joey porter jr

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: PSU Offense 

For the second time in three weeks, the Michigan Wolverines are set to play an elite defense. Penn State comes into this game ranked 6th in SP+ defense with an impressive track record so far. After allowing 31 points to Purdue in week one, Penn State has held the opposition to under 15 points in four straight games. Like last year, the Nittany Lions have impact players at all levels of the defense and plenty of talent to test the Michigan offense and determine whether the Maize & Blue are truly top ten caliber. 

The Film: As I established in the offense piece, Penn State has played only two comparable opponents, the Boilermakers in week one and Auburn in week three. Purdue is closer team to Michigan based on quality of offense but by style of offense, the scale tips more towards Auburn. Purdue struggles mightily to run the football which is pretty opposite of Michigan, whereas Auburn has a more well-rounded offense overall, despite their low level of play. That led me to choose the Tigers, though you will see in the clips that Auburn has many problems on offense and I borrowed Purdue tape for the Dangerman section. 

Personnel: Click the chart for big or here for PDF. 

Penn State has a lot of rotation going on with their defensive personnel. On the defensive line, SDE Adisa Isaac and NT PJ Mustipher are the players who play most downs, while the DT and WDE spots rotate. Mustipher is back healthy after his injury last season that caused him to miss the 2021 Michigan-PSU game and is still a rock-solid nose tackle. The DT spot next to him sees a rotation between several players, including Dvon Ellies (primarily on rushing downs) and Hakeem Beamon (primarily on passing downs). Coziah Izzard is also in the mix at both positions, having gotten some run last season as one of Mustipher's lackluster replacements. The WDE spot has some standard down vs. passing down rotation, with Nick Tarburton being the pick for the former while Maryland transfer Demeioun "Chop" Robinson is the pass-rushing edge. Amin Vanover also is on the two-deep at DE. 

Curtis Jacobs was last year's SAM, moving over to MIKE after the exit of Brandon Smith and Ellis Brooks. He's an every-down player while Tyler Elsdon is the rotational starter at WILL. Abdul Carter played a lot in Elsdon's place against Auburn, with Kobe King spelling Jacobs from time to time at MIKE. Last season PSU rolled with three traditional LBs a decent amount but this season they've transitioned the third LB spot into being more of a space-backer spot, which is held by converted safety Jonathan Sutherland. He can line up as a DB in coverage or in the box more like a LB. 

The corner position lost forever starter Tariq Castro-Fields but returned Joey Porter Jr., who was already a promising player last year but has made the proverbial leap over the offseason. He is this week's dangerman. Kalen King is the new starter opposite Porter and has gotten off to a phenomenal start to the season. PSU loads up on corners on 3rd & long snaps so there are plenty of other players in the mix. South Carolina transfer Johnny Dixon is one of them, as is Marquis Wilson, and nickel Daequan Hardy, who has been a weak link. 

PSU took a massive hit in the offseason when they lost star S Jaquan Brisker and haven't quite landed on a full-time replacement yet. Thankfully, the other spot sees a starter return, FS Ji'Ayir Brown, who is a fine player and came close to getting a star. The SS position vacated by Brisker is nominally held by Keaton Ellis, but Jaylen Reed and Zakee Wheatley have rotated in plenty at both safety positions. PSU played with 6 or 7 DBs on several snaps against Auburn and with the amount of garbage time they've had so far, snap counts are higher for many players on this defense and rather evenly distributed overall.

[Hit THE JUMP for the breakdown]

Previously: Quarterback, Running Backs, Receivers, Offensive Line, Defensive Line, Linebacker 

We have made it to the end. The Enemy, Ranked 2022 reaches its conclusion today with defensive backs rankings. As I mentioned in the LB post, I'm counting DB-shaped hybrid space players here, so most teams will have five starters listed, whether that's for a HSP or a true nickel. At the end of this piece, I will briefly drop in special teams rankings and then will wrap this whole series up by reviewing what we learned about the opponents on Michigan's 2022 schedule. 

12. Hawaii 

Hawaii starts at the bottom on all three defensive articles and this one is pretty clear as to why: there are five DB slots and they do not have a single returning starter. Most of these players were not even on the island last season, as the secondary is largely built through transfers. Transfers who barely had roles elsewhere, mind you. Projected DB starters JoJo Forest and Hugh Nelson II are both former or current transfers. Forest arrives from Oregon State after not seeing the field a year ago, while Nelson was Hawaii's #3 corner last season, a year after transferring from Georgia. He did not do particularly well in that role. Reserves are ex-benchwarmer transfers from Maryland and Iowa State and starting nickel Malik Hausman transfers from Arizona after being exclusively a special teams player. 

It doesn't get much better at safety. Leonard Lee was on the scout team the last two years and Matagi Thompson was a 2* recruit in 2021 who didn't see the field that fall. Backups Noa Kamana and Meki Rei also have little experience, the latter a transfer from Washington. It's a DB room that is cobbled together from players who were not good enough to see the field on defense a year ago, either at Hawaii or elsewhere. Several of the transfers didn't arrive until the summer, so to say this will be a messy patchwork is an understatement. It's likely going to be brutal. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: A defensive article where Iowa ISN'T #1?]