Michigan Football: Season Preview
Identity
The 2021 Michigan Football season brought about something foreign to fans since 2004, a Big Ten Championship. After 17 seasons of over-hyped expectations and under-performed results, the team finally broke through beating Ohio State and then Iowa in Indianapolis to gain the right to hang a league banner. The identity of the team was based on an elite pass-rush with Hutchinson and David Ojabo and a punishing run-game led by the human hammer that was Hassan Haskins. Coming into the 2022 season the team will have to re-group and find out who they are after losing key defensive contributors. In their final game of the season, the Wolverines got a taste of what exactly it takes to compete at a nationally elite level when they ran into the juggernaut that was the National Champion Georgia Bulldogs. The program, while winning their region, discovered that in order to compete at the national level they will need to see a large progression. The questions heading into the season are “Who are they?” and “Will they meet expectations?” here, we’ll look at both.
Foundation
It is safe to say that the offensive side of the ball will bolster a roster that can best be described as having an “Embarrassment of riches” in particular position groups. Starting with the foundation, the offensive line which will return three of their five starters that won the Joe Moore Award for the nation’s best offensive line last season. The position group will be led by preseason All-Big Ten guard Zak Zinter who will look to improve upon his 2nd team all-big ten 2021 campaign. The offensive line will be improved at the center position by adding graduate transfer Olusgun Oluwatimi who at Virginia last season was a Remington Award (Nation’s top center) finalist and at 6-3 307 graded out as the nation’s 12th ranked center by Pro Football Focus. This leaves the only question mark as it will seek to replace New England Patriots draftee Andrew Stuber with senior Trente Jones at the right tackle position. Jones, however, will not be on an island on that right side as the team also returns arguably the best-blocking tight end and an All-American candidate in tight-end Erick All. Look for this unit to be better than the one that ran through the Ohio State defense to the tune of 7.2 yards a pop and 6 touchdowns last fall.
Elite
After the early injury to wide receiver and leader Ronnie Bell last season the team faced a lot of question marks in the wide-receiver room, being plagued by inexperience. What initially appeared as a tragedy may have been the best possible thing that could’ve happened because it brought about a baptism by fire. Heading into this season the wide receiving corp. may not only be the best unit on the team but one of the best, top-to-bottom receiving groups in the entire country. The team will be regaining their leader and Biletnikoff dark-horse Ronnie Bell whose ability to slice through the middle of a defensive secondary will be on full go. Also starting will be 6’3 Cornelius Johnson who led the team in receptions and yards last season and the explosive big-play guy in Roman Wilson. Andrel Anthony, a true freshman last season, will be on breakout watch as he will be utilized on the outside in a rotation with Wilson. Anthony, in albeit a small sample size, showed glimpses of potentially being the best receiver since Braylon Edwards at Michigan. The offense’s switch blade will be the quick and agile A.J. Henning, look for him to be featured in the speed sweeps that Harbaugh loves to use. The use of tight-ends in both run blocking and pass catching is a staple in Harbaugh offenses, Michigan is fortunate to have two future NFL players at the position. Erick All, mentioned above, was the team’s second leading receiver last season and his 6’5 260 frame should be a nightmare matchup for opposing linebackers and safeties. In addition to All, Luke Schoonmaker at 6’6 will be a highly effective weapon in the passing game. Look for the team to run several plays a game out of a double tight end formation. The only thing that could potentially limit the success of their pass-catching weapons will be the offensive staff, not the opposing defenses.
Tailback
Hassan Haskins was the identity of the Michigan offense last season, in his entire time at Michigan I cannot recall a time that he took a tackle for loss or did not land forward after eking out excess yardage. While Michigan will be losing Haskins, they’ll be replacing him with two future NFL players in Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards. Speed, quickness, and versatility, are what these two backs put on the field. Last season, Corum averaging 6.6 yards per carry and elite true-freshman Donovan Edwards both showcased their ability to run the ball as well as being very talented pass-catchers out of the backfield. Corum will more than likely be the tough-yardage back as he is a muscle hamster while Edwards will be more of the lightening to Corum’s thunder. Look for several offensive sets involving both of these two on the field at the same time with Edwards motioning in and out from the slot. This will be a talented group this season.
Quarterback
The question plaguing Michigan fans heading into the season is “Who will be the leader of the offense and the man under the center?” The team will be returning last year’s starter in Cade McNamara and also their elite prospect J.J. McCarthy. Last season I was heavy in the camp of Cade McNamara as I saw him as a steady hand who played with intelligence, moxie, poise, and played a mistake-free brand of football. McNamara was better suited for the team last year due to McCarthy’s inexperience but also because the strength of the team was their run game and their defense, it benefited the team to have a guy in there who won’t go out there and lose you the game. However, heading into this season I would very much like to see a changing of the guard and feature an offense with the higher-ceiling player in McCarthy. Cade, although safe and efficient, is limited to a possession and field-position brand of football, keeping his throws between the hashes and hitting check-downs. McCarthy represents something that Michigan football has promised for many years but has failed to deliver, an NFL quarterback. With the physical tools of size, athleticism, and arm strength, McCarthy appears to be the quarterback with the highest ceiling of ability that they’ve had in the program in a long time. The strength of this team will be in its offense and in their weapons, it seems apropos to unleash them on defenses by making them have to defend not only the air-attack but also McCarthy’s speed and athleticism. I expect Harbaugh to start McNamara in game 1, giving him the first possession followed by alternating possessions the remainder of the game and for the first four games of the year. I also expect by the team’s first test, on the road at Iowa week 5, that McCarthy will have supplanted McNamara by this point.
