Making the Case That 2022 Team > 2021 Team
This might seem like sacrilege to some given the special season we just had. And given the nature of random luck in any given season, odds might be against 2022 matching or topping 2021. But allow me to make the case that, barring bad injury luck, next season might be even better than the one we just had.
-Our offensive line should be better. I know this year's unit won the Moore award but we all saw what happened last night. This was a very good line but there is room for improvement. We have every reason to expect that 4 out of the 5 positions will be improved next season. And while Trente Jones won't be the run blocker Andrew Steuber was and may not match his pass blocking ability, his athleticism does give him a higher ceiling against elite pass rushers.
-We might go from solid, steady play at quarterback to potential dark horse Heisman contender. J.J. McCarthy has MASSIVE upside!
-Losing Hassan Haskins is obviously a big loss. Nevertheless, I would argue that Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards will be a more potent duo against the elite competition on our schedule given their versatility and home run ability. They should be the best RB duo in the country.
-Our wide receivers and tight ends will obviously be better. And there's a chance one or two players make the leap to superstar.
-Defensively, we should be better at 8 of the 11 defensive positions. More importantly, we should be better at the two positions that matter most: defensive tackle and cornerback. We'll have to see how D.J. Turner and Will Johnson come along (Gray has probably hit his ceiling). Hopefully we get the type of play from them that will allow us to match up against elite WR's in man-to-man coverage (at least some of the time anyway). And I expect us to field NFL caliber defensive tackles. Chris Hinton and Mazi Smith are 3rd year players who didn't exactly get much of a 2nd year to develop. Both could take a nice leap, along with Kris Jenkins, Rayshaun Benny, and friends.
-Josh Ross is definitely a loss but we'll have a more experienced Junior Colston and a fully weaponized Michael Barrett, Nikhai Hill-Green, and/or Kalel Mullings. These guys are better fits against teams like Georgia. Same with Rod Moore and R.J. Moten at safety.
-We'll experience a massive drop at the two edge spots and nickelback. As such, our defensive won't be improved and will probably take a small step back. But it also could be a better unit to go up against the elite teams we are going to face given the increased athleticism and talent in the back seven and the improved play from our tackles.
Thoughts?
January 1st, 2022 at 1:31 PM ^
Offense will be more talented. Defense will be the issue. We need to upgrade talent on every level of the Defense.
January 1st, 2022 at 3:52 PM ^
Didn't we say almost this exact thing heading into this season?
January 1st, 2022 at 4:10 PM ^
I know it's always grain of salt, but I wasn't even willing to read the coachspeak hyped up quotes about players last off-season. I eyerolled every mention and scrolled on - let's see it on the field.
You bet I'm going to read every word of it this coming off-season. Thank you 2021 Michigan Football - I'm ready to be hurt again.
January 2nd, 2022 at 9:43 AM ^
We will be upgrading the most important aspect of our Defense, experience in a new system. Our breakdowns this year we dominated by key players losing their assignments. We will miss the supreme efforts of our 3 NFL migrants, but I like defense that plays coherently to a sound plan. The single most amazing part of this year was Macdonald's ability to install a completely different system and get the results he got. It should work better next year.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:33 PM ^
What you are not accounting for is leadership. Who are the guys who are going to step in and lead? What Ross, Hutchinson, and Hill provided is not easily replaced.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:46 PM ^
Ronnie Bell without a doubt is going to be the guy. Corum and All also I would expect on O. Defensively, the most experienced player is Gray, so we’re gonna need some to also step up in leadership
January 1st, 2022 at 3:05 PM ^
Wow, first time Ive seen this. That gives me chills. They will bounce back
January 1st, 2022 at 3:08 PM ^
"Leadership" is just another way of saying, "Hungry."
January 1st, 2022 at 3:22 PM ^
All five of those guys need to play huge roles on next year’s team. The only reason as a competitor to stand there and watch the other team celebrate is to burn that image into your brain and use it as motivation. The 2021 team accomplished things all of us thought were impossible. Let’s hope the guys standing there lead the charge for 2022 and that the coaches come back hungry as well. Harbaugh has repeatedly called it a beginning…let’s see it Jimmy! You’ve got everybody’s full support.
