chase claypool
See also: The defense
Resources: My charting, ND game notes, ND roster with oddly specific heights, CFBstats
Welcome back to the Respect-a-Bowl, the rivalry in which the coaches respect each other, the players like each other, the fans get along quite splendidly, the recruiting reporters nod at each others' excellence in early scouting, and everyone concurs ND athletic director Jack Swarbrick is the world's biggest putz.
Notre Dame fans say this because he nicknamed himself "Savvy Jack" for finding ways to Dave Brandon them and everyone he deals with for every possible nickel, then gloats about it. Michigan fans say it because he was the guy who pulled the series in the putziest way possible and played hardball when Michigan wanted to restart it. He didn't have to put these games on the same road/home schedule as Ohio State and Michigan State, he didn't have to play last year's as the season opener nor this year's game in the middle of the Big Ten season. In fact it would have worked out best for both parties to resume the game in September when we normally do—Notre Dame had a bye week when we played Army and played New Mexico when we had our bye.
But Savvy Jack can't call himself savvy if a deal works out for everybody. So here we are in late October, between two Big Ten East rivals, playing Notre Dame, coming off a bye with nobody in shouting distance of ranked for the rest of the year. Given Michigan's progression over the season and the Irish's weird lack thereof, I know an entire press box worth of people ready to point at laugh at the unlikeable fellow if his tactic comes back to bite him in the ass. And I'm kinda thinking it can.
The film: Georgia is ranked around where Michigan is in S&P+ and has some athletes at cornerback and MLB I thought would be a fair proxy for some of Michigan's more exciting guys. Everything here is going to be graded on a curve here because I usually don't chart against a defense this solid.
Personnel: My diagram:
PDF version, full-size version (or click on the image)
I'm throwing out my charting this week for most of these guys since 12 total runs do not make for much of a sample. Stats aren't much use either because you already know what they tell you: against non-scrubs, Notre Dame's offense is getting the ball to very tall persons TE Cole Kmet (265 yards, 3 TDs, 10.6 YPT, 84% catch rate) and Boundary WR Chase Claypool (394 yards, 4 TDs, 84. YPT, 57% catch rate).
Claypool is Myles Boykin, basically a power forward who was so good at boxing out and collecting rebounds that they slapped a football jersey on him and taught him to go full soccer player when he feels contact from a defensive back. Kmet is an underrated receiver—an excellent route runner with a natural nose for the hole in zones—and an up-and-mostly-down blocker. Like Michigan's run game, ND's is very tight end heavy, and Kmet picked up 11 negatives in this game, only some of which can be explained by multiple false start penalties. Slot receiver Chris Finke (8.3 YPT, 68% catch rate) has 22 targets and probably as many good blocks. They'll have H-back TE Tommy Tremble (9 catches, 136 yards, and 2 TDs on 13 targets) on the field often as a third receiver, and use him more—from the USC game I watched he might be an underrated or just underutilized run blocker.
The #1 back in preseason, Jafar Armstrong missed another chunk of season and returned for one carry against USC (a four-yard loss). They're talking like he's 100% over the groin injury now and that's going to give them a run game, but Armstrong historically has been a quasi-receiver type. Lead/basically only RB in Armstrong's absence Tony Jones is on pace for 1,000 yards and is a fairly good receiver, but really he's just a guy who got more +s (and minuses) for blocking than anything he accomplished with the ball in his hands. He did get 176 yards on 25 carries (7 YPC) against USC, but on my viewing of that game I thought that was mostly on bad USC tackling.
Thus ends the high-usage skill position players. Nobody else has more than 13 targets, though freshman slot/field WR Lawrence Keys (6 catches, 7 YPT on 10 targets) had a Gallon-esque fade reception in this game. Nominal Field WR starter Michael Young didn't chart—he's at 2.1 YPT on 10 targets this year. Freshman Bradey Lenzy is a Calvin Bell Memorial end around track star (if you see #25 on the field yell "BASH!" please). Javon McKinley (200 yards and 3 TDs on 8 receptions on 11 targets) is the only outside guy besides Claypool who's over 6 feet, and McKinley's got exactly 1 catch for 11 receiving yards against teams not named Bowling Green or New Mexico over 3.5 seasons.
[after THE JUMP: Sad reminders of failed Michigan recruitments]
Elite 11 Updates: Peters Performing Well, Probably
Ah, the Elite 11, when a group of more than 11 of the nation's best quarterbacks gather for a camp in which a handful of throws will be analyzed to death. There's usually something of a disconnect between how the recruiting analysts and the camp counselors rank the performers. This year doesn't appear to be different. After Monday's opening session, Scout's Brandon Huffman named Michigan commit Brandon Peters among the five quarterbacks who stood out to him:
Was one of the most consistent passers all morning. Was just hot from the get-go on day one. Looked athletic and threw the ball with very little effort. The Michigan commit really dropped the ball into the basket for receivers and it looks like the Wolverines have a lot to be excited about.
