Tag: Brennen Beyer

2012 Season Countdown: #24 Brennen Beyer

Brennen Beyer

Name: Brennen Beyer
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 252 lbs.
High school: Canton (MI) Plymouth
Position: Defensive end
Class: Sophomore
Jersey number: #97
Last year: I ranked Beyer #81 and said he would redshirt. He played in eleven games and made 11 tackles.

As you can see, I somewhat underestimated Beyer’s chances of playing last year.  He was listed at 215 coming out of high school, but his mom (or someone who claimed to be here) came on and said that he was up to 235 by June 24th.  The official roster didn’t list him as being that large, but he was at least 225 by the time the season began and a gaping hole revealed itself at SAM linebacker once Cam Gordon suffered a back injury.  The drop-off from starter Jake Ryan to presumed third-stringer Jordan Paskorz was steep, so in stepped Beyer.  He performed adequately at times for a guy who played defensive end and tight end in high school, but he didn’t really have any signature plays and was mostly invisible when he was on the field.  By spring practices, Beyer had returned to his more natural position of weakside end, in hopes of taking over for former starter Craig Roh, who moved to strongside end.

Beyer appeared to have taken the lead in the competition for weakside end, even before presumed backup Frank Clark got into some trouble with the law.  Now Beyer’s starting position is all but certain because Clark has been suspended indefinitely and the only freshman weakside end is Mario Ojemudia, who is listed at 223 lbs. and is seriously undersized.  If Clark is unavailable for rotation purposes, we could see Ojemudia, SAM linebacker Jake Ryan play some weakside end, or another freshman like Tom Strobel who will eventually be a strongside end.  There are lots of contingency plans, but none are ideal.  Beyer should start this season and he’ll likely hold onto the job throughout the year.  I do expect Beyer to have a solid career at Michigan, but he may not break out until 2013, once he adds a little more weight and gets a full year of college-level defensive end fundamentals.

Prediction: Starting weakside end; 35 tackles, 7 tackles for loss, 3 sacks

Poll results: Who will be Michigan’s starting WDE against Alabama?

Rising sophomore defensive end Brennen Beyer (image via MGoBlog)

This question was asked prior to the spring game, but the last poll question was: Who will be Michigan’s starter at weakside end against Alabama?

Frank Clark: 62%
The 6’2″, 228 lb. sophomore played well in limited time last season, but at the end of spring practice, it seems he’s #2 on the depth chart.  He had 10 tackles, 1/2 a tackle for loss, and 1 interception.  He will surely compete into the fall, and barring an outstanding fall camp from a true freshman, the choice is going to come down to Clark or . . .

Brennen Beyer: 19%
Beyer, pictured above, got the start in last Saturday’s spring game.  He’s listed at 6’3″, 225 lbs. but he seems quite a bit bigger than last year.  Last season he had 11 tackles but seemed slightly miscast as the backup SAM linebacker.  Weakside end seems like a more natural position, but it’s a position change nonetheless.

Jake Ryan: 14%
Redshirt sophomore Jake Ryan, who is 6’3″ and 230 lbs., started at SAM linebacker in 2011.  He proved to be a playmaker by making 37 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, 1 forced fumble, and 2 fumble recoveries.  He started at SAM once again in the spring game.  Some people are clamoring for him to play defensive end in an effort to get backup SAM Cameron Gordon on the field at the same time, but since Ryan and Gordon are literally the only two strongside linebackers on the roster, that seems unlikely.

Mario Ojemudia: 1% (tie)
Incoming freshman Ojemudia is the only one of the four freshman defensive ends who seems to be slotted for weakside end.  The other three ends seem destined for strongside end or even defensive tackle.  He played defensive tackle at Farmington Hills Harrison and struggled a little bit playing defensive end in the Semper Fi All American Bowl, so I think he’s a long shot to be an immediate starter at the position.

Other: 1% (tie)
I don’t know who else would have earned a vote.  The only other possibility would seem to be incoming freshman Tom Strobel, who might be a weakside end right now but looks like he’ll eventually develop into a strongside end.

