It's past The Game and nobody on the roster could currently blow a redshirt by playing in the bowl, so let's check in on who got through this season without losing a year of eligibility! A simplified version of this can be found at the Depth Chart by Class and you're all welcome to my database of Michigan players since the recruiting class of 1990. We'll go through the data, and then I'll have some graphs at the end so you can visualize this year's team against others of recent memory based on experience, size, type of player on the field, and star power.

Quarterback

Starters: Shea Patterson started all 12 games despite suffering a somewhat debilitating oblique injury on the first play of the season.

Depth Chart: Dylan McCaffrey and Joe Milton, in that order, were the backups. McCaffrey got some live play and even a shot at replacing Shea against Wisconsin but his injury in that game locked in Shea as the starter.

Redshirts: Cade McNamara didn't play.

Attrition/Graduation: Patterson will graduate, Milton and McCaffrey are expected to battle for the starting job next year. The loser of that battle might be a playing time transfer down the road.

[Hit THE JUMP if you like to roster!!!]

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Running Back

Starters: True freshman Zach Charbonnet started the first six games but the back half of the season saw the emergence of Hassan Haskins.

Depth Chart: After a round of fumbles early on pushed Christian Turner to the backburner. Preseason predictions of Tru Wilson starting were killed by Charbonnet's immediate emergence as a plus pass protector. By the end of the year it was Haskins, Charbonnet, Wilson, Turner. Ben VanSumeren was technically here with the fullback position eradicated early in the year. It reemerged as part of the tight ends so I'll discuss it there.

Redshirts: None. Turner played in 10 games.

Attrition/Graduation: Tru graduates but they'll get back Chris Evans next year it appears, with Blake Corum joining them. It's plausible Turner's upset with his role but it's not like any other school is going to have a spot better than fourth.

Tight End

Starters: An injury to Sean McKeon, who started all six of the nine games he was available, opened the door for Nick Eubanks to start 10 games.

Depth Chart: After the top two emerged true freshman Erick All, closely followed by Luke Schoonmaker. Mustapha Muhammad was invisible. BEN MASON returned to offense for the back end of the season in an H-back role that was technically part of the tight ends group. He was a specialty player, with Ben VanSumeren his backup. Don't call it a fullback!

Redshirts: None.

Attrition/Graduation: Sean McKeon probably could have gotten a redshirt but opted instead to declare for the NFL draft. Muhammad announced midseason he intends to transfer. That leaves Eubanks, All, and Schoonmaker for next year's rotation, with rising Matt Hibner and Shea's little brother Nick incoming.

Wide Receiver/Slot Receiver

Starters: Ronnie Bell(!) led the group with 9 starts, mostly as a slot receiver, followed by 8 apiece for Donovan Peoples-Jones and Nico Collins, six for Tarik Black, and one each for the freshmen slots Giles Jackson and Mike Sainristil.

Depth Chart: Fuzzy because Peoples-Jones began the season injured, but for most of the season it was a top three of Collins (split end), DPJ (flanker), and Bell (slot), with Bell and Black the top backups at either outside position, and Sainristil and Jackson competing closely as the backup slot. Cornelius Johnson won the job after Black. At slot the program rumor was Sainristil had hands problems, which bore out a bit during the season, but is the better route runner, while Jackson is the greater athlete.

Various walk-on contributors from the past disappeared. Jake McCurry had a broken bone in his foot in spring and that's the last we heard of him. Nate Schoenle was also injured this spring and

Redshirts: As a mostly quarterback in high school George Johnson III was a lock to redshirt. He may not even stick at receiver given the need at defensive back.

Attrition/Graduation: They lost two in the preseason: Oliver Martin transferred to Iowa at the start of the season and got his waiver, even playing against his old teammates when Iowa came to town. Quintel Kent medically retired. They could lose one or two more to the pros: No word yet on whether any of Michigan's top group will jump to the NFL. Collins has the film and DPJ the athleticism to be of interest to the NFL but both may be leaning toward staying. It would be quite the coup to keep them all.

