Offensive Line Preview: Michigan vs. South Carolina

Tag: Ricky Barnum


27Dec 2012
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Offensive Line Preview: Michigan vs. South Carolina

Taylor Lewan will be the best lineman in the Outback Bowl

MICHIGAN
Starters: From left to right, the Wolverines start redshirt junior Taylor Lewan (6’8″, 309 lbs.), fifth year senior Ricky Barnum (6’3″, 296 lbs.), fifth year senior Elliott Mealer (6’5″, 308 lbs.), fifth year senior Patrick Omameh (6’4″, 305 lbs.), and redshirt junior Michael Schofield (6’7″, 300 lbs.).  Omameh has started 41 games, Lewan has 27 starts, Schofield has 22, Barnum has 15, and Mealer has 12.  Altogether, they have 117 starts among them and average a shade over 6’5″ and 303.6 lbs.  The Wolverines are #25 in the country in sacks allowed (1.25 per game) and have the #40 rushing offense (187 yards/game).
Backups: The Wolverines are very thin on the offensive line, but they’ve tried to preserve the redshirts of some highly touted freshmen.  Other than redshirt freshman center Jack Miller (6’4″, 288 lbs.), the rest of the subs have been walk-ons.  Redshirt sophomore guard Joey Burzynski (6’1″, 295 lbs.) has made the biggest push for playing time of the entire backup crew; redshirt sophomore Erik Gunderson (6’8″, 303 lbs.) and redshirt junior Kristian Mateus (6’7″, 309 lbs.) have both played in blowouts, but both would be severely overmatched against the Gamecocks.

SOUTH CAROLINA
Starters: Michigan recruited redshirt freshman right tackle Brandon Shell (6’6″, 331 lbs.) and redshirt sophomore left guard A.J. Cann (6’4″, 309 lbs.) coming out of high school.  The line is completed with redshirt sophomore left tackle Corey Robinson (6’8″, 337 lbs.), fifth year senior center T.J. Johnson (6’6″, 319 lbs.), and junior right guard Ronald Patrick (6’2″, 305 lbs.).  Johnson has started 52 games in his career, Cann has 25, Patrick has 12, Shell has 9, and Robinson has 8.  Altogether, the squad has 106 starts under their belts, but the tackles have less than a season of experience, and Robinson was a defensive tackle prior to this year.  They average a bit over 6’5″ and 320.2 pounds.  The Gamecocks are #105 in the country in sacks allowed (2.92 per game) and have the #84 rushing offense (143 yards/game).
Backups: Redshirt sophomore offensive tackle Cody Gibson (6’7″, 278 lbs.) started a couple games early in the season.  The other backups haven’t been used much, including senior offensive guard Kaleb Broome (6’6″, 332 lbs.), redshirt junior center Travis Ford (6’3″, 278 lbs.), and redshirt freshman offensive guard Will Sport (6’5″, 291 lbs.).

THE TAKEAWAY
Having watched Michigan’s offensive line struggle to create a push all year long, it’s a little tough to believe, but the Wolverines have the edge here.  Despite being outweighed by an average of almost 17 pounds, Michigan gains more yards on the ground and allows fewer sacks.  They also average a couple more starts each.  Individually, the only South Carolina offensive lineman to garner consideration for All-SEC is Johnson (Second Team), whereas Michigan’s Lewan is an All-American and Omameh was selected by the coaches as First Team All-Big Ten.  Except for heft, Michigan is ahead everywhere.
Advantage: Michigan

28Aug 2012
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2012 Season Countdown: #2 Ricky Barnum

Ricky Barnum

Name: Ricky Barnum
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 296 lbs.
High school: Lakeland (FL) Lake Gibson
Position: Center
Class: Redshirt senior
Jersey number: #52
Last year: I ranked Barnum #16 and said he would be the starting left guard. He started three games at left guard before suffering an ankle injury.

Much like the recently profiled Fitzgerald Toussaint, Ricky Barnum has consistently been injured throughout his career.  Of course, Toussaint stayed mostly healthy last season and had a stellar season.  Despite being a fifth year senior, Barnum has played in just nine career games – two in 2009, three in 2010, and four in 2011.  He started three games last year, but he suffered an ankle injury that saw him replaced by Michael Schofield, who never relinquished the job.  Barnum has never been outstanding, but the coaches like him and he’s a solid player.

Barnum has practiced snapping the ball throughout his college career after playing center in high school; but he has never taken a snap in college.  However, with the departure of Rimington Award winner David Molk and no clear heir, the coaches asked Barnum to move from left guard to center.  He’s fairly short and quick for a lineman, so both of those traits bode well.  Unfortunately, if recent trends continue, he’ll only be healthy enough to play in five games this season.  His backups are even less experienced.  First off the bench will likely be redshirt freshman Jack Miller, who is just 6’4″ and 288 lbs., so he’s a little slight.  Other options at center include former walk-on Joey Burzynski, who is also competing for the left guard position; and redshirt senior Elliott Mealer, who has been starting at left guard in recent days.  Both have played center in practice at times over their careers.  I hesitated to place Barnum this high on the list, but Michigan fans have seen what happens when the starting center leaves the game, most recently in the first series of the Sugar Bowl when Rocko Khoury replaced Molk.  Barnum can be an adequate player this season, but if/when he gets injured, it could seriously hamper the timing and effectiveness of Michigan’s offense.

