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| Keith Heitzman (image via Bleacher Report) |
Let's see less of this guy on offense . . . I should say Ricky Barnum or Elliott Mealer, but there doesn't appear to be anyone better waiting in the wings. Both of those guys are weaknesses on the front line.
Let's see more of this guy on defense . . . Keith Heitzman. Heitzman is already playing a fair amount to give Craig Roh a rest at strongside end, but I continue to be impressed with him. He'll have competition for the starting spot next year (from Chris Wormley, perhaps Jibreel Black, etc.), but at worst Heitzman is a solid backup worthy of rotation snaps.
Let's see less of this guy on defense . . . nobody. Michigan's defense is still playing well and only allowed 275 yards to the Gophers. There are still issues (not enough pass rush, too many pass interference penalties, pass coverage in general), but the guys on the field are the best we have.
Play of the game . . . Devin Gardner's scramble before finding a wide open Drew Dileo for a 45-yard touchdown pass. For whatever reason, we rarely see Denard Robinson make this same type of play. When Robinson pulls the ball down, he's typically looking to run and not to pass. This type of play has also caused trouble for Gardner in the past, because he's taken big sacks. But in this case, it worked and it was spectacular.
MVP of the game . . . Devin Gardner. Minnesota actually had a chance in this game, and they were probably licking their chops a little bit when they found out that Denard Robinson wasn't starting the game. But Gardner had a stellar game at quarterback for a guy who had been playing wide receiver the entire year. This gives me some hope for the future of the quarterback position in 2013.
Heitzman played like a boss. He moves really well for a kid his size and doesn't seem to get burned on play action or dancing in the backfield.
ReplyDeleteHe's instinctive and good at shedding blocks too. Hopefully he continues to physically mature. Some kids have trouble bulking up. But if he does, I could definitely see him as starter-quality down the road. Even if only a back-up, that's still great. You have to go back a ways to find a UM DL group that developed a quality two-deep. UM is almost there this year, but I think they get there next year.
DeleteOne gets the feeling that anyone this coaching staff throws out there along the DL will be successful in the long-run. Kind of like Rodriguez and slot receivers, but our DL excels due to technique and individual development more than scheme. More generally, these guys know what they're doing on defense. They seem to tweak the play-calling to fit their personnel, mitigate weaknesses, and take advantages of strength. A+ to Mattison and the rest of the defensive staff. Now about that offense...
ReplyDeleteOne thing I wonder about the OL; if Barnum and Mealer are really performing this poorly, how seriously has the coaching staff thought about inserting Kalis or another freshman (perhaps even a tackle, sliding Schofield back to OG where he seemed to be very good.) The assumption from most Michigan fans seems to be that the OL will be fine next year, despite no returning experience, because of the talent coming in through recent recruiting classes (and Miller and Bryant). Obviously you want to red-shirt OL as much as possible, but at some point the immediate benefits of (presumably) superior players would get large enough to warrant playing them...especially if the coaches are confident that they can maintain a high level of recruiting success in the future.
I've been concerned about the '13 O-line ever since Washington moved to DL and the Christian Pace recruiting class. The confidence of others has begun to rub off on me a bit, but I'm increasingly concerned about the OL coaching. Hopefully, the OL play will benefit from a presumed transition in scheme towards something a little more consistent and coherent.
My take... I think the blocking schemes are a little more variable this year because Denard is such a unique QB and Borges continues to tinker in an attempt to get both Denard and Fitz going. Next year's offense will have a much stronger Borges-identity no matter who wins the QB role, and I expect the blocking schemes to be more consistent.
DeletePulling long-term, team guys like Mealer and Barnum may not be an easy thing for the coaches to do. They probably would only do that if the back-up were obviously better. My guess is the Kalis is the only young back-up talented and polished enough to give a shot to (for Barnum), but perhaps the coaches feel that it would not make a significant difference and they value his redshirt more. Borges did mention in an interview that he fears mixing up the OL mid-season could create more problems due to loss of some cohesion. I suspect that the coaches have wrestled with this issue.
If it's blocking scheme changing, you have to ask why, since the personnel is mostly the same. I know Molk was good and Huyge was solid, but you're replacing them with Barnum and Mealer and everyone else is a year older. Should be able to maintain.
DeleteI'd submit that the seniors everyone is bitching about are still leagues ahead of the freshman and we're in for a rough patch next year with the OL. I appear to be the only one who thinks it won't magically just work out.
I'm skeptical on Miller working out, I worry about Bryant playing his first snap of college football after a year off (and his inability to beat out Mealer or Burzynski in the preseason), I think Lewan is going pro, I think Schofield will be a big downgrade at LT, and I think there's an excellent chance that Burzynski is the starting C next year. It's not going to be pretty, if you ask me. Hope I'm wrong.
You are most definitely NOT the only UM fan concerned about the 2013 OL situation. UM will almost certainly be starting 4 new players (Lewan will go pro) with the only returner a "meh" RT in Schofield. UM will be going to a new center...again; one who is apparently still undersized and was not highly touted coming out of high school. I still have no idea what to expect from Bryant (assuming he recovers from his leg injury and assuming he is even a starter) and Kalis, while talented, is still only going to be a RS frosh.
DeleteI fully expect the OL to be, at best, equally bad as the 2012 squad and possibly worse...if that is even possible. Hopefully, some of the OL problems have been a result of the hodge-podge style of offense UM has been forced to adopt with Denard at QB and my concerns are unjustified.
