Michigan Football, the 2020 Abbreviated COVID Season

[Jeff Buchanan]

Just saw that ...... he's currently the LB Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at Howard University. Don't know anything about his recruiting chops. He'd be an East Coast guy and Howard in Washington DC doesn't recruit nationally that I'm aware of. Partridge was a East Coast/NJ guy so looking at June to replace him makes sense. Howard plays in Division one FCS. They went 2-10 in 2019 - yikes! Below is his Howard University Coaching Staff bio. He's certainly got cred and a decent amount of coaching experience.

Could this be a not great "Michigan Man" hire? At this level of assistants I have no clue who else might be better.

https://hubison.com/sports/football/.../cato-june/399

[hack]

Certainly not a young star in coaching at this point.

I would like to see somebody who can recruit Ohio.

[iam416]

Luke Fickell!

[iam416]

There is pretty good talent on the OL (but no elites)

Yeah, that's not an OL that I think of as frightening. Maybe it's marginally above adequate, maybe it's marginally below adequate. But, I'd be very surprised if it were outside the fat part of the bell curve for good teams.

[Hannibal]

It will be good enough to rush for 3.5 ypc against quality defenses.

[iam416]

BTW, I know the Peyton Ramsey portaling to M stuff is utter garbage -- has to be -- but if that actually happened -- how fantastic would that be given my history with JB and assorted comments re Mr. Ramsey?

Fingers crossed!

[WingsFan]

[Jeff Buchanan]

Also from Steve Lorez via mgoboard. Jaylen Kelley-Powell enters the transfer portal.

[WingsFan]

I have said this a few times now, I don't see Harbaugh getting back this close to the CCG/Playoffs. (The Weis 'Bush Push' comparison) I did the same when the Red Wings were up 3-1 in the 2013 series to the Blackhawks (then choked) - I knew we were not getting that chance again with that core. Only difference is Harbaugh was playing against the officials also. Seeing osu get somewhat jobbed by the officials this year is karma from ClemSCum.

And the Red Wings will be back.




For Jim Harbaugh, 2016 Catastrophic

https://thewingedhelmet.com/?p=1817&...Wu4r3uFEnBN6Mo

[hack]

Yeah. That game was bullshit and it broke the program under Harbaugh. But it doesn't have to stay broken. At some point you have to pick yourself up again, deal with it, and reset things.

[Hannibal]

Something broke Harbaugh.

[WM Wolverine]

Buckeyes break him every season as does the bowl game. Takes a ton of momentum out of the program losing your last two games every season. Harbaugh also needs a good, very good QB, his best so far is Jake Ruddock, a one year starter that came via transfer.

[iam416]

It was the recipe that marred Cooper's otherwise successful uplifting of the OSU program. Losing your last two is such a drag. Every year. In 1996, when M had absolutely no business beating Ohio State, and still did, the Buckeyes won the Rose Bowl and, in the process, stopped Arizona State from winning the national title. That season felt way different -- even with the crushing loss to M -- than 1989-92 and 1995.

But, the real bottom line is that they need way better QB play, at least if they're going to beat OSU. I mentioned this in another thread, but they were ok going against JTB. He wasn't a devastating passer. Don Brown can crush an offense if it's, at most, 1.5 dimensional instead fully 2 dimensional. So, always had a chance in those JTB games. With Haskins and then Fields (and with CRD's offense in lieu of UFM's), Ohio State is going to score a fuckton. There's not much Don Brown can do about that, certainly not with they way M recruits on defense. They need to score and score a lot.

The other thing they probably need is a man-beast DT. HARBAUGH!!! fell ass-backwards into Mo Hurst, who was exactly that. They haven't had anything close to him since then. And you have absolutely no chance against Ohio State if you have to commit extra resources to IZ. And that's also a big difference between M and OSU -- I can look at OSU's roster and see 3 or 4 dudes who be monster DTs. M is basically praying to fucking god Hinton is that guy or, maybe, Mazi. The thing is, though, OSU knew Togiai was a dude when he was a frosh. Same for Taron Vincent (who was out the whole year) and even Haskell Garrett.

