Name: Joshua Metellus
Height:
6’0″
Weight: 204 lbs.
High school: Pembroke Pines (FL) Flanagan
Position: Safety
Class: Sophomore
Jersey number: #13
Last year: I ranked Metellus #71 and said he would redshirt
. He started one game and made 15 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 1 sack, and 1 blocked extra point return for a 2-point conversion.
TTB Rating:
71
Metellus may have been the biggest surprise of the 2016 class. Lightly recruited and generally ignored by the recruiting services until he became a Michigan commit, many people saw Metellus as a throw-in offer with high school teammate Devin Bush, Jr. ESPN thought highly of him, but that was about it. He wasn’t much of a factor until the Rutgers game, when he led the team in tackles with 6. At the time it didn’t seem like a huge deal, since Michigan crushed the Scarlet Knights by a score of 78-0 and Metellus did all his work when the game was well in hand. He wasn’t a major factor again until Jabrill Peppers pulled his hamstring prior to the bowl game. Suddenly, Michigan didn’t have its superstar Heisman candidate at Viper, and Metellus stepped in. He made another 6 tackles and returned a blocked extra point for a 2-point conversion – something Peppers had done against MSU earlier in the year – but there were still some glitches in his game.
This spring the coaching staff moved Metellus back to safety, since Khaleke Hudson locked down the Viper position. It’s a good thing, too, because Michigan needs safeties. Both starters (Dymonte Thomas, Delano Hill) graduated, and Peppers is gone, too. In effect, Michigan lost its top three safeties and top three cornerbacks to the NFL. Now it’s up to Metellus and junior Tyree Kinnel to hold down the back end, with freshmen and redshirt sophomore walk-on Jordan Glasgow as backups. I have a thought to put Metellus higher because of the dearth of options, but to be honest, we still don’t know what we have with Metellus. He struggled a bit against FSU at Viper, and now he’ll be in even more space at strong safety. I think Don Brown and Brian Smith will have those guys ready to go, but I can’t convince myself to move up Metellus.
Prediction: Starting strong safety; 50 tackles, 1 interception
