Offensive Line Preview: Michigan vs. South Carolina

Tag: Elliott Mealer

27Dec 2012
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Offensive Line Preview: Michigan vs. South Carolina

Taylor Lewan will be the best lineman in the Outback Bowl

MICHIGAN
Starters: From left to right, the Wolverines start redshirt junior Taylor Lewan (6’8″, 309 lbs.), fifth year senior Ricky Barnum (6’3″, 296 lbs.), fifth year senior Elliott Mealer (6’5″, 308 lbs.), fifth year senior Patrick Omameh (6’4″, 305 lbs.), and redshirt junior Michael Schofield (6’7″, 300 lbs.).  Omameh has started 41 games, Lewan has 27 starts, Schofield has 22, Barnum has 15, and Mealer has 12.  Altogether, they have 117 starts among them and average a shade over 6’5″ and 303.6 lbs.  The Wolverines are #25 in the country in sacks allowed (1.25 per game) and have the #40 rushing offense (187 yards/game).
Backups: The Wolverines are very thin on the offensive line, but they’ve tried to preserve the redshirts of some highly touted freshmen.  Other than redshirt freshman center Jack Miller (6’4″, 288 lbs.), the rest of the subs have been walk-ons.  Redshirt sophomore guard Joey Burzynski (6’1″, 295 lbs.) has made the biggest push for playing time of the entire backup crew; redshirt sophomore Erik Gunderson (6’8″, 303 lbs.) and redshirt junior Kristian Mateus (6’7″, 309 lbs.) have both played in blowouts, but both would be severely overmatched against the Gamecocks.

SOUTH CAROLINA
Starters: Michigan recruited redshirt freshman right tackle Brandon Shell (6’6″, 331 lbs.) and redshirt sophomore left guard A.J. Cann (6’4″, 309 lbs.) coming out of high school.  The line is completed with redshirt sophomore left tackle Corey Robinson (6’8″, 337 lbs.), fifth year senior center T.J. Johnson (6’6″, 319 lbs.), and junior right guard Ronald Patrick (6’2″, 305 lbs.).  Johnson has started 52 games in his career, Cann has 25, Patrick has 12, Shell has 9, and Robinson has 8.  Altogether, the squad has 106 starts under their belts, but the tackles have less than a season of experience, and Robinson was a defensive tackle prior to this year.  They average a bit over 6’5″ and 320.2 pounds.  The Gamecocks are #105 in the country in sacks allowed (2.92 per game) and have the #84 rushing offense (143 yards/game).
Backups: Redshirt sophomore offensive tackle Cody Gibson (6’7″, 278 lbs.) started a couple games early in the season.  The other backups haven’t been used much, including senior offensive guard Kaleb Broome (6’6″, 332 lbs.), redshirt junior center Travis Ford (6’3″, 278 lbs.), and redshirt freshman offensive guard Will Sport (6’5″, 291 lbs.).

THE TAKEAWAY
Having watched Michigan’s offensive line struggle to create a push all year long, it’s a little tough to believe, but the Wolverines have the edge here.  Despite being outweighed by an average of almost 17 pounds, Michigan gains more yards on the ground and allows fewer sacks.  They also average a couple more starts each.  Individually, the only South Carolina offensive lineman to garner consideration for All-SEC is Johnson (Second Team), whereas Michigan’s Lewan is an All-American and Omameh was selected by the coaches as First Team All-Big Ten.  Except for heft, Michigan is ahead everywhere.
Advantage: Michigan

9Sep 2012
Uncategorized 15 comments

Michigan 31, Air Force 25

Denard Robinson rushed for 218 yards and threw for 208, accounting for 4 touchdowns
(image via Sporting News)

The officials were terrible. Terrible. Air Force’s first touchdown should have been called back for illegal procedure.  Quarterback Connor Dietz tossed to A-back Cody Getz, who beat everyone to the edge.  In the meantime, the wing started moving forward  prior to the snap like he was in the CFL and chopped down safety Jordan Kovacs, who was responsible for the pitch.  Without that forward momentum, Kovacs – Michigan’s best open-field tackler – very well could have stopped Getz before the goal line.  Later in the game, Air Force converted on a key third down when both the quarterback and the running back – who were in a shotgun formation – started moving to their right before the ball was snapped . . . and a slot receiver was already in motion.  So three  guys were moving prior to the snap, and the play was allowed to stand.  Those were obvious, blatant non-calls and each one could have had a significant impact on the outcome of the game.

