Quick football note
On the injury front, Kareem Walker has joined a few that are dinged up. He appears to have an ankle injury. The severity is unknown. However, that has opened up RB3 competition. Ambry Thomas has shown off his talent in the early going in the secondary.
McElwain and Warriner have made their presence known. McElwain is very intense as he was getting after the WR group (mostly positive) and Warriner has been chewing up the OL. JKP has stood out along with a few others like Milton. Joe doesn't look or act like a true Freshman.
There were 4 guys that ran with 1's consistently so far on defense (Gary, Chase, K. Hudson, and Hill). On the offensive side of the ball there were just too many players getting reps to really get a feel other than Bredeson, Ruiz, Onwenu, and DPJ.
4th best, you say? Well, lets see:
1) Karan Higdon
2) Chris Evans
3) Ty Isaac
4) Kareem Walker
5) O... Oh wait. You're statement is true!
Asking for a friend, okay?
March 27th, 2018 at 10:47 AM ^
Best commitment video I've seen.
Hey Joe
March 27th, 2018 at 10:11 AM ^
and he seems like a really solid kid, too.
March 27th, 2018 at 10:58 AM ^
video! Welcome to Michigan Joe!
March 27th, 2018 at 12:48 PM ^
As a recruit I see more Shane Morris than Gardner in him. Both Shane and Joe as recruits have +mobility but not true dual threats, huge cannon arms with questionable accuracy, comparable but not really great high school stats. Both were considered sky high potential talents.
Noticed that Devin Bush and David Long weren't listed as running consistently with the ones. Is there anything behind that, or am I overthinking it?
that seems odd
My guess would be that Bush isn't getting all the reps with the 1s due to the sheer volume of viable linbackers competing for that final spot. The coaches are probably repping all of them right now to find the best one. Long is a little more perplexing but understandable since they probably want to keep getting Watson and Thomas meaningful reps espcailly if Thomas is an emerging star.
I choose to think that it says more about Hill in a positive sense that he has locked down his CB spot at present.
March 27th, 2018 at 10:12 AM ^
trimmed bushes.
March 27th, 2018 at 10:57 AM ^
Depth. Both spots have lots of depth (and NEED lots of depth) and they're running multiple guys with the ones. Given the talent we have at CB and the talent I hope we have at LB that doesn't surprise me at all. They need those guys ready. Devin Gil, for example, had to get on the field right away against Florida last year.
I think Harbaugh in his presser said that he's extremely impressed with Milton as a freshman who's come in ready to compete, all business, very studious and extremely dedicated.
March 27th, 2018 at 12:36 PM ^
March 27th, 2018 at 12:53 PM ^
but he is very raw. He will RS this year and see how much he learns. If he improves mechanics and ability to read defenses and understands the playbook, he could factor in for 2019, but most likely becomes a serious to start by 2020.
We would need to be up by about 40 points
I think guys like Deveon Smith and Sione Houma have proven there will be carries available and in this offense for a tough, physical back who blocks and doesn't fumble--even if that guy isn't a major big-play threat. If Taylor can be that guy then he can get into the mix. I realize he didn't come in with all the starz like some of the other backs but let's give him a chance to show what he can do before we count him out.
Christ Almighty, do not compare Taylor to Mike Hart, it's not remotely similar. It's not about stars - I'm quite far from a "star gazer". I watch film and judge on what I see from the kid on the field, not from his recruiting profile, just like the coaches do. Taylor does not have Power 5 runningback talent.
March 27th, 2018 at 11:17 AM ^
Unfortunately, Mike Hart's success as a 3-star will forever and ever be cited by Michigan fans as proof that no 3-stars ever fail.
