It took us forever to get into the blue lot. By time we got to our seats UM was upon 17-5. From the moment I started watching the game we got outscored by 20.
Keep in mind that Harbaugh is still coaching during the week.
The chip-on-the-shoulder "us against the world" mentality was something Dantonio was able to have considerable success with. This team has a LOT of upperclassmen experience and seems like a really cohesive unit that celebrates the success of their teammates and are willing to sacrifice personal stats for the greater good of the team. This is a culture that has been built. My point being our coaching staff can turn this into an opportunity of sorts and get the players focused AND angry.
Now, I don't think it will matter with Maryland but not having Harbaugh on the sideline against OSU is absolutely a disadvantage.
He had some struggles against PSU. Biggest he was forced to multi-task - being a HC and an OC. Between that and the crowd noise we called what should have been non-essential timeouts. What I liked was that when a play was about to break down and/or take a penalty he called the TO. Further, his early game adjustment to their edge rush dominance was brilliant. Not so much for diagnosing it, but because he recognized it early and made pre-halftime adjustments.
He's green and was forced into that situation last minute due to absolute Bush-league crap from the B1G and he emerged victorious. This young man likely has a very bright future as a coach.
Of course I've been keeping tabs on all of this. I'm also compartmentalizing it. This is a special team and it's a team that has a legitimate shot at the natty. I've been drowning this all out when needed, especially on game day.
The fact that this is being administered near the close of business the day before a big game is beyond the pale to me. That should never, ever happen except for the most extreme scenario, like Harbaugh being found raping someone in the shower or something like that. This? Before the NCAA investigation is even complete? What if the NCAA determines later that this is a nothingburger and/or it's uncovered that other B1G schools were doing the exact same thing?
I love the optimism. I don't completely share it. PSU's defense is absolutely legit. And while their offense hasn't been explosive it has plenty of weapons and talent. It's a road game (ironically, UM has played better on the road than at home this season) and Happy Valley is a difficult venue. I see this as a slugfest.
I don’t like whataboutism. Based on existing evidence Michigan appears to have clearly violated a rule and doing so should involve some degree of consequences AFTER a full and complete investigation.
Having said that some are either loudly or behind the scenes calling for Harbaugh’s head and in the process acting like they are holier than thou. Once that line is crossed certain people and organizations invite scrutiny into their own actions. That is what Schiano is apparently pissed off about. Well, too bad. You are one of those who made this bed. Now you get to lie in it too.
After watching OSU and PSU both of their D’s look to be on par with ours. However our O is definitely better than both of theirs and JJ is clearly a better QB than either of those two.
This one is so hard to predict. Last year I thought we were going to smoke them and we ended up with a comfortable 3 TD win in an extremely boring game. I think their strategy on offense will be to slow the game down as much as possible. Consistently run the play clock down to 5 seconds before snapping and run a lot of short passes mixed equally with some runs and they will almost certainly bust out a trick play or two. On D I expect them to play soft coverage and put 8 in the box. Last year they did a real good job of limiting explosive plays.
Worst case scenario is a replay of the first half against Rutgers last year. In that scenario I don't see them imploding they way Rutgers did and I say that in spite of their last game implosions against Iowa and Rutgers. Even if they play a clean game and win the turnover battle, they just don't have enough on either side of the ball to handle our firepower for 4 quarters.
At the half I'm going 14-7 Sparty. Final score 31-17 UM wins. Now, if we get off to a fast start and the turnover margin is even or in our favor, this game could be ugly. With that scenario I am going with 45-10 UM.
What is so infuriating about the NCAA is that in their messaging they are conflating stealing signs, which is not against the rules, with in-person scouting which is against the rules.
I kind of agree with you. Clearly some of those in power at the NCAA hate Harbaugh and that may be playing a role in this however Michigan football, especially where the program is at right now, is good for business. For the NCAA money takes precedence over all else so a biased witch-hunt just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.
In the verbiage I see "institutional staff member" more than once. To me that would be a paid employee and not some super fan. Does that mean a super fan could do in-person scouting for free and pass on findings to the coaching staff?
The problem is I don't think he knows what the NCAA actually has in regards to evidence. I know we all would have liked to have seen him come up with a fiery response but it would be imprudent to do so if the NCAA didn't show their hand.
I hope you are right but I suspect not. OSU's D has looked really good this year. And while their O has looked mortal Maryland plays mediocre defense. Especially given this game is at the Shoe, I see it as OSU 38 Maryland 16. Hopefully Maryland can be competitive or maybe even pull off an upset. I highly doubt it though.
