Tag: spring football

2024 Spring Football Preview: Wide Receiver

2023 Starters: Cornelius Johnson, Roman Wilson
Losses: Darrius Clemons (Oregon State), Johnson (NFL), Wilson (NFL)
Returning players: Eamonn Dennis (RS Sr.), Peyton O’Leary (RS Jr.), Tyler Morris (RS So.), Karmello English (So.), Frederick Moore (So.), Semaj Morgan (So.), Kendrick Bell (RS Fr.)
Newcomer: Channing Goodwin (Fr.)
Projected starters: Morris, Morgan

For some teams who play three and four wide receivers on every down, losing two senior wide receivers might not seem like a huge deal. So in the context of college football, the departures of Cornelius Johnson (47 catches, 604 yards, 1 touchdown) and Roman Wilson (48, 789, 12) might not seem like a huge deal. Johnson was the large-ish possession receiver, and Wilson was the speedy deep and intermediate threat. And then there were usually a couple tight ends roaming all over the place. Altogether, Michigan got just 47 other receptions from receivers not named Johnson or Wilson, and 3 of those came from Clemons, who is now plying his trade for the Beavers.

Based on playing time and targets last season, the two front-runners for starting roles in 2024 should be Morris and Morgan. Morris started four games – so he’s kind of a returning starter, I guess – and made 13 catches for 197 yards and 1 touchdown. But that one touchdown was a huge, key play when he got matched up against a linebacker against Alabama in the Rose Bowl and caught a crossing route for a 38-yard touchdown. Meanwhile, Morgan caught 22 passes for 204 yards and 2 touchdowns, and he also had an 87-yard punt return against Iowa in the Big Ten Championship game. He showed some downfield receiving chops in high school, but so far he’s been more of a catch-and-run guy with jitterbug moves – witness his screen catch for a TD against Washington – and adding in 4 carries for 67 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Last year’s spring game star was walk-on Peyton O’Leary (2 catches, 13 yards, 1 touchdown), who could factor in more this season if Michigan needs a big possession guy at 6’4″ and 190 lbs. Frederick Moore (4 catches, 32 yards) and Karmello English (1 catch, 6 yards, 1 touchdown) will also factor in somehow. Some people think Moore could be the fastest player on the team.

Players with less of a chance to make an impact include fifth year senior Eamonn Dennis (who has yet to make a catch in his career but plays a lot of special teams), Kendrick Bell (who was a high school quarterback until making the position switch last year), and early enrollee freshman Channing Goodwin. Bell’s brother Ronnie is now a wide receiver in the NFL with the 49ers, and Goodwin has some good bloodlines, as his father was a lineman for Michigan and in the NFL. But it’s unlikely that any of them play a huge role in 2024.

2024 Spring Football Preview: Running Back

2023 Starter: Blake Corum
Losses: Corum, Leon Franklin, C.J. Stokes
Returning players: Kalel Mullings (RS Sr.), Donovan Edwards (Sr.), Tavierre Dunlap (RS Jr.), Cole Cabana (RS Fr.), Benjamin Hall (RS Fr.)
Newcomers: N/A
Projected starter: Edwards

For having lost such a large part of Michigan’s program over the past three years in running back Blake Corum, Michigan’s running game will look pretty familiar in 2024. Corum ran 675 times for 3,737 yards and 58 touchdowns in his career, becoming Michigan’s top career touchdown scorer. But his primary backup, Donovan Edwards, had some huge games at opportune times.

Edwards ran 119 times for 497 yards (4.2 yards/carry) and 5 touchdowns in 2023, and he caught 30 passes for 249 yards (8.3 yards/catch). His entire season was pretty ho-hum . . . except for a 22-yard touchdown in a tight game against Penn State . . . and then two 40+ yard scores against Washington in the national championship game. He goes into the spring as the odds-on favorite to start, but he’s somewhat of a proven commodity. Michigan showed last year that they don’t really want to subject running backs to extra wear and tear, and we even learned that Corum and Edwards basically weren’t tackled all the way through fall camp. We’ll see if the transition to Sherrone Moore as head coach changes that equation at all.

The other intriguing option at running back is former linebacker Kalel Mullings, who has been playing offense since the 2022 postseason. He ran 36 times for 222 yards (6.2 yards/carry) and 1 touchdown, and he even caught 2 passes for 32 yards, including a key 19-yard reception against Alabama in the Rose Bowl. There were times in 2023 when he looked like the more instinctive back, and he’s certainly more adept at breaking tackles.

