2016 Offensive Preview

For the first time in a very long time there is a good chance that Michigan could be the favorite in every game that they play this year.  They are coming off a season in which they went 10-3 and won every game that they should have and went 0-3 in the games that they were supposed to lose or were a toss up.  The 2016 version of the Michigan Wolverines should have a lot of depth and competition in key areas.

Quarterback-

I don't think that Michigan had John O'Korn come in to be a backup quarterback.  He is more than likely going to be the starter but it will not be without a fight.  Shane Morris, Wilton Speight, Alex Malzone, and Brandon Peters will also be trying to win the job.  It is more likely a 3-man race between Speight, Morris, and O'Korn.  Peters will most likely be redshirted to preserve his eligibility.  Malzone just doesn't seem to be much in the conversation based on most of the reports from the last year.  Morris has started 2 games in his career and has been very mediocre in both starts and lost both starts.  There has also been many questions about his maturity over the last couple year as well as his
ability to lead a team.  Speight was the backup last year and only saw meaningful time in one game, the win at Minnesota.  He played basically the 4th quarter and struggled for much of the time except for the last drive that proved to be the game winning drive.  Speight went 9-25 for 73 yards with one touchdown and one interception.  That leaves O'Korn.  O'Korn of the three that are most likely to start has the most talent and the most experience.  Before he transferred to Michigan O'Korn started 19 games at Houston and 34 touchdowns.

Likely Depth Chart-

1. O'Korn
2. Speight
3. Morris

Runningback/ Fullback-

Deveon Smith Run

Runningback was a position that Michigan struggled with at times last year.  Everyone will be back except Derrick Green who has announced that he will transfer.  That leaves the primary ball carrier from last year Deveon Smith, and backups Ty Isaac, Drake Johnson, Wyatt Shallman, and Karan Higdon.  Smith was not completely healthy most of last year and it was pretty clear.  Isaac was in the dog house with the coaches for much of last year.  Johnson was trying to get healthy from his torn ACL the year before.  Shallman has had a lot of injuried over the course of the last couple years and Higdon was just a freshman.  There are two freshman coming in who are already on campus.  One is from Alabama who is a 240 pound 18 year and looks like he could eventually move to fullback.  The other is one of the top runningback prospects in the country in 5 star Kareem Walker.  There is a small chance that one of those two could contend for some carries but it is probably only one would and the other could get redshirted based on the other options.

At fullback there are not nearly as many options.  The 2 guys who played fullback last year, Sione Houma and Joe Kerridge.  The only other fullbacks on the roster were walkons.  They have apparently moved H-back Henry Poggi and tight end Khalid Hill to fullback.  They probably will not have a guy who was the weapon that Houma was but they seem to have options.

Likely Depth Chart-

      RB                                 FB
1.  Smith                         1. Poggi
2.  Isaac                          2. Hil
3.  Johnson/Walker

Wide Receiver-

Chesson making a block

Unlike many of the other positions on offense there is much more certainty at Wide Receiver.  Michigan might have the best starting Wide Receivers in the Big Ten in Jehu Chesson and Amara Darboh.  Last year they combined for 108 catches, 1491 yards and 14 touchdowns.  Those numbers got continually better throughout the year as the offense turned into more of a passing offense.  The rest of the WRs on the roster combined to catch just 24 balls.  14 of those catches came from true freshman Grant Perry.  The rest of the guys who made catches were Da'Mario Jones, Mo Ways, and Drake Harris.  There are 6 incoming freshman who play the position: Dylan Crawford, Chris Evans, Brad Hawkins, Nate Johnson, Eddie McDoom, and Amhir Mitchell.  Most of these guys will not play a significant roll and more than likely a couple of them could be redshirted.

Likely Depth Chart-

         X                                Y                               Slot
1.  Darboh                    1. Chesson                  1. Perry
2. Harris                       2. Ways                      2. Crawford
3. Mitchell                   3. Jones                       3. McDoom

Tight End-

Jake Butt scores a touchdown

This is another position where there is not going to be much of a mystery as to who is starting.  All American Jake Butt is returning for his senior year.  Butt is coming off a season in which he had 52 catches, 641 yards and 3 touchdowns.  The competition behind him is going to be fierce.  As was expected when Jim Harbaugh was hired there are going to be a lot of tight ends on the roster and a lot of usage out of those tight ends.  Returning is just Sophomore Ian Bunting and Redshirt Frehsman Tyrone Wheatley Jr, though it is likely that TWJ is going to move to tackle.  Highly recruited Quarterback Zach Gentry, who is 6 foot 7 230 pounds, will be moving to tight end. There are three freshman coming in, one of which is already on campus.  Sean McKeon is already on campus, Nick Eubanks, and Devin Asiasi will be on campus soon.  Asiasi is the most highly regarded of the bunch and is very likely to see some playing time mainly because of his blocking.

