Tag: Kevin Koger

2011 Countdown: #6 Kevin Koger

Kevin Koger (#86)

Name: Kevin Koger
Height: 6’4″
Weight: 258 lbs.
High school: Whitmer High School in Toledo, OH
Position: Tight end
Class: Senior
Jersey number: #86
Last year: I ranked Koger #20 and said he would have 18 receptions for 250 yards and 4 touchdowns.  He caught 14 passes for 199 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Koger is that rare (soon to be) four-year starter at tight end.  Having been recruited by Lloyd Carr, he probably expected to be utilized like a Michigan tight end of old, grab 25-30 passes as an upperclassman, and move on to a journeyman NFL career.  Instead, he averaged 12 receptions and about 170 yards a season under Rich Rodriguez.  There was all kinds of scuttlebutt in the Rodriguez years that his coaching staff visited Oklahoma and got some tips on how to utilize the tight end in the spread offense, but the bottom line was that Rodriguez never used the tight end much at West Virginia and didn’t see a need to do it at Michigan, either.  So Koger was underused and became a glorified walk-on fullback, albeit one who can make maddeningly athletic catches before disappearing for long stretches and/or dropping a couple passes in between.

Now Koger enters his senior season with a coaching staff that seems to appreciate the tight end a little bit more.  Rumors out of August practices even indicate that Koger could end up being the player the offense targets most, that he might go from an afterthought to a primary target.  I have a hard time imagining such a drastic change for a player who has been exciting, frustrating, and underused so far in his career, but it’s very probable that we see an uptick in Koger’s production in his final year.  The Borges/Hoke offense at San Diego State last season had a freshman tight end, Gavin Escobar, who finished the season with 29 receptions for 323 yards and 4 touchdowns.  Considering that Escobar was 6’6″, 230 lbs., and a true freshman, I have to think that Koger will squeeze some better numbers out of Michigan’s offense.  He ought to be the beneficiary of some waggles and bootlegs, not to mention a downfield threat on some quarterback play action much like (a slower) Roy Roundtree circa 2010.

Prediction: Starting tight end; 35 receptions, 420 yards, 5 touchdowns

Poll results: You people finally guessed correctly – Koger got 73% of the votes for the #6 slot, while Taylor Lewan got 16%.

Countdown to Kickoff: Day 10

Poll Results: Who will be Michigan’s top draft pick in 2012?

Mike Martin eats Vincent Smith a midget

DT Mike Martin: 79%
C David Molk: 7%
QB Denard Robinson: 2%
WR Junior Hemingway: 2%
TE Kevin Koger/WR Roy Roundtree (tie): 1%
OG Patrick Omameh: 1%
LB Kenny Demens: 0%
CB Troy Woolfolk: 0%
WR Darryl Stonum: 0%
DE Ryan Van Bergen: 0%
Other: 0%

In a landslide victory for exactly whom I expected to win this poll, senior Mike Martin pulled in nearly 4 out of 5 votes.  Martin is a 6’2″, 304 lb. nose tackle with surprising quickness.  He might be undersized for playing nose tackle at the next level, which means he’ll likely have to be drafted by a 4-3 team with a need for a 3-tech defensive tackle.  In fact, Martin should probably be playing 3-tech in college, except Michigan has no other viable options at the nose tackle position.  For his career he has 108 tackles, 19 tackles for loss, and 6.5 sacks.

Fifth year senior David Molk took second place comfortably.  Molk is a 6’2″, 286 lb. center who will be entering his fourth season as a starter.  Despite being slightly undersized to be an extremely valuable commodity at the next level, he has consistently been mentioned as the strongest player on the team and was a first team All-Big Ten selection in 2010.  Molk has the quickness, leverage, and intelligence to do well at the college level, but he’ll likely have to add bulk in order to have a chance in the NFL.

Junior quarterback Denard Robinson barely beat out wide receiver Junior Hemingway for the third spot.  Robinson is a 6’0″, 195 lb. quarterback who set the NCAA record last year for the most rushing yards in a season by a QB.  He has struggled as a passer at times and with his lack of height, he could very well have to change positions to play at the next level.  I doubt he will leave early for the NFL when his future position is such a huge question mark.  Last season Robinson threw for 2,570 yards, 18 touchdowns, and 11 touchdowns.  He also had 1.702 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns on the ground.

Hemingway is a 6’1″, 222 lb. fifth year senior wide receiver.  Due to injuries and illness, he has never played a full season of football.  However, last year was his best statistical season when he grabbed 32 passes for 593 yards (18.5 yards per catch) and 4 touchdowns.  Hemingway has demonstrated good hands and leaping ability, and with his strength, he can often outmuscle cornerbacks for the ball.  He has only mediocre speed, though, and his production thus far has been mediocre.

Senior tight end Kevin Koger and redshirt junior wide receiver Roy Roundtree tied for the fifth spot.  Koger is a 6’4″, 258-pounder with excellent athleticism who has been underused for the past few seasons in Rich Rodriguez’s offense.  He has dropped some passes at times, but he has the speed, leaping ability, and size to be a huge mismatch for anyone willing and able to get him the ball.  The new coaching staff will almost certainly use him as a receiver more often than the old one.  In three years as a starter, he has averaged 12 receptions, 170.7 yards, and 1.7 touchdowns per season.

Roundtree stands 6’0″ and only 177 lbs.  Despite a lack of elite size and speed, he set a school record for receiving yards in one game with 246 against Illinois last season.  He also has four career receptions of 74+ yards.  No other player in Michigan history  has more than one reception of over 70 yards.  Still his lack of impressive measurables may cause him not to be a high draft pick, even if he plays out his eligibility and enters the 2013 NFL Draft.

