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Welcome back, Jalen Mayfield!

I guess I prematurely posted a goodbye post for Jalen Mayfield after he opted out of the 2020 season (LINK), because now he’s reportedly coming back to play. It’s understandable that he opted out since the season was canceled/postponed at the time.

Meanwhile, defensive end Kwity Paye also came out and said he was returning, even though he had not necessarily made an official announcement that he was leaving.

That leaves Nico Collins and Ambry Thomas, both of whom have signed with agents, as the other two guys who are in some limbo right now. Thomas is reportedly interested in coming back, while there’s not much coming out of Collins’s camp.

2020 Season Countdown: #19 Zach Charbonnet

Name: Zach Charbonnet
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 220 lbs.
High school: Sherman Oaks (CA) Oaks Christian
Position: Running back
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: #24
Last year: I ranked Charbonnet #19 and said he would be the starting running back with 120 carries for 600 yards and 8 touchdowns (LINK). He ran 149 times for 726 yards and 11 touchdowns, along with making 8 catches for 30 yards.
TTB Rating: 90

Charbonnet came in at #19 last year. Normally a starting running back would probably rank higher, but he was a freshman coming off knee surgery. He ended up having one of the best freshman seasons for any Michigan back in history. Charbonnet was mostly very efficient and steady, but he didn’t show the explosiveness that some – including me – expected coming out of high school.

After starting off with a bang (8 carries for 90 yards) against Middle Tennessee, he averaged 3.0 to 3.2 yards per carry in three out of his next four games. He hit 100 yards for the first time against Army in week two, plus 3 touchdowns, but that was on just 3.03 yards a pop. He saved his worst for the Ohio State game, when he averaged just 1.75 yards per carry on 4 attempts.

Word out of camp this fall is that Charbonnet is a different guy. Players are saying he’s more explosive and working extremely hard. How much of that is camp hype, and how much of it is the natural maturation from freshman to sophomore year? We’ll see.

At the very least, we should expect some continued Steady Eddie performances, hopefully with a few more big runs. Charbonnet should be at or near the top of the depth chart, along with Chris Evans, who sat out 2019 due to a suspension. Evans has a little more big play ability, so they would be a nice 1-2 punch.

Prediction: Part-time starting running back

Hit the jump for some of his 2019 highlights.

Dylan McCaffrey, Ex-Wolverine

Angelique Chengelis and Bruce Feldman are both reporting that Michigan quarterback Dylan McCaffrey is opting out of the 2020 season and exploring transfer options, and they’re solid enough reporters that I’m going to go ahead and assume McCaffrey is gone (though no official announcement has been made).

Hit the jump for more.

Big Ten Football is Back for 2020

You’ve probably already heard the news, but the Big Ten is starting up its football season on October 24 and the conference will play an eight-game schedule. Reportedly, the school presidents/chancellors voted unanimously to resume athletics.

There are other rumors, so go ahead and blast away in the comments.

What do you guys think? How is this going to go?

2020 Season Countdown: #20 Andrew Stueber

Name: Andrew Stueber
Height: 6’7″
Weight: 339 lbs.
High school: Darien (CT) Darien
Position: Offensive tackle
Class: Redshirt junior
Jersey number: #71
Last year: I ranked Stueber #29 and said he would be the starting right offensive tackle (LINK). He tore his ACL in the pre-season and did not play.
TTB Rating: 82

Every year it seems like Michigan suffers a debilitating injury either in the pre-season or the spring that affects the season in a significant way. In 2019 it was an ACL tear for Stueber in the pre-season. He and Jalen Mayfield were supposedly in a dogfight for the right tackle job, and it went to Mayfield by default once Stueber was injured in mid-August. Maybe that would have been the choice, anyway, since Mayfield showed to be worthy of being pegged as a potential first-rounder for 2021.

But this isn’t about Mayfield. It’s about Stueber.

I still have high hopes for him after watching him play some key minutes down the stretch in 2018. He’s massive at 339 pounds, and apparently he’s agile enough to get a strong look at tackle. I like moving guys with tackle ability into the interior, and it looks as if Stueber will be the replacement for Michael Onwenu at right guard. I have no idea if the 2020 season will be played or what it will look like, but I do think Stueber will be a solid player at guard before his career is over, as long as his knee is back to full strength.

Prediction: Starting right guard