March 27th, 2018 at 12:42 PM ^
They like a three man rotation - this year will probably be about a 2.5 man rotation. When Haskins and Turner get on campus Taylor will be the 6th most talented scholarship back. I watched him in high school, I've watched everyone else. Taylor's ceiling and physical ability is significantly lower than every scholarship back on the roster, it's lower than Smith and Houma's too. Also, 27 of Houma's 43 carries (which is about half of what Isaac got last year) in 2015 came in the final 5 games of the year after Ty Isaac got in trouble i.e. there weren't more carries than normal for a FB until a talented RB was removed from the equation.
Also the two guys you mention were well over 220 pounds. Taylor is...not. Listen, the kid has a great attitude and loves Michigan. I think that and work ethic and all that has value on a team even if he never gets a snap in a game - and I hope he does get snaps in games one day. However, we don't have to pretend that he's talented enough to get on the field in minutes that matter.
March 27th, 2018 at 10:09 AM ^
Alright. I am not going to die on the Kurt Taylor hill. If you've watched the guy enough and think he doesn't belong on the field, then fine. I've never seen him play and if I watched his film, it was back when he committed and I've long since forgotten about it.
That being said, RB is a weird position. It's a spot where you see guys come in with five-star rankings and all the speed, size, agility, etc. in the world--and then do nothing. You also see unheralded guys like Karan Higdon come in, work hard, and emerge as quality backs two or three years later. There is definitely some amount of uncertainty around pretty much every position on a football team, but it seems to me that RB is arguably the highest--at least up there with OL and pro-style QB. So I am always loathe to write a RB prospect off until he's had a chance to show what he can do in a game setting.
March 27th, 2018 at 10:26 AM ^
I actually think RB is one of the easier positions to scout (and you can certainly find a lot of capable RBs outside of the top 300 recruits), certainly much easier to project than OL or QB. How does he run? How is his vision? How is his balance? Does he fumble? Can he catch too? There's certainly some amount of unknown with every teenager - you just don't know how 17 year olds from all different backgrounds will transition to being on their own, college life, college coaches, your specific town, etc. That being said, if you watch film you can generally see if a running back has it or not. I watched Higdon's film and said "yes, that's a guy - he's got balance, he's decisive, and he's got a little speed". I watched Derrick Green's film and said "this guy is playing against baaaad competition, he's not that impressive, his body composition needs work and is not a 5 star" whereas Deveon Smith's film you could tell that he was a tough SOB playing against better competition and a more college-ready back. You can generally tell with RBs. There are always misses but they can mostly be chalked up to tangential things like injuries, grades, character, diet, etc.
Yeah, I just feel like it's a lot more difficult to tell with these guys.
Certainly you have the Leonard Fournette types, where you watch two minutes of film and say, "yup, that guy's awesome." But there aren't many of those in a recruiting cycle. When you get down into the lower ranks I think it becomes very difficult to tell who "has it" and who doesn't.
Somehow the Michigan staff watched Taylor's film and decided he was worth a scholarship. So they must have thought Taylor "has it." Were the wrong? Maybe. But this is the same staff as the one that found guys like Higdon and Evans, so it's not as though they had no clue what to look for.
They offered Taylor at a camp when he was 16, which is when he maxed out physically. I think that's a huge part of it, and I think that if Taylor ever wavered in his commitment one iota the staff would have processed him. I think the kid basically clung to his early offer with his life and willed himself into our class.
March 27th, 2018 at 10:52 AM ^
I think it's just too early to write him off completely. He still has lots of college ahead of him. I can see him getting some goal line carries as an upperclassmen, especially if coach feels he has earned it. There was a story last year in practice that Coach Harbaugh told about how Taylor had a goal line carry and was impressive in how he kept fighting to reach the end zone. The dude was jacked in high school. College strength program could turn him into a monster bowling ball that's perfect for goal line carries.
March 27th, 2018 at 11:15 AM ^
His dad played PG at Hawaii.
Great family!
Would be surprised if Haskins is not ahead of Taylor by the middle or end of the year.
March 27th, 2018 at 10:18 AM ^
Hmmm...so around the middle of the 3rd quarter then?
March 27th, 2018 at 10:14 AM ^
and they're really good people. I really want him to succeed.