January 1st, 2022 at 3:25 PM ^
Who is that in all-white with the cast on? Ronnie?
January 1st, 2022 at 3:29 PM ^
Was hoping someone could help me out with that. I heard during one of our games this year that Ronnie has been running. I know nothing of ligament tears and rehab but if he's running wouldn't the brace be off? At least a brace that big anyway.
Edit* Also saw the video of Blake after this walking into the tunnel promising the fans they would be back. And then there's various tweets I've seen from players that have a very hungry tone. My favorite was Taylor Upshaw saying "we will be back with a vengeance unknown to mankind".
January 1st, 2022 at 3:52 PM ^
It's Ja'Den McBurrows I believe.
January 1st, 2022 at 3:54 PM ^
I remember Chris Perry doing this after we lost to OSU I'm 2002. He watched them celebrating an undefeated season, soaked it in, and he said that will be us next year. Of course we didn't go undefeated thanks to road struggles but we beat OSU and won the Big Ten.
January 1st, 2022 at 5:07 PM ^
The same guys running plays at 3am after arriving home after a game, are standing there watching the better team's spoils. THIS is why I do not worry about this team next year. This is what hungry, driven individuals do. And when they do it together, they propel those around them to follow the mission.
January 1st, 2022 at 5:36 PM ^
Thank you for sharing this.
January 1st, 2022 at 6:32 PM ^
No problem, anytime anyone asks about leaders I will always post this picture. Thing is I've seen this from a team of mine once before (I don't remember Perry doing it) and it was last January. When KC won the AFC title certified dude Stefon Diggs did the same thing and I LOVED it. Now that I see this from the team that takes precedence over all my others, I couldn't love it more.
January 1st, 2022 at 9:39 PM ^
Who is to the left of Anthony? I can’t make out the number
January 1st, 2022 at 10:42 PM ^
#90 Mike Morris or # 80 hunter Neff
January 1st, 2022 at 11:07 PM ^
It's Morris
January 1st, 2022 at 2:26 PM ^
You don't have to be an elite player to provide leadership.
People will step up and fill the roles of leaders. Whether or not they produce the same is to be said.
Leadership is not the major concern. When you don't have the talent like Alabama or Georgia, you need someone absolutely elite at the QB position; someone who can shore up talent gaps.
I think JJ is that guy. Cade's great, and I will always appreciate what he did, but this team needs JJ to reach his full potential.
January 1st, 2022 at 2:36 PM ^
Great point. We will need defensive leaders to step up. We have plenty on offense.
January 1st, 2022 at 3:11 PM ^
Leadership: Blake Corum and Ronnie Bell, just to name a few. The nucleus is there. They will carry this hunger and yearn to return to the big stage all winter and spring and they'll practice on their own.
Remember after the Nebraska game that is was JJ, Edwards and I think Anthony who had a midnight practice after they just returned home.
MacDonald will be one more year into his tenure and will figure a few more things out, as in how to stop really fast teams like Georgia.
Trust in our Leaders and best!
January 1st, 2022 at 5:11 PM ^
Glad you mentioned Ross. He was not the player Hutchinson or Hill was on the field, but you could tell he was one of the real leaders on a team that had many of them.
January 1st, 2022 at 5:15 PM ^
Hawkins as well. He an Ross are constantly undervalued IMHO in these types of posts. They have been throughout the year and certainly since the B1G CG. I find it interesting that nationally Ross gets his due credit but on our fan boards he does not. Hawkins seems to not get full credit by either. We will definitely miss their leadership (on and off the field), but we'll also miss what each does well. Yes, they're not athletic freaks but they're excellent and won't be easily replaced.
January 2nd, 2022 at 11:00 AM ^
I worry the offense will lose some of it's identity with Haskins leaving. Not all leadership is vocal, some is by example.
Assuming also the coaching staff all stays on the same page as well. Some can leave, but we still need the same cohesion.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:40 PM ^
Clearly, you’ve done your homework. The soft non-con schedule will be tailor made for developing young talent. Game 4 at home vs Maryland also helps. To me JJ has to be the starter and the offense will have to score points, points, and more points to compensate for a slight drop off on defense. I am excited for next season. The season we just enjoyed was a lot like ‘97 team. Dominant defense and offense not screwing things up. Cade was very good at managing the offense, in that regard. But in today’s football that isn’t enough at the elite level, as we saw last night. I am hoping for a dynamic and explosive offense next year with JJ at the helm. All the pieces will be there for him to excel.
