Posts under: Blog

2018 Season Countdown: #34 Nico Collins

Nico Collins (image via Detroit News)

Name: Nico Collins
Height: 6’4″
Weight: 206 lbs.
High school: Birmingham (AL) Clay-Chalkville
Position: Wide receiver
Class: Sophomore
Jersey number: #4
Last year: I ranked Collins #68 and said he would be a backup wide receiver (LINK). He made 3 catches for 27 yards.
TTB Rating: 85

If the new redshirt rule had been in place in 2017, this is the type of player it would have benefited. Collins was a little bit raw early on, and more was expected from some upperclassmen. When Tarik Black got hurt and when the upperclassmen didn’t produce, the coaching staff burned Collins’s redshirt. He played for the first time in game seven, which immediately ruined his chances of keep his redshirt, since it was so late in the season. Collins made 1 catch against Rutgers and then finished the season with 2 catches for 15 yards against South Carolina in the Outback Bowl. It was a forgettable first season, but I think it was significant that he forced his way onto the field.

Collins should be a more important piece of the offense this season. Going from #68 to #34 is a significant jump, and putting a guy with 3 career catches in the top third of the countdown might seem like a stretch. However, Michigan doesn’t have a ton of depth at wide receiver, because Kekoa Crawford is transferring, Maurice Ways is at Cal, and Drake Harris is at Western Michigan. Collins is part of the awesome 2017 wide receiver recruiting class that included Black, Donovan Peoples-Jones, and Oliver Martin. Collins is probably the primary backup on the outside, and those guys get a lot of playing time. I think he’s a notch below Black and Peoples-Jones, but this has the makings of a stacked wide receiver corps. Last year the wideouts didn’t get a ton of targets, but Ole Miss had four wide receivers with 39+ catches (note: Michigan’s top WR in catches was Grant Perry with 25). If Michigan builds the offense around new quarterback Shea Patterson, Collins could be in for a big jump in production. I don’t think he’ll get to 39 catches because Michigan will still probably run the ball and employ several tight ends, but I could see 20 receptions for Collins.

Prediction: Backup wide receiver; 15 catches for 180 yards, 2 TDs

Attractive Michigan Girl of the Week

Hit the jump for a slightly NSFW attractive Michigan girl this week.

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2018 Freshman Jersey Numbers

Gemon Green

If you’re the type of fan interested in jersey numbers, here are some that have popped up in the past couple days. Sometimes these are fluid when the staff realizes they’ve got two guys playing on the punt team who have the same number, so there’s a good chance some of these will change. Nonetheless, here you go with the names:

QB Joe Milton, #5
RB Hassan Haskins, #25
RB Christian Turner, #28
FB Ben VanSumeren, #20
WR Michael Barrett, #6
WR Ronnie Bell, #8
TE Ryan Hayes, #80
TE Mustapha Muhammad, #85
TE Luke Schoonmaker, #44
OT Jalen Mayfield, #73
DE Aidan Hutchinson, #97
DE Taylor Upshaw, #91
LB Cameron McGrone, #44
CB Vincent Gray, #31
CB Gemon Green, #9
CB Myles Sims, #6
S German Green, #13

2018 Season Countdown: #35 Noah Furbush

Noah Furbush (#59, image via MGoBlue)

Name: Noah Furbush
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 238 lbs.
High school: Kenton (OH) Kenton
Position: Linebacker
Class: Fifth year senior
Jersey number: #59
Last year: I ranked Furbush #37 and said he would be a backup SAM/WDE and special teamer (LINK). He made 30 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 1 pass breakup, 2 fumble recoveries, and 1 interception returned for 27 yards.
TTB Rating: 64

In the year 2018, Furbush seems like a very odd player. Why? Because he’s still at Michigan. He’s a part-time starter, but due to Michigan’s defensive personnel choices, he’s limited in how many snaps he sees per game. It seems to me that a lot of fifth year seniors around the country would grad transfer if they were in his situation and try to go somewhere to be a full-time starter. Defensive coordinator Don Brown figured out last season that he could move Furbush around to a bunch of different places and use him as a weakside end on passing downs, stand him up to use him as a blitzer, or even drop him back into coverage. Realistically, Furbush might be Michigan’s most versatile player, but he rarely gets discussed because of the star power of Rashan Gary, Chase Winovich, Devin Bush, Jr., Khaleke Hudson, Lavert Hill, David Long, and others.

This year I expect more of the same from Furbush. He has developed into a very effective player and a key guy for Don Brown. Michigan lost weakside linebacker Mike McCray II to graduation, but Furbush has not been mentioned as potentially sliding over to WILL. He’s still a utility guy who will be deployed all over the field. It’s crazy that Michigan has three quasi-starter, fifth-year-seniors in Furbush, Brandon Watson, and Bryan Mone who will be coming off the bench but could start at Michigan, not to mention a bunch of other schools. There’s a glut of talent on the defensive side of the ball in Ann Arbor, and I expect Furbush to take another step forward this year. I could see him earning an NFL opportunity after this season, even though he’s not a full-time player for the Wolverines.

Prediction: Backup SAM, weakside end, special teamer

Stephen Herron, Ex-Wolverine

Stephen Herron, Jr.

Louisville (KY) Trinity defensive end Stephen Herron, Jr. flipped his commitment from Michigan to Stanford on Monday.

Herron committed to Michigan a little less than a year ago, in July of 2017 (LINK). There have been rumors of him decommitting in favor of Stanford for months, and those rumors come to fruition more often than not. He insisted to reports over that time that he was solid to Michigan, but if you’ve been following recruiting for a while, you know commitments are only as good as the National Letters of Intent they’re signed on.

Michigan now has 18 commitments remaining in the 2019 class, including three defensive ends: Chris Hinton, Gabe Newburg, and David Ojabo. Newburg is a weakside end like Herron, but Hinton and Ojabo are more like strongside ends or defensive tackles.

Herron is a 4-star, the #5 weakside end, and #86 overall in the 247 Composite.