Likely Depth Chart-

1. Butt
2. Asiasi
3. Gentry

Offensive Line-

The offensive line has been a big issue with Michigan fans over the last few seasons.  Many of the guys that have been on the offensive line the last 3 years are still here.  There are 3 guys who have made starts in each of their first 3 years that are still on the team.  Kyle Kalis, 29 starts, Erik Magnuson, 24 starts, and Ben Braden, 25 starts.  None of these guys are guaranteed to be a started next year.  Mason Cole who has also started 25 games but he will be starting next year.  The other guys that got some playing time this past year were Freshman Grant Newsome, Sophomore David Dawson, and Patrick Kugler.  There is also a chance that Redshirt Freshman Tyrone Wheatley Jr moves to the offensive line from tight end and Redshirt Freshamn Nathan Ulizio and John Runyan Jr will also be vying for a spot in the starting lineup.  On the offensive line, most true freshman get redshirted but incoming frehsman Ben Bradeson and Michael Onwenu will attempt to take a job once they get onto campus in June.  There could still be some issues at the beginning of the year on the offensive line but I think that they have more options than they have in the past and they will find a group that will gel together at some point and it will become a strength.

Likely Depth Chart-

LT- Grant Newsome, Mason Cole
LG- Ben Braden, David Dawson
C- Mason Cole, Patrick Kugler
RG- Kyle Kalis, David Dawson
RT- Erik Magnuson, Ben Bredeson

Next Post: Defensive Preview

Recap of National Signing Day

The first Wednesday of February is always the biggest day each year on the recruiting landscape, National Signing Day.  This is the day that High School Seniors are first allowed to sign their National Letter of Intent to play college football.  When Jim Harbaugh was hired Michigan was expected to recruit at an extremely high level and that was exactly what they did.



Recruiting Controversies


Harbaugh's first full recruiting cycle was not without controversy.  Michigan has always been a school that tries its best to follow the rules and not toe the line or work in gray areas with recruiting.  Harbaugh and the staff decided that it was best that they work in those areas.  This has made many Michigan fans uncomfortable because its not how it has always been.  The biggest news that was made was about Erik Swenson.



Swenson was Michigan's first commitment for the 2016 class back in November of 2013 under old coach Brady Hoke.  2 weeks before signing day Swenson announced that he was decommitting because the Michigan coaches had just told him that he was no longer welcome in their recruiting class.  The reasoning was as simple as he had not developed the way that he had wanted to so they did not want him to be apart of the class.  This received a lot of national attention because, while this is a common practice in the SEC, it was not something that Michigan has done before.  Depending on who you believed whether it was Swenson's family or people around Michigan it is two completely different stories.  The story from the Swenson side was that Michigan had not given Erik any notice before telling him that he was not a part of the class while the Michigan side said that they had told him to visit other schools in November because there was a chance that he would not be part of the class.



The Class



Depending on which of the 4 major recruiting websites you are looking at Michigan finished anywhere from 4th-6th.  The site that I follow most closely is Rivals.com and they had Michigan as the 4th best class in the country.  That is the best finish that Michigan has had in the 14 years of the website.  The crown jewel of the class is the consensus number 1 player in the nation, Rashan Gary.  This recruitment had a lot of twists and turns, like most recruitments of top players in the nation.  They were able sustain a late run from the national runner-up Clemson.







Also on National Signing Day they were able to get the Signature from Devin Asiasi.  This was a big get for Michigan in their staff not only because of what type of player he is but because of what part of the country he is from and the high school that he came from.  He went to Concorde De La Salle in California.  That is one of the biggest football factories in the countries.  In the late 90's and early 2000's the had a streak of 151 games, the longest winning streak in the history of high school football.



Michigan decided that they were going to make an effort in other parts of the country instead of just the Midwest likes staffs in the past ha done.  They were going to try to get players from Calfornia, Texas, Florida, Georgia, and New Jersey.  They were able to receive commitments from players from California, Georgia, Florida and New Jersey and were able to get multiple from New Jersey.  They were able to secure 6 commitments from Florida, 3 from California and 6 from New Jersey.



Signing of the Stars



Michigan decided to do one of the more unique things that I have ever seen when it came to signing day.  They decided that have what they called "The Signing of the Stars".  It basically looked like an award show and they got every celebrity that they could to come to announce who was coming in for this recruiting class.



They were able to get videos from celebrities like Vince Vaughn, Lil Wayne, Owen Wilson among other to make videos to show at the event.  They were able to get many athletes that have connections to the University of Michigan like Tom Brady, Charles Woodson and Derek Jeter to come to the event.  The event was not only for the signing day but they were also able to raise over $100,000 for the chad tough foundation for pediatric cancer research.