2012 Spring Game Review – Defense

Senior WILL Brandin Hawthorne was Saturday’s defensive MVP

DEFENSIVE ENDS
I thought Craig Roh looked pretty darn good at strongside end.  The starter at weakside end was Brennen Beyer, who looks significantly bigger this spring than he did in the fall.  He looked like a bona fide weakside end instead of a lanky outside linebacker.  Beyer got a good pass rush a couple times.  Meanwhile, backup weakside end Frank Clark performed solidly and made a nice hit on fullback Joey Kerridge, whom Clark chased down out of the backfield.  I also thought backup strongside end Keith Heitzman looked pretty solid.  Based on how Nathan Brink looked last year, I’m going to posit that Heitzman passes up Brink this fall.  (Brink sat out the spring game, still recovering from his broken leg.)

DEFENSIVE TACKLES
William Campbell looked alternately solid and inconsequential.  He had one or two good  plays but he just didn’t seem to be going hard all the time.  He should have destroyed walk-on guard Joey Burzynski (or so I would think) but instead got stalemated too often.  Maybe the coaches are teaching him differently than I would expect, but it all seemed to start with his stance, which needs work from my perspective.  Jibreel Black looks like a matchup nightmare for a lot of offensive guards, because he’s too quick to handle with any consistency.  He looks bigger than last year (although the neck roll might have had something to do with that).  It also seems that Richard Ash has taken a step forward, and I was surprised by how big backup 3-tech Chris Rock has become.  I saw glimmers of hope there for some competent rotation players.  Quinton Washington and Ken Wilkins still didn’t impress me.

LINEBACKERS
I didn’t pay much attention to Jake Ryan because we already know he’s a good player.  Kenny Demens looked solid but unspectacular at MIKE.  Desmond Morgan left the scrimmage early after getting chopped down on a blitz; he limped to the sideline and was later carted into the tunnel.  Hopefully it was nothing serious.  Cam Gordon was Ryan’s backup at SAM, and he’s definitely put on some weight since last year.  Now he looks like a linebacker rather than a strong safety.  I don’t think he’ll surpass Ryan, but he’s a very good backup.  It will be interesting to see what the coaches do with him in 2013 as a senior, because by that time, I don’t think they’ll be able to afford to keep him off the field.  Mike Jones and Joe Bolden played as backup middle linebackers, but neither one was particularly visible.  I saw a couple loafs out of Antonio Poole, which does not bode well for his immediate future.  Kaleb Ringer looked like he was in great shape and he made a nice tackle on Justice Hayes, but both of those guys seem to be a ways down on the depth chart.  The linebacker who impressed me most on the day was Brandin Hawthorne, who made a couple nice tackles for loss and grabbed a one-handed pick, albeit off walk-on Jack Kennedy, who floated the ball across the middle.  Hawthorne looked good at times last year, too, but he’s another guy who loafs once in a while, and that seemed to get him in the dighouse.  The linebackers now have depth, which we haven’t been able to say for several years.  I truly believe that Michigan has five starter-level linebackers: Ryan, Gordon, Demens, Morgan, and Hawthorne.

CORNERBACKS
J.T. Floyd started over Terrence Talbott, despite reports that Talbott had overtaken Floyd.  That was somewhat expected.  Floyd looked solid but was never tested deep.  Blake Countess made a nice pick on a late Devin Gardner throw and also made a couple nice tackles.  The backup cornerbacks did not impress me, although I don’t remember seeing much out of Talbott.  Maybe he’s the third guy and we’ll be fine, but I don’t think Raymon Taylor and Delonte Hollowell are ready.  We know Courtney Avery is pretty solid at the nickel corner, and although he pulled up on a tackle, it seemed like he was trying not to submarine the leaping receiver; if it were a game, I would be disappointed by that play, but I think he was just trying not to hurt his teammate.

SAFETIES
The starting safeties weren’t really tested in the running or the passing game.  Jordan Kovacs should be good and practice reports suggest that Thomas Gordon has improved once again, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see on him.  Backup free safety Jarrod Wilson needs to get stronger.  He did miss a tackle on Thomas Rawls that turned into a touchdown, but Wilson should be struggling through senioritis and ordering his prom tux right now.  Tackling 220 lb. running backs is a tough task for a safety so young.  Marvin Robinson looked solid as the backup strong safety and made a nice tackle for little or no gain in the run game.  As long as Robinson’s legal troubles are behind him, I expect him to improve and be a good in-the-box safety.  He should be a good replacement for Kovacs after the latter graduates.

