Tag: Anthony Simpson

2025 Season Countdown: #46-50

50. DT Ike Iwunnah (RS Sr.): Iwunnah was a nice little success story in 2024. In a pretty rare career swing, he went from not playing at all in his first three years to being a pretty key rotation player in the defensive line as a redshirt junior. Michigan was very talented at defensive tackle last year but pretty thin outside of Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, and Rayshaun Benny. The great defensive lines over the past few years have had to play about five guys on the interior pretty regularly, and Iwunnah broke into that rotation, making 8 tackles and 1 tackle for loss. This season should see more of the same with Benny and Trey Pierce back, along with transfers Damon Payne (Alabama) and Tre Williams (Clemson). Last year’s rank: #83.

49. WR Anthony Simpson (RS Sr.): Simpson transferred in from UMass after starting his career at Arizona, playing two seasons at each stop. Altogether, he has a respectable 68 receptions for 910 yards and 3 touchdowns in his college career, but most of that (57 catches, 792 yards, all 3 TDs) came in 2023 for the Minutement. The 5’11”, 184-pounder could be a bit of a gadget guy and might provide some run-after-catch abilities. I don’t expect him to start, but there’s a possibility that he could play a similar role to what we saw from Semaj Morgan during the 2023 national championship season.

48. S Jacob Oden (So.): Oden earned his way onto special teams late in the season, playing in four games and preserving his redshirt. The 6’1″, 196-pounder could be a bit of an insurance policy in 2025, depending on the health of former starter Rod Moore, who missed all of 2024 with an injury. Michigan lost starter Makari Paige and heavy contributor Quinten Johnson, bumping up Oden, Brandyn Hillman, and Jaden Mangham, the last of whom transferred from Michigan State prior to last season. Oden will probably start seeing some time on defense this fall. Last year’s rank: #87.

47. OT Andrew Babalola (Fr.): Aside from quarterback – where freshman Bryce Underwood seems likely to starter over Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene – the left tackle battle is probably the most interesting one on the team. Babalola (5-star, #3 OT, #16 overall) is listed at 6’6″ and 300 lbs. on Michigan’s roster and could potentially be the starting left tackle by season’s end. But he’s contending with redshirt sophomore Andrew Link, who started at right tackle last season, and redshirt freshman Blake Frazier. Link appears to be the nominal starter going into fall, and Sam Webb thinks Frazier will win the job. Regardless, Babalola should get some playing time this fall and will probably be the front-runner to start in 2026.

46. S Mason Curtis (So.): Curtis is one of the most interesting players on the roster when it comes to figuring out how to rank him and how much he will play. He looked like a possible edge player as a recruit, then a linebacker, and then settled in somewhat at safety last season, playing in five games at safety and making 8 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and 1 interception. At 6’5″ and 200 lbs., he looks a little odd at safety but he could potentially be a “big nickel” this season if/when Michigan decides to deploy that look. Last year’s rank: #112.

2025 Spring Football Preview: Wide Receiver

RETURNING PLAYERS: Peyton O’Leary (RS Sr.), Joe Taylor (RS Sr.), Amorion Walker (Sr.), Logan Forbes (RS Jr.), Fredrick Moore (Jr.), Semaj Morgan (Jr.), Kendrick Bell (RS So.), Channing Goodwin (RS Fr.), I’Marion Stewart (RS Fr.)
NEWCOMERS: Donaven McCulley (RS Sr.), Anthony Simpson (RS Sr.), Andrew Marsh (Fr.), Jamar Browder (Fr.)
DEPARTURES: C.J. Charleston (graduation), Tyler Morris (transfer to Indiana)

OUTLOOK: Michigan’s receivers did not have a banner year in 2024. Part of it may be a chicken-or-egg situation with the poor quarterback play: no receiver was going to have a great year with Davis Warren and Alex Orji throwing the ball, and not many quarterbacks were going to have great passing numbers throwing to what Michigan put out there at receiver. Tight end Colston Loveland led Michigan’s team in receptions (56), yards (548), and touchdowns (5). By comparison, the leading wideouts in each category were Semaj Morgan (27 catches), Tyler Morris (248 yards), and Morris again (2 touchdowns).

