Looks at all position groups, how they’ll be in the fall, and what recruiting needs will arise.

Offensive Line
LT	LG	C	RG	RT
Long	Kraus	Boren or Moosman	Mitchell	Schilling or Ortman or Zirbel
Ortmann	Ciulla	McAvoy	Boren	Dorrestein
			Schifano	Mitchell

Others unaccounted for:
DeBenedictis
Huyge
Molk

The starting line seems to be pretty well-set, going Long-Kraus-Boren-Mitchell from left to right. The only question is at right tackle, where RS frosh Steve Schilling, Perry Dorrestein, and RS Soph Mark Ortmann battling for the starting job. Ortmann is really the future LT, so I’m not sure they want im starting at RT. The OL seems to be at least 2-deep at every position.

Michigan will lose Jake Long and Adam Kraus to graduation, and will probably not renew the scholarship of Grant DeBenedictis for a 5th year. The last couple of OL classes have been pretty small. Huyge and Molk will probably redshirt. Michigan needs at least 2 OTs (they already have one commitment from Dan O’Neill), incluing one more top guy. A couple interior linemen wouldn’t be a bad idea either.

Next year’s starting OL probably looks Ortmann-Ciulla or Schifano-Boren-Mitchell-Schilling or Zirbel.

Offensive Backs
QB	RB	FB
Henne	Hart	Moundros or Helmuth
Mallett	Minor	Patilla
Cone or Threet	Horn (Grady)	Criswell

Henne is entrenched as the starter. Forcier is gone to Stanford, leaving Mallett as the backup. David Cone is still developing, and is likely to play the career backup role.

Henne graduates after this season, and there is huge need for at least one non-project at the quarterback position to serve as Mallett’s theoretical 2008 backup, and probably another guy to be improved over the course of his career.

Hart will obviously remain the starter here. Minor is the backup, with Kevin Grady out with a torn ACL. Carlos Brown is back on offesne. Avery Horn enters this fall. He will likely redshirt his freshman year. At fullback, RS Frosh preferred walk-on Mark Moundros looks like the probable starter. If this is the case, Helmuth can take a redshirt before his four years of mauling linebackers.

Hart will be lost to graduation. That will leave 4 scholarship backs after this year (assuming Horn qualifies and stays at the position). That means Michigan will probably want to take one, and maybe even two, running backs in this class. There is no need at fullback with Helmuth just a true freshman.

Receiving Corps
WR	TE	WR
Manningham	Massey	Arrington
Mathews	Butler	Savoy
Clemons	McLaurin	Hemingway
	Watson or Webb

Others unaccounted for:
Bass

Not a ton of depth here, but the starters are pretty good. Mathews showed some flashes last year as well, and all reports indicate that he is looking good in the spring. Savoy looked really good last spring, and ended up contributing almost nothing during the course of the year. He looks good again this year (per reports), so we’ll have to see if he can translate it to the field this time. A couple of freshmen are coming in, and it looks like both might play next year for depth reasons. Will Bass ever play again? That is the million-dollar question.

Nobody is lost to graduation, but Arrington and Manningham may be able to make the jump early if they have breakout year. Manningham needs to prove he can do things with the ball, proving he’s not just a one-trick pony. Arrington has shown himself t be fairly complete, and he has size. If he has big numbers, it should be enough to vault him into potential early-entry territory. If both of these guys leave, depth is absolutely shot, and there will have to be a big WR class. It is unlikely that Bas will ever play again, but if he does, he is a tremendous athlete. Expect at least two WRs taken in this class (with maybe one as a big guy who could split out as a TE), with another taken for each guy who does not come back and exhaust his eligibility.

Losing Butler whacked depth at this position right in the face. Masse
y is the only guy who even has played in a real game scenario. Watson and Webb are both incoming freshmen who were probably going to redshirt, though one of them might have to play this year, since Criswell and McLaurin aren’t very good. Smart money is on Watson, as he is pretty much ready to play, whereas Webb would be well-served by a redshirt year. He is physically a lot like Butler was coming in, though hopefully does not share mental deficiencies.

Losing the starter, who was going to be retuning for yet another year, will force Michigan to take a tight end in this class, though I think they originally had wanted to take a WR/TE tweener. With Webb and Watson both around, they might still be able to just get by with one of those hybrid prospects.

Posted under Personnel, Recruiting
Tags: depth chart, Football, personnel, Recruiting

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