The Depth Chart Has Been Photographed
Advanced technology is on the loose:
click for small
Depth charts are always a combination of reality, politics, and the cracked-out fantasies of low-level AD staffers, but there's information to mine so mine we will:
Starting line. Not a surprise, but it's Lewan-Glasgow-Miller-Kalis-Schofield. Depth chart world second team is Braden-Bryant-Burzynski-Bars-Magnuson. In the real world it's Bryant for any interior OL and Braden for any tackle.
Asterisks. Injury asterisks accompany Courtney Avery, Jordan Paskorz, Wyatt Shallman and Jake Ryan. Ryan is obvious. Avery was spotted at the Mott practice on the sideline working with Wellman. He didn't seem to be too obviously hurt, according to reports. Paskorz is the broken hand guy we thought might be Strobel.
Avery's injury is the most worrisome since the other guys were either known or going to be fringe contributors at most. Avery was pressing to start at safety.
Raymon Taylor has fended 'em off. No OR for Taylor at LCB.
Open battle at SAM. Cam Gordon OR Brennen Beyer.
Blake Countess is your starting nickel for now. Michigan will fold him inside and play Taylor/Hollowell outside. I bet Thomas works his way into the starting lineup by midseason.
Folks not redshirting. Since Dymonte Thomas and Channing Stribling make the two-deep, you know they're playing. Jourdan Lewis is in an OR spot with Hollowell, so I'm guessing he plays as well. Jake Butt and Taco Charlton are obviously also playing.
I'm hoping that just because you're listed doesn't mean you're playing, because both freshman LBs are on there. I'd heard that Hill was probably headed for a redshirt so here's hoping.
If you say so. Jehu Chesson OR Jeremy Jackson. Derrick Green and De'Veon Smith behind all three older guys. Ryan Glasgow in front of Willie Henry.
That last one may just be plausible. The others…
No Gallon at PR. Dileo is your backup there, which yes.
UPDATE: Avery's out two weeks after a knee scope.
August 26th, 2013 at 3:58 PM ^
August 26th, 2013 at 11:53 AM ^
Why do you say Hollowell is the other corner in Nickel situations? Couldn't it be Stribling as well? I think that will be interesting to see which one of those two is the other corner when Blake is at nickel.
August 26th, 2013 at 12:08 PM ^
Yeah, it seems like the depth chart says Stribling is the first corner in, as he's the backup at Countess' position, no?
August 26th, 2013 at 12:13 PM ^
Seems like it. I'd expect some mix and match, some Blake over there and see Stribling (or maybe even Avery) at a corner spot, and then some Dymonte Thomas at nickel while Blake stays at corner. Lots of options - I am sure they will assess them. Lots of youth in the 2 deep of the secondary as well. Which means it looks like we are hitting on some talent in this 2013 class.
August 26th, 2013 at 12:23 PM ^
Competition still ongoing, it appears:
Hoke says Channing Stribling, Delonte Hollowell and Jourdan Lews are competing to be the first corner off the bench.
— Nick Baumgardner (@nickbaumgardner) August 26, 2013
August 26th, 2013 at 2:35 PM ^
that Avery is now strictly a safety??
August 26th, 2013 at 11:56 AM ^
is smaller when clicked on.
/just saying
August 26th, 2013 at 11:59 AM ^
I click on the pic and it's not bigger. Actually smaller. The goggles do nothing!
August 26th, 2013 at 11:58 AM ^
August 26th, 2013 at 12:01 PM ^
Can we stop writing off the returning RBs on the team now? Drake Johnson is going to be a decent contributor.
August 26th, 2013 at 12:06 PM ^
August 26th, 2013 at 12:09 PM ^
I'm just happy to see that Rawls appears to be semi-buried.
August 26th, 2013 at 12:46 PM ^
August 26th, 2013 at 12:50 PM ^
Very true. As with all my pessimistic comments, I would be more than happy to be shown to be totally wrong and a complete idiot.
August 26th, 2013 at 1:44 PM ^
Jeremy Jackson is also relatively high on the depth chart. Does that mean he's good?
August 26th, 2013 at 12:01 PM ^
Where's Terry Richardson? He's completely missing from the depth chart. Did something happen with him?
August 26th, 2013 at 12:08 PM ^
He didn't eat enough.
