Tag: Terrence Robinson

Review of 2008 Recruiting: Wide Receivers

Darryl Stonum

I haven’t done one of these in a while, but here’s a look back at the 2008 recruiting class – one whole decade ago.

THE ROSTER

LaTerryal Savage (RS Jr.)
Greg Mathews (Jr.)
Zion Babb (So.)
Toney Clemons (So.)
Junior Hemingway (So.)
James Rogers (So.)

THE COMMITS

Martavious Odoms
High school: Pahokee (FL) Pahokee
Ratings: Rivals 3-star, #71 WR
College: Michigan
Other notable offers: Auburn, Miami, Notre Dame, West Virginia 
Scoop: Odoms started 11 games as a true freshman, but his playing time and productivity diminished throughout his career. He made 94 career catches for 1,087 yards and 5 touchdowns. Interestingly, he only had 7 catches in his senior year of 2011, but 3 of them went for touchdowns. He also was a punt returner and scored 1 touchdown against Purdue as a true freshman. He was not drafted in 2012 and did not play beyond college.

Terrence Robinson
High school: Klein (TX) Oak
Ratings: Rivals 4-star, #9 APB
College: Michigan
Other notable offers: Nebraska, Oregon, TCU
Scoop: Robinson redshirted in 2008 and went on to make three career starts, all of which came in 2010. He caught 2 passes for 56 yards, returned 2 kickoffs for 27 yards, returned 1 punt for 11 yards, made 6 tackles on special teams, forced 1 fumble, and recovered 1 fumble. Those defensive statistics came entirely on special teams in 2011, Brady Hoke’s first year. He did not return for a fifth year and did not play professionally.

Roy Roundtree
High school: Trotwood (OH) Trotwood-Madison
Ratings: Rivals 4-star, #44 WR
College: Michigan
Other notable offers: Nebraska, Purdue 
Scoop: Roundtree redshirted in 2008 and then had a bit of a breakout campaign out of nowhere in 2009. He caught 32 passes for 434 yards (30 for 390 yards in a four-game stretch) and 3 touchdowns. He was Second Team All-Big Ten in 2010 with 72 catches for 935 yards and 7 touchdowns. With the new coaching staff in 2011, he caught just 19 passes for 355 yards and 2 touchdowns. He capped his career with 31 catches for 550 yards and 3 touchdowns in 2012. In both of his final seasons, he averaged a healthy 18.7 yards/catch. His career-high of 246 receiving yards against Illinois in 2010 was #1 all-time at Michigan until Jeremy Gallon surpassed him with 369 against Indiana in 2013. Roundtree was not drafted in 2013, spent some time with the Cincinnati Bengals before getting cut, and played in the Indoor Football League. He was the wide receivers coach at Indiana State last year, where several of Brady Hoke’s staff members now reside, and he will be returning to Michigan as a graduate assistant in 2018.

Darryl Stonum
High school: Stafford (TX) Dulles
Ratings: Rivals 4-star, #7 WR, #41 overall
College: Michigan Baylor
Other notable offers: Alabama, Florida, Florida State, USC
Scoop: Stonum caught 14 passes for 176 yards and 1 touchdown as a freshman in 2008. As a sophomore in 2009, he caught 13 passes for 199 yards and 1 touchdown; he also returned 39 kickoffs for 1,001 yards and 1 touchdown, a 94-yarder against Notre Dame. In his junior year of 2010, he caught 49 passes for 633 yards and 4 touchdowns. Despite solid production, he was suspended by Brady Hoke for the 2011 season – a redshirt year – for having multiple incidents with alcohol. He transferred to Baylor for 2012, where he caught 3 passes for 51 yards and 1 touchdown. He was not drafted in 2013 and is out of football. He totaled 76 catches for 1,008 yards and 6 touchdowns at Michigan.

Hit the jump for a look at the rest of the receivers offered by Michigan in 2008, along with some thoughts on the class overall.

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How will the recent departures affect Michigan in 2012?

Darryl Stonum is Michigan’s biggest off-season loss

Several football players have left Michigan’s program this offseason, including four announced departures during Friday’s spring practice press conference.  Here I’ll rank the departures from most important to least:

WR Darryl Stonum: Stonum was booted out of the program for yet another run-in with the law.  He had several alcohol-related offenses throughout his college career and was suspended for the entirety of the 2011 season, which would have been his senior year.  Instead, he took a “redshirt year” and everyone hoped he would mature and jump back into a starting role for 2012.  In 2010 he had 49 receptions for 633 yards and 4 touchdowns.  He probably could have approximated those numbers again in 2012 because he would have been the most proven and most physically talented wide receiver on the roster.  The Wolverines lost Junior Hemingway, Martavious Odoms, and Kelvin Grady to graduation, who combined for 46 receptions, 908 yards, and 7 touchdowns.  Now the top two wideouts going into 2012 seem to be the 5’8″ Jeremy Gallon (31 receptions, 453 yards, 3 touchdowns) and Roy Roundtree (19 receptions, 355 yards, 2 touchdowns).  The loss of Stonum will hurt Michigan significantly.

C Rocko Khoury: Khoury was considered to be in the mix for the starting center job in 2012.  He had been the top backup at the position for the past two seasons, and with David Molk’s graduation, there was an opening.  Most of the buzz this offseason indicated that Ricky Barnum was the front-runner for the position, and perhaps that was because the coaches knew for a while that Khoury would not return.  I would be interested to know why Khoury is done at Michigan.  Did he burn out?  Did he assume he would lose the battle with Khoury?  Will he continue his career elsewhere?  The answers to those questions are unclear.  It is clear, however, that the Wolverines are dangerously thin at center now.  Barnum – who has a history of getting injured –  is practically guaranteed to start at center, and the backup is redshirt freshman Jack Miller, who was listed at 263 lbs. last season.  Other options are Elliott Mealer, who has played guard and tackle in his career and taken some practice; walk-on Joey Burzynski; or one of the true freshmen, although none of them was expected to play center when recruited.  Considering Barnum’s injury history, one or more backups are practically guaranteed to play at some point.

