jake guarnera

The system for depth charting:

And if his name's in red they plan to redshirt him.

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Quarterback

Can your friends pull this out their little haaaat? [Bryan Fuller]

The question we're asking is: Would Orji be really mad if we look in the portal?

But they're acting like it's: How cool does Orji look in pads?

What are we hearing? Orji has some wow moments, and the next moment he'll throw another pick. Devin Gardner went to a practice then went on with Sam. Orji:

he looks like a GI Joe… like an action figure (with) a Michigan uniform on, and obviously a bigger version. This dude is built like a rock. When you say hey, what do I want the athlete to look like? That's exactly what it should look like. … The thing for Orji is he's got all the talent in the world, man. (But) you see some opportunities in practice where he missed some throws that… man… you want him to make that throw.

GI Joe like he's shooting blue lasers?

He has some things where his feet aren't always in the right place. His feet aren't as clean as you want them to be. Sometimes you lose accuracy, and you lose timing.

Then Semaj Morgan joined them.

I feel like every quarterback has their unique quality. Orji he just a freak athlete; anything you can think about in a football player he probably can do. Then we got Davis Warren like strong powerful arm, and he's really fast; he be running 22 miles per hour when we run Sprints. Then we got Jayden Denegal; he can throw the ball real accurate. And he big; he can run you over—he's gonna get that first down when we need it. Then we got Jaydyn Davis although very young he's very well-rounded. And I will tell you he's not scared to throw the ball, and that's that's something that I love about a quarterback. I don't care what the coverage is; I don't care who's on me; if you feel like the person in front of me's not better than me, throw me that ball! Jayden Davis understands that.

In the aftermath, Sam devoted a 3R Report($) that said they've been focusing on dropback passing with Orji, and also that Jayden Denegal's struggles didn't continue past the first four practices.

There was clear separation between Orji and him at that point, but not as much since then. He's closed the gap in recent practices with his improved accuracy and has shown better skills on the move than outside observers might expect at first glance.

Davis Warren has a cannon that can't hit the broad side of NCAA hypocrisy, and Jadyn Davis is not going to be put in a position to jeopardize his future, but his accuracy is excellent, especially on the run. From a practice insider, Orji is still in the driver's seat but there's going to be a major drop-off from McCarthy. Botched snaps, interceptions, and plays where the QB doesn't see anything and starts to panic are things that happen to teams that don't have JJ under center, in case you've forgotten, but they've been jarring to some of the used-to-JJ the people seeing them in practice.

Tuttle's still hurt, but Michigan is expected to poke around the portal, which opened this week, and wherein Chris Hummer thinks Michigan will have their pick of the litter. 247's Matt Zenitz adds that UCLA and Northwestern are the only schools currently desperate($) for a starter, but USC and Auburn might provide competition if an elite name enters. Henschke thinks Michigan will be in the market ($).

What it means? Michigan probably does want to add some competition from the portal, but going about it without triggering a tampering investigation or losing one of their own is tricky, and probably only worth the risk for a game-changer. Odds are just as good they stick with Orji and put Jadyn Davis, who could use a season to gain weight before facing Big Ten linemen, on the McCarthy plan.

Depth Chart? I'm still expecting them to redshirt Jadyn Davis unless he passes Denegal.

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[After THE JUMP: Let's talk about 4th tight end and 9th OL.]

Michigan landed another OL recruit last Friday in picking up C prospect Jake Guarnera from Ponte Vedra, FL. Michigan had been looking to add a pure-C prospect to their vaunted OL class and zeroed in on Guarnera. The player was very interested in joining the class and put his name down quickly, bumping the Wolverines up to five OL in the 2024 recruiting class. Let's give him a Hello: 

GURU RATINGS

Guarnera is a high 3* according to all the sites. When I started on this Hello, Guarnera wasn't even ranked at ESPN but the Michigan commitment made them put in the smallest bit of effort. Converted to our five-star scale, Guarnera is firmly a 3.5* prospect. He will likely be the lowest-rated member of the 2024 OL class (he is at the moment), but Guarnera is rising up the boards, up about 200 spots since his commitment. Being deemed a take by OL U has that effect. The measurements are pretty consistent across the sites, hovering around 6'4" for the height and somewhere between 280-295 on the weight. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: movin' from LT to C]

Michigan football has picked up their third commitment of the 2024 class this week in 3* C Jake Guarnera: 

Go Blue! 〽️ @UMichFootball @Coach_SMoore pic.twitter.com/pFoFIY7BgD

— Jake Guarnera (@GuarneraJake) April 28, 2023

Guarnera is a 6'4", 290 lb. center prospect from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, currently a 3* prospect to the 247 composite. The composite has him 457th, while the On3 consensus has him 412th. Michigan already had four OL prospects in the class, but none profiled as a center, which Jake Guarnera does. Sherrone Moore and Jim Harbaugh zeroed in on Guarnera, tabbing him as their choice of center prospect for this class and closed the deal rather quickly. 

With Guarnera in the class, Michigan still has the #1 recruiting class in 2024, according to several of the sites. They are now up to five players in the OL class, leaving a potential sixth slot open for whatever elite prospect wants to jump on board. Guarnera will get his hello early next week. There is no content after the jump.