2013 Season Countdown: #40 Jake Butt

Tag: 2013 season countdown

20Jul 2013
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2013 Season Countdown: #40 Jake Butt

Jake Butt

Name: Jake Butt
Height: 6’6″
Weight: 231 lbs.
High school: Pickerington (OH) North
Position: Tight end
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: #88
Last year: Butt was a senior in high school. He had 68 receptions for 907 yards and 12 touchdowns. I gave him a TTB Rating of 82.

Butt committed to Michigan in February 2012, joining the cavalcade of pledges. He had a very steady recruitment period, where he was mostly a 4-star all the way through, stayed injury-free, played well at The Opening last July, and got invited to the U.S. Army All-American Bowl; however, he was unable to participate in the Army game due to a minor injury. Butt enrolled at Michigan in January and practiced with the team in the spring. He looked slight in the spring game, and he struggled a little bit with blocking, but he didn’t look out of place. He just gave off the impression that he was a freshman.

He’s almost guaranteed to play this fall, because the pickings are slim at tight end. Offensive coordinator Al Borges likes to use two tight ends at once, and those two will probably be sophomores A.J. Williams and Devin Funchess in most cases, but Butt looks like the guy who will get the third-most reps. Redshirt junior Jordan Paskorz, some walk-ons, and fellow freshman Khalid Hill are the other choices. Butt is perhaps the best combination of size, speed, and catching ability in the group, and he could play either the Y or U position; most of the other players are pretty limited to one or the other. I don’t expect him to replicate Funchess’s athleticism or impact from last season, but #88 should get some balls thrown his way. The tight end position seems well stocked for the foreseeable future.

Prediction: Backup tight end; 3 receptions, 35 yards

19Jul 2013
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2013 Season Countdown: #41 Royce Jenkins-Stone

Royce Jenkins-Stone

Name: Royce Jenkins-Stone
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 215 lbs.
High school: Detroit (MI) Cass Tech
Position: Linebacker
Class: Sophomore
Jersey number: #52
Last year: I ranked Jenkins-Stone #66 and said he would redshirt if possible. I guess it wasn’t possible because he played special teams all year.

Royce Jenkins-Stone heads into his sophomore year weighing and heighing the same weight and height he did going into his senior year of high school. I said last year that he would have to be able to make an impact on special teams in order to avoid a redshirt, and that sort of happened but he also sort of didn’t make any tackles, either. He was just a guy running down the field on coverage units. After saying that he wanted to be the next Ray Lewis, Greg Mattison telling him he could be, and choosing #52 on the path to that goal, he left the spring as the #2 weakside linebacker behind James Ross.

Based on what I’ve seen so far – on special teams, in the spring game, from high school – I’m not sure where Jenkins-Stone fits. He’s not speedy enough to be a good fit at WILL. He’s not instinct or big enough to be a good fit at MIKE. And he’s not long enough or hefty enough to be a good fit at SAM. With two classmates (Ross and Joe Bolden) already having earned significant playing time at the inside spots, it will be an uphill battle for him to get on the field. He also may be facing competition from redshirt sophomore Antonio Poole and incoming freshman Ben Gedeon. I think Jenkins-Stone will continue to help on special teams, but I’m not sure if he can contribute on defense just yet.

Prediction: Backup weakside linebacker, special teams contributor

18Jul 2013
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2013 Season Countdown: #42 Joe Kerridge

Joe Kerridge

Name: Joe Kerridge
Height: 6’0″
Weight: 241 lbs.
High school: Traverse City (MI) St. Francis
Position: Fullback
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #36
Last year: I ranked Kerridge #69 and said he would be the backup fullback with 1 carry for 3 yards. He was a part-time starter at fullback and had 1 reception for 12 yards.

Last season Kerridge saw his first game action at fullback. He missed the 2011 season while working his way back from an ACL tear, then played sparingly while Stephen Hopkins (since departed) tried his hand at the position, and then Kerridge had to wait for Russell Bellomy’s pass in the Nebraska game, a pass into the flat that detoured, got a flat tire, grabbed some lunch, stopped at the store on a mission to find cheap butter, and finally arrived in Kerridge’s hands two days later. If patience is a virtue, Kerridge should be the next pope.

