Tag: senior profile

Fitzgerald Toussaint, #28

Fitzgerald Toussaint

HIGH SCHOOL
Toussaint became a part of the 2009 class on April 18, 2008, when he chose the Wolverines over offers from Illinois, Pitt, and West Virginia, among others. He finished the recruiting cycle as a Rivals 4-star, the #8 all-purpose back, and the #239 player overall. His senior year included 237 carries for 2,246 yards (9.5 yards/carry) and 24 touchdowns at Youngstown (OH) Liberty, and I called him the best offensive recruit in the 2009 class. He joined high school teammate Isaiah Bell, a safety who had committed a few weeks earlier (and who eventually transferred to Lake Erie College).

COLLEGE
Toussaint’s talents weren’t needed as a freshman in 2009 due to the presence of Brandon Minor, Carlos Brown, and Kevin Grady, so Toussaint redshirted. He battled some nagging injuries early in his career, which helped to prevent him from playing until the Bowling Green game in 2010, where he promptly gained 61 yards on his first career carry before getting tracked down. He followed that up with a 5-yard touchdown run but left the game with a shoulder injury and didn’t see significant time for several weeks. He unseated starter Vincent Smith by 2011 and stepped up with 187 carries for 1,041 yards (5.6 yards/carry) and 9 touchdowns, which turned out to be his most productive year. He also had the best game of his career against Illinois when he gained 192 yards, including a career-long 65-yarder. Suspended for the season-opener against Alabama in 2012, Toussaint played in ten games before snapping his ankle against Iowa but never went over 100 yards in any of those contests; he finished the year with 130 carries for 514 yards (4.0 yards/carry) and 5 touchdowns. With a daughter to care for, he considered leaving school early to try to make it in the NFL, but he returned for a fifth year in 2013. He became a bigger part of the passing game (18 catches, 203 yards) but saw some of his carries go to freshmen Derrick Green and DeVeon Smith down the stretch as the coaches searched high and low for a running game. Toussaint finished his senior year with 185 carries for 648 yards (3.5 yards/carry) and 13 touchdowns, but he averaged just 6 carries/game over the final five games.

CAREER STATISTICS
510 carries, 2290 yards, 4.5 yards/carry, 28 touchdowns
31 receptions, 298 yards, 9.8 yards/catch, 2 touchdowns
1 kick return for 28 yards
1 tackle

AWARDS
Honorable Mention All-Big Ten in 2011

SUMMARY
As I mentioned above, I always had a high opinion of Toussaint. He was Michigan’s most elusive running back since at least Mike Hart, and he was faster than Hart, too. Unfortunately, he didn’t break nearly as many tackles, and he wasn’t blessed with as good of an offensive line. Toussaint looked pretty good as a redshirt freshman, played great as a redshirt sophomore, and then the wheels came off when the offensive line started to take a dive in 2012, which culminated with him breaking his leg against Iowa. He never really got back to full speed, and Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald even noted that during their game week. Toussaint broke off some good runs here or there (against Indiana and UConn in 2013) to keep up Michigan fans’ hopes, but ultimately, it was a disappointing finish to his career. On the bright side, he finished #18 all-time in rushing yards and tied with Gordie Bell for 10th in rushing touchdowns.

I WILL REMEMBER HIM FOR . . . 
. . . his high school highlights. Aside from perhaps Sam McGuffie, Toussaint had some of the best highlights of any running back prospect Michigan has brought in over the last decade. Don’t get me wrong – he had some great moments in college, too. But his combination of speed, power, and agility in high school was reminiscent of Barry Sanders. Check it out for yourself if you don’t remember:

PROJECTION
Toussaint was not invited to the NFL Combine, which was understandable after he totaled just 1,162 yards in his last two years and averaged under 4.0 yards/carry during that stretch. However, he had a pretty impressive pro day last week when he turned a 4.49 forty, 24 reps on the bench press, a 6.59 three-cone drill, and a 4.10 shuttle. Out of the running backs invited to the NFL’s event, his forty time would have tied him for #9 at the Combine, his bench would have tied for #3, his shuttle time would have been #4 – and he would have blown away the competition at his position in the three-cone drill (the top performer was Bishop Sankey with a 6.75) and finished #5 out of all the prospects invited, regardless of position. This is not to suggest that Toussaint will get drafted, because production matters more than testing times, bench presses, etc. But I do believe that NFL scouts and personnel guys will note Michigan’s poor offensive line and Toussaint’s recovery from his gruesome leg injury on their way to inviting him to sign as an undrafted free agent. I would not be surprised to see him playing in the NFL for a few seasons.

