andrel anthony

In perhaps the most significant transfer out of the 2022-23 Michigan Football offseason, sophomore WR Andrel Anthony is departing the program:

The sophomore receiver appeared in all fourteen games this season for the Wolverines, recording seven catches for 80 yards and one touchdown. This was a step down from his freshman season statline of twelve catches for 248 yards and three touchdowns, a development that led to discussion in the fanbase. After playing miniscule roles in the key games of the season, he is gone. 

Anthony arrived at Michigan out of rival East Lansing, a 3* prospect just outside the top 500 of the 247 composite. He was a lanky 6'2", known for his leaping and admired for potential star retriever traits. Michigan took Anthony and Cristian Dixon as their receiver crop in the 2021 recruiting class (Xavier Worthy was once in this group) and of these two, it was Anthony that had the authors of this site most excited. Seth did the recruiting profiles that year and was enamored with Anthony, comparing him to Roy Roundtree (but Tall) and naming him the vaunted SLEEPER OF THE YEAR. 

Anthony was an early enrollee in the spring of 2021 and got plenty of spring buzz which preceded Seth's praise. As the 2021 season got going, Anthony was not featured much until midway through the year, when suddenly he made his presence known against his hometown Spartans: 

That was Anthony's first career catch(!), a 93 yarder for a score that made us say "oh, this is a thing". Then he found the end zone again: 

Anthony had six catches for 155 yards and 2 TDs and had Michigan won that game, Anthony would've been the #1 hero. Even the catches that didn't count had Braylon vibes: 

That game made us believe that a star had been born, but liftoff didn't quite follow. Anthony was still buried on the WR chart and he accomplished the rather remarkable feat of having exactly one (1) catch in every single game the rest of the season. There were some tough moments peppered in, including a semi-drop on a deep ball against Ohio State that Anthony alllllmost had, but the potential was still there, as we saw in his TD against Georgia from JJ: 

He got a +3 for the route in UFR. Given that it is MGoBlog policy that Freshman Receivers Suck, many assumed that 2022 would bring a huge jump in Andrel Anthony's level of play, but that's where things take a negative turn of sorts. Not just did Anthony fail to take a step forward, in many ways, he seemingly regressed. His stat line was a decrease in catches, yards, and TDs, and he didn't have a "moment" the way he did against MSU in 2021. Anthony appeared in every game, but got a catch in only six of them and had more than one catch in just one contest. In fact, he had just one catch after the bye week, a 7 yard reception vs. Rutgers. He did record a touchdown against Nebraska, for falling on a loose ball in the end zone that Ronnie Bell fumbled: 

The disappearance of Anthony was rather mysterious and when given an opportunity to make plays, he didn't make them. McCarthy threw him a beautiful ball against Illinois that was a game-changing touchdown if caught, and Anthony could not make the grab. Not that other receivers didn't have drops, but Anthony's usage was not high and when given an opportunity to change the narrative, he failed to seize the moment. To that point, in our charting, Anthony had two drops on "routine" balls, tied for the team lead. But here's the catch (hehe, pun): Cornelius Johnson's two drops were across 22 routine balls. Bell's were across 42. Anthony's were over 8 balls. Likewise he was 0/1 on "tough" balls and 0/1 on "circus". Some opportunities were given, and not enough plays were made to warrant more Andrel Anthony this season. 

Still, your author and many Michigan fans had high hopes for Andrel Anthony going into 2023, if he could figure out whatever the issue was. Now it appears he will be figuring it out at a different school. Anthony will have two years of eligibility + the possibility to redshirt wherever he goes. One could wonder what this says about both the status of the incumbent receivers, as well as those below Anthony on the age chart. Ronnie Bell is out the door, Roman Wilson is expected to return as a senior, but Cornelius Johnson has the opportunity to use his COVID-shirt to return. Does Anthony's departure say anything about Johnson's decision? Moreover, it could indicate that Anthony may be passed on the depth chart by the likes of Darrius Clemons or Amorion Walker, who are Class of 2022 players finishing their freshmen seasons. Clemons in particular is one to watch, as his friendship with Anthony was a large factor in his recruitment. 

Michigan will be looking to get a bit more from their WR room next season, and unfortunately Anthony will not be a part of it. We will always have the memory of his 2021 MSU performance, even if that game outcome is a bit sour to look back on. That said, it's hard to look at Anthony's time in Ann Arbor and not have a slight feeling of "what could've been". Hopefully he will reach those lofty dreams somewhere else and we wish him the best. There is no content after the jump. 

