Tag: senior profile

Matt Wile, #45

Matt Wile (#45, image via BCSN)

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HIGH SCHOOL
Coming out of San Diego (CA) Francis Parker, Wile was a Rivals 2-star kicker. The hometown Aztecs went hard after him under Brady Hoke, and Wile was also pursued by Air Force, Nebraska, and Washington, among others. When Hoke was hired at Michigan, he extended an offer for Wile to play for the Wolverines. After playing in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, he committed to Michigan in late January.

COLLEGE
Immediately upon arriving in Ann Arbor, Wile was counted on to be the kickoff specialist. He averaged 64.0 yards/kickoff and also averaged 41.6 yards/punt on 17 attempts. ESPN and the Big Ten Network named him to their freshman all-conference teams. As a sophomore in 2012, he averaged 60.5 yards/kickoff, averaged 35.9 yards/punt, and went 2/3 on field goals with a long of 52 while handling the long field goal attempts. During his junior year in 2013, he averaged 59.8 yards/kickoff and went 3/5 on long field goals; he also became the full-time punter while Will Hagerup served a year-long suspension, and Wile averaged 40.6 yards, landing 16 inside the 20-yard line and booming 10 of them 50+ yards. Then as a senior, he became the full-time kicker and went 15/21 on field goals, made 28/28 extra points, and averaged 63.0 yards/kickoff; with Hagerup’s return, Wile punted just once.

CAREER STATISTICS
– 284 kickoff, 17531 yards, 61.7 yard average, 108 touchbacks
– 20/29 field goals (69.0%), long of 52 yards, 33/33 extra points (100%)
– 91 punts, 3658 yards, 40.2 yard average, 4 touchbacks, 22 fair catches, 29 inside the 20, 15 of 50+ yards, long of 69, 0 attempts blocked

AWARDS
All-Freshman Big Ten (2011), Academic All-Big Ten (2013-2014)

SUMMARY
This past season it was hard to believe that Wile was a senior. When he was recruited in 2011, he was the beginning of the trend that Brady Hoke was looking for solid, upstanding citizens who you would want to marry your daughter. As a U.S. Army All-American coming out of high school, there was a feeling that he would have a breakout season or become a weapon at some point in his career. Instead, he was mostly a steady, all-around kicker who always kept himself available. He played in every single game Michigan played for four years, 51 straight. He did not have any extremely memorable moments like his predecessor Brendan Gibbons (who had all-time great kicks against Virginia Tech and Northwestern), but his career didn’t have many memorable low points, either.

I WILL REMEMBER HIM FOR . . .
. . . being there when the other renegade kickers on the team were unavailable. Gibbons allegedly raped a girl and was eventually booted out of the university, leaving Wile to pick up his duties. Meanwhile, Hagerup was suspended for at least one game from 2010-2013, including the entire 2013 season. The guy who stepped in every time to pick up the slack was Wile.

PROJECTION
The best part of Wile’s game was his kickoff. He was very consistent in either getting touchbacks or pinning the ball near the left pylon, leaving returners with limited space to work. Unfortunately, NFL teams want kickers to be able to do more than kick off. Wile’s punting and placekicking are not up to snuff for the next level, so his professional career has probably come to a close.

Will Hagerup, #40

Maybe Will Hagerup’s crowning achievement was getting this picture taken with Erin Andrews

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HIGH SCHOOL

– 19 kickoffs for 1,166 yards (61.4 yards/kick) and 1 touchback

AWARDS
2012: Eddleman-Fields Big Ten Punter of the Year, First Team All-Big Ten

SUMMARY
After several years of watching Zoltan Mesko boom punts, Michigan was looking for their next stud at the position when Hagerup was recruited. It was a big deal when he chose Michigan over several other big-time programs, including his home-state Badgers. For various reasons, Hagerup never became the fan favorite and weapon that Mesko had been. One big reason was his inexplicably (or perhaps explicably) subpar 2011 season. Another reason is that Hagerup fell just short of Sebastian Janikowski for his off-the-field exploits, getting in trouble numerous times with both coaching staffs for whom he played. He was suspended for a game in 2010 under Rodriguez, four games under Hoke in 2011, another game in 2012, and the entire 2013 season. The only season in which he could control his behavior was his fifth-year campaign after taking the Darryl Stonum Memorial Mutually Agreed Upon Get Your Life in Order Redshirt. Another reason is that, despite the solid-to-great punting averages, he was never really a “coffin corner” punter nor a guy who could consistently deaden the football at the 2-yard line. Too many of his punts either bounced into the endzone or were returned capably.

I WILL REMEMBER HIM FOR . . .

In a game against OSU, no less.

