i bet no one reads this whole thing

C'mon guys, try to keep up [Patrick Barron]

You know you're a Michigan football geek if you obsess over the weights. The real nerds get into position changes, number changes, and walk-ons. I have updated my big roster file.

Just so you know what you're getting into if you progress any further in this article, I'm going to lead with the thing only I obsess over.

The Curse of B-Will Continues

image

THE Brandon Williams with the Devin Gardner* jersey I had just bought for my nephew the night before Gardner switched to 98.

With this roster it's official: no player at Michigan will have managed to wear the #12 for his entire eligibility for two entire decades. The last man to do it is the man above, cornerback Brandon Williams**, who donned it in 1999 as a freshman and wore it through his graduation in 2002. Since then:

  • QB Matt Gutierrez (2002-'05) got Wally Pipp'ed by true freshman Chad Henne in 2004 and transferred to Idaho State.
  • QB David Cone (2006-'08) left with a season of eligibility remaining.
  • CB JT Floyd (2008-'10) switched to #8 for his final two seasons.
  • WR Roy Roundtree (2009-'11) switched to the #21 Legends Jersey as a senior in 2012.
  • QB/WR Devin Gardner (2012) switched to #12 from #7 for the one year he was a wide receiver, then switched to Legends Jersey #98 for the 2013 season opener.
  • LB Allen Gant (2012-'14), too slow for safety and too small for linebacker, might have made a good viper, but graduated and left the program right after Michigan hired Don Brown. Gant did come back a few years later as a grad assistant with the vipers, before moving on to coach DBs at Slippery Rock. He was recently named the defensive coordinator at D-II West Virginia Wesleyan.
  • P Blake O'Neill (2015) was just a one-year rental.
  • QB Alex Malzone (2015-'17) got his degree in 2.5 years and grad transferred to Miami (NNTM)
  • RB Chris Evans (2016-'18, 2020) was THIS CLOSE to breaking the curse—he did the hard thing, which was take a year off from the team to serve penance and make up for a gross academic misconduct that got him booted from it with a year of eligibility remaining. Then he went and switched to #9. Bah!

Linebacker Josh Ross is a redshirt junior, so if he manages to stick around and not change digits through 2021 the curse will finally be broken. If Ross heads to the NFL or something, the next shot is QB Cade McNamara, now a redshirt freshman.

*I am being told by the CLC that Adidas did not make #12 jerseys in the summer of 2013 for the presumptive new starting quarterback, because you're not supposed to profit from amateur athletes.

**Brandon Williams is also the namesake of that play when the opponent muffs a punt and you field it on the run, take it to the endzone, and start celebrating before the refs signal the ball was dead where you touched it for some arcane reason.

[After the JUMP: Freshman numbers and what they have to live up to (according to me, an unathletic fat guy with a home office)]

Michigan did in fact release a spring roster this year, though this one gets the paint drying treatment, since even Steve Martin couldn’t get excited about the most recent phonebooks.

There are reasons for that. For one we kinda had a basketball thing going on the day they appeared. Two, we kinda had a hockey thing going on. Three, the roster release is what precipitated the Elysee Mbem-Bosse situation (because he wasn’t on it), and I didn’t think an irreverent post on the roster was appropriate right at that moment. And four, these are all the same weights from the game notes they put out for the media last year, which have finally been applied to the online 2017 rosters as well as the spring ones. I’ve taken to updating my spreadsheet whenever insiders said things like “Paye is up to 365” or a player posted his new number and will show that when it’s available, but those are not verified and therefore not included here.

But hey, it’s officially official offseason and it’ll be good to have this when we do get new rosters five minutes before Notre Dame kickoff and we can measure the Herbertization. So I’ll note all the actually new things, and we’ll hit the jump to see last year’s weight gains/losses and make totally unrealistic judgments about it.

NUMBER CHANGES

We’ve discussed some of these already but seeing them all might put those in better context.

  • Kekoa Crawford: 1—>41
  • Jordan Anthony: 1—>34
  • Kareem Walker: 6—>46
  • Nate Schoenle: 35—>81
  • Shea Patterson: 2
  • Joe Milton: 5
  • Taylor Upshaw: 91
  • Myles Sims: 6

We have an interview with Schoenle going in HTTV so I got the author to confirm that number changed because Schoenle and Uche are both on special teams. Kareem Walker’s change was also his choice I’m told, part of a refocusing process that’s less about “I’m the next Tyrone Wheatley!” and more “I’m going to be my best myself.” He probably didn’t realize he just went to the number of an even greater former Wolverine, Harry Newman (or early ’80s star running back Lawrence Ricks).

In the absence of an explanation for Crawford’s number switch, along with his non-mention in spring, it’s not hard to speculate negative things. On the other hand, I remind you 41 was Rob Lytle, and Harbaugh was the ball boy on those teams, and I guarantee you he wouldn’t miss a chance to point this out if someone groused about wearing it. It also could just mean Kekoa has joined the kick return unit too so he can’t have the same number as Ambry Thomas.