Donovan Edwards looks like he’s broken. I thought our pass coverage at times was a bit soft. Other than that this was the dominating performance I was expecting in the first 4 games. I particularly liked that our run game looked unstoppable when we telegraphed the play call.
I would love for OSU to have sketchy QB play this year but I am not buying any of this until I see it. Last year we had McNamara vs McCarthy and that worked out well. Their QB room is extremely talented.
Just before the 1 interim year of Fickell they had Terrel Pryor. And prior to Pryor I think they had a couple of seasons of a starter who I can't recall and before that it was Heisman winner Troy Smith.
The Meyer/Day era has had Braxton Miller, JT Barrett, Cardale Jones, JT Barrett again when Jones came back to earth, Dwayne Haskins, Justin Fields and CJ Stroud. That is one hell of a run of extremely good - to elite QB's.
My fear is that even if they have a bumpy start at QB, by the time November rolls around they will have settled on a starter and whoever that is will be a God.
Last year he was good/very good. This is the 3rd time under Harbaugh we’ve had a returning starter. The last two didn’t fare well. Patterson regressed from 2018 but some of that was due to an injury. In 2017 Speight dropped from 2016 but he had deficiencies all around him that contributed. That was a young team.
On to JI… he was good last year, comparable to Patterson 18 version. Let’s not forget that while he didn’t live up to the 5 star hype he was still a good QB his junior year As a sophomore JJ was as good as Shea as a junior and he shows more drive and determination than Shea had
A small part of me fears regression but it’s small This kid is motivated. Honestly I see him as the X factor next season This offense is loaded for the running game If the passing game is really effective, and on paper it should be, this offense is potentially lethal
I love how the 2024 recruiting is going so far. And I think it's hilarious that Sparty is currently dead-last in the B1G. Having said all of that, I find it difficult to put much into this considering how far removed national signing day is.
That's why we play the game. Think about the Harbaugh era against Sparty.
2015 - They were the slightly better team and won on the last play
2016 - We were clearly the better team and won by 2 scores
2017 - They were the slightly better team and we had the ball at the end of the game with a chance to win, but lost by 4
2018 - We were the better team and won by 2 TD.s
2019 - We were the better team and spanked them by 5 TD's
2020 - Covid year. Both teams were terrible and we lost by 1 score.
2021 - We were the better team but they were also a very good team. It was a slightly fluky game and we had the ball late with a chance to win and turned it over.
2022 - We were the better team and won by 3 TD's.
When I look at this the only year Harbaugh had the better team and still lost was 2021 and we lost to a very good Sparty team. I think all of those years of losing to Dantonio plus the '15 game has all given us a bit of PTSD but if we look at the 2 teams during that timeframe they were just better than us. It pains me to admit that, but it's true. One aspect of the Harbaugh era that I've really liked is he beats the teams he should beat. How many losses has he had that could accurately be described as an upset?
"With 61 wins during his three-year tenure, Howard ranks as the second U-M coach to amass 60+ wins to start their careers, just behind his former collegiate coach and mentor Steve Fisher (62) on U-M's exclusive list."
His first season was a mishmash of JB players and Howard players and they rocked it. Season #2 had an unbelievable recruiting class on paper and they underperformed as a team. Then, at the end of the season they lose their starting PG to injury who had rounded into a very good player for them and with a true freshman PG they make it to the Sweet 16. This past season was terribly disappointing especially given how many very close games they lost. At this point we don't know what this team will be come December. We sound like MSU fans blasting Tucker after 1 bad season following an incredible first season (unfair to even count the Covid year as he barely had walked through the door before practices started and inherited a bare cupboard from Dantonio).
I've been skeptical of Howard and it's absolutely disgraceful he's had 2 altercations with other coaches. But we are being WAY too premature to write him off already.
I'm normally a strong proponent of availability of alcohol but think this is a bad idea, at least for football where a large majority of the fans are tailgaiting for hours before (and after) the game.
We know way too little right now to have a productive conversation. We have to make assumptions about the status of Jett, Buffkin and Dickensen. Their decisions will impact which players get recruited out of high school as well as the transfer portal. We also don't know the status of Baker or Lewellyn.
Hunter is never good enough when it counts? Didnt he drain a huge 3 at the buzzer to force OT which propelled UM to a rare tight win? That was just a few weeks ago.
This team does have some question marks on D but even then these are just slight concerns. Sounds like the team has depth across the board.
