News from fall practice
Not much going on right now but 247 is having a free insider info day so I finally got a chance to read the news from fall practice. Here are the highlights:
- Nico is clearly the best receiver but Roman Wilson is really showing out and his 4.43 in the spring may have been when he was still limited by an injury
- Makari Paige has flashed potential and played some with the first team when Hawkins/Hill sat out for minor injuries
- Zak Zinter is doing really well and could be working himself in the two deep at guard. The early guard mix had Keegan, Filiaga, Stueber, and Zinter, which seems weird since Keegan seemed to be an OT, while Stueber could have also bounced out to RT since it looks like Mayfield will sit out and eventually declare for the NFL. Apparently Karsen Barnhart is practicing at RT. I think this is a case of them just trying players at different positions to see where they fit best. I do think it’s notable that Zinter was rotating ahead of Nolan Rumler who I expected to be a shoo-in for early playing time on the OL
- Luke Schoonmaker has transformed himself and looks to be playable as a blocker in addition to the receiving flashes he showed last year
Non-fall practice note: DL commit TJ guy is up to 250lbs and is lean at 6 or 7% body weight. Not sure if he’s a DE or a DT but looks like he’s putting in work to get early playing time whenever he gets on campus and whenever we have a season
August 17th, 2020 at 9:24 PM ^
It would be neat to have NFL in the fall and college ball in the winter/spring. Only a summer drought on ball.
August 18th, 2020 at 4:58 AM ^
I'm so confused. Someone tell me how it's safe enough for these guys to be practicing but not playing a game?
August 18th, 2020 at 8:12 AM ^
The problem with playing in a game is that it involves bringing in 100+ players and staff from a different part of the country to intermingle with your own 100+ players and staff.
I hope you can see how this is different than practicing with 100 guys in your own facility, many of whom you live with or would hang out with on a regular basis.
If you can't, you're purposefully being obtuse.
August 18th, 2020 at 8:43 AM ^
Seems hypocritical to me. So it's ok to have kids come back to school that have been traveling on vacations everywhere with no testing. But it's not safe to have football teams that have been going through strict testing and safety guidelines over the past month. It seems to me it would be safer to play football than go to school because you actually do know the people you're around have been tested.
August 18th, 2020 at 11:10 AM ^
I don't disagree, but that doesn't change my point from above.
Obviously, the best case scenario (for football, at least) would be to keep the football players/staff in a bubble and separate them from the general student population. Because players are being tested, and the average student is not.
So yes, it's hypocritical, but football players with less exposure are still better off than football players with more exposure.
August 18th, 2020 at 11:12 AM ^
My niece is starting college in a week or two. She was instructed to self-quarantine for 14 days prior to moving into her dorm.
August 18th, 2020 at 11:19 AM ^
It's not ok for kids to come back to school. It's also not ok for kids to be playing football. Look at unc.
August 18th, 2020 at 9:14 AM ^
Who's being obtuse here. Did you compare actual transmission rates for areas where the players/coaches are, say washtenaw county vs Franklin county or whatever. I'll admit I havent done this yet. Do players "intermingling" for these areas pose any greater risk for transmission of the virus. I'm not the one making assumption about risk here. You are
August 18th, 2020 at 9:57 AM ^
You would think with Macomb County having the highest positive rate in the state at 7.4% they would shut down football all together. And yet yesterday the Macomb Daily had pictures of the top high schools, Chippewa Valley & Dakota, all practicing with no social distancing or masks. Both schools and the Utica district have had confirmed positive test results for players since fall practices started. It doesn't make sense to allow practices when players are still getting the virus. Either shut it all down or let them play games.
August 18th, 2020 at 11:08 AM ^
That's irrelevant.
They're going to intermingle in Washtenaw County, period.
What they're NOT doing is intermingling in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Iowa, etc. Even one additional infected person coming from Piscataway, Iowa City, etc. is one more than would exist in Ann Arbor without the games.
August 18th, 2020 at 12:18 PM ^
You're just making stuff up now to feel justified. Traveling does not inherently make things riskier. If player from a high risk area who dosent already have the virus travels to a lower risk area they will be safer than they would be in their hometown and less likely to pick up the virus. I think we can agree on that. It isnt about football versus not football. It's about the alternative risk these players face by not playing. They arent inherently safer just by not playing. This is why people are questioning the decision to cancel football. Everyone's assuming its safer but no one can point to the data used to make these decisions
August 18th, 2020 at 12:34 PM ^
They arent inherently safer just by not playing.
Really? If they don't play, there are 100+ people in a week with whom they won't come in to contact. Less contact, less risk.