HEIGHT CHANGES

I don’t know why so many of these changed—dudes don’t usually grow taller in college and only fullbacks shrink—but they did so I’ll report them. As best I can tell originally they just grabbed whatever was listed on the Rivals database, and now they report their own measurements.

  • Up 2 inches: Josh Uche 6’1”—>6’3”; Devin Gil 6’0”—>6’2”
  • Up 1 inch: Ben Bredeson 6’4”—>6’5”; Juwann Bushell-Beatty 6’5”—>6’6”; Noah Furbush 6’4”—>6’5”; Ron Johnson 6’3”—>6’4”; Khaleke Hudson 5’11”—>6’0”; Kekoa Crawford 6’1”—>6’2”; Cesar Ruiz 6’3”—>6’4”; and Andrew Stueber 6’6”—>6’7”
  • Down an inch: David Long 6’0”—>5’11; Eddie McDoom 6’1”—>6’0”; Nick Eubanks 6’6”—>6’5”; Kurt Taylor 5’9”—>5’8”; O’Maury Samuels 5’11”—>5’10”; Tarik Black 6’4”—>6’3”; Nico Collins 6’5”—>6’4”; Quinn Nordin 6’2”—>6’1”
  • Down 2 inches: Donovan Jeter 6’5”—>6’3”

Any David Long + Lavert Hill photo could tell you they were the same height—if anything Hill is taller—so that one doesn’t surprise me. Adding an inch to offensive linemen makes people who put stock in roster data (ahem) think those OL are better pro prospects, so that could be what that is. Ditto linebackers.

    POSITION CHANGES

    These don’t show as much as they should because Michigan’s positional definitions are as vague (OL, LB, DB, etc.) as possible. Also you know about them already: Jared Wangler moved to fullback, and they’re now listing the vipers Khaleke Hudson and Jordan Glasgow as linebackers.

    The changes we’ve heard about are Glasgow swapped with Hawkins for SS/Viper, Uche stayed with the OLB group at his request instead of trying out at DE, Irving-Bey is with the tackles, and Joel Honigford is with the guards.

    WELCOME TO THE DATABASE FRESHMEN!

    After signing day Michigan snuck a new page into its roster list with the guys who’d signed their LOIs. No numbers yet but it’s an opportunity to publish their listed weights versus what the services had them at. I included the early enrollees.


    Height Weight
    Name Pos Mich 247 Rivals ESPN Scout Mich 247 Rivals ESPN Scout
    Joe Milton QB 6'5" +0.5 - - -0.5 220 +10 -20 +12 -
    Michael Barrett ATH 6'0" -0.5 - - x 215 - -15 +8 x
    Hassan Haskins RB 6'1" - - - 207 -5 +5 -5 x
    Christian Turner RB 5'11" - -1 -1 - 185 +2 -7 +7 -
    Ben VanSumeren FB 6'3" - - - x 232 -4 +7 -20 x
    Ronnie Bell WR 6'1" - - -1 x 174 -4 - - x
    Ryan Hayes TE 6'7" - - -1 - 262 -10 -2 +5 -3
    Mustapha Muhammad TE 6'4" - +1 - 244 -9 +5 -5 x
    Luke Schoonmaker TE 6'6" - - -1 - 229 -4 +4 -4 -
    Jalen Mayfield OL 6'5" - - +1 - 275 -2 -23 +10 +13
    Aidan Hutchinson DL 6'6" - - +1 -1 258 +2 +6 -17 -15
    Julius Welschof DL 6'6" - - -1 x 253 -5 +2 - x
    Taylor Upshaw DL 6'4" +1 - - x 240 - -5 +5 x
    Cameron McGrone LB 6'1" - - +1 - 225 -10 -5 +4 +1
    Sammy Faustin DB 6'2" - - -1 - 190 - -20 +7 +13
    Vincent Gray DB 6'2" - - - x 180 - -15 +14 x
    German Green DB 6'2" - - - - 178 -10 +12 -12 -
    Gemon Green DB 6'2" - - - - 175 -10 +8 -8 -
    Myles Sims DB 6'3" -0.5 - - -0.5 173 - - - -

    Also Utah transfer Casey Hughes was listed at 5’11”/195 by Utah and 6’0”/185 by Michigan, whatever that means.

    For those counting at home, here’s how close the services got to whatever the school decided to list them at, on average:

    • 247: Off by 0.13 inches and 4.58 lbs
    • Rivals: Off by 0.11 inches and 8.47 lbs
    • ESPN: Off by 0.47 inches and 7.53 lbs

    So I guess use Rivals’ heights and 247’s weights? This would be fun to do on a larger basis. Scout data is included from what I grabbed before the merger but I didn’t have enough to count them.