This is the 4th time during Harbaugh's tenure that the team is returning its starting QB. First was Speight. He seemed to regress from 2016 to 2017 but that had caveats. He lost his 3 primary targets from 2016 and the 2017 O-line was a mess. After 2018 Shea Patterson returned and definitely showed some regression although some of it may have been the result of an oblique injury.
'22 brought back Mcknamara and I kind of felt like he may have regressed but with him, to be fair, the sample size was very small.
For this season if McCarthy takes a step forward (he really should) this offense should be lights out.
I haven't been to Frankenmuth in a long time. Before we had kids (22+ years ago) my wife and I would make an October trip to Frankenmuth. We'd browse the shops, eat some awesome chicken and our fave was the horse drawn carriage tour of the town. We'd stay overnight and then spend half of Sunday at Birch Run doing some early Christmas shopping.
Boyne City is a great spot to use as a base. It’s almost centrally located. Charlevoix and Petoskey are 20 minute drives and Bay Harbor and Walloon are 15 minutes A day trip to TC or Glen Arbor is about an hour 20 as is a trip to Mackinac City where you’d get a ferry to the island. Great golfing up there too but with the age of your kids that might be too much.
Boyne City itself is a very nice little town. Avalanche Preserve is a nice rigorous 2.2 mile hike up a good sized hill. At the top you get an incredible view of Lake Charlevoix as well as Boyne City. Nice little bars and restaurants as well as a small cadre of interesting stores if you want to do a little shopping.
The maddening thing is sometimes close games come down to which team got more breaks. Look at OSU. They have a top-5 kicker and at the end of the game against Georgia he shanks the kick so bad that it almost landed out of bounds on the sideline.
Then let's look at our game against TCU. Wilson catches a TD pass that the replay booth says he was down before the ball crossed the plane. Never mind that he hadn't secured the ball until after it crossed the plane. Then with first and goal at the half yard line the play call is a quick fullback handoff to a player had maybe 15 runs all season up to that point. It's a more difficult exchange than a RB handoff especially for a player who until recently was at the LB position. Fumble into the end zone for a touchback. That really was the play that handed TCU the win.
I understand why TCU is #2 and I think placing them anywhere else is unavoidable. Having said that, UM and OSU should be ranked higher than them.
This is such a nice problem to have. When I watched Edwards on passing downs he'd read the right gap and would make the block but he looked uncomfortable doing it from a physical standpoint. He is no Hasan Haskins when it comes to physical contact. He's not great YAC either. Having said that, it's something he will likely work on in the offseason. Based on what we saw this year I fully expect to see him on the field at the same time Corum is for at least a few plays per game. He will obviously be used as a part-time receiving option and hybrid WR/RB players definitely have a place in the NFL. If we can field another strong O-line our run game could potentially be even more lethal than it was this year.
In the passing game losing Ronnie Bell, Schoonmaker and Anthony definitely hurts. On the upside we do have talented FR receivers who will likely contribute as Sophomores. Loveland is already a solid TE with a very high ceiling. Our other TE's seem more blocky than catchy but that's not necessarily a bad thing. JJ has strong work ethic and likely won't be battling for the starting role which means he'll get more 1st string snaps in spring and fall camp and should develop some chemistry with his receivers. I'll be very surprised if he has a Patterson 18-19 regression. I expect the passing game to take a step forward next season.
My guess is he probably believes his injury hurt his draft stock a bit. How much? That's the big question. Last year an injury bumped Ojabo from 1st to 2nd round. Last year the nation's best running back (Walker III), who was a slightly better overall back went in the second round.
Recent Comments
He had a really solid outing in the natty which is a good sign heading into next season.
With so many to choose from he’s probably my favorite player on this team.
I was at the game. The arena was maybe half full. The crowd was listless. When the game was real tight with 5 minutes to go I was certain we’d lose.
Why can’t this team ever win a close game?
I agree with your list except I think you got it wrong re: Dax Hill. He wasn’t NB. He was a safety and was better than Makari Page.
It took us forever to get into the blue lot. By time we got to our seats UM was upon 17-5. From the moment I started watching the game we got outscored by 20.
Ugh.
Thank you, Simone
Keep in mind that Harbaugh is still coaching during the week.
The chip-on-the-shoulder "us against the world" mentality was something Dantonio was able to have considerable success with. This team has a LOT of upperclassmen experience and seems like a really cohesive unit that celebrates the success of their teammates and are willing to sacrifice personal stats for the greater good of the team. This is a culture that has been built. My point being our coaching staff can turn this into an opportunity of sorts and get the players focused AND angry.