FORMATION NOTES: There will be no marveling about how passive the opponent was this week. Illinois did not have a single standard down in which they were not +1 in the box. Their three DL barely left the field, and it was cover one about 70% of the time. Against one TE Illinois responded with a pretty standard 3-4 look:

When Michigan went with two TEs in the box Illinois usually responded with a 6-2 formation with a linebacker folded inside one of their OLBs:

There is a safety off screen on both these snaps. Illinois would occasionally stem into cover two, and occasionally send that safety who's off screen down either presnap or just before it; usually his job was to clean up anything that popped outside of contain, allowing the Illinois defense to collapse on the interior run game.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: Welp. Keegan out again so El-Hadi started; Barnhart maintained the starting job at RT. Jones got in for some goal line plays. I think he's healthy and they're just rolling with Barnhart. Schoonmaker out again so Loveland was TE1 with Honigford and Bredeson mixing in as blockers, mostly. Hibner got his first non-garbage time reps in a while.

WR pretty much the usual. No Edwards at RB and Corum went out near halftime, leaving Stokes, Dunlap, and Gash. Stokes got the most run early but by the time it was crunch time they were using Gash, apparently because they think he's their best option out of the backfield.

[After THE JUMP: stiffer resistance]

11/19/2022 – Michigan 19, Illinois 17 – 11-0, 8-0 Big Ten

Blake Corum got a screen, and he got blocking. Colston Loveland wiped a guy. Olu Oluwatimi harassed the nearest safety until he could only desperately chase Corum down the sideline. He lined up for an ankle tackle that probably wasn't going to work. It didn't work. Corum… ran out of bounds.

What? How? What? In the stands I assumed that what I saw is not actually what I saw. In the press box the announcers were so baffled that they didn't even mention it. But in this Zapruder dawn a couple days later we can process the event: Blake Corum just daintily pranced out of bounds because of the vague idea that an Illinois safety might contact him, from behind, maybe.

div/0 fatal error

Correction: div/0, near fatal error.

-------------------------------------

The thing is: Corum did this on his first carry, too.

JJ McCarthy is out there getting lit up because he thinks it's the Big Ten championship game and instead of using that Corum just heads out of bounds, with no impact from a defender at all. Here's a picture of McCarthy dying inside.

"ow" –McCarthy [Barron]

I have seen Blake Corum run the ball enough to know this is not a usual event, and I have seen Michigan games under Jim Harbaugh where the opponent is not given much respect. Earlier this year McCarthy was bailing to the sideline on QB keepers even when this made little sense. I know "save hits where you can" is a philosophy this program employs, but to apply it to Corum, who's coming off a 29-carry day against Nebraska? This was the grand bull-moose of all such disrespect events.

Sorry, Sparty. You're not even the most disrespected team in the league anymore.

You just have to wonder: Schoonmaker, Morris, and Jones all warmed up but did not play. (Jones did get in on a goal-line package.) Keegan and Edwards were in street clothes but had no lower body issues, as your author observed pre-game. AJ Henning was mysteriously absent. Corum re-entered for two plays in the second half and then sat out the rest of the game. Even deep into the second half Illinois was sitting on a lead and Michigan didn't unearth any of the guys who were close enough to health to warm up. Exactly how much focus was placed on the Ohio State game over the past week, month, and year, and how much of this game was a big ol' game of chicken with the Buckeyes?

Probably a lot, and judging by results around the country Michigan was far from alone. Ohio State was in a three-point game with Maryland with six minutes left; they got outgained for the third time in four weeks. Tennessee got ambushed by South Carolina. USC's defense went from mostly notional to an astral presence trying to affect anything in the real world. Even mighty Georgia slopped their way to a 16-6 win over Kentucky. The entirety of the college football world was just trying to scrape by on the penultimate weekend of the regular season.

I kind of hate this approach because it leads to things like this game and, more egregiously, last year's Rutgers outing. It feels like the finger of the football gods passing judgment on you when Corum gets bashed in the knee during the game where it seems like he's been instructed to avoid getting bashed in the knee whenever possible. It feels bad, man.

But we've been here long enough to know that whatever Michigan looks like in the games where they're just trying to get to The Game isn't what they look like against Ohio State. This team has had the luxury of a lot of opponents they could get away with powerfully disrespecting; hopefully they have used that time to prepare a veritable smorgasbord of pain for OSU.