Pointing to data specific to football is tricky b/c, like, no one has played it yet.
But look at other sports. The ones where more variables are controlled, the less positive COVID cases there have been.
The fact that these are student athletes living on a college campus and not paid professionals isolated in their own homes changes the variables too.
If you can't say that football is inherently more dangerous than non-football relative to COVID, I think you CAN say more comingling of peoples IS more dangerous than the alternative.
August 18th, 2020 at 1:49 PM ^
This is my last attempt to talk some sense into you. Otherwise, like I said, you're just being obtuse.
If you're hanging out with 100 friends, you can only get the diseases that those 100 friends bring to the party.
If you're hanging out at a party with 200 friends, there are 200 people's diseases that you can catch.
If you sleep with 200 people, your chances of getting an STD are higher than if you sleep with 100 people.
It doesn't matter if 100 of them are less diseased than the other 100. There's still a chance that you can get the flu, STDs, a cold, etc.
This is a pretty simple concept. It's okay to acknowledge that less exposure is better than more exposure.
August 18th, 2020 at 3:33 PM ^
No, you arent getting it. They wont be in contact with 100 less people. You dont know how many people they will or wont be in contact with. You wont know they types of people they are hanging around or how frequently they are being tested. They will be off doing other things in other areas during that time they would have been playing football. The week doesnt get magically 3 hours shorter, or 10 or 40 if no football is played. They arent less chances to have contact with the virus. There could be more. You are making the assumption that without football they will spend those 3 hours in an isolated saferoom with no chance of contact
August 18th, 2020 at 1:14 PM ^
I say we scrimmage OSU 8 games. Same team over and over.
August 17th, 2020 at 9:24 PM ^
Forgot to mention: Ben VanSumeran is practicing at SAM and is moving well despite adding more weight to his frame. May be a matter of learning the playbook for him
August 17th, 2020 at 9:29 PM ^
This is an important detail. Thanks for the update!
August 17th, 2020 at 9:27 PM ^
Practicing without any hope for a game seems like being told to go to class even though no credits will be given. Much respect for those that are still competing despite the current situation.
August 17th, 2020 at 10:30 PM ^
It's still a chance to compete and have fun (assuming they like football). Gotta be better than lifting and reading the playbook.
August 18th, 2020 at 6:39 AM ^
Yeah, I play mediocre men's softball. If I had two options, I'd take practice over nothing.
August 18th, 2020 at 12:15 AM ^
why do they have spring practice? they are still learning and getting better, hopefully.
August 18th, 2020 at 8:13 AM ^
Spring practice says hello!
August 17th, 2020 at 9:31 PM ^
I think guys moving around on the OL isn't too shocking. Seems like Warinner is really trying to gives guys run at different spots, see where they fit, and also allow for some future flexibility
August 17th, 2020 at 9:33 PM ^
If there is footnall in the Spring, probably no chance Nico plays right? And Mayfield leaving is a hit.
August 17th, 2020 at 9:41 PM ^
And Paye.
August 17th, 2020 at 11:42 PM ^
Silver lining: half of OSU's starters will be gone.
August 18th, 2020 at 12:03 AM ^
Obligatory: They will only be replaced by 5 stars. Eventually attrition wears out (hopefully).
The team I think would really hurt a great deal is MSU. New coach. Lousy recruits. Lack of playing time. All are going to hurt them for years.
August 18th, 2020 at 8:51 AM ^
Yep. And they have no-one to blame but their god, Mork.
August 18th, 2020 at 8:57 AM ^
Whenever you lose a generational player at DE (Young), QB (Fields), DB (Okudah/Wade), RB (Dobbins) you will feel a huge drop in production.
DE is the one position where they have a revolving door of generational talent (Bosa's, Young, Harrison, Sawyer).
But QB, RB, and DB are pretty bare. They have never had a QB as good as Fields and may never again. Behind Fields is graduate transfer in Hoak or two 4* true freshman in Stroud and Miller. At RB, they have Teague (4*), Chambers (4*), and Crowley (4*). At DB, they have Banks (4*) and Johnson (5*), who hardly has any game experience as a jr.
Replace Patterson with Fields, Charbonnet with Dobbins, Paye/Hutch with Young, and Hill/Thomas with Okudah/Wade and we are a championship caliber team.
Yeah they have a stable of 5* prospects at many positions like DE, OL, DB, and WR but that doesn't mean that they wont be hit hard with attrition, especially QB.
August 18th, 2020 at 9:32 AM ^
I don't think bare is the correct term. Inexperienced maybe?