Offensive Tackle

Starters: With the fall camp injury to Andrew Stueber, Jaylen Mayfield started all 12 games at right tackle. Ryan Hayes started the first two games at left tackle until Jon Runyan (10 starts) was healthy enough to resume his role. Runyan was All Big Ten.

Depth Chart: Clearly Hayes was the top backup after the Stueber injury, and even got on the field in rotation or as a super tight end at times. They also borrowed freshman Karsen Barnhart, their favorite up-and-coming OL prospect, who played left tackle in garbage time against MTSU and Rutgers, as well as Joel Honigford, who got some snaps at right tackle. Walk-ons Griffin Korican and Dan Jokisch got a little bit of playing time against Rutgers.

Redshirts: Horray we got 'em all! Barnhart played just two games, and both Trente Jones and Trevor Keegan didn't see the field. From coaches' comments it seems all three are on track to be starters down the line.

Attrition/Graduation: Runyan will leave a big hole but they should get back Stueber.

Guard

Starters: True seniors Ben Bredeson and Michael Onwenu started every game.

Depth Chart: Former backup center Stephen Spanellis spent the season at guard, specifically right guard, with Honigford practicing outside. Left guard during backup hour was Chuck Filiaga. We never really got to see the official third team, as walk-ons Greg Robinson (NTGR) and Griffin Korican came in during the rare garbage time. Freshman Nolan Rumler started the season expected to see the field in some capacity, but did not.

Redshirts: Both Rumler and Jack Stewart redshirted.

Attrition/Graduation: Damn all the things that Bredeson and Onwenu had to play as true freshmen since Michigan will have to replace both all-Big Ten guards next year. The upshot is everyone else will probably still around at least until the battle to replace them is settled.

Center

Starters: Cesar Ruiz started every game.

Depth Chart: The post-Stueber shift also affected us here, with former walk-on Andrew Vastardis coming in at center whenever Ruiz wasn't needed. There was some disagreement earlier this year whether Rumler or Zach Carpenter was at center, but it appears Carpenter settled into it.

Redshirts: Carpenter

Attrition/Graduation: Ruiz did not have the kind of season that would propel him onto draft boards so everyone should be back.

Defensive Tackle

Starters: Carlo Kemp started all 12 games at nose tackle, which for many games was the only tackle on the field on the first snap as Michigan went with a 3-3-5 look instead. The three games they did use a second DT on the first snap went to BEN MASON in the opener, and Michael Dwumfour twice.

Depth Chart: Dwumfour was unavailable early in the season so Donovan Jeter was the #1 real DT at the time, with MASON a sort of specialty piece. MASON was finally moved back to offense when that experiment didn't go well. Jeter was then passed by freshman Chris Hinton, who by Ohio State was basically sharing the role with Dwumfour. By Maryland Jeter was a ghost; freshman Mazi Smith was third team against Maryland. At nose, Kemp's first backup was "I'm sorry Carlo, you have to stay on the field," followed by walk-on/spring OL convert Jess Speight, and then redshirt freshman Julius Welschof.

Redshirts: Mazi Smith played in only that Maryland game so he preserved his redshirt. Mike Morris didn't play.

Attrition/Graduation: Michigan will try to get a retroactive redshirt on Carlo Kemp. Phillip Paea and spring hype leader Donovan Jeter both fell behind this year's freshmen so either or both could be gone next year. Jeter was an early enrollee so it's possible he's in line for a grad transfer after the winter semester.

Defensive End

Starters: Aidan Hutchinson started all 12 games at strongside ("Anchor"), Kwity Paye started 11 at weakside, and Mike Danna got the one (Illinois) extra.

Depth Chart: The big three rotated all season, much of which was spent in three-man lines that utilized the anchor-ness of the two starters. When we did see a third string it was Luigi Vilain at weakside end and Taylor Upshaw at anchor. It was reported that Welschof was in this mix too until he volunteered to try out tackle.

