ian bunting is ol skillet hands

See you when you’re back, Bunting.

Via Baumgardner, Ol’ Skillet Hands, er, senior tight end Ian Bunting plans to transfer for his final year of eligibility:

Ian Bunting announces he’s taking a graduate transfer

— Nick Baumgardner (@nickbaumgardner) January 30, 2018

This site especially had high hopes for Bunting—as the original prospectin’ name suggests—as a dangerous receiving tight end. When Bunting seamlessly replaced Mackey Award-winner Jake Butt in the Orange Bowl last year it wasn’t hard to project the then-rising junior as heir apparent.

Despite more snaps for tight ends than any year since Bo—yes, I’ve tracked this—Bunting rarely cracked the rotation behind emerging stars Sean McKeon and Zach Gentry, not to mention Nick Eubanks. With a new position coach, his degree in hand, his path to playing time blocked by younger, upwardly mobile catchy-catchy-blocky tight ends*, and his eligibility running out, Bunting’s transfer makes plenty of sense. We’ll always have the Orange Bowl. He should be eligible to play immediately wherever he goes, and Michigan should be okay with the kids.

On a personal note, I’m saddened he never got to star at Michigan. I lost my dad at 34 and promptly got drunk for a week—Ian, not old enough to buy himself a beer when it happened to him—was at practice the next day. He has since been a major presence with the Michigan Relay for Life charity, which helps raise money for cancer research.

* [Tyrone Wheatley Jr. is more of a blocky-blocky-catchy tight end and not necessarily competing for all the same chances.]

is a nicer way of saying

Draftageddon 2017: Jukeboxes and Jitterbugs Edition

This is Part VII. We are drafting Big Ten players to give you an overview of the guys and dudes around the conference. You come out of it with a four-deep preseason All-Big Ten. We come out of it with very strong opinions on Justin Jackson.

Previously: Picks 1-10 (Hurst, Gary Speight), Picks 11-20 (Peters), Picks 21-28 (Cole), and Picks 29-40 (McCray, Mone) Picks 41-50 (Winovich), Picks 51-60 (Bredeson, Kekoa, Khaleke)

THAT WHICH HAS ALREADY OCCURRED:

1. Ohio State (11 players): DE Nick Bosa (3rd, Seth), QB JT Barrett (6th, Seth), DE Tyquan Lewis (8th, BiSB), CB Denzel Ward (11th, Seth), DT Dre’Mont Jones (13th, Ace), OC Billy Price (17th, BiSB), DE Sam Hubbard (20th, Ace), LB Jerome Baker (21st, Ace), OT Jamarco Jones (28th, Ace), NT Bob Landers (51st, Seth), DE Jalyn Holmes (54th, Seth)
2. Michigan (11 players): DT Maurice Hurst (2nd, Brian), DE Rashan Gary (5th, Ace), QB Wilton Speight (7th, Brian), QB Brandon Peters (an obligatory 16th, BiSB), OT Mason Cole (26th, Brian), LB Mike McCray (36th, Ace), NT Brian Mone (40th, BiSB), DE Chase Winovich (48th, BiSB), OG Ben Bredeson (57th, BiSB), WR Kekoa Crawford (58th, Brian), VIPER!!! Khaleke Hudson (59th, Seth) 
3. Iowa (7 players): RB Akrum Wadley (18th, Brian), G/C Sean Welsh (22nd, Seth), LB Josey Jewell 23rd, Brian), OT Ike Boettger (35th, Seth), DE Anthony Nelson (42nd, Brian), CB Manny Rugamba (43rd, Seth), OC James Daniels (47th, Brian)
4. Penn State (7 players): RB Saquon Barkley (1st, BiSB), QB Trace McSorley (4th, Ace), “TE” Mike Gesicki (25th, BiSB), S Marcus Allen (29th, Ace), OT Ryan Bates (41st, BiSB), LB Jason Cabinda (49th, BiSB), Brendan Mahon (53rd, Ace)
5. Wisconsin (6 players): LB Jack Cichy (14th, Seth), TE Troy Fumagalli (15th, Brian), OG Beau Benzschawel (33rd, BiSB), OC Michael Dieter (34th, Brian), LB TJ Edwards (39th, Brian), WR Jazz Peavy (44th, Ace)
6. Indiana (5 players): LB Tegray Scales (9th, BiSB), WR Simmie Cobbs (12th, Ace), WR Nick Westbrook (30th, Seth), CB Rashard Fant (32nd, BiSB), S Jonathan Crawford (52nd, Ace)
7. Maryland (3 players): DT Kingsley Opara (19th, Seth), OT Damian Prince (45th, Ace), WR DJ Moore (56th, BiSB)
8. Minnesota (2 players): DT Stephen Richardson (10th, Brian), WR Rashad Still (38th, Seth)
9. Nebraska (2 players): OG Tanner Farmer (46th, Seth), S Joshua Kalu (50th, Brian)
10. Northwestern (2 players): S Godwin Igwebuike (24th, BiSB), RB Justin Jackson (60th, Ace)
11. Michigan State (2 players): OG Brian Allen (37th, Ace), RB LJ Scott (55th, Brian)
12. Rutgers (1 player): OT Tariq Cole (27th, Seth)
13. Illinois (1 player): WR Malik Turner (31st, Brian)