PROJECTION
Hagerup had the 29th-best punting average in FBS this past season, and CBS Sports currently has him ranked as the #16 punter in the NFL Draft. Over the past three seasons, there have been 2, 2, and 1 punters selected. I do not believe he will get drafted, and I don’t think that his talent warrants a potential character risk for a guy who was suspended for a total of 19 games throughout his college career. Since there are so few punting jobs available (and punters can play for such a long time), there’s not a huge need for practice-squad guys or replacements. If one punter or kicker gets injured/released, teams usually just find a retread lingering around. So this is probably the end of the road for his football career.

Delonte Hollowell, #24

Delonte Hollowell (foreground, #24)

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HIGH SCHOOL
Coming out of Detroit (MI) Cass Tech, Hollowell followed the likes of Boubacar Cissoko and Teric Jones, both of whom were diminutive Technician cornerbacks who would eventually play at Michigan, albeit with shortened careers. Hollowell was a Rivals 3-star and the #25 cornerback in his class, choosing Michigan over Central Michigan in January 2010, approximately a year before National Signing Day.

COLLEGE
Hollowell mostly played as a special teamer in 2011, making 6 tackles and 1 fumble recovery, the latter of which came in the Sugar Bowl against Virginia Tech. He played a little more in both phases of the game as a sophomore in 2012, totaling 4 tackles and 1 more fumble recovery against Purdue. Then as a junior in 2013, he made 2 tackles and 1 fumble recovery. I hypothesized that he would have a 2014 season that included 0 tackles and 1 fumble recovery, but he broke the trend by making 15 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, and 2 pass breakups. Those numbers came in significantly increased snaps on the defensive side of the ball, as injuries and ineffectiveness opened the door for him to play more.

CAREER STATISTICS
27 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 3 fumble recoveries, 2 pass breakups

AWARDS
None

SUMMARY
Hollowell was a small corner coming out of high school, and I questioned his abilities at the time. When he started his career at Michigan, I was surprised that he played as a true freshman. I thought he would be the type of kid who would certainly redshirt, but that turned out not to be the case. Brady Hoke burned his redshirt and got a fumble recovery out of him. Hollowell would eventually turn into a pretty solid gunner and special teams coverage guy, but he never panned out on defense. Aside from the three career fumble recoveries, his play on defense this past season was very frustrating. When Raymon Taylor and Jabrill Peppers were injured, and when Blake Countess was benched for stretches because of poor play, Hollowell got more time on the field than anyone probably wanted. The results were not positive, as several teams picked on him as soon as they saw him enter the game.

I WILL REMEMBER HIM FOR . . . 
. . . being the first recruit to earn me some hate mail. If you look back at my commitment post from January 2010 (LINK), you’ll see that I gave him a TTB Rating of 58 and questioned whether he would make an impact at Michigan. You’ll also see if you scroll down to the comments that various family members, Cass Tech people, etc. were not happy with my characterization. I received a couple e-mails objecting to my statements, too. That was really the first time that a bunch of people came out of the woodwork to descend on my site with anger. Five years later, I still remember that as a landmark in my blogging “career,” although not necessarily a positive one.

PROJECTION
Hollowell was the star of Michigan’s pro day last week (LINK), running a hand-timed 4.34, showing off a 37″ vertical, and doing other things that pro scouts generally like. Unfortunately, his play on the field probably won’t warrant a look at the next level. He was never a starter (well, he started one game as a senior), mostly played special teams, and never made an interception. Michigan has had better corners who never did anything in the NFL (Donovan Warren, J.T. Floyd, Todd Howard, etc.), so I think Hollowell will probably follow in their footsteps.

Jack Miller, #60

Jack Miller

HIGH SCHOOL
Coming out of Toledo (OH) St. John’s, Miller was a Rivals 3-star and an unranked weakside defensive end. Yep. That’s how stupid the recruiting sites can be sometimes; they call future centers “weakside ends.” Anyway, Miller chose the Wolverines over offers from Illinois, Michigan State, Pitt, Stanford, West Virginia, and several others. He was one of the last players to commit to Rich Rodriguez (on December 10, 2010) before the coach was fired. Here’s my commitment post from ye olden days (LINK).

COLLEGE
Miller necessarily redshirted as a freshman in 2011 because he was very undersized at 263 lbs. He played sparingly as a backup in 2012. He got a chance to start in 2013, but he was quickly replaced after four games by then-redshirt sophomore guard Graham Glasgow, who had his own share of struggles. Not only was Miller getting pushed around, but he was also completely whiffing on assignments too often. By the beginning of the 2014 season, the redshirt junior had started to figure things out and earned the starting center nod for the Darrell Funk-coached offensive line, holding the job for the entire year. For his accomplishments, he was named the best offensive lineman on the team. The incumbent was expected to hold his position in 2015, but he decided after a few practices in spring ball to hang up his cleats.

