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Loading ...Top 15 of the Last 15: #6
For the next indeterminate amount of time, I will be counting down my top 15 offensive and defensive players from the last 15 years. Today, I unveil my picks at #8 for each side of the ball:
A couple of personal favorites today as we hurtle towards the top five. Fasten your seatbelts, ladies and gentlemen.
Offense: Jake Long, OT, 2004-2007
Right this way, sir.
Jake Long. Freshman All-American. Three-time All-Big Ten selection. Two-time consensus All-American. Two-time Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year. Outland Trophy finalist. Lombardi Award finalist. Two-time team captain. No. 1 overall draft pick. The reason we ran stretch left so damn much. Owner of the most intimidating tribal tattoo in the Big Ten. All these accolades amassed despite missing most of his sophomore season.
To watch Jake Long play tackle was to witness dominance at its purest form. He started 40 career games (including 30 straight to end his career) and gave up two (two!) sacks, one of which was to Vernon Gholston, a future top-five pick (and I have a few questions about his, shall we say, chemical integrity). He didn’t commit a penalty during his senior season. I’ve never heard Lloyd Carr be this effusive about a player:
“I had one of the most respected coaches in the NFL say to me at Michigan’s (March 14) pro day, ‘In my experience, there aren’t many can’t-miss guys. Jake Long is a can’t-miss guy,’ ” former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr says, without identifying the coach. “I coached 30 years in the Big Ten Conference. What I would say about Jake Long is, there’s always a lot of discussion about, ‘Who is the greatest football player you ever saw at Michigan?’ “Jake Long belongs in that discussion.”
“Jake Long belongs in that discussion.”
Why is that?
“There’s nothing that he lacks,” Carr says. “He’s a great competitor, a great leader, and has great unselfishness. He is tough, extremely smart and has great, great pride. He wants to win every down.”
I started going to Michigan in the fall of 2006, and I’ve seen a lot of football players walking around campus. No player commanded the wide berth that Jake Long did. He is a strikingly imposing person, 6-7, 315, that tattoo wrapping around an arm that is easily twice as wide as my leg. If he was standing in my room as I wrote this right now, he would shoot up to No. 1 on this list. Just ask former Florida DE Derrick Harvey (the No. 8 pick in the 2008 NFL Draft) what it’s like to be in close quarters with Long:
That didn’t look very fun. I’m pretty sure nobody enjoyed facing Jake Long during his illustrous four-year career at Michigan. He edges out Steve Hutchinson on my list because he plays a more important position and was not surrounded by the offensive line talent Hutch was. No. 6, unless he shows up at my house.
Defense: Marlin Jackson, CB/S, 2001-2004
Marlin making one of his 34 career pass breakups.
Other than the immortal Charles Woodson, I’ve never seen a better lockdown corner don the Maize and Blue than Marlin Jackson. If not for one wasted season at safety as a junior, he’d probably be higher on this list. With 34 career pass breakups, he sits third all-time in Michigan’s record book, and when you factor in how little teams threw at him, that figure (along with his nine career interceptions) is remarkable. According to Jackson’s All-American page on Michigan’s football history website, opposing teams threw away from him almost 87 percent of the time as a senior. Receivers just did not get open when he covered them. He was an All-American as both a sophomore and a senior, and in all likelihood would have been a three-time All-American if not for the ill-fated safety experiment.
Jackson’s finest moment, in my mind, came when he was only a sophomore, playing in the opener against ninth-ranked Washington. The Huskies featured quarterback Cody Pickett and wideout Reggie Williams, who was the ninth overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft. That game will forever be remembered for the Phillip Brabbs Redemption Kick, but Marlin turned in a career performance. Yes, Williams finished with six catches for 72 yards. However, not one of those catches went for a touchdown, and Jackson broke up a Wolverine single-game record six passes. Teams quickly learned that it wasn’t worth it to try to throw his way, regardless of how good the receiver was.
If that wasn’t his best game, than the 2004 Purdue game certainly is in the discussion. Purdue came into the game with a potent aerial attack, highlighted by receiver Taylor Stubblefield, who would eventually break the NCAA career receptions record. Marlin shadowed him all game, giving up only one reception for ten yards. Again, his effort was overshadowed by another huge play late in the game, this time Ernest Shazor’s hit on Dorien Bryant that forced a fumble and sealed the game for Michigan.
Jackson was so good you often didn’t notice him, which places him in the category just behind the likes of Woodson (so good you notice him even though the other team avoids him like the plague). For that, he earns the No. 6 spot on this list.
Agree? Disagree? Want to share your favorite Long and Jackson moments? Be sure to drop a comment, and remember that I’ll be taking submissions for your top 15 offensive and defensive players (and top five special teamers) until I’m done with the list. Post your lists in the comments, or shoot me an email at ace@thewolverineblog.com, and I’ll compile the lists for the final post alongside the lists of members of The Wolverine staff. Make sure to check back every weekday: next I post the #5 players for offense and defense.
Link to all Top 15 of the Last 15 posts
The list so far:
Offense:
15. Marquise Walker
14. Chris Perry
13. Chad Henne
12. Jerame Tuman
11. Brian Griese
10. Anthony Thomas
9. Tom Brady
8. Mario Manningham
7. Steve Hutchinson
6. Jake Long
Defense:
15. William Carr
14. Leon Hall
13. Ian Gold
12. James Hall
11. Rob Renes
10. Alan Branch
9. Marcus Ray
8. Dhani Jones
7. Jarrett Irons
6. Marlin Jackson
Special Teams:
5. Zoltan Mesko
4. Marquise Walker
3. Garrett Rivas
2. Steve Breaston
1. Remy Hamilton
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