Tag: Michael Schofield

Mailbag: Roster Questions for Next Year

Michael Schofield (#75) celebrates with Devin Gardner

I was going through the could be depth chart for next year and I have a ton of questions for you.

Cox stays or goes?? I’m thinking he doesn’t come back

TE is going to be a mess next year. Your thoughts??

Does Schofield move back to OT?

What side will Magnuson, Braden and Williams play?

Is Justice Hayes a WR or RB?

Reading the Jerry Montgomery article scares me about Brink. Can he put on 20 lbs or so and be half effective??

Thanks, love the blog.

Thanks for the e-mail, Randy.  I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

My gut tells me that redshirt junior running back Michael Cox will not return in 2012.  He was limited to special teams this season and did not see a single snap on offense.  While I think he has the talent to play at Michigan, he obviously hasn’t done what it takes to get on the field more consistently, whether it’s in the classroom or on the practice field.  It’s somewhat rare that a guy who plays that little as a redshirt junior gets a scholarship for a fifth year.  If Cox gets his degree, though, I would not be surprised to see him transfer to a MAC-level school and play somewhere next season.  The kid has talent, whether people see it or not.

I’m not too worried about Michigan’s tight end situation.  An elite tight end can be a great weapon, but you can still have a decent team without a great tight end.  Kevin Koger is not as good as most Michigan fans think he is; he’s above average but that’s about it.  Michigan will almost surely take a step back at the position, but I don’t think it will affect the team greatly.  As a blocker he’ll be missed, but he’s only caught 21 passes for 235 yards and 4 touchdowns.  That production is roughly par for the course ever since Bennie Joppru suited up in 2002.  With players like Tyler Ecker, Tim Massaquoi, and Carson Butler in between, the performance of Michigan’s offense suffered little – and neither Massaquoi or Butler was a great blocker, either.  The combination of fifth year senior Brandon Moore, redshirt sophomore Ricardo Miller, freshman Devin Funchess, and freshman A.J. Williams should be fine.

I do think redshirt sophomore Michael Schofield will move back to offensive tackle in 2012.  Michigan has lots of options on the interior between Ricky Barnum, Rocko Khoury, Patrick Omameh, Jack Miller, Chris Bryant, and Elliott Mealer.  At the tackle positions, it’s just Taylor Lewan, Schofield, and freshmen, unless the coaches want to shake things up and move Omameh to tackle.

Incoming freshman Erik Magnuson looks like a future right tackle to me, but based on the available talent, he will probably play on the left side at Michigan.  Ben Braden looks like a prototypical right tackle.  A.J. Williams is being recruited as a tight end, so he’ll play on whichever side the formation requires.

Freshman Justice Hayes has been playing running back in practice.  Some insiders suggest that he will end up at slot receiver sometime in the future.  Personally, I have never been high on Hayes as a running back.  He’s a slightly bigger version of Vincent Smith, someone who can catch passes and do okay when put in open space.

Can Nathan Brink put on 20 lbs.?  Sure.  That’s not an unbelievable amount of weight to add in an off-season.  Craig Roh has put on about 20 pounds in each of the past two off-seasons.  Can Brink be effective once he puts on that weight?  I don’t know.  He has been manhandled this year, and it’s hard to predict good things when he’s been pushed backward with consistency.  I hope he can turn into all the good things that Jerry Montgomery and Greg Mattison have predicted for him, but that’s a prediction I’m not willing to make.

Michigan vs. Purdue Awards

Mike Martin tore through Purdue’s offensive line all day Saturday

Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . Fitzgerald Toussaint.  Getting only two carries against Michigan State was a tad ridiculous, but Toussaint is clearly the best pure running back on the roster.  He can hit the homerun, he can run over people, and he can make people miss.  As long as he stays healthy, the job seems to be his.  The coaches keep saying that nobody has stood out from the rest of the pack, but maybe that’s because the whole group is pretty good.

Let’s see less of this guy on offense . . . a backup lineman.  Things are starting to get a little hairy on the offensive line.  Both Ricky Barnum and Taylor Lewan are banged up, and with the bye week in the rearview mirror, they won’t get any significant amount of time to heal up before the end of the regular season.  Michael Schofield is the top backup at guard and tackle, but the thing about Schofield is that he can’t play both guard and  tackle at the same time.  Hopefully Lewan visits Miracle Max and gets a magical healing potion soon.

Let’s see more of this guy on defense . . . Blake Countess William Campbell.  I was going to make a case for Countess, but it turns out he’s going to be the starter against Iowa, at least if reality falls in line with the depth chart that was released on Monday.  So I’ll throw my hat in the ring for Campbell.  Campbell has done a nice job this year, and while he hasn’t been a consistent playmaker, guys like Will Heininger and Nathan Brink aren’t doing anything special, either.  My starting defensive line would be Ryan Van Bergen, Mike Martin, Campbell, and Craig Roh.

Let’s see less of this guy on defense . . . J.T. Floyd.  I know some people think Floyd is playing at a high level, but I just don’t see it.  He’s a tentative tackler and doesn’t make enough plays for my tastes.  I will admit that Floyd has improved since last season, but that’s not saying much.  Countess and Courtney Avery have surpassed him, in my opinion.

Play of the game . . . Toussaint’s 59-yard touchdown run.  He took a pitch going left, made seven Boilermakers miss, and then turned on the jets to leave everyone in the dust.  It was the type of run that Michigan fans haven’t seen from a running back in years.  Carlos Brown never made that many people miss, Brandon Minor would have lowered his shoulder and run over a couple dudes, and Mike Hart probably would have been caught from behind.  Hopefully there’s more where that came from in the weeks ahead.

MVP of the game . . . Toussaint.  Mike Martin (7 tackles, 2 sacks) is a close second, but Toussaint’s output (20 carries, 170 yards, 2 touchdowns) was the highest for a running back since Hart back in 2007.