Question Mark
The team’s biggest vulnerability will be on the defensive side of the ball. The defensive unit will be looking to replace 3 players that were drafted in the first 45 picks of the 2021 NFL draft in defensive ends Aiden Hutchinson, David Ojabo, and in the back-end safety Dax Hill. Last season the pass-rush generated by the edge rushers were able to mask some of the vulnerabilities that the team had at the linebacker and secondary positions. This season they will not be as fortunate to do so. Fortunately, the interior defensive unit will be bringing back an all-big ten level player in Mazi Smith who at measuring 6’3 337 is incredibly strong and sneaky quick. However, outside of Smith, the 3 other defensive line positions remain a question mark. Playing next to Smith will be first-time starter Kris Jenkins and on the outside, Jaylen Harrell and Mike Morris. The staff will be looking for contributions from freshmen Kenneth Grant and Mason Graham who have bright futures but are green behind the ears. Reports out of camp are that Kenneth Grant has been lighting it up, look for him to supplant, or being in a constant rotation with Kris Jenkins at the defensive tackle position. On the edge, be on the lookout for a Darkhorse contributor in Julius Weischoff, a reserve defensive lineman who dropped 23 lbs. and is reportedly impressing in camp. This will be the position group in-question all season long.
Backers
The defense’s Mike and Will linebacking positions will feature two, very good players in Junior Colson and Nikhai Hill-Green. Both of these players have good size at 6-2 235 but it is their physicality and footspeed with the ability to get sideline to sideline that will make them highly effective players. I expect both players to be excellent in run support. With the drop-off in the ability to generate a pass-rush with the front four, I’d imagine we will see Colson being brought as the 5th pass rusher often where he should be highly effective. Where this group is vulnerable is in their depth as well as their pass defense. Outside of nickel-backer Michael Barrett, there is not a whole lot of certainty on the depth chart. In the passing game, according to pro football focus when sampling the 251 power-five linebackers who faced a minimum of 50 coverage snaps last year, Colson ranked 238th and Hill-Green 170th. Hopefully after completing their freshman season’s, they will be doing less thinking and more reacting in pass coverage because this will be a point of vulnerability exploited throughout the season. Still, I expect these two backers to have very good seasons and to turn into NFL prospects along the way.
Back-End
The secondary will be the defensive group that will have the most depth and least amount of question marks heading into the season. Though the unit lost first-round pick Daxton Hill in the off-season, they will be returning and bringing in highly talented players. Corner D.J. Turner was named to the pre-season All Big-Ten team and will be their best returning player of the unit, he will be tasked will covering the best talent the big ten has to offer. Opposite him will be returning corner Gemon Green who although has good size and athleticism at 6’2, did at times showcase poor ball skills and propensity to gave up “The big play,” hopefully the experience has produced growth. The safety group will be led by Rod Moore who seemed to play well-above his experience level as a contributing freshman last season along with R.J. Moton. The secondary will be supported with depth by the 5-star and #1 prospect out of the state of Michigan in the 2021 recruiting class, 6’3 true-freshman Will Johnson. Johnson will more than likely be playing some nickel corner and I can’t imagine the staff will hesitate to move him opposite D.J. Turner should Green struggle on the outside. This should be a solid unit this upcoming season and boy will they need it when it comes to trying to defend the unbelievably talented Ohio State receiving group.
Prediction
The current over/under on win total this season is at 9.5, call me a slappy but I will take the over.
Sept 3: Colorado State W
Sept 10: Hawaii W
Sept 17: Uconn W
Sept 24: Maryland W
Oct 1: Iowa W
Oct 8: Indiana W
Oct 15: Penn State W
Oct 29: MSU W
Nov 5: Rutgers W
Nov 12: Nebraska L
Nov 19: Illinois W
Nov 26: Ohio State L
Overall Record: 10-2
Synopsis
I expect this team to be a very good one although not quite good enough to beat Ohio State and repeat as Big Ten Champions. I expect them to breeze through the season until they beat Iowa in what will surely be a night game dog fight at Kinnick and then beat Penn State at home. For the love of God, they cannot drop a third straight game to Michigan State, right? Guys, right??? Only because it is a home game and they’ve taken it on the chin in back-to-back years do I have them beating state. I expect this game to be a war and it would not surprise me in the slightest if Mel Tucker leaves town once again with Paul Bunyan. I am a lot higher on Michigan State than the national media and I don’t understand why everyone dogs them every year heading into the season. Mel Tucker is the man and the over on 7.5 wins is the easiest bet in Vegas. I have Michigan laying an egg and getting caught by Nebraska where I believe Scott Frost will get his signature win as Nebraska’s coach. Then we arrive to “The Game.” After last year’s embarrassingly manhandled loss, I expect Ohio State to win at home by two scores. I expect the two teams to be close in ability however I think Michigan will be unable to generate enough of a pass rush against C.J. Stroud and there will be too many mismatches in the passing game for Michigan to handle. Between Smith-Njigba, Marvin Harrison Jr., Julian Fleming, Emeka Egbuka, and Treyveon Henderson out of the backfield, coupled with Michigan’s lack of a pass rush, it will leave them having to cover for an extended period of time, I believe the defense will struggle. Expect Michigan to implement more zone coverages throughout the season, that may be the only thing they’ll be able to do to offset the ability of the Buckeye passing attack. We’re 2.5 weeks away from Kick, should be a fun year. Go blue.