Are the Wolverines going to fake a Covid outbreak before next years MSU game to avoid losing three straight? Early odds says yes.
A good early test for the D as well. not sure what Wisconsin is returning from their D as well, but I don’t expect OSU to struggle to score at will.
A lot of false starts and all the holding calls plus he’s the type of guy who gets mad when no one blesses him when he sneezes Spoiler I have no idea what I’m talking about
I think the guards were the best part of the OL and he was the back up for both of them. Solid, not much more. Always seemed to be a touch slow. But he’s still a good player.
You won't love him but you won't hate him. Guard in a tackles body. He was basically our 6th man on the OL this year.
Offense: Gone - Dotson (wr) - Wilson (g) - Miranda (g) - Lovett (rb) - Cain (rb) - Walker (ot) Gain - Singleton (rb) - Allar (qb) - Saunders (wr) - Tinsley (wr) Thoughts - Dotson is the biggest loss of this group. I believe Washington is talented enough to fill into his spot. Tinsley has been very productive at Western Kentucky and should slide into the starting lineup along with Lambert-Smith. A couple of incoming freshmen (Saunders, Ivey) are promising and a couple of rFr also seem to have a little buzz so some depth is finally developing. Singleton is a stud, I've said since day one he's a Jonathan Taylor clone, my guess is he starts or is the man rather quickly. Clifford is returning, reading between the lines it seems like he wasn't really asked to return but wasn't turned away. I believe Allar is going to be the guy but I could see PSU doing something similar to what Michigan did this season by allowing Clifford to start and putting Allar into packages and playing throughout the season. Offensive line we lose three starters/rotation players. Wilson was a bust and not very good, Miranda never panned out and Walker never lived up to heavy hype. Walker will be drafted and could be a better pro than college player (see Donovan Smith - Bucs) with that said Tengwell looked very promising as a true freshman, Fashanu got the start at LT for the bowl game and looked the part, uber talented kid who was hurt and didn't get it going till late in the season. The two of them may fill the left side of the line at LT, LG. Scruggs will be our starting center, he looked good once he finally got to play his more natural position. The right side of the OL looks to be a bit rough. Currently we are looking at Caden Wallace at RT but he's a more natural G. We are after another Ivy league player to come in and start at G and if that's the case Wallace will be our RT. I guess we could see Tengwell moved to RT and Wallace and the Ivy league kid at G. Our OL was dog shit last season, it's hard to see it being any worse. Bottomline: I don't believe PSU will be one dimensional next year because Singleton is a beast. But everything on offense depends on the QB spot. Clifford prior to being injured at Iowa was really starting to click. And looked decent. After the injury he was beyond awful and more in line with what his career has been. My guess is Allar is going to be the guy and we take the lumps in a year were expectations are pretty low. Offense should be improved over last year but again that's not asking a lot. Defense: Gone - Ebiketie (de) - Tangelo (dt) - Luketa (de) - Smith (lb) - Brooks (lb) - Castro-Fields (cb) - Brisker (s) Gain - Dennis Sutton (de) - Carter (lb) - Wylie (lb) - Isaac (de) - Mustipher (dt) Thoughts - Ebiketie, Luketa made a really nice DE tandem but we will see the return of Isaac (think Oweh type talent) after being hurt for the entire year. Another returning player in Mustipher will make our DTs a very strong position once again. Mustipher was building himself into a top 50 talent before getting hurt. Very glad to have him return. At LB we are going to need to hit the portal up in a huge way. Smith never lived up to the hype but he checks all athletic boxes, my guess is he's drafted pretty high because of the freak athlete he is but the dude just has bad instincts at the LB position. The biggest loss at LB is Brooks who surprised with a fantastic season, his declaration for the draft was equally as shocking because I didn't see much draft buzz around the kid and I'm not sure he's a good enough athlete for the next level I guess the combine will prove me right or wrong on him. Buddin, King two rFR will get the nod next to Curtis Jacobs if we strike out in the portal. Jacobs is the next great LB from PSU. Brisker will be a loss but TCF wont be. Kalen King will likely slide into his starting role opposite Porter Jr. PSU did a nice job of developing Keaton Ellis at safety and I believe he will slide next to Brown (who had a fantastic bowl game) to make a strong pairing. Bottomline: The PSU offense spoiled a fantastic PSU defense last season. Depending on the who we land in the portal I think this defense has a chance to be really good again. The DL has some very talented players and secondary is very deep. LB is a big big issue and adding a rush DE would be nice. Again the portal is going to be key, nailing those additions will be the difference between a top 30 defense and a top 10. One thing I fully expect regardless of portal additions is PSU to be uber aggressive behind the LOS. Manny Diaz loves TFL, Sacks and pressuring opponents. Havoc plays declined noticeably under Pry as DC because he called a more bend but don't break defense the past few years. Diaz probably has us more attacking, might also leave us open for the big play on occasion. Schedule is tough, QB is either breaking in a tFR or the shit sandwich that is Clifford. Probably looking at window of 7-10 w's depending on how things break.
