Tag: 2017 season countdown

2017 Season Countdown: #56 Maurice Ways, Jr.

Maurice Ways, Jr. (image via MGoBlue)

Name: Maurice Ways, Jr.
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 217 lbs.
High school: Beverly Hills (MI) Country Day
Position: Wide receiver
Class: Redshirt junior
Jersey number: #85
Last year: I ranked Ways #50 and said he would be a backup wide receiver. He caught 2 passes for 24 yards.
TTB Rating: 81

Last year there was a fair amount of hype for Ways coming out of spring ball. The coaching staff liked him, he was catching the ball consistently, he’s always been a solid blocker, and he’s a high-character kid. Things seemed to be shaping up for a pretty solid year, probably as the next guy behind Jehu Chesson and Amara Darboh on the outside. Then a foot injury happened. He played in just six games, and he only caught 2 passes.

Going into his fourth year in the program, it’s another now-or-never situation. Michigan has a batch of young players who are superior when it comes to speed and athleticism, and if they’re starting from roughly the same overall talent, coaches are going to lean toward developing the younger players. One place freshmen typically struggle is in the area of blocking, and that’s where Ways will probably have to make hay if he wants to see the field. The Wolverines lost both starters from last year, so technically, the outside jobs are up for grabs. Most projections right now seem to have Kekoa Crawford pegged as the top guy outside, and he played more than Ways last year. Otherwise, Drake Harris has moved to defense, and the rest of the contributors were mainly in the slot. Since Ways is strictly an outside guy, he’ll be battling with the likes of Tarik Black, Donovan Peoples-Jones, and Nico Collins for snaps. I don’t think Ways will win that battle, but if he’s healthy, I think he should see an uptick in snaps and play in more than six games.

2017 Season Countdown: #57 Reuben Jones

Reuben Jones (#4, image via MGoBlog)

Name: Reuben Jones
Height: 6’4″
Weight: 222 lbs.
High school: Lakeland (FL) Lake Gibson
Position: Defensive end
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #4
Last year: I ranked Jones #53 and said he would be a backup weakside end. He made 2 tackles.
TTB Rating: 67

It’s hard to pin down this Jones kid. He came in as a weakside end, but he played middle linebacker a little bit for his first two years on campus. Even in year two, he was listed at 6’4″ and 222 lbs., which means he’s thin even for a linebacker. Due to that alone, it’s not surprising that he hasn’t earned a ton of playing time. What he has done, however, is win Scout Team Player of the Week, and he finished as Michigan’s fifth-best Scout Team Player of the Year at the annual football bust (LINK). Is that good or not? I don’t know. On the one hand, hooray for a guy who busts his butt on the scout team. On the other hand, the other guys in that top five were all walk-ons.

Michigan needs someone to step up at weakside end to back up Chase Winovich. There’s an opportunity for Jones to take that #2 spot, but competition exists in a couple other forms. I think he’ll have a battle on his hands from some freshmen, especially Luiji Vilain. Jones won’t win the gig if he stays at 222 lbs., but the spirit that helped him earn STPOTW might get him some opportunities on the kickoff, kickoff return, punt, and punt return teams.

Prediction: Backup defensive end

2017 Season Countdown: #58 Jordan Anthony

Jordan Anthony (image via Scout)

Name: Jordan Anthony
Height: 6’0″
Weight: 220 lbs.
High school: Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy
Position: Linebacker
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: N/A
Last year: Anthony was a senior in high school.
TTB Rating: 79

Anthony was a nice win on the recruiting trail for Michigan’s staff. Early on when he lived in Maryland, it looked like he would stay on the East Coast, quite possibly at Maryland. Once he transferred to IMG Academy in Florida, it seemed like he became more open to playing elsewhere. He was rumored to be a silent commitment to Michigan for several months, and he finally made it public in December.

I have some questions about Anthony, partly because of size and partly because of him bouncing around from position to position. He played running back almost exclusively as a junior, and then he returned to the linebacker position as a senior. Rivals saw enough out of him to bump him up to a 5-star prospect, which is a little surprising for a guy who’s probably not even 6’0″ and who doesn’t seem to have truly elite athleticism. Those questions aside, I do have Anthony ranked as the most likely freshman to contribute in 2017. He has the positional flexibility to contribute at either WILL or SAM, and Michigan has a need for contributors at both positions. I also think he has the quickness to overcome some size deficiencies, and we saw a similar player (Devin Bush, Jr.) contribute last year.

Prediction: Backup linebacker

2017 Season Countdown: #59 Joshua Ross

Joshua Ross (#5) with teammate and WMU signee Dwayne Chapman (image via Scout)

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Name: Joshua Ross
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 221 lbs.
High school: Orchard Lake (MI) St. Mary’s
Position: Linebacker
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: N/A
Last year: Ross was a senior in high school.
TTB Rating: 79

Ross, whose older brother James also played at Michigan, seemed like a lock to also be a Wolverine. And yet. He dragged his feet a little bit, flirting with the likes of Notre Dame and Oklahoma. It seemed late in the game when he finally committed to Michigan in late March of 2016, although in truth, that was still over 10 months away from National Signing Day. He earned some decent offers without reeling in many big-timers, and he ended up as the #9 inside linebacker and #214 overall in the 247 Composite.

Ross has a good chance to play this season, even if he is a bit undersized for a MIKE linebacker. Michigan plans to use him in the middle, and he’s not as athletic as Devin Bush, Jr., who played as a true freshman last season, mostly at WILL. The Wolverines had three guys in the spring that they seemed to trust in Bush, Mike McCray II, and Mike Wroblewski, but I think Wroblewski will get passed by someone, whether it’s Ross or another freshman. Both McCray and Wroblewski will graduate after this season, so Michigan needs to groom two or three guys who can start or be heavily rotated in 2018. I think Ross will play some, but there are other guys who should be able to fill in if needed, too.

Prediction: Backup middle linebacker

2017 Season Countdown: #60 Carl Myers

Carl Myers (image via 247 Sports)

Name: Carl Myers
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 268 lbs.
High school: Grand Rapids (MI) West Catholic
Position: Defensive tackle
Class: Sophomore
Jersey number: #54
Last year: I did not rank Myers. He played in one game.

This may seem like an odd place to spot a sophomore walk-on with only one game of playing experience, but here he stands anyway. Myers was a preferred walk-on coming into the 2016 season, so he seemed like a shoo-in for a redshirt. After all, how often do freshman interior lineman play, let alone walk-ons? He’s the first in my memory at Michigan.  When Greg Mattison talks up walk-on linemen, I’ve learned not to disregard them. Will Heininger, Ryan Glasgow, etc., they all seem to be better than initially thought. Even Nathan Brink – who never contributed as much as the aforementioned guys – earned a scholarship, and he was unable to finish out his career due to injury.

Michigan has a way of coaching up these guys, so I don’t see any reason to expect much less from Myers. He probably won’t be a mid-round draft pick like Glasgow, but I imagine he’ll be serviceable at some point. And Michigan could use “serviceable” at backup defensive tackle. I have Myers, Lawrence Marshall, Jr., and James Hudson III bunched up here in the 60s, and any one of them could factor into the rotation this fall. With Maurice Hurst, Jr. starting at 3-tech and Michael Dwumfour penciled in as his backup, there might not be a huge need for crunch-time snaps from the trio; however, Dwumfour has been held back by injury, and it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see one of these players have to step up. Myers saw action in game one last year, and the coaches seem to like him. All other things being equal, the coaching staff might want to reward Myers while also letting him serve as a motivational ploy for others.

Prediction: Backup defensive tackle