david reese
Previously: The Offense
Resources: My charting, UF game notes, UF roster, Bill C profile, CFBstats
Todd Grantham is a lifetime coordinator with a Bo Ryan index notable for its sartorial diversity.
His crazy blitzes get home often enough to have made Grantham one of the highest paid assistants in football. They've also broken down often enough that he's lost his shit wearing the colors of Virginia Tech, Michigan State (DL coach under Saban), the Colts, the Texans, the Browns, the Cowboys, the Dawgs, Louisville, Mississippi State, and now Florida, where he followed Dan Mullen. His longest stint since 1997 was four years at Georgia, over which he cemented his reputation as a legendary douchebag you never want to play against. People of the internet know him best for giving Chas Henry the "choke" sign.
His latest defense was hard to scout. The one guy who really stands out doesn't start, but they have a number of starters who are better than decent. If there's a weak point it's the WLB, who racks up a ton of tackles because opponents run at him half the time or more.
The film: Georgia ran at Joseph half the time or more.
Personnel: My diagram:
PDF Version, full-size version (or click on the image)
Florida had a recruiting dip under McElwain that was masked by some blue chips with rap sheets and the occasional SEC recruitment. Grantham, a DL guy at heart, immediately addressed the interior line, adding WVU grad transfer DT Adam Shuler and #1 JuCo prospect NT Kyree Campbell, pushing last year's platoon of NT Khairi Clark, NT Elijah Conliffe, and DT Luke Ancrum to backup rotations, and [/nods in the direction of 3-star mafia who were mad Michigan dropped him to pursue Philip Paea] immobile blob Tedarrell Slaton to the perma-bench. The new guys are fine but push-able, and didn't generate much pass rush against Georgia's large line.
The ends are the problem, starting with the guy they were trying to duplicate when they were fighting us for Josh Uche: All-SEC DE/OLB Jachai Polite had 16(!) TFLs and 11(!) sacks despite only playing on passing downs. He is a liability to shoot upfield on runs but doesn't need to be out there for most of them because BUCK CeCe Jefferson, whom you'll recall from our last two meetings with Florida, is still around causing havoc off the weakside, switching to strongside on passing downs. SDE Jabari Zuniga is the Kwity Paye in this rotation, playing solid against runs and flashing a ridiculous bend when unblocked—he was half of a six-play goal line stand in this game.
[after THE JUMP: more things you'll recognize]
Part one of this week's two-part roundup, covering the recent commits, can be found here.
Official Offers Out: Sims Enrolling Early
August 1st was the first day written scholarship offers could go out to the class of 2018. You can see what Michigan's formal offers look like above; over the last couple years they've added the "we expect you to continue to strive for excellence" section as an explicit defense against another Erik Swenson situation.
Offer day came with some news this year: four-star GA CB Myles Sims will take advantage of the new early signing period and sign on December 21st, getting Michigan their top defensive back commit on campus for spring ball.
In other commit news, four-star MI DE Aidan Hutchinson announced yesterday he was selected for the Army All-American Bowl.
After last weekend's BBQ at the Big House, Michigan's odds of holding onto four-star IN OG Emil Ekiyor have improved. Following a recent visit to Alabama, Ekiyor said he'd eventually decide between the Wolverines and the Tide, and it sounded like it might be a coin-flip. He told 247's Isaiah Hole, however, that he's simply covering his bases:
While there's still a long ways to go until Signing Day, Ekiyor reaffirmed that he's taking visits as part of an exploratory process, but that he remains firmly committed to Michigan.
“Michigan is definitely the place that I want to be," Ekiyor said. "But I'm also (taking visits) just to make sure that I'm not being blind to another place, just because I feel so good about Michigan.”
