Tag: Ex-Wolverines

Ex-Wolverine Updates: Post-2016 Recap

Kyle Bosch (#62, image via Scout)

Former OG Kyle Bosch: Bosch made 1 tackle this year, but more importantly, he started all 13 games at West Virginia and was named Second Team All-Big 12.

Former DE commit Pharaoh Brown: After missing all of 2015 while recovering from a nasty knee injury, Brown was Oregon’s starting tight end and made 33 catches for 426 yards (12.9 yards/catch) and 5 touchdowns. However, he got in some legal trouble and missed the final two games of the season. His college career is complete.

Former WR commit George Campbell: Campbell redshirted during his second year at Florida State due to injury. He will be a redshirt sophomore this coming fall.

Hit the jump for updates on many, many more former Wolverines.

read more

Jedd Fisch, Ex-Wolverine

Jedd Fisch

Michigan passing game coordinator Jedd Fisch, who had signed a 2-year extension for the 2016-2017 seasons, is headed to UCLA to be Jim Mora’s offensive coordinator. Fisch was hired by Jim Harbaugh after a two-year stint as the Jacksonville Jaguars offensive coordinator. Fisch worked with the receivers and quarterbacks and was involved with the play calling during his time in Ann Arbor.

Options to replace Fisch are varied, especially because Harbaugh has hired from outside of his sphere several times. He had no previous connections to Fisch, he didn’t know Don Brown before bringing him on board, and he had no real connections to Tyrone Wheatley or Mike Zordich, either. I’ll go through a few of the obvious names, though, since it’s hard to comb through the entire sport of football for possible replacements:

read more

David Dawson, Ex-Wolverine

David Dawson

Offensive guard David Dawson, who would be a fifth year senior at Michigan this fall, is seeking a graduate transfer elsewhere. He announced Monday via Twitter that he would be leaving.

Dawson attended Detroit (MI) Cass Tech, transferred to Texas for his junior year, and then returned to Cass Tech as a senior. He committed to Michigan in February 2012 as a part of the 2013 class, decommitted, and then later recommitted to the Wolverines. In fact, he broke Brady Hoke’s infamous “no visit” policy when he took a recruiting trip to Florida while committed to Michigan, so the coaching staff moved on without him. Eventually, fences were mended and he was “re-offered.”

I took a lot of flak for my thoughts on Dawson when he committed (LINK). You can see there that I was not fond of his abilities, and people were annoyed in the comments. My Twitter mentions weren’t a happy place, either. I gave him a TTB Rating of 71 (at the low end of being an eventual solid starter), and even that was generous. I didn’t see great bend in him, nor did I see a lot of nastiness in his play. Those things seemed to play out at Michigan, as well. He played in twelve career games without ever starting, and when he did play, he did not excel. He played in just three games as a backup in 2016, though an arm injury in the spring hampered him somewhat.

You’ll also see in the link above that I was afraid Michigan would fill up in the 2013 class without having room for the likes of Ethan Pocic. In fact, Pocic was turned away by Michigan and ended up signing with LSU. How did Pocic’s career go in Baton Rouge? He was First Team All-SEC in 2016, Second Team All-SEC in 2015, and started for his entire sophomore year after backup duty as a freshman. He’s considered to be one of the top couple center prospects in the 2017 draft. Imagine if Michigan had an all-conference center the past couple seasons to free up Mason Cole or Graham Glasgow to help at tackle or guard. Considering Michigan lost three games by a total of five points this season, it’s not inconceivable that it could have put Michigan in the playoff, if not at 12-0 in the regular season.

The loss of Dawson should not affect the team much in 2017. He was not expected to start, and he probably would not have been a key backup, either. He was obviously passed on the depth chart by the likes of freshman Ben Bredeson, classmate Patrick Kugler, sophomore Grant Newsome, redshirt sophomore Juwann Bushell-Beatty, and others. Next year’s starting interior could very well be Bredeson, center Mason Cole, and rising sophomore Michael Onwenu. With some highly rated recruits coming in and with some other promising young players, Dawson would have been battling just to be second string.

Michigan has 87 scholarship players scheduled for the fall of 2017 (LINK), so I expect some more departures. Quarterback Shane Morris and long snapper Scott Sypniewski have already begun seeking grad transfers, too.

read more

A.J. Dillon, Ex-Wolverine

Groton (MA) Lawrence Academy running back A.J. Dillon decommitted from Michigan on Thursday and flipped to Boston College. Here’s what I wrote about Dillon back in March when he committed (LINK).

