Name: Karmello English
Height: 6’0″
Weight: 185 lbs.
High school: Phenix City (AL) Central
Position: Wide receiver
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: N/A
Last year: English was a senior in high school (LINK). He caught 75 passes for 850 yards and 11 touchdowns, adding 2 rushing touchdowns.
TTB Rating: 82
English was a nice cherry on top for a 2023 class that was generally lacking pizzazz. It was a decent class, if underperforming based on Michigan's on-field success the past two years. But the lack of playmakers outside of local 4-star running back Cole Cabana was a bit concerning. In stepped English, who was ranked as a 4-star, the #26 wide receiver, and #181 overall. (Fun fact: English's high school coach was Patrick Nix, the former Auburn quarterback and the father of Auburn/Oregon quarterback Bo Nix.)
English is the highest ranked receiver in Michigan's class, and he might end up being the best one. But both Semaj Morgan and Fredrick Moore enrolled back in January and had spring practice to start to build a rapport with Michigan's quarterbacks. English is a summer enrollee who will be playing a little from behind. I think the team will have to use one or two freshman receivers on the field this season because of a little bit of a lack of depth, and English might be the odd man out for now.
Prediction: Redshirt
Lower than I would have expected for a potential impact freshman. That said, last year Michigan leaned HEAVILY on it's 3 starting WR.
ReplyDeleteAgainst TCU there were a grand total of 5 WR snaps beyond the 3 starters. Against OSU it was still only 12. They didn't miss Sainristil at all, didn't use Clemons nearly as much as many anticipated, and didn't even use Henning or Anthony - starting caliber power 5 WRs - much either. A rather surprising turn of events compared to previous years given that more passing was expected with JJ than Cade. Not surprisingly, this lack of action resulted in transfers out the door, even with Bell moving on to the NFL.
With Wilson and Johnson back and Morris/Clemons/O'Leary next in line there's not much in the way of obvious need at WR, but in years past Michigan has gone 6-deep in critical games. Against OSU in 2021 there were 3 different backup WRs used for almost 20 snaps combined. In prior OSU games we have had walk-ons out there, though that is still perplexing to me.
Anyway, by October and November I don't think it will much matter who was here for spring and who wasn't. I think a freshman WR will be contributing because well, there's a walk-on who is in line to be the 3rd staring WR right now. I know people are confident in him and all but I think Michigan is going to find a way to get these frosh on the field. If nothing else because Wilson and Johnson are going to be gone in 2024 and they'll need the experience. I don't expect a repeat of 2023 - Michigan should utilize their backup WRs more and I think that will include at least a couple of the freshman. One of them will likely start in 2024 besides Clemons and Morris (neither of whom are sure things anyway).
Part of the lessoned reliance on backup WR in 2022 probably has to do with wanting Colston Loveland on the field. Anybody betting against Harbaugh relying on TEs is pissing into the wind, but I think Loveland was a somewhat unique situation.
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