Tag: AJ Williams

2014 Season Countdown: #45 A.J. Williams

A.J. Williams (#84) with Devin Funchess

Name: A.J. Williams

Height: 6’6″
Weight: 263 lbs.
High school: Cincinnati (OH) Sycamore
Position: Tight end
Class: Junior
Jersey number: #84
Last year: I ranked Williams #28 and said he would be the starting tight end with 2 catches for 20 yards. He started six games and caught 1 pass for 2 yards and 1 touchdown.

Williams couldn’t block a soul as a true freshman in 2012, and he improved exponentially by blocking a couple guys in 2013. The good news is that Doug Nussmeier is the new sheriff in town, and in my mind, that means he will fix every problem that Michigan ever had. The bad news is that, in my mind, that one hot chick from my senior year house party totally wanted to hook up with me.

More good news, though: A.J. Williams caught a touchdown pass!

More bad news: That was the only pass he caught since his junior year of high school.

The only other good news I have is that Chick-Fil-A is pretty tasty, especially when you remove the pickle from the sandwich.

Speaking of sandwiches, Williams has been eating less of them and is down to 263 lbs. after being 280+ as a freshman and 265 as a sophomore. Michigan will be without their main tight end in Jake Butt, so Williams will have to fill some kind of void until he returns. Even when Butt comes back, Williams will still find some playing time. This year there seems to be a challenge coming from redshirt junior Keith Heitzman, a position-switcher from defensive end. I’m dropping Williams quite a long way in this year’s countdown, not because he won’t play but because losing him to injury would likely not affect the team much. The combination of Heitzman and Butt should be able to do most of what Nussmeier wants, and anything the coaches can get from freshman Ian Bunting, redshirt freshman Khalid Hill, and some H-backs would be gravy.

Prediction: Backup tight end; 1 catch for 7 yards

An Average Season Under Doug Nussmeier

Devin Gardner has gone from catching touchdown passes against Alabama to likely throwing them for Alabama’s offensive coordinator.

Every team is different, but I wanted to take a stab at what kind of production we can expect from new offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier while he’s here in Ann Arbor. I looked at his last five years, which he spent with Washington (2009-2011) and then Alabama (2012-2013). I then averaged those seasons together to come up with a rough estimate of what types of numbers the Wolverines will put up. The player listed with the projection is my early guess at the depth chart for this upcoming fall.

Quarterback (Jake Locker, Keith Price, AJ McCarron):
230/395, 2800 yards, 21 touchdowns, 11 interceptions
184/332, 2265 yards, 17 touchdowns, 9 interceptions
242/362, 3063 yards, 33 touchdowns, 11 interceptions
211/314, 2933 yards, 30 touchdowns, 3 interceptions
226/336, 3063 yards, 28 touchdowns, 7 interceptions
——————————————————–
2014 Devin Gardner projection: 219/348, 62.9%, 2825 yards, 26 touchdowns, 8 interceptions
2013 Devin Gardner stats: 208/345, 60.3%, 2960 yards, 21 touchdowns, 11 interceptions

Running Back #1 (Chris Polk, Eddie Lacy, T.J. Yeldon):
226 carries, 1113 yards, 5 touchdowns
260 carries, 1415 yards, 9 touchdowns
293 carries, 1488 yards, 12 touchdowns
204 carries, 1322 yards, 17 touchdowns
207 carries, 1235 yards, 14 touchdowns
——————————————————–
2014 Derrick Green projection: 238 carries, 1315 yards, 11 touchdowns
2013 Fitzgerald Toussaint stats: 185 carries, 648 yards, 13 touchdowns

Running Back #2 (Demitrius Bronson, Jesse Callier, T.J. Yeldon, Kenyan Drake):
19 carries, 89 yards, 0 touchdowns
77 carries, 433 yards, 0 touchdowns
47 carries, 260 yards, 1 touchdown
175 carries, 1108 yards, 12 touchdowns
92 carries, 694 yards, 8 touchdowns
——————————————————–
2014 De’Veon Smith projection: 82 carries, 517 yards, 4 touchdowns
2013 Derrick Green stats: 83 carries, 270 yards, 2 touchdowns

Wide Receiver #1 (Jermaine Kearse, Amari Cooper):
50 catches, 866 yards, 8 touchdowns
63 catches, 1005 yards, 12 touchdowns
47 catches, 699 yards, 7 touchdowns
58 catches, 999 yards, 11 touchdowns
45 catches, 736 yards, 4 touchdowns
——————————————————–
2014 Devin Funchess projection: 53 catches, 861 yards, 8 touchdowns
2013 Jeremy Gallon stats: 89 catches, 1373 yards, 9 touchdowns

