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Goodbye, Mason Cole

Mason Cole

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HIGH SCHOOL

Cole attended Tarpon Springs (FL) East Lake and was a part of the 2014 class. Originally, it looked like he would bring teammate George Campbell with him in the 2015 class, but Campbell eventually decommitted in favor of Florida State. You can check out the scouting report I put together on Cole prior to his commitment (LINK). I gave him an 87 as a Final TTB Rating (LINK).

COLLEGE

There’s really not much to be said here. Cole started every game at left tackle for his first two years on campus (2014, 2015), and then he moved to center for 2016, when he started every game at center in the wake of Graham Glasgow’s departure. With Patrick Kugler available to play center in 2017, Cole moved back to left tackle and started every game there this past season. Overall, he started 51 games out of 51 possible games throughout his career, with 38 starts at left tackle and 13 at center.

CAREER STATS

N/A

AWARDS

Second Team All-Big Ten (2016, 2017)

SUMMARY

At the risk of being chastised for tooting my own horn, the scouting report linked above was pretty spot-on. I said that Cole had the agility to play left tackle, but he could play tackle, guard, or even center. While he never played guard in college, he spent most of his career at left tackle. He measured in at the Senior Bowl with short arms for a tackle, and his lack of length and bulk gave him some issues with being an effective drive blocker at Michigan. He could latch on to a guy and move his feet, but he couldn’t collapse down a whole side of the defensive line. During his one year at center in 2016, he didn’t have a lot of busted assignments but struggled to get a ton of movement. He was a solid offensive lineman, but it’s not a fluke that he topped out at 2nd team all-conference.

I WILL REMEMBER HIM FOR . . . 

. . . doing whatever the team needed from him, and doing it well. You need a starter at left tackle during my true freshman year? Done. You need me to move from tackle all the way to center? Done. You’ve got a center you trust and a void at left tackle? I’m on it.

PROJECTION

The NFL is looking at Cole as an interior lineman, most likely a center. The aforementioned short arms will preclude him from playing tackle, and he’s probably not an ideal drive blocker to play the guard position. When NFL coaches had a chance to slot him in somewhere, they made him play center at the Senior Bowl, even though he hadn’t played the position in a game since 2016. Centers aren’t viewed as being extremely valuable in the NFL Draft, so I think we will probably see Cole drafted somewhere around the 4th round.

Visitors: February 16-18, 2018

West Bloomfield (MI) West Bloomfield LB Lance Dixon

2019

Karsen Barnhart – OT – Paw Paw (MI) Paw Paw: Barnhart is a 6’4″, 282 lb. prospect with offers from Arizona State, Indiana, Michigan, and Michigan State, among others. He’s a 3-star, the #43 offensive tackle, and #361 overall.

Adam Berghorst – DE – Zeeland (MI) East: Berghorst is a 6’7″, 245 lb. prospect with offers from Kentucky, Michigan, and Michigan State, among others. He’s a 247 Sports 3-star, the #40 strongside end, and #550 overall. Right now the Crystal Balls are 86% in favor of Michigan State, but he has visited Michigan three times in the last month.

Spencer Brown – OT – Walled Lake (MI) Western: Brown is a 6’6″, 295 lb. prospect who has been committed to Michigan State since July of 2017. He’s a 4-star, the #39 offensive tackle, and #342 overall.

Hit the jump for several more visitors.

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Attractive Michigan Girl of the Week: Elle Johnson

Elle Johnson

If you have any other pictures of good looking women wearing Michigan gear, drop me an e-mail. Go Blue!

A Plea for Sanity

I almost never delve into politics, but I can’t help it at this point. On Wednesday afternoon, 17 students and staff members in Parkland, Florida were gunned down by a crazed murderer, a 19-year-old kid who had been expelled from the school. As a coach who spends a lot of time in and around a high school, this hits close to home.

Our schools are under attack.

This isn’t hyperbole. It’s a fact. According to some, this was the 19th school shooting . . . of the 2018 calendar year. And it occurred on February 14, only 45 days into 2018. That’s just over two days between school shootings. If almost any other institution were under this frequent of attack, there would be significant changes taking place to security procedures. (UPDATE: The definition of “school shooting” is unclear at times, so thanks to reader Mark for sending me this LINK. The actual number of shootings during the school day appears to be lower, but is still very concerning.)

If someone walked into courthouses around the country and opened fire every two to three days, things would change. (Note: They don’t have to change, because many courthouses have security guards, metal detectors, and other safety features.)

If someone walked into an NBA arena every few days and started shooting, there would be changes. (Note: They don’t have to change, because NBA arenas have security guards, metal detectors, bag searches, and other safety features.)

This isn’t happening at malls or fast food restaurants. It’s happening where children go to school. According to the National Center for Education statistics, there are 50,700,000 students across the country, and there are 3,200,000 teachers. That’s almost 54 million people who walk into schools about 180 days per year, and they’re largely unprotected.

There are a lot of possible reasons for schools being targeted. Maybe the killers know they’ll get a lot of publicity. Maybe when someone is 19 years old and his brain isn’t fully formed yet, the thing that makes the most sense is to go after people who are roughly his own age. Maybe they know a school is a pretty soft target. But regardless of the reason, they’re aiming at schools.

So we need to do something. I don’t have all the answers, but we as a group must have it somewhere inside of us to help effect change. Some combination of the following options (or things I haven’t listed) has to make a difference:

• Take away guns
• Improve mental health treatment
• Install metal detectors
• Hire more security personnel
• Make it more difficult to purchase weapons
• Build fences around schools
• Secure school entrances
• Arm and train more school personnel

Very few problems in America have ever been so big that we haven’t been able to beat them. We’re building electric cars. We put men on the moon. We cured polio. We know how to drastically slow the progression of HIV/AIDS.

But until we see school shootings as a common enemy – like we saw the Russians and tuberculosis – we won’t take the epidemic of violence seriously enough to fix it.

Rest In Peace pic.twitter.com/OFURiKxfGS

— Dianne Gallagher (@DianneG) February 15, 2018

2020 Offensive Recruiting Update: February 15, 2018

Houston (TX) North Shore RB Zachary Evans (image via VYPE)

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ADDED TO THE BOARD: 2020

Hyattsville (MD) DeMatha offensive guard Golden Achumba was offered by Michigan. He’s a 6’4″, 335 lb. prospect, and Michigan appears to be his first offer. He benches 335 lbs. and squats 430. DeMatha is a powerhouse, but Michigan has had a difficult time getting its foot in the door.

Lakeland (FL) Lakeland running back Demarkcus Bowman was offered by Michigan. He’s a 5’11”, 180 lb. prospect with offers from Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Miami, Ohio State, and Oregon, among others. As a sophomore in 2017, he ran 113 times for 1,136 yards (10.1 YPC) and 10 touchdowns.

Houston (TX) North Shore running back Zachary Evans was offered by Michigan. He’s a 6’0″, 207 lb. prospect with offers from Alabama, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Ohio State, and Oklahoma, among others. He’s a 247 Sports 4-star, the #4 running back, and #39 overall. As a sophomore in 2017, he ran 184 times for 1,483 yards and 27 touchdowns. Evans is a little bit reminiscent of Dalvin Cook with his running style.

Hit the jump for several more offensive players offered recently.

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