Jeremy Gallon, #21

Jeremy Gallon

HIGH SCHOOL
Gallon committed to Rich Rodriguez in June of 2008 and had some pretty good accolades, claiming Player of the Year in Florida during his senior year. He was a single-wing quarterback at Apopka (FL) Apoka, so moving to slot receiver (and eventually outside receiver) was a fairly significant position change. His junior year entailed 1,613 rushing yards and 23 touchdowns on the ground, along with 1,071 passing yards and 8 touchdowns. He was a Rivals 4-star, the #11 athlete, and the #151 player overall and participated in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, where he was limited by a groin pull but still grabbed a 34-yard pass from quarterback Tajh Boyd.

COLLEGE
I expected Gallon to play as a freshman, but I guess the position change was a little much for him initially. There were problems catching the ball and holding onto the ball, and Michigan had the likes of Martavious Odoms, Roy Roundtree, and Kelvin Grady that season. As a redshirt freshman in 2010, Gallon played a little as a slot (4 catches, 49 yards, 1 touchdown) but contributed more as a punt returner (10 punt returns for 43 yards; 27 kickoff returns for 589 yards). In the unforgettable 2011 version of Under the Lights against Notre Dame, he grabbed 2 passes for 78 yards, including a leaping touchdown and a 64-yard catch-and-run to set up the winning touchdown; he finished the season as the second-leading receiver, behind Junior Hemingway, totaling 31 catches for 453 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also had his best year as a punt returner with 19 returns for 192 yards. Gallon had a mediocre beginning of the 2012 season, but he really took off once Devin Gardner took over for the injured Denard Robinson at quarterback; Gallon made 49 catches for 829 yards and 4 touchdowns as a redshirt junior. Gallon, who wore #3 to begin his career and switched to #10 before the 2011 season, was awarded the Desmond Howard #21 Legends jersey prior to the 2013 season and responded with 89 receptions for 1,373 yards and 9 touchdowns. His 89 receptions rank #2 all-time at Michigan (behind Braylon Edwards’s 97 in 2004) and his yardage total ranks #1 in school history. He had three magnificent games during his senior year. The best was a 14-catch, 369-yard, 2-touchdown, record-setting performance against Indiana; another was an 8-catch, 184-yard, 3-touchdown game against Notre Dame; the final one was a 9-catch, 175-yard, 1-touchdown outing against Ohio State, which included an 84-yard catch-and-run at the beginning of the game.

CAREER STATISTICS
173 receptions, 2704 yards, 15.4 yards/catch, 17 touchdowns
17 carries, 97 yards, 5.7 yards/carry
0/1 passing
32 kickoff returns, 658 yards, 20.6 yards/return
47 punt returns, 333 yards, 7.1 yards/return
8 tackles


AWARDS
Second Team All-Big Ten, 2013
Honorable Mention All-Big Ten, 2012
#21 Legends jersey

SUMMARY
Gallon’s career spanned two coaching staff with significantly different offenses and visions for him. Listed at 5’8″ throughout his college career, he measured in at the NFL Combine a shade over 5’7″. Viewed exclusively as a slot receiver and returner by Rich Rodriguez, he turned into an extremely productive, record-setting split end and flanker for Brady Hoke. I think one of the most surprising things about Gallon was the way he developed as a receiver and turned into a jump ball hero despite being smaller than virtually every cornerback he faced. I liked him as a recruit because of his strength and running ability, but once Rodriguez was fired, I wondered how Michigan was going to get him the ball without using bubble screens. They found a way, though. I found myself at times thinking, “Just get the ball to Gallon” because he was more productive than the running backs and less prone to turnovers than Devin Gardner. I ranked Gallon #3 in the 2013 Season Countdown and said he would end up with 75 catches, 1,200 yards, and 10 touchdowns. At the time some people thought I was overestimating his production, but I actually undervalued him in receptions and yards, and I arguably could have ranked him #2 (behind Taylor Lewan and ahead of Devin Gardner). He now has the school record for yardage in a season, set a Big Ten record with his 369 yards against Indiana, and is #2 in Division I history with that yardage performance, behind only Louisiana Tech’s Troy Edwards and his 405 yards.

PROJECTION
Gallon has good acceleration but questionable long speed, evidenced by his 4.45 time in the forty at the NFL Combine. As we have seen numerous times throughout his career, he can get run down from behind. Furthermore, his size will limit him from catching on with some teams, although he plays bigger than his 5’7″, 184 lb. frame would indicate. He also proved to have very large hands at the Combine. I think Gallon will get drafted somewhere around the 5th round in May’s NFL Draft, but I have a hard time comparing him to anyone who has had a great deal of success recently in the NFL. Tavon Austin is small but faster than Gallon. I also think Steve Smith of the Carolina Panthers has better long speed, but that might be the best comparison I can derive. I think Gallon will stick around in the league for several years, but he probably won’t be more than a #3 guy and perhaps a contributor on returns.

