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2017 Season Countdown: #9A Devin Bush, Jr.

Devin Bush, Jr. (image via Detroit Free Press)

Name: Devin Bush, Jr.
Height:

5’11”
Weight: 232 lbs.
High school: Pembroke Pines (FL) Flanagan
Position:

Linebacker
Class: Sophomore
Jersey number: #10
Last year: I ranked Bush #31 and said he would be a backup inside linebacker

. He made 12 tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss.
TTB Rating: 85

Bush was the type of speedy, hard-hitting linebacker that Michigan seemed to have been lacking for years when he came out of high school in 2016. The son of a former NFLer and Florida State star, perhaps Bush’s pedigree got people a little more excited than normal, too. The recruiting sites liked him, but they didn’t love him. He was a shoo-in to play early after moving to campus in January 2016, partly because Michigan had very little depth at inside linebacker. Ben Gedeon and Mike McCray II held down the starting inside linebacker jobs and ate up the vast majority of snaps, but Bush was the #3 inside guy and held his own when given the opportunity.

Fast forward to 2017 camp, and the hype has continued inside the Michigan sphere. While Bush was mostly a WILL in 2016, he has taken over Gedeon’s vacated MIKE linebacker position, and the coaches like his ability to blitz and play sideline to sideline.  Despite lacking prototypical middle linebacker size, the 5’11”, 232-pounder can hold his own physically. Michigan has no proven depth at inside linebacker, and they’re likely counting on at least one freshman – Josh Ross, Drew Singleton, and/or Jordan Anthony – to be on the two-deep. Redshirt junior Jared Wangler has moved to fullback, but he wasn’t much of a threat to play meaningful snaps at linebacker, and the other potential contributors are second-year players. It’s a young position group aside from McCray, so keeping Bush on the field will be important with Michigan’s complicated defense.

Prediction: Starting middle linebacker; 90 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 4 sacks

2017 Season Countdown: #9B Ben Bredeson

Ben Bredeson (image via Twitter)

Note: With all the cutting and pasting and such while putting together the countdown list, a couple names disappeared. One of those was Bredeson, whom I’m slotting in here at #9B.

Name:

Ben Bredeson
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 310 lbs.
High school: Hartland (WI) Arrowhead
Position: Offensive guard
Class: Sophomore
Jersey number: #74
Last year:

I ranked Bredeson #59 and said he would be a backup offensive guard. He started eight games at left guard.
TTB Rating: 88

Bredeson was a highly touted offensive lineman coming out of high school who was pegged by many as an offensive tackle. The coaching staff insisted he was pushing Grant Newsome for the starting left tackle job, but when the season came, Newsome was entrenched at left tackle. Meanwhile, then fifth year senior Ben Braden was struggling with a back injury to start the year, so Bredeson and redshirt junior Patrick Kugler filled in for a spell. Once Newsome was injured, a brief flirtation with Juwann Bushell-Beatty at left tackle turned into a position switch for Braden, opening the door for Bredeson to become a full-time starter at left guard. He played solidly and didn’t have a lot of busts, but he couldn’t get a push and could only offer a bunch of stalemates per game.

Believe it or not, Bredeson is Michigan’s second most experienced starter, behind just left tackle Mason Cole. Center Kugler, right guard Michael Onwenu, and whoever takes the right tackle position will have only a handful of starts among them. I imagine some of those stalemates will turn into wins this season now that he has some extra strength and experience, so I expect a solid left side of the offensive line with Cole and Bredeson. Michigan will probably be pretty heavy with running to the left, because those are their two best linemen. It would be great to see this unit take a step or two forward from their mediocre performance last season.

