Tag: 2024 season countdown

2024 Season Countdown: #80 Henry Donohue

Name: Henry Donohue
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 209 lbs.
High school: Bronxville (NY) Bronxville
Position: Running back
Class: Redshirt junior
Jersey number: #49
Last year: I ranked Donohue #117 and said he would be a backup running back and special teamer (LINK). He had 1 carry for 3 yards.
TTB Rating: N/A

Donohue is a special teams player and running back who has earned carries for the past two seasons. Last year his lone carry came against UNLV, but he played special teams in five games overall. His role seems to be increasing some, and this year he added another seven pounds to his 5’11” frame. While he will never factor into the running back rotation – unless there’s a major spate of injuries – he might continue to see an increasing role on special teams units. This year will be tough to get on the field as a backup running back because the schedule is more difficult than in most recent years.

Prediction: Backup running back, special teamer

2024 Season Countdown: #81 Brooks Bahr

Name: Brooks Bahr
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 298 lbs.
High school: Lake Forest (IL) Loyola
Position: Defensive tackle
Class: Redshirt freshman
Jersey number: #51
Last year: I ranked Bahr #120 and said he would redshirt (LINK). He redshirted.
TTB Rating: 71

After being coached by former Illinois and NFL linebacker John Holecek in high school, Bahr was one of those tweener freshmen in 2023, the kind of player who comes in tall and somewhat thin (if 280 can be considered thin) and doesn’t really have a place. Does he lose weight and play defensive end? Or does he add weight to become a defensive tackle? Either direction was going to take some time, so Bahr redshirted.

Now it’s 2024, and we see which direction Michigan has Bahr going: defensive tackle-ward. He’s up to 298 pounds this season, which is defensive tackle-adjacent, but it’s probably not where he needs to be to get on the field. At 6’5″ that’s not a ton of bulk. Add in the technique work he needed coming out of high school, and he probably still needs another year in the oven before he’s really ready for prime time. Bahr might start getting some snaps in certain situations, but I don’t think we’re going to see him on the field much in 2024.

Prediction: Backup defensive tackle

2024 Season Countdown: #82 Channing Goodwin

Name: Channing Goodwin
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 185 lbs.
High school: Charlotte (NC) Providence Day
Position: Wide receiver
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: N/A
Last year: Goodwin was a senior in high school (LINK). He made 65 catches for 1,094 yards and 14 touchdowns.
TTB Rating: 72

Goodwin is a Michigan legacy who seemed like a pretty good bet all along to end up as a Wolverine. Of course, that’s not always the case, because I thought the same thing about tight end Will Mallory back in 2018 – among others over the years – and I was wrong. (Mallory committed to Miami and made 115 catches for 1,544 yards and 14 touchdowns before being taken by the Colts in the 5th round in 2023.) But Channing played alongside quarterback Jadyn Davis, and why not go to the same school where you might be able to maintain the chemistry you developed in high school? It has seemed to work for Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase as they moved from LSU to the Cincinnati Bengals.

Goodwin is not particularly big, nor is he particularly fast. Usually, it seems like you have to be one or the other to make a big impact as a freshman. While he may have been in line for more playing time prior to a couple transfers, the arrivals of C.J. Charleston (Youngstown State) and Amorion Walker (Ole Miss) to the receiving group make Goodwin a good redshirt candidate. I’m going to count on him being able to block since his dad was an NFL offensive lineman, so perhaps that will get him on the field early, but he probably won’t be a big factor in 2024.

Prediction: Redshirt

2024 Season Countdown: #83 Ike Iwunnah

Name: Ikechukwu Iwunnah
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 313 lbs.
High school: Garland (TX) Lakeview Centennial
Position: Defensive tackle
Class: Redshirt junior
Jersey number: #92
Last year: I ranked Iwunnah #79 and said he would be a backup nose tackle (LINK). He did not play in any games.
TTB Rating: 75

Michigan has been blessed the past few years by having some very good defensive tackles. The Wolverines have a couple potential first round picks in Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, so it makes sense that a backup defensive tackle would have a hard time cracking the rotation. Graham and Grant are guaranteed snaps, and then everyone else is just going to fill in the gaps.

But this type of thing with Iwunnah doesn’t happen very often: he’s a fourth-year 300-pounder who has never played in a game for Michigan. When he arrived from Texas, he was going to be a bit of a project, so not playing in year one was somewhat expected. Then you think that type of guy will get a few snaps in year two, but not in his case. But surely in year three? Not so surely.

So now we’re entering year four, and I don’t know what to make of Iwunnah. Kris Jenkins and Cam Goode are gone, and Rayshaun Benny is the only heavy-rotation player still left behind the aforementioned Graham and Grant. Roderick Pierce will certainly play a role at nose tackle, but Michigan went after some defensive tackles in the portal and they were unsuccessful. The Wolverines were even messing around with walk-on Joey Klunder and defensive end-turned-defensive tackle Enow Etta in the spring game. Iwunnah got some snaps this spring, too, but it looks like he might be one of those guys who doesn’t really play at Michigan and then transfers to a MAC school as a grad transfer, like Keith Heitzman or Wyatt Shallman or Tom Strobel. This season I wouldn’t be surprised if a player like freshman Deyvid Palepale immediately steps in and passes Iwunnah on the depth chart, because something obviously isn’t clicking.

Prediction: Backup defensive tackle

2024 Season Countdown: #84 Joel Metzger

Name: Joel Metzger
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 226 lbs.
High school: Battle Creek (MI) Lakeview
Position: Linebacker
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #54
Last year: I ranked Metzger #114 and said he would be a backup linebacker (LINK). He played in two games on special teams.
TTB Rating: N/A

Metzger redshirted in 2022 but had a pretty decent couple years for a redshirt freshman walk-on. Not only did he play in two games last year, but he was named Special Teams Scout Team Player of the Year in 2022. That seems to be a good upward trajectory for a young player, going from scout team player of the year to getting in two games. One would expect him to play even more in 2024. I still don’t think he’ll be a factor in the linebacker rotation, but he seems to be developing into a solid player. We’ll see if new special teams coach J.B. Brown thinks of him in the same way as the departed Jay Harbaugh.

Prediction: Backup linebacker, special teamer