CAREER STATISTICS
16 starts

AWARDS
2014: Hugh G. Rader Award (team’s best lineman)

SUMMARY
As you can tell if you look back at that commitment post, I was never a huge fan of Miller’s abilities. He played a little high, was undersized, and wasn’t a great athlete. However, it should at least be considered that he was a guy recruited by Rich Rodriguez to play in mostly a zone system, and then he had to play in a more pro-style offense under Brady Hoke. When Miller actually played, he was somewhere between 288-296 lbs., which isn’t tiny but isn’t huge, either. He was downright bad in 2013, but he was serviceable in 2014. In a year when three other guys held their jobs for the whole year, Miller was named the top lineman and cut down on the mistakes he made as a redshirt sophomore. Some fans held an indelible grudge against Miller for what happened in 2013, but he probably would have been the starter again in 2015 for what should be a solid offensive line. Now it looks like the center job will go to fifth year senior Graham Glasgow, who played guard last year, or redshirt sophomore Patrick Kugler.

I WILL REMEMBER HIM FOR . . .
 . . . his friendly jowls. At no point in his career did he seem like a manly beast of an offensive lineman, but instead looked like an oversized 14-year-old. Maybe like the real-life version of Russell from Up.

PROJECTION
Miller says that he’s furthering his education and pursuing business interests, so it does not look like he’ll be working toward playing professional football of any sort. In any case, he was probably not bound for the NFL and might have been more of an Arena League-caliber guy.

Raymon Taylor, #6

Raymon Taylor

HIGH SCHOOL
Taylor attended Highland Park High School in Detroit and was a Rivals 4-star, the #14 athlete in the 2011 class. Here’s my commitment post for him from January 2011 (LINK), when the one-time Indiana commit flipped to Michigan after the Wolverines hired Brady Hoke. I gave him a TTB Rating of 67.

COLLEGE
When Taylor arrived in 2011, Michigan was in a tenuous situation at the cornerback positions. Injuries, attrition, and some downright poor play had thinned the ranks of viable cornerbacks. Four different players (J.T. Floyd, Troy Woolfolk, Blake Countess, and Courtney Avery) started games that season, and Taylor played as a backup in three of those games, making 2 total tackles. In the 2012 season opener, Countess tore his ACL, and Taylor stepped in to start for the remainder of the year. He tallied an interception in consecutive weeks against Notre Dame and then Purdue, returning the latter for a 63-yard touchdown; he also made 45 tackles, 1 fumble recovery, and 1 pass breakup that year. As a junior in 2013, Taylor remained a starter and had his best career performance, notching 86 tackles (1st on the team), 1.5 tackles for loss, .5 sacks, 4 interceptions, 1 fumble recovery, and 9 pass breakups. Based on his junior year, expectations were fairly high for him as a senior; his career ended with a disappointing 38 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and 6 pass breakups as he suffered some nagging injuries and started just eight games.

CAREER STATISTICS
171 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, .5 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, 16 pass breakups
6 interceptions returned for 145 yards (24.2 yards/return) and 1 touchdown

AWARDS
None

SUMMARY
In the long term, Taylor will probably be a rather forgettable, solid cornerback. He was a three-year starter who did not get taken advantage of consistently, but he was not consistently good, either. Playing at about 5’10” and a little over 180 lbs., he did not show great speed but was physical enough and athletic enough to hang with the guys he was guarding. His two most memorable plays were probably those two picks as a sophomore when he jumped a pass against the Fighting Irish and then sort of lucked into that touchdown against the Boilermakers. Michigan fans thought they might have found a hidden gem at that point, and that feeling continued through his junior season. The somewhat inexplicable drop-off as a senior coincided with a drop-off by the whole team; otherwise, Taylor himself might have been under more scrutiny.

I WILL REMEMBER HIM FOR . . . 
. . . that touchdown against Purdue. It was a little bit of luck that the ball dropped into his hands, but it’s a beautiful thing when a defender scores a touchdown of any kind. Especially when it comes at the expense of Danny Hope and Caleb TerBush.

PROJECTION
Taylor was not invited to the NFL Combine. He will likely participate in Michigan’s pro day, which typically happens in mid-March. I’m inclined to believe that some of Taylor’s struggles as a senior can be attributed to his health, and his solid play from 2012-2013 might warrant a second look by some NFL teams. However, he will have an uphill battle to latch on with an NFL squad. He does not have good size, and his speed is pretty average for a corner. He probably will not get drafted, he might get signed as a rookie free agent, and then he might bounce around some practice squads before finding a short career in the CFL or AFL.