Devin Funchess is the new Junior Hemingway. The freshman tight end is listed at 6’5″, 229 lbs.  I expected him to look skinnier than he does, but he’s fairly solid looking and showed an ability to stretch the field a little bit.  He caught a 29-yard wheel route and a leaping 30-yard touchdown, totaling 4 receptions for 106 yards and that TD.  Jump balls aren’t going to work with most receivers on the roster, but this guy could be Denard Robinson’s savior.

These are not the droids you’re looking for.  Forget what you saw the defense do yesterday.  Yes, it was ugly.  Michigan allowed 290 yards rushing and 127 yards passing, but Michigan won’t see another triple option offense this year unless they meet Air Force or Georgia Tech in a bowl game.  The defensive line won’t see cut blocking like this, the outside linebackers and safeties won’t have to be as disciplined, etc.  I know yesterday was frustrating and too close for comfort, but it’s also mostly irrelevant to the rest of our opponents.

The cornerbacks are scaring me. Raymon Taylor was very, very weak in run support.  I’m not a huge fan of J.T. Floyd in run support, either, but Taylor looks to avoid contact with blockers whenever possible, and that’s a bit scary.  Now I’m going to go back to forgetting what the defense did.

The offensive line has taken a step backward.  The absence of David Molk is noticeable, and I still wonder whether it was a good idea to let Rocko Khoury walk instead of getting a fifth year.  Starting center Elliott Mealer’s snaps have been good, but he’s much slower than Molk.  Meanwhile, Michael Schofield looked much better at left guard last year than he does at right tackle.  The offseason was rife with talk about how Schofield looked so great at right tackle, but I’m just not seeing it.  Some people mentioned how Fitzgerald Toussaint looked rusty, but it wasn’t Toussaint – it was the offensive line allowing so much penetration.  He had nowhere to run at all.

Dennis Norfleet wants to eat.  When Norfleet jumped in front of Drew Dileo to steal a kickoff return, I sort of felt bad for Dileo.  Dileo’s body language indicated he wasn’t too happy about it, either.  Norfleet got hit after a short return, but then he bounced off and turned in a nice play.  He had 3 returns for 77 yards yesterday, an average of 25.7 per return.  The kid is going to be exciting to watch for the next few years.

BREAKOUT PLAYER JERALD ROBINSON! He had 1 reception for 10 yards.  Departing seniors have been calling for him to explode for the last two seasons, and now he has 1 career catch.

The linebackers will be awesome for years to come.  Jake Ryan had 11 tackles, including a nice tackle on the second-to-last play, and a leaping pass breakup on Air Force’s final pass attempt.  Overall, he had an excellent day.  Sophomore Desmond Morgan made some nice plays at times, freshman Joe Bolden made 10 tackles, and freshman James Ross made a couple nice plays.

Denard Robinson continues to destroy mediocre defenses.  It was a blast watching Denard Robinson yesterday as he demolished the Falcons’ defense, but it wasn’t unexpected.  This is what he does to so-so defenses (see Bowling Green, UConn, UMass, Indiana, Eastern Michigan, etc.) and occasionally to good defenses (see Ohio State circa 2011).  A guy who’s faster than Usain Bolt (not really) ought to run away from a bunch of Air Force Academy cadets, and Robinson looked fairly comfortable in the pocket.  If Michigan continues to struggle blocking for the running backs, Robinson is going to need to replicate this performance many, many times this year.

Hail to the Air Force Academy.  I’m sort of glad that Air Force put up a good fight.  My father and grandfather are veterans, another close family member graduated from the Academy, and I have a strong appreciation for those in the military.  They don’t deserve to be embarrassed anywhere, including on the football field.  They should be proud of the way they played on Saturday.