So we just got done having an argument about Justin Jackson. Speaking of guys wearing #21 for the Wildcats…

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

Seth: Round 16, Pick 2: Kyle Queiro, Safety, Northwestern

Off: QB JT Barrett (OSU), WR Nick Westbrook (IU), WR Rashad Still (MN), OG Sean Welsh (IA), LT Tariq Cole (RU), RT Ike Boettger (IA), OG Tanner Farmer (NE)

Def: NT Robert Landers (OSU), DT Kingsley Opara (MD), DE Nick Bosa (OSU), DE Jalyn Holmes (OSU), LB Jack Cichy (UW), VIPER!!! Khaleke Hudson (UM), S Kyle Quiero (NW), CB Denzel Ward, CB Manny Rugamba

Holy cow!@NUFBFamily's Kyle Queiro just out-did @JourdanJD's INT.

More video » https://t.co/Afb2pFbefb https://t.co/igOEAFZnss

— Northwestern On BTN (@NUOnBTN) October 22, 2016

1. No. No he didn't. Unless you're thinking of an entirely different pick.
2. That's pretty cool
3. The reason he one-handed it is his other hand was in a club.

PFF's College football twitter last month started putting out graphics of their top 3 returning players for each team, with last year's grades. The Northwestern one both confirmed a sleeper pick I've been close to pulling the trigger on for a few rounds, and outs him.

Saturday morning news special: Those safeties up at Northwestern are pretty good. pic.twitter.com/qoMg1h6yxg

— PFF College Football (@PFF_College) July 22, 2017

PFF thought Kyle Queiro was almost as good as Iggy while playing mostly deep centerfield to Igwebuike's boxier role. On film the distance is wider. Igwebuike is a Player who eats jet sweeps and screens for lunch. Queiro, who's 6'3, is more of a Jarrod Wilsonian binkie, keeping the hashes clean and long runs to field goal drives. He's athletic enough that they use him to cover slots out of the nickel in their sub packages. Injuries kept him off the field for the early part of his career and much of September so his 53 tackles, 3.5 TFLs, 6 PBUs, and 2 INTs (you remember the club) are in 10 games.

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

Seth: And let's make this clear: Lewis was alone in man-to-man and in better "I'm not touching you" personal space invasion technique than my brothers could master in a childhood of up north road trips. Queiro is drifting back in zone coverage with help over the top and Lagow significantly underthrew it.

[Hit THE JUMP for what Tom Haverford calls a scatback]

Previously: Podcast 8.0. The Story. Quarterback. Running Back. Wide Receiver.

[Bryan Fuller]

Depth Chart

Fullback	Yr.	H-back	Yr.	Tight End	Yr.	Flex	Yr.
Henry Poggi	Jr.*	Khalid Hill	Jr.*	TJ Wheatley	Fr.*	Jake Butt	Sr.
Bobby Henderson	Sr.*	Henry Poggi	Jr.*	Devin Asiasi	Fr.	Ian Bunting	So.*
Michael Hirsch	Jr.	Jabrill Peppers	So.*	Zach Gentry	Fr.*	Nick Eubanks	Fr.

A few years ago we split tight ends from the WR post and fullbacks from the RB post, figuring that under Brady Hoke there would be enough of them to warrant it. We even split guys into various categories because a tight end is not just a tight end. Then Jim Harbaugh came in. After an internal struggle this site has decided not to split each one of these columns into its own post, but it was a near thing. Those columns are:

• FULLBACK: a man with a steel plated head who runs into linebackers, gets two 50 carries in his career, and has six catches. See: Kevin Dudley, Sione Houma.
• H-BACK: A "move" tight end who motions all about, rarely lines up on the actual line of scrimmage, often goes from fullback to a flared spot or vice versa, and operates as more of a receiver than the fullback. Must be a credible threat to LBs; ends career with 40 catches. See: Aaron Shea.
• TIGHT END: Larger than the H-back, the tight end is a tight end who is actually tight to the end of the line. He comes out, lines up next to a tackle, helps him win blocks, and clobberates linebackers at the second level. He goes out into patterns as well, and may end his career with 40 catches himself. See: AJ Williams, Jerame Tuman.
• FLEX: Big enough to play on the end of the line credibly. Agile enough to play H-back credibly. Not great at either. Capable of splitting out wide and threatening the secondary. Sacrifices some blocking for explosiveness. Can be a prime receiving threat. See: Tyler Eifert, Jake Butt.