WR Terrence Robinson: Robinson was a virtual non-factor as a wide receiver (1 reception for 43 yards in 2010), but he turned into a bit of a special teams coverage demon in 2011.  He made a total of 6 tackles, 1 forced fumble, and 1 fumble recovery on punt and kickoff coverage teams.  Some insiders believed that he even had a good shot at contributing on offense, based on comments that some of the coaches had made.  Robinson’s role can likely be filled on special teams, however, and history suggests that any offensive output would probably have been minimal.

RB Michael Cox: Cox contributed very little in Michigan’s 11-2 season last fall; the most he did was return a couple short kickoffs.  He had 19 career carries for 169 yards and 2 touchdowns, most of which came in 2009.  While Cox gave flashes that he might have been the most physically talented running back on the roster, rumors persisted that he struggled to learn the playbook and had some attitude issues.  He did play very well whenever he got a chance to show his skills, but all indications seemed to be that he would be see only limited duty again in 2012.  Of the six players listed here, Cox is the only one who has announced plans to continue his career elsewhere; he will transfer to UMass and play football for the upcoming season.

LB Isaiah Bell: Bell had been moored to the bench for the last three seasons.  He was likely destined to continue that role as a benchwarmer, and his departure should have virtually no effect on the team.

LS George Morales: Much like Bell, Morales hadn’t seen the field yet in his career.  The Wolverines have a couple long snappers already on the roster, one of whom (Jareth Glanda) won the starting short snapper job last season for field goals and extra points; there are also a couple kids entering school as part of the 2012 class who might be able to help if needed.

Four redshirt juniors won’t return in 2012

According to head coach Brady Hoke, running back Michael Cox, center Rocko Khoury, long snapper George Morales, and wide receiver Terrence Robinson will not return for their redshirt senior seasons in 2012.

I guess this means Khoury won’t be winning that center position.  This makes Michigan painfully thin at center, with only fifth year senior Ricky Barnum and redshirt freshman Jack Miller the only scholarship centers on the roster.  Fifth year senior Elliott Mealer has some experience snapping the ball, but only in practice. 

Michigan vs. Nebraska Awards

Jeremy Gallon hauls in a touchdown pass (image via Rivals)

Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . Jeremy Gallon/Martavious Odoms.  Gallon isn’t exactly DeSean Jackson with the football in his hands, but he sure does have a way of gaining extra yards in the open field.  Whenever he catches the ball, I expect at least a couple people to miss tackles.  Odoms, on the other hand, just plays with a reckless energy that I’m going to miss next year.  He’s finally getting some more time, and it’s nice to see him playing more as he finishes out his career.  His 38-yard touchdown reception was a dagger.

Let’s see less of this guy on offense . . . Michael Shaw.  Shaw has the speed to get outside, but Michigan has had a hard time sealing the edge this season.  Shaw is more of a straight-ahead runner, and I don’t think he’s being used properly right now, because he doesn’t have great vision.  I was in support of playing him more early in the season, but as Al Borges seems to go away from the I-formation as the season wears on, Shaw’s talents are a bit superfluous.

Let’s see more of this guy on defense . . . nobody.  The defense is operating at a high level right now.  There’s no need to mess with success.

Let’s see less of this guy on defense . . . nobody.  See above.

Play of the game . . . Terrence Robinson’s forced fumble on the opening kick of the second half, which was recovered by Courtney Avery.  Robinson has barely played on offense this season, but he has made his presence his known on special teams.  With Michigan clinging to a 17-10 lead coming out of halftime, this particular play must have made Nebraska thing that it just wasn’t their day.  The offense scored a touchdown to make it 24-10 and the game was essentially over.

MVP of the game . . . Fitzgerald Toussaint.  Toussaint had 29 carries for 138 yards and 2 touchdowns.  On a day when the offensive line struggled to create holes in the running game, Toussaint made positive plays on snaps that looked to be doomed.  I often talk about explosive plays in the running game, and Toussaint now has at least one 20+ yard rush in 6 out of 13 career games, including his 31-yard touchdown against the Cornhuskers.  Toussaint now has 891 yards and 9 touchdowns on the season.

2011 Countdown: #63 Terrence Robinson

Terrence Robinson

Name: Terrence Robinson
Height: 5’9″
Weight: 175 lbs.
High school: Oak High School in Klein, TX
Position: Wide receiver
Class: Redshirt junior
Jersey number: #8
Last year: I ranked Robinson #57 and said he would be a backup returner and slot receiver.  He was both of those things and had 1 catch for 43 yards to go with 1 kick return for 23 yards.

Robinson is a former 4-star athlete from Texas who got a lot of Michigan fans buzzing early, based largely on one high school move that started off great but ended with him stumbling to the ground untouched.  Beyond that he has 2 career catches for 56 yards, 1 kick return for 23, and 1 punt return for 11.  And once the Brady Hoke regime took over, it seemed to make Robinson even more of an afterthought.

Three- and four-receiver sets will still be a large part of Michigan’s offense in 2011, but that doesn’t mean the new coaching staff favors 5’9″, 175 lb. receivers to play in the slot.  If Robinson wants to make an impact on the team, it will probably be in the same way that he’s kinda sorta had a chance to play in the past few seasons – on kick and punt returns.  Especially with a quarterback who’s only 6′ tall, the team needs taller receivers running routes over the middle of the field.  Robinson looks like he might be a bit player for the rest of his career.

Prediction: Backup kick and punt returner