Michigan Football Tidbits: Going into Spring Football -- Split End and Slot Receivers

Posted at 8:00am -- 3/15/2010

Michigan Football Tidbits: Going into Spring Football -- Split End and Slot Receivers

It is mid-March and the football team will be starting practice tomorrow. Below is what we think of a few key players:

Of course, the GBMW staff will have a better, more complete idea in a couple of weeks, but this is where the opinion is riding heading into spring football, now less than one week away.

Darryl Stonum:

It is high time for him to step up and take over as one of the leaders at the split end position. Can he be the deep threat this team has been missing? Can the quarterbacks get the ball to the wide-outs often enough to back up the safeties from crowding the line of scrimmage? Stonum needs to become that impact player/deep threat that this team is lacking.

Junior Hemingway:

Can he stay healthy and start producing on a regular basis? Some games he would go off and catch 5-6 balls and then nearly disappear for a couple of games.

With the competition at split end increasing, the more experienced players need to come prepared and ready to take that next step.

Roy Roundtree:

Will Roy stay at slot receiver this year? He is not the ideal slot receiver in Coach Rod's offense, but he does run good routes, gets open and catches the ball. Roy is tall enough for the quarterback to be able to see him, we believe this factor was part of the problem last year, especially when the quarterback just dropped back and did not scramble or roll out.

Jeremy Gallon:

With Jeremy coming into play this year, will this offense go to more true slot receivers? Also, Jeremy likely will be one of the main players competing for the return jobs on special teams, but can he make a slam dunk impact at slot receiver? Jeremy may start off being the third slot receiver into the game, depending if the staff keeps Roundtree at slot or moves him to wideout.

As far as who might see the most playing time on the offensive side of the ball as a true freshman, wow, this is a tough call, but it will most likely be one of the players that came in early, and probably one of the split ends. Right now it is premature to predict with any substance, we need to see this group and how they are assembled in practice.

Written by GBMW Staff

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