Tag: 2012 season countdown

2012 Season Countdown: #20 Desmond Morgan

Desmond Morgan (#44)

Name: Desmond Morgan
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 227 lbs.
High school: Holland (MI) West Ottawa
Position: Linebacker
Class: Sophomore
Jersey number: #44
Last year: I ranked Morgan #78 and said he would be a special teamer.  He started seven games at weakside linebacker, making 63 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 1 pass breakup, and 1 fumble recovery.

It took a pretty odd confluence of events for Desmond Morgan to usurp the starting weakside linebacker job in 2011, but that’s exactly what happened.  Let’s go through those events:

• Game one starter Brandon Herron, who returned 1 interception and 1 fumble for touchdowns, hurt his quadriceps
• His presumed replacement, Brandin Hawthorne, started five games but played his way into the doghouse
• Fifth year senior Marell Evans couldn’t get approved by the NCAA Clearinghouse after transferring from Hampton
• Fellow freshman Antonio Poole redshirted

2012 Season Countdown: #21 Stephen Hopkins

Stephen Hopkins (#33)

Name: Stephen Hopkins
Height: 6’0″
Weight: 240 lbs.
High school: Double Oak (TX) Marcus
Position: Fullback
Class: Junior
Jersey number: #33
Last year: I ranked Hopkins #29 and said he would be the starting fullback with 200 yards rushing and 4 touchdowns.  He did start at fullback, but carried only 11 times for 43 yards (3.9 yards per carry) and caught 1 pass for 28 yards.

The running back positions were rather muddled going into 2011 with a new coaching staff coming in who probably wouldn’t agree with the old coaching staff on how to play their running backs.  Hopkins reportedly struggled with being told that the coaches wanted him to play fullback, but he bought in once he found out how much he would play, which was quite a bit.  It also probably helped when he saw Fitzgerald Toussaint breaking numerous long runs from the tailback position, something Hopkins wouldn’t be able to do himself.  He developed into a pretty solid blocker after a few games, and then maybe he bought in too much when he reportedly showed up to spring practices a little too heavy.

Now listed at 235 lbs., Hopkins seems primed for another solid season as the starting fullback.  The writing is on the wall that Toussaint is the starter and the coaches want Thomas Rawls to be his primary backup, so hopefully Hopkins enjoys thumping linebackers right in the chest.  He has just one career reception and his number of carries fell to 11 last season, so while he might get a few more touches in 2012, he probably won’t contribute a whole lot more.  He might be one of the most athletically gifted fullbacks in the Big Ten (as a former 4-star tailback coming out of high school), so perhaps he can surprise an occasional unsuspecting opponent with a big run when Al Borges decides to hand him the ball.

Prediction: Starting fullback; 15 carries, 60 yards, 1 touchdown

2012 Countdown: #22 Brendan Gibbons

Brendan Gibbons (#34)

Name: Brendan Gibbons
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 230 lbs.
High school: West Palm Beach (FL) Cardinal Newman
Position: Kicker
Class: Redshirt junior
Jersey number: #34
Last year: I ranked Gibbons #76 and said he would be the backup kicker.  He started at placekicker, hitting 13/17 field goals and 54/55 extra points.

Kickers at Michigan have been notoriously difficult to predict.  Gibbons has been in the doghouse at times and just plain inaccurate at others.  So last season I thought he would be relegated to backup duty while freshman Matt Wile picked up some duties and borderline All-Big Ten caliber punter Will Hagerup challenged for some kickoff duties.  Wile took over kickoffs and did a good job, Hagerup had a poor season, and Gibbons came out of nowhere to be a hero in the Sugar Bowl against Virginia Tech, with some other notable performances against Ohio State and Nebraska.

