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2021 Season Countdown: #24b Jordan Whittley

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Name: Jordan Whittley
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 348 lbs.
High school: Richmond (CA) Castlemont
Position: Nose tackle
Class: Fifth year senior
Jersey number: #93
Last year: Whittley opted out of playing the 2020 season at Oregon State.
TTB Rating: N/A

Whittley was a huge addition to Michigan’s team this off-season. Listed at 358 pounds for Oregon State (now at 348), he was an immovable object at nose tackle the last time he played in 2019. The high school running back-turned-defensive tackle has bounced around to a few places, and apparently, whatever was going on in Beaverton did not fit his tastes. He entered the transfer portal and ended up with the Wolverines. California to Oregon to Michigan is a path rarely traveled, but it appears to be working okay this time.

What will Whittley bring to the table for the Wolverines in 2021? So far practice buzz has been non-existent about Whittley, while there have been some rumblings about fellow nose tackle Mazi Smith. Michigan needs at least one of those guys to step up this season for a new 3-4 defense that needs to be more stout in the interior. I have a hard time believing in any kind of consistency for either one, but I do believe that part of the reason for the Mazi Smith buzz is that the coaching staff brought in competition in the form of Whittley. So regardless if which one wins the most snaps, the presence of the other might light a fire under someone’s butt.

My guess is that Smith will get the first shot to play nose tackle, but it’s nice to have Whittley on board as a rotation piece and potential starter.

Prediction: Backup nose tackle

2021 Season Countdown: #25 Trevor Keegan

Name: Trevor Keegan
Height: 6’6″
Weight: 324 lbs.
High school: Crystal Lake (IL) Crystal Lake
Position: Offensive guard
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #77
Last year: I ranked Keegan #54 and said he would be a backup offensive tackle (LINK). He played in five games on special teams and three games at offensive guard.
TTB Rating: 81

Keegan was a highly rated offensive tackle prospect in the offensive line-heavy 2019 class. It’s been rather curious to see which of those linemen would filter out and which would rise to prominence. Keegan finally seemed to break through a little bit late in the shortened 2020 season. Filling in at times for left guard Chuck Filiaga, Keegan made some nice blocks and seemed like an upgrade in some ways.

Filiaga supposedly had a good off-season, but if you have a neck-and-neck battle, I think you go with the younger guy. Why coach up a fifth year senior when you can potentially get a couple more seasons out of coaching up a redshirt sophomore? My belief is that Keegan will take over the starting left guard position. But because the team has Filiaga and other talented linemen as backups, I have Keegan toward the lower end of my projected starters in order of importance.

Prediction: Starting left guard

2021 Season Countdown: #26 Mike Sainristil

Name: Mike Sainristil
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 185 lbs.
High school: Everett (MA) Everett
Position: Wide receiver
Class: Junior
Jersey number: #19
Last year: I ranked Sainristil #26 and said he would be a backup wide receiver (LINK). He started three games and made 7 catches for 82 yards and 2 touchdowns.
TTB Rating: 84

Sainristil has earned bits and pieces of practice buzz – mixed with some tantalizing on-field play – for the past two seasons. So far that has amounted to just 15 total catches, albeit including 3 touchdowns. Those three scores came on an RPO catch-and-run in 2019, a leaping 23-yard touchdown from Cade McNamara against Wisconsin last season, and a screen catch-and-run against Rutgers. Sainristil has also had some frustrating drops.

In a recent interview, offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Josh Gattis lamented the fact that Nico Collins’s opt-out in 2020 forced Michigan to move Sainristil out of the slot to the “X” receiver position. The implication was that Sainristil is back in the slot for 2021. With Giles Jackson (Washington) having transferred, Michigan is searching for someone who can make big plays in the slot. I’m not yet convinced that Sainristil can be that guy, but off-season hype has him taking a step forward this season.

Prediction: Starting slot receiver; 25 catches, 330 yards, 3 touchdowns

2021 Season Countdown: #27 Vincent Gray

Name: Vincent Gray
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 192 lbs.
High school: Rochester (MI) Adams
Position: Cornerback
Class: Junior
Jersey number: #4
Last year: I ranked Gray #17 and said he would be a starting cornerback (LINK). He made 25 tackles and 3 pass breakups.
TTB Rating: 71

Gray had a 2020 season to forget. We probably all wish we had one of those flashy thingies from Men in Black to forget about the Michigan State game, which largely consisted of Michigan State’s crappy quarterback (who has since transferred to Northern Illinois) blindly flinging balls to Michigan State’s no-name receivers. Ricky White’s 8 catches, 196 yards, and 1 touchdown were 6 more catches, 169 more yards, and 1 more touchdown than he compiled in all his other games. When Gray wasn’t getting torched by no-names, he was grabbing and tugging on jerseys to give up yards in 15-yard chunks at a time, courtesy of yellow flags.

Gray did supposedly recover toward the end of the year, but basically that seemed to include changing coverages and playing Gray way off to prevent other teams from running right past him.

From my commitment post:

What Gray lacks is great athleticism. His 4.76 forty isn’t inspiring, and he doesn’t play much faster than what one would assume from that forty time. He struggles to pull away from mediocre competition at Adams, and he doesn’t have great acceleration. He’s a bit of a glider and doesn’t seem to be going all out when he sprints, although I have no reason to believe he’s not going 100%. His tackling could use some work; he needs better technique, and he needs to get stronger.

Michigan is getting from Gray what I expected. The problem is that Gray shouldn’t have been starting. Ambry Thomas, Gemon Green, Andre Seldon, and others were all ranked higher, but with Thomas opting out, Seldon missing time, etc., Gray was almost forced into action. Gray was supposed to be a late-career spot starter or fill-in, not a guy starting full-time in his third year.

Most insiders think D.J. Turner II is going to take over Gray’s starting corner job, and I’m hopping on that bandwagon. Overall, I believe that athleticism usually wins out, and Gray is not a guy who should be a two- or three-year starter in a Michigan uniform. However, Gray has been a heavy contributor up to this point in his career, and I don’t think he’ll suddenly get mired on the bench. I expect him to be a rotation guy or perhaps a sub-package guy if the coaches want to go with a third cornerback.

Prediction: Backup cornerback

2021 Season Countdown: #28 William Wagner

Name: William Wagner
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 247 lbs.
High school: Alpharetta (GA) Alpharetta
Position: Long snapper
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #49
Last year: I did not rank Wagner. He started six games.
TTB Rating: N/A

You probably forgot that Michigan’s starting long snapper opted out of the 2020 season due to COVID concerns. That long snapper, Camaron Cheeseman, became a 6th round pick of the Washington Football Team even without playing the season, which is pretty impressive.

So in stepped Wagner, whom I did not rank in the 2020 Season Countdown. Wagner started all six games and did well, with “did well” meaning you probably didn’t know who the long snapper was.

Wagner returns as one of two long snappers in the program, along with redshirt freshman Greg Tarr. I have no reason to expect Wagner to be replaced, so here he is, a quasi-starter, at #28.

Prediction: Starting long snapper