Mailbag question: Overall thoughts of the team by positions

Posted at 12:00pm -- 12/10/2009


Mailbag question: Overall thoughts of the team by positions

I wanted to ask you about your overall thoughts concerning where this team is going talent wise. Now, I know you guys can be tough graders when talking about players and I expect some not so super ratings about the defense.
What are your overall thoughts on this team? Do you think any of the position groups will be really GREAT in the next year or two?

Or instead is the talent just not there to receive ratings of GREAT? One group in particular I'd like to know your opinion about is the OL talent. Michigan does have lots of young guy's, many who were highly regarded.

Thanks!

R

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Thanks for the questions.

By position and we are using our grading scale:

This brings back some memories of an article about the offensive line where GBMW posed the question as to whether or not the OL talent had peaked regarding skill level. Some message boards lit up like a Christmas tree and the insanely funny term “haters” appeared. But as the season wore on and the defensive lines became better, people understood what we meant and also why we said it. Here is the grading scale that CoachBt and ErocWolverine put together. Like all such scales, grades are subject to change as performance is fluid and not always perfectly predictable. How a player performs next year involves numerous intrinsic and extrinsic factors, including everything from unexpected opportunities to perfect player preparation.

A = Great
B = Good
C = Average /Okay
D = Poor /Need Help
F = Hope and Pray for a great recruiting class at that position.

Grades we are using for this discussion were based on talent/potential not performance. Performance grades are done after the fact, not before the fact.

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Offense: Yes this group did score more points, but it was not only the defense that had opportunities to win last season. The cast of characters will likely be very similar next year, begging he question is that good or bad?

Tight Ends: Great talent here within this group, but too bad UM seldom uses the personnel. People talk about the few drops this group had, and yes they had some dropped passes, but the quarterbacks could have thrown the ball earlier, and given the tight ends better passes to handle. This group did have some great catches and probably one of the better ones we saw this year when Kevin Koger grabbing the ball out of the air with one hand stretched far as possible. Remember he had shoulder problems later in the year.

We do wish this offense would be more like the Missouri or Oklahoma offense's that the UM coaches have talked with the past two years with the idea of implementing the tight end more into the passing game. As of yet this has not happened.

Grade: A-

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Offensive Line: Excellent potential. There are some potential elite level players in our opinion. This group has some very good young prospects that are very athletic and are the type of offensive linemen that Coach Frey and Coach Rod want in their offensive lines.

Grade: B+

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Quarterbacks: Tate Forcier is not an ideal fit, he would fit in better at Purdue or Texas Tech in our opinion. But he can get the job done and has multiple skills. Watch next year, Denard Robinson, might have the best talent on the entire squad. Denard has potential elite skills (let’s hope he sticks around). He makes defenses ID him wherever he is every play. He needs to get on the field more, somehow, no matter if this realization means at a different position when he is not at quarterback.

Grade: B

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Running Backs: Very Good, no supers in our opinion, but some very good ones. None of the backs have shown great hands, like Carlos Brown, and none are super blockers, yet, but that may come. This group is going to grow up quickly with limited playing time this year and not much experience of being the main go-to guy.

Grade: B

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Slot Receivers: Solid but no where near to great. No real speed burners here either. Gallon has what it takes to be very good. Odom and Roundtree are both good, but similar. We wish one had the dynamic skill to take a short pass and make something big out of a routine play. Roundtree was finally given a chance about half-way through the season and took advantage of it.

Roundtree stood out and remember this past spring when we thought he was the best slot receiver UM had, especially regading consistency of catching the ball and getting open.

Grade: C+

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Split Ends: This group needs a big upgrade in our opinion. Only Stonum has any real speed. Really, this group is hard to judge because of the limited amount of balls thrown their way. Bringing several guys back will help, but someone needs to step up in the spring and take control of this group and become a leader. Right now there are no Edwards, Manningham, Arrington quality of player within this group. The incoming receivers are untested and their contributions likely will come later rather than sooner. One bright spot there are guys coming in that should upgrade the downfield blocking.

Grade: C-

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Defense:

Defensive Line: Good first team players, but depth is a clear issue. Bad depth means the good starters play most of the game, good or bad? Anymore, likely bad is the answer. Also, UM needs Roh to step up big, he is the only true edge rusher left on the current roster. Well, we are really going to see what happens now since B. Graham is gone. Roh cannot get hurt. This is a position that needs major attention on the recruiting front for the next couple of years; pass rushers must be a priority. Can Will Campbell keep making progress and take that next step? It would really be nice to see this group come together and become a solid group that can stop the run along with putting pressure on the quarterback and forcing hurried throws. That did not happen enough this past year.

Grade: B

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Cornerbacks: Good young talent, losing Boo Boo and Warren, if he leaves, is killer. This group has to improve and must be able to press and still make plays in the flats and contribute to stopping the running game. Shedding blocks by this group was terrible. This group, if Warren leaves, will be very young with limited experience Part of any judgment depends on what the coaches do with Woolfolk. We should be more athletic, but will this group be able to step up and be able to handle press coverage better this year? Also, UM really needs to improve the depth and get more players playing time and truly determine what they can do on the field.

Grade: C

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Linebackers: Ouch, a walk-on is starting over a player thought to be a potential stud. The youngsters in this group have the most talent, but there is so little experience. This group will be very telling concerning the success of the 2010 team. If the linebackers are not noticeably better, Michigan will have to score a ton of points. Linebackers are the heart and soul of a defense and for the last two years you can tell why this defense has struggled. Be interesting to see what they decide to do with several key guys and see if they will workout at new positions. They are more athletic than in the past, but they do not seem to be as physical, tough, or have that "rip your head off and sh*t down your throat" mentality we like to see in our linebackers.

Grade: D

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Safeties: Biggest question mark and need. Michigan will not be better than okay unless we get better safety play. Cannot continue to give all those big plays. Best talent in freshmen and sophomore classes. Much depends on where Woolfolk and Turner play. No offense to Jordan because he played because other could not, but we need better safeties that will be able to cover and also be able to track down plays as well. To many times these safeties gave up the last line of defense and usually had poor angles or just did not get there to make the plays.

Grade: D

Written by GBMW Staff

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