Now, I don't think it will matter with Maryland but not having Harbaugh on the sideline against OSU is absolutely a disadvantage.
One week at a time - one game at a time.
Go Blue!!!
He had some struggles against PSU. Biggest he was forced to multi-task - being a HC and an OC. Between that and the crowd noise we called what should have been non-essential timeouts. What I liked was that when a play was about to break down and/or take a penalty he called the TO. Further, his early game adjustment to their edge rush dominance was brilliant. Not so much for diagnosing it, but because he recognized it early and made pre-halftime adjustments.
He's green and was forced into that situation last minute due to absolute Bush-league crap from the B1G and he emerged victorious. This young man likely has a very bright future as a coach.
My appreciation for the creation of this thread.
Of course I've been keeping tabs on all of this. I'm also compartmentalizing it. This is a special team and it's a team that has a legitimate shot at the natty. I've been drowning this all out when needed, especially on game day.
Let's go make Maryland look silly!
I'm sure the SEC would love to have a cash cow like Michigan in their conference.
The fact that this is being administered near the close of business the day before a big game is beyond the pale to me. That should never, ever happen except for the most extreme scenario, like Harbaugh being found raping someone in the shower or something like that. This? Before the NCAA investigation is even complete? What if the NCAA determines later that this is a nothingburger and/or it's uncovered that other B1G schools were doing the exact same thing?
This is mob justice and it's repulsive.
I love the optimism. I don't completely share it. PSU's defense is absolutely legit. And while their offense hasn't been explosive it has plenty of weapons and talent. It's a road game (ironically, UM has played better on the road than at home this season) and Happy Valley is a difficult venue. I see this as a slugfest.
27-23 UM wins.
I don’t like whataboutism. Based on existing evidence Michigan appears to have clearly violated a rule and doing so should involve some degree of consequences AFTER a full and complete investigation.
Having said that some are either loudly or behind the scenes calling for Harbaugh’s head and in the process acting like they are holier than thou. Once that line is crossed certain people and organizations invite scrutiny into their own actions. That is what Schiano is apparently pissed off about. Well, too bad. You are one of those who made this bed. Now you get to lie in it too.
After watching OSU and PSU both of their D’s look to be on par with ours. However our O is definitely better than both of theirs and JJ is clearly a better QB than either of those two.
This one is so hard to predict. Last year I thought we were going to smoke them and we ended up with a comfortable 3 TD win in an extremely boring game. I think their strategy on offense will be to slow the game down as much as possible. Consistently run the play clock down to 5 seconds before snapping and run a lot of short passes mixed equally with some runs and they will almost certainly bust out a trick play or two. On D I expect them to play soft coverage and put 8 in the box. Last year they did a real good job of limiting explosive plays.
Worst case scenario is a replay of the first half against Rutgers last year. In that scenario I don't see them imploding they way Rutgers did and I say that in spite of their last game implosions against Iowa and Rutgers. Even if they play a clean game and win the turnover battle, they just don't have enough on either side of the ball to handle our firepower for 4 quarters.
At the half I'm going 14-7 Sparty. Final score 31-17 UM wins. Now, if we get off to a fast start and the turnover margin is even or in our favor, this game could be ugly. With that scenario I am going with 45-10 UM.
What is so infuriating about the NCAA is that in their messaging they are conflating stealing signs, which is not against the rules, with in-person scouting which is against the rules.
Michigan is being investigated for the latter.
I kind of agree with you. Clearly some of those in power at the NCAA hate Harbaugh and that may be playing a role in this however Michigan football, especially where the program is at right now, is good for business. For the NCAA money takes precedence over all else so a biased witch-hunt just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.
In the verbiage I see "institutional staff member" more than once. To me that would be a paid employee and not some super fan. Does that mean a super fan could do in-person scouting for free and pass on findings to the coaching staff?
The problem is I don't think he knows what the NCAA actually has in regards to evidence. I know we all would have liked to have seen him come up with a fiery response but it would be imprudent to do so if the NCAA didn't show their hand.
It's being speculated this date's back to last season, specifically OSU.
Their defense has looked really good and Marvin Harrison is frightening. But their O just hasn’t been there like it has in the last several years.
The weather is going to be horrible. I don’t see either team moving the hall a ton.
UM 29. Indiana 10
indiana gets their lone TD on a broken play or during garbage time.
Agreed. They are brutal. Sparty looked like the better team this past Saturday and that's really saying something.
