jacob slade

With the National Championship Game taking place last night, the 2022 College Football Season has now come to an end. The offseason, which began as many as six or seven weeks ago for some teams, is now in full-swing for everyone. The transfer portal opened in December and many teams have seen significant losses and additions via the portal, while the NFL Draft decision date is coming up. Moreover, coaching staffs are being reshuffled across the country and so there is no shortage of news. If you've been struggling to keep track of the changes among Michigan's B1G rivals, you are probably not alone and it's why I put together this handy piece looking at the offseason developments around the B1G East. I'm planning to do a B1G West one soon, and since the offseason isn't yet over, I'm planning a second round of updates in a couple months once the portal has calmed down and the draft picture is crystallized. 

Ohio State

EXITS

Pretty quiet in Columbus thus far in the offseason in the way of portal decisions, and we're waiting for the big NFL decisions in the coming days. As for guys portaling out, it's all on defense so far. LB Trejada Mitchell and CB JK Johnson were two of my lowest-graded OSU defenders the past two seasons, so it's no surprise they are moving on. Joining them are S Jaylen Johnson and DB Jantzen Dunn, signaling that there could be some additional turnover in the secondary. That's it so far in the way of portal exits, though some will probably come in the future. There have been rumors about high profile transfers out of Columbus, but nothing along those lines has actually materialized so until it does, I will consider it very unlikely. 

As for the NFL, we're waiting on all the big names beyond WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba and OT Paris Johnson Jr. QB CJ Stroud is a projected high first round pick and is thus exceedingly likely to move on, while there are tossup decisions to make for LB Tommy Eichenberg, S Lathan Ransom, G Matthew Jones, and C Luke Wypler, the latter of whom boosted his draft stock dramatically with a great showing in the Peach Bowl. In happier news for Buckeye fans, RB Miyan Williams and TE Cade Stover have already announced their returns. On the flip side, RT Dawand Jones and DB Tanner McCalister have declared for the NFL Draft. 

ACQUISITIONS 

Rather surprisingly, this front has been very quiet in Buckeye-land. They picked up a new LS (John Ferlmann from Arizona State) and K (Casey Maygar from Kent State), which are important aspects of the team (not like Ohio State fans know anything about the importance of kicking these days) sure, but I expected a little more at other positions. Right now, they have just one other transfer in, Syracuse S Ja'Had Carter. Carter profiles as a plug-and-play starter after logging 543 snaps this past season as a regular on the Orange defense. Carter has been a starter for three seasons with Syracuse, earning a solid 68.7 grade from PFF this past season. Nothing crazy good, but a solid player who should be able to help the Ohio State defense. 

After that, it's *crickets*. There have been rumors with Ohio State and different transfer corners, but nothing yet. I guess we'll wait and see, as it may hinge on some of the NFL decisions mentioned above. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: Teams with a lot more movement]

Previously: MSU Offense

After bringing you the MSU offense yesterday, we return with the defensive side of the football. The Spartan defense has been much maligned after being brutalized for the first four weeks of power five competition, but they are coming off a much better showing versus Wisconsin.

The Film: Though Wisconsin is the worst P5 offense that MSU has played, they are also the only P5 offense MSU has played with their two stars from last season, S Xavier Henderson and DT Jacob Slade, healthy. That left me handcuffed and forced to pick the Badgers as the team to chart, even if their QB is broken and their offense is a pitiful husk of a dinosaur so bad it got the coach fired. Therefore, I will be resorting to using some clips from games against functional passing offenses to get to the bottom of MSU's pass defense, but the charting data applies to Wisconsin. 

Personnel: Click for big or here for PDF.

[IF YOU ARE AN MSU FAN, PLEASE CLICK HERE].

Michigan State has mixed in a lot of bodies on the defensive line because injuries have rocked this group. Transfer EDGE Khris Bogle went down with injury, as did pseudo-returning EDGE starter Jeff Pietrowski. Both may or may not be back this weekend against Michigan, following MSU's bye week. In their place, youngster Zion Young and the more veteran Brandon Wright have stepped in as the nominal starters, but they're both rotating in and out. Michael Fletcher is in the mix, as was Avery Dunn, before he, too, encountered injury. If Bogle and/or Pietrowski return, then you can toss them in the bucket. Jacoby Windmon, who we will return to at the LB position, was an EDGE earlier in the year before sliding to the second level against Wisconsin. 

