O’Maury Samuels, Ex-Wolverine

Tag: O’Maury Samuels


12Dec 2018
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O’Maury Samuels, Ex-Wolverine

O’Maury Samuels (image via 247 Sports)

Sophomore running back O’Maury Samuels is a Wolverine no more. On Wednesday afternoon Michigan announced that he was being dismissed from the team.

Why? Well, information surfaced that he had been charged with domestic violence and malicious destruction of private property.

Oops.

Samuels, from Los Lunas (NM) Los Lunas, had 8 carries for 13 yards as a freshman in 2017 and 13 carries for 66 yards as a sophomore in 2018. He was a promising recruit (4-star, #20 RB, #269 overall; 82 TTB Rating), but Urban Meyer doesn’t coach at Michigan.

Samuels had a chance to get into the regular rotation in 2019 with the graduation of Karan Higdon. Senior Chris Evans and redshirt junior Tru Wilson will probably be two pieces of the usual three-man rotation, and the third spot was probably going to come down to Samuels, Christian Turner, or Zach Charbonnet. This is disappointing because, well, the basis for the dismissal is not good, first of all. But also, Samuels was considered to be a potential home-run hitter, and while his first couple years on the field did not show a great deal, this limits Michigan’s options.

9Jul 2018
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2018 Season Countdown: #64 O’Maury Samuels

O’Maury Samuels (image via MWolverine)

Name: O’Maury Samuels
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 192 lbs.
High school: Los Lunas (NM) Los Lunas
Position: Running back
Class: Sophomore
Jersey number: #23
Last year: I ranked Samuels #72 and said he would be a backup running back (LINK). He ran the ball 8 times for 13 yards.
TTB Rating: 82

Samuels really had business wasting a redshirt last year on 8 carries in garbage time, but that’s the nature of the beast sometimes. Tru Wilson or Joe Hewlett or Kareem Walker or someone else could have taken those 8 carries with no issue, and now Samuels has just three years of eligibility remaining instead of four. His 1.6 yards per carry don’t look very appealing, but I go back to Karan Higdon’s 1.73 yards/carry in 2015 and shrug my shoulders.

Samuels was listed back in the spring as the #4 guy on the depth chart, behind Higdon, Chris Evans, and walk-on Tru Wilson (full disclosure: this list was made before Jim Harbaugh’s discussion of the depth chart and Kareem Walker’s departure). A minor injury may or may not have contributed to him being slotted at #4. The #4 guy last year (Walker) got 20 carries. Samuels will also have to fend off incoming freshman Christian Turner, whom I mentioned as a possible contributor as early as this year. I don’t see Samuels getting a lot of opportunities this season, and the backfield is getting crowded. He does have some serious speed, so hopefully he gets a chance to show it in the open field at some point, whether it’s in the passing game or on special teams.

Prediction: Backup running back

29Jun 2018
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Nike’s The Opening participants: Michigan

Jourdan Lewis and Delano Hill were two of Michigan’s ten eventual signees to participate in Nike’s The Opening in 2012

2018
Stephen Herron, Jr., DE – Louisville, KY
Cade McNamara, QB – Reno, NV
D.J. Turner II, CB – Suwanee, GA

2017
Gemon Green, CB – DeSoto, TX
Cameron McGrone, LB – Indianapolis, IN
Myles Sims, CB – Atlanta, GA
Christian Turner, RB – Buford, GA

2016
Jordan Anthony, LB – Bradenton, FL
Jaylen Kelly-Powell, S – Detroit, MI
Oliver Martin, WR – Iowa City, IA
Dylan McCaffrey, QB – Littleton, CO
Donovan Peoples-Jones, WR – Detroit, MI
Joshua Ross, LB – Orchard Lake, MI
Cesar Ruiz, C – Bradenton, FL
O’Maury Samuels, RB – Los Lunas, NM
Drew Singleton, LB – Paramus, NJ
Benjamin St-Juste, CB – Montreal, Canada
Ambry Thomas, CB – Detroit, MI

Hit the jump for more.

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15Jun 2017
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2017 Season Countdown: #72 O’Maury Samuels

(image via MGoBlog)

Name: O’Maury Samuels
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 192 lbs.
High school: Los LUnas (NM) Los Lunas
Position: Running back
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: N/A
Last year: Samuels was a senior in high school. He ran 160 times for 1,376 yards and 14 touchdowns, along with 7 catches for 46 yards and 1 touchdown and 1 kickoff return touchdown.
TTB Rating: 82

Samuels committed in April of 2016, but Michigan had to continue recruiting him to keep him in the fold. Part of the issue seemed to be a test score, and another part of the issue seemed to be Michigan’s pursuit of Najee Harris. He was a bit under the radar, but at one point he held the lead in national SPARQ score and earned an invitation to The Opening. He claims that he can run a 4.3, but officially he ran a 4.58, had a 44.5″ vertical, and had a 4.14 shuttle. He won a state championship in the 100 meters with a time of 11.22 and finished third in the 200 meters with a time of 22.79.

Michigan has lacked a big-play starting running back for a while, although maybe that guy is already in Ann Arbor in the form of Chris Evans. Either way, Samuels has the potential to be a big-play guy in college. His level of competition in New Mexico was not stellar, so there’s a lot of projection going on, but there’s no denying the athleticism. He will almost certainly start off behind Evans, but after that, you never know. Running back is a position where guys can contribute early. I think he’ll start off behind Evans, Karan Higdon, and Ty Isaac, at least, but Michigan rotates running backs and there might be room for some carries for Samuels to see what he can do.

Prediction: Backup running back

9Feb 2017
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2017 Recruiting Grades: Offense

Donovan Peoples-Jones (image via Rivals)

QUARTERBACK: A-
Commits (1): Dylan McCaffrey
Decommits (0): N/A
Why? McCaffrey was a U.S. Army All-American and there have been whispers that Jim Harbaugh believes McCaffrey is the best high school quarterback prospect he’s seen in a long time, maybe going back to Andrew Luck. So there’s that. McCaffrey has the height, the bloodline, and the athleticism to be a very good quarterback. However, there are questions about his arm strength and mechanics. So while Harbaugh really likes him, I would have preferred someone like Davis Mills, who chose Stanford instead.

Hit the jump for the rest of the offensive grades.

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