Prediction: Starting center

3Jun 2012
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Poll Results: Who will be the offensive captain?

Okay, the results aren’t going to surprise anyone, but I thought I would toss out the question, anyway.  Who’s going to be the offensive captain in 2012?  I only selected seniors with starting experience, so guys like Elliott Mealer and Brandon Moore were left off the poll.

QB Denard Robinson: 91%
This was the obvious selection.  The fans love Denard, and his teammates seem to love Denard.  If he’s not a captain in the fall, I’ll be very surprised.

WR Roy Roundtree: 4%
Roundtree might be good captain material if not for the presence of Denard.  He always seems to be in a positive mood, has a smile on his face, and seems to be a hard worker.

OG Patrick Omameh: 2%
Well, at least he got a few votes.

OC Ricky Barnum: 0%
So much for that idea.

14Apr 2012
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2012 Spring Game Review – Offense

Thomas Rawls (#38) looked pretty solid in today’s spring game

QUARTERBACKS
Denard Robinson didn’t play much.  We know what we have in Denard, and we’re not going to know whether he can cut down on his interceptions until the fall.  Devin Gardner looked very athletic.  He seems to be faster and in better shape this year than last, but he struggled throwing the ball.  He tried to force some throws, but the receivers really struggled to get separation from the defensive backs.  That’s probably why Gardner scrambled repeatedly, and he made the defense look silly at times.  Third stringer Russell Bellomy looked like what we’ve been expecting – a game manager type who can scramble a little and make check-down throws, but he seems to lack the requisite arm strength for pushing the ball downfield.

RUNNING BACKS
Fitzgerald Toussaint continues to look like a star on offense.  Backup Thomas Rawls looks faster and stronger to me than he did in the fall.  He seems like a viable #2 back and he runs angry.  You could tell when he got the ball that the defense stepped up its intensity a little bit, because those guys knew they were going to have a fight on their hands to get him down.  He did make a nice touchdown run early, but keep in mind that he ran through the tackle of backup free safety Jarrod Wilson, who should still be two or three months away from graduating high school.  Vincent Smith continues to be subpar running inside, but he caught the ball well.  To me it’s a wasted rep when he’s handed the ball to run up the middle.  Justice Hayes is in the same boat.  He doesn’t have any mass or strength behind him.  If there’s an injury to Toussaint or Rawls in the fall, the coaches are going to have to look at freshman Drake Johnson or maybe moving Hopkins back to tailback.

FULLBACKS
Hopkins and Kerridge looked pretty solid.  Michigan should be set at this position, especially with reinforcements coming in the form of Sione Houma.

WIDE RECEIVERS
As I mentioned above, the receivers really struggled to separate from the defensive backs.  We didn’t see a whole lot of Roy Roundtree, but he and Jeremy Gallon looked decent.  I would not be surprised to see Gallon lead the team in receptions this season.  He’s going to be a tough matchup.  After that nobody looked particularly impressive.  Jerald Robinson had an embarrassing drop, Jeremy Jackson is who he is, etc.  Games this season will continue to be won on the ground.

TIGHT ENDS
This continues to be a weak spot.  Brandon Moore didn’t get any separation, and both Moore and Ricardo Miller struggled at the point of attack.  They were playing against some pretty good defenders – Craig Roh, Jake Ryan, Cam Gordon – but tight end will be a liability this season, in both the running and passing games. I don’t think we’ll see as many two- and three-tight end formations as we did last season.

OFFENSIVE LINEMEN
Taylor Lewan is a very good left tackle.  The starter at left guard was Joey Burzynski.  All spring we’ve heard that Elliott Mealer was the front-runner for the left guard position, and I think that might still be the case.  I have no inside information on this, but I have a feeling that Burzynski’s start was kind of a practical matter.  The coaches didn’t want Lewan on the field much; with Michael Schofield as the primary backup at left tackle, they seemed to want Mealer to rotate in at right tackle when Schofield flipped.  Burzynski doesn’t have the ability to play tackle.  Burzynski looked fair against the pass and somewhat ineffective in the running game.  Barnum blocked well, but he had two bad snaps because he failed to get the ball up to Denard before getting out of his stance.  That will be something to watch heading into the season.  Barnum also needs to speed up his shotgun snaps, which are noticeably slower than David Molk’s.  He’s also got to work on calling protections.  Omameh looked mostly solid but got blasted by William Campbell.  Schofield struggled some in pass protection, but picked it up as the day went on.  As far as backups go, the walk-ons played like walk-ons do, outside of Burzynski.  Graham Glasgow doesn’t know how to pull.  Kristian Mateus looks downright skinny.  Erik Gunderson might be able to play in a pinch.  Chris Bryant looked solid in the running game.  Jack Miller still lacks size.  Barnum must  stay healthy this season.