tiawan mullen

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: Indiana Offense 

I came into this year reasonably optimistic about the IU defense. They lost some big pieces on the defensive line and star LB Micah McFadden, but returned an experienced secondary with several key pieces. So far, my optimism has not been rewarded. Indiana enters Saturday's clash with Michigan ranked 73rd in SP+ defense. Their pass defense, which was supposed to be a strength of the team, is getting gashed week after week. The remnants of the 2020 defense are still here, but the unit is not clicking. 

The Film: For this game I used the Nebraska tape. The Huskers have a pretty solid offense and this was the most recent game that Indiana played. Cincinnati also seemed like a suitable option but I opted to go with Nebraska because the Huskers had more success on the ground and I wanted to see what that would look like, given how Michigan's offense sets up. However, some Cincinnati clips will appear, as I made my way through that game looking for clues. 

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

Indiana is still true to the Tom Allen fundamentals, running a 4-2-5 with a stand-up BULL on the DL and a "HUSKY" which is functionally a slot corner. On the defensive line, Indiana is running the geriatric Alfred Bryant out there at the BULL position, which has the ability to pass rush or drop into coverage. I didn't like Bryant much last fall, but he didn't do poorly enough in this game for me to put the cyan back on him. For now, he's beaten the allegations. Beau Robbins is the new starter at the other EDGE spot and this is a major step down from Ryder Anderson last season. Robbins generated no pass rush and got shoved around too often on off-tackle runs for my liking. Those two play the lion's share of snaps at the ends of the line, while Dasan McCullough plays a lot as the fifth lineman when Indiana goes 5-2-4 (often on running downs). UCLA transfer Myles Jackson is the nominal reserve at these positions. 

The interior of the DL sees DeMarcus Elliott return. I was not a fan of his last season and thought his tape this year was better, but we opted to keep the cyan on him. Weston Kramer exits from the program and is replaced by Sio Nofoagatoto'a, who was rotating in with Elliott last season. They don't get any passrush from these positions, but Nofoagatoto'a did okay at not budging. JH Tevis gets a lot of snaps to the point he's basically a starter, rotating in on many passing downs. The backups beyond these three are a step down, LeDarrius Cox and Patrick Lucas in particular were culpable for some rushing plays against, while I didn't see that much of Nick James but he has played some this season. 

The linebacker position sees veteran Cam Jones still around and he was the best player on the Indiana defense against Nebraska. Having a fine season, Jones is one of the few veterans who has not concerningly regressed on this team. Aaron Casey is the new starter, filling the hole left by the pass rushing savant that was Micah McFadden. Casey did not have a particularly great showing in the game I saw, particularly with tackling, but he did manage to avoid getting the cyan. The two deep is populated by transfers, including Miami's Bradley Jennings and Jared Casey, but they don't come on too often. Matt Hohlt was used a decent bit against Nebraska but hasn't played much in other games this season. 

The CB room was supposed to be the strength of the defense but right now it has been a disappointing season. Tiawan Mullen, 2020's Dangerman and the author of one of the great freshman corner seasons in B1G history back in 2019, turned down the NFL and right now it's looking like he really should've gone. We will delve into his performance later but the numbers are ugly and he has lost his star. Jaylin Williams dealt with injury against Nebraska and has also been unusually choppy, losing his star in the process as well. Noah Pierre is a first time starter at the HUSKY position and he did okay, but all three of these players contribute to the struggling pass defense. These three corners rarely come off the field but when they do, Alabama transfer Brylan Lanier, Christopher Keys, and Louis Moore fill in. 

Super seniors Bryant Fitzgerald and Devon Matthews are returning starters to anchor the safety position. They are responsible for some of the explosive, over-the-top plays that Indiana has allowed on defense and are not approaching the star level. There's only one other safety to speak of here which is Josh Sanguenetti, who rotates in and has played quite a bit over the last couple of seasons. He's fine. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: We have to blitz to stop bad things from happening]

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?]