2014 Season Countdown: #15 Willie Henry

Tag: 2014 season countdown

13Aug 2014
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2014 Season Countdown: #15 Willie Henry

Willie Henry

Name: Willie Henry
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 293 lbs.
High school: Cleveland (OH) Glenville
Position: Defensive tackle
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #69
Last year: I ranked Henry #36 and said he would be a backup defensive tackle. He started six games and made 32 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, and half a sack.

Henry was an unknown factor coming into 2013 after redshirting as a freshman. It didn’t take him long to establish himself as being ready to play at the Big Ten level. With a quick first step and a low center of gravity, he turned out to be difficult to handle for opposing offensive guards. He had 3 tackles and half a sack against UConn, 3 tackles and 1 TFL against Minnesota, and 5 tackles against both Northwestern and Iowa. On the defensive line, he finished second only to end Frank Clark (43) in tackles. That was the product of an ability to not only disrupt things in the middle, but to chase down plays from behind. At the end of the season, he was named Freshman All-Big Ten by ESPN.

Something odd happened this spring, though. Henry supposedly took his success for granted, and he found himself sent back to third string. With strong competition at defensive tackle, guys like Chris Wormley, Maurice Hurst Jr., and even freshman Bryan Mone seemed to get more reps. My guess is that Henry will work his way back into the good graces of the coaches, although the beginning of the season may not reflect that. Henry might find himself coming off the bench at the beginning of the year, but from what I saw last season, he should be starting at nose tackle at some point this year with a chance of being Michigan’s best defensive tackle since Mike Martin.

Prediction: Part-time starting defensive tackle

12Aug 2014
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2014 Season Countdown: #16 Matt Wile

Matt Wile (#45)

Name: Matt Wile
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 219 lbs.
High school: San Diego (CA) Francis Parker
Position: Kicker
Class: Senior
Jersey number: #46
Last year: I ranked Wile #15 and said he would be the kickoff specialist, punter, and backup placekicker. He kicked off 76 times for 4,545 yards (59.8 yards/kick) and 37 touchbacks. He punted 61 times for 2,476 yards (40.6 yards/punt). He was 3/5 on field goals and 5/5 on extra points.

Wile was put in an interesting position a few years ago when Brady Hoke got him to commit to Michigan out of the San Diego area. Michigan had been dealing with some atrocious placekicking, which apparently warranted giving a third specialist a scholarship (in addition to punter Will Hagerup and placekicker Brendan Gibbons, both of whom were young players then). The foresight by Hoke was impressive. As a placekicker, Wile made three field goal attempts in 2012 and five in 2013; he replaced Gibbons at the end of the 2013 season when Gibbons was kicked off the team for some bad behavior. Meanwhile, Wile has been a frequent contributor as a punter, what with “starter” Hagerup constantly getting into trouble of his own. Hagerup faced a year-long suspension in 2013, which allowed Wile to be the full-time punter last year.

This year Wile’s duties have been whittled down to placekicking. Hagerup is back for a fifth year to punt (provided he stays out of trouble) and walk-on Kenny Allen will be handling kickoffs. Meanwhile, Gibbons is gone, and nobody but Wile has attempted a field goal in college. Overall, Wile is 5/8 (62.5%) on field goals with longs of 52, 49, and 48 yards to his credit, and he’s 5/5 on extra points. Even when Gibbons wasn’t in trouble, Wile served as the long field goal kicker, which makes that mediocre percentage a little more palatable. Michigan figures to be a strong defensive team this year with some tough games, so a lot may ride on the ability of Wile to get the pigskin over the crossbar.

Prediction: Starting placekicker

11Aug 2014
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2014 Season Countdown: #17 Chris Wormley

Chris Wormley got beat on a wheel route by UConn, but won’t have to defend the pass as much at DT.

Name: Chris Wormley
Height: 6’4″
Weight: 295 lbs.
High school: Toledo (OH) Whitmer
Position: Defensive tackle
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #43
Last year: I ranked Wormley #47 and said he would be a backup defensive tackle. He made 19 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, and 1 pass breakup.

Wormley redshirt during his freshman season when he tore his ACL, and last year was a bit of a recovery year. He spent some time as a defensive end, but due to his bulk – or his bum knee – he seemed a little out of place. It seemed to me that he emerged in the Penn State game, when he made 4 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, and 1 sack. As the year went along, he seemed to move inside more and was a heavily rotated player, despite not earning any starts.

