Earlier: 2010 Official Depth Chart Breakdown: The Offense

While the offensive side of the official depth chart lacked many unexpected moves, its defensive counterpart has some very intriguing — and unforeseen — twists:

The first thing that jumps out to me on the defensive line is the placement of sophomore Will Campbell — third string, a disappointing spot to be in for the former five-star recruit, who showed up to camp overweight at 333 pounds. He is stick behind senior Adam Patterson, who has all of eight career tackles in 25 appearances.

True freshman Jibreel Black earned a spot on the two-deep behind Ryan Van Bergen at defensive end, a very good sign from a player many thought would contribute immediately. The absence of redshirt freshman Anthony LaLota — especially in lieu of redshirt junior Steve Watson, who is on his third position in four years as a Wolverine — might not be a good sign for the former four-star prospect.

Your starting defensive line is redshirt junior Ryan Van Bergen at defensive end, junior Mike Martin at nose tackle, and redshirt senior Greg Banks defensive tackle. That’s a lot of experience along the line — this should be a strong unit up front.

They weren’t kidding about redshirt senior Mark Moundros making a serious run at Obi Ezeh for the middle linebacker spot — the former fullback is listed as a co-starter with Ezeh, who was benched late last season despite making 31 career starts in three seasons. This is a position battle that could very easily continue into the season, especially as Moundros becomes more accustomed to the defensive side of the ball. Sophomore Craig Roh and redshirt senior Jonas Mouton are your other starters. Roh is finally at the proper weight for a player who will spend the majority of his time blitzing, while Mouton has been impressive in fall practices after a disappointing 2009 season.

At cornerback, senior James Rogers gets the nod for now to start across from redshirt sophomore J.T. Floyd. As expected, the backups at corner are all true freshmen — Terrence Talbott and Cullen Christian back up Rogers, and Courtney Avery sits behind Floyd.

The biggest surprise on the depth chart is true freshman Carvin Johnson’s rise to the top of the depth chart at spur. Johnson was an unranked recruit when he first committed to Michigan, but finished as a high-ranked three-star who was creating a lot of buzz on blogs and message boards. He moves ahead of redshirt freshman Thomas Gordon, who most projected as the starter, and walk-on Floyd Simmons. Another true freshman safety, Marvin Robinson, has also landed on the two-deep — he sits behind Jordan Kovacs at bandit.

Redshirt freshman Cameron Gordon stays atop the two-deep at free safety, where is he backed up by another walk-on, redshirt junior Jared Van Slyke. Redshirt freshman Vlad Emilien, who many presumed would at the very least challenge for the starting job, is stuck at third string.

Special Teams:

The battle at placekicker is still ongoing between Brendan Gibbons, Rivals.com’s No. 8 kicker in the class of 2009, and walk-on Seth Broekhuizen, a fellow redshirt freshman. True freshman and Army All-American Will Hagerup will start at punter, with Broekhuizen at backup. It could be an up-and-down year in the kicking department with two freshman handling the specialist duties — keep in mind the team will also have to find a replacement for kickoff specialist Bryan Wright, who transferred to Bowling Green for his fifth year.

Darryl Stonum will once again be Michigan’s top kickoff returner after he averaged 25.7 yards per return in 2009 and set the school record for single-season kickoff return yards with 1,001. He will be backed up by Martavious Odoms, who is one of three receivers vying for the punt return job, along with redshirt freshman Jeremy Gallon and redshirt sophomore Terrence Robinson. Stonum should once again be an excellent return man, and Michigan should at least have a sure-handed player handling punts among the three candidates.

Similar Posts:

• 2010 Official Depth Chart Breakdown: Offense
• An Early Stab at the 2010 Depth Chart: Defense
• Early Guess at the Football Depth Chart: Now Updated for Spring
• Position Threat Levels: Severe
• A (Very) Early Look at the 2010 Defense

The position previews continue with a look at Michigan’s middle and weakside linebackers:

Returning Contributors: Obi Ezeh (RS Sr.), Jonas Mouton (RS Sr.), J.B. Fitzgerald (Jr.), Kenny Demens (RS So.), Mike Jones (So.)
Ready to Contribute: Isaiah Bell (RS Fr.), Mark Moundros (RS Sr. — moved from fullback)
Incoming Freshmen: Jake Ryan
Key Departures: Stevie Brown, Brandon Smith

Returning Player Stats:

The Projected Starters: Perhaps the most embattled player on a team full of them, redshirt senior Obi Ezeh is penciled in as the starter at middle linebacker, but keep those erasers handy — Ezeh will have to hold off a strong push from fullback-turned-linebacker Mark Moundros if he wants to keep the starting job he has held for most of the last three seasons. After leading the team with 98 tackles as a sophomore in 2008, Ezeh appeared to regress last season and was benched late in the year in favor of sophomore J.B. Fitzgerald and walk-on Kevin Leach. At 6-2, 250 pounds, Ezeh has the size and physical tools needed to be a solid middle linebacker, but tentative play marred his junior season and he must now prove he’s the best option in the middle or risk riding the pine in his final year at Michigan.