247's Barton Simmons also had high praise for Peters:
Finally Brandon Peters was one of the guys that multiple analysts were buzzing about and his upside is crazy considering he's had limited quarterback training and he has elite athleticism that shows up on the basketball court.
Partway through the camp, however, Peters isn't on the Elite 11 rankings list. (He's far from the only notable missing: five-star FSU commit Malik Henry didn't crack the list, either.) Peters still has time to make a move; regardless, he's been impressive to onlookers.
Meanwhile, Peters is also keeping an eye on recruiting, per 247's Steve Wiltfong:
“I was talking to coach the other day,” Peters said. “He said we might get Ahmir Mitchell and maybe (Naseir Upshur). Also I think Devin Bush Jr.”
Upshur will be at The Opening this week, as will Peters and Michael Onwenu. You can bet M's commits will be working on getting Upshur to join them.
[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]
Catching Up: St-Juste, Hamilton, Kareem
Benjamin St-Juste [photo via 247]
We're slowly getting more information on the unexpected commitment of Canadian cornerback Benjamin St-Juste. Tim Sullivan suggested earlier this week that St-Juste could come in as early as this fall. Based on what St-Juste told TMI's Brice Marich after his commitment, however, 2016 is the most likely option:
“I have already graduated high school in Canada because we graduate one year earlier than the U.S. and now I need to add the same courses they have in the U.S. to be eligible. It is not fair for Canadians. So I need to do extra courses to be eligible and do another year. As soon as I get that, then I will be leaving Canada to be playing at Michigan.”
This isn’t the first time the Maize & Blue have harvested talent from Vieux Montreal. St-Juste will be following in the footsteps of former Wolverines Renaldo Sagesse, Alain Kashama, Emmanuel Casseus and Deitan Dubuc. If all goes according to plan he will make his way to Ann Arbor as part of the 2016 class.
247 is the first to rank St-Juste, giving him three stars based on the admittedly scant information available. Steve Lorenz caught up with former Michigan CB and current Bolingbrook (IL) head coach Todd Howard, who helped coach the defensive backs at Michigan's camp, to get his thoughts on St-Juste:
"The first thing that stood out to me was his size," Howard said. "He's a legitimate 6'3" and with a helmet and cleats, he looks all of 6'4"-6'-5". The other thing that stood out immediately about him was that he is definitely a true cornerback. When we first started working, he asked if he should be working with the safeties. I don't think he even realized he has the athleticism and length to play the cornerback spot at a high level. He showed excellent footwork and played with a very low pad level for someone of his size as well. He was very impressive."
That's a tall corner. If St-Juste's feet are quick enough, there's a lot to work with.
There were two major announcement yesterday, one that went Michigan's way and one that didn't. Four-star Farmington Hills Harrison DE Khalid Kareem chose Alabama over Michigan, even though he came very close to ending up with the Wolverines, per MLive's Nick Baumgardner:
"At one point, yeah, I did think I'd end up at Michigan," Kareem said Wednesday. "But I really just had to think about what the best decision was for me and my family."
Kareem mentioned a particular recruiting factor that will work against Jim Harbaugh until he's had time to turn the program around:
The competition Alabama will face on the field in the Southeastern Conference and the competition Kareem will face in practice every day with the Crimson Tide's established roster were the tipping points.
Right now, Michigan's not on that level. Kareem said the chance to play for a national title right away was important to him. If Michigan were in that spot right now, would his decision be different?
"Yeah, it might've been another factor," he said. "I know they're going to get there. But (Alabama's there right now)."
Despite all that, Kareem didn't feel totally firm in his choice until yesterday morning. We'll see if the coaches continue pursuing him or if they move on to other targets.
On the flip side, four-star MD OT Devery Hamilton joined the class yesterday afternoon. He told Rivals' Adam Friedman that Michigan's academic presentation played a major role in his commitment ($):
With academics played a huge part in his decision, Michigan went the extra mile to show Hamilton everything at its disposal.
"I met a professor from the business school," he said. "He was very open and inviting. He seemed like a nice person. I also talked to a pediatric oncologist at their hospital. He was very friendly. Both of them made sure that, if I was interested in going into either one of those fields, Michigan had the resources to point me in the right direction."
I think we've retired "The Pattern™" as a thing, but if we're still using it, Hamilton fits the bill.
[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]
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