Tony Posada Gone Almost Before He Arrives Comment Count

Brian

tony-posadaexit

nice while it lasted

Exit one of two large grinding guards:

A Michigan athletic department spokesman confirmed Monday that true freshman Tony Posada has left the Wolverines' football program.

The spokesman did not elaborate on the departure.

You have to wonder if the reason was because of conditioning. Posada showed up at over 340; unlike Chris Bryant that was about 30 pounds more than his reported playing weight.

Posada's departure isn't immediately painful since Michigan's starting guards both have two more years of eligibility. It does force a redshirt freshman (or worse) into the starting lineup in 2013. After Barnum and Omameh graduate the guard depth chart will look like this:

  1. Redshirt sophomore Chris Bryant
  2. Various members of the 2012 recruiting class

Michigan now has no option but to take a sixth OL this year, something they were planning on anyway. They might even go to seven if this was unexpected—and it probably was since the kid just hit campus. This may push Michigan's number to 27 this year, which would allow them to take a seventh OL or Danny O'Brien (yes, please).

Comments

MIdocHI

August 22nd, 2011 at 8:05 PM ^

Conditioning seems to be a factor, but there was no plan to play him this year anyway.  He could have worked himself into shape during this redshirt year and then be ready to contribute next year.  Maybe he was homesick.  Florida is a long way from Ann Arbor. 

His Dudeness

August 22nd, 2011 at 8:05 PM ^

How does that work? Did they just say "You fat!" and tell him to pack his things?

Or did he kind of realize he was way waaay too out of shape to make it through practices?

WolvinLA2

August 22nd, 2011 at 8:07 PM ^

Luckily, the guards in the 2012 class are Kalis, Bars, Stacey and possibly a guy like Garnett, so whoever emerges as the top guy in the class will likely be a pretty good starter, even as a RS frosh.  Probably comparable Lewan as a RS frosh, better than Omameh at the same point.

UMaD

August 22nd, 2011 at 8:34 PM ^

OL recruiting rankings are pretty unreliable, even moreso than other positions.  Furthermore, the success rate for OL recruits panning out into even serviceable players is something like 50/50.  On top of that, you need to find not just one starter, but maybe 2, or even 3 if Miller doesn't pan out at center.  That's all not to mention some depth behind the starters.  And and AND, Lewan has a decent opportunity at heading for the NFL draft after 2012.

Not to sound panicked, but....PANIC!!!

The interior OL situation was already dicey, but now Michigan basically NEEDs Bryant and Miller to pan out or there's going to be some serious impediments to having a successful offense in 2013. Oh, and Lewan isn't allowed to turn pro early.

I'll admit that Kalis looks like a promising prospect who could be ready to play early, but you hate to NEED someone like that before any unexpected injuries or other attrition hit.

I agree with Brian, they need to find 2 more guys by signing day.

WolvinLA2

August 22nd, 2011 at 8:43 PM ^

While I agree with everything you're saying, it makes things easier when you need 1 of four highly rated OGs to be solid, in addition to Bryant.  You're also right that a lot of these guys need to not be busts, but that's just where we're at.  Luckily we took a couple guys like Glasgow and Yerden who might be able to jump into the line-up two years from now.  Remember, since highly rated OLs are the most likely to fall short of expectations, the lowly rated ones (or walk-ons) are the most likely to exceed them. 

I'm not as worried at OT, since I doubt Lewan goes pro early, but Magnuson and Braden will both be here by then as well.  We'll be OK, cease panic.

SanDiegoWolverine

August 22nd, 2011 at 9:00 PM ^

They have quite a bit of hype for preferred walk-ons and I would expect one if not both to be in the two deep at some point.  I think it's also why some many people are upset about Nathan Brink possibly starting; almost no one had heard up Brink before this year.

Also the part about OL's either outperforming or underperfoming expectations is dead on. You see this at the NFL level (with undrafted guys) as well.

Incredible Hoke

August 23rd, 2011 at 12:15 AM ^

FWIW, I've seen Brink play at the highschool level. Granted, his competition was not that great, he was an absolute monster who plays super low, and his technique and mean streak made him a nightmare to block. I'm not as nervous to see him play as everybody else is. 

I'd rather see BWC inside, and RVB at SDE, but  we have to have the best players on the field, not recruiting rankings. 

UMaD

August 23rd, 2011 at 1:30 AM ^

You're saying we only need 1 of 4 to pan out, but that assumes that Bryant and Miller pan out and Lewan sticks around.  That's a best case scenario and some big assumption to make. I don't know how anyone can stand behind that given what we've seen in the last couple years.  I'd say it's reasonably likely that one of them is gone or not part of the roation in 2013.

That being the case,  you need 2 of the 4 to pan out, minimum.  That could happen, but even if it does you're still only covering the bare minimum (3 starters). You still need backups. I'm glad we took the high end walk-on's too, but they're still walk-ons.

I'm not debating the quality of the OL recruits nor am I making any conjecture about whether, say, Kalis will be better than Stacey.  I'm just saying that from a numbers perspecitve we're on extremely thin ice due to the roster imbalance between classes.  Any further attrition will deal a devestating blow.