I'm also fairly confident that M's OL is gonna be meh, but the boys at mgo feel very differently. I'll say this -- it took two full years in the program before Myers and Davis to started and played well. And those guys are studs. I think the odds of Zach Carpenter being good next year are very small. I think their interior line is going to be a real question all year. I do like the tackles, IF they develop. They're no where close to where they need to be right now.

So, other than that, things look great!

[lineygoblue]

Michigan can only use what it has.

I think at least one of the three QB candidates is going to step up and be the guy they need on offense. In my estimation, McCaffery probably has all the tools when it comes to throwing, accuracy, and the ability to run and get out of trouble. Milton has an arm with strength that comes close to what Dan Marino had, but he doesn't have the accuracy. He can also run, and extend plays, and he's huge. He's bigger than McCaffery. I haven't heard much about McNamara yet, but I've heard nothing bad. He was very good in HS, but so were John O'Korn and Shea Patterson.

IF they can get some chemistry going on the OL where they have to replace a lot of bodies, the RB's look to be in very good shape. Charbonnet was just about the only bright light against Alabama, and Haskins has been a surprisingly good development. And if that's not enough, Evans will be back, and if he puts as much work into his game, as he did dedicating himself to just getting back in school, then he could be very good. The kid stayed in town after he got booted out of school, took a job delivering pizzas, and jumped thru every hoop in front of him in order to get re-admitted to the school. He could have just given up and left town, but props to him for doing what he had to do, to get back in school, and on the team.

The WR's look to be solid with Nico coming back, along with Butler and Sanistill. They're solid at TE as well.

Defensively, I think there's a good core of players coming back, that can be quite good. Thomas coming back will give them at least one strong corner, and Gray showed a lot of promise. Dax Hill played a lot as a true freshman, and he will only get better. There are holes to fill, but there are people there that can play, and need to step up.

We can already write it down in permanent ink that there will be a loss in Columbus, but that's to be expected now. The schedule is front-loaded this year, with the first seven (7) games being key as to where this team will end up. It will be tough opening at Washington, but there will be an opportunity to win if they approach it right. They'll have a new coach and QB, and could still be having growing pains at the time. Wisconsin, Penn State, and MSU are all in the first seven games, which is a tough assignment. If they can come out of those games at 6-1 or better, then they could be looking at a 2-loss season.

Probably right back to Florida for the bowl game. Outback most likely.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Good recap, Liney.

Except the need to stop, let's just start with the Badgers, Wisconsin's run game. talent already nailed the problem with osu (Brown having to commit resources to stop IZ that would otherwise not be needed with a "man-best" at NT). M is definitely in the "hope Hinton or Smith work out mode when it comes to the DL.

Too early to tell but this has been an issue for Brown since Mo Hurst graduated that Brown has successfully papered over for the likes of non-contenders but has not been able to do that v. contenders (osu and Alabama in the second half). M also had trouble with Army and Wisky early - albeit Army is a different variety of can't paper over weak interior DL play by asking your DEs to funnel/pinch while having LBs and Ss fill from unexpected positions on the field. Good backs behind a good OL are going to eat that alive with speed and vision to the hole (Taylor, Dobbins and Harris).

I've lost confidence in M's ability to develop the QB they need from the stable of them on the roster now. Patterson proved he was no more than a plus-0.5 to JOK. I think Patterson had processing issues (too slow) but it looked like that wasn't figured out until very late in the season and even then, when the offense put Shea in a position to make a big play, he'd come up short. Some of that was on his receivers but a whole lot more of it was on him not seeing wavingly wide open TEs, slots and WRs that were probably 2nd reads. He would either bail on his first read or throw the ball wildly or badly into coverage.

Could be wrong as it seems McCaffrey has all the tools but it takes coaches who design plays and an offensive scheme that optimizes them for M to be anything more than "1.5 dimensional."

The guy that took on talent's assessment of the OL (just ok to a bit less than that without Ruiz) is a decent mgoboard poster (and that's saying a lot b/c 90% of them suck). I think losing Ruiz is huge. Questions abound to whether he just made great line calls when things worked or Warinner coached him up well and can do the same for whoever replaces him - there are a few possibilities there that are not chopped liver. So, call me biased but I'm a little bit shaded to a more positive outlook for the OL because of Warinner. That assumes the position group gels and that is just a totally unknonw factor until you see what the OL looks like at the end of the non-conference schedule.