Second-year player Benjamin Hall was the breakout star of the 2023 spring game, and his one solid showing during the season was a 9-carry, 58-yard performance against Indiana. He’s a bowling ball at 5’11” and 234 pounds, but he’s unlikely to break into the top two at the position. Fellow second-year back Cole Cabana had just 2 carries for 6 yards in 2023 and had some injuries that limited him to one game; at 6’0″ and 198 pounds, he’s a speedster who still has to get his body ready for the college game.

The Wolverines lost C.J. Stokes (transfer to Charlotte) and walk-on Leon Franklin (transfer to Tennessee Tech), so along with Cabana and Hall, expect to see a good-sized dose of guys like walk-ons Henry Donohue (career: 3 carries for 9 yards) and Bryson Kudzal (career: 0 carries) toting the ball to keep Edwards and Mullings fresh for the fall. Kudzal’s high school profile touts a 4.41 forty and a 40″ vertical, but he’s an in-state, small-school product who was a little bit stiff and upright as a runner in high school.

2024 Spring Football Preview: Quarterback

2023 Starter: J.J. McCarthy
Loss: McCarthy
Returning players: Jack Tuttle (7th), Davis Warren (RS Jr.), Jayden Denegal (RS So.), Alex Orji (RS So.)
Newcomer: Jadyn Davis (Fr.)
Projected starter: Tuttle

There are a lot of unknowns going into the 2024 season, but first among all of them is the quarterback position. Michigan got a great performance from McCarthy in 2023, who goes down in history as the program’s best college quarterback ever after going 27-1 as a starter and winning a national championship.

But as of right now, Michigan is heading into the season with its cloudiest quarterback situation since perhaps 2009, when freshman Tate Forcier beat out freshman Denard Robinson and 2008 part-time starter Nick Sheridan. Michigan has significantly more experience on its side at the position in 2024, considering Tuttle is a 7th year senior and there are no freshmen – sorry, Jadyn Davis – who truly seem to be in the mix to start.

The first guy to get reps should be Tuttle, who has been named a starter before – albeit at Indiana – and ascended to #2 on the depth chart in 2023, during his first year in Ann Arbor. He completed 15/17 passes for 130 yards and 1 touchdown, a whopping 88.7% completion percentage. And the #1 most impressive thing about him in the spring of 2023 was his willingness and ability to run. He’s a former top-100 recruit, even if he was coming out of high school back when Barack Obama was president (don’t look that up).

The sexy pick is 6’3″, 235 lb. Alex Orji, who was brought in as a quasi single-wing quarterback last year but who didn’t attempt a pass. He’s capable of throwing lasers, which can be seen on his high school film and from last year’s spring game, but it’s noteworthy that the coaching staff didn’t trust him to throw last year. To go from attempting zero passes to becoming a starter would be . . . well . . . the first time since 2009 that Michigan would entrust a quarterback to start who hadn’t attempted a single pass during the previous season.

Offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell says Jayden Denegal (4/5, 50 yards, 1 TD) is the most improved offensive player, but he was a guy who was very raw coming into the program in 2022. Walk-on Davis Warren has looked good at times, but he had a rough go in limited time last season (0/5, 1 INT). Meanwhile, freshman Jadyn Davis is an early enrollee who has a winning pedigree, but his limited size (6’0″, 202), lack of an amazing arm, and lack of difference-making athleticism make him more of a threat to start down the road when experience and knowledge of the offense put him a notch above the field. To play as a freshman, you typically need some athletic trait that sets you apart – size, speed, arm strength – and that’s not Davis’s game.

What to Watch in the Spring Game

The spring game will be shown on the Big Ten Network on Saturday, April 2, at 12:00 p.m.

Here are a few things I’ll be curious to watch:

WHO TAKES OVER FOR HASSAN HASKINS?
Michigan needs to replace its leading rusher and toughest back in Hassan Haskins, a 6’1″, 220-pounder who is off to the NFL after rushing for 1,327 yards and 20 touchdowns in 2021. The Wolverines have two very talented running backs left, Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards, but neither one has proven to be a bruiser or short yardage back. They have home run speed but were listed at 200 and 202 pounds, respectively, last season. Redshirt freshman Tavierre Dunlap (6’0″, 222) might be able to step into the role as a big back, but does he have the instincts and power that Haskins showed? Michigan doesn’t need a leading rusher – that will be Corum or Edwards – but they need someone who can pound the ball inside.

Hit the jump for more.

Pre-Spring Game Update from umbig11

Jordan Glasgow

I’m posting this for umbig11, who is on the move and couldn’t post from mobile. – Thunder

Hit the jump for several nuggets, mostly on the defense.

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