Posts by: Thunder

2015 Season Countdown: #14 Mario Ojemudia

Mario Ojemudia

Name: Mario Ojemudia
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 252 lbs.
High school: Farmington Hills (MI) Harrison
Position: Defensive end
Class: Senior
Jersey number: #53
Last year: I ranked Ojemudia #33 and said he would be a backup weakside end with 30 tackles and 3 sacks. He started three games and made 32 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, and 1 pass breakup.

The main beneficiary of Frank Clark’s late-season dismissal from the team, Ojemudia put up decent stats for a backup defensive end. His season included 2 sacks against Northwestern, 5 tackles against Maryland, and 2.5 tackles for loss against Utah. He had some big moments. The problem has been that he seems to disappear for stretches of time. He can also get swallowed up a little bit in the run game, because his size is more like that of a stout middle linebacker.

This season Ojemudia is Michigan’s leading returning sack artist with 6 career quarterback takedowns. He would seem likely to start at the Buck position, which is an outside linebacker/defensive end hybrid. We did not see him play in the spring game due to injury, but he is reportedly healthy and ready to go. Reports out of summer camp have him receiving a challenge from Royce Jenkins-Stone – who has finally bulked up as a senior and seems to have a fire lit under him – and redshirt freshman Lawrence Marshall, who has packed on 15 lbs. in the off-season to get up to 255 lbs. I thought Jenkins-Stone looked okay in the spring game against the run, but Ojemudia is the more versatile guy who can get a pass rush going. Even if there’s a lot of rotation, I think Ojemudia is the most proven pass rusher on the field and needs to play on passing downs to give the Wolverines some semblance of an outside rush.

Prediction: Starting Buck linebacker; 45 tackles, 5 sacks

Recruiting Update: August 17, 2015

Norcross (GA) Greater Atlanta Christian quarterback Davis Mills

A note on offer board updates: A new website means new rules, so new offers, commitments, and decommitments will be listed in the comments section at the bottom of the offer boards. So if you scroll to the bottom of each offer page, you can see the most recent developments in those areas.

ADDED TO THE BOARD: 2016
Thousand Oaks (CA) Westlake wide receiver Theo Howard decommitted from Oregon. He’s a 6’0″, 170 lb. prospect who’s a 247 Composite 4-star, the #16 wide receiver, and #111 overall. At one time he was considered to be one of the California crew who could end up at Michigan (along with quarterback K.J. Costello and others), but now it looks like USC has moved in on the former Duck commit. This could potentially help Michigan in some areas, because if USC fills up at wide receiver, the Wolverines could end up with some of the leftovers.

ADDED TO THE BOARD: 2017
Norcross (GA) Greater Atlanta Christian quarterback Davis Mills was offered by Michigan. He’s a 6’3″, 189 lb. prospect with offers from Arizona State, Miami, and Stanford, among others. He’s a 247 Composite 4-star, the #5 pro-style quarterback, and #86 overall. As a sophomore in 2014, he completed 67% of his passes for 2,267 yards and 26 touchdowns; he also has 313 rushing yards and 6 touchdowns. Mills is definitely a pro-style guy who can move in the pocket a little bit, but he won’t be a big run threat at the next level. He throws a nice deep ball and anticipates coverages well. Georgia and Stanford appear to be the favorites so far.

Hit the jump for a couple guys who committed elsewhere and some random tidbits.

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2015 Season Countdown: #15 Joe Bolden

Joe Bolden

Name: Joe Bolden
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 232 lbs.
High school: Cincinnati (OH) Colerain
Position: Linebacker
Class: Senior
Jersey number: #35
Last year: I ranked Bolden #30 and said he would be a backup linebacker with 50 tackles and 3 sacks. He started all twelve games and made 102 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, and 1 pass breakup.

Bolden was part of an intriguing octet of inside linebackers last year that also included Jake Ryan, Desmond Morgan, and Ben Gedeon. I was under the impression that Bolden and Gedeon would be the odd men out when it came to playing time, but two things got in the way: Desmond Morgan’s shoulder injury and Bolden himself. Morgan got injured after one game, got a medical redshirt, and had his career extended by one year. Meanwhile, Bolden started week one and didn’t relinquish the job. He finished second on the team in tackles behind Jake Ryan, and he improved from a sophomore season that had him almost-but-not-quite making a lot of plays.