January 1st, 2022 at 3:37 PM ^
We had two dominant pass rushers, but I wouldn’t quite say we had a dominant defense. Macdonald did a lot to disguise our weaknesses.
Really, the staff did an amazing job squeezing 12 wins and a Big Ten title out of this team. It was better than the sum of its parts.
January 1st, 2022 at 5:55 PM ^
^^^^^^
this right here, our defense lived and died with the pass rush unless we were playing truly inferior teams….next year, with the other 7-8 starters and other major contributors having a year of seasoning in MacDonald’s system, as well as MacDonald himself doing self evaluation, this defense will be truly stout and dominant, even without Hutch, Ojabo and Dax.
January 2nd, 2022 at 4:29 PM ^
Totally agree. I think Dax Hill deserves a lot of credit that doesn’t show up in the stat line. He often took on the job of neutralizing the opponents biggest threat and had to play all over the field that kept us from giving up big plays. Next year, I am hopeful that our defense can be better on average but maybe without the star power. I think we’ll have very solid safeties, quicker linebackers, a more dominant interior d line, the question mark will be can we find 2 guys who can step up at corner? I’d love to see what Andre Seldon can do and love what I’m hearing about Will Johnson but it’s a lot of hype to force onto a true freshman.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:42 PM ^
i thought 2020 was gonna be a better year than 2019, but shit man, things happen.
all i know for certain is that i'll be supporting these guys whatever happens, as i have since the nineties. go blue.
January 1st, 2022 at 2:44 PM ^
Why on earth would anyone expect 2020 to be better than 2019? We were almost dead last in the country in returning production and our best CB and best WR opted out.
January 1st, 2022 at 6:09 PM ^
Because Milton can throw it over them there mountains.
January 1st, 2022 at 6:58 PM ^
i was referring to life, not michigan football
January 2nd, 2022 at 10:06 PM ^
Is there a difference?
January 1st, 2022 at 1:49 PM ^
To answer the leadership questions. On offense Ronnie Bell, Erick All, Zinter, and a ton of other 2nd and 3rd year starters. Defense may be more of a ?. Hoping guys like Morris, Rod Moore, Turner, Barrett and either Hinton and or Smith can step up into locker room leaders. Aidan, Hawkins and Ross all set a foundation in terms of off the field accountability and preparation. Now its time for that trend to continue for years to come. I have faith in our new coaches to help this program continue an upward trajectory and echo the statement that Harbs made after the Osu game that it feels like "this is just the beginning ".
Go Blue
January 1st, 2022 at 2:51 PM ^
I think it will be very interesting to see if the defense takes the step back that everyone is expecting. While in some ways I think the OP may be understating some if the losses (I think that Ross brought much more in terms of leadership to this team than he is given credit for), I think he is also understanding some of the potential upside,
I think we see someone step up at defensive end/outside linebacker. Ojabo came pretty much out of nowhere this year and there are people who could step up next year. I am excited for example to see what Harrell does with another offseason and more playing time.
I also think that Macdonald is going to continue to improve as a coordinator and the team won’t be learning a new system next year. We have lots of guys who got their first significant taste of starting who have real potential upside including: Harrell, Colson, Moore, Turner and Jenkins. We also have a few freshman that could be difference makers.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:50 PM ^
I'll settle for just beating Sparty.
January 1st, 2022 at 2:40 PM ^
I hear that. I'd say that's as important as a competitive game (hopefully a W) in Columbus.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:53 PM ^
Not sure defense will be worse. I do think it will need to be more creative in creating a pass rush unless McGregor and others come on like gangbusters.
Linebacker and secondary should be better with a full year under new system.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:59 PM ^
The offense should be elite. Mid-season I began saying that sort of thing, but in "IF the coaches let it" context. But over the last half of the season we've seen the offensive staff consistently use the talent the team has creatively, play to the team's strengths, and attack the weaknesses of the defenses they've played. That's exactly what you want.