At weakside linebacker, redshirt senior Jonas Mouton is also coming off a disappointing year, but unlike Ezeh he has managed to keep a strong hold on his starting job. Mouton entered Michigan as a highly-touted safety prospect, but quickly outgrew the position before having a breakout year in 2008. Like Ezeh, Mouton’s issues at linebacker seem to stem more from the mental side than the physical — he is a gifted athlete, but was caught out of position far too often last year and was the main culprit on several big plays allowed by the defense. With defensive coordinator Greg Robinson now coaching the linebackers as well, there is hope that these mental mistakes will become a thing of the past. If they do, Mouton has the potential to be an all-conference player in 2010.

The Competition: It’s hard to believe that a former walk-on fullback would push to start at middle linebacker after switching sides of the ball before his fifth year in the program, but that’s exactly what Mark Moundros has done since moving to MLB in the spring. Moundros was very impressive in last weekend’s scrimmage, diagnosing plays quickly and delivering solid hits when he got to the football. Whether it’s feasible for him to absorb the defensive playbook, not to mention the intricacies of playing middle linebacker, well enough to start this year is a question only the coaching staff can answer, but those of us who scoffed when reports of Moundros getting time with the first team first surfaced may be eating our words come September 4.

Moundros isn’t the only backup looking to unseat one of the seniors; junior J.B. Fitzgerald and redshirt sophomore Kenny Demens are both former four-star prospects who should make a push to see the field this fall. Fitzgerald saw action at middle linebacker when Ezeh was benched late last season, and although he was caught out of position at times, he also showed flashes of playmaking ability in recording four tackles for loss (for comparison, Ezeh had five all season, while Mouton recorded just three). Fitzgerald has seen time at both inside linebacker positions and Craig Roh’s hybrid spot, and could be the team’s top backup at all three positions this fall. Demens, meanwhile, is a very solid athlete and hard hitter who has thus far only seen special teams action as a Wolverine — he appears to be behind Fitzgerald and Moundros in the linebacker pecking order, and might reprise his special teams role for another season before Ezeh and Mouton graduate in 2011.

Others: Sophomore Mike Jones enrolled early last season and proceeded to burn his redshirt for seven games of special teams action. At 6-2, 208 pounds, Jones still needs to add some size before he competes for time at linebacker, and he’ll likely see more time on special teams this year while he waits his turn.

Redshirt freshman Isaiah Bell went from high school safety to 6-1, 245-pound inside linebacker in his time at Michigan — like Jones, he will probably play mostly on special teams until the logjam ahead of him at linebacker clears up next season. True freshman Jake Ryan is an intriguing prospect with one of the best highlight tapes in the 2010 class, but he is a lock to redshirt unless the coaches want to make his this year’s version of Mike Jones.

It is worth noting that while Kevin Leach filled in at middle linebacker last year, the 6-1, 205-pound former walk-on is now practicing at spur and is unlikely to see time at his old position.

Outlook: Linebacker was the team’s most disappointing position group in 2009, but with Greg Robinson taking over coaching the position and with two redshirt seniors (tentatively) holding down starting spots, we should see improvement from this group in 2010. How much the unit improves will likely hinge on the progression of Ezeh and the coaching of Robinson — if he can get the linebackers to be in the right place at the right time, they have all the physical tools needed to make plays.

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

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

Similar Posts:

• 2010 Official Depth Chart Breakdown: Defense/Special Teams
• An Early Stab at the 2010 Depth Chart: Defense
• Five Players With the Most to Gain in Spring Practice
• Position Threat Levels: High
• A (Very) Early Look at the 2010 Defense

Fall camp opens TODAY — hallelujah! — and Michigan has released its official roster. I’m sure you’re all curious to see what numbers the true freshmen will be wearing in the fall (as well as their official listed positions, heights, and weights), so here’s the full list, including early enrollees:

[end_columns]
Some thoughts on the freshmen and other players whose positions or weights have made big changes:

• DT Richard Ash, who weighed in at a robust 320 pounds, had better be prepared for the School of Mike Barwis’s Will Campbell Program. Reports over the summer said Ash wasn’t in the best of shape, and he was listed at 263 pounds in his Rivals profile — it’s safe to say he needs to cut a lot of weight, and I’d be very surprised if he didn’t redshirt and focus on conditioning this season.
• On the opposite end of the spectrum, CBs Courtney Avery and Terrence Talbott, LB Davion Rogers, WR D.J. Williamson, DE Jordan Paskorz, and DT Terry Talbott are all going to need to add some muscle before they see the field (especially Rogers, who at 6-6 and just 200 pounds might have the ability to slip under doorcracks). You could throw SR Drew Dileo in there too, but even at just 171 pounds I’m guessing he’ll be thrown right in the mix at punt returner — he wasn’t expected to see the field as a receiver this year regardless.
• At 6-2, 200 pounds, safety Marvin Robinson could conceivably play strong or free safety — concerns that he would blow up to linebacker size are mitigated, at least for now. With little depth and a lot of question marks in the secondary, expect Robinson to push for a starting spot and see the field in some capacity this fall.
• After enrolling early in the spring, C Christian Pace has added an impressive 21 pounds, up to 280 from a very-undersized 259. Even though he’s a lock to redshirt, it’s great to see those kind of gains in the weight room — now he can focus on learning the offense and working on technique instead of worrying about getting overpowered at the college level. Mike Barwis works wonders, people.
• Moving on to the rest of the roster: DT Will Campbell is up to 333 pounds after weighing in at 324 in the spring. Big Will made huge strides to get in shape over the course of the last year, and I’m hoping that’s more added muscle — otherwise, he might take a little while to play his way into shape. If that is in fact muscle, watch out.
• Now listed at an impressive 6-8, 294 pounds, tackle Taylor Lewan continues to morph into a prototype in the Jake Long mold. The concerns about him being physically ready to play as a redshirt freshman are likely gone, and now we’ll see if he has picked up enough technique (remember, he started playing O-line in his senior year of high school) to unseat Perry Dorrestein at left tackle. I think he’ll be protecting Denard Robinson’s blind side on September 4th.
• Fellow redshirt freshman tackle Michael Schofield also is up to a good weight, and at 6-7, 293 pounds, he should be in the mix for at least a backup spot on the depth chart. I’m excited at the potential of Lewan and Schofield bookending the Michigan line down the road — those two could be special.
• Despite rehabbing his torn ACL, Vincent Smith has managed to bulk up to a solid 180 pounds (up from 169), which sounds small for a tailback until you remember he’s only 5-6. We’ll have to wait and see if he is limited at all by the injury and the added bulk, but the weight should help him stay durable throughout the course of the season.
• Obi Ezeh and Kenny Demens, who will battle for the starting middle linebacker spot, are both up to 250 pounds. I’m not sure how this will affect Ezeh, but I like the added weight on Demens, who is a very gifted athlete and should have no problem maintaining that athleticism. This will be a very interesting competition to watch throughout the fall. The linebackers in general are big — Jonas Mouton is 240, Isaiah Bell is 245, and J.B. Fitzgerald is 244. Kevin Leach still weighs just 205 pounds, which I have to guess will hurt his chances of seeing the field.

This is the year where a few seasons under Mike Barwis really has appeared to take hold of the roster — weights are generally up across the board, especially along both lines, which should greatly benefit a team that got overpowered on both sides of the ball at times last year. With all the talk about quarterbacks, scheme changes, and personnel battles, the team’s overall fitness can easily get overlooked, but I expect we’ll see a big difference on the field this year because of the work this team has done in the weight room.

The projected football depth chart page has been updated to reflect the changes in the new roster.

Similar Posts:

• Justin Turner Leaves Michigan
• Position Preview: Defensive Tackle
• Position Preview: Defensive End
• 2010 Official Depth Chart Breakdown: Defense/Special Teams
• An Early Stab at the 2010 Depth Chart: Defense

Yesterday I posted the five players with the most to gain in Michigan’s fall camp, which kicks off in just three days. Of course, when you have players potentially moving up the depth chart, others are faced with taking on a diminished role, so today the focus will be on the players who will have an eye on the rear-view mirror when fall practices begin Monday:

1. Tate Forcier, Soph. QB: Fellow sophomore quarterback Denard Robinson topped yesterday’s list, so it is only fitting that last year’s starter leads off today’s. Robinson appeared to hold the edge in the QB race after a strong spring performance that ended with him running the first-team offense in the spring game, and the stark contrast in media day comments about the two quarterbacks leads one to believe Forcier has some work to do if he wants to keep his starting job. The task could be very difficult for Forcier as he not only has to show strides on the field, but also regain the trust of his teammates after less-than-stellar attendance at voluntary summer workouts. Forcier has shown the ability to be a very good collegiate quarterback — now he has to show the work ethic necessary to be good on a consistent basis and the leadership expected from the chief signal-caller.
2. Obi Ezeh, RS Sr. LB: The embattled three-year starter topped this list in the spring, and the pressure remains on Ezeh to prove he can be a solid starter at middle linebacker this fall. After falling well short of expectations the past two seasons, and with talented linebackers like Kenny Demens and J.B. Fitzgerald (who is practicing at OLB but has experience in the middle) each entering their third year in the program, Ezeh will have to perform if he wants to finish his career as a starter. The fact that senior Mark Moundros was moved from fullback to middle linebacker in the spring says a lot about the uncertainty at the position, and the coaches showed a willingness to shake things up when they benched Ezeh during the 2009 season because of ineffective play. This is his last shot, and he knows it — now it’s time to deliver or see if one of the other players can provide steady play in the middle.
3. Vlad Emilien, Soph. FS: The former four-star recruit was expected to make a strong push for the starting free safety spot after spending much of 2009 still recovering from a high school knee injury, but instead redshirt freshman Cameron Gordon moved from wideout to safety and was the breakout star of spring practice. After burning his redshirt on special teams last year, Emilien is faced with looking up the depth chart at a guy with more eligibility — he’ll have to prove he’s fully recovered from that torn ACL and comfortable knowing the defense if he wants to pass Gordon and see action on more than just special teams again in 2010.
4. Darryl Stonum, Jr. WR: Fans expected a breakout season from the former four-star prospect in 2009, and while he showed he could be an explosive kick returner, Stonum’s performance at receiver (13 catches, 199 yards, one TD) could only be described as a disappointment. While Michigan is very young at outside receiver, they do have a number of talented slots — if Stonum doesn’t display the game-breaking ability expected of him when he came to Ann Arbor, slot receiver Roy Roundtree could see an increased role on the outside, and underclassmen like sophomore Je’Ron Stokes and freshmen Jerald Robinson and Ricardo Miller could also push for playing time. This is likely a make-or-break year for Stonum as a receiver — if he can’t prove he can produce in his third season, he’ll likely have to move aside as the underclassmen get some experience under their belts.
5. Vincent Smith, Soph. RB: This isn’t as much a reflection on Smith as it is the situation at running back — with Smith still recovering from a torn ACL, Michael Shaw (if eligible), Michael Cox, and Fitzgerald Toussaint will battle in fall camp to prove that they deserve to be the guy at running back. Smith is expected to be 100% healthy for the season opener, but it’s impossible to tell how well a running back will bounce back from a major knee injury until he hits the field. Smith will have to show he’s fully back and ready to perform at a high level if he hopes to fend off the talented backs waiting behind him on the depth chart. It’s never fun to see a player lose his job because of an injury, but it’s a part of football (see: Tom Brady/Drew Bledsoe) — either Smith will prove he’s ready to build on a promising freshman season, or somebody else will get a their shot to prove they can start and excel.

