pro Day on March 13.

26Feb 2009
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2009 Recruiting Awards


Best overall recruit: Craig Roh
Best offensive recruit: Fitzgerald Toussaint
Best defensive recruit: Craig Roh
Recruit most likely to make an early impact: Tate Forcier
Fastest recruit: Denard Robinson
Strongest recruit: William Campbell
Best under-the-radar recruit: Adrian Witty
Most overrated recruit: Michael Schofield
Most likely to redshirt: Cameron Gordon