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Jake Fisher, Wolverine

Jake Fisher rips a guy’s head off

On Sunday evening, Traverse City, MI, offensive tackle prospect Jake Fisher pledged his football services to the Wolverines. Fisher is a 6’7″, 260 lb. lineman who has been playing tight end in high school. While he has the skills, hands, and athleticism to play tight end at the FBS level, he’s headed for a position change.

Scout has him ranked as a 4-star and the #25 offensive tackle in the country. Rivals ranks him as a 3-star. It’s unclear how accurate those rankings are, since the recruiting services are trying to project a tight end to a completely different position. However, Fisher’s highlight video is a series of pancake blocks with an occasional sprinkling of Fisher running past linebackers and defensive backs to catch a few passes. Hooray for pancakes.

I like Fisher. He’s a superb athlete for an offensive tackle, moves very well, and for being 6’7″, he stays really low. This is not a player whose pad level needs to be questioned. He fits perfectly into Rich Rodriguez’s zone blocking system and should be able to latch onto defensive ends and linebackers.

As with any high school lineman, he needs to add some weight. A redshirt is virtually guaranteed in 2011, and by then, both Perry Dorrestein and Mark Huyge will have graduated. Redshirt juniors Taylor Lewan and Michael Schofield will be the likely starters at tackle for 2012 and 2013. But that should leave an opening for Fisher to fight for a starting position in 2014 and 2015, likely at left tackle.

Welcome to the Wolverines, Jake.

2010 Countdown: #47 Adam Patterson

Name: Adam Patterson
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 272 lbs.
High school: Richland Northeast High School in Columbia, SC
Position: Nose tackle/defensive end
Class: Redshirt senior
Jersey number: #99
Last year: I ranked Patterson #35. He made 1 tackle.

That #35 ranking seems just a bit overzealous in retrospect. Who am I kidding? That was probably the biggest miss of the entire countdown. Patterson was a highly recruited kid coming out of school (top 100, I swear!), but he hasn’t been able to translate that potential to college success. I didn’t pay a ton of attention to recruiting when Patterson came out of high school in 2006, but looking back at his high school highlights, those rankings had nothing to do with his football talents – they looked at his speed (4.64 in the forty) and size (6’3″, 256 lbs.) and just assumed he’d be a good football player. He had no technique whatsoever.

Last year I just had the crazy idea that a top-100 player at a position (defensive end) of zero depth could beat out a walk-on like Will Heininger. Heininger got a lot of run and made 10 tackles and half a sack. Patterson made one tackle. In three years, Patterson has produced 8 tackles, 1 sack, and 1 forced fumble. At least temporarily, Patterson has been bumped to nose tackle, but that might only have been because Mike Martin missed spring practice with an injury. At 272 lbs. and with the aforementioned lack of technique, I doubt Patterson is much of a threat to play at nose tackle, although the coaches did praise his quickness. With Ryan Van Bergen moving to defensive end and Anthony Lalota coming off his redshirt, those two will likely hold down the fort at end. Patterson looks to be a man caught in No Man’s Land. Hopefully he can contribute more in 2010 and his versatility is a positive, but he’s no better than third string at either position.

Prediction for 2010: Backup defensive lineman; 2 tackles

2010 Countdown: #48 Ricky Barnum

Name: Ricky Barnum
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 282 lbs.
High school: Lake Gibson High School in Lakeland, FL
Position: Offensive line
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #56
Last year: I ranked him #59 and said he’d be a backup guard. Barnum played OG against Eastern Michigan and OT against Delaware State.

Barnum is one of those guys whose potential remains to be seen. He was highly recruited coming out of high school, but a series of injuries have caused him to miss spring practices and occasional fall practices. His play at offensive center has been somewhat lackluster, which makes him the fourth-string player at the position (behind Molk, Khoury, and Mealer). He’s also behind a couple classmates at guard (Omameh and Mealer).

But Barnum offers something that nobody else on the team does – the ability to play every position on the offensive line. That makes him an important backup. As Patrick Omameh’s understudy at right guard, Barnum should get more playing time than last season; he’s probably third string, behind Taylor Lewan and Michael Schofield, at tackle. I don’t expect Barnum to vie for a starting job until perhaps 2012, when current starters Perry Dorrestein, Steve Schilling, David Molk, and Mark Huyge will have departed.

