Preview 2020: Defensive Tackle
Previously: The Story. Podcast 12.4A, 12.4B, 12.4C. Quarterback. Running Back. Wide Receiver. Tight End. Interior OL. Offensive Tackle. Defensive End.
ANCHOR | Yr. | NOSE TACKLE | Yr. | 3-TECH | Yr. | WEAK DE | Yr. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kwity Paye | Sr. | Donovan Jeter | Jr.* | Carlo Kemp | Sr.* | Aidan Hutchinson | Jr. |
Taylor Upshaw | So.* | Jess Speight | Jr.* | Chris Hinton | Fr.* | Luiji Vilain | So.* |
Gabe Newburg | Fr.* | Mazi Smith | Fr.* | Julius Welschof | So.* | David Ojabo | Fr.* |
This was a disaster zone last year that saw two different converted offensive players start games. One, Ben Mason, was a 270-pound former fullback. The other, Jess Speight, flipped from offensive line the week before fall practice started. Michigan had one functional Big Ten DT, Carlo Kemp, and survived because the defensive ends were bailing water out of the boat almost as fast as the DTs could shove it in. Don Brown used a variant of the word desperate to describe the situation:
Last year when we counted on playing a lot more of our three-down package stuff, which we desperately needed to, doing it with the abilities of Uche and a lack of total depth numbers at the defensive line.
Of course, "survived" is a relative term. Wisconsin rushed for 359 yards at 6.3 an attempt. Ohio State went for 264 on 5.3 YPC. Alabama forgot to run for a half and still put up 153 yards at 5.1 YPC. A better way to put it may be "did not survive."
A year later everyone's back and older and better shaped. It sound like they have three-ish functional defensive tackles:
“Between (Carlo Kemp), Hinton and Jeter, we feel really good about our inside three,” he said.
Maybe it'll be enough? Relatively?
[After THE JUMP: somebody step up or the pumpkin gets it]
THREE-TECH: JUST VARIOUS GUYS WOULD BE FINE
RATING: 2.5.
Fifth year senior CARLO KEMP was Michigan's only defensive tackle last year. This is only a slight exaggeration. Kemp had a cup of coffee at linebacker when he arrived; last year he was a 286-pound nose tackle teams could double with impunity because the guy next to him wasn't going to punish single blocking, ever.
If this sounds like a recipe for struggling, ahyup. Kemp scraped over even against MTSU, then had dive duty against Army. Then Wisconsin rolled in. Kemp racked up 8.5 positives by firing off as hard as possible… and 14 negatives for firing off as hard as possible:
Carlo Kemp is our up and down guy of the week, it appears?
There isn't a Jonas Mouton award for the guy who has the biggest mark in his second-highest column, but maybe now there is and that's Kemp this week. He had a strange game seemingly based on the idea that he couldn't win a fair fight against the Wisconsin OL. He spent his day firing absurdly hard off the LOS, attempting to time up the snap and succeeding sometimes. This should have been a zero-yard gain if the edge guys actually contain it after Kemp blows up the play design:
NT #2
Kemp was also the major source of resistance on that almost-goal-line stand, again by being shovy and reckless—although you can only be so reckless at the one.
The flip side of this was Kemp's tendency to run eight yards deep whenever Wisconsin ran a draw or trap. Here the FB can't even block him because he's so far upfield:
DT #2 to top
Seven yards upfield on a draw:
DT #2 to bottom
And this was literally the next play:
DT #2 to left, moving right
Cumong man.
That's as good a summary of his season as any. Kemp didn't think he could win fair fights against high-end offensive lines so he attempted to tilt things in his favor by going real fast. Sometimes it worked; sometimes he left the center of the defense so fast he achieved escape velocity.
Against the middling he was solid. He had a +4.5 against Iowa, getting blown out just once and winning several one on one blocks. This is an entirely different approach than what he was doing against Wisconsin:
Priority one is control your man, then shed.
The next week he picked up a +7 against Illinois, who we perpetually remind people has a decent OL. Again he was able to stay in control and string things out instead of shooting directly upfield:
By MSU (+6) I noted that he was a "consistent winner against this level of competition."