Wide Receiver #2 (Devin Aguilar, D’Andre Goodwin, Kevin Norwood):
42 catches, 593 yards, 5 touchdowns
44 catches, 530 yards, 4 touchdowns
41 catches, 611 yards, 6 touchdowns
29 catches, 469 yards, 4 touchdowns
38 catches, 568 yards, 7 touchdowns
——————————————————–
2014 Jehu Chesson projection: 39 catches, 554 yards, 5 touchdowns
2013 Devin Funchess stats: 49 catches, 748 yards, 6 touchdowns

Wide Receiver #3 (James Johnson, Devin Aguilar, Kasen Williams, Kenny Bell, DeAndrew White):
39 catches, 422 yards, 3 touchdowns
28 catches, 352 yards, 2 touchdowns
36 catches, 427 yards, 6 touchdowns
17 catches, 431 yards, 3 touchdowns
32 catches, 534 yards, 4 touchdowns
———————————————————-
2014 Amara Darboh projection: 30 catches, 433 yards, 4 touchdowns
2013 Jehu Chesson stats: 15 catches, 221 yards, 1 touchdown

Tight End #1 (Kavario Middleton, Marlion Barnett, Austin Sefarian-Jenkins, Michael Williams, O.J. Howard):
26 catches, 257 yards, 3 touchdowns
4 catches, 31 yards, 0 touchdowns
41 catches, 538 yards, 6 touchdowns
24 catches, 183 yards, 4 touchdowns
14 catches, 269 yards, 2 touchdowns
———————————————————-
2014 Jake Butt projection: 22 catches, 256 yards, 3 touchdowns
2013 Jake Butt stats: 17 catches, 235 yards, 2 touchdowns

Tight End #2 (Chris Izbicki, Michael Hartvigson, Kelly Johnson, Brian Vogler):
3 catches, 7 yards, 1 touchdown
2 catches, 16 yards, 1 touchdown
8 catches, 30 yards, 1 touchdown
5 catches, 39 yards, 0 touchdowns
8 catches, 71 yards, 1 touchdown
———————————————————–
2014 A.J. Williams projection: 5 catches, 33 yards, 1 touchdown
2013 A.J. Williams stats: 1 catch, 2 yards, 1 touchdown

Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl Preview: Receivers and Tight Ends

Tyler Lockett is the key to Kansas State’s passing game.

MICHIGAN
Starters: The diminutive fifth year senior Jeremy Gallon (5’8″, 184 lbs.) is the go-to guy, and he had an all-conference season with 80 catches, 1284 yards, and 9 touchdowns. He can be effective on just about any route – screens, hitches, square ins, fades, double moves, jump balls, etc. Aside from his lack of height (which he makes up for with his leaping ability and the timing of those leaps), he doesn’t have truly blazing speed, so he sometimes pulls away before getting tracked down in a foot race. The other starting wide receiver is sophomore Devin Funchess (6’5″, 235 lbs.), who made all-conference listed as a tight end but rarely plays it anymore; he has 47 catches for 727 yards and 6 scores. Funchess is Michigan’s bubble screen guy, leaps over tacklers sometimes, runs an occasional end around, and can beat teams deep. The de facto starting tight end is freshman Jake Butt (6’6″, 246 lbs.), who has come on late in the season to catch 17 balls for 203 yards and 2 touchdowns. Butt can do a little bit of everything between blocking, catching, and running.
Backups: Redshirt freshman Jehu Chesson (6’3″, 196 lbs.) started a little bit early in the year before Funchess’s blocking became too big of a problem at tight end, and while Chesson’s playing time has dropped a little bit, he’s actually improved his route running and ability to adjust to the ball in the air. He has 13 catches for 213 yards and 1 touchdown. Senior Drew Dileo (5’10”, 180 lbs.) is the only other significant receiving threat, but he’s a possession guy who usually works over the middle. Occasionally, senior Jeremy Jackson (6’3″, 209 lbs.) or redshirt senior Joe Reynolds (6’1″, 196 lbs.) will pop up for a catch, but they’ve totaled just 10 catches for 140 yards and 0 scores this year. Sophomore A.J. Williams (6’6″, 265 lbs.) and redshirt junior Jordan Paskorz (6’3″, 255 lbs.) are the “blocking” tight ends that struggle to block, and while they’ll be on the field a fair amount, they have just 1 total catch.

