The position previews forge on with a look at the most disconcerting position group on the roster — the cornerbacks:

Returning Contributors: J.T. Floyd (RS So.), James Rogers (Sr.), Teric Jones (So.), Tony Anderson (RS Jr.)
Incoming Freshmen: Courtney Avery, Cullen Christian, Terrence Talbott
Key Departures: Donovan Warren, Boubacar Cissoko, Justin Turner

Returning Player Stats:

The Projected Starters: Standout senior Donovan Warren will line up across from junior Boubacar Cissoko, who is poised for a breakout year after starting all 12 games as a sophomore.

Senior Troy Woolfolk can play either safety or corner, and is a solid option as a nickel corner, while blue-chip freshman Demar Dorsey is also competing for a big role in 2010 after an impressive showing in fall drills.

Redshirt freshman Justin Turner is also in line for a breakout year after being one of the country’s top defensive back recruits in 2009.

We all know the story by now: Michigan’s secondary is a decimated unit after a series of unfortunate events — Boubacar Cissoko getting kicked off the team, Donovan Warren leaving school early, Demar Dorsey and Adrian Witty (again) being denied admittance, Justin Turner transferring, Troy Woolfolk suffering a season-ending injury — leaves only unproven veterans and true freshmen battling for time at cornerback.

With all that has transpired, redshirt sophomore J.T. Floyd is now the team’s de facto number one cornerback, coming off a season in which he saw little playing time after appearing unready to see the field when he played in the opener against Western Michigan. Floyd is a former three-star recruit who played safety in high school, and he has earned the praises of the coaching staff and practice observers for his improvement since the end of last season. How much he has improved will go a long way towards determining the success of the Wolverine defense this season.

While Floyd is cemented as the team’s top corner, who will start across from him is a questions that thus far remains unanswered. As it stands right now, senior James Rogers appears to have the inside track on the job. Rogers started his career at cornerback before switching to wide receiver in 2008, but he moved back over to corner during the 2009 season when the team needed more depth at the position. Rogers is a former high school track star and at 6-1, 183 pounds, he has great physical attributes for a corner — the question will be if he can play with proper technique after bouncing between offense and defense throughout his collegiate career. If he wins the job, expect Rogers to be serviceable, but the ceiling here — especially in comparison to a guy like Cullen Christian — is relatively low.

The Competition: A trio of true freshmen — four-star Cullen Christian and three-stars Courtney Avery and Terrence Talbott — will compete not just for playing time, but to start alongside Floyd as the 2010 season rapidly approaches. Christian is the highest-rated of the group, has the most college-ready body (6-0, 187 lbs.), and possesses very good cover skills, but he must improve on his tackling if he wants to see significant time. Avery has been mentioned as the freshman who could see the field the soonest, despite being a three-star prospect who played mainly quarterback in high school. He is a very good athlete, but at 5-11, 167 pounds he needs to add some weight, and soon. Talbott, at 5-11, 171 pounds, is also in need of some bulk, and he is also a pretty raw prospect — on the plus side, he was a strong tackler in high school, a quality the coaches are really looking for in all their defensive backs. My guess is Christian sees the most playing time of the three freshmen based on overall talent and size, but everything is very much up in the air right now.

Sophomore Teric Jones has bounced around enough times to make even James Rogers’s head spin: Jones arrived on campus as a three-star running back/slot receiver prospect, but was moved to cornerback last fall and saw brief mop-up duty against Eastern Michigan and Delaware State while spending most of his nine appearances on special teams. This spring he moved to safety to compete to back up Jordan Kovacs at bandit, but was moved once again to cornerback after Woolfolk’s injury. Jones has ideal speed for a corner and hits surprisingly well for a 5-9, 195-pound defensive back, but he will have to learn proper corner technique in a hurry if he wants to see the field this year.

Others: Redshirt junior Kelvin Grady was moved this week from slot receiver to cornerback, and considering Grady’s outstanding scrimmage performance as a receiver last Saturday, this says a lot about the depth and quality at cornerback right now. [EDIT: Guess that rumor wasn't true. Thanks to commenter Steve for the heads up.]

Redshirt junior walk-on Tony Anderson has played on special teams throughout his career at Michigan and could see time at corner if the situation calls for it, but he’s unlikely to get significant time on defense unless the team gets hit with even more injuries. True freshman Carvin Johnson has seen practice time at both safety, his natural position, and cornerback, but with three other true freshmen at corner I don’t foresee him having much of an impact here.