I have no idea how Gibons will perform in 2012, but if he can replicate his 2011 season, this might be an accurate ranking for him.  Both the offense and the defense could take a step back in 2012 with the losses of key players on each side (David Molk, Junior Hemingway, and Kevin Koger on offense; Mike Martin and Ryan Van Bergen on defense).  Gibbons performed well in tight games last season, and I think there will be some tighter games in 2012.  Hopefully he can continue his improvement and be a hero in a few more games.

Prediction: Starting placekicker

2012 Season Countdown: #23 Vincent Smith

Vincent Smith

Name: Vincent Smith
Height: 5’6″
Weight: 175 lbs.
High school: Pahokee (FL) Pahokee
Position: Running back
Class: Senior
Jersey number: #2
Last year: I ranked Smith #43 and said he would be a backup running back and third down specialist.  He rushed 50 times for 298 yards (6.0 yards per carry) and 2 touchdowns.  He also completed 1/2 passes for 17 yards and 1 touchdown, along with catching 11 passes for 149 yards (13.5 yards per catch) and 2 touchdowns, and returning 7 kickoffs for 129 yards (18.4 yards per return).

Hooray!  After two years of railing against the suboptimal deployment of Vincent Smith, Brady Hoke and Al Borges finally recognized the proper way to use a back like Smith.  He had his most productive rushing average (up from 4.4 in 2010) and his best receiving average (up from 8.7 in 2010).  When you think of a third down back, someone like Smith comes to mind.  He had an exhilarating catch-and-run against Notre Dame off a screen pass to help win the game, and he continued to be a superb blocker for Denard Robinson.

Going into his senior year, Smith looks destined to continue that same type of role.  Fitzgerald Toussaint has solidified his starting job (if he can avoid getting in too much trouble with the law), and Thomas Rawls looks the backup for the every-down position.  Smith should continue to be an all-around guy with his blocking, receiving, running, and occasional halfback passes.  He returned some kicks last season, and he could be a fill-in there, though he’s not a game-changer back there due to mediocre top-end speed.  This is the type of role player that can make one or two key plays per game.  I would expect very similar production out of Smith in 2012.

Prediction: Third down back; occasional kick returner

2012 Season Countdown: #24 Brennen Beyer

Brennen Beyer

Name: Brennen Beyer
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 252 lbs.
High school: Canton (MI) Plymouth
Position: Defensive end
Class: Sophomore
Jersey number: #97
Last year: I ranked Beyer #81 and said he would redshirt. He played in eleven games and made 11 tackles.

As you can see, I somewhat underestimated Beyer’s chances of playing last year.  He was listed at 215 coming out of high school, but his mom (or someone who claimed to be here) came on and said that he was up to 235 by June 24th.  The official roster didn’t list him as being that large, but he was at least 225 by the time the season began and a gaping hole revealed itself at SAM linebacker once Cam Gordon suffered a back injury.  The drop-off from starter Jake Ryan to presumed third-stringer Jordan Paskorz was steep, so in stepped Beyer.  He performed adequately at times for a guy who played defensive end and tight end in high school, but he didn’t really have any signature plays and was mostly invisible when he was on the field.  By spring practices, Beyer had returned to his more natural position of weakside end, in hopes of taking over for former starter Craig Roh, who moved to strongside end.

Beyer appeared to have taken the lead in the competition for weakside end, even before presumed backup Frank Clark got into some trouble with the law.  Now Beyer’s starting position is all but certain because Clark has been suspended indefinitely and the only freshman weakside end is Mario Ojemudia, who is listed at 223 lbs. and is seriously undersized.  If Clark is unavailable for rotation purposes, we could see Ojemudia, SAM linebacker Jake Ryan play some weakside end, or another freshman like Tom Strobel who will eventually be a strongside end.  There are lots of contingency plans, but none are ideal.  Beyer should start this season and he’ll likely hold onto the job throughout the year.  I do expect Beyer to have a solid career at Michigan, but he may not break out until 2013, once he adds a little more weight and gets a full year of college-level defensive end fundamentals.

Prediction: Starting weakside end; 35 tackles, 7 tackles for loss, 3 sacks