Then Ohio State rolled into town and ran duo at him all day. Michigan got crushed in the middle, and then Khaleke Hudson started cheating to it, and then JK Dobbins was ripping off 20 yard chunks outside the tackles because there was no edge. Kemp was hurt for the bowl game.
2020 should be more of the same. Kemp is maxed out physically—his weight stayed precisely at 286—and extremely consistent. Last year's preview was more or less identical to this one, with an extended section about how Kemp struggled against doubles and did the control-and-shed thing for his positives:
When Kemp did a thing that got a plus it was almost invariably this:
DT #2 to bottom
Engage a single block, drive it back productively, someone else cleans up. That's a nice thing to be able to do but if it's your only tool you're going to be stuck with the kind of numbers you see above.
He's in the right gap; he's able to win one on one blocks against solid competition; he is not a nose tackle. Kemp could be the same guy but seem like a much better player if Michigan has a real nose. Kemp has no control over that. We do have an indication that they're going to try to move him a slot back outside:
Brown did say Carlo Kemp is moving back to 3-tech, which a) is a relief, and b) a rebuke of a presser around this far from kickoff last year when Brown said he put Kemp at nose and fwoosh [airplane takes off sign].
Even if that goes well Kemp is still going to be a plugger who stays in the single digits in UFR grading that's DL-friendly. When Brown talks about Kemp he says things like "[he's] given us solid play inside." No sound effects this time around. Kemp will still be outmatched by the Wisconsins and Ohio States of the world. He will continue to be a key piece of Michigan's pocket-constricting rush even if he's not personally creating pressures. He's also a program guy. Nua called him "the best leader we could ever have."
Kemp will be okay. Hopefully this year he won't have as much on his plate, because there will be other defensive tackles.
NOSE TACKLE: TAKE TWO
RATING: 2.
would be real nice if the talk was more accurate this time around [Patrick Barron]
There's been close to no clarity about who's going to start next to Kemp and what position that guy will be playing. Everyone wants the answer to be CHRIS HINTON, but the offseason talk has once again focused on DONOVAN JETER [recruiting profile].
You can be forgiven for taking that talk with a grain of salt after Jeter was last year's camp chatter MVP. To go from this…
Jeter was also the first name out of the mouths of both Don Brown ("Start with this Donovan Jeter. Think we got ourselves a real inside guy.") and Jim Harbaugh ("Donovan Jeter would be the first name that I would throw out there … Tremendous winter program and strength. He’s really figuring it out. Playing explosive.") when asked the usual open-ended questions about guys popping out. …
Jeter hype continued into the fall ("Consistently good, which has been really encouraging") from both coaches and insider types. Lorenz picked him out as a riser, as did one of our local insiders ("getting the praise he deserves for all the hard work he has put in").
…to zero tackles is rough. He missed the first two games with an injury, returning for Wisconsin:
Jeter, meanwhile?
I had nothing positive for him and several –2 events, many of them on the draws where he'd put himself to one side of the OL and then get moved out, contributing to the giant gaps in the middle. Late he got wiped by a double:
Meanwhile he did not pick up a plus. Getting your first extended playing time against Wisconsin is rough, of course. This was not an encouraging debut.
He did not get a defensive snap the next week against Iowa and was relegated to scattered snaps the rest of the year. Contrary to the talk, it seemed like Jeter went backwards. Last year's preview had a few clips for him, like this solo tackle against Penn State:
NT #95
There was also a double team split against Nebraska. That was moderately promising. There was nothing to be said about Jeter's 2019 other than better luck next year.
It's next year. They're still talking about Jeter breaking through. Don Brown ("playing better than I ever could have anticipated he could play", Shaun Nua ("the guy who’s got his mindset right") and Sam Webb have been talking him up. Sam's take also focuses on mindset, because Jeter was behind Jess Speight on some early depth charts and then put his head down to correct what was, in his eyes, an error:
He kept his head down, kept grinding, and has been one of the line’s most consistent producers since the pads were put on. I’m told no player in the front has improved more than Donovan Jeter.
Nua had some more details about the shift in Jeter's approach:
“Sometimes all of us, we tend to not understand how fragile and how very, very limited the opportunities are. He’s probably just sick and tired of not breaking through. … He’s finally realizing, ‘What the heck am I waiting for?’ There’s a lot of talks, we’ve had a lot of discussions about it and he’s finally seeing the light."
