Michigan Football Tidbits: Grading the Defense

Michigan Football Tidbits: Grading the Defense:

Note: The 2011 recruiting class as it now stands will be a smaller one than 2010 or 2009. The purpose of this post is to look at existing talent and try and project needs for 2011 class. We are predicting that the recruiting approach could be much different. Also, these ratings and grades are only an opinion and in some cases a projected opinion. Its there for discussion purposes.

Cornerback's: Grade -- B-

High ceiling: Boo-boo, and J. Turner.
Mid ceiling: Witty, Floyd, and Avery.

We are ASSuming at this point that Warren will forgo his Senior year and enter the NFL draft. And we do think Michigan will finish this class with more cornerback's.

As one college coach harps on "In today's college football you cannot get enough talented cornerback's". It simply has become such an important position with today's defenses especially with teams running variations of the spread offense.

We still don't know what role J. Turner will play. We personally go back and forth between cornerback and Safety. Also it might have to do with other players and depth. People can make a case for either, but J. Turner has the type of ceiling Michigan needs to continue to recruit.

Safeties: Grade -- C-

High ceiling: Vlad, and M. Robinson.
Mid ceiling: Woolfolk, Williams, and Gordon.

Again, lack of depth and inexperience really makes this position group a huge question mark. The addition of C. Christian could help in this group.

Positives in this group is a very smart group of kids who are very coach able. For the first time since we can remember (ASSuming M. Robinson comes to Michigan) we may have two players who have high ceilings. Now some may say M. Robinson wont be a safety, but it will depend on what type of system Michigan runs and coaches have told M. Robinson they see him as a safety first.

Spinner: Grade -- B-

High ceiling: B. Smith (if he ends up at Spinner).
Mid ceiling: Hawthorne, M. Jones, and Bell.

We put B. Smith with high ceiling because when you watch Michigan's practice you cannot come away from not being impressed with his overall athletic ability. The big issue he had with safety is he seemed to over think which prevented him from using his talent. Moving him to spinner would allow him to just play. Hawthorne, Jones, and Bell are all good kids, potentially good players, but each have limitations. Depth is not going to be an issue at this position and could cause some to move to other positions.

Linebackers: Grade -- B

High ceiling: Mouton, and Fitzgerald.
Mid ceiling: Demens, and Ezeh.

We already know some will question why Ezeh is not in the high ceiling category. Maybe he should be there, but he simply has not shown any consistency or game breaking type of production that would warrant higher rating. Mouton has showed improvement and progress last year, especially in defending the pass. Demens may be one of our best run stoppers, but have limitations prevent him from being a great pass defender. Fitzgerald is the wildcard, athletically and size. He is perfect, now it is just a matter of production.

Quick Defensive End: Grade -- C-

High ceiling: Roh.
Mid ceiling: Herron, Lalota, and Kinnard.
Low ceiling: Evans, and Watson.

This group is the hardest to judge in our opinion. Mainly because not exactly sure what requirements are for this position. But just judging on spring, this position, along with spinner and defensive end have to be very athletic players. Herron will be starting on day one (barring injuries) and he has done everything asked of him in practices and in coach Barwis workouts. The question is, can he play football? We think he will be adequate at rushing the passer, but he has shown signs of struggle when it comes to defending the run or falling back into pass coverage. Lalota, we put him there only because he will probably red-shirt and it is unfair to judge him based on spring. Evans and Watson, it is fair to say both kids play and practice as hard as they can, but they are "tweeners" in that their size does not allow them to play defensive end and not fast enough to play linebacker.

Defensive End: Grade -- C-

Note: We do not count B. Graham, because he is a senior and wont be back

High ceiling: None.
Mid ceiling: RVB, Wilkins, and Jordan Paskorz.
Low ceiling: Patterson, and Banks.

RVB is one of those kids who will play as close to his potential as possible. Patterson and Banks, both are great kids to have around to add depth. But neither should be considered starters or they would be pushing for starting spots by now.

Defensive Tackle: Grade -- A

High ceiling: Big Will, and Martin.
Mid ceiling: Sagesse.
Low ceiling: Helmuth.

This one will be interesting to watch in 2009. Will lack of production by other positions force coach Robinson to consider going to more of a two defensive tackle set. Or, and do not rule this out, will Martin at times actually move over and play some strong side defensive end. Our opinion this is the strongest position group on the defense with three quality players who can play. And this group is young and will only get better.

Conclusion: For recruiting for the 2011 class, defense must become the primary focus. We will list priorities below, but the main priority that is not position related, is to recruit very athletic players for every position.

Priorities:

1) Defensive End: We have to find an all-American type defensive end who specializes in rushing the passer. Now this may change if Roh bulks up and moves to more of a defensive end spot (which we think he will), but Michigan needs more players at this position and need it fast.

2) Quick Defensive End: Again, its not bodies at this position, but talent. Now this spot may change if we get a top linebacker which may allow us to move an existing linebacker to spinner, but this position needs to be upgraded in talent.

3) Cornerback: Again, we could use another three next year. We need to have at least six or seven cornerback's on the roster who can contribute. Right now we barely have three.

4) Safety: This could be an ongoing need and we should get two safeties in every class. Safeties are also very good players on special team's.

5) Linebacker: Looks like we may strike out this year, which means we need at least three next year.

6) Spinner: Again, depend on how they use current roster or M. Robinson down the road, but we should always get at least one in every class.

Numbers wise: At least eleven or twelve players next year need to be defensive players. And hopefully, they will be kids who are not only athletic but are projected to have big upsides.

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Written by MaizeMan and ErocWolverine