As you can see, I was not in love with Dillon. He’s a back in the mold of De’Veon Smith, in my opinion, and while Smith has done some good things, he’s not a championship- or award-caliber back. Dillon ran a laser-timed 4.64 forty, but that speed didn’t necessarily show up on the field.

I wrote a piece on Michigan’s running back recruiting not long ago (LINK) in which I outlined some possible scenarios for the position leading up to the completion of the 2017 class. Basically, Michigan seems to have a shot with just a couple guys right now to fill out the class and/or replace Dillon. One is national #1 prospect Najee Harris from Antioch (CA) Antioch. The other is Wylie (TX) East back Eno Benjamin, who is currently projected to go to Texas. There are some positive vibes about Harris potentially flipping from Alabama to Michigan, and the Wolverines were recently put in the top six for Benjamin, a former Iowa commit.

The loss of Dillon isn’t particularly damaging from a talent standpoint, but it could signal an underwhelming haul at the running back position if Michigan can’t close with Harris or Benjamin. The Wolverines had three running back commits, but are now down to two. Dillon was the second-best runner, according to the 247 Composite rankings, and the top back, Los Lunas (NM) Los Lunas’s O’Maury Samuels, is trying to shore up his academic resume. If academics causes him to fall by the wayside, then Michigan might be left with their third-best option in Loganville (GA) Grayson’s Kurt Taylor. While Michigan got a solid crew in 2016 with Chris Evans, Kareem Walker, and Kingston Davis, it would be disappointing for Michigan to only be able to bring in the 59th-best running back in the country after a year in which they were in playoff discussion and finished the regular season ranked at #6.

read more

Shane Morris, Ex-Wolverine

Former Michigan insider Tom Van Haaren, who still concentrates a lot on the Wolverines, reported earlier tonight that redshirt junior quarterback Shane Morris will transfer (LINK). Since he would be entering his fifth year of college with an undergraduate degree, he could transfer into any grad program that Michigan does not offer.

Morris committed to Michigan in May of 2011, even though he was a 2013 prospect. He was a 247 Composite 4-star, the #3 pro-style quarterback, and #72 overall out of Warren (MI) De La Salle. He was invited to the Elite 11 and played in the Under Armour All-America Game. At the time he was viewed as Michigan’s savior at quarterback, since then coach Brady Hoke was a pro-style guy and Morris was a borderline 5-star prospect to some services. Ultimately, though, the lack of development from Morris may have contributed to Hoke’s ouster. As an injury replacement for Devin Gardner, he completed 29/47 passes for 261 yards, 0 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions as a freshman, including his best career performance in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl after Gardner broke his foot. In that game he was 24/38 for 193 yards, along with 4 carries for 43 yards in the loss. Things were downright terrible in 2014 when he was 14/40 for 128 yards, 0 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions; the concussion he suffered against Minnesota induced new protocols throughout college football, since he was left in the game after taking a shot to the head/neck area and stumbling around for a moment.

When Jim Harbaugh arrived in 2015, Morris was #2 on the depth chart to begin the season, even though the coaching staff was trying to preserve a redshirt year. That was presumably to help him secure a grad transfer later in his career. He sat behind Jake Rudock and was eventually passed by Wilton Speight for the backup gig, anyway. Going into the 2016 season, he was a solid #3 behind Speight and John O’Korn. Morris played in certain packages this past season, mostly handing off the ball or leading the way on some toss sweeps. He was 4/5 for 45 yards this season, along with 3 carries for 19 yards, while playing in just six games.

Morris’s departure was expected. Michigan has a returning starter in Speight and some quality quarterbacks coming in the pipeline. The fate of backup John O’Korn is up in the air, since he also appears to be behind Speight going forward, but there was going to be a logjam with upperclassman quarterbacks. This development won’t hurt Michigan on the field. It opens a door for a potential contributor to get a scholarship.

Transfers and grad transfers often like to go close to home, so I would be inclined to guess that Morris will end up at a MAC school to finish out his career. Along with some big-time offers, he was pursued by Bowling Green, Central Michigan, and Toledo in high school. I’m not familiar with the quarterback situations at each school, but with his college track record, I sincerely doubt he’s going to get a look from another Power Five school unless they’re extremely desperate.