Tag: position grades

2016 Mid-Season Grades: Defense

Don Brown and Jim Harbaugh (image via Detroit Free Press)

DEFENSIVE LINE: A

Maybe I’m grading harshly here, but despite being one of the best defensive lines in the country, it hasn’t been as outstanding of a season as it could have been so far. Players have battled injuries (Taco Charlton, Bryan Mone) and the backups performed admirably. Charlton has only played in four games and averages 1 sack per game, but I think Michigan still lacks that one dominant edge rusher. They make up for it with an array of talent and blitzes, but quarterback scrambles hurt them in the first few games of the year. Defensive linemen have combined for 30.5 tackles for loss and 15 sacks, but the lack of one truly dominant player prevents me from giving them a perfect grade.

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2016 Mid-Season Grades: Offense

Chris Evans has had a breakout freshman year

QUARTERBACK: B

Starting quarterback Wilton Speight has done a solid job for being a first-year starter. The redshirt sophomore is #57 in passing yards (1,194), #45 in completion percentage (61.6%), #59 in yards/attempt (7.5), #31 in touchdowns thrown (11), #23 in fewest interceptions (2), and #48 in passer rating (145.03). He has avoided the huge mistakes that plague a lot of young quarterbacks, and his three turnovers included his first pass of the year, a huge hit by Colorado to cause a fumble, and then an excellent play by Wisconsin linebacker Jack Cichy to tip the ball. If we’re talking about three turnovers halfway into the season, then that’s pretty excellent. On the flip side, he has missed a lot of open receivers and sometimes holds onto the ball too long in the pocket waiting for the perfect throw. His deep ball has improved and he hit some nice downfield passes in game six against Rutgers, so we’ll see if he can continue to improve during the second half of the year. I intended to give him a B-, but I’m bumping it up based on the lack of turnovers.

Hit the jump for the rest of the grades.

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2015 Position Grades: Quarterback

Jake Rudock

STATS
Jake Rudock: 13 starts, 249/389 (64%), 3,017 yards, 20 TDs, 9 INTs, 141.5 PER
Wilton Speight: 0 starts, 9/25 (36%), 73 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 65.7 PER

STORY
Jake Rudock joined Michigan as a graduate transfer from Iowa in the summer of 2015. That meant that he missed all of the spring practice session, as well as a chance to do voluntary workouts over the summer with his future teammates. When he started Michigan’s season opener against Utah on September 3, he had only been in the system for approximately one month. Because of that, it was a bit of a rough start to the year. There’s a good chance that Michigan would have turned that 24-17 loss to Utah into a victory if Rudock was in late-season form, but that’s how football goes. His passer efficiency rating topped 120 only twice during the first seven games, and those two were contests when the run game carried the day (Rudock had 1 TD and 0 INTs vs. BYU and Northwestern). In the final six games, the running game bogged down, but his PER never dipped below 124. In the first seven games, he threw 5 TDs and 6 INTS; in the final six, he threw 16 TDs and 3 INTS. He finished second in the conference in passer rating, #3 in yards per attempt, and #4 in touchdowns. It was a fantastic turnaround when Michigan needed him most, and with the way he finished the season, people are now talking about his prospects as an NFL player.

Early in the year, Shane Morris was the second quarterback on the depth chart, but Michigan hoped to redshirt him and kept him off the field. As the season wore on, Jim Harbaugh reported that Wilton Speight passed Morris on the depth chart. Speight wasn’t needed for any important playing time until Rudock got hurt against Minnesota; Speight went 3/6 for 29 yards and the game-winning TD. He also stepped in against Ohio State for a stretch, but his non-Minnesota performances were subpar. The backup situation was concerning, but it never cost Michigan a game.

GRADE: B+

2016 DEPTH CHART BY CLASS: Shane Morris (RS Jr.), John O’Korn (RS Jr.), Wilton Speight (RS So.), Zach Gentry (RS Fr.), Alex Malzone (RS Fr.), Brandon Peters (Fr.)