Outlook:
Okay, planning for a nuclear attack may be a bit over the top, but let’s look at this situation rationally for a minute: Michigan’s top corner will be a redshirt sophomore whose most memorable moment as a Wolverine was getting torched by a Western Michigan receiver in garbage time last year. That’s our top corner. The other spot will be manned either by a senior who has switched positions multiple times without ever seeing significant playing time or a true freshman. Behind that, we have more true freshmen and a walk-on who has only seen time on special teams. While it is conceivable that this unit could be something besides a complete disaster, well, the reality points to expecting something close to worst-case scenario. I will be very, very happy if I’m dead wrong about this position, but after two years of having my optimistic expectations crushed, I’m going to seek shelter in a bunker of realistic pessimism. My apologies if you expecting some comfort from this preview — here’s a winking puppy to make you feel better.

Previous Position Previews: Quarterback, Running Back, Outside Receiver, Slot Receiver, Tight End, Offensive Tackle, Interior Offensive Line, Defensive Tackle, Defensive End, Linebacker

For every position preview, click here or hit the “2010 Position Previews” tag at the bottom of the post.

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• Justin Turner Leaves Michigan
• There’s a Middle Ground on Turner Departure
• 2010 Official Depth Chart Breakdown: Defense/Special Teams
• Position Threat Levels: Severe
• A (Very) Early Look at the 2010 Defense

I’ll get this out of the way right now: In no way should Troy Woolfolk’s devastating leg injury — and the resulting nightmare of a depth chart — have any bearing on Rich Rodriguez’s job status at Michigan. To say Rodriguez has had horrible luck with cornerbacks during his tenure in Ann Arbor would do a disservice to the term ‘horrible.’ AnnArbor.com has a brief rundown of how Michigan got so thin at the position, and it isn’t pretty:

In addition to [Justin] Turner’s untimely departure, Donovan Warren left school early after the 2009 season to enter the NFL Draft, expecting to be a mid-round draft pick. Instead, he signed an unrestricted free-agent deal with the New York Jets.

This spring, the Wolverines signed highly touted recruit Demar Dorsey. He could have played safety or cornerback, but the university denied his admission.

Boubacar Cissoko started the first four games of the season at right cornerback last year, but was kicked off the team for violating internal rules, and subsequently pled guilty to four robbery charges.

Adrian Witty was a highly touted 2009 cornerback recruit, but never made it to campus as a non-qualifier.

You could argue that Rodriguez brought some of this upon himself: Witty and Dorsey were both his recruits and neither met Michigan’s academic standards (Witty wasn’t admitted by the school in 2010 after meeting NCAA eligibility requirements one year after being recruited), but few were complaining when the Wolverines added Dorsey on signing day to a strong crop of 2010 corners, and nobody could have foreseen just how desperately the Wolverines would need instant-impact corners at the time.

As for the others, Warren was a Lloyd Carr recruit — and Michigan’s top corner — who didn’t wait for his NFL draft evaluation before declaring early, and Cissoko was another Carr holdover who let off-field demons get the best of his career in Ann Arbor. Rodriguez can hardly be blamed for either departure. And Turner? Having one of the nation’s top 50 prospects decide he doesn’t want to work hard enough to play Division I football came as a surprise to everyone — he was a can’t-miss prospect who missed, and nothing in his recruiting profile raised any red flags until he showed up late and out of shape for his freshman season. Even then, fans expected Turner would turn it around and compete for a starting role this fall, but Turner never fully committed himself to football, and now he’s gone.

Rich Rodriguez has done everything he could to hold together the cornerback position. In 2008, with former five-star Warren and the talented Woolfolk already on the roster, he added Cissoko (a four-star and Rivals.com’s No. 4 corner) and three-star J.T. Floyd (unlike Cissoko, not a Carr holdover, as he committed after the coaching change). In the class of 2009, he locked up Turner, Scout.com’s No. 3 corner, and added Witty for depth. When Witty didn’t qualify and Warren departed early for the NFL, Rodriguez loaded up on 2010 corners with Army All-American Cullen Christian and three-star prospects Courtney Avery and Terrence Talbott, and pulled a recruiting coup when he landed Dorsey on signing day. Of those players, only Floyd and the three freshmen (excluding Dorsey, of course) remain healthy and on the team. The last thing this team could afford was a serious injury to the only experienced corner, and that’s exactly what happened yesterday.

Until we see what Greg Robinson and the defense can make out of Michigan’s depleted secondary, we won’t know just how large of an impact Woolfolk’s injury will have on the defense. At this point, however, it’s tough not to measure that impact in losses — multiple ones at that — and I only hope that Dave Brandon, as well as the Michigan fans, take that into account in what has been billed as a make-or-break year for Rich Rodriguez.

