Jake Butt
Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . Ty Isaac. It looks a little bit like De’Veon Smith might be the inside run guy, and Isaac might be the outside run guy. That is, at least until Drake Johnson returns from injury. Smith slammed it up inside 17 times for 47 yards, which is 2.76 yards/carry. Isaac wasn’t a great deal better on average (4 carries, 12 yards, 3.0 yards/carry) but he is quicker. Plus he can catch the ball, which Smith proved he could not do consistently when he embarrassingly dropped a wide open pass that hit him right in the hands. I don’t think Smith should be benched outright, but a 17-to-4 carry advantage is a little too lopsided.
Let’s see less of this guy on offense . . . A.J. Williams. He doesn’t have to play less, necessarily, but I would prefer it if he never or rarely gets targeted. He had 1 catch for 2 yards on Thursday night, and he was targeted at least twice more. There needs to be an element of surprise at times, and maybe he’s the best blocker of the non-Jake Butt tight ends. But he is also arguably the least athletic of the tight ends, and his targets should either go to wideouts or players like Ian Bunting, Khalid Hill, etc. I know the moderators at Rivals were touting Williams as a potential breakout player this year, but I’ll believe it when I see it – and I don’t expect to see it.
Let’s see more of this guy on defense . . . James Ross III. I have yet to be convinced that Michigan’s nickel safety and/or the other linebackers are better than Ross. Ross had 2 tackles and .5 tackles for loss in limited time on Thursday. I don’t think he’s a superstar, but I do think he’s pretty good at playing in space, and he’s perhaps the best hitter of the linebacker crew.
Let’s see less of this guy on defense . . . Channing Stribling. Stribling lost contain a couple times early in the game, and I don’t think his athleticism is anything special. He looks bigger and more physical this year, but I have yet to see him show the coverage ability to make a play on the ball. Through two seasons as a backup and one game as a starter, he has notched zero interceptions and zero pass breakups. I won’t declare him a total mess because he was not beaten over the top, but a guy who has been playing cornerback for two-plus seasons should have at least put a fingertip on a ball at some point in his career. Michigan has a transfer from Stanford in Wayne Lyons who has 3 interceptions and 6 pass breakups during his first three-plus years of playing time.
Play of the game . . . Jake Rudock to Jake Butt for a touchdown. Late in the third quarter, quarterback Jake Rudock was desperately looking for a score. He was so desperate that he launched a football into the midst of three red jerseys. Fortunately for him, the 6’6″, 248 lb. tight end Jake Butt rose up to reel in the pass, even though two Utes had chances to make a play on the ball with a third nearby. It turned into a 19-yard touchdown and one of Butt’s career highlights.
Player of the game . . . Jake Butt. Jim Harbaugh likes to use his tight ends, and Jake Rudock likes to use them as a security blanket, too. It’s fortunate that Michigan has a good one in Butt, who is a big target with soft hands who runs routes well. He ended the game with 8 catches for 93 yards (11.6 yards/catch) and the aforementioned touchdown. There were other players who played well for stretches (Jabrill Peppers, Chris Wormley, Amara Darboh), but nobody was as consistent as Butt from start to finish.
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I would consider wanting to see less of on offense is Braden. I don’t know who exactly was blowing him up, but there were a few plays he was 3 yard behind the line of scrimmage a quarter second after the snap. I say consider, because who is the next lineman in? Dawson? Kugler? That doesn’t make me feel very comfortable either.
I want to see Harris or Canteen a little more too. Excluding the obvious, I thought the receivers did a pretty solid job overall. But outisde of Butt, I didn’t see anyone with real play making ability. Here’s hoping Harris or Canteen can be that guy.
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I’ll echo the comments on Braden. #93 on Utah abused both Kalis and Braden at times, but Braden got the worst of it. He just does not have good balance and plays top-heavy. Going into the season, I could not conceive how BB was going to block quick, strong DT’s. Granted that #93 looked like stud, but opposing DC’s will be smelling blood in the water unless UM fixes this. Just can’t believe that after recruiting all of these OL over the last four years, UM still has questionable OG’s and little competition pushing them.
Agree that it is ridiculous to be targeting AJW 3 or 4 times in one game. If that 2nd TE will be important in the passing game, they need to reduce AJW’s snaps. I will credit AJW throw a couple decent blocks on Thursday. I have bagged on his blocking for years, but he may be finally getting that aspect of his game in order.
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I wasn’t a fan of Braden’s performance, but I’m not sure there are many options. Dawson and Bars haven’t looked any better, and Kugler was on crutches a couple weeks ago. I try to pick players in these posts who have viable alternates, but I just don’t know if Braden and his backups fit in that category.