The major question is, who plays QB? Cade's limitations were on display yesterday, but he is still the guy who knows every play of the playbook, where every player is supposed to go, every check and every read. And, generally, he processes that stuff well in game time. JJ is completely unproven in that respect, and for his physical tools to be brought to bear, he needs to know the offense and be able to make the reads as plays develop.
With either QB I think the offense can take a significant step forward. The run will still be important, of course, but with Ronnie Bell coming back (yesterday was a time where he could have helped a great deal) and guys like Anthony and Wilson developing, the passing game could take a massive step forward.
It's very reasonable to think that our offense should be elite.
It's harder to tell about the defense. Really, it was amazing what the defense was able to do this past year with the personnel issues that have accrued. Development was good and scheme was good, and of course Aidan Hutchinson was transcendant. Dax and Ojabo were elite.
Well, those three guys are gone, and they're not spots where we have a "next man up" just ready to be that good.
But if the combined defense can be *as* good, if it can be not awful... it's a team that will win a lot of games big.
January 1st, 2022 at 2:01 PM ^
This is still a very young team. Hard to argue that the D will be better without Dax, AH and O-JA-BO! But the rest of the team should be better since we lost players at positions of depth/strength and/or get an infusion of depth from younger guys.
offense will have to win the games in Oct and Nov for sure. But development in aggregate should mitigate the losses defensively somewhat
big thing no one talks about is that Cade was a 1st year starter. He’s walking into his second year stating and 3-4th year under Gattis. He can continue to develop too and that should provide about the highest floor at the position one can ask for at the college level.
the Virginia xfer leads to the same conclusion on the OL and the WRs were the youngest position group on the team considering Bell was out the whole year
gotta take advantage of the playoff run recruiting the 23 class and hope we can get a second appearance to get the 24 class off to a good start- BTW that’s my daughters class so that’s sad in a lot of ways for me- namely that her 40 time can be recorded with a calendar so I’m not sure she’ll get a call from JH
January 1st, 2022 at 2:09 PM ^
Can dear daughter play DT? Can she kick? Long snap?
January 1st, 2022 at 2:07 PM ^
It’ll be like hoops. We have some nice talent, great kids, but you can’t lose the type of talent we will to the NFL (including a likely #1 overall pick) and graduation and all the exceptional leadership that connotes, and say ‘we’ll be better!’.
we’ll be good. Floor of 7-5/8-4, but we won’t likely be 12-2.
January 1st, 2022 at 3:36 PM ^
Disagree. Football is different than basketball. You’ve got 40 or so players who play major roles. And every top ten football team loses major contributors every year. It’s just the way it is when you have upperclassmen who play significant roles on the team. No one predicted Ojabo and Turner would be really good this year. Underclassmen always have to step up when players leave or graduate.
January 1st, 2022 at 6:09 PM ^
^^^^^^
This, and I also believe Harbaugh has proven himself as a head coach for the past 17 years that he will usually get the most out of his teams and get them to play well within his system and is also a great game-planner (barring 2019 totally new offense and 2020 world shutting down, and opt outs in bowl games). Howard has proven he can take over another guy’s players and get them to play, but not yet his own if we are honest.
January 1st, 2022 at 5:17 PM ^
I can recall Ohio State escaping with narrow wins in 2018 & 2019. Although 'Bama is now 13-1, they almost lost to Auburn this year and could have been totally out of the CFP. Then there was Clemson winning ugly several times in 2020. & 2019. There were times that they just didn't pass the eye test.
Good teams find ways to win and this it was Michigan who turned the corner when they had to.
For me, I want to see Michigan look very strong by the end of September and then maintain that in October then take it from there. They'll need to either 7-1 or 8-0 by the end of October.
January 2nd, 2022 at 7:53 PM ^
You have a curious way of defining narrow.
January 1st, 2022 at 2:08 PM ^
There is absolutely zero excuse for this team not to be 11-0 going into Columbus.
January 1st, 2022 at 3:06 PM ^
That's just crazy talk. Let's be honest, we barely got by Nebraska and PSU and beat Rutgers by 7. This was just a magical season mostly due to our coaching staff. Our talent - going forward - is not that overwhelming to make statements like that. And I think it's safe to say we'll have a HUGE target on our backs in the B1G next year. The defense is really a concern to me