Michigan has released the team injury report for the UConn game:

Out: Fitzgerald Toussaint (knee), Jared Van Slyke (clavicle), Troy Woolfolk (ankle)
Questionable: Junior Hemingway (hamstring)

The only semi-surprise on there is Hemingway, who has been plagued with injuries the past two seasons. Michigan shouldn’t be in bad shape if he isn’t healthy enough to play with Martavious Odoms and Darryl Stonum starting on the outside and Roy Roundtree and Kelvin Grady battling for snaps in the slot. Toussaint’s injury, especially if it lingers for longer than a week, might keep him from finding a spot in the rotation as Vincent Smith, Michael Shaw, Mike Cox, and Stephen Hopkins all are healthy and battling for carries.

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Earlier: Five Hopeful Predictions for 2010

After the last two seasons, the counterpart to my “Five Hopeful Predictions” post should come rather easily — I could probably pick five things that will go horribly wrong with the secondary alone and do pretty well for myself. That would be too easy, however, so I’ll do my best to keep the focus on the team as a whole while making my five pessimistic predictions for the 2010 season (if you’re curious, here is last year’s version — I went 2/5, for the record):

1. The team finishes 90th or worse in pass efficiency defense — Last season, the Wolverines finished 70th in the country in pass efficiency defense, and that was with Donovan Warren and Troy Woolfolk manning the secondary. This year’s secondary features no player of Warren’s talent or Woolfolk’s experience, and the results likely won’t be pretty. The good news? It is possible to field a decent team with a horrific secondary: last year, Cal (8-5), Stanford (8-5), and Florida State (7-6 against a very tough schedule) all finished 90th or worse in pass efficiency defense. Those are outliers among some awful squads, but they’re also the schools with overall talent most comparable to Michigan’s at that point on the list. Teams will throw on Michigan, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll win. It does help, though, and the pass defense will likely cost the team some games in 2010.
2. Michigan’s defense records 20 or fewer sacks — Despite the presence of Brandon Graham and his 10.5 sacks, Michigan finished just 68th in the country with 22.0 team sacks in 2009. Graham is off to the NFL, and while the defensive line should still be the strength of the Wolverine defense, I don’t see how the team will fully replace Graham’s tremendous production while also trying to mask the deficiencies in the back seven. I still expect Craig Roh to have a big season, and Ryan Van Bergen is a very solid defensive end, but this team could have a tough time getting to the quarterback if for no other reason than that the secondary may not be able to slow down the passing game enough to give the pass rush a chance.
3. No player breaks the 1,000-yard rushing mark – With the coaching staff talking about rotating 3-4 players at running back, and the quarterback competition far from resolved, it’s tough to see anyone becoming the first Wolverine in the Rich Rodriguez era to eclipse the 1,000-yard plateau. The player with the best chance to prove me wrong may very well be Denard Robinson, who could threaten to put up Pat White-level numbers if he emerges as the clear number one quarterback, but that’s a very big “if” with Tate Forcier and Devin Gardner vying for playing time. While the Wolverines have several talented running backs, it doesn’t appear that anyone has emerged as a workhorse back — sophomore Vincent Smith, who is fresh off reconstructive knee surgery, sits atop the depth chart with oft-injured junior Michael Shaw, who may not even be academically qualified to play. Michigan should have a productive rushing offense, but it will likely be by committee, and not with a star feature back.
4. Michigan converts less than 65% of their field goals – I predicted this last year, and senior walk-on Jason Olesnavage managed to come through and prove me wrong, hitting 11-of-15 field goals for a 73.3% conversion rate. Once again, questions surround Michigan’s kicking game, however, and with Olesnavage gone redshirt freshman Brendan Gibbons or redshirt freshman walk-on Seth Broekhuizen — currently listed as co-starters on the official depth chart — will have to step up. So far, the kickers have reportedly been inconsistent throughout the spring and fall, and I expect similar results as the season kicks off on Saturday. With no upperclassmen kicker — walk-on or otherwise — ready to take over the job, we might witness some major growing pains in the kicking game this year.
5. The team loses at least two of the three rivalry games – Those games, of course, being Notre Dame, Michigan State, and Ohio State. This may seem like a lack of progress after Michigan took down Notre Dame last season and came close to pulling an epic comeback in East Lansing, but that may be deceiving — both of those teams should be improved this season, and the Buckeyes appear to be bona-fide national title contenders. Michigan’s best chance at a rivalry victory will be at home against the Spartans, but road contests in South Bend and Columbus will be very daunting for a team so green on defense.

