Tag: 2021 season countdown

2021 Season Countdown: #86 T.J. Guy

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Name: T.J. Guy
Height: 6’4″
Weight: 240 lbs.
High school: Mansfield (MA) Mansfield
Position: Defensive tackle
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: N/A
Last year: Guy was a senior in high school. His season was canceled due to COVID.
TTB Rating: 65

My take on Guy when he committed in April 2020 has not changed a great deal since then. That is at least in part due to the fact that his senior season was wiped out by COVID, so I’m still working off of his junior film. Guy was a relatively lightly recruited defensive lineman from Don Brown’s stomping grounds, and the Wolverines held onto him even though Brown departed for the greener pastures of Arizona.

Guy plays too high, and he lacks technique. How much better did that technique get when he couldn’t play for the past year? I do like Guy and think he could be a good jumbo track and field athlete, a guy who could probably run pretty well, do the hurdles, and throw discus. But as a football player, he’s still a very large project. Unless he has undergone a mental/technical overhaul in the past year, I fully expect him to redshirt while he continues to learn the game.

Prediction: Redshirt

2021 Season Countdown: #87 Rod Moore

Name: Rod Moore
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 180 lbs.
High school: Clayton (OH) Northmont
Position: Safety
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: N/A
Last year: Moore was a senior in high school (LINK). He made 68 tackles, 1 interception, and 6 pass breakups.
TTB Rating: 72

Moore committed to Michigan in the winter of 2020, just before everything got shut down for COVID. Coming from the same high school as defensive end Gabe Newburg and former wide receiver commit Markus Allen, Moore was a somewhat small-ish safety with cornerback skills. There was some fear that Moore would not stick in the class after Allen decommitted in favor of Wisconsin, but the two will play as opponents rather than teammates.

Freshman safeties can play a role on special teams as a freshman, but they’re usually liabilities if they play defense. Not only is Moore inexperienced, but he is very small for an FBS safety. He might be one of those guys who plays on kickoff coverage in a few games, but not enough to burn his redshirt.

Prediction: Redshirt

2021 Season Countdown: #88 Tristan Bounds

Name: Tristan Bounds
Height: 6’8″
Weight: 305 lbs.
High school: Wallingford (CT) Choate Rosemary Hall
Position: Offensive tackle
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: N/A
Last year: Bounds was a senior in high school (LINK). His season was canceled due to COVID.
TTB Rating: 82

Bounds was one of those pesky recruits from the northeastern part of the United States that Michigan fans begrudgingly thought, “He’s a dang 3-star! But…well…he’s 6’8″ and kinda mean. Okay, we accept.” Bounds was the #35 offensive tackle and #416 in the class. The more I watch and learn about him, I think he will fit in well at Michigan. He seems intelligent but also hardworking and nasty. Add those traits to a guy who’s 6’8″, 305 lbs., and decently athletic, and it’s hard to project failure.

My experience with very large humans at Michigan is that they tend to be good. Taylor Lewan, Jake Long, Grant Newsome, Ben Braden, Mark Ortmann, Perry Dorrestein, etc. are all very tall men who performed pretty well. The last two weren’t great, but if those guys are the floor – and Bounds is more athletic than both – then I think it’s fair to expect something somewhere between Ortmann and Lewan, where the likes of Newman and Braden reside.

Will he get on the field this year? I think it’s unlikely. Michigan has some pretty good depth on the offensive line; as long as there are no ridiculous injury issues, Bounds should be able to redshirt.

2021 Season Countdown: #89 Joey George

Name: Joey George
Height: 6’0″
Weight: 287 lbs.
High school: Walled Lake (MI) Western
Position: Defensive tackle
Class: Redshirt junior
Jersey number: #57
Last year: I did not rank George. He played in one game.
TTB Rating: N/A

George, a walk-on defensive lineman, achieved what might have been his dream of playing in a Michigan football game last season. Unfortunately, it was across from a mean ol’ nasty Wisconsin offensive line that plowed Michigan’s defense out onto Main Street.

This spring George earned a mention from Jim Harbaugh as someone who had an excellent spring. I’m pegging Harbaugh’s comments as pure hype, considering George’s only playing time came in a blowout loss and that George is an undersized 6’0″, 287 lb. lineman on a team that supposedly wants to get bigger up front. Perhaps his height will let him maintain leverage against some opponents, but I’m guessing he will be primarily a scout team guy.

Prediction: Backup defensive tackle

2021 Season Countdown: #90 Kechaun Bennett

Name: Kechaun Bennett
Height: 6’4″
Weight: 220 lbs.
High school: Suffield (CT) Suffield Academy
Position: Defensive end
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: #52
Last year: Bennett was a senior in high school (LINK). His senior season was canceled due to COVID.
TTB Rating: 78

Connecticut high schoolers lost their 2021 season to COVID, which is unfortunate for them all. It also throws a little bit of a wrench into projecting them forward. I liked Bennett when he committed to Michigan, but I did not give him a TTB Rating. As a defensive lineman with skinny legs and a lot of weight to eventually add, he was not close to his physical ceiling as a junior in high school. But I do like his athleticism, quickness, and physicality.

As a freshman at Michigan who did not enroll early, my guess is that Bennett will remain raw and will need time to develop. He might even need more time than originally expected, considering he missed a full season of development. With Michigan’s move from a 4-man front to a 3-4, I think Bennett will become an outside linebacker where it seems Michigan has a fair amount of depth. The Wolverines should be able to give Bennett at least a year to train his body and mind for a role that could come once Aidan Hutchinson graduates after the 2021 season.

Prediction: Redshirt