kalel mullins

LOL as soon as I hit post Rivals broke the best news!

A source has informed The Wolverine that Michigan redshirt sophomore offensive lineman Jalen Mayfield will return to play for the Wolverines this upcoming season, despite previously declaring for the NFL Draft and signing with an agent.

I posted the offense earlier this week and meant this to go the next day but then FOOTBAWL BACK and now some of our guys might be returning too and this went from a lament to a prayer. Let's do it by position:

Defensive Tackle

What we want to hear: Kemp and Hinton are playing, Mazi Smith had a light go on. No more of this Jeter because we have nobody else hype.

What we're hearing: A very good sign for football in general is that Hinton's parents, who started Football Parents 24/7 to organize a voice for parents who don't want their kids' lives endangered like at LSU, are comfortable with the Big Ten's plans. The Michigan Daily:

Two months later, they’re still at the forefront of ensuring proper protocol is met in any football-related decisions. Now, though, they’re fully bought in on the Big Ten’s return to play. And when Michigan takes the field for the first time five weeks from, Chris Jr. will be playing. “Yes, he will,” Chris Sr. told The Daily on Thursday. “He’s excited and we’re excited.”

That desk-chair shattering fist pump was only 90% my football self excited about a breakout DT and 10% honestly encouraged about the availability of daily rapid testing because the Hintons are all over this.

A month ago, rapid antigen tests were $150 each, according to Chris Sr. Now, they’re less than 10 percent of that, at approximately $10 per test. That decrease in price, coupled with advancements in accuracy, helped make it feasible for the conference to provide daily testing.

Carlo Kemp didn't formally announce he's back but he was on the in-house podcast with Jon Jansen and made it sound like that's not even a question.

"The number of games isn't anything for me, it's just being able to play," Kemp said. "If it were eight games, nine games... I'll take it. I'm so happy. I'm so thankful that commissioner listened and was able to find a way to get us back in a safe way to play and thankful for President Schlissel to change his vote and let us play. I'm very thankful for this opportunity that those guys are giving us right now."

Kemp gets knocked for being the Jibreel Black on a DL that lacked a true nose, but he's a solid player you can roll with if you've got other solid players around him. Also the NCAA's decision means Kemp might be around in 2021 too.

In another episode Jansen mentioned Donovan Jeter as "the guy who's extremely motivated." Meanwhile Zach Shaw's depth chart still has the wrong name first($) if you're rooting for Year 2 Mazi to be better than a walk-on who was an offensive lineman not 300 days ago:

Inside, Hinton and Kemp still seem primed to be as good of a duo that Michigan has had since Mo Hurst was donning the maize and blue. Speight continues to impress after a strong fall camp, while Smith and Welschof continue to look like future key members Michigan’s line.

Several guys got some "Dude of the Day" and "Not a Dude but a Guy" recognition that has to be taken as relative but Julius Welschof got a Dude and a Guy recently. Mike Morris and Phil Paea got Guys, which is notable only because it confirms some insider intel I got that they've been impressed with Morris as a pass rusher.

What it means: The 2018-'19 bar isn't that high but we're back to where we were pre-COVID. In case your memory doesn't go back that far, it's "Hope Hinton is the bees knees and they get off the field."

Projected depth chart: Kemp/Hinton, Speight, Welschof, Mazi, Morris, with the doom line hovering to the left of Speight.

[After THE JUMP: good news, good news, good news, and hope for good news]

2020

The biggest 2020 event on the horizon comes from inside the state, as longtime top overall defensive target DE Braiden McGregor is set to announce his decision tonight. He was defensive line coach Shaun Nua’s first priority as soon as Nua got the job, though the entire staff has been involved in his recruitment. If you’re looking to frame how big this decision is for Michigan, he’s one of the recruits the staff FaceTimed from South Africa. McGregor’s decision is likely to come down to Michigan and Notre Dame, and Michigan is the overwhelming crystal ball favorite with 82%. WolverinesWire’s Evan Petzold wrote a McGregor decision primer in which he reports one source close to the Notre Dame side of things believes they’re out, while a source close to Michigan says they have no idea which school he’ll pick.

Even if Michigan misses they at least have a visit scheduled with top-200 NC DT Kedrick Bingley-Jones and actually they don’t play the same position and so it’s really not consolation and now this is an atrocious segue. Anyway, Bingley-Jones is 6’4”, 266 pounds, and 247’s Steve Lorenz says that his recruitment is pretty open right now. Bingley-Jones’ visit is an official, so we’ll have to wait for post-visit reports to gauge how serious the interest is. He wants to be an orthodontist and told The Wolverine’s Adam Ghabour he likes that Michigan had big-time football and the nation’s #3 dental school, so maybe he’ll also be a member of the Pre-Dental Association. I still have my t-shirt somewhere.

One player who’s actually a defensive end and recently picked up an offer is NC WDE Desmond Evans. Evans is the #2 WDE in the class (and is sandwiched between an Alabama commit and a player whose crystal ball is 100% Bama) and an important player to watch for a few reasons. The first is roster construction; Michigan’s taken one true WDE in the last two classes. The other is the stage of Evans’ recruitment. Though Michigan’s been involved with some players (like McGregor) for over a year and are just jumping into Evans’ recruitment in the past two weeks, they’re doing so with a player who has no clear-cut favorite. Lorenz made a point of noting Evans’ crystal ball was 67% cloudy, while Michael Clark, 247’s NC State reporter, writes that he thinks Evans’ decision will come down to NC State and UNC. In other words, it doesn’t seem like they have an overwhelming amount of ground to make up. Clark also provided a helpful timeline; he expects Evans to have a top seven by the end of the month and take all five officials, making a decision before November or December unlikely.

[After THE JUMP: on 2020 LBs and RBs, plus some quick 2021 and 2022 updates]