That looks like it will change in 2014. Now that he is 295 lbs. and seemingly beyond the size of a feasible defensive end, Wormley looks like a good bet to earn at least a few starts. In my opinion, the three interior starters on the defensive line should come down to some combination of Ondre Pipkins, Willie Henry, and Wormley. None are certainties – Pipkins is coming off his own ACL tear, and Henry did not have a great offseason. Wormley never put together a great stretch of football last year, but he seems like a coach favorite (they have said that he would have played as a true freshman if not for the knee injury) and he has some tantalizing athleticism for an interior lineman. My guess is that he starts at least half the games at the 3-tech tackle position, and I think Michigan fans will be excited about him going into 2015.

Prediction: Starting defensive tackle; 35 tackles, 6 tackles for loss, 3 sacks

10Aug 2014
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2014 Season Countdown: #18 Freddy Canteen

Freddy Canteen (image via TheWolverine.com)

Name: Freddy Canteen
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 176 lbs.
High school: Elkton (MD) Eastern Christian Academy
Position: Wide receiver
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: #17
Last year: Canteen was a senior in high school.
Final TTB Rating: 83

Canteen played with famed quarterback recruit David Sills in high school. The somewhat odd setup of Eastern Christian Academy (an online high school centered around its football program) leads to difficulties with scheduling. Yet with all the big-time recruits, one would think that highlights would be easier to find. Unfortunately, it was a little difficult to find extensive highlights of Canteen and fellow freshman Brandon Watson, despite the fact that they – and others on the team – were bound for big futures.

Canteen and Watson enrolled early in January, and Canteen was one of the main talking points of the spring. He claimed to be the fastest guy on the team, he looked like a big-play guy in the spring game, and people are talking as if he’s a sure thing to see the field extensively this fall. Canteen is skinny – just look at that picture above, which was taken during practice a few weeks ago – but he does have the long speed and the quick feet to be a threat early. The plan is to play him in the slot, which means he’s not necessarily a starter. But I do rank him above a potential starter like De’Veon Smith or Amara Darboh because Canteen seems to have that knack for getting open and making big plays that we haven’t seen from Darboh, Jehu Chesson, and other receivers, and he does not appear to be interchangeable with another player like Smith and Derrick Green. If Michigan loses Canteen for a stretch of time, they lose a guy who can be a mismatch against safeties and who can take the top off the defense.

Prediction: Starting slot receiver; 25 catches, 400 yards, 4 touchdowns

9Aug 2014
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2014 Season Countdown: #19 Ty Isaac

Ty Isaac

Name: Ty Isaac
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 225 lbs.
High school: Joliet (IL) Catholic
Position: Running back
Class: Sophomore
Jersey number: #32
Last year: I did not rank Isaac, who was on the USC football team. He ran 40 times for 236 yards and 2 touchdowns, and he caught 4 passes for 57 yards.

I was a pretty big fan of Isaac coming out of high school, but he went to the dastardly USC Trojans instead of the local-ish favorites like Notre Dame and Michigan. Lane Kiffin (and his replacement, Leatherhead from TMNT) gave him the fifth-most carries on the team, so he was not particularly irreplaceable. However, he did average 5.9 yards/carry and had some nice looking runs on the chances he did have. In the offseason, his mother had ear surgery that would have prevented her from flying to see his games in southern California, so that was the reason (or at least the excuse) for him to seek a transfer. His options came down to Illinois, Northwestern, Notre Dame, and Michigan, and the Wolverines won that battle.

It’s unclear whether Isaac will be available for the 2014 season; he will have to get a waiver from the NCAA, which they are not likely to grant since Michigan is outside the 100-mile radius from Joliet, IL. I went ahead and ranked Isaac on the list, and you may notice that he’s the top back in the stable. In my opinion, he’s better than anyone Michigan had on the roster prior to last year, and he was better than either Derrick Green or De’Veon Smith in the 2013 class. Isaac is a big body with some nifty feet, decent speed, and an ability to catch the ball. He probably won’t play a down in 2014, so Michigan will be without its 19th-most valuable player this year.

Prediction: Redshirt