It’s hard to believe that Bolden is a senior already. It doesn’t seem like very long ago that he was earning rave reviews at the Under Armour All-American Bowl, but he was chosen to represent the Wolverines at Big Ten Media Days and could be in line for a captaincy this season. He has all but locked down a starting inside linebacker job, and the duo of Morgan and Bolden should be rock steady in the middle. In fact, Michigan once again has an imposing quartet of inside linebackers when you throw in junior Gedeon and senior James Ross III, the latter of whom is also playing outside linebacker. Bolden should have a very good year, and he is probably a good bet to be the team’s leading tackler now that Ryan has moved on to the Green Bay Packers.

Prediction: Starting middle linebacker; 100 tackles, 6 tackles for loss, 2 sacks

Dan Samuelson, Ex-Wolverine

Dan Samuelson

Redshirt sophomore offensive guard Dan Samuelson has decided to transfer. I had ranked him at #79 (LINK) in the 2015 Season Countdown, so you can see I was not counting on him to be a major factor this year. When he flipped from Nebraska to Michigan in January of 2013, I gave him a TTB Rating of 65 (LINK). I did not see him as the caliber of player that Michigan should have been recruiting at that stage, and I had been hoping that the Wolverines would be able to reel in Cameron Hunt, who eventually signed with Oregon and has been a two-year starter for the Ducks, including seven games as a true freshman.

Michigan took six offensive linemen in that 2013 class, and Samuelson is the third to leave, joining Kyle Bosch (now at West Virginia) and Chris Fox (now on medical scholarship). That monster offensive line class has now been whittled down to David Dawson, Patrick Kugler, and Logan Tuley-Tillman, none of whom have made an impact yet. But out of 27 signees in that cycle, only four have left so far – those three linemen and wide receiver Csont’e York, who got into some legal trouble in Ann Arbor.

With three open scholarships and thirteen seniors scheduled to graduate following the upcoming season, Michigan’s 2016 class technically has 16 spots right now.

2015 Season Countdown: #16 Chris Wormley

Chris Wormley

Name: Chris Wormley
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 300 lbs.
High school: Toledo (OH) Whitmer
Position: Defensive end
Class: Redshirt junior
Jersey number: #43
Last year: I ranked Wormley #17 and said he would be a starting defensive tackle with 35 tackles, 6 tackles for loss, and 3 sacks. He started six games and made 21 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, and 3 sacks.

Wormley has continued to take incremental steps forward each year. When he was in high school, there were questions about his motor. When he got to college, he was probably going to play as a freshman before he tore his ACL in the summer. When he was a redshirt freshman, he showed a couple flashes of having the athletic ability dominate. Last year he started to put it all together for longer stretches. He split time at the 3-tech defensive tackle position, and he was fairly productive (7th on the team in tackles for loss, tied for 5th in sacks). He has yet to have a breakout game of dominance, but he seems to make one or two plays per game.

The new coaching staff has worked wonders with Wormley, because most guys stop growing upward in college. Now listed at 6’5″ and 300 lbs. (previously 6’4″, 295), Wormley has been playing strongside end in the new regime. He has the chops to move inside to defensive tackle, but despite the injury to Bryan Mone, Michigan has more depth on the interior. At the strongside end spot, it’s basically up to Wormley, Taco Charlton, and then questions (mainly, are Henry Poggi and Tom Strobel tight ends or defensive ends?). Wormley and Charlton are both known for inconsistency, but now that Brennen Beyer has graduated, those two might push each other to new heights in their attempts to become full-time starters. For his own part, Wormley started earning lots of hype in the spring, and D.J. Durkin has said some really positive things about him recently. My guess is that he beats out Charlton, although there will be lots of rotation on the defensive line.

Prediction: 40 tackles, 9 tackles for loss, 6 sacks