That’s all for this week. Make sure to check back on Monday, when I’ll be taking a look at the true freshmen with the best chance to make an early impact in 2010.

Similar Posts:

• Five Players With the Most to Gain in Fall Practice
• Spring Football: Five Players I’ll Be Watching
• Five Players With the Most to Gain in Spring Practice
• Five Players With the Most to Lose in Spring Practice
• Early Guess at the Football Depth Chart: Now Updated for Spring

Remember the Homeland Security Department’s biggest PR move, the terrorist threat level indicator? You know, this thing. Well, I decided — in a desperate attempt to figure out what type of content to post during the slow summer months — to apply these threat levels (minus the whole, you know, terrorist thing) to Michigan’s position groups. In other words, which groups are the Wolverines comfortably stocked at, and which ones have you buying mass quantities of bottled water and canned foods to prepare for the football apocalypse? Over the next week, I’ll be placing each of the position groups into one of the above categories. So far, I have covered the “Low”,  “Guarded”, and “Elevated” threat categories, and today, we move on to the positions that fall under the “High” category. Ladies and gentlemen, buckle your seatbelts.

Outside Receiver: Simply put, Michigan just hasn’t been getting the production it needs out of its outside receivers so far in the Rodriguez era. Some of that blame can probably be placed on the quarterback play, but it’s time for guys like Darryl Stonum and Junior Hemingway to step up, or else be replaced by younger talent. Stonum and Hemingway, your likely starters at outside receiver, combined for just 29 catches and three touchdowns last season.

Stonum, a former four-star with great athletic ability, needs to show that he can adjust to the ball in the air — he often makes what should be simple catches unnecessarily difficult on himself. If he can do that, he could break out this year and begin to live up to his lofty recruiting hype. Hemingway has burst out of the gate the past two season openers only to have his season derailed by injuries and subsequent ineffectiveness. He showed against Western Michigan that he can be a dangerous deep threat, but he’ll have to stay healthy if he wants to hold on to his starting spot.

If Stonum and Hemingway prove ineffective, there are several young players who could see the field in their place. Sophomore Je’Ron Stokes is another top-100 level recruit, and he’ll likely be the third wide receiver after playing sparingly as a freshman. Jerald Robinson, Ricardo Miller, and Jeremy Jackson all enrolled early in preparation for their true freshman seasons — Robinson appears most likely to be an immediate contributor, though Miller probably has the highest ceiling and Jackson the best hands of the trio. There is also the chance that Roy Roundtree moves between the slot and outside — I’d prefer for him to work out of the slot, where he seems most effective, but if the starters aren’t producing he may be needed to shore up the position, especially with the depth at slot.

If Michigan hopes to take its offense to the next level, they will have to get more production from their outside receivers. Unfortunately, the depth behind the prospective starters is very young, and the starters have yet to prove they can consistently make plays at the collegiate level. This position is probably the biggest question mark the offense has, and could be the difference between Michigan boasting a juggernaut offense and struggling to consistently move the ball.

Linebacker: The picture to your right pretty much sums up Michigan’s linebacker play from last season — Obi Ezeh is on the ground, having been taken out of the play, and Jonas Mouton appears to have lost contain as the back breaks into the open field. Usually, a team would be very comfortable with returning two senior starters (and multi-year starters at that) at linebacker, but the lack of progression from Ezeh and the apparent regression from Mouton has left Wolverine fans very concerned with the heart of their defense.

The good news is that, despite a slight scheme change, Michigan will finally have the same man at defensive coordinator for two years in a row, and with Greg Robinson personally handling the inside linebackers, there should be improvement from the position. How much the linebackers improve will depend. Can Ezeh hold off redshirt sophomore Kenny Demens in the middle? If he does, can he show greater aggressiveness on the field? Can Mouton return to the form he showed in the latter half of 2008? There are a lot of questions here, and few answers will be given until the team hits the field in the fall.