August 26th, 2013 at 12:02 PM ^
Dollars to donuts Green gets more carries than Drake on Saturday.
August 26th, 2013 at 12:05 PM ^
August 26th, 2013 at 12:06 PM ^
August 26th, 2013 at 12:09 PM ^
Drake has been getting a lot of talk inside Michigan camp from the bowl practices forward. Who is to say he does not stay at the #2 all year? We don't know. Or it could be D. Smith in 4 weeks. I am glad the coaches are going off performance rather than recruiting rankings.
August 26th, 2013 at 12:12 PM ^
August 26th, 2013 at 12:20 PM ^
Have you seen Green or Drake Johnson play a college game yet? I haven't. It is one thing to bury Rawls as we have seen he seems to lack vision and burst (despite Fred Jackson's protestations). I have yet to see Drake Johnson run into the back of his guards for 4 of his 9 carries, and average 2.2 yards on the rest. So I will hold off on saying Green is going to whiz around him and all others on the depth chart because it is preordained by Scout and Rivals. Maybe he will in 3 weeks or 7 weeks (which is fine, let the best man win) but I have not seen any of these kids (incl Smith) in a college football game,so how are we judging who should be where today or in a month? I am sure Mike Hart and his 3 stars would not be too worried about Green if they had played in the same era. (I am not saying Drake is Mike Hart - I am saying lets just let it play out rather than say Green is the supposed #2 in a month due to a ranking)
August 26th, 2013 at 12:19 PM ^
I'm glad water is wet and not dry instead.
Do coaches exist that make their depth charts based on recruiting rankings instead of performance? There's a word for coaches who would do such a thing. It's called "fired."
August 26th, 2013 at 12:07 PM ^
And Green will take the donuts.
#reportingtocampat240joke
August 26th, 2013 at 12:18 PM ^
August 26th, 2013 at 12:22 PM ^
The knock is Green is the sexy new thing and how dare the sexy old thing be higher on the depth chart than the sexy new thing.
August 26th, 2013 at 12:29 PM ^
I don't think Johnson was ever a "sexy thing," new or old. He was a pretty low ranked recruit, as I recall (checked his "Hello" post, he was a 2-star on 2 sites and unranked on the other 2). Doesn't mean the guy won't be good (personally, I thought it was weird how dismissive people were, given his HS career), but this is defintely not the case of people forgetting about a "sexy old thing."
EDIT: A typo made my post highly inappropriate.
August 26th, 2013 at 2:41 PM ^
The knock, according to our very own Ace who caught a few of his games, was that he couldn't change direction without just about coming to a stop. Basically, his assessment was that he looked like "a track star playing football."
August 26th, 2013 at 12:22 PM ^
If I remember correctly, it was a combination of competition and offensive system. Namely, that the competition wasn't great and Pioneer's offensive system was "run Drake every play." So he had really gaudy stats because he had a massive volume of runs.
August 26th, 2013 at 12:28 PM ^
But then, that was the knock on Mike Hart's stats.
August 26th, 2013 at 12:33 PM ^
I'm not being dismissive of Johnson or think he won't contribute. Just saying that that was the reason for the disconnect between his (lack of) hype at the college level and his crazy HS numbers.
Also, just because Hart was a 3 star from a weak league who turned out to be a great college RB doesn't mean a whole lot. He's an outlier, an expection. Throwing his name around is just as meaningless as people who would write a player off for having low rankings.
August 26th, 2013 at 1:03 PM ^
Granted, but from your series of posts you seem almost shocked it can happen. It is probabilities. The probability of a lowly recruit who had zero big 10 offers outside of Michigan turning into the best defensive player on the team is just that... low probability. But it happened. The probability of a 5 star being a bust is not a low probability - there are plenty of them, along with 5 stars who turn into superstars. But I think many just seem to think the rankings is a straight shot to a depth chart. Stribling might turn into the best corner on the entire team in 12 months. Was that probable? No. But we don't know. Once you get them on campus and they get coaching, strength training, diet, and they have growth spurts (or no growth spurt) anything can happen. I am not expecting much of Drake myself but maybe he will be the next Mike Hart. Or D. Smith will come out and grasp the brass ring. Or in 2 months Green has surpassed Fitz. It's a depth chart with a bunch of players on it for this position specifcially who have been on campus for a month or whatever. I am with you that we should not sit here and not say anything about football all week until the game is played but there is a degree of OVERanalysis based on a fluid piece of paper.