I graduated…
Go Brits!
I graduated from Albion in 1993.
I hope you are right but I suspect not. OSU's D has looked really good this year. And while their O has looked mortal Maryland plays mediocre defense. Especially given this game is at the Shoe, I see it as OSU 38 Maryland 16. Hopefully Maryland can be competitive or maybe even pull off an upset. I highly doubt it though.
Donovan…
My only gripes:
Donovan Edwards looks like he’s broken. I thought our pass coverage at times was a bit soft. Other than that this was the dominating performance I was expecting in the first 4 games. I particularly liked that our run game looked unstoppable when we telegraphed the play call.
Great for Robbins!
I would love for OSU to have sketchy QB play this year but I am not buying any of this until I see it. Last year we had McNamara vs McCarthy and that worked out well. Their QB room is extremely talented.
Just before the 1 interim year of Fickell they had Terrel Pryor. And prior to Pryor I think they had a couple of seasons of a starter who I can't recall and before that it was Heisman winner Troy Smith.
The Meyer/Day era has had Braxton Miller, JT Barrett, Cardale Jones, JT Barrett again when Jones came back to earth, Dwayne Haskins, Justin Fields and CJ Stroud. That is one hell of a run of extremely good - to elite QB's.
My fear is that even if they have a bumpy start at QB, by the time November rolls around they will have settled on a starter and whoever that is will be a God.
Last year he was good/very good. This is the 3rd time under Harbaugh we’ve had a returning starter. The last two didn’t fare well. Patterson regressed from 2018 but some of that was due to an injury. In 2017 Speight dropped from 2016 but he had deficiencies all around him that contributed. That was a young team.
On to JI… he was good last year, comparable to Patterson 18 version. Let’s not forget that while he didn’t live up to the 5 star hype he was still a good QB his junior year As a sophomore JJ was as good as Shea as a junior and he shows more drive and determination than Shea had
A small part of me fears regression but it’s small This kid is motivated. Honestly I see him as the X factor next season This offense is loaded for the running game If the passing game is really effective, and on paper it should be, this offense is potentially lethal
stay healthy, JJ
I love how the 2024 recruiting is going so far. And I think it's hilarious that Sparty is currently dead-last in the B1G. Having said all of that, I find it difficult to put much into this considering how far removed national signing day is.
That's why we play the game. Think about the Harbaugh era against Sparty.
2015 - They were the slightly better team and won on the last play
2016 - We were clearly the better team and won by 2 scores
2017 - They were the slightly better team and we had the ball at the end of the game with a chance to win, but lost by 4
2018 - We were the better team and won by 2 TD.s
2019 - We were the better team and spanked them by 5 TD's
2020 - Covid year. Both teams were terrible and we lost by 1 score.
2021 - We were the better team but they were also a very good team. It was a slightly fluky game and we had the ball late with a chance to win and turned it over.
2022 - We were the better team and won by 3 TD's.
When I look at this the only year Harbaugh had the better team and still lost was 2021 and we lost to a very good Sparty team. I think all of those years of losing to Dantonio plus the '15 game has all given us a bit of PTSD but if we look at the 2 teams during that timeframe they were just better than us. It pains me to admit that, but it's true. One aspect of the Harbaugh era that I've really liked is he beats the teams he should beat. How many losses has he had that could accurately be described as an upset?
This should provide some perspective:
"With 61 wins during his three-year tenure, Howard ranks as the second U-M coach to amass 60+ wins to start their careers, just behind his former collegiate coach and mentor Steve Fisher (62) on U-M's exclusive list."
His first season was a mishmash of JB players and Howard players and they rocked it. Season #2 had an unbelievable recruiting class on paper and they underperformed as a team. Then, at the end of the season they lose their starting PG to injury who had rounded into a very good player for them and with a true freshman PG they make it to the Sweet 16. This past season was terribly disappointing especially given how many very close games they lost. At this point we don't know what this team will be come December. We sound like MSU fans blasting Tucker after 1 bad season following an incredible first season (unfair to even count the Covid year as he barely had walked through the door before practices started and inherited a bare cupboard from Dantonio).
I've been skeptical of Howard and it's absolutely disgraceful he's had 2 altercations with other coaches. But we are being WAY too premature to write him off already.
I’m going to see it in an hour with the wife and “kids” - they are 22 and 19.
I'm normally a strong proponent of availability of alcohol but think this is a bad idea, at least for football where a large majority of the fans are tailgaiting for hours before (and after) the game.
