Santa Ana (CA) Mater Dei wide receiver Cristian Dixon committed to Michigan on Thursday. He picked the Wolverines over offers from Auburn, Cal, Florida State, LSU, Notre Dame, Oregon, and USC, among others.
Dixon is listed at 6’2″ and 187 lbs. He claims a 4.63 forty, a 4.57 shuttle, and a 32.3″ vertical. As a junior in 2019, he caught 35 passes for 611 yards and 6 touchdowns.
Name: Mike Morris Height: 6’6″ Weight: 262 lbs. High school: Belle Glade (FL) American Heritage Position: Defensive end Class: Redshirt freshman Jersey number: #80 Last year: I ranked Morris #74 and said he would redshirt (LINK). He redshirted. TTB Rating: 81
Morris had a pretty predictable freshman year as a 6’6″, 258 lb. defensive lineman: he redshirted. Michigan could have used some help along the defensive interior, but the end position had a pretty good rotation. But a 6’6″, 258-pounder isn’t going to help inside.
Morris is listed four pounds heavier on Michigan’s roster than he was last year, but hopefully he has added even more weight than that. He should probably be up in the 270 lb. range for defensive end and even higher if he moves inside to the 3-tech defensive tackle position. There wasn’t much buzz about him as a freshman, and the defensive line rotation once again seems to be pretty set with at least three playable guys on the inside and three more outside. Morris should spend most of 2020 watching, but he will probably get a few snaps here or there.
Name: Jake McCurry Height: 6’0″ Weight: 192 lbs. High school: Solon (OH) Solon Position: Wide receiver Class: Redshirt junior Jersey number: #43 Last year: I ranked McCurry #63 and said he would be a backup wide receiver and special teamer (LINK). He made 7 tackles and recovered 1 punt. TTB Rating: N/A
McCurry has been on the fringe of significant playing time for the past couple seasons. He caught a couple passes back in 2018 – and even garnered an ill-advised crunch-time target in The Game – but the 2019 season saw him relegated to special teams almost exclusively. New offensive coordinator Josh Gattis and a new class of recruits seemed to push McCurry to afterthought status when it comes to offense.
I expect more of the same in 2020 with a class of speedy recruits joining the team. Even though Donovan Peoples-Jones and Tarik Black have departed since last season, incoming players like Roman Wilson and A.J. Henning should gobble up some snaps. Meanwhile, second-year players Mike Sainristil and Giles Jackson should be more ready to play. So it looks like another year of special teaming for McCurry.
Name: Joey Velazquez Height: 6’0″ Weight: 213 lbs. High school: Columbus (OH) St. Francis De Sales Position: Linebacker Class: Redshirt freshman Jersey number: #9 Last year: I ranked Velazquez #89 and said he would redshirt (LINK). He played in one game. TTB Rating: 82
So far Velazquez’s Michigan career is going as expected:
Start career off redshirting at Viper? Check.
Bulk up and move to WILL linebacker? Check.
It’s year two in Michigan’s system, and the only thing that hasn’t gone according to plan is when his freshman baseball season was canceled due to coronavirus.
The two-sport athlete goes into his redshirt freshman season as a potential role player on defense, mainly due to the departure of some key backups (Jordan Anthony, Devin Gil). While Joshua Ross is likely to start at WILL, the backup situation is in flux. Velazquez will be in a battle with sophomore Anthony Solomon, redshirt freshman Charles Thomas, and a few freshmen to get on the field. I expect Velazquez’s primary contribution to come on special teams.
Zak Zinter with other Boston-area Michigan recruits (image via The Wolverine)
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Name: Zak Zinter Height: 6’6″ Weight: 300 lbs. High school: North Andover (MA) Buckingham Browne & Nichols Position: Offensive guard Class: Freshman Jersey number: N/A Last year: Zinter was a senior in high school (LINK). TTB Rating:76 80
Zinter finished the 2020 recruiting class as a 4-star, the #10 offensive guard, and #264 overall. I’m glad he was finally rated as a guard, because early on in his recruitment, he was pegged as a tackle. Zinter graduated in December and enrolled in January, but obviously his time at Michigan was cut short due to COVID-19.
I may have moved him slightly up in the countdown if he had had a full spring session of football practice, but he will come in as basically a summer enrollee. And while he has had time with the playbook and contact with the coaches since he’s officially a college student, that’s not the same as getting reps on the field. I am as impressed by Zinter’s senior film as anyone’s, but I do have concerns about his ability to stay healthy. It seems that guys who are jumbo-sized entering college (Chris Fox, Chris Bryant, etc.) have a harder time staying healthy than the guys who grow into the position, and Zinter is a pretty big dude. Also, if you look at the picture at the top of this post, Zinter’s lower legs taper outward below the knee, which I have concerns about from a structural standpoint for a guy carrying around 300+ pounds.
So . . . I bumped Zinter up from a 76 to an 80 in the TTB Ratings, but my main concern is whether Zinter can hold up physically. As for this particular season, I think Zinter is strong enough that he could come in and play a few games as a garbage time backup, but he shouldn’t burn his redshirt.