And of course many of these people bleed into other categories. Think of these position designations as Gaussian distributions in close proximity to each other.

So. These are the categories. The men who, uh, man them are many and varied and in one case the bar-none best in all the land. Let's start with him.

TIGHT END AND FLEX

RATING: 5

opponents will call Butt dastardly this year [Fuller/MGoBlue]

In keeping with this site's tradition of dignified reserve, last year's preview claimed Jim Harbaugh called Jake Butt an "Ertz/Fleener Voltron" based on this quote:

"Jake is as good a prospect as we've coached at the college level," Harbaugh said. "We've produced a lot of great players in college at the spot and it's vital to our success."

And lo, he pretty much was an Ertz/Fleener Voltron. Per Pro Football Focus he graded out better than any tight end in the country as a receiver. Survey says: yup. I sort catch opportunities into four bins: routine balls, challenging ones, crazy ones, and uncatchable ones. Butt was a perfect 36/36 on routine balls, an outstanding 10/12 on challenging balls, and 3/3 on circus catches. Meanwhile Butt's enormous catch radius and excellent route running tend to move opportunities into easier categories. Only eight times last year did a Jake Butt target get filed uncatchable. (I don't count balls thrown away in the general vicinity of a player.) That means 83% of the time Jake Rudock tried to hit Butt, Michigan moved the ball. Butt targets averaged over 11 yards a pop. Voltron achieved.

There's still no better example of Butt's prowess than the touchdown from the opener where Jake Rudock first explored the wonders of the #buttzone:

Unless it's this sensational one handed catch against Rutgers in 2014:

Jake Butt can make your wrong-ass wrong throws of wrongness into something so right.

Even so, after eight catches in the opener Butt's production fell off. Over the next six games a struggling Rudock only hit him 14 times downfield for a measly 133 yards—there was a 44-yard screen that Harbaugh conjured in there as well. Butt's a tight end. Sometimes he's covered, sort of, and Rudock didn't look for him.

Then Harbaugh beat the stone-cold fact that a covered Jake Butt still isn't covered into Rudock's brain and production took off. Butt had 28 catches in the final six games and 376 yards. That's double the catch rate and triple the yardage. Much of that production returned to the magical land where only Jake Butt frolics:

There is no defending that. Welcome to the #buttzone. Take a highway to the #buttzone. Right into the #buttzone.

In addition to his pterodactyl-like catching radius and Wilt Chamberlain hands, Butt's athleticism allows him to shake safeties with his routes...

...and occasionally split them after the catch:

Or just flat outrun a corner. An Indiana corner, yes. Still, this is a guy who had a 70-yard screen against OSU as a freshman and drew this praise from an anonymous Big Ten player even before his breakout junior season:

"We played them late in the year, and [Butt] was someone that was really tough to defend. He's incredibly athletic. He made a catch against us that not that many receivers even make, so he has great hands."

You could not draw up a better receiving tight end.

As a blocker... I mean... he's a great receiver. I say this somewhat seriously. Opponents have to treat him differently than a normal tight end, and the run game benefits from it. Against OSU Jabrill Peppers picked up a seven yard chunk largely because he looked like he'd throw to Butt for a moment and that was enough for two OSU players to freak out.

When it came to making actual contact with the opposition, Butt was decent. Middling. Okay. He was very much a finesse blocker, and this was good enough given the strictures his presence put on the opposing defense. This isn't a brutal finish; it's good enough:

[Butt is on the right side of the OL]

There will be no comparisons to Devin Funchess here. Butt is functional as a blocker. He gets in the way of guys and stays in their way, mostly, if they're not real mean.

That is kind of the cap, though. Get him soloed up against a defensive end and it'll go like "tight end versus Chris Wormley" most of the time. In UFR his run contributions came out moderately positive against the lesser teams on the schedule and negative against likes of Utah, BYU, MSU, and... uh... Rutgers. The bowl was a nice step forward but repeatedly caving in the edge of Florida's defense could be interpreted as a motivation issue for the Gators. Pro Football Focus tastefully omits mention of his blocking when they reference him because he came out negative on the year.

Remaining upside in this department is limited since he's going from his third to his fourth year. What remains is probably more about the mental side of the game than a sudden surge in ability like AJ Williams had. He'll get a little stronger and a little wiser; what you see is close to what you're going to get.

That happens to be a guy who is going to break Jim Mandich's all-time TE receiving record, a guy guaranteed to be off the board by the end of the second round of the next NFL draft. Jake Butt is a captain on a team with Jehu Chesson. I mean. Harbaugh:

"From day one, Jake Butt is an A++ guy as a player. We're in a meeting or in an install and I see him on the edge of his seat sitting through a two-hour meeting and he's communicating with guys next to him. He's interpreting for the younger guys. He has pizzazz."

Butt's about to be the best tight end in Michigan history.

[After THE JUMP: Ol' Skillet Hands and friends.]