The aforementioned Demens appears to be the most likely candidate to supplant the incumbent starters if one proved ineffective, although J.B. Fitzgerald actually saw more playing time last year when Ezeh was benched, and he could very well start if given the opportunity. Former walk-on Kevin Leach also saw action last year, but wasn’t particularly effective when he played. Redshirt freshman Isaiah Bell provides depth, but he’ll likely need a year or two of learning the position after coming to Ann Arbor as a safety.

With a strong front four and a shaky secondary, Michigan’s defense will need the linebackers to elevate their level of play in 2010. As fifth-year seniors, Ezeh and Mouton should be up to the task, but you could have said the same thing about them last year. Their experience keeps me from placing the linebackers in the “Severe” category, but they will need to step up their play on the field in a big way, or the defense could be spinning its wheels instead of moving forward from last season’s debacle.

Similar Posts:

• Position Preview: Outside Receivers
• Position Preview: Linebacker
• Five Players With the Most to Lose in Spring Practice
• Position Threat Levels: Low
• Position Threat Levels: Elevated

I haven’t had the chance to re-watch the entire spring game yet, so my thoughts here are somewhat incomplete, but here is what I took away from Saturday’s scrimmage, as well as more opinions from around the Michigan blogosphere:

• I didn’t believe it before, but I will say it now, when it has lost all its profundity: Yes, we have a real quarterback competition on our hands. Denard Robinson is light-years ahead of where he was last season, and finally looks comfortable throwing the ball. He still isn’t the pure passer that Tate Forcier can be, but Denard’s ridiculous athleticism makes up for a lot of his deficiencies, and when he throws the ball like he did on Saturday he is very tough to stop. One play in particular swung my opinion of Denard: his second touchdown pass to Roy Roundtree, when he took advantage of having time in the pocket and, instead of taking off, stayed calm and found a seam between a couple defenders before hitting Roundtree with a laser. That’s simply a play Robinson didn’t have in his arsenal last season. I don’t want to put too much stock in one scrimmage, especially when Robinson was most running with the first-team against the second-string defense, and Forcier vice-versa, but when combined with the positive accounts from spring practice, it now looks like Robinson is the guy to beat (in a very close race, still) at quarterback.
• In other quarterback news, we can all stop clamoring for Devin Gardner to see the field. Not only did Robinson look like a real quarterback out there, giving Michigan two very solid options at QB, but Gardner looked like a true freshman out there. That’s not a knock against (hey!) a true freshman, but I’ve just about had my fill of guys stepping on campus and starting immediately — the pick Gardner threw when backed up against his goal line screamed “I need a redshirt,” and Michigan is now in a position to give him one.
• Michigan is pretty banged up at receiver right now, but for the most part I liked what I saw from the guys who should see the field in the fall. Roundtree was obviously the big standout, but Martavious Odoms looked good (besides one bad drop), and Jeremy Gallon appears to be a guy who could break a big play any time he touches the ball. I also like Gallon’s toughness — he was taking on tackles against much bigger defenders and falling forward.
• The running back battle was tight going into the spring, and I don’t think we got a lot of answers after Saturday. Mike Cox, to me, was the back who showed the greatest potential, but he still mental breakdowns on the field that could keep him from being a reliable option — there was one play where Forcier was screaming at Cox and had to physically move him to the right position on the field, which isn’t a great sign for a redshirt sophomore at the end of spring practice. Michael Shaw and Fitzgerald Toussaint both had their moments, but nobody really stood out to me. In fact, the only role that we do know among the running backs is that of the short-yardage back: Stephen Hopkins is the guy there. Other than that, the position is wide open.
• I’ll have more clarity on the offensive line and defense when I take a look at the game again, but there were a couple guys who stood out, for good or for bad. Ryan Van Bergen was getting very nice pressure on the defensive line, and Will Campbell looks like he could be a force of nature at nose tackle. The linebackers looked solid, which is a big step up from “disaster” — Ezeh and Mouton are both fighting hard to prove they belong out there. With Troy Woolfolk out, James Rogers played across from J.T. Floyd at corner for the ones — not a good sign for Justin Turner, who looked big and slow playing with the twos and could be ticketed for a switch to safety in the near future.

That’s all I’ve got for now — I’ll have more on the game after I get a chance to watch the tape again. Meanwhile, the rest of the Michigan blogosphere appears to have published their thoughts before I did, so here are some links if you haven’t had your fill of spring game coverage:

MGoBlog has you covered for RichRod’s post-game presser, both in normal form and in completely-bizarre Google caption form, which is totally useless for learning anything about Michigan football but may answer some questions you have about Iraq. Brian has also posted his initial thoughts, and Denard earns a lot of praise for his performance:

That said, holy crap. Robinson looks like a quarterback now. A running quarterback with rudimentary passing abilities, but a quarterback. There were zone reads and screens and rollout passes and a number of zippy seams that hit players between the numbers. When the offense broke down, Robinson made the concept of “pursuit angles” humorous. Putting him on the edge, as suggested by the coaches’ clinic tea leaves, puts the defense in a bind. His throws were all on a line but they were accurate aside from a couple mediocre bubble screens. There were multiple times where I was thinking “just run why don’t youuuu runnnnn” and he zipped a pass in for a first down or touchdown.

