Tag: 2019 season countdown

2019 Season Countdown

Thanks for reading the 2019 countdown list! If you want to check out any of the profiles, they’re all linked below.

1. A) Shea Patterson, B) Donovan Jeter
2. Ben Bredeson
3. Aidan Hutchinson
4. Lavert Hill
5. Cesar Ruiz
6. Jon Runyan, Jr.
7. Nico Collins
8. Josh Ross
9. Donovan Peoples-Jones
10. Josh Uche
11. Ambry Thomas
12. Josh Metellus
13. Carlo Kemp
14. Khaleke Hudson
15. Michael Onwenu
16. Tru Wilson
17. Kwity Paye
18. Sean McKeon
19. Zach Charbonnet
20. Mike Sainristil
21. Michael Dwumfour
22. Tarik Black
23. Devin Gil
24. Will Hart
25. Vincent Gray
26. Dylan McCaffrey
27. Ronnie Bell
28. Mike Danna
29. Andrew Stueber
30. Jalen Mayfield
31. Nick Eubanks
32. J’Marick Woods
33. Brad Hawkins
34. Christian Turner
35. Jordan Anthony
36. Stephen Spanellis
37. Jordan Glasgow
38. Chris Hinton, Jr.
39. Luiji Vilain
40. Oliver Martin
41. Ben Mason
42. Daxton Hill
43. Gemon Green
44. Camaron Cheeseman
45. Jake Moody
46. Mazi Smith
47. Cam McGrone
48. Ben VanSumeren
49. Julius Welschof
50. Joel Honigford
51. Quinn Nordin
52. Jaylen Kelly-Powell
53. Michael Barrett
54. Mustapha Muhammad
55. Joe Milton
56. Hunter Reynolds
57. Sammy Faustin
58. Tyler Cochran
59. German Green
60. Nate Schoenle
61. Giles Jackson
62. Erick All
63. Jake McCurry
64. Hassan Haskins
65. Quintel Kent
66. Jalen Perry
67. Chuck Filiaga
68. Quinten Johnson
69. Carl Myers
70. D.J. Turner II
71. David Ojabo
72. Taylor Upshaw
73. Greg Robinson
74. Michael Morris
75. Peter Bush
76. Luke Schoonmaker
77. Ryan Hayes
78. Anthony Solomon
79. Andrew Vastardis
80. Phillip Paea
81. Adam Shibley
82. Adam Fakih
83. Brad Robbins
84. Cade McNamara
85. Nolan Rumler
86. Zach Carpenter
87. Matt Brown
88. Gabe Newburg
89. Joey Velazquez
90. Jess Speight
91. Karsen Barnhart
92. Trevor Keegan
93. Julian Garrett
94. George Johnson III
95. Trente Jones
96. Charles Thomas
97. Jared Davis
98. Dan Jokisch
99. Michael Sessa
100. Caden Kolesar
101. Dane Drobocky
102. Max Wittwer
103. Jameson Offerdahl
104. Jack Stewart
105. Kraig Correll
106. Brandon Peters
107. Kyle Grady
108. Lucas Andrighetto

2019 Season Countdown: #1A Shea Patterson

I apologize for the lateness of this post. We (as in the place where I coach) opened our season last week, so as you can imagine, things are pretty hectic.

Name: Shea Patterson
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 202 lbs.
High school: Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy
Position: Quarterback
Class: Senior
Jersey number: #2
Last year: I ranked Patterson #1 and said he would be the starting quarterback with 3,100 yards passing, 23 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions (LINK). He was 210/325 (64.6%) for 2,600 yards, 22 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions; he also ran 76 times for 273 yards (2.6 YPC) and 2 touchdowns.
TTB Rating: N/A

Patterson came to Michigan at just the right time in the 2017-2018 off-season. After a 2017 season in which all the quarterbacks – Wilton Speight, John O’Korn, and Brandon Peters – struggled, the position was in flux. Speight was leaving, O’Korn was graduating, Peters had struggled, Dylan McCaffrey didn’t seem ready, and incoming freshman Joe Milton was thought to be very raw. Without Patterson transferring in, there’s no telling how hot Jim Harbaugh’s seat would be right now. In an alternate universe, does he land a grad transfer? Does McCaffrey start and avoid breaking his collarbone? It could have been ugly.

But it wasn’t. Patterson stabilized the position, even if he wasn’t an All-American. His 22-to-7 TD-to-INT rate was solid, and he made the throws that were there to make. Unlike Speight and O’Korn, he completed deep throws, even if he sometimes left them a little short and gave defenders a chance to tackle after the catch. It has been several years since Michigan had a quarterback who threw a consistent deep ball, probably going all the way back to Chad Henne . . . and he struggled to take anything off the short stuff.

Patterson also managed to run some zone read stuff with aplomb, making several key plays on keepers; that included an 81-yard run against the Wisconsin Badgers and some big chain-movers against Northwestern, among others. Michigan has been blessed with decent-to-great runners at quarterback over the last decade (Denard Robinson, Devin Gardner, Jake Rudock, Patterson), but Patterson might be the best passer of them all.

Going into the 2019 season, Michigan needs Patterson to be healthy and at the top of his game. The running back position has question marks, and so does the defense. The receivers, though, when they’re healthy, are some of the best players at their positions in the country. If Michigan plans to beat Ohio State and make a run at the College Football Playoff, they need Patterson, his accuracy, and his leadership to get the ball where it needs to go in this offense. As hyped as McCaffrey is, we have yet to see him show the ability to sit in the pocket and pick apart a competent defense, even for a short stint. Michigan could still be decent without Patterson, but the games against Penn State, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Notre Dame, and of course OSU would become much more difficult.