We'll see. You would be forgiven for being skeptical after how it worked out last year. One mitigating factor: Jeter was hurt significantly enough to miss the first two games and was reputed to be not quite right most of the year. One potential concern: he's a redshirt junior and he just shot up 28 pounds on the roster from 290 to 318. Rapid weight gain is natural early in your career; by year four you're hoping that guys level off as they near ideal weight.
Jeter is a major X factor for the season. He's a fourth-year player who was a hyped recruit and is getting the right kind of talk. He's also been bad so far. Anything from Bryan Mone to more of the same is possible.
BACKUPS
cumong five star [Bryan Fuller]
If you're skeptical of the Jeter hype, Michigan's best hope for a sea change on the interior is CHRIS HINTON [recruiting profile] blowing up. This is a possibility. He's a five star in year two. It happens. It could happen here.
I am agnostic about Hinton's freshman year. Our Freshman WRs Suck meme doesn't work for DTs because those DTs suck so much they barely play. It makes sense that he didn't see the field much.
Yeah, the DT situation was terrible. No, a freshman doesn't help. Many persons are mad that other folks got snaps. I can't agree with them because Hinton got crunched more often than not for much of the season. Here he takes a double and gets blown out against PSU:
DT #15 to bottom
Hutchinson rescues most of that and Michigan survives; Hinton ends up five yards downfield on his knees. That was typical for the first several games. This is not a problem. It just means that Hinton used to be in high school.
Hinton eventually started getting meaningful snaps he did well with. By MSU I asserted he was "making one short yarage play per game." The MSU event:
DT #15 firing MSU C back
He nearly shut down a Maryland fourth and one but he didn't get a second guy to help out:
DT #15 just below NT
Here he takes a chip from an ND OL and is able to fight through it to help tackle short of the sticks on second and one:
NT #15
You can see the promise. But these are occasional plays that get oversampled for these previews because I'm looking for the things that are interesting. Hinton surviving doesn't get clipped. He wasn't going to change Michigan's fortunes last year.
This year? Maybe. Brown's talked about him a bunch:
"[Hinton] is a tremendous young man. This guy, I used to joke with him last year, would you rather be a slug or a bullet? Obviously, we want him to be a bullet. He's improved his short area quickness his COD, change of direction, tremendously. He’s starting to see those benefits."
He got momentarily left out of a list-all-the-guys press conference quote and Brown was furious with himself:
Oh, and Christopher Hinton's playing great! That's the guy I got left out. Sometimes I hate doing this because you leave a guy out.
Other insider takes include "has shown marked improvement … is starting to live up to the recruiting rankings" and "very athletic … has good mass." Also this space maintains an eternal flame for players who are older than their dads:
This man cannot fail. He is one thousand years old.
Hinton has been proclaimed as one of the three guys who will rotate. Michigan will try to add numbers to that; as far as Hinton himself goes there are two routes. One: he is a rotation piece and it's fine and people are reasonably optimistic. Two: he pushes through one of the other two guys to be a clear starter and people are hyped. He did enough as a true freshman to indicate he's going to be a guy. Dude? Possible. Ask again later.
oh look it's another deep bench photo from the ND game weird [Patrick Barron]
The most experienced backup and probable last member of the two-deep is former walk-on JESS SPEIGHT, who was the offensive scout team player of the year in 2018. Michigan flipped him from offensive line the week before fall camp, and he ended up playing in seven games. He even started the bowl game. You know, against Alabama. This went about as well as you imagine.
Speight did look plausible against lesser competition. He had a fair bit of garbage time against Indiana, where he looked okay:
What's the deal with Jess Speight sticking ahead of guys like Hinton and Smith?
I don't think I'd say he's still ahead of Hinton, who's getting a smattering of real snaps. He was in the opener. Not now. Speight is apparently still in front of Smith and probably even Donovan Jeter, who got on the field after him in this game. Speight got a few snaps on the last drive I charted, getting a plus for holding up to a brief double and offering no gap:
DT #67 to bottom
Not bad. He hasn't jumped out as a potential Glasgow in the snaps I've watched. Even so it seems clear he'll be in the conversation for playing time next year.
