Posts under: Blog

2022 Season Countdown: #29 Luke Schoonmaker

Name: Luke Schoonmaker
Height: 6’6″
Weight: 250 lbs.
High school: Hamden (CT) Hamden Hall
Position: Tight end
Class: Fifth year senior
Jersey number: #86
Last year: I ranked Schoonmaker #32 and said he would be a backup tight end (LINK). He caught 17 passes for 165 yards and 3 touchdowns.
TTB Rating: 81

Schoonmaker, a former high school quarterback, has improved year after year. He represents exactly what one should expect from a Jim Harbaugh-coached tight end. If you play tight end for Harbaugh, you’re probably going to develop into a pro candidate. There are some who think Schoonmaker has improved as a blocker to the point where he’s the best blocker at his position group, which is saying something, considering other tight ends include starter Erick All and former offensive lineman Joel Honigford. But Schoonmaker has also turned into a solid receiver, with 2 touchdowns against Indiana and a couple one-handed catches during his career. Despite being just a part-time starter and tying for 8th on the team in receptions, he was named Honorable Mention All-Big Ten by both the coaches and media.

The 2022 season should be more of the same. Schoonmaker is a quality player, but he will have to share time with All, Honigford, and others. There’s also talk that youngsters Matt Hibner, Louis Hansen, and Colston Loveland – who all have barely played or not played at all – are good enough to get on the field. Schoonmaker will play a bunch, and he might even be good enough to get drafted in 2023, but he probably won’t see a leap in production because the tight end room is so crowded.

Prediction: Part-time starting tight end; 20 catches for 190 yards and 4 touchdowns

2022 Season Countdown: #30 William Wagner

Name: William Wagner
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 258 lbs.
High school: Alpharetta (GA) Alpharetta
Position: Long snapper
Class: Redshirt junior
Jersey number: #49
Last year: I ranked Wagner #28 and said he would be the starting long snapper (LINK). He started every game.
TTB Rating: N/A

Wagner became the starting long snapper in 2020 when Camaron Cheeseman opted out of the season. As far as I can remember, the past two years have been two years where most Michigan fans couldn’t have named the long snapper. That usually means the snaps have been pretty automatic.

There’s no reason to expect that he will be anything different this season than he was the last two years. If he can do that and stay healthy, hooray! If not, there are unknown quantities in redshirt sophomore Greg Tarr and true freshman Evan Boutorwick. Both were solid walk-on pickups according to the sites that chart long snappers, but they haven’t snapped in a game yet.

Prediction: Starting long snapper

2022 Season Countdown: #31 Jaylen Harrell

Name: Jaylen Harrell
Height: 6’4″
Weight: 246 lbs.
High school: Tampa (FL) Berkeley
Position: Edge
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #32
Last year: I ranked Harrell #47 and said he would be a backup outside linebacker (LINK). He started four games and made 15 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and 1 quarterback hurry.
TTB Rating: 84

Harrell may not have had a true breakout season in 2021, but he at least started to crack his shell. Not only did he start for one-third of the season, but he also made some nice plays, including holding the edge against the run pretty well. His starts seemed to be mostly situational, as all four of them were spread across the season, from September 18 against Northern Illinois to December 4 against Iowa in the Big Ten championship game.

One would think that a part-time starter with Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo in the fold would be almost a lock to be a full-time starter with Hutchinson and Ojabo gone, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Word out of camp right now is that if the season were to start today, Harrell would be a backup edge player. While Harrell hasn’t really shown next-level pass rush ability yet, David Ojabo had 1 career tackle after two seasons, and we all saw how he turned out. Generally, what we’ve seen with Harbaugh is that the edge players always seem to be pretty darn good – from Taco Charlton to Chase Winovich to Rashan Gary to Aidan Hutchinson to David Ojabo.

Even if Harrell isn’t a full-time starter, he should be a key part of the rotation throughout the season.

Prediction: Part-time starting edge

2022 Season Countdow: #32 Cam Goode

Name: Cam Goode
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 323 lbs.
High school: Washington (DC) St. John’s
Position: Defensive tackle
Class: Fifth year senior
Jersey number: #99
Last year: Goode played for UCF. He made 24 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, 1 interception, 4 forced fumbles, and 3 pass breakups.
TTB Rating: N/A

I didn’t know who Cam Goode was up until the 2021-2022 off-season, and most Michigan fans are probably in the same boat. After a few years in college, Goode finally made his first starts in 2021 and did pretty well with them, albeit playing in a weaker conference than the Big Ten. He was a part-time starter and managed to make several disruptive plays, including tying for 12th in the country in forced fumbles with four. But when it came to the season’s end, he was ready for a bigger stage.

That led him to Michigan as a graduate transfer. The Wolverines needed some help on the defensive line with Donovan Jeter and Chris Hinton off to do other things, along with one-year experiment Jordan Whittley, who did not do much in a Michigan uniform. Goode is known for his quickness, but the improved competition will probably make the transition a little bit difficult. Originally when I placed him in the top third of the roster, I figured he would be a key backup to Mazi Smith at nose tackle, but freshman Kenneth Grant is getting all kinds of hype as an athletic freak and potential contributor. So maybe Goode will see a diminished role, or perhaps we’re all being distracted by the presence of the enormous Grant. Either way, Goode should be a rotational player on the defensive interior.

Prediction: Backup defensive tackle

2022 Season Countdown: #33 Julius Welschof

Name: Julius Welschof
Height: 6’6″
Weight: 266 lbs.
High school: Miesbach (Germany) FOS Altoetting
Position: Edge
Class: Fifth year senior
Jersey number: #96
Last year: I ranked Welschof #35 and said he would be a backup defensive tackle (LINK). He made 13 tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss, 0.5 sacks, and 1 pass breakup.
TTB Rating: 78

Have you ever seen a 286-pound man sprinting downfield on the kickoff unit? If you watched Michigan in 2021, you did. Welschof may have been the heaviest kickoff squad member in the country last year, and he was getting downfield as quickly as many of his teammates. That has been the tantalizing aspect of Welschof as a player: freak athleticism for a 6’6″ non-beanpole.

Now Welschof is a svelte 266 pounds as he has made the transition from defensive tackle to edge. Gone are Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo, and in steps . . . well, we’re not quite sure yet. Physically, Welschof is almost Hutchinson’s doppelganger: Hutchinson was 6’6″ and 265 lbs. Technique, effort, instincts . . . well, those tell a different story. Welschof sat out of the spring game, so the public didn’t see him in action at his new weight or get a good glimpse at where he falls in the pecking order. I expect him to be in the two-deep, if not earn a starting role, in 2022.

Prediction: Backup edge