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Over the next couple weeks, I’ll be examining the foundation for the 2010 Michigan Wolverines: the five recruiting classes, from 2006 to 2010, that comprise the team. So far, I’ve examined the class of 2006 and the class of 2007. Today, I move on to this year’s juniors and redshirt sophomores from the class of 2008:

Class of 2008 (Sorted by Rivals.com Ranking):

Who’s Left?

16 of the 25 prospects from the 2008 class still remain in Ann Arbor, and while many of the blue-chip players from the class are gone, there are several solid contributors remaining: Darryl Stonum, Michael Shaw, Kevin Koger, Mike Martin, Roy Roundtree, Martavious Odoms, J.T. Floyd, and Patrick Omameh have all seen starts for the Wolverines, and players like J.B. Fitzgerald, Ricky Barnum, Elliott Mealer, Kenny Demens, and Mike Cox are either pushing for playing time or in line to compete for a starting spot down the road.

Martin, Odoms, and Roundtree have all shown all-conference potential so far in their careers, and Omameh could soon join them on that list after locking down a starting guard spot as a redshirt freshman last season. Given the sheer depth of talent in this class, however, it’s hard not to be somewhat disappointed in the production they have given so far. A lot of the reason for that has to do with…

Who’s Gone?

While the class of 2008, at least percentage-wise, hasn’t seen the sheer attrition of the previous class (2007 has just 11 of the 20 recruits remaining), the losses here have been both high-profile and critical to the performance of the team. Marcus Witherspoon and Taylor Hill, two four-star linebacker recruits, never qualified and moved on to other schools before their freshman year, leaving Michigan very thin at a critical position, something from which they’re still feeling the effects. Sam McGuffie and Boubacar Cissoko were both extremely talented players who, for different reasons, were not able to play out their careers at Michigan despite earning starting roles early in their careers. Dann O’Neill, Kurt Wermers, and Justin Feagin were all potential contributors who transferred (O’Neill and Wermers) or were booted for major legal issues (Feagin). And does anybody else think that Brandon Smith would have been perfect for one of the box safety positions in the 3-3-5? Unfortunately, we won’t find out, as he transferred as well.

The Upshot:

This is the third consecutive class that didn’t come close to living up to its lofty ranking, at least so far. Obviously, with 2-3 years of eligibility remaining, there is still a lot of time for this class to change that perception, especially with talents like Martin, Roundtree, Odoms, and Omameh (just to name a few) still on the roster. Regardless of future potential, however, this class has still played a large role in the disappointment of the last couple seasons — it’s tough to blame a group of true freshmen for 2008′s 3-9 season, but a class this deep should have had more guys ready to make major contributions as sophomores last season, when the team was very short on upperclassmen. The next couple seasons will be what truly cements the legacy of this class, but they will have to make great strides as a team to be thought of as anything but a disappointment, especially if they get lumped in with the previous two classes.

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• The Foundation: A Look at the 2007 Recruiting Class
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• The 2008 Recruiting Class, Now 17 Strong

Yesterday I took my (very) early look at the 2010 offense. Today, we take a look at the dark side of the moon defense, which should return nine starters from a unit that, well, stunk in 2009. [Note: I will be referring to players by what class they will be in for 2010. For example, Donovan Warren will be referred to as a senior.]

Defensive End: Might as well get this out of the way — Brandon Graham will be sorely missed, no matter how good his replacements are. It’s tough to replace 10.5 sacks and 26 tackles for loss with three guys (which may be what Michigan tries to do), let alone expecting just one player to step and come close to replicating that type of production. Michigan does return starter Ryan Van Bergen, who put up a solid season and could slide over into Graham’s vacated spot. He’s got the size to hold down the strong side of the line, and his five sacks show he has the ability to get to the quarterback. The other DE spot is very much up for grabs — Greg Banks and Adam Patterson are both redshirt seniors who have failed to make much of an impact in their four years in the program, while redshirt freshman Anthony LaLota was an Army All-American who could vault ahead of both seniors based on his prodigious talent. Incoming freshman Ken Wilkins has the frame to be a DE down the road, but at 6-4, 244, he’ll probably take a redshirt year. The hybrid LB/DE spot has a lot fewer questions, as Craig Roh came in the fall and locked down the starting role as a true freshman. If he adds some bulk, he could become a real force as a pass-rusher and speedy playmaker on the edge. Junior Brandon Herron will return as his backup, and incoming freshman Jordan Paskorz will provide depth, although he will likely redshirt as well given the returning players at the positon.