Let’s all hope I go 0/5 on these predictions, as my love for the team far outweighs any pride I have in my prognosticating ability. Starting tomorrow, the season preview content begins to wrap up with Part I of my predictions for each game.

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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
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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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Michigan’s secondary situation just got way, way scarier. This from The Wolverine:

Multiple sources have informed TheWolverine.com that senior cornerback Troy Woolfolk suffered a lower leg injury in practice that could end his season, though athletic department officials have yet to confirm.

Head coach Rich Rodriguez issued this statement this evening: “Troy Woolfolk suffered a lower-body injury during practice this afternoon and was transported to U-M Hospital with our team physician. We can’t comment further due to medical privacy rights.”

Woolfolk has not used his redshirt year, so he could opt to go that route and return next year.

Your starting corners are now J.T. Floyd and… Cullen Christian? Courtney Avery? Terrence Talbott? Tony Anderson? James Rogers? That’s three true freshmen, a walk-on, and a senior who has never sniffed meaningful playing time. There’s no way to sugarcoat this: it’s really bad. I’ll have more when we get some sort of confirmation on the injury and its implications.

UPDATE: The Free Press’s Mark Snyder apparently talked to Butch Woolfolk, former Michigan running back and Troy’s father, and the news is not good:

Hopefully, the fears of ligament damage are misplaced and Woolfolk can return to the field sometime this year. In all likelihood, however, he is out for the year and has a long road ahead of him before he’s fully recovered. This is obviously a huge blow for the team, and also to Woolfolk — my best wishes go out to him for a quick and full recovery.

UPDATE 2: The Detroit News’s Angelique Chengelis has more, and it gets even worse. I feel so bad for Woolfolk:

Keep Troy in your thoughts, and hope beyond hope that this isn’t another Antonio Bass situation.

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I’m currently writing this from an island in Canada with no real internet, so I’m forced to tether my phone to my laptop and deal with dial-up level connection speed — this will be brief and sans pretty pictures as a result, but I wanted to write a bit more on Justin Turner’s departure before the weekend hit.

There seem to be two schools of thought on Turner’s departure, each polar opposites in their outlook. The first, as seen on many message boards and blogs (sorry, no links, as I barely have enough bandwith as it is), is one of semi-panic at the departure of a former five-star recruit at a position of great need. The other, espoused over at The Wolverine (free article) by my friend Michael Spath, is one of relative unconcern — Turner clearly wasn’t working hard enough to see the field, and therefore Michigan didn’t lose much in the short term. While I tend to side with Spath in this case, I do take issue with the headline of the piece (“Turner’s departure will not impact Michigan”) and this paragraph:

Meanwhile, Michigan has adapted. Some losses have hurt more than others but Turner’s won’t be one that retards the Maize and Blue significantly this fall. He had great promise, elite talent, but a work ethic that didn’t match his ability, and his impact this fall would have likely been relegated to the occasional snaps seen as a reserve cornerback or dime defender.

While it is true that Turner was slated for a reserve role, his departure could still have an enormous impact on this defense. This has nothing to do with his future potential, and everything to do with who is left to fill in the reserve roles — beyond four-star freshman Cullen Christian, Michigan has two undersized three-star freshmen who ideally would take a redshirt year, senior James Rogers (who has bounced between receiver and defensive back during his U-M career), running back-turned-safety-turned-corner Teric Jones, and walk-on Tony Anderson. If there’s an injury to Troy Woolfolk or J.T. Floyd, one of those players will be pressed into a starting job, and another will see the field plenty as a nickel back. While Turner was coming up well short of expectations, his natural ability on the football field likely would have gotten him onto the field this fall in some capacity if that was the case — Michigan’s options at the position are that limited.

What am I trying to say here? Turner’s departure doesn’t mean the sky is falling, and there’s a decent chance Spath is right and the 2010 team doesn’t suffer from his departure. But, if something were to happen to Woolfolk, Floyd, or even Christian, Michigan will certainly feel Turner’s absence — it’s tough to sugercoat how dire the depth situation is at corner. There’s no reason to get too concerned at the moment, but Michigan is one bad break away from the secondary becoming even more disconcerting, and Turner’s departure has a lot to do with that.

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This is not good. At all:

What was expected to be a promising career from one of Michigan’s highest ranked recruits in recent classes has come met a premature end. Redshirt freshman defensive back Justin Turner from Massillon, Ohio, has left Michigan and will not be part of the team this fall according to the University.

