2018 Michigan Wolverines | Team 139

[WaitTilNextYear]

I dunno about you guys, but I am fiending for some Michigan football.

With ESPN releasing updated Top 300 recruiting rankings and it being only 43 days until resumption of the rivalry with Notre Dame (7 Saturdays from now), it seems like a good time to get our annual thread started.

First off, any and all speculation on the starting unit is most welcome. Here's my guess...

QB: Shea Patterson
RB: Karan Higdon
FB: Ben Mason
WR1: Tarik Black
WR2: Donovan Peoples-Jones
SLOT: Grant Perry
TE: Sean McKeon/Zach Gentry
LT: JBB/James Hudson
LG: Ben Bredeson
C: Cesar Ruiz
RG: Mike Onwenu/Stephen Spanellis
RT: Jon Runyan Jr.

SDE: Rashan Gary
NT: Aubrey Solomon
DT: Michael Dwumfour
WDE: Chase Winovich
VIPER: Khaleke Hudson
MLB: Devin Bush
WLB: Josh Ross/Devin Gil
CB: Lavert Hill
CB: David Long
NI: Ambry Thomas
FS: Tyree Kinnel
SS: Josh Metellus


As for the recruiting stuff, it smarts a bit that MSU may have the top recruit in the state of Michigan (OL Devontae Dobbs) despite what a mess that school is. But, Michigan does have plenty of blue chippers in the 2019 class (ranked #4 currently) with a couple more big names possibly being added:

DL Mazi Smith (#27)
DL Christopher Hinton (#41)
OL Trente Jones (#157)
DL Stephen Herron Jr. (#171)
OL Nolan Rumler (#183)
QB Cade McNamara (#256)
RB Eric Gray (#282)
DL David Ojabo (#283)
LB Charles Thomas (#295)

RB Zach Charbonnet and TE Erick All are likely to see their recruiting rankings rise significantly, imo.


Compelling storylines for Team 139...

1. Kill me now so I don't have to hear "make or break" and "Jim Harbaugh" and "going back to the NFL in year 20XX" in the same sentence 500 bazillion times. Can this team beat a rival? Preferably by a lot of points.

2. Don Brown and a defense that just keeps on coming. Watching Rashan Gary seek and destroy.

3. Gee, Michigan has a capable (maybe even special) QB now? If things go well, any chance of Patterson being involved in the Heisman convo?

4. Will the OL be competent or the team's worst frenemy (looking at LT and RT specifically)? How many underclassmen will be forced into key roles because upperclassmen are hurt/bad at football.

5. Has Ben Herbert and the new S&C staff really made monsters out of these kids? Does Michigan blow teams off the ball like they damn well should?

[CBoller1331]

Dang Grant Perry is still around?

Finally having a dynamic QB could be huge, plus there are no shortages of offensive weapons for Patterson with Peoples-Jones and Gentry and McKeon (I believe I saw both were named to the Mackey watchlist). Hopefully that combined with another solid Don Brown-led defensive unit will be enough to finally beat a rival (maybe even 3!!) and win a big time bowl game (perhaps even the playoff)

[Sportsforever]

Seeing this reminds me...I meant to ask; has anyone seen Psyblast around lately? I realized the other day I haven't seen a post from him in a LONG time...hope he's doing okay.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Seems like MLive mostly agrees with my proposed starting lineup:

https://www.mlive.com/expo/sports/er...rt_river_index

One thing I learned from this article is both QB Shea Patterson and C Cesar Ruiz were "high school" teammates at IMG Academy for 1 year. A little bit of prior familiarity there couldn't hurt with snap coordination, line calls and such.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Best of luck to Stephen Herron Jr. after decommitting from Michigan to commit to Stanford. Can't go wrong with either school. People kinda knew he was just waiting for Stanford's admissions office anyhow, so not really a surprise.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Quote: Originally Posted by WaitTilNextYear

QB: Shea Patterson RB: Karan Higdon FB: Ben Mason WR1: Tarik Black WR2: Donovan Peoples-Jones SLOT: Grant Perry TE: Sean McKeon/Zach Gentry LT: JBB/James Hudson LG: Ben Bredeson C: Cesar Ruiz RG: Mike Onwenu/Stephen Spanellis RT: Jon Runyan Jr. SDE: Rashan Gary NT: Aubrey Solomon DT: Michael Dwumfour WDE: Chase Winovich VIPER: Khaleke Hudson MLB: Devin Bush WLB: Josh Ross/Devin Gil CB: Lavert Hill CB: David Long NI: Ambry Thomas FS: Tyree Kinnel SS: Josh Metellus

Updating my depth chart guess from earlier this summer (now that we're 1 week away from Notre Dame)...

It's looking like it'll be Runyan Jr at LT (with true freshman Jalen Mayfield backing up) and that James Hudson has just about overtaken JBB for RT. Interesting that the LT/RT situation has been swapped from what most probably thought a few months ago. Let's hope that's because Runyan's pass blocking/athleticism have stood out and it's not a 'lesser of two evils' type of situation. No matter who starts here, this player cannot be worse than Nolan Ulizio was last season. Outside chance at being as good as Mason Cole (who was much better on the interior in his Michigan career).

On defense, it's looking like Devin Gil (who has added a bunch of weight) ahead of Josh Ross for the final LB spot. Otherwise no surprises.

This team will go as its OTs and QB do. Certainly can say the same thing about most football teams in general, but this one especially so--it's a very complete team otherwise with maybe DL depth being a much, much more minor concern.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Game still in progress, but looking like a loss. There are a lot of issues and concerns obviously, but my absolute biggest takeaway is there are at least 2 QBs on this year's team that are light years ahead of O'Korn/Speight. That alone is cause for optimism. Outside of one bad decision by Patterson, the QB play has been--I might even use the word--good.

[l3ulvl]

fire everyone