Defensive Tackle: There’s a lot of promise at DT for the Wolverines, with talented junior Mike Martin returning along with senior Renaldo Sagesse and sophomore (and former five-star recruit) Will Campbell. Martin struggled a bit as he adapted to playing the nose tackle in Greg Robinson’s hybrid defense, but was still one of the Wolverines’ most consistent performers on defense. Both Sagesse and Campbell showed solid improvement as the season wore on, and should get solid playing time in 2010. One possibility that has been thrown around by Michigan fans is for Martin to slide over to Van Bergen’s position, with Van Bergen taking Graham’s DE spot and Sagesse or Campbell taking over at nose tackle. If Sagesse or Campbell can hold their ground at nose tackle, I like this possibility, as it frees up Martin to be more of a threat to penetrate into the backfield (something he did with regularity as a freshman) and gives Michigan more size up front to stop the running game. We’ll have to wait until the spring, at the earliest, to see if this is an option. Michigan has also secured a commitment from DT Terry Talbott, but at 6-4, 255, he’ll probably take a redshirt year to add some weight before he sees the field.

Linebacker: If it wasn’t for the safeties, no position group would scare me as much as the linebackers (and it’s pretty close, anyway). Stevie Brown, who turned into Michigan’s most consistent linebacker in 2009, is gone from the weakside spot, leaving seniors Obi Ezeh and Jonas Mouton as the Wolverines’ returning starters. Ezeh and Mouton both took steps back this fall, struggling to the point of being benched multiple times in the latter half of the season. The Wolverines will need to see more aggressiveness from Ezeh, more discipline from Mouton, and a better understanding of Robinson’s schemes from both if the defense is going to improve substantially next year. Both will face competition, as redshirt junior (and former walk-on) Kevin Leach and juniors J.B. Fitzgerald and Kenny Demens all saw the field last season. Fitzgerald, a former four-star recruit, has the best change to take one of the middle linebacker spots, but don’t sleep on Demens, who saw limited action but is an athletic freak who could emerge as an upperclassman. The competition is even more open for Brown’s old spot, with sophomore Brandin Hawthorne and redshirt freshmen Isaiah Bell and Mike Jones all in the mix, potentially joined by redshirt sophomore Brandon Smith, who bounced between linebacker and safety but looks more promising (in my opinion) as a linebacker candidate. The bad news for Michigan is this position group played very poorly in 2009, and loses their best player. The good news is that there are a lot of talented players vying for just three spots. Hopefully some spirited competition, as well as a year of experience under Robinson, will fuel some better play in 2010.

Cornerback: Despite losing Boubacar Cissoko, and having a revolving door at the second cornerback spot all season, this group actually looks like it will have a lot of depth next season. Senior Donovan Warren has said that he will return next season (he will ask the NFL about his draft status, but unless he gets told he’ll be a first-rounder, he’ll likely be back), giving Michigan a lock-down cornerback on one side of the field. The status of the other corner spot will be determined by senior Troy Woolfolk, and specifically whether he’ll stay at corner or return to safety. If he does stay at corner, he’ll be the man opposite Warren, and his solid performance in 2009 — despite being moved from safety mid-season — gives Michigan a chance to have two very dependable cornerbacks in 2010. Redshirt sophomore J.T. Floyd will be back, and should provide depth or potentially start if Woolfolk is a safety, and sophomore Teric Jones should improve with a full year at cornerback under his belt. Redshirt freshman Justin Turner is the big wild card here — the highly-touted prospect was being hailed as the next great Wolverine corner before academic issues forced a redshirt. He could see the field — and start — at either corner or safety, depending on need and his ability to adapt to the college game. Michigan also has commitments from three cornerback prospects — Courtney Avery, Terrence Talbott, and Adrian Witty (who qualified after sitting out last season and enroll in January) — and are the favorites for Rivals100 prospect Cullen Christian (who will announce his decision tonight) and three-star Tony Grimes. Senior James Rodgers, who has bounced around between receiver and defensive back his whole career, will also provide depth. That’s a lot of bodies at corner, so we could (and probably will) see at least one player switch over to safety. It feels strange to say this, but I’m actually confident that the cornerbacks will be a strong point of the defense in 2010.

