Phil Steele's Preseason All Big Ten
1st Team:
Lewan
2nd Team:
Gallon
Gibbons - K
Norfleet - KR
3rd Team
Devin Gardner
Quinton Washington
Frank Clark
Desmond Morgan
4th Team
Derrick Green
Devin Funchess
Michael Schofield
Thomas Gordon
First and foremost.... 4 Michigan State OL on the teams, and only 2 Michigan.
And 0 UM players on the 1st and 2nd team defenses...
This thing is a joke of a joke.
It does seem odd that he would put Green on there, but not Kalis or even James Ross ferfucksake. I thought this guy had a reputation for doing an insane amount of research before releasing these lists.
I see three at that link: Jackson, Allen, and Fonoti. Fonoti is the best OL they have by far
I think you can dispute the Sparty selections, but M shouldn't have more than two (Lewan and Schofield)
Don't think there is much of a chance that Kalis is not better than Allen. Jackson... eh.
I don't know how you could say that - Kalis hasn't played a down yet.
And just to confirm, there are only 3 Sparty OL on that team right (not 4)?
that Frank Clark and Funchess both end up higher than Phil projects. At the very least those two.
Think Countess might as well...
He's going to be quietly awesome but overshadowed.
Phil Steele's algorithim, I believe, has been pointed out to include the previous 3 years in its prognostication. This would explain the extremely irrational rankings for both Michigan State and us. For Derrick Green to be "4th team" before even hitting campus and for Gardner to only be "3rd team", there is no way any of his predictions relevant to Michigan can be correct.
Seems like QB should be a first-team tie for Gardner and Miller, and no other Big Ten QB should be on this list. They are all tied for last.
I think Martinez and Colter are fine to be on this list, and I'm OK with Martinez ahead of Gardner. I think Devin will have a better year, but Martinez has done more to this point.
He's there, right? He's fourth team.
Interesting that Steele puts Derrick Green at 4th team before Green has even seen a snap. I'm very excited to see how Green's season plays out - fourth best in the B1G would be a great start.
Toussaint take offense to that Green prediction, I think he will do good things this fall.
I hope that Toussaint isn't letting Phil Steele get inside his head.
Marcus Lattimore 1st or 2nd team all SEC a couple of years ago before Lattimore stepped on campus. Pretty ballsy pick but turned out to be a pretty good one. But yeah, like most of the comments in this thread, predictions are virtually worthless 3 months before kickoff. There will inevitably be guys on the final coaches and media All B10 teams who are not even listed in Steele's.
I swear Phil Steele's prejections get worse each year.
Im sorry but i dont see Tmart having a better year than DG. Braxton might beat him out and its only because ohio doesnt play anyone till us.
Taylor Martinez is one of those players who puts up all sorts of numbers without ever really being that good. Those kinds of players, exist, right? Or am I just talking nonsense?
mean like Denard?
Scheelhaase from Illinois would've been a better comparison.
Was Denard the greatest QB? No. But if he would've played in Rich Rod's system with actual talent around him, he would've been awesome. Put him on some of those WVU or Oregon teams and he would've been great. Put him in some of those Florida or (hate to say it Ohio) systems and he would've been great.
And when I said great, I mean in terms of wins, losses and INTs.
Martinez and Scheelhaase would be a detriment or a weak link to any of those teams I referenced above.
Denard was also, decent in the pro style. But again, there wasn't a TON of talent at Michigan. How many play makers did we really have? Even guys like an Ace Sanders... a home run hitter.
ZERO.
Finally we're starting to get some guys who can make plays, finally our OLine is coming together, finally our defense is getting impact players.
If you didn't read any of this and it'll prove my point about Denard. Look at the NFL Draft for the past 2 years. THAT is what Denard had to work with...aka nothing. Nebraska and Illinois have both had better/higher draft picks over the same period.
Mentioning Illinois and the NFL draft makes me chuckle. They send several players every year, but still can't win. Illinois is still Zooktacular even sans Zook.
...which proves how bad the QB (among other things) is/was...
But no disrespect to Roundtree, Michigan hasn't had a AJ Jenkins. Hemingway was a beast, and underrated...but Jenkins would've been a starter as well.
On defense they've had guys as well.
But honest question...in the last 2 years, who is the highest offensive player to be drafted from Michigan. Hell, who ARE the offensive players who've been drafted from Michigan? And Will Campbell doesn't count.
Denard was just as good as Pat White, Brad Smith, those Oregon QBs, etc. He would've been just fine with the talent of Urban Meyer's UF and Ohio teams, Rich Rod's WVU teams, Oregon's teams since Dennis Dixon.
In his sophomore year where he was truly a "stat stuffer" our defense was what...109 out of 117? It was horrendous.
