matt hibner

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

THE POTATOMAN COMETH

RATING: 5

Depth Chart

[Barron]

Last year's preview had a brief aside about COLSTON LOVELAND [recruiting profile]. It made a very bad prediction about playing time:

…true freshmen COLSTON LOVELAND and MARLIN KLEIN have a 0% chance of seeing meaningful snaps without a zombie apocalypse.

Uhhh no. Bad prediction. At least this from the post-Illinois UFR was better:

I think he's getting a crucial chunk pass off PA in The Game.

Yessir!

That preview did single Loveland out as the freshman tight end who was supposedly the Next One, per insider chatter. By the time the Big Ten Championship game rolled around, he was the Current One:

And lo, here we are. I'm not sure I can recall a guy going into his true sophomore season who 1) hasn't really played a lot and 2) has the world convinced he's going to be an All-American like Loveland. Here's BTN analyst Rick Pizzo after taking in a Michigan practice:

"You have a tight end in Colston Loveland that I think may be the breakout star in the Big Ten this year. Mark this down: he is going to be an NFL All-Pro at tight end."

Well then.

[After THE JUMP: why]

FORMATION NOTES: There will be no marveling about how passive the opponent was this week. Illinois did not have a single standard down in which they were not +1 in the box. Their three DL barely left the field, and it was cover one about 70% of the time. Against one TE Illinois responded with a pretty standard 3-4 look:

When Michigan went with two TEs in the box Illinois usually responded with a 6-2 formation with a linebacker folded inside one of their OLBs:

There is a safety off screen on both these snaps. Illinois would occasionally stem into cover two, and occasionally send that safety who's off screen down either presnap or just before it; usually his job was to clean up anything that popped outside of contain, allowing the Illinois defense to collapse on the interior run game.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: Welp. Keegan out again so El-Hadi started; Barnhart maintained the starting job at RT. Jones got in for some goal line plays. I think he's healthy and they're just rolling with Barnhart. Schoonmaker out again so Loveland was TE1 with Honigford and Bredeson mixing in as blockers, mostly. Hibner got his first non-garbage time reps in a while.

WR pretty much the usual. No Edwards at RB and Corum went out near halftime, leaving Stokes, Dunlap, and Gash. Stokes got the most run early but by the time it was crunch time they were using Gash, apparently because they think he's their best option out of the backfield.

[After THE JUMP: stiffer resistance]

Previously: Podcast 14.0A, 14.0B, 14.0C. The Story. Quarterback. Running Back. Wide Receiver.

TIGHT END: IT'S BEEN FOUR YEARS AND I HAVEN'T COME UP WITH A GOOD REFERENCE

RATING: 4.5

Depth Chart

You write about things on the internet and you're like "oh dude this guy's last name is a common English word" and then absolutely nothing comes to you. Nothing good, anyway.

This position group has two established senior starters who are on NFL radars, plus a couple of sixth-year guys who will chip in and a horde of younger folks lifting weights and biding their time. The only thing separating this spot from a 5 in our ratings is the lack of an out-and-out All-American sort. Seth thinks Michigan has one but that's an opinion that's not (yet) shared by others, who consistently rank Michigan's tight ends in the 6-15 range nationally.

That's still pretty good. Michigan can go five wide when that's advantageous and they can beef up when that's advantageous. It's all about flexibility.

ALL IN THE FAMILY?

moment of the season [Patrick Barron]

Bah. That sucks, unlike ERICK ALL. When you do the UFRs you find guys, and then you bang on the table for your guys. My first guy was David Molk, who reached all those mofos in the Rodriguez years. Seth's guy was All. He was already pleading for All to get All Big Ten nods after the Ohio State game…

… it’s a crying shame that people are looking at Peyton Hendersot, who does not block, and Barry Alvarez’s grandson, who had a terrible season, over Erick All for the all-Big Ten tight end. I would hear you out if you talked about Nebraska’s guy, but Erick All has done more for Michigan’s running game this year than any lineman, the last bit of it while injured.

…and then he was more or less the only Michigan player who looked like he could whoop Georgia's ass if he just had ten clones:

All's UFR numbers are eyepopping.