kalen king

Previously: PSU Offense 

In comparison to the Penn State offense, the defense that we will cover today is fearsome. They are 4th in SP+ defense and have held opponents to just 11.89 points per game this season, third best in the NCAA. Star players with NFL interest are apparent across the depth chart. How scared should we be?

The Film: Like every B1G team, Penn State has mostly faced garbage offenses, limiting our options here. The best three choices are Maryland, West Virginia, and Ohio State, one of which is a vastly better offense than the others. The Buckeye offense may not be as good as it once was, but they are still by far the best offense of those three, so like in the previous piece, we're rolling with the OSU-PSU tape. 

Personnel: Click for big. 

Much of the success for the PSU defense this season has come from the dominant play of its defensive line, especially at the EDGE position, where the production has largely been sterling. Hype has been given most prominently to Chop Robinson, the fearsome passrusher with 1st round NFL Draft attention. Robinson got hurt against OSU but may be set to return this weekend against Michigan. The Nittanys haven't been much worse off without Robinson thanks to the development of EDGE defenders Dani Dennis-Sutton, a former 5*, and Adisa Isaac, a 5th year player who I previously didn't think much of but who has made a nice leap this season. Against all non-OSU teams, these three players have feasted and wrecked OL after OL. They met more of a challenge in the Shoe, but still had some success. 

The defensive tackle spot was a bit of a relative weakness last season for Penn State, which I think is still probably true but they have had one player emerge in Zane Durant. He's a star in my and PFF's view, the first at that position for PSU since PJ Mustipher years ago. The other players next to Durant are just guys and potential vulnerabilities, Hakeem Beamon, Dvon Ellies, and (especially) Coziah Izzard, the lone player to get a cyan on our diagram. Ohio State did have some success running up the middle against some of these players and we will dig into that as we go. 

PSU usually plays in a 4-2-5, meaning there are two traditional ILBs, but sometimes they do slink into a 4-3. Curtis Jacobs and Abdul Carter are the starters, rock solid players but a little below star caliber to me. Carter is the better pass-rusher of the two, used often as a blitzer by DC Manny Diaz, while Jacobs also rushes a decent amount. Tackling and coverage dock them a bit and keep them below getting the star, but I like both players. Neither backup is bad either, Tyler Elsdon and Kobe King. King is the much more used backup and can slide in seamlessly without much notice. 

At corner, the performance of the much hyped Kalen King is something that will be discussed in this piece. I was incredibly high on King coming into the season, but he has put up lackluster PFF grades and to put it plainly, he was terrible against Ohio State. His shield has been taken away, though he is still in the first round of some NFL mock drafts. The corner opposite King, replacing Joey Porter Jr., is Johnny Dixon and he's been excellent this season. The same could be said for nickel Daequan Hardy. Both Hardy and Dixon showed out against Ohio State and earned my respect. PSU rides the three starters hard at corner, but Cam Miller is the next man up at the position. 

The safeties are SS Jaylen Reed (not to be confused with the ex-MSU WR Jayden Reed) and at FS either Keaton Ellis or Kevin Winston Jr.. All of these players have been pretty good this year, a bit below star caliber but certainly not a weak spot. Zakee Wheatley is the fourth safety and he's in the same bucket in terms of performance. Safety is not the strength of the defense, but far from a weak spot. There aren't too many of those on this unit. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: they defend]

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

We have made it to the end of The Enemy, Ranked 2023. Just like last year, I'm counting DB-shaped HSPs as DBs, but in reality that really only affects one team on this ranking, which is Indiana's "HUSKY". Most teams here have five positions listed with the nickel being included because this is 2023 and most CFB teams play with 5 DBs most all of the time. At the end of the 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 2023 schedule. 

12. East Carolina

This is pretty grim. On the plus side of things, Teagan Wilk and Julius Wood are a pair of returning safeties, two-thirds of last year's safety rotation. On the down side, they weren't particularly special. More concerning: the top four corners from last season and nickel Gerard Stringer all are out the door. Yikes!! The wreckage that remains are the following names: Shavon Revel (ex-JUCO who played sparingly last year), Isaiah Brown-Murray (3*, RS last year), Jonathon Jones (good at FCS Campbell), and TyMir Brown (ex-3* UNC down-transfer who never played for North Carolina). Take your pick of those names, it's likely not going to be pretty! This is bad even for a Group of 5 program and in the context of this list, ECU is easily last. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: more DB rooms]

This post exists because Michigan’s coaching staff has been pounding the proverbial pavement in an unprecedented (since I took over writing these, at least) way. So many 2020 offers have gone out recently, and so many have generated quote-filled articles on the sites of the usual suspects, that it necessitated spinning off another post to cover everything; I realized this when I hit 1800 words and still had over 20 tabs open.

With the spate of offers, I feel going over a recent post from 247’s Steve Lorenz is a good way to start before diving into the minutiae of who got offered when and who’s got what other offers and when is such and such visiting. I wasn’t sure how to go about chronicling all the 2020 offers that went out because it just seemed like there so many that some must not mean that much, but Lorenz cautions against that. In his words:

Junior film is probably the most important opportunity for a prospect to establish themselves at the top of a school's recruiting board; offers made right now are usually notable and worth following.

He does, however, caution against putting too much stock in late-cycle in-state offers. Lorenz looked back at the last four classes and posited that Michigan’s in-state take rate might be around 50%. He says that we’re in the heart of the 2020 process right now, so reserve your skepticism for later in the season.

On that note, might want to hold back on casting judgement based on where a recruit is currently ranked. Lorenz:

There are numerous examples of prospects Michigan has gotten in on early who have risen continuously throughout the process. The flip side of this is true as well; many players who are ranked highly at this point will not be recruited heavily by the staff and you will see their ranking fall as the cycle continues. Overall, their evaluation abilities tend to be among the best I've seen.

Keep in mind that the final rankings for 2019 just came out and some 2019s are already enrolled and on campus. To Steve’s point, Trente Jones, Zach Charbonnet, Cornelius Johnson, Karsen Barnhart, and Giles Jackson are solid examples of guys who shot up the rankings from when Michigan first expressed interest to the end of the cycle.

[After THE JUMP: pretty sure Chris Hinton and DJ Turner have one degree of separation from everyone in the 2020 class below the Mason-Dixon line]