Explanation of the Countdown

Tag: Will Heininger

16Jul 2010
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Explanation of the Countdown

It shouldn’t be a surprise that Brandon Graham was Michigan’s MVP last year.

As I started the 2010 Season Countdown, I assumed (wrongly) that people would remember the series from last year. But after fielding several questions on the topic, I realized that . . . well . . . nobody really read my blog last year. This still isn’t an extremely popular destination, but hey, 1,700+ hits for a full-time teacher and coach isn’t bad.

On to the explanation . . .

The countdown is designed to highlight each player and offer some opinions and analysis on each one. They are listed in order of “Least Important” to “Most Important” for the 2010 season. In other words, Christian Pace is at the bottom of the list because he’s the most likely to redshirt. Therefore, his impact on Michigan’s 2010 performance will be almost nil.

Last year’s 2009 Season Countdown had the following players in the top five:

1. Brandon Graham
2. Tate Forcier
3. Donovan Warren
4. Obi Ezeh
5. Brandon Minor

Now imagine if Brandon Graham had been lost to injury – Michigan would have lost 10.5 sacks and its defensive leader, and perhaps former walk-on Will Heininger would have drawn into the lineup. More likely, Ryan Van Bergen would have moved to defensive end full-time and Renaldo Sagesse, Greg Banks, or Will Campbell would have played 3-tech defensive tackle. Yeah . . . trading in Brandon Graham for Renaldo Sagesse – albeit a serviceable player – scares me, too.

Think about this: if Tate Forcier had been lost to injury and Denard Robinson had made the same number of passing attempts (281), Robinson’s 12% interception rate would have translated to approximately thirty-three (33!) interceptions. Michigan fans would have been clamoring for Nick Sheridan.

Without Warren (and Boubacar Cissoko, who got booted off the team), imagine potentially having J.T. Floyd and Teric Jones as your starting corners. Yikes!

It turns out, Obi Ezeh was injured in 2009, which partly caused him to have his worst season as a starter. In his stead, Michigan played redshirt sophomore, 206 lb. Kevin Leach.

I probably overestimated Brandon Minor’s importance to the team, since there were other running backs to pick up the slack. I still maintain that Minor was Michigan’s best back for the past two seasons, but the drop-off between Minor and Carlos Brown isn’t nearly as significant as, say, Brandon Graham to Will Heininger or from Forcier’s 13 interceptions to Robinson’s estimated 33 picks.

So I’m presenting the 2010 Season Countdown. On average, one player will be revealed each day until the beginning of the season, and the #1 guy is – in my estimation – the most important player for Michigan’s success this coming season.

26Jan 2010
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Jibreel Black, Wolverine

Jibreel Black: football player, Wolverine, jungle sniper
Jibreel Black, a 6’2″, 253 lb. defensive lineman from Cincinnati, OH, committed to Michigan on Sunday. He’s the 26th addition to Michigan’s 2010 class.

Black is a 3-star defensive end to Rivals and a 4-star defensive tackle to Scout. It seems a bit up in the air as to what position he’s going to play at Michigan. Some seem to think that he’ll pack on some pounds and play 3-tech defensive tackle for the Wolverines, and some think he’ll lean out and remain at strongside defensive end, the position he played in high school. If it means anything, his brother Larry is a 6’2″, 306 lb. redshirt freshman defensive tackle for Indiana.

As a junior, Black racked up 76 tackles and 8 sacks. He added 61 tackles and 10 sacks as a senior. Michigan offered him prior to his senior season, so the coaches have been going after him for a while. Black has suffered from a bout of indecision, however. He’s been committed to Indiana and, most recently, Cincinnati before settling on Michigan. There’s only a week before National Signing Day, but I’m not going to trust that he’s set on Michigan until he faxes that letter of intent to Ann Arbor. He might end up back with Cincinnati or Indiana, or perhaps he’ll entertain his offers from Illinois, Michigan State, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, among others.

As for projecting him forward, if Black remains at Michigan, I expect that he’ll step into the 5-tech defensive end spot previously held by Brandon Graham. When watching his film, he looks almost like a clone of Graham. He’s short-ish and thickly built. Perhaps the best thing I see on film is the way he keeps his shoulders square to the line. Too many talented athletes in high school fire off the ball and shoot straight for the ball carrier, but college opponents will take advantage of that lack of discipline. His fundamentally sound positioning shows that not only is he coachable, but the biggest obstacle for him might be his strength and conditioning. He does play a little upright, but at only 6’2″ and going up against tackles who are three to five inches taller than him, leverage shouldn’t be a major issue. I’m sure Michigan’s coaches will work with him on staying lower, being explosive, and using that leverage to the best of his ability, but that’s not a big concern.

Black will probably redshirt in 2010. He’s got some bad body weight on him and needs to lean out. There’s very little depth at defensive end, but I imagine the 5-tech defensive end spot will be played by Ryan Van Bergen. Will Heininger is an experienced backup, and Anthony Lalota will be a redshirt freshman, but he’s a project. I think Ken Wilkins, who’s 246 lbs. and a workout warrior, will eventually be a 5-tech. But Black might be the best of the bunch.