A year on, he is still in the conversation. Speight is still drawing press conference talk and appears set to stick on the two-deep. In late September Brown named Jeter, Kemp, and Hinton as the top three guys with Speight explicitly fourth. Other press conference statements from both Brown, Nua and Harbaugh have been muddled, with everyone thrown in a big Bin O' Guys. Speight does continue to come up. Per Sam he was ahead of Jeter on some early depth charts and per Brown is "doing a really good job."
It's not completely crazy to believe Speight can improve a bunch and give Michigan a rotation option. He's got the requisite size and should improve rapidly since he just flipped sides of the ball. That maxes out as a guy who can eat some innings without getting smashed. On this team that's valuable.
this is 30 pounds ago [Bryan Fuller]
If the two deep ends up being shaky Michigan has a couple more shots. The most promising—at least for 2020—is German underpass enthusiast and moguls skier JULIUS WELSCHOF [recruiting profile]. Welschof was a shot in the dark a few recruiting classes ago. He played amateur ball in Germany that makes your average high school film look like a Patriots scrimmage, but a camp tour of the US brought in an array of D-1 offers. Michigan jumped in and grabbed a lottery ticket:
“He’s really raw but his upside is tremendous,” said one of the coaches at another program that had him in camp last summer. “This is a really good get for Michigan. He’s a beautiful kid. He’s going to be 6'6", 280 pounds before too long. His athleticism is really legit.”
That school had Welschof measured at 6'6" and 242 pounds, with a 4.87 40, a 10-foot broad jump and an impressive 4.38-second 20-yard shuttle.
A couple years later Welschof is 290 and getting talked up. You may find this to be the direst feelingsball, but I'm going to say it anyway. Don Brown keeps referring to Welschof in a certain fashion:
“If I had to pick one guy up front that I’m excited about it’s this Julius Welschof."
"This Julius Welschof." Makes him sound like a bear who wandered in and started lifting weights, which isn't too far from the truth. Per Brown Welschof is 290 and "runs exactly like he ran when he was 260":
"We’re seeing big things out of him. His ability to run, chase the football from the inside is kinda what we were hoping he would do a year ago, but sometimes it takes a little longer. … he’s playing at a high, high level.”
This didn't come out of nowhere. A year ago Steve Lorenz put him in that group of players to watch out for in 2020, and revisited that take to confirm he's still on track.
Welschof is probably still rawer than you'd like, even in year three; hopefully he's able to rotate in. Alternating good and bad plays would be a good sign for the future.
-50 but in a good way [Patrick Barron]
The other roll of the dice Michigan has is redshirt freshman MAZI SMITH [recruiting profile]. He is the second-most touted DT on the roster behind Hinton after finishing his high school career with a standout performance at his all-star game:
- "…one of the most physically imposing players in attendance. That has been most evident during several of his overpowering bull rushes."
- …had to be one of the stronger players in this game. He won numerous reps with straight power. You combine his power with pad level and that is a nightmare for the offensive lineman in front of him.
The sites bumped him up to just outside the top 100, and that seemed a little low. There were some concerns that Smith didn't bring it on every snap (Allen Trieu said he "kind of turns it off and on"), a criticism Smith acknowledged and seemed to set right by the time that all star game came around.
But sometimes those kinds of things linger, requiring a year or two of not climbing the depth chart before the switch is truly, permanently flipped on. Last year you could infer that Smith arrived with a lot of work to do. Shaun Nua last fall:
“Mazi has done a great job of reforming his body since he got here …he’s dropped some weight and he moves a lot better."
Then inference was no longer necessary, because people started talking about how enormous he was. Sam Webb talked with Smith's trainer back in Grand Rapids, who confirmed that Smith's conditioning was one of two main issues preventing him from seeing the field. (The other was the playbook, as is standard for freshmen.) That article asserts 334 at one point. Meanwhile Nua said he "came in at 350-plus"(!). The roster listed him at 305. Unless you're Mike Onwenu it is never good to be 50 pounds over your listed weight.
Now Smith is reportedly back down to around 300 and running 40s in under 5 seconds. Nua:
"he got with [performance dietician] Abigail [O'Connor] and now he’s a freakin’ shiny 305, 310 beast." That's step one.
That's step one.