Decks are clear. Armageddon is a go. Break them.

AWARDS

Known Friends and Trusted Agents Of The Week

[Bryan Fuller]

you're the man now, dog

#1 Uh, Well, Still Blake Corum. If you are personally responsible for 150 yards of offense in a half of play and generate a lot of that yourself you still end up here. Even if you probably should have been responsible for 200.

#2 Mason Graham. Graham didn't get starters snaps but was the dude making short-yardage stops repeatedly as Jenkins and Smith had some issues. Four total tackles vastly underestimates his performance.

#3 Jake Moody. Nice having the reigning Groza winner at your service in a game you win by kicking four field goals. Winner was straight down the pipe, and he converted one into the heavy, swirling wind.

Honorable mention: Ronnie Bell battled with Witherspoon all day and came up with a key punt return. Colston Loveland had three catches and should have had at least five.

KFaTAotW Standings.

(points: #1: 8, #2: 5, #3: 3, HMs one each. Ties result in somewhat arbitrary assignments.)

51: Blake Corum (#2 CSU, #2 Hawaii, HM UConn, #1 Maryland, #2 Iowa. HM Indiana, T2 PSU, #1 MSU, T1 Rutgers, #3 Nebraska, #1 Illinois)
23: The Offensive Line (#3 Iowa, #1 PSU, HM MSU, #3 Rutgers, #1 Nebraska)
21: JJ McCarthy (#1 Hawaii, #2 UConn, HM Maryland, HM Iowa, #3 Indiana, HM PSU, HM MSU. HM Rutgers)
18: Ronnie Bell (HM CSU, HM Hawaii, #1 UConn, #2 Indiana, HM PSU, HM Nebraska, HM Illinois)
17: Mike Morris (T3 Hawaii, HM Maryland, #1 Iowa, T1 Indiana, #3 PSU, HM Rutgers),
15:  Kris Jenkins (#3 UConn, T3 Hawaii, HM Iowa, T1 Indiana, #2 MSU, HM Rutgers, HM Nebraska)
14: Mazi Smith (#1 CSU, T3 Hawaii, HM Maryland, HM Iowa, HM MSU, HM Nebraska)
13: Mason Graham (HM Hawaii, HM Iowa, HM Indiana, #2 Nebraska, #2 Illinois)
9: Donovan Edwards (HM Hawaii, T2 PSU, T1 Rutgers)
7: Gemon Green (HM UConn, T2 Maryland, HM PSU), Jake Moody (HM PSU, #3 MSU, #3 Illinois).
5: DJ Turner (T2 Maryland), Junior Colson (#3 CSU, HM UConn, HM PSU), Luke Schoonmaker (T3 Maryland, HM Iowa, HM Indiana, HM MSU), Michael Barrett (#2 Rutgers).
4: Eyabi Okie (HM CSU, HM Iowa, T1 Indiana).
3: Derrick Moore (HM CSU, T1 Indiana), Jaylen Harrell (HM CSU, T1 Indiana), Rod Moore (HM CSU, HM Indiana, HM MSU)
2: Roman Wilson (HM CSU, HM Hawaii), Max Bredeson (T3 Maryland), Joel Honigford (T3 Maryland), Mike Sainristil (HM Maryland, HM Indiana)
1: Braiden McGregor (HM CSU), Makari Paige (HM Hawaii), Rayshaun Benny (HM Hawaii), Cornelius Johnson (HM Hawaii), , AJ Henning (HM UConn), Caden Kolesar (HM UConn), RJ Moten (HM Maryland), Will Johnson (HM Rutgers), CJ Stokes (HM Nebraska), Andrel Anthony (HM Nebraska), Colston Loveland (HM Illinois)

Who's Got It Better Than Us(?) Of The Week

Moody's field goal to win is right down the middle.

Honorable mention: Corum busts out on the first play from scrimmage; TD drive ensues from there. Bell's punt return sets Michigan up for a field goal. Graham stuffs a fourth and short.

?MARCUS HALL EPIC DOUBLE BIRD OF THE WEEK.

Corum takes a helmet to the knee, causing him to (maybe) fumble and more or less knocking him out for the duration. Insult to injury.

Honorable mention: Brown bursts for a 37-yard touchdown that puts Michigan in its first second-half deficit since Penn State. Inexpicable Corum exit in game column. Garbage holding call brings back a 40 yard improv play to Wilson. Andrel Anthony drops a touchdown.