Michigan Football, Team 138, 2017 Season.

[Hannibal]

Topical -- Pro football focus (PFF) has Peppers going at #21 in the draft. Here is what they have to say...

Peppers has started to fall down our board just a bit, as his play on the field as of late hasn’t quite lived up to his hype. While his elite athleticism and ability as a returner is blindingly apparent every time he steps on the field, his play on the back end has been less than stellar. When targeted in coverage this season, he has yielded receptions on 20 of 26 targets and does not have a single pass defended when he is the primary defender (his lone interception against Ohio State was a case of him being in the right place at the right time off a pass tipped in front). He also lacks the size to consistently take on and shed blocks going forward, as the majority of his impact plays this year have come when he has been unblocked. Teams considering him will need sell themselves on the idea that his coverage struggles could be due to his hybrid role, but it may be difficult for some to come to terms with the thought that he may be a two-down player at the next level.

[Rocky Bleier]

3rd or 4th in the east division next year. Ugh. I hope Peterson beats out Speight. Otherwise he'll waste 3 years behind Wiltin'. Most discouraging is that Harbaugh is recruiting well but only about as well as Hoke's best years. He couldn't beat (although, he really did) a young osu team with a bunch of 5th year players, and Meyer is recruiting better than ever - on par with the Bama Boosters.

[Hannibal]

Ideally, I'd love to see McCaffrey. I want a runner who can keep defenses more honest and erase mistakes by the OL.

[hack]

Thanks for the snippet on Peppers. I basically agree about his time here. I don't know about the NFL take.

[hack]

Speight is a good QB who is gonna get better. If he can keep himself out of those funks he falls into in which his accuracy goes to shit, we're going to be very happy with him. I'm really surprised if he's not a three-year starter.

Though I share Hannibal's desire to have someone who is a running threat.

[Rocky Bleier]

Ideally, I'd love to see McCaffrey. I want a runner who can keep defenses more honest and erase mistakes by the OL.

He's pretty thin right now. Needs to get bigger/stronger. Redshirt him next season, which will be Speight's junior year.

[Jeff Buchanan]

The three most frustrating aspects of your analysis of the team 138, Hanni, that I can't disagree with are:

(1) The OL. This is where JH is getting f'ed by Hoke's horrendous OL recruiting. Harbaugh wants road graders with the ability to pull. He doesn't have them and it hurts the kind of offense he wants to run.

(2) RB. A problem for a decade. No blue chippers (and we can't keep blaming Fred Jackson for this) and not great development out of what has shown up. Najee Harris may be and probably IS the most important recruiting target that JH has. Add to that a couple of highly regarded and likely to succeed OL recruits to make holes for him makes guys like Ruiz (good chance) and Leatherwood (not likely) also key targets.

(3) QB. I don't think Speight is ever going to be Andrew Luck and we'll leave it at that. Can he be good? Yes. Can he be a difference maker? Only in his apparent penchant to do bad things.

Something we really don't know about is how good the new set of DBs are going to be. No question, loosing all four of the starting line-up is a huge hit but this area was heavily recruited in 16 and there's some talent there that has had some exposure with playing time (Kinnel, Long, Hill, Hudson). It would be huge if Clark were to get a 6th year. Also, M probably has it's best DB coaching staff ever in Brown, Smith and Zordich and if Smith and/or Zordich aren't poached we might be surprised how stout the pass D is.

The DL and LBs are going to be fine.

I don't see five losses and can't agree at all with Mr. Doom and Gloom. I do see 3 possibles with leans to a loss (FL, Wisconsin and PSU) unless M's fortunes with road games in 2017 is an outlier. I'd be willing to coin flip any of those games along with osu (lean to a loss) so, I'll go with 8-4 (no way M will lose all the coin flips/leans) as the floor and 11-1 as the ceiling.

[Rocky Bleier]

Speight is a good QB who is gonna get better. If he can keep himself out of those funks he falls into in which his accuracy goes to shit, we're going to be very happy with him. I'm really surprised if he's not a three-year starter.

Though I share Hannibal's desire to have someone who is a running threat.

I don't like the way he guides his passes. His arm strength is okay, not great. At Iowa and OSU he choked under pressure and threw way behind receivers on slant routes. He's not a threat to run. Alabama DBs would feast on his soft throws. Harbaugh, Henne, Grbac, Brady, Henson, Wangler, and Griese were all better than him. I'd put him in with Todd Collins.

[Hannibal]

Collins was better too.

[Hannibal]

I like Speight okay but he's not a guy who's going to win a championship for us. He'll likely be the best QB on the roster next year but I'm looking past 2017.

(1) The OL. This is where JH is getting f'ed by Hoke's horrendous OL recruiting. Harbaugh wants road graders with the ability to pull. He doesn't have them and it hurts the kind of offense he wants to run.

Meh. We've still got some guys left on the roster that were very highly thought of coming out of high school and I don't think that Drevno got a lot out of them.

The 2014 and 2015 classes weren't very good on paper and by this time next year we won't have Brian Cole, Michael Ferns, Freddy Canteen, or Peppers. Some of the other guys that we were excited about like Drake Harris and Lawrence Marshall look unlikely to pan out. The stud QB recuit has already switched positions and there don't appear to be any surprise overachievers in those groups.

[hack]

Not a threat to run but excellent at avoiding the rush. The choking is an odd thing. He has also been quite cool under pressure in big moments. But not consistently. None of this stuff is a hard ceiling though. It's not like he has lead feet, a weak arm, happy feet, or cannot see the field. He's simply got to put it together with consistency. I think that's on the table for him. He's no Andrew Luck, and he may not have that 5th-year Griese mojo, but he looks like he could be a Grbac/Collins level player. If one of Peters or McCaffrey are suddenly amazing, then great. But he's got a pretty significant head start on both.

[Hannibal]

Grbac is an interesting comparison. If he can work his accuracy level up to Grbac's, then that would be a terrific result. Grbac had mediocre arm strength too and he was awful in the face of pressure, but he practically never missed a no-brainer.

[Whitley]

If Michigan can upgrade the OL then the rest of the offense should upgrade as well.

[UMStan White]

Rumors starting that with the firing of Jeff Fisher Harbaugh the target of the Rams.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/jim-harbaugh-leaving-michigan-for-the-rams-is-reportedly-a-very-real-possibility/

[Cody_Russell]

Damn fake news.