Feedback for next time - when you get to your thoughts, you jump around and mention last names while assuming other folks know your roster. It results in a jumbled mess and is hard to follow. It might be better to break it down by the main position groups.
Appreciate the detail, one of the things I like about this thread is a breakdown of our opponents from other fans.
Michigan breakdown that won't matter if Harbaugh leaves for another job and everyone transfers... Offense Key Losses: Hassan Haskins (RB), Andrew Vastardis (C), Andrew Stueber (RT) Key Returners: Cade McNamara/JJ McCarthy (QB), Blake Corum/Donovon Edwards (RB), Cornelius Johnson (WR), Roman Wilson (WR), Andrel Anthony (WR), Erick All (TE), Luke Schoonmaker (TE), Ryan Hayes (LT), Trevor Keegan (LG), Zak Zinter (RG) Key Additions: Ronnie Bell (WR), Olusegun Oluwatimi (C) Breakout Candidates: Donovon Edwards (RB), Andrel Anthony (WR) Biggest Questions: 1) Who starts at QB? 2) Do they try to recreate 2021 or embrace the passing game talent? Offense should be the best of the Harbaugh era because all the WRs return and the QBs should be the best we've had at the position. My guess is JJ McCarthy starts, but they're going to have to navigate that competition. I think this is more of a passing team than the 2021 team. Donovon Edwards' receiving abilities create an interesting dynamic for them. The OL replaces the two most consistent guys, but returns the three most talented ones. Andrew Stueber could be a loss, but OT depth is decent enough it shouldn't be a huge problem. Defense Key Losses: Aidan Hutchinson (EDGE), David Ojabo (EDGE), Chris Hinton (DT), Josh Ross (LB), Dax Hill (DB), Vincent Gray (CB), Brad Hawkins (S) Key Returners: Mazi Smith (DT), Junior Colson (LB), DJ Turner (CB), Gemon Green (CB), Rod Moore (S), RJ Moten (S) Key Additions: Will Johnson (CB), Zeke Berry (DB) Breakout Candidates: George Rooks (DL), Kris Jenkins (DT), Braiden McGregor (EDGE) Biggest Questions: 1) Can they rush the QB without Hutchinson and Ojabo? 2) How do they replace Dax Hill? I'm really scared of the defense. Early on, I think it would be somewhat miraculous if it was all that good. Thankfully, the schedule is awful early on and maybe they can figure something out by the middle of the year. Braiden McGregor needs to make huge strides and step up at one edge spot. I I think George Rooks potentially gets a look at Hutchinson's spot because he's a little bigger, but that's a tough ask and I kind of just made this up because I have no clue if he's even in the mix there. Replacing Dax is also hard. I know OSU fans think he wasn't good, but he was playing nickel and was asked to cover a lot of tough assignments while also playing the run and screen game very, very well. We don't have an obvious fit to replace him, and it might be a FR who has to do it. The defense is going to need to develop over the course of the season to have a chance against OSU at the end, both with the pass rush and the cover guys at LB and nickel. I kind of doubt that happens because I don't think enough pass rush talent is there, but I would have thought the same about the Ojabo spot this year, so maybe I'm wrong. Prediction: Anything less than 10 wins against this schedule would be a disappointment, but I'm not sure the top end talent exists on defense to be a playoff caliber team unless this becomes the first offense in Harbaugh's tenure capable of winning shootouts consistently.
Ryan Day has replaced almost the entire defensive staff at Ohio State. DL coach Larry Johnson is the only one who will return. DC Kerry Coombs is out Oklahoma State DC Jim Knowles is in LB Al Washington is out Knowles will coach LBs DB Matt Barnes is out Cincinnati S coach Perry Eliano is in Jacksonville CB coach Tim Walton is in OL coach Greg Studrawa also is out, replaced by UCLA OC Justin Frye. Special teams coordinator Parker Fleming may or may not stay or be out.
Some of us use the thread to share info and comment about each others’ football teams. Some of us use the thread to tell each other to suck our dicks. Suck our dicks might have been more appropriate here for you.
I saw on a UM board that Zach Harrison is coming back. Are OSU fans happy about that? Or made he'll take snaps away from young guys?
I mean he's not lived up to his potential but he's still a solid player. LJ has always rotated enough that it shouldn't change things really
I would think it's a good thing. You guys were bitching all year about not playing the underclassmen enough on D, though, so I figured I'd ask.
The most important member of our defensive line next year is Tyleik Williams. He showed flashes of dominance as a true freshman but also wasn't physically ready to be a full time starter. We hope that with a full off-season under his belt he can be a force.
Nah. "Day is ripping off Harbaugh" is the new "Day can't fill out a coaching staff without Urban," which was previously the new "recruiting off lists".
Kirk Ferentz is going to run inside zone out of 14 personnel in short yardage and get stuffed until the planet has dried to a charred crisp