August 18th, 2020 at 10:02 AM ^
Yeah, it's not like they haven't had a guy step in every year since Troy Smith, whether it be for a game (or two) or a year or two (or three).
August 18th, 2020 at 1:40 PM ^
MSU might be the only team helped by this delay in season, they have almost no draft prospects so they won't be losing players, and starting this Fall would have been a disaster for them with a staff that barely knows the team having had no Spring practice and having spent half the Summer in quarantine.
August 18th, 2020 at 1:53 PM ^
Watching sparty burn would be pure pleasure
August 18th, 2020 at 12:38 AM ^
I don’t know how Mayfield has enough film to be a flight risk. He was #5 on our OL last year (albeit a very good OL)
August 18th, 2020 at 7:11 AM ^
A redshirt freshman who you don’t notice as a liability on a veteran line that sends all 4 other guys to the NFL is going to generate some draft buzz. Especially when he goes out and virtually shuts down Chase Young when matched up with him.
In all honesty, we should have seen quite a few more hiccups from him at the position. But we didn’t. Any time you don’t notice a redshirt freshman playing amongst NFL caliber juniors and seniors, you have a budding star.
August 18th, 2020 at 8:58 AM ^
This whole "shut down Chase Young" thing is massively overblown. Mayfield had a solid game against OSU. I'd say the B1G had terrible tackles in general last year, which is why Young was in Heisman contention despite sitting out two games. Let's not confuse "looked competent" with "shut down"...and let's also not forget that a Dlineman can make a much bigger mark on the game than the stat sheet. Gattis played a lot of games with Young, it's not like we went straight at him every play.
August 18th, 2020 at 8:16 AM ^
As you mentioned, even if he was #5 (and I'm not so sure he was), that was a good OL that got the other 4 guys drafted.
Furthermore, he was still adjusting to the speed of the game during the first few weeks. He looked pretty bad against Middle Tennessee...
...and then as he settled in, he was playing like a veteran.
On top of that, he has good size, he's nasty, and he's very athletic.
There's a lot to like about him for NFL teams.
August 18th, 2020 at 8:58 AM ^
Nico’s utilization is frustration personified. Alas, Jaylen, we hardly knew ye. Two elite P5 performers with too little to show for their time here, the Michigan Difference*
* Note, I don’t fault the coaching staff so much, it’s just the times we live in
August 17th, 2020 at 9:38 PM ^
Really sucks that we'll probably never get to see peak Nico Collins, Mayfield and Paye...and we'll probably only get 1 year of peak Dax.
August 17th, 2020 at 10:37 PM ^
Soo on brand for 21st Century Michigan football.
August 18th, 2020 at 7:31 AM ^
Kinda Like peppers.
August 18th, 2020 at 8:00 AM ^
Rashan says hi.
August 17th, 2020 at 9:43 PM ^
The offensive line shuffling is actually a bit encouraging to me; it means they've got guys who can push players with a floor that was at least "competent" last year. Gives some hope.
Also, I can't imagine what 250 lbs at 6% looks like, but I assume it's terrifying to QBs.
August 17th, 2020 at 11:08 PM ^
Need to see an OMG Shirtless pic before I believe he is 6% body fat, but still good to hear he is working hard.
August 18th, 2020 at 8:38 AM ^
TJ Guy is the commit we get most years that goes flying up the rankings as the summer/fall go on...except he won't this year due to minimal camps and probably no season. Low 3 star we went after like a 4/5 star, late bloomer, hasn't been playing football forever (and pretty sure he is multi-sport)...he's basically lanky Kwity Paye.
I'm a huge fan of what Craig Ross put together earlier this year about getting "the right 3 stars"- I also think the individual player ratings from this recruiting class will have a ton more outliers than normal years - guys that should rise won't, guys that should drop won't. Class rankings will probably still be more or less on point due to the large sample size.
August 18th, 2020 at 12:36 PM ^
TJ is a multi-sport athlete. Been playing football since Pop Warner. Started as a two way OL/DL as a sophomore on one of the better high school programs in MA. Had good improvement between So and Jr years. Also a 2 year starter on hoop team, again one of the better programs in MA. Post player who also was the press breaker bringing the ball up court. Would lose weight during hoop season. Very athletic. Needs a RS to gain strength and size, plus another year of development after that. Has the potential to be a beast.
August 17th, 2020 at 9:44 PM ^
DL commit TJ guy is up to 250lbs and is lean at 6 or 7% body weight. Not sure if he’s a DE or a DT
He better not be on the interior at 250lbs.
August 17th, 2020 at 10:01 PM ^
SDE...get him in line after Hutchinson.