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Tight end-turned defensive end-turned tight end Steve Watson |
A couple position changes have been confirmed by a paywalled article on Rivals:
1. William Campbell has moved back to defense. Rich Rodriguez toyed with him on offense, which seemed silly in light of the considerable depth at the offensive guard position. But unlike Rodriguez and his clunky defensive staff, Campbell will actually be playing the 3-tech defensive tackle position. I can’t imagine the conversations in the former defensive staff’s meeting rooms. “Well, we’ve got this 6’5” behemoth with loads of talent, but his one problem is that he can’t stay low and get leverage. We just can’t figure out what to do with him. What to do, what to do. Oh. My. God. I have an awesome idea! Let’s put him at nose tackle, the defensive line position where leverage is most important. Surely our 6’2″ center won’t make him look like a fool on a daily basis!” Perhaps that’s reason #238 why Rich Rodriguez forcing a 3-3-5 on a bewildered defensive coordinator was a bad idea.
2. Steve Watson has once again become a tight end. This is a good move for Watson and for the team. He was buried on the depth chart as an outside linebacker and defensive end the past couple seasons, notching a total of 6 tackles in that span. He’ll probably still be sitting behind starter Kevin Koger and redshirt junior Brandon Moore, but this will allow Michigan to run some sets with three tight ends in short yardage and near the goalline. The Wolverines pulled in a talented tight end, Chris Barnett, in the 2011 class. However, Barnett is coming off a serious knee injury, needs to work on his body, and won’t arrive on campus until this summer. This move may allow the freshman to redshirt.