Michigan vs. Western Michigan Awards

Linebacker Brandon Herron picks up a fumble and returns it 29 yards for a touchdown as former Wolverine Dann O’Neill (#68) chases from behind

Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . Michael Shaw.  Fitzgerald Toussaint looked pretty solid as the starting running back (11 carries, 80 yards, 2 touchdowns), but Shaw (4 carries, 54 yards, 1 touchdown) has the speed to be a gamebreaker.  He also has a little bit of shake to him and can run through a tackle once in awhile.  The knock on Toussaint has been his vision, and his 43-yard run could have been longer if he had made a cutback.  Both performed well and should continue to see time, but hopefully Shaw gets more than 4 carries next week.

Let’s see less of this guy on offense . . . Michael Schofield.  Schofield got the start at left guard because of an injury to Ricky Barnum.  While Schofield didn’t play horribly, he’s too tall at 6’7″ to be a guard and doesn’t have the agility that Barnum does.  Big #75 is a capable backup, but hopefully he can get back to being a second string tackle soon.

Let’s see more of this guy on defense . . . Brandon Herron.  The fifth year senior linebacker got the start at WILL despite being listed second on the depth chart behind Mike Jones.  Neither player has lit the world on fire – until Herron’s performance on Saturday – but #58’s outstanding game should warrant another start next week.  He tallied a career high 8 tackles to go along with his 94-yard interception return for a touchdown and a 29-yard fumble return for a touchdown.

Let’s see less of this guy on defense . . . J.T. Floyd.  I’ve never been a big fan of Floyd’s abilities, and he again showed a lack of change-of-direction skills on Saturday.  In a perfect world, Floyd would be playing safety.  It’s not a perfect world, obviously, because Boubacar Cissoko (who should be a senior) is in jail, Cullen Christian (who should be a sophomore) is at Pitt, and Justin Turner (who should be a redshirt sophomore) is out of football right now.  It’s not Floyd’s fault that he isn’t very good at football, but I sure would like to see Troy Woolfolk on the field instead.  Floyd’s ceiling is very low.

MVP of the Western Michigan game is . . . Brandon Herron.  He accounted for 12 of Michigan’s 34 points and put the Wolverines up for good when he returned an interception 94 yards for a touchdown in the middle of the second quarter.  It took the breath out of Herron, but it sucked the life out of the Broncos.  The fumble return for a TD was the icing on the cake, and the combination of those two plays earned him the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week award.

Play of the game . . . Herron’s 94-yard interception return for a touchdown.  Not only did linebacker Jake Ryan bust through the line to bat the ball, but Herron stayed inbounds after catching it, and then raced down the sideline with a convoy of blockers that included 290 lb. defensive tackle Ryan Van Bergen and 300 lb. defensive tackle Mike Martin.  It was a total team effort and one of the most exciting plays I’ve experienced as a Michigan fan.

2011 Countdown: #42 Michael Schofield

Michael Schofield (left) is up to 303 lbs. and younger brother Andrew, an offensive lineman for South Dakota, is up to 286 (image courtesy of the Schofield family)

Name: Michael Schofield
Height: 6’7″
Weight: 303 lbs.
High school: Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park, IL
Position: Offensive tackle
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #75
Last year: I ranked Schofield #54 and said he would be a backup right tackle.  He played on special teams in every game and got in at right tackle against Bowling Green.

Schofield has added another ten pounds to his 6’7″ frame, and he’s finally in the range of an appropriate weight for a guy who’s that tall.  So if you’re wondering how quickly high school linemen can add 30 pounds, well, here’s one who’s done it prior to his third year of school (he was 275 as a freshman).  Schofield has been practicing mostly at right tackle the past couple seasons, but there were a couple upperclassmen (Perry Dorrestein, Mark Huyge) standing in his way.

Huyge still looks to block Schofield’s path here in 2011.  When starting left tackle Taylor Lewan injured his elbow in the spring, Huyge flipped over to the left side and Schofield drew into the lineup on the right.  The Wolverines only have three scholarship offensive tackles on the roster, so if any injuries crop up for Lewan or Huyge, Schofield might get his first significant taste of action.  However, there’s also a chance that if a long-term injury were to occur, right guard Patrick Omameh could bump out to tackle, since he has the height and athleticism to play both positions.  With the depth on the interior (two redshirt junior guards back up two redshirt junior guards), fanning out those upperclassmen might be the best choice.

Prediction: Backup right tackle; special teams contributor

2010 Countdown: #54 Michael Schofield

Name: Michael Schofield
Height: 6’7″
Weight: 293 lbs.
High school: Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park, IL
Position: Offensive tackle
Class: Redshirt freshman
Jersey number: #75
Last year: I ranked Schofield #81 and said he’d redshirt. He redshirted.

Schofield is a behemoth of an offensive lineman, and reports from his freshman year have been positive. In the spring he was fighting hard for the offensive tackle spot vacated by Mark Ortmann, and his athleticism has been mentioned by several people as something to watch. He seems to be fitting into Michigan’s zone blocking system very well.

Schofield came into Michigan as a likely right tackle prospect, and that’s still his apparent destination. Two part-time offensive tackle starters return in Perry Dorrestein and Mark Huyge, although neither one seems a good fit at Ortmann’s left tackle position. Dorrestein missed practices in the spring due to back issues, and if those problems persist, expect one of the redshirt freshmen – Taylor Lewan or Schofield – to step into the lineup and protect the blind side. Both were too light last season (Lewan was 281, Schofield was 275) to play, but after a year in the program, they’ve added significant weight and strength. For the third year in a row, I expect these offensive tackle positions to be a battle throughout the season.

Prediction for 2010: Backup right tackle