Practice bits from Brandon Justice of TWL
Some more good stuff from the Wolverine Lounge breaking down each position group and their progress.
From one of his sources: “Jim McElwain has seen talent in his day, ane even he is surprised at this roster’s stacked talent.”
Full article: https://thewolverinelounge.com/2018/08/fall-camp-files-august-17/
August 17th, 2018 at 7:56 PM ^
So go ahead and book a trip to Levi Stadium in January?
August 17th, 2018 at 9:11 PM ^
Levi's Stadium aka The House that Harbaugh Built. The 49ers unceremoniously terminated Harbaugh. It will be fitting if Harbaugh leads Michigan to a National Championship in that stadium.
August 17th, 2018 at 9:20 PM ^
Please let it happen!!!
August 17th, 2018 at 9:49 PM ^
Never even thought about it this way...dare we suggest the stars are aligning??
August 17th, 2018 at 10:11 PM ^
You can suggest it. What have we got to lose?
August 17th, 2018 at 11:22 PM ^
I mean, we have one of the hardest schedules just like '97.
We have an amazing defense like '97
If we can just get a game manager like Griese...which it sounds like we have...
August 18th, 2018 at 12:30 AM ^
Our offensive talent this year is on another planet than that of '97. The question is, can the coaches get the team to play with the necessary cohesiveness.
August 18th, 2018 at 1:02 AM ^
Except for OT. What I wouldn't give to have Jansen and Backus as our OTs again.
August 18th, 2018 at 6:04 AM ^
Is it really tho? We had a dominant OL and running game then. We had an identity too.
This year...what is our identity on offense? Sounds like something totally new. With another new QB. It’ll be interesting to see how things shake out on offense over the course of the next few years. How balanced we’ll be. More RPO? Less RPO? Go back to the original plan of power O? Does it affect QB recruiting when Peters or whomever transfers?
i dunno. I guess you just have to trust in the coaches that the changes they are making all of the sudden are due to great vision and not out of last minute desperation.
Not trying to be negative. Just grounded. I’m just as excited as everyone else but a little worried we are reinventing ourselves on offense (Which is probably out of necessity...times change...football changes...unless you’re Alabama with an elite Oline every year you can just line up in power every play and Tee off on teams).
My fingers are crossed here just like everyone else’s. We do have the elite D. We have immense talent and will beat a lot of teams just by showing up. But man...we picked a helluva year, with this schedule, to roll dice on an offensive overhaul.
August 18th, 2018 at 7:47 AM ^
That's basically what I was getting at.
August 18th, 2018 at 11:21 AM ^
I dont see it as any sort of an overhaul of the offense. More like tweaks. There were deficiencies, they saw them and tweaked the system. They have a new QB with different skills from what they had. They tweak to optimize his talents. This isnt an overhaul.
Then again I havent seen a practice.
August 18th, 2018 at 4:58 PM ^
You can't win NCs with just a "game manager" at QB any more. You need a killer defense AND a killer offense. The days of 1997 and 2002 were a completely different era.
August 17th, 2018 at 7:59 PM ^
Thanks for posting this. Much appreciated. An imaginary +1 for you.
August 17th, 2018 at 7:59 PM ^
He kept calling Christian Turner “Stewart” lol
August 17th, 2018 at 8:02 PM ^
Looks like Team Caff has finally beaten Team Peters for back-up.
Peters never inspired much confidence really.
August 17th, 2018 at 8:14 PM ^
umbig11 and the Big ten network crew both said otherwise just a few days ago.
I guess we’ll see if Shea needs to come out for a play and/or we’re killing a team.
August 17th, 2018 at 8:42 PM ^
Very true, but umbig11 also said that Brandon Justice was doing a good job and had come a long way. So, I’ll shrug at this one for now.
August 18th, 2018 at 1:24 AM ^
While I love the news and updates, I always first scan the comments of any of these threads for UMBig11's updates. If he doesn't say it, I start swallowing massive amounts of salt...
August 17th, 2018 at 9:01 PM ^
Eh. I’ve heard a lot of people-in-the-know saying Peters has separated himself from McCaffrey. And that even though McCaffrey would see the field first, Milton is debatably ahead of him as well.
Basically a lot of contradictory views that put us back at square one of not knowing what the hell is going on behind Shea.
August 17th, 2018 at 11:55 PM ^
I haven't seen anyone come close to suggesting that Milton is ahead of McCaffrey.
There are a couple of possibilities here: 1. Justice is wrong, perhaps has bad sourcing. 2. Others are wrong and Justice is right. 3. Others were right, but it's been almost a week since any inside info has leaked out and this is moving week and McCaffrey has leapfrogged Peters.