“[Turner] asked for, and was granted, his release yesterday. We wish him well in his future endeavors,” Michigan Director of Media Relations Dave Ablauf announced Wednesday.

Turner came to Michigan last year with five-star recruiting hype, but redshirted after showing up to camp out of shape. It appears weight was again an issue when he arrived at fall camp this year, and his inability to pass J.T. Floyd on the depth chart raised major concerns about Turner’s ability to stick at cornerback. His absence leaves Michigan razor-thin at corner — after projected starters Troy Woolfolk and Floyd, the Wolverines have only senior James Rogers, who has spent his career bouncing between receiver and defensive back, and true freshmen Cullen Christian, Terrence Talbott, and Courtney Avery. Expect Christian, the highest-rated of the true freshmen, to see the field immediately. Despite getting middling three-star ratings, Talbott is likely the next corner on the depth chart — I think if Rogers was a college-level corner, he would have seen the field by this point in his career.

At this point, Rich Rodriguez couldn’t be blamed if he put Woolfolk and Floyd in full-body, bubble-boy air casts to ensure no injuries take the cornerback situation from merely petrifying to completely apocalyptic. Turner may not have been developing as the staff had hoped, but his absence still leaves a huge hole in this year’s defense. Hopefully, one or two of the freshmen can step up and fill that void.

UPDATE: According to insider Sam Webb, Turner’s parents are on their way to Ann Arbor to talk to him about his decision. While this opens up the possibility of Turner returning to the school and the team, it’s still clear that he is a very long way from contributing on the field even if he changes his mind. I’ll have updates as we get more information — for now, I think it’s safe to say that Turner is very unlikely to see the field for Michigan in 2010.

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• There’s a Middle Ground on Turner Departure
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Troy Woolfolk has proven to be a very interesting character over the past couple years — he even admits to having a split personality named “T-Wolf” — and yesterday, well, one of his personalities decided to keep it very, very real:

“Denard has been out there through the thick and thin and been out there all the time regardless if he’s hurting,” Woolfolk said. “And Tate, he tries to come out, but he’s not as consistent as Denard is. And that’s allowed Denard to jump a little bit ahead of Tate and I think that Tate’s going to have to do a lot of work to catch back up to Denard in camp this year.”

…

“I personally have a lack of respect for [players who don't show up to voluntary workouts],” Woolfolk said. “The outlook on them is kind of diseased. Like you don’t want to be hanging around those people because they have bad work ethic. But at the same time, it’s my role to try to persuade them to come out more.”

According to Woolfolk, Forcier hasn’t shown up to as many workouts as he and the other seniors feel he should have, and Woolfolk said it’s hurting his teammates’ perception of their signal caller.

“The only reason he’s not really labeled as diseased is because of the way he was able to carry the team last year before we started losing. People still trust him a little bit, but he’s starting to lose that trust.”

It is worth noting here that Woolfolk later released this statement via his Twitter page (which is protected; quote via Dr. Saturday): “A story was written about me putting Tate in a negative aspect. This was phrased wrongly and is not the truth. I think Tate is a great player.” While I believe Woolfolk was being truthful (and a good teammate) in his retraction, it’s tough to ignore the words that came out of his mouth at media day, especially when those words fall in line with long-standing message board rumblings that Forcier has not been 100% dedicated since the end of last season.

The question stands, then: what should we take out of Woolfolk’s statement, and how concerned should we be about the quarterback situation? First, the good news we can take out of this:

• Although most of the fallout from Woolfolk’s quotes center around Forcier, this does reflect very well upon Denard Robinson. We all got to see the huge strides Shoelace has made since last season during his stellar performance in the spring game, and it is clear that he is doing everything within his power to win the starting job and be the best player he can be for Michigan. That effort is not lost on his teammates, and the sophomore has now carved out a leadership role that a good team needs from their field general. Just check out this quote from senior guard Stephen Schilling: “He’s definitely taken on some leadership,” fifth-year senior offensive lineman Steve Schilling said. “He’s there every day working hard. He’s been a guy that doesn’t complain. He makes you want to play for him, and he has those qualities to be a special leader and a special quarterback.” That’s a great sign for not just Robinson, but the whole team.
• Woolfolk’s Twitter retraction aside, there’s no way that these words escaped the ear of Tate Forcier, and the good news is it’s not too late for Forcier to take them to heart and do his best to regain his teammates’ trust (as well as improve as a player) — remember, he’s still only a sophomore. If anything can light a fire under a player, it’s getting publicly called out by a teammate, and how Forcier reacts to this situation will tell us a lot about his ability to lead a team. If he starts putting in the same effort as Robinson and earns his way back onto the field, we will probably be able to look back on this as a turning point in Forcier’s career.
• I love seeing this type of brutal honesty from a senior leader. Yes, Woolfolk probably went further than he intended while on the record, but he is speaking from the best interests of the team. If the coaching staff is having difficultly reaching Forcier and getting him on the practice field and in the film room, it’s up to his teammates to see if they can provide some motivation. Woolfolk stepped up here, and it’s great to see a senior on a young defense willing to take on a leadership role, especially now that Brandon Graham is in the NFL.