Step two is to be a defensive tackle. This is difficult in the best of circumstances; these are not the best of circumstances. At the same time Nua was describing Smith's physical transformation he mentioned that Smith has "a little bit of ways to learn the game" and that "the mental part really separates who's ready and who's not." Smith evidently falls into the latter category. For now. He is "close to having that breakout experience."
Smith hasn't featured in much program talk but it hasn't been complete radio silence. Khaleke Hudson mentioned him as one of a few freshman who were impressing in bowl practices; Josh Ross touted him this fall. He's got some guys in his corner, probably because he creates takes like this from Jeter last year:
“Want to talk about a monster? First day, upper body, I’m one of the strongest benchers on the team and he’s making the weight I’m doing look light and I’m sitting there like Maybe I need to reevaluate myself. He’s coming in just moving weight and I’m sitting there like, ‘Man..’ He’s so far ahead of the curve he doesn’t know it yet, so every day I’m in his ear like ‘Yo, when you’re ready to dominate, you’ll dominate.’"
Once Smith can hurl cars across the field and move for more than a few snaps in a row he'll get there. That might be next year. Reasonable expectations for this year is that he has a 2019 Hinton season with a couple more defenestrations.
PHIL PAEA [recruiting profile] got bumped back to defense last year after Michigan tried him out on the OL. He spent the season on the deep, deep bench. It doesn't appear he got a snap per his MGoBlue profile. Since Michigan was throwing fullbacks and walk-on OL at the DT hole that bodes unwell. Brown did say Paea is "the guy that's made significant improvement," for a flicker of hope.
True freshman KRIS JENKINS [recruiting profile] is Michigan's only attempt at a DT in this class, and he spent much of his high school career listed at under 240 pounds. It's going to be a minute. Maybe less of one than expected since the most recent roster listed him at 265. It would still be foolhardy to expect he can contribute in year one. Both this site, which named him Sleeper of the Year, and Don Brown ("…going to be a really good player") are enthusiastic about his longer term prospects.
October 22nd, 2020 at 11:41 AM ^
I feel like this group is one year from being back to a plus if not great. This year will likely see some exciting potential but definite frustration. Maybe we will get lucky and some of these guys show more of their potential by the OSU game but likely still too many mistakes.
October 22nd, 2020 at 11:59 AM ^
But the issue is we probably lose Kemp, and right now we have 1 freshman and 0 incoming freshman. If we can get Benny and Rooks I'd feel WAY better about it. Get one of them and I fell ok. Get 0 and it's panic time.
October 22nd, 2020 at 1:19 PM ^
Is Kemp draftable without a huge improvement?
If not, unless he's ready to call it quits on football you'd think there would be a decent chance he'd take advantage of another free year in school with the 2020 redshirt rule.
October 22nd, 2020 at 5:01 PM ^
There's some talk on the pay sites that Kemp may be ready to move on after this year, whatever the future may hold. I kind of get it - if football maybe isn't going to be your career, do you really want to stick around for what I believe will be a 6th year of school?
For me personally, four years of college at Michigan was enough and I wouldn't wan to do a 5th, never mind a 6th, year. Eventually things get repetitive and you just get the sense it's time to move on with life. And don't get me wrong, I had a great time at Michigan and absolutely loved the school.
October 22nd, 2020 at 1:28 PM ^
I understand but the likelihood of Benny and Rooks being impact freshmen next year was similar to the possibility of Hinton and Mazi Smith being impact freshmen last year. I do think those two additions could make for an excellent unit in 2022 though and are necessary for the future strength of the position. Freshmen DT's are rarely immediate impact players. I don't think that will change much of the projection for next year besides raising the ceiling a tad if there are any injuries.
Hinton and Smith will be a year closer to fulfilling their potential as high-profile recruits and Welschof could start to hit his high potential as well. I just feel Mazi and Welschof will probably be 1 year from being good rotation players and will raise the ceiling of the depth chart at the position compared to this season. Still too much young (yet talented) depth. This was the reason behind my statement. I never said they would be elite, just more of a positive with higher potential depending on development of some high ceiling guys.
October 22nd, 2020 at 3:04 PM ^
So you think Freshmen will contribute next year then and if they don't it's panic time? Not sure how else to read this comment.
