Tag: 2023 season countdown

2023 Season Countdown: #128 Peter Simmons

Name: Peter Simmons III
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 291 lbs.
High school: Bonita Springs (FL) Bishop Verot
Position: Defensive tackle
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #75 #70
Last year: I ranked Simmons #120 and said he would be a backup offensive lineman (LINK). He did not play.
TTB Rating: N/A

Simmons is yet another walk-on whose burden was so heavy that he got one inch shorter from 2022 to 2023. Whoever’s measuring these walk-ons needs to be fired.

Anyway, in addition to getting smaller, Simmons has moved from offensive guard to defensive tackle this off-season. I do not expect that to have much effect on his playing time. He is still unlikely to get on the field unless it’s a huge blowout.

Prediction: Backup defensive tackle

2023 Season Countdown: #129 Trevor Andrews

Name: Trevor Andrews
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 224 lbs.
High school: Brentwood (TN) Ravenwood
Position: Linebacker
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #42 #57
Last year: I ranked Andrews #124 and said he would be a backup linebacker (LINK). He did not play.
TTB Rating: N/A

Andrews, a high school teammate of Junior Colson and Myles Pollard, enters his third year in the program. So far he has yet to see the field in a Michigan uniform. I’m not sure if 2023 will be much kinder to him, because he’s dropped down from 6’2″ to 6’1″ on the roster. But the former high school quarterback has transitioned to defense, so it was bound to take a little for him to adjust.

Prediction: Backup linebacker

2023 Season Countdown: #130 Aymeric Koumba

Name: Aymeric Koumba
Height: 6’6″
Weight: 230 lbs.
High school: Bordeaux (France) Lycee Alfred Kastler
Position: Defensive end
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: N/A
Last year: Koumba was the equivalent of a senior in high school (LINK).
TTB Rating: 73

Koumba is a transplant from France who was supposed to enroll early but now won’t arrive until summer. As a foreign player playing against subpar competition (by American standards), he was able to do a lot of things with his athleticism that he won’t be able to do immediately against FBS opponents. Even though a guy with 1st round talent in David Ojabo spent some time playing high school ball in New Jersey, he took two seasons of being a non-factor before exploding in 2021.

I would be surprised if Koumba makes an impact in 2023, and that surprise would have existed even if he had enrolled early. At roughly 6’6″ and 230 pounds, he has a long way to go before he will be a viable Big Tenn player.

Prediction: Redshirt

2023 Season Countdown: #131 Bryce Wilcox

Name: Bryce Wilcox
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 185 lbs.
High school: Sharpsburg (GA) Trinity Christian
Position: Safety
Class: Redshirt freshman
Jersey number: #38
Last year: I ranked Wilcox #116 and said he would redshirt (LINK). He redshirted.
TTB Rating: N/A

Wilcox is a talented athlete who was listed at 171 pounds coming out of high school, so his chances of getting on the field last season were very slim. I believe he also had some injury issues last season that kept him sidelined, so he redshirted as expected.

So here we are in 2023, and I don’t expect much to change, even though Wilcox is up to 185 lbs. He could potentially be a special teams player, but Michigan has pretty solid depth at the safety position.

Prediction: Backup safety, special teamer

2023 Season Countdown: #132 Damani Dent

Name: Damani Dent
Height: 5’11″
Weight: 196 lbs.
High school: Jacksonville (FL) Terry Parker
Position: Safety
Class: Redshirt freshman
Jersey number: #9
Last year: I ranked Dent #90 and said he would redshirt (LINK). He redshirted.
TTB Rating: 82

Dent was a member of the 2022 class who did not play at all in 2022. In fact, he left the team for a while due to some personal issues, and he was not on the roster for much of the season. So this is quite a precipitous drop, perhaps the biggest in the countdown’s history. Ranked even below many walk-ons, my concern here is that Dent spent a year away from football. That hurt his football conditioning so much, he even shrunk by an inch after being listed at 6’0″ last year!

I do still have high hopes for Dent, but losing out on a year of development when other talented classmates and position mates like Zeke Berry and Keon Sabb probably does not help him in the race to get on the field.

Prediction: Backup safety, special teamer