After a week-long layoff, Fall Football Bits is back. There are now 10 days until the first Michigan Football game, and several opponents on Michigan's schedule are playing football games this very weekend. I'm breaking this edition of Football Bits into two parts, offense (now) and defense/special teams (later). 

Quarterback 

What we want to hear: Cade McNamara has taken a major step forward and is locked in a tight battle with the rapidly improving JJ McCarthy. The two are neck-and-neck because both are stars and even Davis Warren would have been a starter on past Michigan teams. 

What we're hearing: This positional group has been upended by conflicting reports this week, with one camp saying that Cade has started to assert himself and win the job, while another argued that things are closer than ever after a scrimmage this weekend that JJ McCarthy shone in. Many of the same things are being said about both QBs, but how close the battle is depends on who is doing the reporting. 

Let's start with McNamara. In his corner, we have an insider on the record flat out saying that Cade is the starter ($). Every update on the QB battle, no matter who the author is, has the same points about McNamara: 1.) he has made real improvements to his game, 2.) he protects the ball and has a good feel for the offense, and 3.) he "leads scoring drives" ($). Dependability and consistency also get brought up in reference to Cade. 

As for JJ McCarthy, we hear a lot about the boom or bust moments. We hear that he's improved from last season and is on track to be an All-American during his Michigan career ($) but that right now he still has too many moments where he tries to do too much ($). Where Cade is talked about in reference to his consistency, JJ is described with the term "upside". This is all more of the same, but what is new in JJ's corner is a take from Sam Webb, claiming that McCarthy had an excellent scrimmage over the weekend, one that has left the QB room far from settled ($). Sam describes how McCarthy started fall camp with rust from his injured spring and has needed time to catch up. 

Everyone, no matter how they set the odds of the QB battle, seems to believe that both guys are going to share snaps close to 50-50 throughout the month of September, and perhaps longer than that. Which is arguably the most important piece of information for the immediate future; the rest will figure itself out eventually. One quick note before we wrap it up here: Davis Warren did get a shoutout after the scrimmage 10 days ago ($), and got another one from Webb about the most recent scrimmage. 

What it means: I think that right now, Cade McNamara is going to "start" against Colorado State but that starting is a largely ceremonial term. The month of September is going to include several ugly blowouts that will provide few real scenarios about which a go-to guy will need to be established. It wouldn't shock me if one guy "starts" against CSU and the other guy "starts" against Hawaii. Drives may well alternate the two, or one gets a half and the other gets the second half. For all intents and purposes, the first three games are just additional scrimmages to test the guys out.

At the end of the games, you will get to see the likes of Davis Warren (who, from the reports, is QB3) and Denegal and Orji, but for the most part, these games will be valuable to get a feel for both QBs in regulation game action. We can begin talking about who is going to be "The Guy" against Iowa once we see the month of September. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: Positions you care less about]

[Patrick Barron]

Running Back 

What we want to hear: Blake Corum is coming for the Heisman, Donovan Edwards is a thicker Chris Evans and will be used all over the field, and a 3rd down back option has emerged who is going to put short yardage on ice. 

What we're hearing: Not a ton going on with the starters, much like last time. There is a Blake Corum related update at special teams (next piece will cover that) but little on him at RB. Not much to say when we all know how good he is. As for Donovan Edwards, it's a similar story. We did hear from one private insider that Edwards has bulked up and is a bigger, more complete back. Meanwhile, Josh Henschke mentioned that the staff is working on designing plays where Edwards and AJ Henning are interchangeable, with both having the ability to line up in the backfield or in the slot to keep the defenses honest ($). One final note on the starters: there are some whispers about the drop off from Haskins to Corum/Edwards in terms of pass protection, which, when you watch tape of Haskins as a blocker, feels like a reasonable concern. 

For the #3, moose-back competition, Harbaugh addressed this in his most recent presser: 

Tavierre Dunlap, C.J. Stokes is going to be right there. He could be that kind of guy. Isaiah Gash, Leon Franklin, pretty darn good, too. 

In case you're wondering who the hell Isaiah Gash is, he's a former walk-on RB out of Green Bay they took in the 2020 class and carried the ball six times last year in garbage time, four times against NIU and twice against Maryland. That felt like a courtesy mention, and Harbaugh did mention Gash earlier in the same press conference as a guy who had a good practice recently, so likely Gash was just a name on the tip of the tongue that day. 