October 22nd, 2020 at 11:56 AM ^
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October 22nd, 2020 at 11:59 AM ^
Gotta say DT still looks like a potential problem spot. It was a problem a year ago, and now no one seems to be standing out again and none of the reviews are particularly glowing and many can be interpreted as sidestepping non-complements (like ""playing better than I ever could have anticipated he could play" ergo I think they'll still kinda stink
October 22nd, 2020 at 12:09 PM ^
Just hoping we have two Kemp level players tbh. Kemp was fine when he wasn't overcompensating for the black hole next to him. We don't even need them to make plays, but just be good enough for LBs and DEs to play their game without having to bail out the DTs.
October 22nd, 2020 at 12:21 PM ^
After reading this and knowing the secondary preview is still to come, I feel like the entire defense might be a problem spot.
October 22nd, 2020 at 12:23 PM ^
Agree. Worst we've had in a long time. Recruiting catching up to us.
October 22nd, 2020 at 1:07 PM ^
Or lack thereof...
October 22nd, 2020 at 12:37 PM ^
You can paper over one hole and still have a good defense against anything but the most elite offenses. But if your problems are can't stop the run up the middle and can't man up on the outside at all there is no way to build a fundamentally sound defense and even marginal offenses are going to be able to exploit you. Unless Hinton is a monster the defense is going to struggle to consistently stop teams like Indiana, let alone OSU or PSU or Wisconsin
October 22nd, 2020 at 1:32 PM ^
That's a startling lack of faith in Zordich and Stoops.
I expect our defense will be similar to what we've seen the past couple years. Good to very good with some "wtf"s mixed in.
October 22nd, 2020 at 1:30 PM ^
I think this secondary issue is the upside-down version of the Milton Hype. People are way too down over one spot. Where the guy might not even be as bad as we think. And Zordich is still coaching back there. It was only two years ago that Zordich was trashing his cornerbacks in the media (Hill-Long-Watson-Thomas) before they turned into a dominant position group (OSU Game excluded).
That's one position group who has earned the benefit of the doubt in my book. The fan base is letting it be shaded with BPONE right now. 2nd CB could be an open competition because two or more guys are actually so good they can't name the starter. They may have wanted to move Dax to CB because a. he's the best cover guy on the team and b. Faustin deserves to be on the field every snap too. They may be moving Faustin to CB because a. Hill wants to play safety and b. Faustin deserves to be on the field every snap too. And Gray was good last year! He continued to spell both Hill and Thomas even after Thomas proved to be returned to full strength.
And the whole defense is not a weakness.
WDE - Elite, 2nd best returning DE in the B1G per PFF
SDE - Elite, best returning DE in the B1G per PFF
3T - Mediocre, but at least a more natural fit for Kemp than NT was
NT - Huge question mark, but able bodies are available. Better situation than last year no matter what.
WILL - Elite
MIKE - Elite
Viper/SAM - Unknown, but promising. Michigan has the best LB room in the conference, and these guys are in that room. It'll be alright.
CB1 - Solid
CB2 - Huge question mark
FS - Great with Elite breakout potential. Dax freaking Hill.
SS - Great: Hawkins was rated the 4th best safety of 2019 per PFF, and named to 1st team all B1G by them too.
Two unknowns, three middling grades, and I expect every other position to be closer to all-american than all-conference.
October 22nd, 2020 at 2:28 PM ^
Well said. If we have 2 weaknesses on our defense, every other team in the Big Ten except OSU would die to be in our position.
Be more worried about QB than defense in general.
October 22nd, 2020 at 5:44 PM ^
Nice response, and Brian's preview of the D-line actually made me more hopeful about it for this year. As you said, there are actually some bodies available for the nose tackle position, which, that alone makes it more tenable than last year, and I'm confident at least one person will emerge as a solid player there. Next year though will be scary if there is any attrition at all. I think Jenkins is a couple of years away from contributing, and there is no one else in the wings if we lose one or two of these guys.
The one area I would quibble with you is that our CB1 is solid. I wasn't overly impressed with Gray last year when he was manned up against the opponents number 2 or 3 receiver, so not sure how he's going to do against number 1s. He looked to lack the quickness and fluidity to stick with top receivers. When that is your top cornerback, and no one can grab the second position, it's a bit scary. Hopefully this is another situation where the secondary worries are overblown, but it feels different as it's the first time in the Harbaugh era where we haven't had a #1 lock down corner returning and everyone is playing one role higher than they should be. Gray as a #2 or 3 cornerback I like, as a #1 I'm very scared.