It helps that a fellow Indianapolis native, four-star LB Cameron McGrone, joined the class on Monday. Ekiyor told The Wolverine's Brandon Brown he's "really excited to get up there" and join McGrone (plus Hoosier state products Chris Evans and Brandon Peters) in Maize and Blue:
"It makes you feel more comfortable with everybody up there," Ekiyor said. "We already know each other from being in the same city. You get more people from Indy supporting you too because basically all of the best players are heading to Michigan. It just gives you a level of being comfortable."
While Michigan will have to sweat out more visits, Ekiyor's commitment looks to be firmer than we believed last week.
[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]
Quite A Catch
Five-star 2019 GA DE Chris Hinton has an important announcement to make:
I'm the best fisher in the family pic.twitter.com/SU0y0N15xF
— Christopher hinton (@Thechrishinton) July 5, 2017
oh, did you think I meant
ah, yeah, I can see why you'd think that
my bad, everyone
The Opening: Michigan Commits
Sam Webb and Josh Newkirk recap The Opening.
Nike's elite invite-only camp, The Opening, took place last weekend, and pretty much the entirety of this post will be devoted to the post-camp fallout. Michigan had four commits participate: guard Emil Ekiyor, running back Christian Turner, and defensive backs Myles Sims and Gemon Green.
Emil Ekiyor put his dukes up for a second: https://t.co/OjIJclZ4Xl pic.twitter.com/1lTJKZe7QV
— Allen Trieu (@AllenTrieu) July 3, 2017
Ekiyor, who was feeling a bit scrappy, had a strong weekend, earning an invite to the Army All-American Game. He showed a lot of progress in pass protection, according to TMI's Josh Newkirk, and excelled in the run-blocking portion on day two, earning a top performer nod from 247's Steve Wiltfong:
Michigan center commit Emil Ekiyor flashed athletically in offensive line drills and come the competition portion showed he can bang with the very best. He defeated Ohio State five-star defensive tackle commit Taron Vincent in a run blocking 1-on-1 drill and impressed overall with his strength and feet at the point of attack. The 247Sports Composite ranks Ekiyor as the nation’s No. 4 offensive guard but he moves to center as a senior this fall.
Ekiyor's ability to play center may further explain why Michigan hasn't gone after in-state four-star Tyrone Sampson; between Cesar Ruiz and Ekiyor, that position is well-stocked for the future, and both of those guys are better-suited to sliding over to guard than Sampson.
#Michigan commit Myles Sims defends the deep ball in 7-on-7 action at #TheOpening pic.twitter.com/CcWNdgjQF9
— Sam Webb (@SamWebb77) July 2, 2017
Sims showed that while he's considered a safety by many due to his length, he's got the fluidity to play corner. TMI's Gene Hankerson:
Michigan cornerback commit Myles Sims had a really good day. You can’t miss him, because the kid is freakishly long and lengthy. I watched Sims during drills, and was surprised with how fluid his hips were in and out of breaks. He transferred that over to the 1 on 1’s where for the most part he ran stride for stride with receivers and broke up several passes.
247's Keith Neibuhr added that Sims "seemed to be in the right place a lot."
Green also made life tough on opposing quarterbacks. While I can't find any clips of him posted to Twitter, he made 247's top performers list for Texas prospects:
One of the most underrated recruits in the state, Green was extremely impressive today. The Michigan commit played shallow for his team and didn’t allow anything underneath. Green finished the day with four pass breakups and also notched a big interception.
Finally, Turner showed some wiggle in the Make 'Em Miss drill:
Saturday night at #TheOpening - #Michigan commit Christian Turner in Make em miss drill vs Payton Wilson pic.twitter.com/O8BmcIlGWB
— Sam Webb (@SamWebb77) July 2, 2017
It was otherwise a quiet weekend for him, as the entire running back group was held in check by an impressive group of linebackers, per 247's Hank South:
Michigan commit Christian Turner looked good running routes, but didn’t show much in the 1-on-1 portion. Again, the linebacker corps dominated the entire running back position as a whole on the night.
On the plus side, at least one of said linebackers looks like a good bet to join Turner in the class.
[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]
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