Prediction: Starting quarterback; 3200 yards, 27 touchdowns, 8 interceptions

2019 Season Countdown: #1B Donovan Jeter

Name: Donovan Jeter
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 290 lbs.
High school: Beaver Falls (PA) Beaver Falls
Position: Defensive tackle
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #95
Last year: I ranked Jeter #50 and said he would be a backup defensive tackle (LINK). He made 3 tackles.
TTB Rating: 78

I know I will take a fair amount of criticism for this one, so let me jump right into my defense:

Michigan ain’t got no big guys.

That’s a bit of a lie, because there are some large human beings on the team. Michael Onwenu, Ben Bredeson, and others are large homo sapiens, but they play offense. And the Wolverines have a couple big freshmen interior defensive linemen (Mazi Smith, Chris Hinton), but they’ve never played college football before. Jeter is listed at 290 lbs. but he’s reportedly well above 300 now.

Michigan had an excellent run defense in 2015. They allowed fewer than 4.0 yards per carry in each of the first six games, fewer than 3.0 in five of those, and few than 2.0 in four of those. The rushing averages in the final four games of the season after Glasgow disappeared?

• 5.58 vs. Indiana
• 3.18 vs. Penn State
• 6.83 vs. Ohio State
• 4.37 vs. Florida

That big, fat “6.83” is one of the primary reasons redshirt sophomore Donovan Jeter, who has yet to do much in his college career, is all the way up here at 1B. When I look at the hype for Michigan – with discussions of winning the Big Ten, going to the College Football Playoff – I don’t see them being able to overcome big hurdles like Wisconsin and Ohio State without Jeter.

Can Michigan win some games without Jeter? Sure. They have some young, touted defensive linemen, and they have some defensive ends who are capable of stopping the run. But 6’2″, 282 lb. Michael Dwumfour isn’t going to become a run-stopper overnight, and the freshman combo of Mazi Smith and Chris Hinton aren’t going to turn into stars overnight. Otherwise, Michigan has blue-collar Carlo Kemp and a converted fullback in Ben Mason. If Michigan wants to avoid getting exposed up the middle by Paul Chryst and Ryan Day, Jeter needs to play and play well. He could be the difference between a 9- or 10-win season . . . and an 11- or 12-win season.

Prediction: Part-time starting defensive tackle; 20 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1 sack

2019 Season Countdown: #2 Ben Bredeson

Name: Ben Bredeson
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 325 lbs.
High school: Hartland (WI) Arrowhead
Position: Offensive guard
Class: Senior
Jersey number: #74
Last year: I ranked Bredeson #8 and said he would be the starting left guard (LINK). He started all thirteen games.
TTB Rating: 88

Bredeson has progressed steadily as a player throughout his career. We probably didn’t want him to start as a freshman in 2016, but injuries made it necessary. Then he was a definite starter in 2017 but still made mistakes of inexperience. Last year he became a very solid lineman. Bredeson makes very few mistakes, and he’s a wall. He’s not exactly a bulldozer of a lineman, but he’s not going to get embarrassed, either.

This year I think his leadership and talent make him the top offensive lineman and the most important guy on offense who’s not a quarterback. Michigan has decent options on the interior offensive line, but if the Wolverines want to win the Big Ten – or more – then they need Bredeson to play and play well. The Wolverines don’t have enough to coast through with some big injuries, but if guys like Bredeson, Ruiz, Shea Patterson, and others can stay healthy, they have a chance. And if Michigan does make some noise by winning the conference or going to the College Football Playoff, I think it will be because their left guard – and a couple others – stayed healthy and led them there.

Prediction: Starting left guard

2019 Season Countdown: #3 Aidan Hutchinson

Name: Aidan Hutchinson
Height: 6’6″
Weight: 278 lbs.
High school: Dearborn (MI) Divine Child
Position: Defensive end
Class: Sophomore
Jersey number: #97
Last year: I ranked Hutchinson #66 and said he would be a backup defensive end (LINK). He made 15 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss.
TTB Rating: 88

Hutchinson flew under the radar a little bit in 2018, which is understandable when you have a dynamic player like Chase Winovich at one defensive end and the former #1 player overall at the other defensive end spot. You could be an excellent player and still not receive much attention. Hutchinson wasn’t excellent, but he still showed flashes. You could tell the game was moving a little too quickly for him, and sometimes his reads just couldn’t keep up. He finished the season with 15 total tackles, but his playing time and production dwindled when the going got tough late in the year.

This year Hutchinson makes a jump all the way from #66 up to #3, which is a huge leap. That is the result of two major factors:

1. I think he’s going to be very good.
2. Michigan needs him on the field.

I said during the 2018 recruiting cycle that I thought Hutchinson was the best player in the State of Michigan, and nothing I’ve seen so far has caused me to stray from that evaluation. The physical skills are there. It’s the mental side of things that was a bit of an issue. Now he has a year under his belt, he’s getting more reps in practice, and he’s also 278 lbs. of muscle.

As for needing him on the field, Michigan is a little depleted on the defensive line. Winovich and Gary both moved on to the NFL, and there’s a lot of talent at defensive end but not much experience. Kwity Paye at weakside end is a junior, and fifth year senior Mike Danna played quite a bit at Central Michigan, but behind them are all players who haven’t seen the field. On top of that inexperience, Michigan needs the defensive line to come up big because of a lack of talent and depth at the cornerback positions. If they can’t put pressure on quarterbacks, teams could quite possibly pick apart Ambry Thomas, Vincent Gray, Jaylen Kelly-Powell, and others on the back end.

Prediction: Starting Anchor; 50 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, 5 sacks