The Offensive Depth Chart has been updated to reflect my smoke-fire-etc. information that Carson Butler will be reinstated to the team. The Scholarship Count/Eligibility Chart was already modified to take this into account with the departures of McKinney and Schifano, who have also been removed from the Depth Chart. Rumors have it that Steve Schilling is being looked at as RG, also reflected in the Depth Chart, though it may be the Timeless Lloyd Carr Motivational Tactic being employed in the direction of Alex “Lazy” Mitchell.

The Recruiting Board has been updated to reflect McGuffie and Cox, their effects on recruiting the position, Fred Smith’s presumed lean-ness, etc. Starting with the next recruiting class, remind me to make a static recruiting board so as to remove the necessity of all this copy-and=paste crap.

I apologize for the fact that this looks like crap. I’ll have Paul fix it later.

Feed Smith announces Sunday at 6, expected to be Blue.

Posted under Personnel, Recruiting

Just a couple of (as yet unconfirmed) things that have been coming out of spring practice.

1) Kevin Grady has suffered a fairly severe knee injury, and will be out for the rest of the spring, maybe even longer.
2) Carlos Brown is as good as gone.

This leaves the team in the precarious position of having only one backup running back on scholarship at this time. It’ll be interesting to see if the Grady injury is enough to convince Brown to stay, since it would mean a lot more playing time for him.

Posted under Personnel

The loss of Germany hurts DE depth, but the Wolverines are strong in the middle, and have some real potential in guys coming off the edge. Taylor seems poised to have a good year stopping the run up the middle. There is 2 or 3-deep depth at every position, but the real question is how much quality there is at each of these positions. Sagesse will redshirt unless there is a huge depth problem.

Nobody will be lost to graduation, but Terrance Taylor MAY be able to make the jump if he has a really good year. Still, with depth as poor as it is on the defensive line, expect the staff to go for a couple of defensive ends (including one top guy) and a defensive tackle, maybe two. This year will be a time for the staff to improve the depth, especially losing a couple of guys after the next season.

This is a definite rebuilding year for a linebacker corps losing two of three starters. The depth chart will probably not be completely set until after fall camp. Fortunately, the Wolverines are 2-deep at every position. Some of these guys need to improve, and expect both freshmen to take a redshirt. I am surprised to hear that Panter is not practicing all that well, as I didn’t think Michigan would bother with a JuCo unless they thought he’d be able to contribute right away. There’s the off chance that he takes a redshirt (he has 3 years to play two) as well.

Shawn Crable is graduating after this season, as is Chris Graham. If Graham wins the starting job this year, the team will again have to replace at least two starters. The MLB position seems fairly strong as far as depth, even if Cobrani Mixon transfers to Cincinnati, as has been rumored. A couple of OLBers should come in this class, as well as maybe one MLB to build further depth, since Thompson and Panter both have junior eligibility (unless Panter redshirts).

This position, long a subject of much bitching for Michigan fans, looks to be relatively strong this year. If Trent and Sears can continue to improve (reports from spring camp indicate that Sears is looking very good), the corners should be adequate, though still the weakness of the position group. New coach Vance Bedford has helped this position a lot. The nickel back position is a new one for Ron English’s defensive scheme, and Brandon Harrison looks to fill that role, with freshman Michael Williams backing him up. Expect redshirts for Babb, Rogers, and Woolfolk, though nothing is guaranteed.

To graduation, Michigan loses Anton Campbell, a career special teamer (who actually impressed in spring practice), Jamar Adams, a three-year starter at SS, Brandent Englemon, and undistinguished safety. With a bunch of safeties in the past couple classes, Michigan will probably only need to take one or two. At the CB position, nobody is lost to graduation, but Doug Dutch
(unrenewed 5th year candidate) is unproven at the position, as is sophomore Carlos Brown. Expect a couple of CBs to be taken, including at least one super (I’m going out on a limb here by saying they’ll land one – wait a minute, they already got U.S. Army combine MVP Boubacar Cissoko).

Posted under Personnel, Recruiting

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

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.

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.

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

Here’s the updated depth chart with certain players removed who are likely to get kicked off the team (or already have, per reports), taking into account Lloyd’s press conference and some of the rumblings around the program. Red means no spring practice, blue means limited spring practice. Number of starts from last year is no longer relevant and has been removed.

Posted under Personnel

Parentheses indicate number of starts, accounting for different formations. Departing players struck out.

Removing players who will not be joining the Wolverines in the Fall, and adding in a couple of freshmen, the projected depth chart will flow as follows:

Some things have changed since spring practice has begun (not reflected in the above). Andre Criswell has moved from fullback to H-back, leaving early-enrolled freshman Vince Helmuth as the lone Fullback. However, from Lloyd’s spring presser, it sounds like the move is just for spring:

“We moved Andre Criswell to tight end. Criswell is a big, strong guy who really, I thought, towards the end of the season began to emerge. He’ll still play some fullback, but this spring the emphasis will be at tight end because Mike Massey is out for the spring with a procedure.”

All reports indicate that Jonas Mouton has looked great in practices thus far; will he be able to take the starting spot from Chris Graham? Carlos Brown has switched to the defensive side of the ball. Quoth Lloyd:

“Carlos Brown came in to see me after the bowl game and has an interest in moving to cornerback. That’s going to be a great move for us.”

…and on kick returns:

“Steve Brown will be a candidate, Carlos Brown is definitely in the mix. Greg Mathews. We’ll look at a lot of guys, but I think those three have shown the type of potential to do well.”

Then there’s Arrington-Butler-Germany-gate. None of the aforementioned are listed on the spring roster, and it’s unclear which (if any) will return to the team in the fall.

On whether Arrington, Eugene Germany or Carson Butler will practice this spring … “No.”

On whether all three could return by fall if they do what’s expected of them … “That is possible, maybe not probable.”

Mgoblue has the full spring press conference transcribed here. Updated depth charts coming soon taking into account all of Lloyd’s fun updates.

Posted under Personnel