Prediction: Starting left guard

2017 Season Countdown: #10 Quinn Nordin

Quinn Nordin (image via Land of 10)

Name: Quinn Nordin
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 205 lbs.
High school: Rockford (MI) Rockford
Position: Kicker
Class: Redshirt freshman
Jersey number: #3
Last year: I ranked Nordin #51 and said he would be a backup punter/kicker. He redshirted.
TTB Rating:

89

Ranked by some as the nation’s top kicker, Nordin entered 2016 with an uphill climb ahead of him. It was Kenny Allen Hill, and it proved too large to surmount. Allen was a fifth year senior who pulled triple duty as the kicker, punter, and kickoff specialist. He was relieved occasionally, but not by Nordin. Nordin suffered from an injury and sat out the season, allowing him to redshirt.

Now Michigan has no proven kickers, and Nordin ranks this highly on the strength of high school hype and a 97-yard field goal in the spring game. The schedule is tougher in 2017 than it was in 2016, the offense lost some key guys, and the defense lost 11 out of 12 starters (yes, I included Jeremy Clark as a starter). Field goals might be a little more important in 2017, and hopefully Nordin is capable of living up to the hype. If he can’t, that might cost Michigan a game or two.

Prediction: Starting placekicker and kickoff specialist

Keith Washington, Ex-Wolverine

Redshirt sophomore cornerback Keith Washington is transferring out of Michigan. I ranked Washington at #20 in the 2017 Season Countdown (LINK

) and projected him as a starting cornerback after he looked like the best corner on the roster in the spring game.

Recent rumors suggested that David Long and Lavert Hill solidified themselves as the top corners, and Sam Webb intimated that Washington was no longer playing corner, presumably meaning that he had moved to safety. That makes sense for Michigan due to the low numbers at safety. But maybe it didn’t sit well with Washington, who would have been behind two sophomores at cornerback, a junior safety in Tyree Kinnel, and a sophomore safety in Josh Metellus. Maybe he simply didn’t see the path to playing time.

Washington was committed to Cal at one point, and Michigan flipped him out of Prattville (AL) Prattville. Remember that exciting pipeline to Prattville? Nobody is left. Washington is transferring, Dytarious Johnson didn’t qualify, Kingston Davis transferred to a JUCO in Kansas, and Cam Taylor – 2018 wide receiver who was offered – committed to Missouri this summer.

Not much of a pipeline after all.

2017 Season Countdown: #11 Chris Evans

Chris Evans (image via the Michigan Daily)

Name: Chris Evans
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 200 lbs.
High school: Indianapolis (IN) Ben Davis
Position: Running back
Class:

Sophomore
Jersey number: #12
Last year: I ranked Evans #70 and said he would be a backup running back and kick returner. He ran 88 times for 614 yards and 4 touchdowns, and he caught 6 passes for 87 yards.
TTB Rating: 68

When the 2016 countdown started, it was largely unknown whether Evans would end up playing running back, receiver, or defensive back at Michigan. There were rumors about all three, and it looked for a while like he would play defense. Once fall camp started, however, word started to trickle out that Evans was looking like an immediate contributor at running back. It didn’t take long for the talk of defense to dissipate entirely, and his 8-carry, 112-yard, 2-touchdown performance in his Hawaii debut made everyone wonder if Michigan discovered a star. Among other accomplishments, Evans would go on to average almost 7.0 yards/carry and score a go-ahead 30-yard TD against Florida State in exciting fashion.

Last year he played second fiddle to De’Veon Smith, but Smith graduated, opening the door for Evans. Evans got special treatment during the spring game when he was pulled early, despite being healthy. Meanwhile, the other running backs were left out there as fodder for the rest of the day. Lately, though, talk has emerged that Karan Higdon may be pushing Evans for the #1 running back spot. Regardless of how it shakes out, it seems like Michigan still doesn’t have a true bell cow of a running back, and it will be running back by committee, with Evans, Higdon, fifth year senior Ty Isaac, and others factoring into the rotation. I don’t think any of the backs will hit 1,000 yards this year, but I believe Evans will be the leading rusher when all is said and done.

Prediction: Starting running back; 110 carries, 600 yards, 6 touchdowns