Other than that, I like your optimism, especially when it's backed up by PFF grades.
October 22nd, 2020 at 12:00 PM ^
Dude!
Dude?
Dude.
October 22nd, 2020 at 12:09 PM ^
This is a position group that really needs to step up especially with the young secondary.
October 22nd, 2020 at 12:09 PM ^
I miss this man so much...
October 22nd, 2020 at 12:11 PM ^
The recruiting in the DT department has made little to no sense from a planning process. You should have multiple guys to choose from to find good ones. It such an important position. How can you attempt to stop the pass if you can’t stop the run? See osu games the last 2 seasons. This years team has more potential than last. It’s absolutely necessary that Hinton and at least 1 of smith or jeter hit. If they don’t, I have no idea how we beat osu or Wisconsin this year. To me our lack of defensive success over the last 2 years has all come down to the middle. Mind boggling how they haven’t changed our recruiting strategy here. Also, one last request- can we please recruit some guys at DT that come in at DT weight. Benny and Rooks fit that bill. Must get.
October 22nd, 2020 at 12:17 PM ^
Seems as though they put all of their eggs into not enough baskets and tried to get elite DTs. Seems like they'd be better off with multiple depth guys that they could rotate. 2016 was by far our best defense since at least 1997 and it was largely because we had so much depth on the defensive line that stayed fresh all game long.
October 22nd, 2020 at 12:20 PM ^
Always best if you can have fresh guys to rotate in at that position for sure. Plus where's the beef? We need some some big dudes to just clog up the middle.
October 22nd, 2020 at 12:24 PM ^
I think a lot of the defensive issues stem from that philosophy. Need to quit trying to recruit at an Alabama/Clemson/Ohio State level and just focus on the guys you can realistically get. Then if a 5-star type actually wants to come here, its a bonus. And if they don't its OK and you're not left holding your dick in your hand.
October 22nd, 2020 at 12:30 PM ^
Leave America’s Mayor out of this
October 22nd, 2020 at 3:22 PM ^
Yeah but if you ever want to get to the level of Bama/OSU/Clemson...you have to start getting the players they get. Rick Neuheisel made a good point in the radio the other week talking about DL saying the reason those schools are far ahead of the others is because there just aren’t that many ppl in the WORLD that big, that strong, and that quick! Unfortunately, lately they’ve cornered the market on those players. In order to stand toe to toe with them you have to grab one of those guys every now and then.
October 22nd, 2020 at 2:06 PM ^
We can all shake our fists and be angry, but by far the biggest reason DT has been a disaster is not recruiting but attrition of the 2017 class. All three of Solomon, Hudson (yes he came in with potential to play either of DL/OL), and DIB were touted recruits. All three left in summer/fall of 2018, which is why the 2018 class wasn't full of DTs. We can shake our fist and say take 3-4 every year but in reality that's going to be a tough sell to the level of prospects we all want at Michigan, particularly after such a deep and perceived to be talented class.
The 2019 group included two more blue-chippers plus a project SDE/DT with bloodlines in Morris. A very reasonable class even if you all think we should've found and signed 5 elite 320 world destroyers. The incoming group is the egregious one, but it's not some kind of lack of trying. The 2021 cycle has us among the favorites for Benny and Rooks. These are critical recruitments! The staff is recruiting them hard! I don't know what else you really want here.
October 22nd, 2020 at 5:54 PM ^
Really good point. I'll admit, I had forgotten about DIB and Hudson as DT options, so the recruiting hasn't been egregious as I thought. A +1 for you for presenting a logical argument that made me change my mind about something.
October 22nd, 2020 at 12:13 PM ^
I wonder what happened with Kemp behind the scenes. I'll always remember him for posting a video of him calling Harbaugh to commit on speaker phone and he did a cartwheel. Then Harbaugh got back on the phone and said something about how excited he was to have such a talented edge rusher. I know things change once guys develop but it makes me wonder whether they moved him away from a position where he could have been elite because they have done such a piss poor job at recruiting and retaining interior linemen.