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I don’t think Isaac showed enough to warrant carries over Smith. A few more? Sure, but I think Smith, despite his limitations, deserves credit for some hard-earned extra yards. He used his little spin move again and again to get 2-3 extra yards and ran hard through penetration. He’s not an explosive big-play guy, we know that, but with this OL those opportunities are limited. With this offense, with this QB, with this OL, I’ll take a guy who is consistently moving the ball forward over a guy who ‘might’ be a bigger outside/big play threat. I do agree Isaac showed some nice skills and I think he’s clearly the best choice we have right now for 3rd downs. Harbaugh split him out wide several times, as was rumored. (Though he did that with Smith too…)
As for Stribling — Lyons doesn’t even seem to be the next guy in line. That seems like Jeremy Clark. I thought Stribling looked alright after the first couple series. Peppers had some hiccups early too…
As for AJ “playing favorites” Williams — again, he looked like the best option as a blocking TE. Poggi got a lot of run too, but didn’t do much with it. And I get the idea that passing to Williams is a bad idea, but you also have to keep defenses honest. Maybe this wasn’t the right game to do it, but Michigan can’t let personnel groups be obvious tells to opposing defenses. They need to keep throwing to Williams (and Smith, if he is going to be the primary back). Actually, I’d make it a point of emphasis against UNLV and Indiana to establish that Michigan WILL do this.
Michigan played a solid game against a good team, I’m not sure we need to call for anyones job who wasn’t outplayed by a backup. The only place I think we saw that (MAYBE) was was Ross/Bolden.
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I wouldn’t be against Clark playing more, either. I know it was kind of a lucky play, but he’s been playing corner for exactly one game and has got his hands on the ball more than Stribling.
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I trust harbaugh/jackson/durkin until I am shown a reason not to. Clark got some time and then Stribling was right back in there for most of the second half (IIRC). I’m doubtful clark or lyons are better than Stribling.
I really dont see the 2nd corner spot as a big probelm. I thought the coverage was good, but Stribling did let himself get blocked out of the way in run coverage on one play early on. I suspect that’s what got him pulled.
If clark had done well, I think he would have stayed in there for the 2nd half.
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I thought there were a ton of positives from this game and only a few negatives. I’m encouraged with the team, despite the loss.
Positives —
The WR looked good. Darboh looked faster than ever, Chesson got open deep, Perry’s blocking, for a freshman, was spectacular at times. He’ll learn the route stuff with time. Harris played without anything exploding on his body. He looked damn skinny though…
TE looked improved. Bunting got a reception and Jake Butt looked like the stud we hopped he’d be. I thought Williams was a little better than he has been in the past (faint praise, but still a positive.)
The DL looked good. Can get better but most the guys played well and made Booker and Wilson look limited.
Peppers was sensational that second half and the entire secondary really did a pretty good job. Lewis, Wilson, Hill all played well too.
The pass blocking was awesome. I think people are forgetting what a massive improvement this is, against a very good, maybe great DL on the road.
The negatives: you’ve seen discussed elsewhere.
Run blocking was bad.Guess Drevno isn’t a miracle worker yet, but that is a damn good DL they faced. Game 1…I think they’ll improve.
LB in space struggled. Not sure there is an answer here beyond “start recruiting athletes”.
I thought Rudock was a lot better than people are giving him credit for. One very awful pass (INT 2), one force (INT 3) that really ended up stinging, and a barely missed long ball in high altitude and wind. He’ll be alright. Still – Brian Cook’s argument that Rudock is a lot more than he showed at Iowa is probably out the window.
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I think Rudock looked pretty darn accurate. Even his interceptions were largely on target, except for #2 which sailed over Perry’s head. Otherwise, he was putting the ball where his guy had a chance to catch it. He’s more accurate than anyone we’ve had in the previous two regimes.
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Yep. Looked like the best pure passer since Henne. I know 3 INTs is bad but people are focusing on the negatives too much, IMO. Rudock attempted a lot of passes, against a good defense, at altitude, with wind. There were also a couple of bad drops by Smith and Darboh. Harbaugh blamed 2 of the INTs (at least in part) on a freshman WR. Maybe he’s covering a bit for Rudock but I kind of doubt it. Butt, Darboh, and Chesson look a lot better and Rudock probably has something to do with that.
Rudock isn’t perfect. He definitely showed the overly conservative tendencies he was notorious for. But he also took some shots into coverage that got us a TD (Butt) and got us in trouble (the pick 6) – so it’s not like he didn’t go for it when the situation called for it. (People forget that an incompletion on that 3rd INT also would have meant Utah ball, so Rudock needed to make a play there…)
I put the ceiling down a bit lower on Rudock expectations, but the floor was only reaffirmed by the Utah performance IMO. He was as good as advertised, even though the results were a little worse. I don’t expect another 3 INT game all year.
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