Prediction for 2010: Backup offensive guard

Explanation of the Countdown

It shouldn’t be a surprise that Brandon Graham was Michigan’s MVP last year.

As I started the 2010 Season Countdown, I assumed (wrongly) that people would remember the series from last year. But after fielding several questions on the topic, I realized that . . . well . . . nobody really read my blog last year. This still isn’t an extremely popular destination, but hey, 1,700+ hits for a full-time teacher and coach isn’t bad.

On to the explanation . . .

The countdown is designed to highlight each player and offer some opinions and analysis on each one. They are listed in order of “Least Important” to “Most Important” for the 2010 season. In other words, Christian Pace is at the bottom of the list because he’s the most likely to redshirt. Therefore, his impact on Michigan’s 2010 performance will be almost nil.

Last year’s 2009 Season Countdown had the following players in the top five:

1. Brandon Graham
2. Tate Forcier
3. Donovan Warren
4. Obi Ezeh
5. Brandon Minor

Now imagine if Brandon Graham had been lost to injury – Michigan would have lost 10.5 sacks and its defensive leader, and perhaps former walk-on Will Heininger would have drawn into the lineup. More likely, Ryan Van Bergen would have moved to defensive end full-time and Renaldo Sagesse, Greg Banks, or Will Campbell would have played 3-tech defensive tackle. Yeah . . . trading in Brandon Graham for Renaldo Sagesse – albeit a serviceable player – scares me, too.

Think about this: if Tate Forcier had been lost to injury and Denard Robinson had made the same number of passing attempts (281), Robinson’s 12% interception rate would have translated to approximately thirty-three (33!) interceptions. Michigan fans would have been clamoring for Nick Sheridan.

Without Warren (and Boubacar Cissoko, who got booted off the team), imagine potentially having J.T. Floyd and Teric Jones as your starting corners. Yikes!

It turns out, Obi Ezeh was injured in 2009, which partly caused him to have his worst season as a starter. In his stead, Michigan played redshirt sophomore, 206 lb. Kevin Leach.

I probably overestimated Brandon Minor’s importance to the team, since there were other running backs to pick up the slack. I still maintain that Minor was Michigan’s best back for the past two seasons, but the drop-off between Minor and Carlos Brown isn’t nearly as significant as, say, Brandon Graham to Will Heininger or from Forcier’s 13 interceptions to Robinson’s estimated 33 picks.

So I’m presenting the 2010 Season Countdown. On average, one player will be revealed each day until the beginning of the season, and the #1 guy is – in my estimation – the most important player for Michigan’s success this coming season.

2010 Countdown: #49 Kevin Leach

Name: Kevin Leach
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 200 lbs.
High school: Grand Rapids Catholic Central in Grand Rapids, MI
Position: Spur/inside linebacker
Class: Redshirt junior
Jersey number: #52
Last year: I ranked Leach #60 and said he’d be a special teamer. He started 4 games at linebacker, making 46 tackles, 1 sack, and 1 interception.

As many people probably did, I underestimated Leach’s role on Michigan’s defense last year. He had earned some hype as a redshirt freshman and finally got a chance to show off his skills as a redshirt sophomore. Due to some poor linebacker play from the starters – and a then-undisclosed back injury to Obi Ezeh – Leach beat out guys like J.B. Fitzgerald and Kenny Demens for playing time, despite the fact that Leach was about 206 lbs. and a former walk-on. He finished the season with 46 tackles, which is an impressive number for such an undersized kid.

By this past spring, Leach’s weight had been whittled to 200 lbs. and he was a backup Spur, which is like a strong safety. I question why the coaches didn’t try to bulk him up and keep him at weakside linebacker. He doesn’t have a frame to carry 240 lbs., but he could have probably added enough meat to get up in the 220 lb. range. Leach doesn’t seem to have the speed or athleticism to cover too many guys in open space. He earned his playing time in 2009 by being fundamentally sound, not by being a superior athlete. Regardless of whether he plays Spur, weakside linebacker, or middle linebacker, 2009 was probably the zenith of his football career. He could be a solid backup in 2010, but unless there are significant injuries, I don’t think he’ll be making 46 tackles again.

Prediction for 2010: Backup spur, special teams coverage