Morris headed for the greener pastures of, uh, Bloomington, Indiana, this off-season, so it’s a pretty complete overhaul of the receiving group. Morgan is back, but he had a measly 139 yards and a paltry 5.2 yards per catch. That’s not an indictment of Morgan’s talent, but Michigan’s overall inability to push the ball downfield, set up screens appropriately, and generally call an offense. I have more faith in new offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey than the departed Kirk Campbell, so I expect Morgan to benefit significantly. But he has yet to prove that he can be a downfield threat.

The prize of Michigan’s transfer efforts at receiver is Indiana transfer Donaven McCulley, a 6’5″, 203 lb. possession guy who caught 48 passes for 644 yards and 6 touchdowns in 2023. While he doesn’t have a ton of downfield speed, he’s the type of big target with experience that Michigan lacked out wide in 2024. He can probably be penciled in as a starter this fall.

Other unknowns include the quick Fredrick Moore (11 catches, 148 yards, 1 TD in 2024), former walk-on and possession guy Peyton O’Leary (10 catches, 102 yards, 1 TD), former quarterback Kendrick Bell (7 catches, 70 yards), and reed-thin speedster Amorion Walker (3 catches, 34 yards). The most intriguing of those is Walker, who is 6’3″ and 182 lbs. Once penciled in as a starting cornerback by Jim Harbaugh – and briefly at Ole Miss in the spring of 2024 – he spent last year at receiver. If corners don’t get a hand on him, he can run real fast; if corners do get a hand on him, he can fall down real fast.

One of Lindsey’s tasks will be to figure out which veteran receiver can play a good-sized role in the offense and provide some help for some limited quarterbacks: QB Mikey Keene is limited by his stature, and QB Bryce Underwood is limited by his inexperience. But another task will be to figure out what roles can be played by freshman Andrew Marsh, incoming UMass transfer Anthony Simpson, and freshman Jamar Browder. Marsh comes in with some questions about his overall speed, but he reportedly finds a way to make things happen. Simpson is a bit of a screen and gadget guy, but he could be fun to watch. And Browder is a 6’3″ guy with some upside, but he’s probably somebody who needs to bake in the oven for at least a season.

Overall, Michigan has an array of pieces. While last season was similar at receiver to the 2023-2024 Michigan basketball team that got Juwan Howard fired because he couldn’t construct a roster, this year could be closer to the 2024-2025 Dusty May version of the basketball team: a well constructed squad probably lacking championship potential.

Anthony Simpson, Wolverine

UMass transfer portal wide receiver Anthony Simpson committed to Michigan on Sunday. He has one season of eligibility remaining.

Simpson is a 5’11”, 184-pounder. Last season he caught 3 passes for 16 yards while playing in just two games for the Minutemen before an injury ended his season. However, his career-best season was in 2023 when he caught 57 passes for 792 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Simpson was a 3-star, the #2 athlete, and the #5 overall prep school player coming out in 2021 after playing traditional high school ball at Pawling (NY) Bloomfield. He spent his first two years of college at Arizona playing for former Michigan assistant Jedd Fisch, who was the Wildcats head coach from 2021-2023. Simpson made just 8 catches for 102 yards while playing in eighteen games those first two years before transferring to UMass and playing for head coach Don Brown, who had been the defensive coordinator and Simpson’s recruiter when Brown was Arizona’s defensive coordinator.

Along with his receiving ability, Simpson has 14 carries for 108 yards and 1 touchdown throughout his career. He seems to be a bit of a screen and gadget guy, a little bit like current Michigan receiver Semaj Morgan. (I still think Morgan is capable of more based on his high school film, but Michigan has so far been unable to use him effectively as a downfield or intermediate receiver.) I think it’s good to have multiple guys on the roster who have that skill set in order to keep defenses off balance, provide competition, and account for the possibility of injury. But it will be interesting to see how they dole out opportunities.

Michigan has now added two transfer portal receivers: one a quick slot guy in Simpson and the other a 6’5″ outside guy in Indiana’s Donaven McCulley. Meanwhile, they lost Tyler Morris to Indiana.