Safety: Oh, boy. This position was a total disaster in 2009, with Michigan trying everything from a freshman walk-on (Jordan Kovacs) to a safety-turned-linebacker-turned-safety (Brandon Smith) to just playing Donovan Warren in a deep half from the cornerback position. Michigan does return both starters, Kovacs and Mike Williams, but neither player’s job is remotely safe. Redshirt freshman Vladimir Emilien will have a shot at the starting job, and Woolfolk would be almost guaranteed a spot if he moved over. Justin Turner is also a possibility, as well as Brandon Smith and J.T. Floyd, and even redshirt freshman Thomas Gordon and walk-ons Floyd Simmons and Jared Van Slyke. In fact, you may have a shot as well. It’s that open. I’d be crazy to even begin to guess who will be playing safety when Michigan opens against UConn next fall, so the conjecture ends here. This position group could be anything from the unmitigated disaster it was in 2009 to passably competent, and anywhere in between.

Outlook: Well, the defense certainly can’t be worse than this year’s. Losing Graham will hurt tremendously, but expected improvement across the board for the rest of the defense should mean that this team will be better in 2010. How much better will depend on a wild variety of factors, especially the personnel at linebacker and in the secondary — it’s far too early to guess, and as we found out this year, even the best guesses can be horribly, horribly wrong. We’ll just have to wait and see.

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• Position Preview: Cornerback
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I hate to even do this, but before I hit the keys for Saturday, it’s time to look back at last week’s game:

1. Get pressure on Darryl Clark — Michigan recorded two sacks against Clark, and the defense actually did a solid job of getting in his face most of the afternoon. The breakdowns in pass defense don’t fall on the shoulders of the defensive line, just the linebackers and secondary (and possibly the coaches as well).
2. Make a big play in the return game — Didn’t happen. Even with Carlos Brown returning kickoffs, the team couldn’t muster a return longer than 26 yards on a day when the offense desperately needed the good field position.
3. Punch it in — Two scores (one TD, one FG) in four red zone chances is simply not going to cut it against a team as good as Penn State.
4. Slow down the pass rush — Penn State sacked Forcier five times, and Michigan got nothing going in the screen game.
5. Get off the field — Michigan didn’t do terribly on third down, limiting Penn State to 5 conversions on 15 chances, but it wasn’t exactly a stellar effort, either. The Wolverines put forth a strong effort early, giving the offense several chances to make it a game, but fell apart late. The first touchdown of the second half came on a 3rd and 9 from the 11-yard line, and Penn State converted three third-downs on their last drive to really milk the clock before hitting a field goal.

Well, that was ugly — at best, Michigan gets a 2/5 on the day. Let’s move on to Illinois:

1. Run, run, run — Michigan still has the 9th best rush offense in the country, and Illinois’ run defense gives up over 185 yards per game (101st nationally). The Wolverines need to get back to doing what they do best on offense — running the zone read successfully and basing everything else on that success. I expect to see a lot of touches for Brandon Minor and Carlos Brown, and expect a 100-yard day out of at least one of them.
2. Keep the Illini off the board early — I’m sure Illinois will be very geared up for an opportunity to knock off Michigan for their first FBS victory of the season, especially at home in a late afternoon game on Halloween. Michigan couldn’t stop their offense last year, so if Illinois scores early, it may just give them the confidence to play far above their level of play so far this year. If the Wolverines can stop the Illini early, and maybe force them to switch up quarterbacks a couple times, it’s likely that Illinois will play like the 113th-best scoring offense in the country.
3. Show me something, safeties — Michigan has spent the last several weeks unsuccessfully trying to mask the weakness at safety, even going so far as to essentially turn Donovan Warren into a deep cover guy last week while subbing Boubacar Cissoko in for Mike Williams (and moving Troy Woolfolk back to safety) on third downs. With Cissoko gone, Michigan doesn’t have that option anymore, so Williams and Jordan Kovacs will have to show a better ability to keep the play in front of them and play their assignment. If the safeties can’t improve from their disastrous performance last weekend, it could be a long day for Michigan’s defense.
4. Get the outside receivers involved — No Michigan outside receiver has more than 15 catches (Greg Mathews, and seven of those came last week), and both Junior Hemingway and Darryl Stonum have essentially disappeared as the season has wore on. Hemingway practiced this week and should be good to go after that scary collision with Warren last week. Tate needs to get the ball to these guys — the whole point of the spread offense is to spread the field vertically and horizontally (duh). Without any threat from the outside guys, the vertical threat becomes moot, and the offense bogs down. I’d like to see at least five catches out of one of the outside receivers, and for all three to get involved in the offense.
5. Just go for it — This game is a must-win for Rich Rodriguez and his staff at this point. Illinois is so bad that a loss would be catastrophic for his public perception, and a sign that the 4-0 start was a whole lot of luck. I’d like to see the coaching staff pulling no punches on this one — empty the bag of tricks, go for it on fourth down, fake a punt, slip an onsides kick in there somewhere, whatever it takes to give this team a spark. If the team loses while sitting back, I’ll go bananas. Please don’t make me go bananas.