KANSAS STATE
Starters: The clear leader of the receiving corps is junior Tyler Lockett (5’11”, 175 lbs.), who has 71 catches for 1,146 yards and 8 touchdowns on the season. Lockett has made a lot of big catches for the Wildcats and can be a real threat to the secondary on deep routes. Fifth year senior Tramaine Thompson (5’8″, 167 lbs.) is also a big-play guy from the slot with 28 catches for 495 yards (17.7 yards/catch) and 5 touchdowns. Junior Curry Sexton (5’11”, 183 lbs.) is the other receiver in K-State’s three-wide attack, and he’s been more of a possession guy with 36 catches for 409 yards. Redshirt junior tight end Zach Trujillo is rarely targeted, but he has 5 catches for 111 yards and 1 touchdown.
Backups: Senior Torell Miller (6’3″, 213 lbs.) is a former safety who was expected to start this year in place of Sexton, but he’s been relegated to backup duty and 11 catches, 106 yards, and 1 touchdown. Redshirt sophomore Kyle Klein (6’4″, 210 lbs.) is a former defensive end who has 5 catches for 59 yards on the season. Fifth year senior Andre McDonald (6’8″, 278 lbs.) is a mammoth blocking tight end who has just 2 catches for 19 yards this season. It’s a very thin group of receivers.

THE TAKEAWAY
Michigan has two guys who can be consistent deep threats, and another who has the speed to do so. Gallon has been outstanding this year and was one of the top couple receivers in the conference, while Funchess is simply a matchup nightmare. The other guys aren’t very scary, but Chesson, Dileo, and Butt can all be good secondary targets and move the chains. Meanwhile, Kansas State has a guy who can blow up in the form of Lockett, plus a somewhat dangerous slot guy in Thompson. In a couple closely contested shootouts against Big 12 opponents, Lockett has gone over 230 yards (237 against Texas, 278 against Oklahoma), and he’s the guy that quarterbacks Jake Waters and Daniel Sams will look to if things get rough. If the Wildcats can move the ball consistently on the ground, they’ll settle for trying to win the game without putting the ball in the air too much. Tight ends have hurt Michigan in a few games this year (Minnesota’s Maxx Williams, Iowa’s C.J. Fiedorowicz, Ohio State’s Jeff Heuerman), but that shouldn’t be a persistent problem in this game. It’s a tall task to stop Lockett, but he’s the key to their passing game.

ADVANTAGE: Michigan

2013 Season Countdown: #28 A.J. Williams

A.J. Williams

Name: A.J. Williams
Height: 6’6″
Weight: 265 lbs.
High school: Cincinnati (OH) Sycamore
Position: Tight end
Class: Sophomore
Jersey number: #84
Last year: I ranked Williams #58 and said he would be a backup tight end. He played in all 13 games as a backup tight end.

Williams was an interesting case study last year, because he was going to be evidence – one way or another – about how Michigan’s coaching staff thought about tight ends. Do they want big tight ends or guys who know what they’re doing? Obviously, it would be nice to have both . . . but the coaches will settle for just being big. Williams hit campus around 280 lbs. and had very poor technique, but the staff ran him out there in every game. He kept getting his feet crossed up and struggled to hold at the point of attack. On top of that, he wasn’t a receiving threat. He didn’t catch a single pass, and the only time I remember him being targeted, Devin Gardner tried to hit him on a drag route across the middle, on which the Minnesota defender undercut the route and made a pick.

That previous paragraph makes Williams sound really bad, and that’s kind of accurate. But in all honesty, he should have been redshirting; however, Rich Rodriguez’s failure to consistently recruit the tight end position left Brady Hoke and company in a bad way. Last year Michigan suffered because of it. Now that Mike Kwiatkowski and Brandon Moore have graduated, Williams will presumably become the starting Y tight end. An extra year of watching himself on film and technique preparation should be very helpful; additionally, he has shed 15-20 lbs. of unnecessary weight and should be in better shape this year. While I don’t expect him to be a blocking master (or much of a receiving threat), he should be improved this season. And even if he’s not, there’s not much competition.

Prediction: Starting Y tight end; 2 receptions, 20 yards

2012 Season Countdown: #58 A.J. Williams

A.J. Williams

Name: A.J. Williams
Height: 6’6″
Weight: 265 lbs.
High school: Cincinnati (OH) Sycamore
Position: Tight end
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: #84
Last year: Williams was in high school. No stats are available.

Final TTB Rating: 69

Even though Michigan brought in two tight ends in the class of 2012, the coaches were looking for three.  Williams was an in-line blocker and used as an H-back for his Sycamore team, but it was a team that rarely passed, especially to the tight end.  So Brady Hoke also went after a more prototypical pass-catching tight end in the form of Devin Funchess.  As far as I know, Williams never touched the ball.  But he did have a ton of opportunities to refine his blocking skills for the run game, which should serve the 265-pounder well.

The graduation of starter Kevin Koger and key backup Steve Watson leaves a gaping hole at tight end, and it’s unclear whether fifth year senior Brandon Moore will be up to the task of filling it.  Al Borges likes to use multiple tight ends, although his willingness to run more of a spread offense for Denard Robinson means that the need at tight end might be alleviated a little bit this year.  Williams is likely to play a fair amount because of his size, but a walk-on like Mike Kwiatkowski might be just as efficient.

Prediction: Backup tight end