    [Hit THE JUMP if you want to see last year’s weight gain 2000 chart, which I remind you again only exists so I have something to work off of next fall]

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    [Author: sorry. Previously: Ohio State Offense]

    You can’t take the sky from me.

    Ohio State is everything wrong with America. While most hardworking football teams have to struggle day-in and day-out to make ends meet opposing quarterbacks, the Buckeyes have so much wealth they can leave most of it cooling on the sideline, chatting with the next wave of 5-stars and Bosas. They won’t even let any of it trickle out to the NFL or, like, Cincinnati. Three out of the seven hellbeasts they rotate through on the defensive line turned down this year’s NFL draft, and a fourth would be a top-five pick next April except he’s still too young to go.

    With national economy-breaking riches up front, they can afford to play a ton of Cover 1 and Man 2 low—coverages that jam the middle of the field with fast players and take advantage of their natural athletic advantages over everyone they play on the outside. You can’t run on them or pass deep because of that line. You can’t spread ‘em out and throw short because they’re up in your grill and expecting it, and anyway you’re only getting to one read before a DE has turned the corner and your pocket’s bulged inward from a snap-jumpin’ Leviathan.

    So how the hell did Iowa’s offense drop 38 points on these guys? For one they got to go a half and a drive with Bosa out for targeting. They also got a friendly flag. And their quarterback had an uncanny ability to shrug off tackles, going so far as to set up and throw a form TD pass with Sam Hubbard hanging on his leg the whole time. And most of all their offensive line held up in pass pro long enough for him to hit drags and comeback routes. None of this is relevant to Michigan starting John O’Korn and a right side of the line that couldn’t pass pro against Minnesota.

    What is relevant is the week after Iowa, the Buckeyes held Brian Lewerke to an 11.5 QBR and 3 yards per dropback by accidentally fixing their one glaring defensive issue (they had a spacebacker playing middle linebacker). I watched both games, and while I’d love to tell you we’re too pretty to die on Saturday, the main takeaway here is Ohio State’s defense has it so Alabama-good these days they don’t even recognize how Alabama-despicable they’ve become.

    -----------------------------------

    Personnel: My diagram gets bigger with a click, and requires explanation:

    image

    #higdonis>

    Last year at this time I told you Ohio State’s defense this year was going to be a lot like Michigan’s defense last year. Had they not lost some guys early to the NFL that would be true. It’s still mostly true, especially up front; their second team front seven would probably be a Top 10 national front seven.

    Part of that is they’re not starting their best front seven. DE Nick Bosa isn’t a “starter” in only the most technical sense—see: Mo Hurst last year—despite being their best player to PFF and the eye test. Backup NT Robert Landers, a scrappy-ass, undersized muck-a-muck, is again behind a more ballyhooed space-eater—this year it’s Godin-like Tracy Sprinkle instead of Michael Hill (who’s all but disappeared), but any crucial down will see Landers (#67) in, and for good reason. The other backup DE Jalyn Holmes came back for a fifth year despite plenty of NFL interest, and has barely any drop-off from last year’s B1G DL of the Year Tyquan Lewis.

    The main weakness all season was they moved extraneous spacebacker Chris Worley to MLB, and he’s not one. With their two starting OLBs (Booker and Baker) missing time in the last few weeks, Ohio State moved Worley back to WLB and played MLB Tuf Borland, a 2016 high four-star who played for friend of the blog Todd Howard in high school. Worley is listed first in the “OR” and I imagine they’ll play him at WLB in their 4-4 look; Borland is the better fit.

    Against MSU and Illinois they also played a freak athlete, true sophomore Malik Harrison, as their TE-destructor SAM spot. Harrison is now listed as a co-starter on OSU’s official depth chart, and I didn’t even have room for him on my diagram. The starters at OLB are Dante Booker and Jerome Baker. Both are Viper types; Booker would have been the starter last year but for an early season injury. Baker who’s about 20 pounds lighter, was a PFF fave-rave last year as a sophomore. Neither have any trouble keeping up with backs—Baker can “get skinny in the hole” as the coaches say, but he had some trouble with fullbacks in his first go-round.

    The safeties are the weakest point. SS Damon Webb is a quasi-nickelback who’s solid at run fits but remains a liability in coverage. FS Jordan Fuller is not the superior athlete Malik Hooker was. They’ll sometimes replace him with Erick Smith, who’s more of a run-stopper. I imagine if Michigan’s going heavy Ohio State will prefer to remove one of these guys to get Booker, Baker, Worley, and Borland all on the field at once. CB Denzel Ward is one of the fastest players in OSU history—he got bodied by Simmie Cobbs in the opener and has been lights out since. The other corner spot rotates between Damon Arnette and JUCO transfer Kendall Sheffield, both of whom rely on elite athleticism, which for Big Ten passing games is plenty.

    [Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the breakdown. Or don’t and go be with your family.]