Otherwise, I found that answer interesting because it did not mention Kalel Mullings. Josh Henschke indicated that Mullings is still very much in the short yardage back competition but said that it was not settled ($). Elsewhere, Mullings has been discussed on the LB depth chart, so it seems like he is still a two-way player and that JH's omission doesn't mean much of anything. Balas did hint at a potential minor injury issue with Mullings recently ($). 

A report from the Big House scrimmage said that Tavierre Dunlap was running with the 1s in short yardage situations, though that same report said CJ Stokes had a very good day and will be a player down the line ($). At the same time we have heard gossip that the staff may not be satisfied with Dunlap and could be experimenting with Alex Orji as a RB ($). In other words, there's no resolution here yet. Everybody is being mentioned but no one is consistently The Guy in those situations. 

What it means: Corum and Edwards are going to get the lion's share of the carries, but there is still considerable uncertainty as to who the #3 is. I would imagine this competition will drag on through September as they try out different options. Shooting from the hip, I get the sense that they like Mullings at RB, but are worried about LB depth too much to fully commit to him at that position yet. The fact that Dunlap hasn't directly seized the job doesn't feel great, the Stokes buzz is probably good for his future, and I'm not sure what to say about the Orji gossip. I need it to be confirmed by more sources I think before I put too much stock in. 

[Patrick Barron]

Wide Receiver

What we want to hear: Ronnie Bell is a legit WR1 who is gunning for All-B1G, Cornelius Johnson has improved his contested catch ability, Roman Wilson is a better route runner, Andrel Anthony is about to pop, and Darrius Clemons is a star in the making. 

What we're hearing: Last time I updated the WRs, I focused on Ronnie Bell's return to health and reports that he is back to 100%. Since then we have heard that not just is Ronnie Bell back to 100%, but he is the best WR on the team. Harbaugh, when asked to name a camp MVP at the aforementioned presser, said this: 

Ronnie Bell has been tremendous. I mean, there’s been a bunch. I won’t start naming names and then I’ll leave somebody out. So by just there’s been quite a few. 

Ronnie does jump out as somebody that — he’s faster, catching the ball extremely well and he’s stronger. He’s been there every day and doing a tremendous job.

The camp chatter from the insiders has been the same, with a recent Balas update heaping praise upon Bell ($). People seem to believe that Bell is going to be dynamite this season and you can't stop the hype train... you can only hope to slow it. 

Speaking of hype trains, the other turbo-charged hype train chugging through the receiver room is about Darrius Clemons. Shortly after I published the last offensive update, the list of true freshman who will play all year long was given to us (I mentioned it in the last defensive football bits) and Clemons was on that list. Other insiders backed that up publicly ($). We continue to hear phrases like "hype is real" and "legit" about Clemons, and a Henschke report said that the team is in love with Clemons' physical ability and dropped some surprising takes about where Clemons ranks in the WR-room based on pure talent ($). 

Outside of that, there haven't been many updates about the other receivers, but Ron Bellamy did speak to the press last week and gave us some nuggets. He threw out the Braylon = Andrel Anthony comparison everyone loves, compared Bell to Steve Breaston and Clemons to Jason Avant, and then offered an interesting piece of analysis about how Cornelius Johnson will benefit from this year's deep WR room: 

Just going back, some of those teams identified (Cornelius Johnson) as the No. 1 guy so what do you do with the No. 1 guy? You try to take them out of the game plan by doubling him. So, I think from a schematic standpoint, C.J. saw some of those things, people running the coverage his way or he’s going against the top corner on each team. But having a guy like Ronnie back kind of — that eliminates that. 

Basically, he sees a more productive year for Johnson because Bell will draw more attention and free Johnson up from top assignments. 

What it means: Ronnie Bell is the headliner of this group and seems to be WR1. He can line up all over the field but seems most likely to be in the slot, while I'd bank on a rotation of Johnson, Roman Wilson, and Anthony outside. I'm still inclined to think that Clemons is going to be getting a bit role, maybe a catch here and a catch there, but the hype says very good things about his future. I said this on the offense podcast, but the hype for Clemons reminds me of Cornelius Johnson hype in 2019, where a true freshman WR is getting hyped despite the team returning a very deep WR room and thus has no reason to hype the guy. Brian pointed out that a general MGoBlog heuristic is that if a guy is getting hyped when there's no reason to hype him, that means very good things. I'm purchasing huge sums of Darrius Clemons stock right now. 

[Patrick Barron]

Tight End 

What we want to hear: Erick All and Luke Schoonmaker should be two of the best TEs in the country, the reserves would start on any other team, and Max Bredeson is indeed a fullback. 