It’s about time for a victory, and if Michigan doesn’t get one here, I don’t know where they’re going to find one. Michigan 34, Illinois 17.

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Michigan’s 2008 recruiting class was the #10 overall class in the country according to Rivals.com, and was supposed to breathe some life into the program after a sub-par recruiting effort in 2007. The 24-man class boasted 17 four-star recruits, YouTube sensation Sam McGuffie, some very quality prospects snapped up on signing day, and even an athlete projected to play quarterback. On my old website, I projected individual player outcomes from the class based on numbers from the previous decade of Michigan recruiting — these projections now read somewhere between side-splittingly hilarious and profoundly sad. The class is down to 17 men. The casualties are as follows, in order of exit from the program:

1. Taylor Hill, 4*, No. 21 OLB — Just a couple days after Michigan’s season-opening loss to Utah, Hill decided to transfer closer to home, landing with hometown Youngstown State, an FCS team.
2. Marcus Witherspoon, 4*, No. 20 OLB — Witherspoon could not qualify academically at Michigan, and transferred to Rutgers. He has yet to play for the Scarlet Knights, and has battled a shoulder injury that required surgery last October.
3. Sam McGuffie, 4*, No. 10 all-purpose back — We all know the story of McGuffie, who came in with great fanfare and had a breakout game against Notre Dame in 2008, but battled multiple concussions and transferred to Rice in January of this year.
4. Dann O’Neill, 4*, No. 10 offensive tackle — O’Neill announced his intention to transfer in June of this year, and officially made the move to Western Michigan in July, stating that he thought Western was a better fit for him.
5. Kurt Wermers, 3*, No. 37 offensive guard — Wermers transferred to Ball State in July, and made some very critical comments about the coaching staff on his way out. Soon after his transfer, it was revealed that Wermers was academically ineligible. I will withhold further comment.
6. Justin Feagin, 3*, No. 41 athlete — Feagin was dismissed from the team in late July for “violating team rules”. Those “team rules” turned out to be attempting to buy cocaine from a friend in Florida. Feagin attempted to transfer to Appalachian State, but was not admitted due to academic and legal concerns.
7. Boubacar Cissoko, 4*, No. 4 cornerback — Cissoko was kicked off the team today for violating team rules after missing team meetings and class.

It is far too early to judge the Class of ’08, as many of the players from that class have yet to find an opportunity to see the field. However, it’s tough to feel optimistic about this class. Of the 17 players still on the team, only Darryl Stonum, Kevin Koger, Michael Shaw, and Martavious Odoms (and maybe J.T. Floyd, if you’re being generous) have had a major impact on the field. There’s not really any one person to pin blame on here — I don’t really think anybody saw this coming, and I don’t know how they could have. However, the lack of depth in the ’08 class, coupled with the thin ’07 class, could really hamper Michigan’s development over the next couple years.

Similar Posts:

• The Foundation: A Look at the 2008 Recruiting Class
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Well, Michigan’s depth at secondary is now even thinner, as the Detroit Free Press is reporting that Boubacar Cissoko has been dismissed from the team:

Sophomore cornerback Boubacar Cissoko has been kicked off the Michigan football team, his high school coach, Thomas Wilcher of Detroit Cass Tech said tonight.

“He missed class, missed workouts,” said Wilcher, who said he spoke to a U-M assistant coach and Cissoko today.

I don’t have a lot to add to this one — Cissoko was given ample opportunity by the coaching staff to get his act together, and in the end, he didn’t. It’s disappointing, since despite his struggles this season he has a lot of talent and could have been a major contributor down the road. Hopefully, he’ll land on his feet somewhere and learn from his experience at Michigan. Wilcher put it much more bluntly, saying, “Now he’s got to make something, because he blew it.” He certainly did.

Hopefully Michigan can get some players to step up at corner, because the depth chart is in dire straits now: If Donovan Warren leaves after this season, the Wolverines will only return Troy Woolfolk, J.T. Floyd, Justin Turner, Teric Jones, and James Rodgers (who just switched over from receiver) at the cornerback position. In other words, it’s time to start begging Warren to stick out his senior season.