Jeremy Jackson, #17

HIGH SCHOOL
In the 2010 Season Countdown, I identified Jackson as the least likely freshman receiver to play. It turns out that I was entirely wrong on my conclusion, but my reasoning was pretty sound. Anyway, Jackson was a Rivals 3-star wide receiver and the #22 player in the state of Michigan, but he was a way early commit (October 1, 2008) who selected the Wolverines over Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska, among others. He attended Ann Arbor (MI) Huron, across town from where his father, Fred, was the running backs coach for the Wolverines.

COLLEGE
Fellow class of 2010 wideouts Ricardo Miller and Jerald Robinson redshirted as freshmen (slot receiver Drew Dileo played a little), but Jackson played in ten games and caught 2 passes each against Wisconsin and Ohio State for a total of 55 yards. The hiring of Brady Hoke in 2011 didn’t change Jackson’s role much as he caught 3 passes for 36 yards as a sophomore. As a junior in 2012, he made 4 catches for 31 yards and a whopping 7.8 yards/catch. He achieved career highs in 2013 with 6 catches for 71 yards.

CAREER STATISTICS
17 catches, 193 yards, 11.4 yards/catch; 3 tackles

AWARDS
Academic All-Big Ten in 2012

SUMMARY
I am struggling to come up with the appropriate words to describe Jackson’s career. He is a player whose recruitment and playing career confounded me to some extent. If I’m being bluntly honest, I do not believe he was a Michigan-caliber player, nor am I convinced that he should have played as much as he did. I began seriously following recruiting in 2006, but the 2010 class happened to come about around the time when I started blogging, which caused me to evaluate recruits on a deeper level. I had serious questions at the time about whether Jackson was deserving of an offer, and I think I made some enemies on various message boards by being so insistent. The timing of my blogging “hobby” has nothing to do with Jackson himself, but he represents some of the first strong feelings I had about the direction of Michigan’s recruiting efforts. I’m not sure I’ve seen another Michigan receiver garner so much playing time without having a single skill to hang his hat on – speed, size, blocking ability, hands, leaping ability, running ability, something. In four years, 46 games, and four career starts, Jackson made just 17 catches. By comparison, Dileo played the same four years and saw a similar amount of playing time, but he was able to make 46 catches for 629 yards and 6 touchdowns. Jackson stayed out of trouble and did not detract from the face of the program during his college years (unlike a couple stupid kickers), and I wish I had more positive things to say about a kid who played for four years in a winged helmet.

I WILL REMEMBER HIM FOR . . .
. . . being the first player whose Michigan offer I seriously questioned.

PROJECTION
Jackson is listed at 6’3″ and 209 lbs. and I would assume he will participate in Michigan’s pro day later this month, although I am not aware of all the players who are certain to work out that day. However, Jackson’s lack of production and athleticism will likely prevent him from having any kind of professional football career.

Courtney Avery, #11

Courtney Avery (#5)

HIGH SCHOOLI can’t sum it up much better than I did back in March 2010: “The first [cornerback] to commit was Courtney Avery from Lexington, OH. Avery played quarterback – and played it well – as a high schooler, and if he were any taller than 5’10”, he might have been worthy of some scholarship offers as a signal caller. Avery had been committed to Jim Harbaugh’s Stanford Cardinal prior to pledging for Michigan, but impressed enough at Michigan’s summer camp to garner an offer. Shortly afterward, he became a Wolverine. Avery has some shortcomings as a defensive back. He is an aggressive tackler, but he’s small-ish and might lack ideal speed for man coverage. I think he’d be better off as a corner in a largely zone scheme, but he’s the type of kid who could be a solid backup and perhaps contribute as a gunner on the punt team.”

COLLEGE
Despite being tiny and inexperienced, Avery earned quite a bit of playing time in that awful 2010 season when Michigan gave up nine million yards and ten million points. Due to some injuries and attrition, Avery ended up starting five games and making 36 tackles, .5 tackles for loss, 4 pass breakups, and 1 forced fumble. The arrival of defensive coordinator Greg Mattison in 2011 moved Avery to slot corner, where he enjoyed the best season of his career. He had 26 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, .5 sacks, 2 interceptions, 4 pass breakups, 1 forced fumble, and 2 fumble recoveries; 1 one of those fumble recoveries was returned for an 83-yard touchdown against Purdue, and 1 of those interceptions sealed the 40-34 victory over Ohio State to end the regular season. As a junior in 2012, he had 19 tackles, 2 tackles, .5 sacks, 1 forced fumble, and 1 fumble recovery in four starts. With a very inexperienced free safety position, Avery practiced and played at both corner and safety leading into the 2013 season, but he was largely ineffective at both positions; he wrapped up his career with a season that included 30 tackles and half a sack.