It had nothing to do with Denard.
I'm shocked RVB didn't get drafted.
Offensively...just Hemingway and Molk, I think. No one went very high. As an aside, David Molk was far more impactful than most of us gave him credit for despite winning the Rimington. It's one thing to be the nation's best center, but it's something else to have the interior line turn into barely more than a tire fire upon your departure.
The defense carried us sometimes in 2011, but I think Denard was excellent most of the year and perhaps even underrated. Nebraska and OSU were supposed to be his toughest tests, and he blew up Alderaan in both. The guy could take over a game, which is something none of the other QBs mentioned thus far can do.
That list is sad for a school like Michigan. I know we're going to have years where we don't have 1st rounders, but Martin, Hemingway and Molk? Jeez.
Now obviously you have to add in guys like Lewan because he played with them. But we're not talking about many playmakers. No Braylon, no Perry or Hart, no A-Train or even Streets. Certainly not much on the defensive said of the ball.
WVU and Geno Smith just had like 3 WRs get drafted. So did RG3's Baylor team. DeAnthony Thomas, Johnathan Stewart, etc. from Oregon were all impact players that we didn't have in the Denard era at Michigan.
The answer to your question is an emphatic yes. Absolutely. No question about it.
The new question is: which one of your questions am I answering?
(Kidding aside, I too wonder from whence comes the hype when I see Martinez play. A "serviceable to good "player, but seems over-hyped.)
You're not crazy. It is called a Tony Romo. If you want a college example, it is Drew Stanton. We could do this all day if we wanted.
Martinez can put up numbers, except he, as well as the whole team, completely falls apart when he's in a big road game. Or even just a big game in general. He's never won anything of substance, and whenever he needs to pull through in a big game, he falls apart and throws 3-4 picks. 2011 Michigan, 2011 Wisconsin, 2012 OSU, 2012 BTCG. I genuinely believe that if we stay healthy this Fall, we could give Nebraska a serious beat down. Like 2011 style.
Arguably, you could put Denard in this category, to which I'd say, "We'll, at least he won a Sugar Bowl."
For good reason *sad panda* - Jake Ryan
No excuse - Michael Schofield, Blake Countess, Thomas Gordon
Just wait, because "I told you so." - Kyle Kalis, James Ross, Matt Wile
For the sake of our season...PLEASE - Amara Darboh or Jehu Chesson, Ben Braden
Don't count me out - Fitz Toussaint
I expect a great year from Raymon Taylor.
I'm definately thinking Countess ends up 1st or 2nd, Washington, Schofield, Gardner, and Funchess, probably 2nd team and Ross with an honorable mention.
He's got like 3 career tackles. He was a fullback last year.
It's possible he's going to have a monster year... but based on previous performance that's a tough sell.
Keith Nichol Honorary Position Switch preseason All Big 10 pick by Phil Steele. Nichol, suffice it it to say, went on to exactly no All B10 recognition as a senior, as a I recall.
Pretty much all the other Ohio all-conference selections are legit but... didn't their safeties lead the conference in 40+ yard touchdowns surrendered? If they didn't it sure as hell felt like they did.
Steele is a Buckeye, but the homerism especially shines here. CJ Barnett is meh at best, and Christian Bryant is overrated and picks up numbers due to the system.
Are OSU's offensive linemen really all that good (4 of 5 in the first three teams)? I don't think so. And what is up with Curtis Grant at 2nd team LB? He didn't even play last year did he? I know they turned to Zach Boren to fill in at MLB when their starter got hurt rather than use Grant.
This is not an isolated incident. Steele is an unabashed OSU homer and it usually shows up the most in his All Big 10 selections where it is almost completely an opinion piece. In his opinion OSU is super-duper AWESOME!!!!
I've bought one every year for about 10 years now, but NOT for his predictions. He touts his predictive prowess on every other page, but if you look at his bowl predictions and preseason rankings, they're no better than most other prognosticators.
What he does do an awesome job at is cramming huge amounts of stats and records into his mag, and that's why I buy it. I ignore his predictions like I ignore CFN's predictions.
All according to the master plan. No one expects anything significant in 2013, hehehe /evillaugh
[And I'm all ears on whether my next post, for Point 1000, should be something dramatic and worthy, and if so, any recommendation?]
I think everyone's 1000'th point should be a Kate Upton gif.
Michigan
Off: 6
Def: 4 (none on 1st team)
Ohio
Off: 8
Def: 6
Sparty
Off: 4
Def: 5 (four on 1st team)
Nebrasker
Off: 6
Def: 3
PSU
Off: 4
Def: 7 (!)
Northwestern
Off: 3
Def: 4