His leg was grabbed first, which is a foul. He followed it with a stomp, which is a technical. What I saw was a rather vicious stomp.
They have 2 5 star recruits competing for the starting QB spot. Pretty sure they will hit on one of the two.
We know way too little right now to have a productive conversation. We have to make assumptions about the status of Jett, Buffkin and Dickensen. Their decisions will impact which players get recruited out of high school as well as the transfer portal. We also don't know the status of Baker or Lewellyn.
I’d take Purdue’s season over ours 100 times out of 100. It’s not even close.
Hunter is never good enough when it counts? Didnt he drain a huge 3 at the buzzer to force OT which propelled UM to a rare tight win? That was just a few weeks ago.
The only thing I remember about Graham Brown was his ability to set vicious picks that would have made Rick Mahorn proud.
This team does have some question marks on D but even then these are just slight concerns. Sounds like the team has depth across the board.
This is the 4th time during Harbaugh's tenure that the team is returning its starting QB. First was Speight. He seemed to regress from 2016 to 2017 but that had caveats. He lost his 3 primary targets from 2016 and the 2017 O-line was a mess. After 2018 Shea Patterson returned and definitely showed some regression although some of it may have been the result of an oblique injury.
'22 brought back Mcknamara and I kind of felt like he may have regressed but with him, to be fair, the sample size was very small.
For this season if McCarthy takes a step forward (he really should) this offense should be lights out.
Castleton didn't think he'd overtake Thad Garner so he transferred.
The second long Edwards run against OSU. Basically put the game out of reach and broke their spirits in the process.
I haven't been to Frankenmuth in a long time. Before we had kids (22+ years ago) my wife and I would make an October trip to Frankenmuth. We'd browse the shops, eat some awesome chicken and our fave was the horse drawn carriage tour of the town. We'd stay overnight and then spend half of Sunday at Birch Run doing some early Christmas shopping.
I know, right. Don't forget about that nasty cesspool known as Glen Lake.
Boyne City is a great spot to use as a base. It’s almost centrally located. Charlevoix and Petoskey are 20 minute drives and Bay Harbor and Walloon are 15 minutes A day trip to TC or Glen Arbor is about an hour 20 as is a trip to Mackinac City where you’d get a ferry to the island. Great golfing up there too but with the age of your kids that might be too much.
Boyne City itself is a very nice little town. Avalanche Preserve is a nice rigorous 2.2 mile hike up a good sized hill. At the top you get an incredible view of Lake Charlevoix as well as Boyne City. Nice little bars and restaurants as well as a small cadre of interesting stores if you want to do a little shopping.
The maddening thing is sometimes close games come down to which team got more breaks. Look at OSU. They have a top-5 kicker and at the end of the game against Georgia he shanks the kick so bad that it almost landed out of bounds on the sideline.
Then let's look at our game against TCU. Wilson catches a TD pass that the replay booth says he was down before the ball crossed the plane. Never mind that he hadn't secured the ball until after it crossed the plane. Then with first and goal at the half yard line the play call is a quick fullback handoff to a player had maybe 15 runs all season up to that point. It's a more difficult exchange than a RB handoff especially for a player who until recently was at the LB position. Fumble into the end zone for a touchback. That really was the play that handed TCU the win.
I understand why TCU is #2 and I think placing them anywhere else is unavoidable. Having said that, UM and OSU should be ranked higher than them.
This is such a nice problem to have. When I watched Edwards on passing downs he'd read the right gap and would make the block but he looked uncomfortable doing it from a physical standpoint. He is no Hasan Haskins when it comes to physical contact. He's not great YAC either. Having said that, it's something he will likely work on in the offseason. Based on what we saw this year I fully expect to see him on the field at the same time Corum is for at least a few plays per game. He will obviously be used as a part-time receiving option and hybrid WR/RB players definitely have a place in the NFL. If we can field another strong O-line our run game could potentially be even more lethal than it was this year.
In the passing game losing Ronnie Bell, Schoonmaker and Anthony definitely hurts. On the upside we do have talented FR receivers who will likely contribute as Sophomores. Loveland is already a solid TE with a very high ceiling. Our other TE's seem more blocky than catchy but that's not necessarily a bad thing. JJ has strong work ethic and likely won't be battling for the starting role which means he'll get more 1st string snaps in spring and fall camp and should develop some chemistry with his receivers. I'll be very surprised if he has a Patterson 18-19 regression. I expect the passing game to take a step forward next season.
I already can't wait for the 2023 season.