Position Changes: Beyer, Roh, Black, and Paskorz

Brennen Beyer is headed to new position, along with a few other Wolverines (image via AnnArbor.com)

Last week I reported that sophomore Brennen Beyer (SAM to WDE), senior Craig Roh (WDE to SDE), junior Jibreel Black (WDE to 3-tech), and redshirt sophomore Jordan Paskorz (SAM to TE) would be changing positions this spring.

Here are my summative thoughts on these things:

Beyer has always looked to me more like a defensive end than an outside linebacker.  When I found out last fall that he and Frank Clark (who had flipped from outside linebacker to defensive end) had exchanged positions, it seemed strange to me that Beyer would move away from the defensive line.  Although the SAM linebacker in this defense is mostly a pass rusher, he still has some coverage responsibilities.  Beyer has always reminded me of Craig Roh, and while Roh was fairly lithe as a 235-240 lb. freshman, he’s lost some of that agility with added weight.  I’m not suggesting that Beyer will eventually be a strongside end, too, but he seemed out of place at linebacker.  And despite the fact that he ascended to Jake Ryan’s primary backup at SAM, that was at least partly because Cam Gordon suffered through a back injury for much of the season.

Beyer will be fighting with sophomore Frank Clark for the starting weakside end position.  Clark ended the 2011 season on a high note with some stellar play in the Sugar Bowl.  That end position has, of course, been vacated by Roh.  When he was younger, I assumed that Roh would settle in around 255 lbs. or so and remain at weakside end.  However, the coaches wanted him up around 270 lbs. this past season, and he just can’t maintain his old speed at that weight.  With the graduation of Ryan Van Bergen, the strongside end position needed an influx of talent (and I have yet to join the Nathan Brink bandwagon).  Roh will be the likely starter at SDE with guys like redshirt freshman Keith Heitzman and redshirt sophomore Brink battling there, too.

As for the move of Black to 3-tech defensive tackle, I will say that I’ve been slightly underwhelmed by his play so far.  He should have been redshirted as a freshman in 2010 so he could add bulk, but unfortunately he was needed immediately.  Now he’s entering his junior year when he should be just a redshirt sophomore.  Black made a couple solid plays (most notably against Ohio State) from the weakside end position, but he’s a liability in open space.  The SDE and 3-tech positions are somewhat interchangeable, and since Roh will presumably be starting at SDE, then it makes sense that the shorter, more powerfully built Black will likely be settling in at 3-tech.  Not only does this make room for Clark, Beyer, and freshmen to contribute at weakside end, but it also provides competition at defensive tackle, where Michigan is somewhat undermanned.

The move of Paskorz to tight end is probably the least controversial of the changes.  Paskorz played tight end in high school, and he was buried on the depth chart at outside linebacker.  Steve Watson proved to us that mediocre athletes can get on the field as a second or third tight end and make an impact, so there’s a very good chance that he’ll see the field in the fall.  Will he ever be a starter quality tight end?  My guess is no, but at least he provides depth.

Overall, I think these moves will serve the team well.  And with Michigan’s lack of depth and experience along the defensive line, several of these moves are almost out of necessity.  This is simply the natural evolution of a college football team.

MGoBlog: Clinic Items – Greg Mattison

Greg Mattison is awesome.

Brian at MGoBlog attended a clinic at which Greg Mattison spoke.  First of all, I’m jealous.  Secondly, though, I loved every bit of Brian’s post.  You should go there (if you haven’t already) and read it in its entirety, but here I just want to a bit of a point-by-point analysis of what Brian shared.

“Occasionally it felt like it was a college class as Mattison asked the room what player X would be doing in a particular situation.”  In my experience, the best speakers are the ones who keep the audience involved.  This isn’t news to anyone who does frequent public speaking or is involved in education.  If you’re just speaking at people, they often lose interest fairly quickly.