DT is the strength of the defense for what feels like the 19th straight season, despite the absence of Jacob Slade. He's back from injury, having returned for his first P5 game against Wisconsin, and after another two weeks to rest up, Slade should be back to full strength. Slade was the Dangerman last year and I'm keeping him there this season. MSU's other DTs besides Slade are not horrible either. They sorely missed Slade, but they have a stable of solid players. Derrick Harmon is the starter and he impressed me against Wisconsin. Simeon Barrow ain't a bad player either. I'm less enthusiastic about Deshaun Mallory, Jalen Hunt, or Maverick Hansen this season, but the fact I can tell you about the 6th DT on the depth chart tells you the trust MSU's coaches have in this whole group to rotate them in. If Slade is 100%, I would expect less rotation against Michigan. 

The LB level sees the return of Cal Haladay, an old-fashioned LB who eschews gloves for his dirt-stained knuckles. Haladay was a starter last season as RS Fr but has concerningly taken a step backwards. He's still a bit of an issue in coverage but the run defense that he was pretty strong at last season has regressed. Next to him is the aforementioned UNLV transfer Windmon, who started the season on a tear as an EDGE against such teams as WMU and Akron but cooled off some against P5 competition before shifting to LB. I thought he was alright against Wisconsin; PFF still loves Windmon, but we opted against the star given the position switch and everything else. Aaron Brule is the SAM that they used against a beefy team like Wisconsin, a Mississippi State transfer who also has a nose for pass-rushing. If anyone needs relief it will come in the form of Old Friend/New Enemy Ben VanSumeren, who got some run as a starter before they moved Windmon to LB, which was perhaps done to get BVS off the field. 

At corner, welp. There is still a parade of transfers and that is not a good thing. Georgia transfer Ameer Speed (our name of the week winner) has not solved the problem that existed last season and none of the returners have gotten better. Charles Brantley was mostly a reserve last season but has gotten a promotion to starter thanks to the demotion of Florida transfer Chester Kimbrough, who was disappeared after an abhorrent effort against Washington. He resurfaced for six snaps against OSU but has otherwise been missing in B1G play. Alabama transfer Ronald Williams, last year's #1 corner, is also still around but has been riding the pine, rotating in occasionally. D2 transfer Kendell Brooks from North Greenville University has also gotten in the rotation and he, like everyone else here, can't cover anybody. Brantley and Speed are the every-down starters. 

When they play in a 4-2-5, the nickel/HSP appears to be Tr Fr Dillon Tatum, who ascended to a regular job for the first time this season with 34 snaps against Wisconsin. Brooks has suited up at the safety level as well, and they can play any of the two normal safeties here too. The season-ending injury to Darius Snow seriously derailed the plans for this position. The main starters are FS Xavier Henderson and Angelo Grose, both of whom are (surprise!) better against the run than in coverage. Henderson was a star of this defense last year and retains his star as a result, having missed significant time with injury. Grose has not been good but avoided the cyan, with problems in coverage as the main issue. Jaden Mangham got time in Henderson's absence, while Tate Hallock is also listed on the depth chart in the two-deep here. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: Too many open receivers that Wisconsin refused to throw to]

Previously: Quarterback, Running Backs, Receivers, Offensive Line

Now we move to the defensive side of the football, where things will begin to change a bit. Maryland will see a mighty fall at many positional groups, while Iowa will likely rise and plenty more shakeups will occur. Much like the OL, I will be blending PFF grades with my own charting when we move into opponents on the schedule from last fall. One more note: for this piece, I'm considering defensive lines to be interior DL and EDGE players, so both traditional DEs and standup pass rushers who some teams call "OLBs". 

12. Hawaii 

The turnover from Todd Graham to Timmy Chang has been felt most severely on the defensive side of the ball for Hawaii, where they return just one starter on the defensive line and have a single player on this depth chart who played more than 100 snaps a year ago... yikes! Blessman Ta'ala might win the best name of the enemy series, and he is also a quality defensive tackle who takes on double teams well. That's about it in terms of projectable talent though; the rest will likely be rough. John Tuitupou is the other projected defensive tackle, an upperclassman but one without a ton of experience. He played only 95 snaps a year ago (though he was solid in those snaps). Andrew Faoliu transfers in from Oregon, having had a small role in 2019-20 before not playing last season. Mataio Soli arrives at the other end spot from Arkansas, playing just 65 snaps a year ago but the former 4* pedigree helps a little I guess. ​​​​​​Farther down the depth chart you find another transfer name in Jojo Falo, coming in from Air Force, as well as Andrew Choi, who was on the scout team last season.

This is a pretty grim situation and the Rainbow Warriors were a pretty easy decision to slot in 12th. They have little returning production, little program continuity, and little experience overall. Most teams should be able to go around Ta'ala by targeting the rest of the line and finding great success doing it. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: guess which Rutgers DE is now with a non-con opponent]