I have previously looked at the 2014 (LINK) and 2015 (LINK) classes. Below is a look at the 2013 class, which was #4 nationally and #2 in the Big Ten.
Hit the jump for more.
Wins: 40
Starts: 258 (Kyle Bosch, Jake Butt, Taco Charlton, Ben Gedeon, Derrick Green, Khalid Hill, Maurice Hurst, Patrick Kugler, Jourdan Lewis, Mike McCray, Shane Morris, Henry Poggi, De’Veon Smith, Channing Stribling, Dymonte Thomas)
Passing attempts: 92 (Shane Morris)
Passing completions: 47 (Shane Morris)
Passing yards: 434 (Shane Morris)
Passing touchdowns: 0 (Shane Morris)
Passing interceptions: 5 (Shane Morris)
Rushing attempts: 774 (Ben Gedeon, Derrick Green, Khalid Hill, Shane Morris, Henry Poggi, Wyatt Shallman, De’Veon Smith)
Rushing yards: 3,311 (Ben Gedeon, Derrick Green, Khalid Hill, Shane Morris, Henry Poggi, Wyatt Shallman, De’Veon Smith)
Rushing touchdowns: 43 (Derrick Green, Khalid Hill, Henry Poggi, De’Veon Smith)
Receptions: 219 (Jake Butt, Derrick Green, Khalid Hill, Da’Mario Jones, Henry Poggi, De’Veon Smith)
Receiving yards: 2,299 (Jake Butt, Derrick Green, Khalid Hill, Da’Mario Jones, Henry Poggi, De’Veon Smith)
Receiving touchdowns: 17 (Jake Butt, Khalid Hill, De’Veon Smith)
Tackles: 1,023 (Jake Butt, Taco Charlton, Ben Gedeon, Delano Hill, Khalid Hill, Maurice Hurst, Da’Mario Jones, Jourdan Lewis, Mike McCray, Shane Morris, Henry Poggi, De’Veon Smith, Channing Stribling, Dymonte Thomas)
Tackles for loss: 131.0 (Taco Charlton, Ben Gedeon, Delano Hill, Maurice Hurst, Jourdan Lewis, Mike McCray, Channing Stribling)
Sacks: 49.0 (Taco Charlton, Ben Gedeon, Maurice Hurst, Jourdan Lewis, Mike McCray, Channing Stribling)
Interceptions: 18 (Delano Hill, Jourdan Lewis, Mike McCray, Channing Stribling, Dymonte Thomas)
Pass breakups: 107 (Ben Gedeon, Delano Hill, Maurice Hurst, Jourdan Lewis, Mike McCray, Channing Stribling, Dymonte Thomas)
Forced fumbles: 8 (Delano Hill, Maurice Hurst, Jourdan Lewis, Mike McCray, Channing Stribling, Dymonte Thomas)
Fumble recoveries: 4 (Delano Hill, Maurice Hurst, Mike McCray, Dymonte Thomas)
Punts: 0
Punt returns: 1 (Da’Mario Jones)
Punt return yardage: 0 (Da’Mario Jones)
Kickoff returns: 29 (Khalid Hill, Jourdan Lewis, Dymonte Thomas)
Kickoff return yardage: 595 (Khalid Hill, Jourdan Lewis, Dymonte Thomas)
Return touchdowns: 5 (Ben Gedeon, Delano Hill, Jourdan Lewis, Mike McCray, Channing Stribling)
Players from the class not mentioned above: OL David Dawson, CB Reon Dawson, RB/CB Ross Douglas, WR Jaron Dukes, OL Chris Fox, OL Dan Samuelson, OL Logan Tuley-Tillman, WR Csont’e York
Transfers: 9 (Kyle Bosch, David Dawson, Ross Douglas, Derrick Green, Shane Morris, Dan Samuelson, Wyatt Shallman, Scott Sypniewski, Logan Tuley-Tillman)
Did not complete football career: 4 (Reon Dawson, Jaron Dukes, Chris Fox, Csont’e York)
1st rounders: 1 (Taco Charlton)
2nd rounders: 0
3rd rounders: 2 (Delano Hill, Jourdan Lewis)
4th rounders: 1 (Ben Gedeon)
5th rounders: 1 (Jake Butt, Maurice Hurst)
6th rounders: 0
7th rounders: 0
CONCLUSIONS
Other than at the quarterback, wide receiver, and offensive line positions, this was actually an extremely productive class. Of course, I have only broken down the 2014 and 2015 classes so far, but it looks to my mildly educated eye to be a pretty good class overall from top to bottom.
The quarterback position was largely a disaster. Morris not only didn’t pan out at quarterback, but one of the most dumbfounding stats is this: He never accounted for a touchdown in a Michigan uniform (0 passing, 0 rushing), and he threw 5 interceptions. Who would have predicted that kind of lack of production when he was being recruited?
Sticking with offense, blue-chip running back recruit Derrick Green only accounted for 7 touchdowns during his career, while tight end/H-back Khalid Hill had 13 rushing touchdowns.
On the offensive line, only two of the six players even registered starts. Bosch played a little as a freshman, and Kugler stuck around for five years but mostly struggled while really only playing as an upperclassman.
Defensively, the class brought in impact players at every level. This group made 1,023 tackles, 131 tackles for loss, 49 sacks, and 18 interceptions. I would venture to say that this is the best overall defensive recruiting class in the modern recruiting era. All four defensive backs who stuck around played in the NFL (Hill, Lewis, Stribling, Thomas), two defensive linemen were standouts and draft picks (Charlton, Hurst), and a linebacker became a 4th rounder (Gedeon). Of the primarily defensive players, only Reon Dawson and Ross Douglas did not contribute heavily, and they were blocked at their positions by future NFLers in their own class.
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The problem with this class was the OL. The rest of the offensive recruits weren’t great either, but this was the OL class that was supposed to get us out of the ten year mess. Bosch went on to a good career after he transferred and there were some other issues that prevented some guys from finishing their careers. But to get six well regarded recruits and get 1.5 mediocre seasons from them total? Ouch
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Agreed. The offensive line class was very disappointing. I never thought much of Dawson, but I had high hopes for Fox, who got injured late in high school and never played at Michigan. When I think about “what might have been?,” Fox is one of the biggest disappointments. Not that I’m disappointed *in* him, just that he could have been very good and circumstances beyond his control ruined his career. Then of course there was the off-the-field issue with Bosch. And Patrick Kugler’s shoulder injury probably affected his development, since he missed basically two seasons because of it.
The receivers bombed for different reasons, but at least Michigan did well in the tight end/H-back department (Khalid Hill, Henry Poggi, Jake Butt).
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Wow. Lot of misses in that class.
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That defense though. If we had even a little something similar from the offense recruits, we beat ohio in 2016, and maybe pull an upset in 2017
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