The bad news? No need for bullet points for that: in a year where the program is in “win-or-bust” mode, and with a full-blown quarterback competition on our hands, it is very disconcerting to hear that the returning starter at the most important position on the field is skipping workouts and losing the trust of his team. There’s no way to sugar-coat the situation — even if Robinson was going to win the starting job regardless of Forcier’s practice efforts (and I’m not saying that’s necessarily true), Forcier would still potentially be one injury or poor performance away from seeing the field, and when he’s on the field Michigan needs him to be as prepared as possible. Skipping summer workouts and losing the trust of the team isn’t going to get that done.

I doubt we’ll hear Forcier (or anyone else on the team) directly address Woolfolk’s quotes, but come fall we’ll have a pretty good idea about who put in the work necessary to lead this team on offense. Judging from what Woolfolk said, we may already have the answer.

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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”, “Elevated” , and “High” threat categories, and today, we we end with the “Severe” position groups. Duck and cover, everyone.

Cornerback: No surprise here — with the early departure of Donovan Warren from an already-disappointing secondary, cornerback is a major area of concern heading into the fall. The team will rely heavily on senior Troy Woolfolk, who is back at corner after bouncing between the position and safety last season. He is perhaps the only player in Michigan’s secondary who we can definitely expect to start every game when he’s healthy (Cam Gordon may also fall under this category, but he’s still a redshirt freshman who just switched from wideout to safety), and he’ll be relied upon to shut down the opposition’s top receiver. Woolfolk doesn’t quite measure up to Michigan’s usual standard of a #1 corner (think Law, Woodson, Jackson, Hall, and even Warren), but he should be a reliable starter.

The other starting spot should be hotly contested perhaps even during the season, as redshirt sophomore J.T. Floyd will have to hold off competition from redshirt freshman Justin Turner, senior James Rogers, and a host of talented true freshmen. Floyd has appeared much-improved this spring after looking overmatched at times in 2009, but his ceiling is relatively low compared to the players competing for his spot. Turner could be ticketed for safety, as he has looked big and a little slow for a corner this spring, but he was a highly-touted recruit who has the potential to be a special player. As for the true freshmen, Michigan secured a pair of blue-chippers in Cullen Christian and Demar Dorsey — both should see the field early and often when they get to Ann Arbor, although it appears that Dorsey has a large uphill climb with regards to qualifying academically. Courtney Avery and Terrence Talbott were both three-star recruits — if either is immediately thrust into a major role, things have probably gone very wrong.

The good news at corner is that Michigan is filling in the depth chart with talented young players after being burned by depth issues the past couple seasons. The bad news is that, besides Woolfolk, there isn’t a proven corner on the team right now. That’s a major concern for anyone who has witnessed the Wolverines’ secondary play of recent years.

Safety: Have I mentioned that last year’s secondary was disappointing? Well, a cursory look at this year’s projected depth chart does little to dissuade any fears that Michigan’s back five (remember, 3-3-5 defense this year) won’t be the weak point of the team again in 2010. Yes, Cameron Gordon has emerged as a potential impact player at free safety — he’s still a redshirt freshman who was playing wide receiver last season. That’s your last line of defense. Although it appears Gordon has the free safety position locked down, he will get some competition from sophomore Vlad Emilien and potentially freshman Carvin Johnson and redshirt freshman Brandin Hawthorne in the fall. Regardless, a first-time starter will be the man tasked with protecting Michigan from big plays over the top — I can’t be the only person who is somewhat petrified by this.

As for the box (strong) safeties, it looks like redshirt sophomore, and former walk-on, Jordan Kovacs will start on one side, while redshirt freshman Thomas Gordon is your current leader across from Kovacs. Competition will be heavy for these spots, however — redshirt junior Mike Williams, freshmen Marvin Robinson and Josh Furman, redshirt sophomore Floyd Simmons, and sophomores Mike Jones and Teric Jones will all get a shot at playing time. Of those guys, I’d expect Robinson and Furman to have the best shot at unseating one of the starters, although the coaching staff could be (legitimately) wary of plugging in a true freshman into an already-green secondary. Regardless of who starts, the team will be heavy on youth and light on experience at safety.