How close to Forcier’s passing does Robinson have to get if he’s going to start? If Forcier can’t set up in the pocket and throw on rhythm, how far apart are they now? It’ll be an interesting summer for both guys. Right now it looks like edge Denard.

Greg at MVictors checks in with his usual array of photos (alumni game, pre-game, and Denard), which includes this amazing picture that sums up Robinson’s day pretty well:

I have no idea how Greg managed to capture out sophomore quarterback defying physics and causing the earth to move while he ran in place, but I’m damn impressed.

Other blogs that have given their thoughts on the game: Maize n Brew, where Dave think Cox has positioned himself to split carries with Vincent Smith in the fall; Maize & Blue Nation, which has some nice video from the stands; The Fifth Quarter, where JC comes away impressed with the linebackers; and Burgeoning Wolverine Star, which has the most pessimistic take I’ve seen on the game. Touch the Banner has a full list of the recruiting visitors as well.

Similar Posts:

• Impressions From Saturday’s Scrimmage
• 2010 Official Depth Chart Breakdown: Offense
• The Denard Conundrum
• Impressions from the First Spring Practice
• Position Threat Levels: Elevated

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. First, let’s look at the players from the class of 2006, some of whom have fifth-year eligibility for the fall:

Class of 2006 (Sorted by Rivals.com Ranking):

Who’s Left?

A relatively small class to begin with (just 19 players), the class of 2006 was hit hard by departures (Boren, Kates, Mixon, Patilla, and Woods) and players not living up to their potential. Just seven players — Stephen Schilling, Jonas Mouton, Adam Patterson, Greg Banks, Perry Dorrestein, Obi Ezeh, and John Ferrara — are still on Michigan’s roster, and the career performance of those players has been somewhat disappointing considering the lofty recruiting rankings they arrived on campus with. Schilling has been a solid starter at left guard, but hasn’t been the game-changing force expected from a player with a  five-star ranking. Mouton has had an up-and-down career after outgrowing the safety position and moving to linebacker, while Patterson and Banks have languished on the bench despite ample opportunity to step into a larger role. Like Mouton, Ezeh has had a rocky career at linebacker after a position switch from high school, but expectations were much lower for the three-star in-state running back. Dorrestein and Ferrara have both stepped into occasional starting roles, but while Ferrara appears destined to end his career as a backup offensive lineman, Dorrestein is competing for a starting tackle spot.

Who’s Gone?

In short, almost everyone, which isn’t exactly a surprise five years down the line. I don’t need to explain how big a loss Brandon Graham is from this Michigan defense, nor do I need to rehash the tale of Justin Boren, Dirty Buckeye Traitor. Of the other departed players who did manage to see the field at Michigan, few lived up to expectations: Carlos Brown and Brandon Minor could never stay healthy enough to consistently play at an all-conference level, Greg Mathews was a solid but unspectacular possession receiver, and Stevie Brown was a disaster at safety before becoming a solid linebacker in his final season. The rest of the class either remained buried on the bench, left the program, or handled kickoff duties (hello, Bryan Wright).

The Upshot:

It’s tough to call this class anything but a disappointment after four years — by my count, only eight players from Rivals.com’s #13 recruiting class have had a major impact as a player at Michigan and stuck out their time in Ann Arbor. The reputation of this class could very well hinge on the 2010 performances of Ezeh and Mouton — if they play like they did last year, or lose their starting jobs (more likely for Ezeh than Mouton), this class will have far underperformed expectations. The fact that so much of this class has already left without making much of a positive impact (besides, of course, Graham, who may be the only player in the class who played above his recruiting hype) helps show why this team has struggled so much the past two years.

Similar Posts:

• Position Preview: Linebacker
• 2010 Official Depth Chart Breakdown: Defense/Special Teams
• Early Guess at the Football Depth Chart: Now Updated for Spring
• Position Threat Levels: Guarded
• A (Very) Early Look at the 2010 Defense

As you have probably read by now, Michigan’s players have revealed that the defense is moving to a 3-3-5 alignment for this season. Rich Rodriguez employed that defense at West Virginia, and now Greg Robinson will be in charge of using it to take advantage of the speed Michigan has on defense.

For those of you with a Rivals account, there is a great message board post about the 3-3-5 and how it is deployed. In short, the three down linemen can choose to attack the gap on either side of them, and the three linebackers either blitz or fill the gaps left by the defensive linemen. This allows a lot of flexibility for blitzes and adds a lot of unpredictability to the defense — the offense never knows for sure which way the line will attack and where the blitzers will be coming from. This switch makes a lot of sense for a team with a solid X’s-and-O’s guy at defensive coordinator in Greg Robinson and a lot of team speed (and not a ton of size) on defense. Here are four guys who I think will greatly benefit from the move to the 3-3-5:

1. LB Craig Roh –  Yes, that’s linebacker Craig Roh. The switch to the 3-3-5 means Roh will be occupying one of the outside linebacker spots, and he will likely be the fourth player attacking the line of scrimmage on every play. Unlike last year, with Roh at quick end usually coming off the edge on every play, where the offense could easily account for him, the flexibility of the 3-3-5 allows Roh to attack several different gaps and makes it harder for the offense to help keep him out of the backfield. Roh was already poised for a breakout sophomore season after playing his entire freshman year probably 15 pounds underweight and without any college experience, even in spring practice, and now it seems even more likely that Roh could put up some very impressive numbers this season.
2. DT Mike Martin – While reading about the 3-3-5, I couldn’t help but think of Martin and how perfect this defense sounds for a player like him. Martin is at his best when he gets to pick a gap and penetrate into the backfield, something he couldn’t do a lot of while stuck at nose tackle last season. Now, with five players likely heading for the backfield on any given play, and with Martin shifting over to DT, offenses probably won’t be able to send two offensive linemen at Martin on every play. We should see the Mike Martin everybody expected to see last year after his stellar freshman season — a freakishly strong and quick defensive tackle who is liable to blow up any play in the backfield.
3. S Jordan Kovacs – The benefit of having five defensive backs is that you can tailor the safeties’ responsibilities to their strengths — with one deep safety and two strong safeties (one who plays up and one who has to be able to drop back deep), Michigan has a lot of options for their defensive backs. Kovacs seems to benefit the most from the change — his strongsuit is playing aggressive run support and attacking the backfield, something Michigan will need from at least one of their strong safeties. With four other defensive backs on the field, Kovacs won’t have as much responsibility for pass coverage, the weakest part of his game. Michigan can mask Kovacs’ athletic deficiencies somewhat with this change, and allow him to play to his strengths.
4. LB Obi Ezeh – Ezeh now has linebacker help on both sides of him, and what I believe is a much simpler read on most plays (reading the defensive lineman in front of him and assuming responsibility for the other gap). With Ezeh, the problem has never been his physical skills, but being aggressive and making quick reads before the offense accounts for him. This should free Ezeh up to be a more aggressive player, and also allow him to blitz and take advantage of his physical skills. This move may save Ezeh his starting job, and could turn him into the type of player we expect to see from a four-year starter.

The scheme as a whole should benefit the team, which has a lot of speed on defense but also a lot of inexperience. The 3-3-5 plays to the strengths of Michigan’s personnel, something last year’s defense didn’t seem to do all the time (asking Kovacs to play deep safety, forcing Ezeh and Mouton to cover the field sideline-to-sideline, etc.). Also, as Hiesman84 stated in his message board post, this allows Greg Robinson to play “mad scientist” with his blitz schemes, something that should both benefit the defense and be fun to watch as a fan. This move makes sense to me, and should help the process of rebuilding Michigan’s most disappointing unit.

Similar Posts:

• 2010 Official Depth Chart Breakdown: Defense/Special Teams
• An Early Stab at the 2010 Depth Chart: Defense
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• Watching Tape: Penn State-Minnesota

Back in February, I took an early stab at projecting the offensive and defensive depth charts for the fall. Now that spring practice is underway and the new roster has been released, there’s a lot more information available about how Michigan will line up and who will be lining up where. So, I’ve taken another opportunity to make myself look really foolish in the fall, and updated my projected depth chart to reflect these changes. Here are a few notes on the changes:

OFFENSE

One player who has a lot of buzz surrounding him so far in spring is running back Mike Cox, whose running skills seem to be catching up to his outstanding athleticism and frame. For now, I’ve moved Cox up to second on the depth chart with Michael Shaw, behind the injured Vincent Smith. With all the talented players the Wolverines have at running back, I expect to see a fair amount of running back by committee come fall, and Cox should be one of the backs in the mix for carries.

At receiver, Roy Roundtree has been practicing at outside receiver, but I expect him to move back into the slot when Junior Hemingway returns healthy in the fall. Word from practice is that Roundtree and Martavious Odoms have become a dangerous combination when both see the field at the same time, so it would not be a surprise to see Michigan start two slot receivers next season. We’ll have to wait and see if that has any effect on the tight end position, but for now I’m keeping Roundtree as the top slot in my depth chart along with Odoms — down the road, I may split the slots into two positions.

On the line, it sounds like Mark Huyge, Perry Dorrestein, Taylor Lewan, and Michael Schofield are the players battling for the two tackle positions, so I’ve changed the depth chart to reflect that competition. Patrick Omameh, who some (including myself) originally thought would move out to tackle this season, has been playing (and impressing) at guard. I have him projected as the starter at right guard, with the experienced Huyge and Dorrestein at tackle — I wouldn’t be surprised if Lewan grabs one of the tackle spots, but he’s a redshirt freshman who is still filling out his massive frame, so for now I have him backing up Huyge.

