2014 Season Countdown: #87 Wilton Speight

Tag: 2014 season countdown

21May 2014
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2014 Season Countdown: #87 Wilton Speight

Wilton Speight is the tall guy standing in back, which is where he should be for the entirety of 2014.

Name: Wilton Speight
Height: 6’6″
Weight: 230 lbs.
High school: Richmond (VA) Collegiate
Position: Quarterback
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: #19
Last year: Speight was a senior in high school. He threw for 2,845 yards and 33 touchdowns, plus 292 rushing yards.
Final TTB Rating: 77

Speight should have been a part of the 2013 class, but he acquired an extra year of high school eligibility after a collarbone injury ruined his junior year. (Speight will turn 20 before bowl season begins.) He mostly flew under the radar until National Signing Day 2013 when the coaching staff extended an offer after watching him throw. It was a bit of a surprise because Michigan had been in contact with some higher profile players. Regardless, Speight started recruiting hard for the small 2014 class. After a solid season, Speight earned the start for Team Nitro in the Under Armour All-America Game. He did not perform particularly well, but quarterbacks rarely do in those games where timing with receivers and good offensive line protection are difficult to achieve. Following the game, he went to Ann Arbor and enrolled early.

This spring Speight got a fair number of reps due to the continuing recovery of rising redshirt junior Russell Bellomy, who tore his ACL last spring. He is a tall, thick player whose body is unlike any other quarterback on the roster, and he’s a little less athletic than the others, too. Senior Devin Gardner will be the starter this year, and sophomore Shane Morris will be his backup. Then the question becomes whether Bellomy or Speight will be #3. If Gardner and Morris stay healthy, Bellomy should be the third signal caller in a blowout situation. There’s no need to burn Speight’s redshirt unless a spate (see what I did there?) of injuries occur.

Prediction: Redshirt

20May 2014
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2014 Season Countdown: #88 Brady Pallante

Brady Pallante

Name: Brady Pallante
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 255 lbs.
High school: Naples (FL) Barron Collier
Position: Defensive tackle
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: N/A
Last year: Pallante was a senior in high school.
Final TTB Rating: 70

Pallante is going to be an interesting and perhaps controversial story for Michigan fans. He originally committed to the Wolverines as a greyshirt player, meaning that he would attend Michigan on his own dime until 2015 before getting his scholarship. Of course, he didn’t have many other options – the one other team that courted him was Michigan’s first opponent in 2014, the Appalachian State Mountaineers. As the class wore on, Pallante was offered a full and immediate scholarship to Michigan.

Pallante is a short, wrestler style of a nose tackle. He’s well over 255 lbs. now, but he will still have some weight to add this fall. I do not believe it will take Pallante long to learn the technique Michigan’s coaches want him to learn because he’s a state championship wrestler who understands hand position, leverage, and the like. However, he will need to bulk up and get as strong as possible so he can contend with Big Ten linemen. Michigan has several nose tackles who are north of 300 lbs. already, so Pallante should be able to redshirt this season while waiting his turn behind players like Ondre Pipkins, Maurice Hurst Jr., and Willie Henry.

Prediction: Redshirt

18May 2014
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2014 Season Countdown: #89 Reon Dawson

Reon Dawson (image via Scout)

Name: Reon Dawson
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 178 lbs.
High school: Trotwood (OH) Trotwood-Madison
Position: Cornerback
Class: Redshirt freshman
Jersey number: #20
Last year: I ranked Dawson #88 and said he would redshirt. He redshirted.

Dawson entered the 2013 season as a scrawny project at cornerback. Michigan had a solid group of cornerbacks, including a couple fellow freshmen who were rated higher as prospects. While starters Raymon Taylor and Blake Countess held their positions, freshmen Jourdan Lewis and Channing Stribling each saw significant playing time, and veterans Courtney Avery and Delonte Hollowell saw occasional cornerback duties, too. There was no real need for more contributors at the position.

The situation remains essentially the same going into 2014. Avery graduated, but the other five players mentioned above return. Meanwhile, vaunted freshman Jabrill Peppers hits campus this summer. Taylor and Hollowell will both graduate after 2014, and Countess could potentially leave after his redshirt junior year, so Dawson might have a chance at earning time in 2015. He could also move to safety at some point, but at 178 lbs., that possibility is remote for now.

Prediction: Backup cornerback who plays very little, if at all

17May 2014
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2014 Season Countdown: #90 Brian Cleary

Brian Cleary (#6)

Name: Brian Cleary
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 212 lbs.
High school: Detroit (MI) U of D Jesuit
Position: Quarterback
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #6
Last year: I ranked Cleary #57 and said he would be the third quarterback. He played in the blowout of Central Michigan but did not record any statistics.

When Russell Bellomy suffered a torn ACL in the spring of 2013, suddenly everyone wondered if unheralded walk-on Brian Cleary might be Michigan’s quarterback at some point in the season. With a gangly running starter in Devin Gardner and a true freshman Shane Morris the only other legitimate options, the 110,000-plus fans in Michigan Stadium could have seen the ghosts of Steve Threet and Nick Sheridan taking the field. Luckily, Michigan did a little better than their collective 3-9 and made it to the bowl game on the shoulders of Gardner, though Morris ended up playing in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl due to Gardner’s broken foot. The only glimpse we saw of Cleary was of him handing off the ball in a blowout of Central Michigan in the season opener.

Michigan has a little more depth in 2014 with Gardner, Morris, and Bellomy back, plus true freshman Wilton Speight. There’s a good chance that Speight will redshirt, and Bellomy, Cleary, and Speight might share snaps with the scout team. I place Cleary below Speight simply because if a spate of injuries were to occur, Speight would probably burn his redshirt. In his third year in the offense, Cleary could probably enter a game and not embarrass himself, but his skills are limited. He’ll likely be holding a clipboard on the sideline unless Michigan can destroy an opponent or two.

Prediction: Fourth string quarterback

16May 2014
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2014 Season Countdown: #91 Juwann Bushell-Beatty


Name: Juwann Bushell-Beatty
Height: 6’7″
Weight: 310 lbs.
High school: Paramus (NJ) Catholic
Position: Offensive tackle
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: N/A
Last year: Bushell-Beatty was a senior in high school. He was a 247 Composite 3-star, #27 OT, #329 overall, and #11 in New Jersey.
Final TTB Rating: 68

Bushell-Beatty was relatively unknown to Michigan fans until he was offered in February 2013. Coming from the same high school as nationally elite recruit Jabrill Peppers, he got a great deal of exposure at Paramus Catholic. He had several notable offers throughout the process, including teams like Florida, Florida State, and Miami, but he decided on Michigan in April. Peppers would remain uncommitted until the summer. Bushell-Beatty had a solid senior season that culminated in a New Jersey state championship, and he was invited to the Under Armour All-America Game, along with several of his future college teammates.

In the UA game, Bushell-Beatty started at left tackle but consistently struggled with the speed rush. He has some bad weight on him, so he needs to trim down and add muscle. Considering some raw technique and the body formation that needs to take place, he’s almost certain to redshirt. Michigan is fairly thin at tackle, but others such as redshirt freshman Logan Tuley-Tillman and true freshman early enrollee Mason Cole are well ahead of Bushell-Beatty.

Prediction: Redshirt