Tag: 2021 season countdown

2021 Season Countdown: #30 Makari Paige

Name: Makari Paige
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 192 lbs.
High school: West Bloomfield (MI) West Bloomfield
Position: Safety
Class: Sophomore
Jersey number: #7
Last year: I ranked Paige #63 and said he would be a backup safety (LINK). He made 6 tackles.
TTB Rating: 79

It’s not usually a good thing when the third best safety in the program is a true freshman, because safety is a notoriously difficult position to learn so quickly. And yet in 2020, that was exactly where Michigan found itself. Paige was a well regarded recruit but not a superstar high school player, and with no spring ball during a COVID year, he was apparently the best guy available to back up Brad Hawkins and Daxton Hill at safety. He performed adequately for a freshman, but he was still slow to read things and lacked something when supporting the run.

Paige looks to be the third best guy again, but now he has six games and an entire off-season under his belt. He also now plays for his former high school coach, Ron Bellamy, the new assistant at the position. (It’s also worth noting that last year’s safeties coach, Bob Shoop, was not with the team for the entire season and fill-in Aashon Larkins was not nearly as accomplished.) So there should be an improvement here, and Michigan needs to groom replacements for Hawkins and Hill, both of whom are likely to be gone to the NFL in 2022.

Prediction: Backup safety, special teamer

2021 Season Countdown: #32 Luke Schoonmaker

Name: Luke Schoonmaker
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 252 lbs.
High school: Hamden (CT) Hamden Hall
Position: Tight end
Class: Redshirt junior
Jersey number: #86
Last year: I ranked Schoonmaker #53 and said he would be a backup tight end (LINK). He played in all six games.
TTB Rating: 81

Schoonmaker seemed to take a step back in 2020. After catching 2 passes for 54 yards and 1 touchdown in 2019, he was fighting with Erick All for backup snaps last season. With Nick Eubanks as the starter, All largely took over the backup role (and dropped a lot of passes in the process), relegating Schoonmaker to the third guy at the position. (That does not include Ben Mason, who was more of a fullback.)

Now Eubanks (and Mason) have graduated, which should be good news for Schoonmaker. With All likely ascending to the starter’s role, that probably puts Schoonmaker in the #2 role. He has decent speed but has struggled a little as a blocker; however, he has gained 10 pounds since last season, squeezing those 10 pounds onto a shorter frame (fun fact: Schoonmaker was listed at 6’6″ in 2020 and is now 6’5″). Redshirt freshman Matt Hibner and true freshman Louis Hansen will both also be vying for snaps, but Schoonmaker is more experienced and has shown to be a quality backup.

Prediction: Backup tight end

2021 Season Countdown: #33 Andrew Vastardis

Name: Andrew Vastardis
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 296 lbs.
High school: Ashburn (VA) Stone Bridge
Position: Center
Class: Sixth year senior
Jersey number: #68
Last year: I ranked Vastardis #48 and said he would be a backup center (LINK).
TTB Rating: N/A

I pegged Vastardis as a backup going into the 2020 season, and I was proven wrong immediately when he started the first four games of the year. To top it off, he was voted a captain. Unfortunately for him, he tried playing through injury but eventually missed the final two games of the year. In the meantime, his performance was decent but nothing special. Vastardis is a hard-nosed player and respected by his teammates, but he’s neither big nor quick.

I’m not confident in this ranking, since it basically projects a starter, captain, and sixth year player to be a backup to a sophomore who has never played the position in a game, but word coming out of practice is that Zak Zinter will be the starting center. Of course, Vastardis’s presence already helped chase one guy (Zach Carpenter) off to Indiana, so maybe Zinter will be the next Zach(k) to get his position yoinked by the former walk-on. But either way, Vastardis is a good guy to have as a veteran presence, whether he’s a starter or backup.

Prediction: Backup center

2021 Season Countdown: #34 Trente Jones

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Name: Trente Jones
Height: 6’4″
Weight: 305 lbs.
High school: Loganville (GA) Grayson
Position: Offensive tackle
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #53
Last year: I ranked Jones #72 and said he would be a backup offensive tackle (LINK). He played in one game.
TTB Rating: 88

Jones seems to have been lost in the shuffle over the past years, so some may have forgotten that he was an Under Armour All-American and the #108 overall player in the country. After redshirting as a freshman and then playing in just one game last season, it’s understandable that he might have been forgotten. Scuttlebutt out of practice is that he and former offensive line coach Ed Warinner did not quite see eye to eye. While Warinner has proven to be a very good offensive line coach, sometimes people just don’t mesh.

According to that same scuttlebutt, Jones and new offensive line coach (former tight ends coach) Sherrone Moore get along much better. And it doesn’t hurt that a couple starting-caliber offensive linemen moved on in Zach Carpenter (transfer to Indiana) and Jalen Mayfield (drafted by the Falcons), the latter being more significant for Jones’s case. With the right tackle position open, it appears to be coming down to Jones and classmate Karsen Barnhart to see who will start. I’ll give the edge to Barnhart, who started four games at left tackle in 2020 when Ryan Hayes was injured. But injuries always happen, and Jones should be one of the first guys off the bench.

Prediction: Backup offensive tackle

2021 Season Countdown: #35 Julius Welschof

Name: Julius Welschof
Height: 6’6″
Weight: 286 lbs.
High school: Miesbach (Germany) FOS Altoetting
Position: Defensive tackle
Class: Redshirt junior
Jersey number: #96
Last year: I ranked Welschof #67 and said he would be a backup defensive tackle (LINK). He made 6 tackles and 0.5 sacks.
TTB Rating: 78

After redshirting in 2018 and playing in just one game in 2019, Welschof became a rotational player in 2020. An athletic big man, Michigan used him in pass rush situations, lining him up at defensive tackle and having him loop and stunt. When forced into action against the run, he did not perform well. I still have nightmares of him getting pushed around against Wisconsin.

There has been positive buzz about him this off-season. How much value should those rumors get? I don’t know. I do know that if I were putting together a 3-4 defense, I would really like having a 6’6″, 290-ish pound guy playing 4i. The biggest question is whether Welschof has improved at defeating run blocks (down blocks, combo blocks, etc.). If Shaun Nua has not improved those skills, then Welschof will probably remain a sub-package guy.

Prediction: Backup defensive tackle