Tag: 2020 season countdown

2020 Season Countdown: #64 Brad Robbins

Name: Brad Robbins
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 199 lbs.
High school: Westerville (OH) South
Position: Punter
Class: Redshirt junior
Jersey number: #3
Last year: I ranked Robbins #83 and said he would transfer (LINK). He punted 4 times for 171 yards (42.7 yards/punt) and had 1 punt blocked.
TTB Rating: 70

Robbins is one of those rare examples of a player who entered the transfer portal and then removed himself from the transfer portal. Last year I ranked him at #83 and then had him in the portal, but he ended up filling in for Will Hart in two games. Unfortunately, Michigan had 2 punts blocked in 2019, and one of them was Robbins’s against Alabama.

This year I assume Robbins will be Hart’s backup yet again. How valuable is a backup punter? Last year Michigan had a little more wiggle room with George Caratan in the mix, but he has since transferred to Arkansas, leaving redshirt freshman Karl Kerska as the likely #3. Robbins will probably not be used very much.

Prediction: Backup punter

2020 Season Countdown: #65 Cade McNamara

Name: Cade McNamara
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 205 lbs.
High school: Reno (NV) Damonte Ranch
Position: Quarterback
Class: Redshirt freshman
Jersey number: #12
Last year: I ranked McNamara #84 and said he would redshirt (LINK). He redshirted.
TTB Rating: 65

McNamara took the expected route in 2019 of redshirting. That’s what the vast majority of freshman quarterbacks should do, and Michigan was able to accommodate that by having a senior quarterback in Shea Patterson, a redshirt sophomore in Dylan McCaffrey, and a redshirt freshman in Joe Milton. For the first time in a while, it seemed like Michigan had a pretty decent succession of quarterbacks lined up.

Now Patterson is off to the NFL, while the other guys remain and true freshman Dan Villari joins the QB room. Presumably, McNamara will take over the #3 role that was held by Joe Milton. On the plus side, I have heard some people throw out that McNamara is a dark horse candidate to win the starting job, and one point in his favor is that he fits the mold of a Penn State-style QB (shorter, quick release, somewhat mobile) a little better than McCaffrey, Milton, or Villari. I don’t think that will end up mattering much, so I expect McNamara to be the third guy in, with minimal opportunities to make his mark this season.

Prediction: Backup quarterback

2020 Season Countdown: #66 Tyler Cochran

Name: Tyler Cochran
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 206 lbs.
High school: Orchard Lake (MI) St. Mary’s
Position: Safety
Class: Fifth year senior
Jersey number: #30
Last year: I ranked Cochran #58 and said he would be a backup safety and special teamer (LINK). He played in twelve games and made 2 tackles and 1 fumble recovery.
TTB Rating: N/A

Cochran has turned into a steady special teams contributor over the past couple seasons. He has played in 15 games during that span with 3 tackles and 1 fumble recovery, which came last year against Rutgers.

So far Cochran has not played safety in a game, and it’s unlikely that he will this season, either. Michigan brought in a few 2020 scholarship safeties with the new signing class, and there are some talented players already in the program.

Prediction: Backup safety, special teamer

2020 Season Countdown: #67 Julius Welschof

Name: Julius Welschof
Height: 6’6″
Weight: 278 lbs.
High school: Germany somewhere
Position: Defensive tackle
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #96
Last year: I ranked Welschof #49 and said he would be a backup defensive end (LINK). He played in one game.
TTB Rating: 78

Michigan was very inexperienced on the defensive line last year once the team got past the top five guys (the starters plus Mike Danna), so that artificially elevated Welschof into the top 50. Now without losing much along the defensive line except tackle Mike Dwumfour, Welschof settles back down to where he should have been in 2019, right here in the 60s.

Welschof is supposedly bigger and stronger this year and looking like an interior defensive lineman. Word is that he could be bound for nose tackle. He does not appear to be in the running to start, but he could work in with the second unit. We have seen very little of him to make much of a judgment, but the buzz around him makes me think we might start to see some flashes of his athleticism and strength this year.

Prediction: Backup defensive tackle

2020 Season Countdown: #68 Nikhai Hill-Green

Name: Nikhai Hill-Green
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 230 lbs.
High school: Baltimore (MD) St. Francis
Position: Linebacker
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: N/A
Last year: Hill-Green was a senior in high school (LINK).
TTB Rating: 74 81

Hill-Green transferred from Pittsburgh (PA) North Catholic to St. Francis between his junior and senior years, and that move worked out well for him. I gave him a so-so TTB Rating of 74 based on his junior film at North Catholic, but what I see of him as a senior shows a player who is more physical, quicker, more decisive, and more confident.

I have heard some chatter that Michigan thinks Hill-Green is a little bit of a sleeper in this class, and I think he has an outside shot to contribute this fall. Michigan needs someone to step up at inside linebacker behind Cam McGrone and Joshua Ross, and the only veteran presence is redshirt freshman Charles Thomas. If Hill-Green is in good shape and truly measures in close to his listed numbers (6’1″, 230 lbs.), then he could be a guy who gets a few snaps to groom him for 2021, when it’s not totally unrealistic that one or both of McGrone and Ross could move on to the NFL.

Prediction: Backup linebacker

Hit the jump for his senior highlights.