CAREER STATISTICS
19 starts, 111 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, 2 interceptions for 1 yard, 8 pass breakups, 3 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries for 89 yards and 1 touchdown

AWARDS
Academic All-Big Ten in 2012
Team Captain in 2013

SUMMARY
I typically like high school quarterbacks even when they’re changing positions, as was the case with Avery. However, I was always skeptical of Avery because he lacked great athleticism for the cornerback position, and he wasn’t big or aggressive enough to be a good fit at safety. When he had to play early in his career due to some injuries and questionable personnel choices, Avery really struggled. He took a leap forward when the new coaching staff in 2011 put him in the slot, where his iffy physical skills could be covered up a little bit. On top of going 11-2 and winning the Sugar Bowl, Avery had probably the two biggest highlights of his career – a game-clinching interception to win the Ohio State game and an 83-yard fumble return for a touchdown against Purdue. For whatever reasons, his career tailed off from there. His 2012 was just so-so, and his senior year got off to a rocky start because of a knee injury suffered in August; he ended up playing some corner and some safety throughout the season, but it was his least impressive season since his freshman year. On the plus side, the people within the program respected him enough to name him a senior captain for 2013.

I WILL REMEMBER HIM FOR . . . 
. . . his interception against Ohio State in 2011. It was the first Ohio State game I had attended in awhile, and it ended a prolonged losing streak to the Buckeyes. Avery jumped a route, which popped the ball up in the air before he dove to corral it before it hit the ground. It was fourth down, anyway, so an incompletion would have ended the game, but it made it extra sweet that the game ended on a pick.

PROJECTION
Listed at 5’11” and 175 lbs., Avery isn’t the smallest guy out there, but he doesn’t have the quickness, speed, or acceleration that teams are looking for in a cornerbac

Drew Dileo, #9

Drew Dileo

Here’s my first ever post on Drew Dileo, a scouting report form March 2009.

HIGH SCHOOL
A product of Greenwell Springs (LA) Parkview Baptist, a small private school, Dileo was a Rivals 3-star and the #73 athlete in the 2010 class. Also an accomplished baseball player, he did a little bit of everything – running, receiving, returning, playing cornerback, and throwing the ball on occasion. As a junior in 2008, he had 760 rushing yards and 9 touchdowns, 315 receiving yard and 4 touchdowns, and averaged 42.2 yards per kickoff return. He committed to Michigan at the end of April 2009 over offers from Stanford and Tulane.

COLLEGE
If you’re like me, you wondered a little bit why Drew Dileo set foot on the field as a true freshman in 2010. He was not big and he was not fast (his reported 4.5 forty time was clearly a fib), but redshirt years don’t do much good for guys who aren’t going to grow or get much faster. Dileo was a holder, played some slot receiver, and returned some punts and kicks; it was his most productive year as a kick returner, when he averaged 21.6 yards/return. As a sophomore in 2011, he became the full-time holder and converted three fake field goals (against Michigan State, Nebraska, and Virginia Tech), the most spectacular of which was a prayer of a completion to long snapper Jareth Glanda in the Sugar Bowl against the Hokies. His receiving ticked up (9 catches, 121 yards, 2 touchdowns) a little bit, too. In his junior season of 2012, Dileo had his most productive season in terms of yardage when he caught 20 passes for 331 yards and 2 touchdowns, turning in big catches against Minnesota and Michigan State. For whatever reason, he became more of an afterthought as a senior (16 catches, 174 yards, 2 touchdowns) and had an uncharacteristic drop to seal a loss to Nebraska, but still managed to have some key receptions, such as touchdowns against Notre Dame and Ohio State.

CAREER STATISTICS
46 catches, 629 receiving yards, 13.7 yards/catch, and 6 touchdowns
3 carries for 14 yards
1/1 passing for 11 yards
11 punt returns for 79 yards, 7.2 yards/return
17 kickoff returns for 336 yards, 19.8 yards/return

SUMMARY
Dileo is one of those guys whom you wish could be re-signed as a free agent. He’s a utility man that just about any team could use in some capacity, but he’s not capable of being a spotlight guy. Without him Michigan has to face an immediate future without a sure-handed slot guy, without a sure-handed returner, and likely without a fake field goal threat from the holder position.


I WILL REMEMBER HIM FOR . . .
. . . the fake field goal pass to Jareth Glanda in the 2012 Sugar Bowl against Virginia Tech. That seems to sum up his career quite nicely, because it was Dileo finding a way to get the job done.

PROJECTION
Dileo won’t be invited to the NFL Combine, and he won’t be drafted. I have a hard time believing he’ll even be signed as an undrafted free agent. His football career is likely over, and I imagine he’ll move on to the professional world.