Redshirts: Both David Ojabo and Gabe Newburg did not see the field. That was expected; Ojabo came in Taco-like raw, and Newburg looks more like a skinny tight end right now.

Attrition/Graduation: Mike Danna was a one-year rental, so they'll need either Luigi Vilain to step into his role or one of the freshmen to be ready.

Inside Linebacker

Starters: Jordan Glasgow seized the WLB role and started every game. Josh Ross started the first three games at MLB until his injury, when Cam McGrone stepped in to start the last nine.

Depth Chart: McGrone was #2 at MLB and Jordan Anthony #2 at WLB to start the season, with former starter Devin Gil apparently behind both. After the injury to Ross, Anthony was at MLB and Gil was the primary backup at WLB, but there was little in the way of rotation.

Redshirts: McGrone was good enough that they held out Ross so he could get a redshirt for this year. Charles Thomas saw the field only on special teams against MTSU and MSU, so he kept his redshirt.

Attrition/Graduation: Unfortunately this is the last year of eligibility for the Glasgow family. With McGrone and Ross likely to start for threst of his eligibility, Jordan Anthony recently put his name in the portal. They could also lose the fifth year of Gil to a grad transfer or firm handshake, but that would mean the depth chart after the starters is redshirt freshman Thomas and the four true freshmen.

Outside Linebacker

Starters: Khaleke Hudson started every game at Viper. Josh Uche started 9/12 games at SAM in place of a DT.

Depth Chart: There was nobody else to play the Uche role. Michigan did steal some snaps here and there for presumptive Viper heir Michael Barrett. Clearly 3rd was Anthony Solomon, who got on the stat sheet with one tackle late against Rutgers.

Redshirts: Joey Velazquez did not play, but they burned Anthony Solomon's redshirt on special teams so he's now on the same timer as Barrett. This has been your annual MGoBlog Burning Redsirts for No Reason complaint.

Attrition/Graduation: Khaleke is out of eligibility and Uche has declared for the NFL.

Safety

Starters: With a move to a two-high these jobs were no longer really that defined but strong safety ("Rover") Josh Metellus started every game while free safety Brad Hawkins started the first ten before ceding the last two starts to five-star freshman Daxton Hill. The dime safety job was Hill's from the get-go.

Depth Chart: Hill was the primary backup at both spots. After him Michigan used Sammy Faustin at free safety and walk-on Hunter Reynolds at Rover. Walk-on Luis Grodman was next in line via the program but only the afore mentioned five played any snaps.

Redshirts: Quinten Johnson lost the whole season to injury. J'Marick Woods technically got a redshirt but he's gone.

Attrition/Graduation: J'Marick Woods entered the transfer portal mid-season, presumably after the former rotation piece (and onetime starter in 2017) realized his best shot at starting ever again would be a move to Viper. Speculation on German Green is waaaaaay too early; he's a still-growing guy who played on special teams some this year, his twin brother is moving up the depth chart, and German won a couple of Scout Team Player of the Week nods this season.

Cornerback

Starters: The miracle of the season was Ambry Thomas getting past his scary stomach issue in time to start all 12 games. Lavert Hill is the one who missed a game this season, with rotational third piece Vincent Gray starting the Illinois game. Gray was also the nickel corner this year.

Depth Chart: Other than the three primary cornerbacks, after the first few weeks Michigan was comfortable playing only Gemon Green. Talk of freshman DJ Turner popping amounted to nothing. Rather the guy after Green was former safety Jaylen Kelly-Powell, who made at-times disastrous appearances against MTSU and Maryland.

Redshirts: DJ Turner played in three games on special teams so he can play in the bowl game and preserve his redshirt. Jalen Perry did not see the field. Jaylen Kelly-Powell also kept his participation to just three games, which means he can return next year at Michigan or graduate and have two years to play (immediately) elsewhere if he chooses.

Attrition/Graduation: Lavert Hill's time is up. There's an off chance Ambry tests the NFL waters. Losing him too would be a disaster, as Michigan really didn't want to go past Gray this year. It's likely, given they have just one commit currently and the battles for the athletes they want come with tactics they're not willing to use, Michigan will be active in the grad transfer market.