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• Woolfolk’s Injury Shouldn’t Determine Rodriguez’s Fate
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As any Michigan fan who has watched during the 2009 season can attest, the secondary has been somewhat awful. The statistics agree: Michigan is 96th in the country in pass defense (246.5 yards allowed per game), and although some of that can be attributed to poor linebacker play, the onus falls squarely on the shoulders of defensive backs not named Donovan Warren. Greg Robinson has tried three different players at the second corner spot, and of those players, one has a tenuous hold on a spot on the team (Boubacar Cissoko), one doesn’t appear to be athletic enough to guard MAC wide receivers (J.T. Floyd), and the third was a safety until last week (Troy Woolfolk, who actually had a decent game against Iowa).

The secondary is a huge concern for this season, for obvious reasons: they’re not very good, still making major personnel changes, starting a walk-on at safety, etc. However, take a look at this (the depth chart by year for this season, with a big assist from MGoBlog), keeping next season in mind:

Now take Donovan Warren out of that picture, as in all likelihood he’ll be playing on Sundays next season.

Best case scenario for 2010: Warren stays, allowing Woolfolk to develop into a solid #2 cornerback. Justin Turner turns out to be the stud defensive back we expected him to be when he committed. Boubacar Cissoko gets his act together academically and on the field. Mike Williams learns how to properly cover the deep middle in a Cover 3. Vlad Emilien or Marvin Robinson supplants Jordan Kovacs and spends much of the season terrorizing opposing backfields. Michigan gains commitments from Cullen Christian (very likely) and another 3/4 star corner to add depth to the secondary.

More realistic scenario: Warren leaves, and Michigan spends the season without a real #1 corner. Troy Woolfolk is passable, but the #2 corner is again a fiasco barring Justin Turner being the next Law/Woodson/Jackson/Hall. The safeties remain shaky, with one first-year starter taking Kovacs’ spot and Mike Williams remaining as the other safety (and hopefully learning how to cover the deep middle, please). Cullen Christian and another 3/4 star corner commit, but probably don’t contribute immediately.

Very little of this situation is the fault of the current coaching staff: Lloyd Carr’s staff had one cornerback commit in the class of 2008 before handing over the reigns to Rich Rodriguez. That commit was Boubacar Cissoko, who has had equal problems staying eligible and staying with opposing wide receivers. The other defensive back in that class, Brandon Smith, struggled as a safety and was moved to linebacker. You could argue that the Rodriguez staff needed to get another cornerback in the class of 2009, but I doubt anyone expected Justin Turner’s eligibility to be in question so deep into fall camp, and Adrian Witty failed to qualify entirely. It certainly isn’t anybody’s fault that Warren is so good that he’s a likely first-round NFL Draft pick after his junior season.

What am I saying here? There isn’t much to do except brace yourselves, because the struggles of 2009 could be what keeps the 2010 team from being a bona-fide Big Ten title contender.

Similar Posts:

• Woolfolk’s Injury Shouldn’t Determine Rodriguez’s Fate
• Position Preview: Cornerback
• Brandon Smith Transferring, and Another Look at the 2010 Defense
• Update: Cissoko Not With Team
• Boubacar Cissoko Kicked Off Team

Well, yeah, we lost this game, but there was actually a lot of good that came out of the 30-28 loss to Iowa. Here a some obsvervations from the game:

• Everybody else seems to have weighed in, so here’s my two cents on Rodriguez’s call to put Denard Robinson back in the game on the final drive: At the time, I couldn’t believe it, and on a final drive I don’t think a team should trot a player out there who causes heart attacks every time he throws downfield. It’s not just that Robinson isn’t very accurate yet; he’s never played in that situation, and he doesn’t have the arm to make up for poor decisions the way Forcier does. Yes, it turns out Forcier was concussed, and the point is moot now, but I just had a bad feeling from the moment Denard took the field. Again, just my opinion.
• The defense put in one hell of an effort, given the five (five!) Michigan turnovers on the day. The Wolverines held Iowa to just 5.1 yards per play, allowed just 34 rushing yards, scored a touchdown (albeit a gift from Ricky Stanzi, but still), AND managed a goal-line stand in the fourth quarter. If you told me they would play that well before the game, I’d have a hard time not picking Michigan to win.
• The offense, on the other hand, was somewhat of a disaster. Seven of the team’s 13 drives stalled after picking up ten yards or less, and the turnovers were so killer because almost all of them were completely unforced.
• Donovan Warren and Brandon Graham simply had monster games. I’ll never understand why Stanzi threw at Warren’s side of the field so much — he was just blanketing the Iowa receivers — but at least Stanzi had a choice to stay away from Warren. BG was blowing plays up, whether they were runs or passes, and basically lived in the Hawkeye backfield all night. These two guys are what is holding this defense together.
• Troy Woolfolk was a pleasant surprise at cornerback. He appeared to play quite well, and possesses the feel for the game that Boubacar Cissoko is lacking right now and the athleticism that J.T. Floyd just doesn’t have. Unfortunately, Mike Williams totally blew his assignment on a couple of Iowa’s touchdowns, and now we’ll have to see if the secondary gets realigned again or if the coaches will simply try to bang it into Williams’ head that he has to be the last man back at all times.
• The linebackers finally put together a complete game (at least until Brian puts out his UFR and anything I have to say here is completely mitigated). Stevie Brown clearly should have been a linebacker since day one — he made a huge play on the goal-line stand, has been a really solid tackler, and gets to plays very quickly. Ezeh and Mouton both raised their play from earlier this season — you simply don’t hold a team to 34 yards rushing if your linebackers aren’t having good games. Hopefully they can keep it up for the rest of the season.
• Huge day for the offensive line. They were opening up huge holes for the run game (which netted 195 yards on 4.3 yards per carry) and protected Forcier and Robinson very well when they dropped back (no sacks given up). Even though I think Iowa’s defense is a little overrated, that was still a big performance against a very tough defensive front. Also, nice to see Moosman snapping the ball much better — I don’t recall a single bad snap.
• It’s tough to really comment too much on the offense. Tate had a rough, rough game. He’s still a freshman, and we have to expect those kind of performances to happen every once in a while. He’s still one of the best true freshmen quarterbacks in recent memory. Denard got thrown into a really tough spot, had one great drive, and then threw a killer pick. He’ll learn from that as well. Minor’s fumble was the one turnover that shocked me — as a senior, you have to protect the ball in that situation, especially when the run was going nowhere to begin with.
• OK, I lied. Mathews’ turnover was also a stunner — he’s back there for one reason, and that’s to catch the ball. If you have to go to your knees to field a punt inside the ten, just let it go.
• Is any outside receiver going to step up on this team? Martavious Odoms and Kevin Koger continue to deliver week-in and week-out, and the outside guys continue to pull disappearing acts. This week, Stonum, Mathews, Hemingway (and Savoy, if you want to count him, since he saw a few snaps) combined for two catches and 16 yards. I realize Forcier often looks to his underneath guys first, but that’s still paltry production from a group of guys with too much talent and experience to be invisible like that.

Similar Posts:

• Five Things I’d Like to See: Purdue
• Five Things I Hope to See: Penn State
• Five Things I Hope to See: Illinois
• Observations on the Michigan State Game
• Five Things I Hope to See: Iowa

UPDATE: The rumor appears to be true ($). Cissoko is not with the team in Iowa, and it looks like Troy Woolfolk will play (and likely start) at cornerback, with Jordan Kovacs and Mike Williams starting at safety. No definitive word as to why Cissoko was left behind in Ann Arbor.

The rumors are flying about Michigan cornerback Boubacar Cissoko, who may not have made the trip to Iowa. First, MGoBlog poster mgokev:

I’ve just heard from a reliable source on the team that Boubacar Cissoko was not invited to travel with the team to Iowa today. Possibly to send him a message to step his game up because there’s no apparent injury issue with him. Thoughts?

Go Blue Michigan Wolverine has also added their two cents:

GBMW got word on Friday that he was asked to leave twice this past week during practice. Seems that he has not taken to his benching very well.

Some sites were using his injury as an excuse for how bad he has been playing this year and using the “waving of hands” after each incomplete pass even if he had nothing to do with it as an emotional boost even when he was getting torched during the Notre Dame game.

His future at Michigan is up in the air as well. Will he go just a few miles away to play football if things do not go well at Michigan? Who knows after the game they may use the “flu bug” as an excuse of him not making the trip. Will be interesting press conference after the game.

*** Rumors are swirling that a couple of players think he is gone either way.

I’m not putting much validity into any rumor until I hear something from the mouth of a coach, but if true, this is not good for a secondary that is already razor-thin and probably losing Donovan Warren to the draft next season. I’ll have more on this situation as it develops.

Similar Posts:

• A (Very) Early Look at the 2010 Defense
• Observations on the Iowa Game
• S.O.S. (Save Our Secondary)
• Boubacar Cissoko Kicked Off Team
• Five Things I Hope to See: Illinois