Huh - I thought I'd seen Kalis out there at some point this year, but I checked MGoBlue and it looks like I was mistaken. Glad, too.
DeleteAt this point, with 4 games left it's probably not wise, but you still might see a freshman:
DeleteAre you going to consider tweaking the offensive line a little bit?
“Yeah, we’ve talked about that a little bit with Joey and Jack Miller and a couple guys = HOKE
I'd add Omameh in there too as "guys we'd like to see less of, but we're stuck with because there's nobody else". This is the second game in a row where the blocking has been attrocious against a bad run defense.
ReplyDeleteIt's time for people to start asking what the hell Darrell Funk is doing with these guys. For the 30 years that I have been watching Michigan football, I have never seen a set of linemen go horribly backwards like this. It's starting to look like Funk is the Tony Gibson of the offense.
This would be a shame ... Funk seems to have (at least for now) some good stuff when it comes to recruiting. But of course if his lines don't perform over time, his ability to recruit diminishes.
DeleteI think Omameh is better than Barnum/Mealer.
DeleteIn running for play of the game could also be Devin's pass out of the endzone where it looked like he was about to take a safety and instead hooked up with Roundtree for a 20 yard gain.
ReplyDeleteYep, that was a good one, too.
Deletewhen watching the game, BTN showed a close up of Patrick "where the magic happens" getting blown up, leading to a 4 yard loss
ReplyDeleteLol you ppl crack me up now its Funks fault why the line is below average, it can't just be the fact the players themselves aren't that good?
ReplyDeleteMichigan's been one of the best rushing teams in the country the last few years. Molk is just one man.
DeleteDavid Molk was a very special college lineman, even if you shrink the category to Rimington winners. It's going to be a long time before anyone finds a combination of smarts, toughness and quick twitch athleticism in a college lineman that approaches the package Molk possesses. His mobility alone gave Big Al all kinds of options for scheming that are gone for the forceable future and I believe it to be that those schemes are gone as much as any other single factor that is responsible for our lack of a running game beyond Denard/now Devin.
DeleteMy opinion is that he'll find a home for ten or twelve years in the NFL where barring injury, year after year after year they'll talk about replacing him with a bigger body and then can't get it done.
These are basically the same guys, including the RBs, as last year, minus Molk. And, Minnesota is terrible against the run. Yet, it's not just Minnesota. In no games this year has Toussaint (or any RB) been able to get it going like last year. Our progress is heading downwards; not upwards. Our OLine might be below average versus great OLine of UM lore, but that's an irrelevant comparison since we're not playing teams from B1G past. We're playing teams now that other B1G teams are playing and having more success than us by a significant margin. UM averaged about 2 yeard/carry worse than any other B1G faced by Minnesota. ???
Delete--TriFloyd
I think the issue with swapping Molk for Mealer is not just a talent equation, but also scheme. Barnum, Omameh, and Schofield are all built for zone blocking. But with Mealer, there is absolutely no way UM can block zone. Granted, UM did not run exclusively zone last year. But with things not going real well in the running game, it would be a nice option to have.
DeleteA lot of things just don't seem to be clicking on offense and it's tough to put your finger on it. Troussaint was great last year and he looked to be on his game in the spring. Now, even when he has good blocking on the line, he usually just finds the nearest DB and runs right into him. The game does not appear to have slowed down much for Denard either. It's tough to watch because we were expecting some fireworks this season.
Magnus I would be very interested in your assessment of next years offensive line potential. Hypothetically Lewan stays and Schofield remains. Is it reasonably possible for Magnuson/Braden to beat Schofield out for the other Tackle spot and move him back to Guard? Would Schofields position be determined by the least common denominator of who he gets paired with? IE: Magnuson over Bryant. Would Magnuson at Tackle and Schofield and Kalis at Guard be better than Schofield at Tackle and Kalis and Bryant at Guard? I know these guys aren't ready yet to play, and they'll only be able to be so ready by the time they have to play next year, but what's your best guess? My guess is they could be an upgrade on the interior by B1G play over this year no matter how it stacks up, and the coaches are starting who they're starting now because they're 3 seniors and they seasons already well underway.
ReplyDeleteI would not expect Schofield to move to guard again, but anything's possible. With Kalis, Miller, and Bryant (along with the redshirt/true freshman), I think the interior line is fairly well addressed. I don't think it will be excellent next year, but you're basically just shifting around the problem if you move Schofield to guard and put someone else at tackle. You either have weaknesses at LG/C/RG or you have weaknesses at, say, C/RG/RT (assuming the new starters count as "weaknesses").
DeleteMy projected starters for next year are:
LT: Lewan
LG: Kalis
C: Miller
RG: Bryant
RT: Schofield
I have also heard positive things about Braden, though, and I think he might be a wild card.
I don't think Michigan's OL will improve by next year. 2014 is my target year for having a very good offensive line.
I was excited to see Gardner at QB this week, especially to see the difference in arm strength and accuracy from Denard. Denard is magic but getting Gardner lots of game day reps can't hurt. Confidence goes a long way. I want to see him against a better defense before I get too excited but this was encouraging. In my dream sequence Denard screens to Gardner who throws deep to Roundtree with a bunch of confused Buckeyes on the field. Go Blue!
ReplyDelete