What we're hearing: Not a ton has changed from last time, with the program still feeling extraordinarily confident about their situation at TE and hyping Colston Loveland through the roof. Loveland has been named by several insiders as a guy who is going to play all year long, which would place his redshirt in jeopardy ($). Another report more or less said that the staff loves him so much they're trying to come up with a role for Loveland to play just so he can get on the field ($). 

As for the two starting TEs, Erick All and Luke Schoonmaker, there isn't much to be said. The program believes they have two of the best TEs in the B1G, and well, they probably do. Grant Newsome said as much when he was made available to the media recently, having been asked about All and Schoonmaker battling it out for the Mackey: 

I see it the same way. I think they have every ability and every license to make it one and two, and obviously that’s a — outside of our team goals and offensive goals, that’s one of our goals as a unit, that those two are battling it out to be the Mackey Award winner.

Newsome also said that Joel Honigford has improved as a receiver, that All's 10 lb. weight gain has made him stronger as a blocker, and reiterated that Max Bredeson has had a good camp. 

The final note I do want to include is the belief from insiders that Schoonmaker has now pulled even with All. One insider said the two were now interchangeable ($), and another report implicated that Schoonmaker has been the better TE in camp ($). 

What it means: All and Schoonmaker are your two big guns and I pretty fully buy the idea that A) they are two of the three or four best TEs in the conference and B) that they are now close to equal. Schoonmaker was a project out of HS, so the notion that he could've taken another leap between his fourth and fifth year is not crazy at all. Schoonmaker closed the year on a rampage against Iowa, where he was the better TE between him and All. Those two are both going to be good and will take almost all the snaps. 

The remainders will be split between blocking (Bredeson/Honigford) and garbage time TE work (Loveland/Hansen/Hibner). The heuristic mentioned for Clemons also applies here to Loveland, as there is precisely zero reason for the program to be hyping Loveland right now, yet they are. 

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

Offensive Line

What we want to hear: The Joe Moore Award-winning line is ready to win that award again and will do it by being even better. All weight gain/loss is good, and these men are stronger, quicker, and hungrier. Oluwatimi is fitting in fine and the cupboards are stocked for the future. 

What we're hearing: If you want to hear good things about Michigan's new center Olu Oluwatimi, this section is for you. The reports remain uniformly positive on the transfer center, not just that he is a good football player but that he is very well respected among his teammates and is already a leader on the team ($). The program seems to believe that Oluwatimi could be an NFL Draft candidate in the same territory that Cesar Ruiz was once the season is over(!). The Sam Webb piece linked two sentences prior has a collection of words being used to describe Oluwatimi inside the program. I won't give you all for paywall reasons, but one is "he’s a grown ass man that handles his business like a grown ass man", which is too good to pass up. 

Elsewhere on the line, the buzz remains very positive, with the feeling inside the program being that this line is just as elite (if not better) as last year. We reported on Trevor Keegan's weight loss last time, while one recent report said that Ryan Hayes has gotten stronger and that the chemistry between the two on the left side is better ($). Zak Zinter hype is mostly the same, meanwhile we have finally Trente Jones discussion. Most of the reports on Jones are that he is "athletic" ($), and that he still has the hold on the RT job. 

On that note, Karsen Barnhart was mentioned in a Balas update yesterday, one that affirmed Jones' position as starter at RT, but noted that the staff views Barnhart as a starter too, with more details behind that paywall ($). It's unclear if this is something they're saying just to keep Barnhart happy, but at the very least, this points to him being the sixth man across the line. 

Feeling on the depth remains pretty positive. Greg Crippen has been anointed starting center of the future, something that presumably is why he was said to not be upset by Oluwatimi's decision to transfer in ($). Reece Atteberry is getting some good reviews on the interior as well, but there may be more questions at tackle, as Tristan Bounds and Jeffrey Persi are not quite getting the same level of hype yet ($). Still, the prevailing mood over the totality of insider gossip is that this is an excellent OL and it has real depth.  

What it means: Starting depth chart is unchanged from the last update, Hayes-Keegan-Oluwatimi-Zinter-Jones, with Barnhart first up at all spots except for C, where Crippen is the #2. Atteberry next up at guard, and then a bit of a ? at tackle after Barnhart, but at that point we're talking about the 9th and 10th OL on the depth chart, which probably won't matter unless [bad things that aren't worth discussing] happen.