DEFENSE

The big change here is the alignment — I recommend checking out this helpful post from Touch the Banner to get more familiar with the slight move to more of a 4-2-5 look:

From left to right along the line should be Ryan Van Bergen, Will Campbell, Mike Martin (injured for spring practice, so Greg Banks is playing there right now), and Craig Roh. The two interior linebackers are Obi Ezeh and Jonas Mouton, if they hold on to their positions. The weak side safety in the above graph is what Michigan is calling the “spur” position — right now, Mike Williams and Brandin Hawthorne appear to be the most likely players to start there, with Mike Jones, Thomas Gordon and probably Josh Furman (when he arrives in the fall) also competing at the position. The strong safety — Touch the Banner calls it the “boundary” safety, but I’ll use the more common term to save confusion — appears to be Jordan Kovacs’ position to lose, although Marvin Robinson could compete for time there when he enrolls in the fall. Vlad Emilien has received the first-team reps so far at free — deep — safety, although Cameron Gordon impressed when Emilien sat out with a minor injury this week. If Troy Woolfolk were to move back to safety, this would likely be his spot.

At cornerback, Woolfolk is obviously holding down one spot, and I’ll place him there in the depth chart until he moves (if he moves) to safety. J.T. Floyd has been getting the first-team reps at the other corner spot, and has impressed so far, although J.T. Turner will make a strong push for that starting role. Of course, the competition at corner will not be fully settled until the fall, when Demar Dorsey, Cullen Christian, Terrence Talbott, and Courtney Avery arrive on campus.

For the full, updated depth chart, hit the “Football Depth Chart” tab at the top of the screen, or simply click here.

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• Five Players With the Most to Gain in Spring Practice

With spring practice kicking off this week, I went over the players with the most to gain from a good spring performance yesterday. Today, I take a look at the flip side of that coin: the players who, for one reason or another, will be fighting to hold on their role with this team. Here are the players who are at risk of seeing a diminished role if they don’t come through with a big spring performance:

1. Obi Ezeh, RS Sr. LB: Ezeh is listed first for a reason — no other established starter has come under as much fire as Ezeh because of a lack of performance, and the criticism that has followed Ezeh for the past couple years hasn’t been entirely undeserved. Simply put, this team expected a lot more from Ezeh in 2009, when he was entering his third year starting in the middle, and his disappointing season has opened the door for somebody like J.B. Fitzgerald to ascend to a starting role. By all accounts, Ezeh is a great person and tremendous leader on and off the field, but he will have to bring his on-field performance up to a higher standard if he doesn’t want to be unseated by the fall.
2. Kelvin Grady, RS Jr. Slot: Ironically enough, it was a big-time spring performance that earned Grady a big role to start out the 2009 season, but issues with route-running, knowledge of the offense, and the emergence of Roy Roundtree combined to decrease Grady’s playing time by the end of the season. Now Grady is fighting for playing time with a host of talented youngsters — including Jeremy Gallon, Terrence Robinson, and incoming freshmen Drew Dileo and D.J. Williamson — while Roundtree and Martavious Odoms eat up the lion’s share of the playing time in the slot. If Grady doesn’t make big strides with his football IQ (which is very possible — we forget he was playing basketball a little over a year ago), he could be caught in a logjam and surpassed by younger players.
3. Kevin Koger, Jr. TE: Koger was another player who saw his role diminish as the 2009 season progressed, and now he may be fighting for not only his survival in the starting lineup, but the survival of the tight end position under Rich Rodriguez. Unlike the other players listed here, Koger isn’t facing a ton of competition from his own position group — Martell Webb and Brandon Moore are the only other tight ends on the roster, and neither has shown enough to make me think they’ll unseat Koger — but instead he has to convince the coaches that it’s worth keeping a tight end on the field instead of moving to more four- and five-receiver sets. For Koger, the issue is simple: catch the ball, and it will be hard to keep such a big (6-4, 251 lbs.), skilled talent off the field. If he can’t cure his issues with dropping the ball, however, we could see Roundtree and Odoms both lining up as starters in the fall.
4. Michael Shaw, Jr. RB: It doesn’t seem like that long ago that Shaw was the “next big thing” at running back, but now he finds himself entering his junior season surrounded by questions about his durability and without much of a track record to show that he’s a better option than the plethora of younger backs on the roster. Shaw has to show that he can stay healthy this spring, or the coaching staff may never be willing to trust him as a back who can handle more than 10-15 touches a game. With Vincent Smith slated to return healthy in the fall, Michael Cox and Fitzgerald Toussaint both looking to grab starter’s touches, and two true freshmen already enrolled (Austin White and Stephen Hopkins), Shaw will have to prove that he can be the explosive, home-run threat that everyone expected him to be when he came to Ann Arbor as a freshman. Otherwise, he could find himself fighting an uphill battle against a host of younger players.
5. Darryl Stonum, Jr. WR: Michigan has received very disappointing production from its outside receivers under Rich Rodriguez, and part of the blame could certainly fall on Stonum, who hasn’t lived up to his blue-chip billing in his first two seasons despite getting ample opportunity to show off his talent. Even though Stonum will get the first crack to retain his starting spot, he will have to fend off competition from sophomore Je’Ron Stokes and early enrollees Ricardo Miller, Jeremy Jackson, and Jerald Robinson in the spring and fall. It’s time for Stonum to start producing like a top-100 high school prospect, and if he can’t do that, Michigan has several players waiting in the wings to prove that they can.

That’s all for this week. Enjoy the (already incredible) opening weekend of the NCAA tournament.

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