Tag: 2021 season countdown

2021 Season Countdown: #103 Luke Buckman

Name: Luke Buckman
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 244 lbs.
High school: Holland (MI) Holland
Position: Tight end
Class: Redshirt junior
Jersey number: #35
Last year: I did not rank Buckman. He did not play.
TTB Rating: N/A

Buckman enters his fourth season in the program without having seen the field yet. He’s the younger brother of Wade Buckman, who played a little bit of tight end at Purdue and Western Michigan. Michigan has often played walk-on tight ends, and Luke Buckman has good size. But I have not seen anything yet to suggest that he is a threat to see the field. Michigan lost Nick Eubanks to graduation, but the replacement on the roster is a 4-star freshman in Louis Hansen, who is reportedly already up to 250 lbs. So I assume Buckman will spend this season on the sideline.

Prediction: Backup tight end

2021 Season Countdown: #104 Nolan Knight

Name: Nolan Knight
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 205 lbs.
High school: Northville (MI) Northville
Position: Linebacker
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #32
Last year: I did not rank Knight. He did not play.
TTB Rating: N/A

Knight is the son of a former Michigan walk-on quarterback (Dave Knight, 1986-1989). The younger Knight’s Hudl profile in high school listed him at 6’4″ and 195 lbs., and so far at Michigan, all he’s done is get shorter by two inches and put on ten pounds. Going into year three in the program, being a 6’2″, 205 lb. linebacker doesn’t signal impending greatness.

On the other hand, linebackers are typically pretty valuable on special teams, and Knight could find himself playing on the punt coverage team or the kickoff return team. I think chances are slim that he sees the field much, if at all, but he plays a position that has a lot of versatility.

Prediction: Backup linebacker, special teamer

2021 Season Countdown: #105 Mica Gelb

Name: Mica Gelb
Height: 6’4″
Weight: 295 lbs.
High school: Washington (DC) Woodrow Wilson
Position: Offensive guard
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #55
Last year: I did not rank Gelb. He did not play.
TTB Rating: N/A

Gelb is a walk-on offensive lineman with good size for an FBS player. So how does a guy who’s 6’4″ and 295 lbs. end up as a walk-on instead of a scholarship player elsewhere? Well, Gelb does not have great athleticism. At least based on his high school film, he would pretty much just stand in one place and try to push people around with his upper body. Of course it’s helpful to have these types of guys on the scout team and to rep against scholarship guys in practice, but I think that’s the ceiling for Gelb unless he has made some huge strides during his time at Michigan.

Prediction: Backup offensive lineman

2021 Season Countdown: #106 Danny Hughes

Name: Danny Hughes
Height: 6’0″
Weight: 200 lbs.
High school: Naperville (IL) Central
Position: Running back
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #22
Last year: I did not rank Hughes. He did not play.
TTB Rating: N/A

Hughes was a walk-on participant in two games in 2020, both on special teams. He also won Offensive Scout Team Player of the Week in 2019 during Iowa week. So as walk-ons go, he’s in the upper echelon. Unfortunately for him, he plays running back, a position where walk-ons almost never get playing time. Hughes will likely continue in his role as a special teamer, but anything more than that is unlikely.

Prediction: Backup running back, special teamer

2021 Season Countdown: #107 Keshaun Harris

Name: Keshaun Harris
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 183 lbs.
High school: Lansing (MI) Waverly
Position: Defensive back
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #18
Last year: I did not rank Harris. He did not play.
TTB Rating: N/A

Defensive back – particularly cornerback – is a tough place to get on the field as a walk-on, largely because it’s predicated on innate speed and athleticism. And if players have that athleticism, they get a scholarship somewhere instead of walking on at one of the biggest programs in the country. Safety Hunter Reynolds was the most recent Michigan walk-on defensive back to play significant minutes, but the past decade has only really seen three: Reynolds, safety Jordan Kovacs, and safety/linebacker Jordan Glasgow.

All that is to say that Harris probably won’t see the field as a walk-on defensive back. There are a ton of safeties on the roster – though I suspect Harris is repping at corner – and the cornerbacks are all longer than Harris, faster than him, or both. I imagine Harris will spend another year on the scout team defense.

Prediction: Backup defensive back