carlo kemp

the "mom's retiring" leap [Patrick Barron]

The NFL Draft is a nice weekend because no matter how the football team did the previous season, Michigan fans can be assured they'll see a Wolverine achieve a professional dream every single year since 1938, a streak unmatched by any school except USC. That run continued in last weekend's 2021 edition, though Michigan State's 80-year streak was snapped. Tragic.

Michigan had eight players drafted, tied for the fifth-most of any college with Florida—Alabama and (sigh) Ohio State had the most with ten, followed by Georgia and Notre Dame. Other Big Ten programs with at least three selections were Penn State (6), Iowa (4), Northwestern (3, including two first-rounders), and Wisconsin (3). That number is a bit misleading in terms of how much talent the Wolverines fielded last season, though:

Sorry, sorry, this was supposed to be fun. Let's take a look at where the former Wolverines were picked and the roles they project to play at the next level.

DE Kwity Paye, Indianapolis Colts, Round 1, 21st overall

This is why the draft is worth watching:

Paye was the second defensive end off the board in what's considered a down year for edge rushers. He joins a solid Indianapolis front four that could use some pass-rushing pop from strongside end, where he'll be in competition to start right away—as a first-round pick he'll get every opportunity to take hold of the job.

His disciplined run defense and high-level athleticism should translate right away, and the expectation is his pass-rushing production will improve with development (and not playing in front of M's 2020 secondary). He'll at least be a consistent rotation player.

No matter what, Paye's estimated $7.3 million signing bonus will afford his mom plenty of leisure time.

[Hit THE JUMP]

the otter is: curious about basketball and hockey [Patrick Barron]

FORMATION NOTES: Le beef.

image

[Patrick Barron]

FORMATION NOTES: A fairly radical departure for Michigan, which went with two high safeties for ~80% of the day.

off coverage 11111

As per usual with radical in-season makeovers, things did not go that well. Man coverage was sprinkled in a lot of zones, instead of vice-versa, and sometimes it felt like third down man coverage was mesh bait as Michigan tried to get Indiana to throw at Dax Hill.

Indiana spent the entire day in a 3-wide gun except for some short yardage snaps with 2 TEs and the occasional pistol.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: The starting secondary of Green/Gray/Hawkins/Hill never came off the field. Paige was the only other DB to get snaps; he was the nickelback and was out there maybe a quarter of the time.

Similar story in the LB corps, though each of those guys missed some snaps when Michigan went to dime packages. Shibley got a few snaps in the second quarter.

Hutchinson went out early and Paye got lifted regularly so Upshaw and Vilain both had their most extended playing time to date. Game Newburg and David Ojabo also got in. Ojabo continues to act as a "SAM" but he's a standup end, functionally.

Significant DT rotation with Kemp leading the way; Hinton, Jeter, and Welschof also rotated in, with Welschof's snaps mostly coming on passing downs. VanSumeren got 3-3-5 snaps that were not passing downs. That was ~15.

[After THE JUMP: canyons grand]

the least insightful UFR in history 

hot take segment: secondary edition

asking questions like "are the ends all-americans or merely excellent?" feels pretty good

make or break

god damn these faint embers of hope 

what a weird great defense 

a slightly annoying defensive shutout

just zappin' burgers into existence from your bathtub like ya do 

not as good as the yards imply

someone make more Glasgows