August 26th, 2013 at 1:21 PM ^
http://mgoblog.com/content/future-blue-originals-harrison-vs-brother-ri…
Things change, and players get better/faster/stronger/more handsome. But this isn't in the same realm of conversation as we had about Mike Hart.
August 26th, 2013 at 1:25 PM ^
What "series of posts?" You mean that I'm surprised that Johnson appears to be the #2 RB? Yeah, I think it's surprising. I'm not saying that Johnson can't way over-exceed his rankings or that it's a bad thing that he's there. Just that it's surprising to see him there.
My annoyance about the Hart thing is that it's this mentality of "well, Hart was great and he was a 3 star therefore everyone will be awesome always!" I could just as easily say "Grady was a 5 star bust therefore everyone will always suck!" Siting Hart isn't a be-all-end-all response to everything. It's not a response to anything other than a crazy hard-line, "this low ranked recruit is guaranteed to be awful forever!" type of post. Some players will exceed their rankings, some will fail to live up to them, but generally speaking rankings tend not to be terrible indicators in aggregate.
Which is why I don't think it's crazy that I think it is surprising that a 2*/unranked player whose only other offer was EMU ended up second on the depth chart after redshirting last season.
August 26th, 2013 at 1:31 PM ^
I am not disagreeing with your major points. My main point is .. it is late August and CMU. When the Big 10 starts we'll have a more realistic depth chart so let the overanalysis begin then rather than now.
August 26th, 2013 at 1:40 PM ^
This is turning into one of those very confusing exchanges in which I realize that people are reading things I'm not trying to say. Or something. But I feel myself inadvertently coming across more and more like a dick as it continues.
But yes, this is a preseason depth chart for (what will hopefully be) a cupcake match-up in Week 1. I have no illusions that this is something that the coaches have set in stone. And I'm not sure how much analysis I'm really doing beyond, "it is surprising Johnson is #2 and the DB shuffling has me concerned."
August 26th, 2013 at 1:55 PM ^
my memory is that he wasn't very high on his intial depth chart, maybe 4th string. We've had other backs surprise too. Depth charts can change fast when running backs get their chance to hit the field.
August 26th, 2013 at 2:13 PM ^
I think people sleep on just how FAST Drake Johnson was in high school.
The kid was a 3 time state champion in the 110m hurdles.
His fastest time was 13.73.
Tyrone Wheatley best 110m hurdles? 13.7 seconds (which is the Div2/ClassB state record).
The fastest time ever in Michigan? 13.6 by Thomas Wilcher.
August 26th, 2013 at 12:23 PM ^
while he got redshirted and forgotten about, Hoke was busy getting all of the stars!
I am actually pretty excited to see Johnson in action, especially now that he earned the 2nd RB spot. But I am also pretty excited to see Green and Smith.
August 26th, 2013 at 1:20 PM ^
August 26th, 2013 at 6:46 PM ^
August 26th, 2013 at 12:09 PM ^
So the only non-obvious thing that Rivals got right was Glasgow/Miller?
Seems like they got the offensive and defensive backfields completely wrong, as they did the WRs.
Also: this basically says Courtney Avery won't be playing. I think that's probably not the case.
August 26th, 2013 at 12:17 PM ^
Avery has a star which would indicate for CMU he appears out.
August 26th, 2013 at 12:18 PM ^
Courtney Avery will play when Courtney Avery* is healthy.
Hence why this is the depth chart for the CMU game only.
August 26th, 2013 at 1:53 PM ^
So...you're saying that coaches are allowed to change these depth charts week-to-week? That's just crazy.
August 26th, 2013 at 1:59 PM ^
I never said that. I am pretty sure the depth chart is a fan poll, brought to you by Allstate.
/Brandon'd
August 26th, 2013 at 12:16 PM ^
Avery being out two weeks is kind of really not good for a certain game happening soon. Can Tommy forget how to throw again please?
August 26th, 2013 at 12:34 PM ^
As long as Tommy remembers how to fumble, I'm not worried. And considering there was a ND highlight video put out that started with him fumbling a snap and unable to pick it back up gracefully, I'm not worried.
August 26th, 2013 at 12:23 PM ^
I don't know what to think about this. Shouldn't our best cover corner be covering the best WR on passing downs?
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