October 22nd, 2020 at 3:34 PM ^
Kemp's highest ceiling was always at defensive tackle. He wanted to be recruited as an edge so Michigan did so but he was wise to bulk up.
October 22nd, 2020 at 12:19 PM ^
Yeesh.
This preview and the recruiting situation. Michigan has to get right at DT, its a shit show right now
October 22nd, 2020 at 12:27 PM ^
Brian, I wish you would UFR OSU and Alabama. I thought Hinton looked pretty good in both games. Pretty good given the opponents of course.
If I had to pick a breakout player of the year on defense, it'd be him.
October 22nd, 2020 at 12:39 PM ^
This Julius Welschof. Probably the biggest benefactor of the "this season won't count against eligibility" ruling. This season is basically a repeat RS Freshman season for him. He has 4 years left to play! Already at 290 without losing athleticism. Just needed time to lock down technique. Could be the difference between a guy who runs out of eligibility and going undrafted because he never put it all together, and getting a full year of beast mode before he heads off to the NFL.
October 23rd, 2020 at 12:20 AM ^
Agree. I think too many people have not fully realized he came in with no technique, no experience, and no real knowledge of football. To think that he would be able to make a significant contribution on the field this year was not realistic.
October 22nd, 2020 at 12:45 PM ^
Allow me to summarize for the squeamish: It's not completely crazy to expect this position group to be ok maybe, but also it could still be a disaster. Since we know know effective hoping for a positional renaissance has been in the past, warm bodies that holdup mostly against a double would be a significant victory.
You have been warned.
October 22nd, 2020 at 12:47 PM ^
Well time to go re-check that 2022 recruiting board for upwards of 5 DT recruits to see if the staff learned any lessons
October 22nd, 2020 at 1:25 PM ^
It's a head scratcher that we can't consistently stockpile the NG & 3-Tec positions with beef eaters who were born to clog the middle. Hell, State has been doing it for years.
October 22nd, 2020 at 1:58 PM ^
2020 should be more of the same. Kemp is maxed out physically—his weight stayed precisely at 286—and extremely consistent. Last year's preview was more or less identical to this one, with an extended section about how Kemp struggled against doubles and did the control-and-shed thing for his positives:
Why is being 286 such a problem at 6'2"? Looking at how Kemp is built...very big lower body, that shouldn't be a problem. I mean Malik McDowell was 6'6" and about the same weight and much thinner than Kemp when he at MSU and he was a handfull.
October 22nd, 2020 at 3:41 PM ^
One of these guys is not like the other! Kemp is an upstanding citizen and a great leader. McDowell...not so much. But on the football field, McDowell was more gifted physically. Hence his 5-star status and his offer list. Kemp is really a SDE masquerading as a DT. Not his fault but he’s forced into duty by our lack of bodies on the inside.
October 22nd, 2020 at 10:38 PM ^
But on the football field, McDowell was more gifted physically. Hence his 5-star status and his offer list.
I agree and this is my point. The problem is not his weight. The problem is his lack of ability to be good at DT.
October 22nd, 2020 at 3:14 PM ^
I am STOKED for Julius to break on the scene
October 22nd, 2020 at 8:04 PM ^
That makes two of us! Would be a great underdog story! Dude was working in a factory and holding down another job just a couple of years ago to pay for a trip to the States.
October 22nd, 2020 at 3:45 PM ^
I'm more optimistic than Brian for several reasons. Kemp should definitely be better. Not only will he be playing at least some of his snaps at his more natural position but he'll also be able to rotate more, which will keep him more fresh. Any of Speight, Welschof and Smith could take the next step in their development.
But by far the biggest reasons for excitement are Hinton and Jeter. Nothing's a guarantee but Hinton should have a mini breakout this season. Yet to be determined whether his best position is nose or 3 tech as he could be good at either. And I have to think Jeter will be decent this year, barring injuries. The coaching staff would surely start to lose credibility if he was bad again this season given the hype.
October 22nd, 2020 at 4:16 PM ^
" a freakin’ shiny 305, 310 beast."
Nua has a way with words. I like it.
October 23rd, 2020 at 10:19 PM ^
Why is the depth chart different on the d-end preview written just a day earlier?
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