Special Teams

Starters: Kicker was an odd timeshare this year between Jake Moody and Quinn Nordin, the exact details of which are too complex for even this article. The thing to know is there were not specific roles; they took turns, with three extra points counting as a turn. Will Hart was the punter all season until Brad Robbins replaced him against Ohio State. Camaron Cheeseman held onto his starting long snapper role despite grad transfer Trey Harper joining them this year from Robert Morris, and Hart was the holder except on the two-point conversion McCaffrey ran in versus Indiana.

The kick returner was Giles Jackson all year; Michael Barrett's one return was a short kick. Donovan Peoples-Jones was the punt returner; when he was out early in the season it went to Ronnie Bell.

Khaleke Hudson completed his career (minus bowl game) as the greatest punt blocker in modern Michigan history.

Depth Chart: I already mentioned the kicking, punting, and holding situations, and backup punt returner. I'll add Mike Sainristil and Lavert Hill got some punt return shots, and Sainristil was listed as the next guy on kickoff returns.

Experience Graph

This was actually one of the younger teams Michigan has fielded since Bo, even without accounting for younger backups of various veterans. The number at the top of each bar here is the average year at Michigan, with the proportion provided by each position group broken off into colors.

We can see this another way as the percentage of starts by class:

This shows a much bigger difference between this year, when there was a reasonable mix of upperclassmen and kids, versus the infamous 2017 season when half the guys on the field hadn't been on campus for a year. It was, however, another very small proportion of fifth years, with the same proportion of teenagers on the field as during the Rich Rod years.

I think this is probably more representative of what things will be like under Harbaugh, even if we are still on the tail end of the 2016 rebuild. If you pulled these graphs for Ohio State they'd look even younger. Players expect to play early, and have more transfer options these days. That's good for the players, who used to get stuck on the bench when another school could badly use them, and I don't begrudge it. But it does mean Michigan's going to have to keep adapting to it, either by recruiting more advanced high schoolers (fortunately another shift in recent years) or by playing the transfer market more aggressively. This they've done somewhat—you'll note they've upped their recruiting from places like Georgia and recruit from IMG and other power programs where high schoolers are getting a higher level of coaching. They've also used transfers more; this year the starting quarterback as well as an important rotation defensive end came from other programs.

Size

Big offensive line again, but the #SpeedinSpace didn't bring the skill position mix anywhere close to the Rich Rod lows. A lot of that was the backs—Charbonnet and Haskins are quite big—but Michigan also kept using a lot of two-TE sets all season. And it's not like their receivers are that tiny.

I thought the front seven averages were interesting—I include nickels in there but it shows the mix of weight on the field hasn't changed that much as it's shifted. This year was a relative low thanks to the small defensive line and linebackers.

Offensively…

I tried to order this graph with the heavier positions on top and the spread positions on the bottom. This year had zero fullback starts, with more use of their wide receivers. I noted a difference between using, say, Ronnie Bell (a receiver) and Giles Jackson/Sainristil (slots) because their roles are different. This was less a return to Rich Rod's formations than the late-Carr mix. The slot bugs got about as much play as Calvin Bell used to.

Star Power

While I had the graph open I thought I would take a look at the star power on the field. As before these are proportional representations of the relative recruiting rankings (my composite of 24/7, Rivals, ESPN, etc. over the years) for every season for which I have complete data. Obviously this isn't a performance metric, since the peaks don't coincide with great years. However it's a new way of looking at recruiting, based on how much star power you're both acquiring and then putting on the field:

Harbaugh did an amazing job to get this metric back to where it was in the early Carr years, but you do see the dip this year, particularly in the defensive line, where Rashan Gary (4.98), Chase Winovich (3.89) and the combo of Bryan Mone (4.20) and Aubrey Solomon (4.85) were replaced with Aidan Hutchinson (4.41), Kwity Paye (3.69) and the combo of Josh Uche (3.63) and Mike Dwumfour (3.52).