Kicker: Michigan signed kicker Brendan Gibbons to a scholarship in the class of 2009, with the expectation that he would start from day one. Instead, walk-on Jason Olesnavage handled the kicking duties last season, and performed well, but Gibbons has once again failed to grab the starting job against a pair of walk-ons in Kris Pauloski and Scott Schrimscher. There’s not a whole lot to analyze here: Rich Rodriguez has said the kicking game has been inconsistent, and that’s never a good sign when you’re looking at a first-time starter at kicker no matter who wins the job. With so much pressure to win games, and a defense that will likely give up its fair share of points, Michigan can’t afford to miss out on points in the kicking game. Let’s all hope that Gibbons, or one of the walk-ons, can step up and at least be somewhat reliable, or else Rodriguez’s very job could hang on a kick or two this season.

Similar Posts:

• Position Preview: Safety
• 2010 Official Depth Chart Breakdown: Defense/Special Teams
• Brandon Smith Transferring, and Another Look at the 2010 Defense
• An Early Stab at the 2010 Depth Chart: Defense
• Early Guess at the Football Depth Chart: Now Updated for Spring

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. On Tuesday I took a look at the class of 2006. Today, I move on to this year’s fourth-year seniors and redshirt juniors from the class of 2007:

Class of 2007 (Sorted by Rivals.com Ranking):

Who’s Left?

Boy, did this class get decimated — just 11 of the 20 recruits will be around this fall, and of those, just a select few are expected to have a major impact. Of the players still on the team, Ryan Van Bergen and David Molk are probably the standouts from the class, with each player holding down a starting role and producing well (when healthy, in the case of Molk). Michael Williams reminded Michigan fans of Stevie Brown — pre-position switch — when he saw the field at safety last year, and is now falling behind redshirt freshmen and walk-ons at the spur position this spring. Those are your only four-stars remaining on the roster (except Molk, who was a three-star, but highly touted, center).

Of the three-stars, only Molk, Troy Woolfolk, and Mark Huyge have held down a starting role with any sort of consistency — Junior Hemingway would be included in that company if he could stay healthy through a whole season. Renaldo Sagesse and Brandon Herron have both been contributors as backups, and Sagesse should have a relatively large role in 2010, but otherwise the depth in this class has either languished on the bench or left the team.

Who’s Gone?

Our one-time Quarterback of the Future, for one — Ryan Mallett high-tailed it out of here when Michigan hired Rich Rodriguez, transferring to Arkansas and developing into a top NFL prospect. It’s tough to blame anyone for Mallett’s departure, however, as I certainly don’t see him being successful running the zone-read spread offense — his transfer was the unfortunate byproduct of a fundamental change in schemes.

The other blue-chipper, Donovan Warren, chose to enter the NFL draft a year early. After him, the class has a lengthy list of players who transferred due either to lack of playing time or issues with Rich Rodriguez or his schemes: Clemons, Helmuth, Babb, Chambers, Horn, and Evans all fall into this category. None of those players had any major impact on the field. Austin Panter, as a JUCO transfer, used up his eligibility in 2008, earning a brief cameo as a starter before quickly being shuttled to the bench.

The Upshot:

I called the previous class a disappointment, but this one is tough to top: ranked as the #13 class in the country by Rivals, the class of 2007 has produced just a handful of even serviceable players. Losing Mallett was a tough break, but Warren never developed into the player his rankings suggested he would become before he departed early, and now arguably the two most important players remaining from the class (Molk and Woolfolk) are former three-stars. To say this class, on the whole, was a bust would be an understatement — any sort of resurgence that could happen this year will be as much driven by the younger players as it will this class. At least 2006 produced Brandon Graham — the class of 2007 has nothing to hang its hat on except failure to meet expectations and departures. Anyone looking to diagnose the reason for Michigan’s struggles should look no further than the failure of the 2006 and 2007 classes to produce even remotely close to their lofty rankings, and I don’t think the change in coaches had that much to do with their failures.

Similar Posts:

• The Foundation: A Look at the 2006 Recruiting Class
• The Foundation: A Look at the 2008 Recruiting Class
• The Foundation: A Look at the 2009 Recruiting Class
• Position Threat Levels: Guarded
• A (Very) Early Look at the 2010 Defense