Whatever. I'm not too worried about this one area. All of this insider info is usually thirdhand stuff--the person providing it to us heard it from someone who probably isn't the major decisionmaker/evaluator anyway. That doesn't make it false info, just info that's gone through a short game of "telephone" to get to us.
Micro-analysis of who is slightly ahead in a tight battle can easily fall victim to this, and one person saying "so-and-so looks really good" can turn into "so-and-so is starting" and stuff like that.
When the news coalesces around certain players, that's when you see stuff. Two years ago multiple sources all talked up Chris Evans, for example, and he was a contributor right away. We kinda knew that Onwenu was the next man up at right guard from late in 2016. And the insiders got the drop of Brandon Peters last preseason basically correct.
We're hearing multiple kernels about Mayfield, and we're hearing Runyan at LT. Other guys are in the mix, but my general conclusion is that we haven't had an existing tackle really step up and that Mayfield is legit. Everyone agrees Shea is the clear-cut starter. Everyone is excited about Dwumfour and the leading receivers. These are things we've heard enough chatter to all but verify. The surprise stuff? We'll have to wait on that.
August 18th, 2018 at 12:56 AM ^
Six paragraphs on the woes of 'micro-analysis'? Hmmmm.
Then again, you are the one with 20,000,000 points.
August 18th, 2018 at 1:27 AM ^
It's six paragraphs micro-analyzing what is and is not useful data to microanalyze.
Blah blah blah. Chris Evans is a wise man.
August 18th, 2018 at 8:29 AM ^
Guess the depth chart: (Mind you that's NOT inside info just me guessing.)
- Patterson, (gap), Peters, (gap), Milton, McCaffrey.
Thats from mgoblog just the other day? (Maybe yesterday)
August 18th, 2018 at 2:14 PM ^
I strongly, strongly suspect Seth was just throwing the last two in the same bin without regard to order. Every other piece of intelligence has Milton (understandably) on the outside, learning the position, and Seth provided no other supporting evidence to suggest that Milton was ahead of anyone.
We're all getting to speculation at this point. Milton will RS, so the focus for him will be less on stuff to prepare him for this season and more on building a foundation to succeed in the future. How much success? Impossible to know, and anyone who says that they're sure he's the guy in 2019 or 2020 (much like Peters was the guy this year, or McCaffrey next year, all things that have been said) doesn't know much of anything.
August 18th, 2018 at 9:31 AM ^
Can someone explain...if Peter's has leaped ahead of McCaffrey,then why would mCcaMcCaf see the field first? Is this mean Peter's transfer???
August 18th, 2018 at 8:59 PM ^
+1 for mCcaMcCaf ... That's how I imagine Mr. Mackey from South Park would say McCaffrey.
August 17th, 2018 at 8:08 PM ^
I am excited that this team has so much talent. But the news about the offensive line sort of throws a damper on things. It's like having a Bugoti or something but one of the cylinders is out of round. No matter what the car won't run right.
August 17th, 2018 at 8:24 PM ^
Just have to have faith in Warinner. The good thing is that outside of ND and maybe Northwestern, there isn't really a tough matchup in the 1st half of the schedule. By the time we reach the meat of the schedule the OL will hopefully have had time to gel.
August 17th, 2018 at 8:35 PM ^
Great point. In addition to Warinner patching up some of our problems, we were decent running the ball last year: Higdon 6.1 ypc, Evans 5.1 ypc, and Isaac 6.2 ypc.
We have some talent and size that Warinner can coach up. Our running game will remain solid and improve, and our pass protection should not only get better, but Shea should be more nimble on his feet and we are likely to try and get the ball out quicker when passing.
We are a better team than last year.
August 17th, 2018 at 8:50 PM ^
No question. Our OL wasn't good last year by any means, but I'm of the belief that bad QB play exacerbated that fact. A good QB, especially a mobile one, can mitigate pass protection issues to an extent. We know Shea has the legs, just have to hope he has the awareness to move around in the pocket or outside the pocket to help his OL out a bit.
August 17th, 2018 at 9:08 PM ^
Shea didn’t have an OL at Ole Miss either and he was able to be pretty productive anyway.
If you translate his efficiency numbers (comp %, TDs per attempt, INTs per attempt, yards per attempt) and used the 331 attempts Speight had in 2016, Shea would have posted a statline of:
211/331 (63.8%) for 2,879 yards 22 TDs (21.6) and 12 INTs (11.5).