This time around, Kerridge enters the season as the favorite for the position, but he’ll have some fairly stiff competition from sophomore Sione Houma. I like Houma better as a pure athlete, but Kerridge has good size and lead blocks well. With some potentially talented running backs in the fold, the ability to lead block effectively might be more important than it has been the past couple seasons, when the team’s best runner was the quarterback. Whoever wins the starting fullback gig will have to devastate a few linebackers, and I think that guy will be Kerridge.

Prediction: Starting fullback; 2 receptions, 18 yards

17Jul 2013
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2013 Season Countdown: #43 Jeremy Jackson

Jeremy Jackson

Name: Jeremy Jackson
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 206 lbs.
High school: Ann Arbor (MI) Huron
Position: Wide receiver
Class: Senior
Jersey number: #17
Last year: I ranked Jackson #37 and said he would have 8 catches, 100 yards, and 1 touchdown as a backup wide receiver. He had 4 receptions for 31 yards.

It’s probably pretty rare that a senior gets downgraded on this list to such a degree, but Jackson put up pretty paltry numbers last season, and it can’t be blamed entirely on Denard Robinson. Devin Gardner played a large chunk of the year at quarterback, and even his superior passing skills couldn’t get Jackson to make a splash. The bottom line is that Jackson is too slow to be much of a passing threat, and he’s not that great of a blocker for his size. One problem with having slow receivers is that even if they get “open,” talented defensive backs can make up ground, undercut them, etc. and make plays that other receivers might be able to prevent. He would probably be better off bulking up to 215-220 lbs. and using the added mass to help in the running game, but that doesn’t look like it will happen.

Going into his senior year, Jackson will be in a major fight for playing time. Fifth year senior Jeremy Gallon will probably lead the team in receiving, and two relative newcomers have been earning a fair amount of mentions by the coaches: sophomore Amara Darboh and redshirt freshman Jehu Chesson. I have learned not to trust the coaches by what they say through the media, but I think that hype might be legitimate. If I had to guess right now, I’d say Gallon, Darboh, and Chesson will be Michigan’s top three wideouts, and Jackson will be battling with senior Drew Dileo, walk-on Joe Reynolds, and some freshmen for the scraps. So far Jackson has 4, 3, and 4 receptions in his first three seasons, and that production probably won’t change much this year. However, it’s tough for a skill player to play four years and not have his chance to shine for a moment, so I’m guessing we’ll see Jackson make an important catch sometime this year.

Prediction: Backup slot receiver; 3 receptions, 40 yards, 1 touchdown

16Jul 2013
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2013 Season Countdown: #44 Shane Morris

Shane Morris

Name: Shane Morris
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 183 lbs.
High school: Warren (MI) De La Salle
Position: Quarterback
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: #7
Last year: Morris was a senior in high school. I gave him a TTB Rating of 87.

Morris had quite an up-and-down senior campaign. After committing during his sophomore year, he participated in Nike’s The Opening in July 2012, was chosen for the Elite 11 championships, and played in the Under Armour All-America Game. He did well during the 7-on-7 portion of The Opening, did okay at the Elite 11, and didn’t fare too well at the all-star game. To be fair, none of the quarterbacks looked good at the UA game. In between those events, he played a little more than half of his senior football season due to being diagnosed with mononucleosis mid-season.

Morris has a very strong arm and decent athleticism. He reminds me a little bit of Chad Henne as a freshman, who threw everything as hard as he could and suffered some incompletions, interceptions, and broken up passes as a result. Morris has that same kind of arm strength, and from what I’ve seen, he generally only looks to his left. On top of being unable to enroll early (his high school wouldn’t allow him to graduate in December), he will have to work past some of his own weaknesses to improve his vision, pre-snap reads, and decision making. Normally a backup quarterback would be higher on this list, but I’m not sure that Morris will be much more ready than someone like walk-on Brian Cleary, and there’s also the possibility that Russell Bellomy will return from his torn ACL in time to play at some point this year. I believe Morris will see the field this year, if only in garbage time to prepare him for a starting gig; if current starter Devin Gardner has an outstanding season, he could leave early for the NFL and someone like Morris must be prepared to take over. But if Michigan loses Gardner for any stretch of time, I think the team will be in serious trouble.

Prediction: #2 quarterback unless/until Russell Bellomy returns from injury