shane lee
Previously: Offense
Resources: My charting, Alabama game notes (Michigan's still not available—I bet not doing your homework is why you had to go to an SEC school, you amateur SID), Alabama roster, CFBstats
The film: Still Iron Bowl.
Personnel: My diagram:
PDF Version, full-size version (or click on the image)
So you guys I figured out where all the defensive tackles and cornerback-ish safeties have gone to. Every damn one of them is on the lying depth chart for Alabama:
DJ Dale hasn't played much since suffering a leg injury two months ago, and not at all in the last two games. They're lately starting superstar DE/DT Raekwan Davis (+13/-2) next to unexciting NG/DE Phidarian Mathis (+4/-4), and rotating in RS freshman NG Christian Barmore (+13/-8) liberally. As the scores suggest Barmore is a young Willie Henry: ludicrously strong and disruptive—especially as a pass rusher—but once he gets there it's 60/20 if he'll run past the play or fall on his face. True freshman SDEs Byron Young (+1/-3) and Justin Eboigbe (+3/-0) split the scant snaps available to them, but Bama played half their snaps with just two down linemen, and a handful of the three-down snaps with the group from the paragraph above. Young's –3 was all from one very freshman play when he chased after a zone-read running back like it's 1999.
The OLBs are quasi-defensive ends. They call the weakside one the JACK, where Anfernee Jennings (+12/-2) is closer to a traditional DE, but an extremely strong and athletic one who's expected to be drafted the first day this spring. More of an edge setter than edge rusher, Jennings is murder on any zone read run to his side. Normal SAM Terrell Lewis (+11/-2.5) has chosen to sit out the Citrus Bowl, and while that's totally understandable given his injury history, losing his 16 QB hurries is a big blow; nobody else on the team has more than half of that, and his backup, SAM Chris Allen, has barely played, though he generated some unwarranted practice buzz two springs ago.
The inside linebacker spots were already hit hard in preseason, forcing Bama to play with a pair of freshman in place of likely All-American MLB Dylan Moses and longtime backup WLB Josh McMillon. Instead they get two big true freshmen. MLB Shane Lee (+2/-4.5, +2/-3 in coverage), who played for Biff Poggi (and came up for the BBQ) last year, is the one with his head above water; WLB Christian Harris (+3/-6.5, +0/-4 coverage), a supposedly athletically gifted player who's not quite ready to be on the field, finally forced me to cyan him before going out with an injury in the 4th quarter. He was also caught jogging more than once when a sprint was necessary; I wonder if the later injury wasn't so later. Replacement WLB Ale Kaho (+2/-0, no coverage events) is a true sophomore and a good 30 pounds lighter. Everybody's swimming.
[After THE JUMP: Defensive backs Don Brown wanted]
Part one of this week's two-part roundup, covering the recent commits, can be found here.
Official Offers Out: Sims Enrolling Early
August 1st was the first day written scholarship offers could go out to the class of 2018. You can see what Michigan's formal offers look like above; over the last couple years they've added the "we expect you to continue to strive for excellence" section as an explicit defense against another Erik Swenson situation.
Offer day came with some news this year: four-star GA CB Myles Sims will take advantage of the new early signing period and sign on December 21st, getting Michigan their top defensive back commit on campus for spring ball.
In other commit news, four-star MI DE Aidan Hutchinson announced yesterday he was selected for the Army All-American Bowl.
After last weekend's BBQ at the Big House, Michigan's odds of holding onto four-star IN OG Emil Ekiyor have improved. Following a recent visit to Alabama, Ekiyor said he'd eventually decide between the Wolverines and the Tide, and it sounded like it might be a coin-flip. He told 247's Isaiah Hole, however, that he's simply covering his bases:
While there's still a long ways to go until Signing Day, Ekiyor reaffirmed that he's taking visits as part of an exploratory process, but that he remains firmly committed to Michigan.
“Michigan is definitely the place that I want to be," Ekiyor said. "But I'm also (taking visits) just to make sure that I'm not being blind to another place, just because I feel so good about Michigan.”
It helps that a fellow Indianapolis native, four-star LB Cameron McGrone, joined the class on Monday. Ekiyor told The Wolverine's Brandon Brown he's "really excited to get up there" and join McGrone (plus Hoosier state products Chris Evans and Brandon Peters) in Maize and Blue:
"It makes you feel more comfortable with everybody up there," Ekiyor said. "We already know each other from being in the same city. You get more people from Indy supporting you too because basically all of the best players are heading to Michigan. It just gives you a level of being comfortable."
While Michigan will have to sweat out more visits, Ekiyor's commitment looks to be firmer than we believed last week.
[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]
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