While obviously we’d like to see those interceptions drop and there’s some debate on how his numbers will translate to a more pro-style/conservative offense than he played in, it still gives us a look at how he could produce given the volume of passes he might see at Michigan.
So he’s proven he can be fairly productive even without a capable OL and not to mention a good running game that he will have at Michigan.
August 17th, 2018 at 10:44 PM ^
I agree and read an interesting article today. Talking about how Warriner took Billy Price and Pat Eflein (not sure of the spelling thanks to Bud Light), who were not highly ranked recruits and turned them into good draft picks (I believe the article said Price was a defensive tackle who wasn't panning out on that side). Whereas atleast with the Michigan line he's working with experience / alot of 4 star types who were recruited as offensive line prospecs. Honestly, if the Defense plays even close to their potential and the O-line is even ok and Shea is Shea the last 2 years, we'll be fine.
August 17th, 2018 at 10:49 PM ^
He didn’t prove himself against good defenses. Getting destroyed by LSU and bama. He’s obviously an upgrade but the goal is to beat good teams, we need an oline to do that
August 17th, 2018 at 11:32 PM ^
Interesting that you ignore his game on the road against the SEC West champs Auburn. Actually no its not, its totally predictable.
August 18th, 2018 at 7:01 AM ^
Indeed. If you look at his three toughest games last year (Bama, LSU, Auburn) he was 58/103 (56%) for 627 yards (6.8 ypa) with 2 TDs, 5 INT
Brandon Peters in all his games was 57/108 (52%) for 672 (6.2 YPA) with 4 TD 2 INT. That includes games against Rutgers, Maryland, Purdue, etc.
August 18th, 2018 at 8:37 AM ^
How many defenses the caliber of Alabama and LSU do you expect him to play against?
Not to mention his OL at Michigan is expected to be better than Ole Miss, Shea is further along as a QB, he actually has a running game to lean on, and he also has an elite defense to back him up.
Plus any analysis of the Ole Miss offense shows it was basically make the first read and then pray. Which isn’t going to work against your top defenses. Simply being in a Michigan offense that has multiple progressions and options is going to fix some of those issues.
August 18th, 2018 at 10:18 AM ^
"But the news about the offensive line sort of throws a damper on things."
What "news?" You've got a guy with no direct tie to the team or staff claiming to know things without any specific attribution or identification of sources.
August 17th, 2018 at 8:15 PM ^
I think McCaffrey gets the backup role and moves I to the starting role once Patterson leaves for the NFL.
August 17th, 2018 at 8:18 PM ^
I thought it was
1. Shea
Gap
2. Peters
Gap
3. Mccaffrey
4. Milton
Is this just his analysis, or has he heard otherwise from coaches?
August 17th, 2018 at 8:24 PM ^
He said it's info he's gathered from sources.
August 17th, 2018 at 8:31 PM ^
Hmm, I thought insiders said peters was clear number 2?
August 17th, 2018 at 8:35 PM ^
I know Seth said that yesterday. But I'll admit I was a little surprised by his depth chart because I recall insiders talking up McCaffrey as well.
August 17th, 2018 at 10:45 PM ^
Seth gets his insider info from MGoBlog.
August 20th, 2018 at 9:13 AM ^
Seth specifically said his info was not insider info, but it was what they could collect from press clippings.
This is not insider info. Subscribe to a service if you want that sort of thing. I'm just trying to make sense out of the news that gets out of practice.
August 17th, 2018 at 9:13 PM ^
To be fair, if his sources are also telling him Filiaga is an option at tackle when he’s been practicing exclusively at guard according to everyone else, he may need some new sources.
August 17th, 2018 at 9:29 PM ^
That was what struck me, along with no mention of Hudson. There should probably be mention of Stueber as well. I read that he is coming back strong after being slowed by injury.
August 18th, 2018 at 1:05 AM ^
Yeah, and sources = Counter Strike Dude.
August 17th, 2018 at 8:26 PM ^
Yeah, this article is just complete crap.
All the other insider reports have Peters as #2, Chuck Filiaga has been practicing exclusively at guard (not tackle as claimed in the article), and Ronnie Bell is not going to be the primary backup to DPJ and Tarik.
Brandon Justice is a weird guy who wants to think he's an insider, but doesn't know jack. Whatever "sources" he's referring to are probably imaginary.
August 17th, 2018 at 8:30 PM ^
Brandon Justice is a bit odd but Umbig11 just said a few days ago that he’s gotten to know a lot of people in Schem Hall
August 17th, 2018 at 8:55 PM ^
I’ll never trust a LeBroner.