Decimated Defense: Post-Purdue Update
After achieving my life-long goal of getting linked to by Dr. Saturday, I did a little updating this morning of the first in the acclaimed "The Decimated Defense" posts.
This mgoboard (mysteriously bumped to a diary) post is so loyal MGoBlog readers can get all the new goodies without re-reading the thing. The first noticeable difference: a Defensive Depth Chart, which looks like this:
DE |
NT |
DT |
---|---|---|
NFL All-World Guy |
Young Beast |
Solid Guy |
True Freshman Blue Chip or Serviceable backup guy |
Old-guy bust who's kind of serviceable now |
LCB |
SS |
FS |
RCB |
---|---|---|---|
NFL-ready junior guy |
|
Current Infinite Safety Disaster, who is worse than the walk-on |
Legacy who is halfway decent and was our FS until a few weeks ago |
Dust mite true freshman who was a running back until a few weeks ago |
|
True freshman recovering from knee surgery who can't be that great if he hasn't seen the field |
Red shirt freshman with clear talent deficiency to be serviceable |
( Where = Walk-on)
There's also a part at the end that uses the 2008 linebacker and DB disasters as a microcosm of the greater problem, which reads as follows:
The 2008 linebacker and DB hauls are a perfect microcosm of Michigan's bigger problems.
Linebacker: At a position that had zero depth left over from previous classes, we brought in four 4-star players: Marcus Witherspoon, Taylor Hill, J.B. Fitzgerald, and Kenny Demens.
Of those, Witherspoon and Hill were lost immediately to attrition. One (Fitzgerald) is on track to be a long-term contributor. One (Demens) seems to be a bust. In this case, Michigan fulfilled its recruitment needs, but was hit by double the expected attrition. Result: one serviceable player when we needed at least two.
Defensive back: At a position that had zero depth left over from pervious classes, we brought in two 4-stars (Brandon Smith and Boubacar Cissoko) and one flier (J.T. Floyd). As with Mouton, Smith was immediately deemed a linebacker, and this was a known likelihood during the recruitment period, so really we brought in just a 4-star and a flier. The 4-star looked to be a bit behind track for his rating, until he got himself kicked off the team. The flier, as was the expected result, was not useful. Result: zero serviceable players when we needed at least two or three.
Linebacker is a clear-cut case of decimation due to attrition. Defensive back is a clear-cut case of decimation due to under-recruiting. Both of these factors have ravaged each class from 2005 to 2008. Along the way, there were some serviceable players picked up, but we are still generally two serviceable players short of the Michigan norm at several linebacker positions and all four defesnive backfield positions, i.e. we are at least 12 good, useful, on-the-roster players away from a normal Michigan defense. That is HUGE!!!
I also updated the charts a bit to reflect the Purdue depth chart changes. That is all.
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