Maurice Hurst, Jr. (image via MLive)
Michigan set a school record for the number of players chosen in the 2017 NFL Draft, and it’s almost impossible to replicate talent production like that in consecutive years. So the Wolverines are bound to have a less exciting draft weekend in 2018, but the cupboard isn’t totally bare.
Here’s a look at Michigan’s top NFL prospects for the 2018 class:
Matthew Thomas
MICHIGAN RUNNING BACKS
Starters: Michigan’s starter is 5’11”, 228 lb. senior De’Veon Smith. Smith has twice as many carries as any other player on the team, totaling 165 carries for 810 yards (4.9 YPC) and 10 touchdowns. Smith is a powerful back who breaks tackles and runs hard, but he’s not much of a big-play threat. The high point of his season was a 23-carry, 158-yard, 2-touchdown effort against Indiana in mid-November. However, that was sandwiched by two games in which he averaged 2.3 and 2.9 YPC, against Iowa and Ohio State, respectively. Smith is also a solid pass blocker, though he doesn’t offer much in the way of receiving (13 catches, 59 yards). Redshirt junior fullback Khalid Hill (6’2″, 263 lbs.) leads the team in total touchdowns, including 10 rushing scores on goal-line attempts. He also has 14 catches for 105 yards and 2 TDs.
Key backups: Freshman Chris Evans (565 yards, 7.1 YPC, 3 TDs) got the most carries of the backups by a fairly slim margin. He’s a speedster with big-play ability. Redshirt junior Ty Isaac (417 yards, 5.6 YPC, 5 TDs) plays sporadically and offers a nice combination of size and skill at 6’3″, 228. Sophomore Karan Higdon‘s (422 yards, 6.2 YPC, 6 TDs) star was rising during the first two-thirds of the season, but over the final four games, he had 15 carries for 19 yards. I’ll list redshirt junior Henry Poggi here, even though he gets about 50% of the fullback snaps; he has 1 carry for 4 yards and 6 catches for 45 yards in mostly a blocking role.
Hit the jump for more on Florida State.
Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . Ty Isaac catching the ball, Wilton Speight, and Jabrill Peppers. I have three suggestions going into Ohio State. First, Isaac has been underutilized as a pass receiver. Coming out of high school, there were some who thought he might be best suited to play wide receiver or tight end based on his hands. Saturday’s catch on a screen pass was just his second reception of the year, but it went for 21 yards – just like his first catch of the year (against Colorado). He has 8 catches for 111 yards in his career. Michigan has not used the tailbacks in the passing game much this year, but Isaac could be an asset for a team that might have a dinged up or backup quarterback. Second, let’s see Wilton Speight. He’s the starting quarterback, and Michigan needs him if the Wolverines want to play in the Big Ten championship game or the College Football Playoff. He’s still not 100% after getting injured against Iowa, but I think you have to at least give him a shot and try to keep him upright as long as you can against OSU. Otherwise, a lot of your other team goals go down the drain. Lastly, Peppers is a potential difference-maker. I heard last week that he would probably play more running back against Indiana, but then he only saw one snap there, perhaps because it was such a tight game in cold, windy, snowy weather. Michigan has been deploying Peppers on offense throughout the season, to varying effects, but they need to use him effectively against a solid Ohio State defense. That includes using him as a decoy, handing off the ball, and then keeping it at times.
Hit the jump for more awards from the Indiana game.
5-0 feels good. Michigan fans had to sweat it out on Saturday, even though Wisconsin couldn’t do much of anything on offense. But now that the Wolverines have faced adversity a couple times – being 7-7 in the second half with Wisconsin, being down 28-7 to Colorado – and come out on top, it feels good to know that Michigan won’t crumple in the fourth quarter. Fans were talking on here and elsewhere that Wisconsin was going to get handled pretty easily, but a) good defense keeps you in the game and b) Michigan’s not that great offensively. Regardless, a win over the #8 team in the country – and one who had beaten us up the last two times we played – leaves us looking pretty good to the pollsters.
Hit the jump for much more on the win.
Chris Evans was the star of the show (image via MLive)
I’m still in the same place I was with Wilton Speight. I have confidence that Jim Harbaugh can pick the right quarterback, so I believe Speight is the best guy for this team. However, I’m still not in love with Speight as a guy who can take this team to the next level. He started off the game with a bootleg on which he tried to dump the ball over the head of the flat defender, which ended with an interception. Okay, fine. No real harm done, but it was an inauspicious beginning to the Wilton Speight Era. By the end of the game, Speight was 10/13 for 145 yards, 3 touchdowns, and the 1 interception. Hawaii didn’t make it difficult, and Speight mostly made the right throws to the right guys. He did make another mistake when he hung a deep ball short that was intended for Darboh, but a spectacular interception turned into an incompletion when the safety couldn’t hold on. On the plus side, Speight threw a nice corner route to Grant Perry for the first TD, and he bought some time outside of the pocket to redirect Maurice Ways for a 20-yard catch. Otherwise, it was a pretty ho-hum day for a Michigan QB against an overmatched opponent.
Hit the jump for more takeaways from Saturday’s blowout of Hawaii.