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2020 Season Countdown: #9 Carlo Kemp

Name: Carlo Kemp
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 286 lbs.
High school: Boulder (CO) Fairview
Position: Defensive tackle
Class: Senior
Jersey number: #2
Last year: I ranked Kemp #13 and said he would be the starting nose tackle with 25 tackles and 1.5 sacks (LINK). He started twelve games, making 40 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, and 1 fumble recovery.
TTB Rating: 84

A quick recap: Kemp started his career at linebacker and has since played every position on the defensive line, from weakside end to nose tackle.

He continued making strides on the defensive line in 2019, becoming Third Team All-Big Ten to the conference’s coaches. That’s a pretty nice accomplishment for a guy who’s undersized for the nose tackle job. Kemp doesn’t even have the consistent quickness off the ball of a guy like Maurice Hurst, Jr., but he does use leverage and athleticism to find his way to the ball. Michigan was able to use him on stunts with some effect. Unfortunately, the quickness and stunting was embarrassingly ineffective against power running teams like Ohio State and Wisconsin.

This year it appears Kemp will be moving over to 3-tech as Michigan deploys more four-man fronts. That makes more sense to me and hopefully allows a guy with more weight/stoutness to play nose tackle. Kemp gave a valiant effort, but without sufficient junk in his trunk, it’s an exercise in futility to play nose tackle when getting gashed by the stellar offensive lines of the Badgers and Buckeyes.

Prediction: Starting defensive tackle

2020 Season Countdown: #10 Dylan McCaffrey

Name: Dylan McCaffrey
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 220 lbs.
High school: Castle Rock (CO) Valor Christian
Position: Quarterback
Class: Redshirt junior
Jersey number: #10
Last year: I ranked McCaffrey #26 and said he would be a backup quarterback (LINK). He was 10/20 for 116 yards and 1 touchdown; he also ran for 67 yards and 1 touchdown.
TTB Rating: 91

Well, here we find Dylan McCaffrey, the guy once destined to be the Next Great Quarterback at Michigan who now appears to be headed for, I dunno, Northern Colorado to play for his dad. McCaffrey was pegged by many – including me – to be Michigan’s starter in 2020, ahead of Joe Milton. For whatever reason, McCaffrey lost the job and therefore announced he would opt out of the season and would explore transfer options.

I had McCaffrey ranked #10, which is low for a starting quarterback. The reason? He seems injury-prone. A concussion and a broken collarbone have ended each of his previous two seasons prematurely. The only season he finished healthy was when he was redshirting in 2017. So by my estimation, Michigan was going to end up with at least two starting quarterbacks for lengthy stretches in 2020, McCaffrey and Milton. Now the job goes to Milton, and we have to hope that redshirt freshman Cade McNamara is ready to roll as the backup.

Prediction: Starting quarterback

You may also fine these posts interesting:

• Snapshots: McCaffrey vs. Middle Tennessee
• Snapshots: McCaffrey vs. Notre Dame
• Snapshots: Milton vs. 2019 opponents

2020 Season Countdown: #11 Chris Hinton, Jr.

Name: Chris Hinton, Jr.
Height: 6’4″
Weight: 305 lbs.
High school: Norcross (GA) Greater Atlanta Christian
Position: Defensive tackle
Class: Sophomore
Jersey number: #15
Last year: I ranked Hinton #38 and said he would be a backup defensive tackle (LINK). He made 9 tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss.
TTB Rating: 90

Hinton entered 2019 with some expectations to contribute immediately. He was an All-American with an NFL pedigree, and Michigan needed help at defensive tackle. Michael Dwumfour never fully developed (and has since transferred to Rutgers), and otherwise, Michigan was relying on position-switchers like Donovan Jeter, Carl Kemp, Jess Speight, and others to hold down the fort in the middle. It was a breath of fresh air to see two true defensive tackles recruited in the 2019 class (Hinton and Mazi Smith), but Hinton was more college-ready.

His play was not disappointing – defensive tackle is tough for freshmen – but he also didn’t really show many flashes of greatness, either. That doesn’t mean it won’t come. Hinton already showed some stoutness and made a few tackles, and I liked what I saw from him.

This season Hinton is up 20 pounds from where he started last year, and he has a year of technique and S&C under his belt. I went into the countdown thinking he and Kemp would be the starters on the interior, but recent news from insiders has Jeter pegged to start alongside Kemp. I don’t have a lot of trust in Jeter because of how he has underperformed, but I did like him as a prospect, so maybe the light finally came on. Either way, there’s a lot of rotation on the defensive line, so Hinton will play quite a bit. That size and toughness will be valuable inside when Michigan comes up against Wisconsin and Ohio State.

Prediction: Part-time starting nose tackle

Ex-Wolverine Updates: Week 4

FORMER PLAYERS

WR Tarik Black (Texas): Black made 1 catch for 12 yards in a 33-31 loss to TCU.

TE Mustapha Muhammad (Kilgore Junior College): Muhammad transferred from Michigan to Houston and is now at Kilgore Junior College, which has canceled its season due to COVID.

CB Myles Sims (Georgia Tech): Georgia Tech (1-2) had a bye week.

Hit the jump for more.

2020 Season Countdown: #12 Ronnie Bell

Name: Ronnie Bell
Height: 6’0″
Weight: 184 lbs.
High school: Kansas City (MO) Park Hill
Position: Wide receiver
Class: Junior
Jersey number: #8
Last year: I ranked Bell #27 and said he would be a backup slot receiver (LINK). He started ten games and made 48 catches for 758 yards and 1 touchdown.
TTB Rating: 71

Bell was the breakout skill player in 2019. Even though Jim Harbaugh said coming out of the spring that Mike Sainristil had earned the starting job in the slot, Bell managed to come out swinging and led the team in catches (48) and yardage (758 yards). He saved his best career performance for the rivalry against Michigan, when he set career highs in catches (9) and yardage (150 yards), but that was the only time he topped 100 yards. But he was very consistent, with six other games in which he had between 78 and 98 yards.

Somehow, Bell was held out of the end zone except for a 39-10 win over Indiana, when his lone catch for 6 yards went for his only score of the year.

That lone touchdown thing was really frustrating for some Michigan fans, who saw Bell drop a touchdown pass in a 28-21 loss to Penn State. Some morons acted out harshly toward Bell – who was in tears after the drop – but he earned a standing ovation from Michigan fans without brain damage.

As Michigan’s leading returning receiver, Bell was a no-brainer to be ranked pretty highly. But just like Giles Jackson yesterday (LINK), Bell would be ranked even higher if the countdown had been created with the knowledge that Nico Collins would not be available for the season. Bell has pretty reliable hands and is an excellent runner after the catch, even though he lacks blazing speed. He is reportedly moving to the X receiver spot to take over for Collins there, opening up room for Jackson and Mike Sainristil in the slot. I do expect the volume to go down a little bit since he’s moving out of the slot, but if Joe Milton can get him the ball out there on an island, Bell should be able to make some fun things happen after the catch.

Prediction: Starting wide receiver