“As I wrestled with how to handle this various coaches in the room told every-damn-body that Mattison said Brennen Beyer was moving to WDE and Craig Roh to SDE. This was explicitly stated.”  This is confirmation of my post from the other day.  Not that I’m a genius – the info was e-mailed to me – but there were some questions about the validity of my info.  I try not to post information I’m not confident in, so I like when my info is confirmed by multiple sources.

“Mattison took the opportunity to point out that this was an example of the corners not coming hard enough and gush over Floyd (“I love this kid”) in general and specifically as an exemplar of the Michigan philosophy.”  I think my criticisms of J.T. Floyd often get misconstrued as hating on a kid or holding a grudge.  I’ve never questioned Floyd’s hustle or attitude.  What I’ve questioned is his overall athletic ability, and I think Brian’s comment here somewhat confirms my criticisms.  Floyd hustles and indeed makes a nice play by chasing down Braxton Miller, but one of the issues here is that Floyd helped allow a giant run in the first place, which is acknowledged by Mattison.

“Here he also noted that everyone hits the sled every day and that this was not something the previous coaching staff did frequently, if ever. This is where the bit about “I’ve never seen such awful technique” came in. Pretty much the only thing negative Mattison said was about the state of the team he was handed.”  The sled is such a useful tool in coaching football.  I know we saw clips of Rodriguez’s teams hitting the sled, and I doubt they just did that for the camera.  I think Mattison might be underestimating how often Michigan hit the sled, but still it might be a significant improvement.  Whether it’s a blocking sled, a tackling sled, a five-man sled, a two-man sled, whatever, they’re the best simulation for live play.  And there’s only so much man-on-man hitting you can do before people start getting injured.

“Inside linebackers. The usual: the mike has to be a little bigger, a little stronger, and the will has to be able to adjust to coverage outside of the box. An important difference between the two is the WLB has to be able to run vertically down the seam whereas the MLB can pass his guy off; IIRC this year the guy running down the seam was Demens, not Morgan. Adjustment based on Demens’s surprising ability to stick with guys downfield?”  The MIKE and the WILL are interchangeable, especially with a guy like Desmond Morgan, who is essentially a MIKE (albeit young and small-ish) playing because of a void at the position.  I think Demens was often dropping into coverage because offenses flipped the formation’s strength.  The inside linebackers don’t flip with a change of strength, so then the MIKE becomes the WILL and vice versa.

“Corners. “Corners are corners” but the field corner (Countess) is not involved with “heavy work” and usually just has to clean up plays that have been strung out. The boundary corner (Floyd) has to be a bigger guy better in run support. It’s a seven man front; if you go eight you’d “better have a war daddy” at field corner because he’s got to cover an outside receiver with little additional help.”  This is where the loss of Anthony Standifer hurts.  I really think Standifer, who was committed to Michigan for several months, could have developed into a good run supporter and boundary corner.  Richardson is a lot like Blake Countess, so now Michigan has two young field corners (three if you include Courtney Avery) and one senior boundary corner (Floyd).  I think that’s why you’re seeing so many big corners getting offered in the class of 2013.  Michigan needs run supporting corners right NOW.  It might also be why incoming free safety Jarrod Wilson might get a shot to play cornerback.

“Brennen Beyer. Beyer was talked up like a future star. Reportedly up to 250 pounds and will be given an opportunity to win the WDE job in the spring.”  This sounds like a good plan to me, because Beyer seemed a little out of place at SAM.

“Departing DL. Heininger “really became a football player.” Seems like they think they’ll miss him. Van Bergen “really, really played” for M and Martin was of course the best player on the team.”  I agree that Martin was the best player on the team.  Yes, better than Denard Robinson.  Heininger is replaceable, and Van Bergen’s loss will be mitigated somewhat by the move of Craig Roh to strongside end.  This isn’t news, but the biggest loss here is Mike Martin.  As much as I like most of the defense, the loss of such a big-time nose tackle is going to hurt.  Even when Martin wasn’t making plays, he was causing the offense to scheme around him or he was making running backs redirect in the backfield.  Teams often improve in the second year of a system, but that might be difficult unless William Campbell and/or Ondre Pipkins has a breakout season.