Best case scenario:  Lewan/Bryant/Miller/RS FR/Schofield w/ RS Freshman and walk-ons as backups.

Worst case scenario:  Walk-On/RS FR/True FR/Walk-On/RS FR with true Freshman as backups.

Reality is somewhere in between.  Hopefully they can find a couple more commits to get farther away from the worst case scenario.

 

 

 

WolvinLA2

August 22nd, 2011 at 8:49 PM ^

That's a little much.  We might have a true frosh burn a redshirt, but that's it.  We'll still have a full starting 5 plus Miller, Bryant, Mealer and walk-ons.  There would need to be a lot of injuries before a freshman saw the field, let alone multiple freshmen.  A bomb would have to go off inside a blocking dummy to warrant 4 freshmen playing. 

Bodogblog

August 22nd, 2011 at 9:02 PM ^

They won't be starting, but they'll definitely get time on the field. The depth problem all along the line is much worse than you believe.

It's preferable to have highly rated kids like Magnuson and Kallis getting those game reps than anonymous walk-ons, given they're likely to be better players (even as true freshman)

WolvinLA2

August 22nd, 2011 at 9:10 PM ^

But OL isn't an area where teams rotate much at all unless a guy goes out with an injury.  And unless it was a long term thing, I would think the coaches would throw in one of older OL guys for spot duty. 

In 2012, if Khoury goes down, either Miller goes in for him or Barnum slides over and Bryant or Mealer comes in.  If either guard goes down, Bryant or Mealer comes in.  If either tackle goes down, either Barnum or Omameh slide over and Bryant or Mealer comes in or one of three or four walk-ons comes in.  We would need 3+ injuries before one true frosh plays, and unless it's a season ending thing, one of the guys I mentioned would go in for spot duty.

Bodogblog

August 22nd, 2011 at 9:38 PM ^

but foremost I disagree with the spot duty fill. If we're in the middle of the B1G race and Iowa is up next, the best guy is going in. Odds are a Garnett or Kallis are better players even as true freshman than walk-on fillers, or even the two redshirt freshman options. Redshirts just aren't a luxury the team can afford, even at the position where it's needed most.

I'd thought Barnum could slide to OT as well, but given recent photos he looks to be about 6'2". Omameh can slide, but based on UFR's last year, digging a guy out and drive blocking head-up wasn't his strength. Mealer has hardly played in several years on campus and is rarely mentioned. Glasgow and Yerden are godsends on the chance they pay off, but playing tackle is mostly about the feet.

If you say 1, I say 4; we may both be wrong, but I'd lay money it's closer to the latter. Injuries can pile up quickly on the line, and the guys we're bringing in look to be good enough to get spot duty and claim a spot in the 2-deep.

M-Wolverine

August 23rd, 2011 at 1:48 PM ^

Kidding aside, I think you underestimate the jump from high school to college for lineman, especially O-Linemen.  Strength, size, technique. It's pretty rare that true freshmen play. (Unless unearthly desperate or they're truly exceptional).

SanDiegoWolverine

August 22nd, 2011 at 8:48 PM ^

that might turn into something so there's that. . .  Your panicking over the OL the last year has turned out to be somewhat on target.  If we had kept Posada and Fisher I would have no concern at all about 2013 as 1-2 redshirt freshman out of 6 highly rated prospects stepping up and starting wouldn't be much of concern to me.  If somehow Lewan stays we're looking at only filling one OG starting spot in 2013 with all redshirt freshman, redshirt sophomore walk-ons, and/or true freshman filling in the back up spots. We could still have a pretty awesome OL in 2013 although very thin. But if 2 of 3 guys don't step up Gardner will be doing a lot more running that we'd like to see back there in a few years.

UMaD

August 23rd, 2011 at 1:36 AM ^

but the 'highly rated' linemen in the class are pretty typical if you look at OL recruiting over the years.

I agree with you tough.  If we needed just 1 guy, maybe 2, out of a 6 person class to contribute early, I wouldn't be too worried.

If everything goes right we could have a very good OL in 2013.  But if a few things go wrong, it could be an awful OL comparable to 2008 or even worse.

 

Maizedout1982

August 22nd, 2011 at 8:11 PM ^

Can we still take two more O-Lineman? They said that they wanted to be a package deal and would love to see both of them in th Maize and Blue.

Or maybe Graham Glasgow gets on scholarship.....

GO BLUE!! 

mmiicchhiiggaann

August 22nd, 2011 at 8:17 PM ^

I hope Tony ends up at a place he wants to be. Although dissapointing to have more attrition it will be nice to end up with ANOTHER elite member of this already amazing 2012 class.

WolvinLA2

August 22nd, 2011 at 8:26 PM ^

I believe it's 28, as long as three or more of them early enroll and you have room for three in the previous class (we took 20 last year, so we're good).

In other words, from how I understand it, if we get three or more guys to early enroll we can take a class of 28 if we have room for them in the 85 man limit.