Posts under: homepage

Spring Football Preview: Tight Ends

Jake Butt

Projected starter: Senior Jake Butt. Butt (51 catches, 654 yards, 3 TDs) has been Michigan’s leading tight end for the past two seasons, and last year he was in the running for the Mackey Award, which is given to the nation’s top tight end. He should once again be in the running for the Mackey Award and an All-America nod.

Departures: A.J. Williams (12 catches, 129 yards), who was mainly a blocking tight end, graduated. Meanwhile, redshirt junior backup Khalid Hill is moving to fullback this spring (LINK) and redshirt sophomore Chase Winovich is moving back to linebacker after spending one season at fullback/tight end.

Hit the jump for more on the tight end situation.

read more

Spring Football Preview: Running Backs and Fullbacks

De’Veon Smith

Projected RB starter: Senior De’Veon Smith

. Smith is not the most dynamic back, but he does possess the toughness Jim Harbaugh wants in a running back. Last season he led the team in rushing yards (753) and touchdowns (6), despite having the lowest yards per carry on the team (4.18). However, he did end the season on a strong note with 25 carries for 109 yards against a pretty good Florida defense.

Departures: Rising senior Derrick Green decided to transfer, although his destination is not yet known. Florida is one possibility, where former Michigan offensive coordinator holds the same position. Green was the team’s sixth-leading rusher last season. Redshirt junior Ross Taylor-Douglas managed just 1.8 yards/carry last year and announced that he would be transferring to Rutgers.

Hit the jump for more.

read more

MGoFish guest post: 2017 Best Guess Recruiting Class – Offense

Detroit (MI) Cass Tech WR Donovan Peoples-Jones (image via Rivals)

The following is a guest post from Garrett Fishaw, the owner/managing editor of MGoFish.

---

With Harbaugh’s first full recruiting class in the books, all eyes turn to 2017 to see how Harbaugh will follow up his top five finish in 2016.

The staff has put in a ton of early work to set themselves up for a great return. And it’s clearly paid off. They’ve already landed the top quarterback on their board and look to be among the favorites for a handful of elite members of the class.

But how will it finish? That’s almost impossible to predict this early, especially after the craziness that took place the last two cycles. So, take this prediction with a grain of salt as there will likely be more decommitments and targets that emerge later in the process.

1. QB Dylan McCaffrey, 6’5” 200lbs. Littleton, CO (Valor) 

• McCaffrey committed to Michigan in mid-February after having the Wolverines out front for almost a year. His addition to the class is huge as both a prospect and recruiting asset. Expect him to be a big reason why UM lands several top targets in 2017.
• Michigan’s Chances: COMMITTED

2. RB Kurt Taylor, 5’9” 200lbs. Covington, GA (Newton) 

• Taylor committed to Michigan in October and, like the rest of rest of the current commits, looks to be as solid as can be in that pledge. UM lost the commitment of his teammate WR Jeremiah Holloman earlier this month but that shouldn’t change anything in Taylor’s status. The only thing to watch with Taylor is his development throughout the cycle, as he already looks to have just about hit the peak of his physical build.
• Michigan’s Chances: COMMITTED

Hit the jump for the rest of Garrett’s offensive best guess list.

read more

Visitors: February 26-28, 2016

Jaylen Kelly-Powell (image via 247 Sports)

I saw the movie Deadpool recently, so now you can talk about spoilers over on the message board (LINK).

Visitors with an asterisk will be visiting Michigan for Wednesday’s basketball game against Northwestern.

2017
*Ja’Raymond Hall – OT – Oak Park (MI) Oak Park: Hall committed to Michigan in December (LINK

).

*Jaylen Kelly-Powell – S – Detroit (MI) Cass Tech: Kelly-Powell is a 6’0″, 183 lb. prospect with offers from Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, and Ohio State, among others. He’s a 247 Composite 4-star, the #16 safety, and #249 overall. He had previously named Michigan his leader, although recent developments in his recruitment appear to see him slowing down his recruiting process a bit. He has visited Michigan multiple times already. He will be in town on Wednesday.

*Phillip Paea – OG – Berrien Springs (MI) Berrien Springs:

Paea is a 6’4″, 280 lb. prospect with offers from Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, and Ohio State, among others. He’s a 247 Composite 3-star, the #25 defensive tackle, and #381 overall. Most of his offers have come within the past couple weeks, so he’s been under the radar until recently. He’s visiting on Wednesday.

*Donovan Peoples-Jones – WR – Detroit (MI) Cass Tech: Peoples-Jones is a 6’2″, 192 lb. prospect with offers from Florida, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, and USC, among others. He’s a 247 Composite 5-star, the #1 wide receiver, and #6 overall. He recently tweeted a bit of excitement about Michigan’s newest commit, 2017 quarterback Dylan McCaffrey.

Hit the jump for a half dozen more visitors.

read more

Spring Football Preview: Quarterbacks

John O’Korn

Projected starter: Redshirt junior John O’Korn. The buzz from last year suggested that O’Korn would have been starting over Jake Rudock if not for the fact that Rudock had the slight advantage of being eligible to play. The 6’4″, 220 lb. O’Korn is bigger, possesses a stronger arm, and is perhaps a little more athletic than Rudock. We have yet to see O’Korn do anything in a Michigan uniform, so this spring will be exciting.

Departures from last year: Rudock (64% completions, 3017 yards, 20 TDs, 9 INTs) started every game last season but graduated and is trying to slip into the NFL Draft. Redshirt freshman Zach Gentry is transitioning to tight end.

Backup battle: The battle to be #2 is wide-open. Last year’s primary backup was Wilton Speight

, who will be a redshirt sophomore in the fall. Speight had one good series when he led the team to a game-winning touchdown against Minnesota, but otherwise, he did not instill observers with much confidence (36% completions, 1 TD, 1 INT altogether). The coaching staff openly admitted that they were trying to redshirt Shane Morris, but Jim Harbaugh also said that Speight legitimately passed up Morris on the depth chart a few weeks into the season. We have heard standard off-season rumblings about Morris improving, maturing, etc., but those stories rarely seem to come to fruition. Redshirt freshman Alex Malzone started for one of the spring game squads last April, but he’s not on the same level physically as Speight or Morris, and he’s less experienced. True freshman Brandon Peters enrolled early in January. He’s the highest touted recruit of the whole group, but he’s just a pup; the last time we saw him, he was going 4/16 in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. He’s probably bound for a redshirt this year.

#1 thing to watch: If O’Korn isn’t the starter in the fall, it will be a major surprise. So I’m most interested to see who the #2 guy is coming out of the spring. Speight wasn’t very good as a backup last year, but Morris has been pretty lousy in more extended playing time during his career. At some point during the season, the backup typically has to come in during at least one important moment. If Morris is #3 on the depth chart after the spring, I would not be surprised to see him transfer, even though he said he wanted to remain at Michigan next year.