Omameh is a 6’4″, 299 lb. offensive guard.  He has started the last 16 games Michigan has played and projects as the starting right guard in 2011, as well.  He moves well and gets to the second level with regularity, which suits the zone running game perfectly.  He’s also an above average pass blocker.  As just a redshirt junior, however, it would be somewhat of a surprise to see him enter the draft in 2012.  He’s more likely to be a 2013 entrant.

Demens is a 6’1″, 248 lb. middle linebacker who burst onto the scene in 2010.  Despite starting only seven games, he finished the season with 82 tackles and led the Wolverines in tackles per start.  Known as a thumping run stuffer, he needs to work on recognizing pass routes and getting to his pass drops.  He already has the size to play in the NFL and could play middle linebacker in a 4-3 or inside linebacker in a 3-4 scheme.  He might wait to enter the NFL Draft until 2013, since he has one year of eligibility remaining beyond 2011.

Woolfolk is 6’0″ tall and 191 lbs.  He missed his true senior season in 2010 due to an ankle dislocation, but started all 12 games in 2009, half at safety and half at cornerback.  With a couple exceptions, he played well at safety and improved when he moved back to cornerback for the second half of the year.  He has not proven to be a huge playmaker in his career (61 tackles, 3 pass breakups in three years), but other teams all but completely avoided throwing in his direction when he started at corner opposite current Pittsburgh Steeler Donovan Warren.  Woolfolk ran indoor track during his first few seasons on campus and has blazing makeup speed to go along with good size for the position.  Teams usually don’t spend high draft picks on guys who have zero career interceptions, so turning out big plays this fall will be important if Woolfolk wants a shot at the next level.

Stonum is a 6’2″, 195 lb. wideout whose lack of impressive statistics and keen ability to break the law make him extremely unlikely to be selected in the 2012 NFL Draft.  For one thing, he was suspended for the 2011 season and will take a redshirt, hoping to return in 2012.  For another thing, his best statistical season came in 2010, when he had 49 receptions for 633 yards and 4 touchdowns.  Those aren’t bad numbers, but his performance wasn’t impressive enough to make a team ignore his person issues.  Stonum also brings some potential value as a kick returner, since he returned 39 kickoffs for 1,001 yards (25.7 yards/attempt), including a 94-yard TD against Notre Dame in 2009.

The player with the least amount of votes was defensive end Ryan Van Bergen, a 6’6″, 288 lb. defensive end.  Van Bergen has played both defensive end and defensive tackle in his career, totaling 90 tackles, 15 tackles for loss, 9 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, and 6 pass breakups in his career.  This season he’s bigger than he has ever been before, but Van Bergen works hard and has squeezed out just about every ounce of effort he can with his limited physical skills.  Some players make it to the NFL with superior athleticism, and some make it with a combination of athleticism and talent.  Not many make it that far on sheer determination.  Van Bergen could play at the next level as a defensive end in a 3-4 scheme, but his chances are slim.

The “Other” category received just one vote, and I’d be interested to know which player that voter had in mind.

Poll Results: Who will be Michigan’s leading receiver in 2011?

Roy Roundtree

Roy Roundtree: 48%

2010 Countdown: #20 Kevin Koger

Name: Kevin Koger
Height: 6’4″
Weight: 255 lbs.
High school: Whitmer High School in Toledo, OH
Position: Tight end
Class: Junior
Jersey number: #86
Last year: I ranked Koger #26 and said he wouldn’t get more than 15 receptions. He caught 16 passes for 220 yards and 2 touchdowns.

I can’t tell if Kevin Koger got to Michigan at the wrong time or the right time. On the one hand, if he played for Lloyd Carr, I think we’d be talking about an all-conference level player. Koger has speed and leaping ability, blocks well, and can make excellent catches. Carr would have used him well. On the other hand, Koger is a perfect fit for the spread offense run by Rich Rodriguez. He can get down the seam quickly, pull, block in space, and generally create problems for a defense. The only mitigating factor is that Rodriguez doesn’t use the tight end very much. Despite reports that Rodriguez and his staff had visited Oklahoma’s coaching staff to integrate the tight end more, Koger only caught 16 passes (1.3 receptions per game) and his backups only caught five passes for 63 yards, 47 of which came against Delaware State.

Consider this: the starting tight ends for Wisconsin (Garrett Graham, 51), Northwestern (Drake Dunsmore, 47), Iowa (Tony Moeaki, 41), Minnesota (Nick Tow-Arnett, 37), Penn State (Andrew Quarless, 30), Purdue (Kyle Adams, 29), Michigan State (Charlie Gantt, 22), and Indiana (Max Dedmond, 18) all caught more passes than Koger in 2009. Even Big Ten newcomer Nebraska’s starting tight end caught 28 passes. The only two teams in the Big Ten who used their tight end less were Illinois and Ohio State, but the average number of receptions for a non-Michigan starting tight end in the Big Ten was 29.7, nearly double Koger’s total.

Forgetting about all that, Koger has the ability to be a very good tight end. He averaged 13.8 yards on his receptions last season, and the catch pictured above is one of the most amazing I’ve seen anywhere, let alone from a Michigan player. He did struggle with a case of the dropsies in 2009, and I’m sure he knows that’s an area he must improve. He’s an important part of the team because of his versatility, whether he’s blocking, catching passes, or lining up in the slot and creating mismatches. But with two somewhat inexperienced quarterbacks who are approximately 6′ tall, Koger isn’t likely to see a huge jump in his numbers this year.

Prediction for 2010: Starting tight end; 18 receptions, 250 yards, 4 touchdowns

40% of poll respondents correctly picked Koger at #20.