Name: Jeffrey Persi
Height: 6’8″
Weight: 310 lbs.
High school: Mission Viejo (CA) Junipero Serra
Position: Offensive tackle
Class: Fifth year senior
Jersey number: #79
Last year: I ranked Persi #44 and said he would be a backup offensive tackle (LINK). He played in fifteen games.
TTB Rating: 82
Persi had an opportunity in 2023 to stake his claim for 2024. With Michigan trying out Karsen Barnhart, Myles Hinton, Trente Jones, and La'Darius Henderson over the first couple weeks at tackle, Persi and Andrew Gentry were afterthoughts and never really in the discussion. Both Persi and Gentry did play on the offensive line throughout the year, and Persi fared better, according to Pro Football Focus. His best moments were in pass protection, where he had a 78.5 overall grade for the year; however, he managed just a 60.6 run blocking grade.
Those things may factor into playing time decisions for 2024. This is likely to be more of a run-oriented offense if Alex Orji wins the starting quarterback job, as most people expect. Persi still fared better than Gentry when it comes to PFF's grades, but it was just a small difference in the run game. My eyes tell me that Persi is the superior player, but both will have to fend off redshirt freshman Evan Link. If I had to pick a starter, I would pick Persi, but the right tackle job seems like one of those spots where the competition may go into the season.
Prediction: Starting right tackle
Is there a preferred RT outcome from a fan perspective? I suppose maybe Link as that would seem to be an indication that the highest ceiling player has prevailed?
ReplyDelete@Thunder - what are your overall expectations for the OL this year? Feels to me like the most important non-QB position group this year. Even with a first round QB last year, it was the OL performance that dictated our success more often than not.
This is a place where interpreting the coaches behavior might mean more than limited snaps in low leverage situations. My guess is that it's saying something that persi spending a lot of time at guard while Gentry locks in at tackle.
ReplyDeleteI'm leaning towards Peris, but as to your Orji take and The Team being more run oriented, I point to last year. We had a top10 draft pick and best QB to ever wear a winged helmet but still we leaned heavily toward run
ReplyDeleteHarball today, Harball tomorrow, Harball forever!
Against Alabama Michigan had 351 yards (221 passing / 130 rushing) and called 27 passes to 32 run plays (including Orji's RPO run).
DeleteHarbaugh, like most coaches, will run more when he has a lead to protect and will throw more when he is playing from behind. In a game that is competitive all the way through Harbaugh is going to be balanced. I would guess Moore will be too.
Michigan stayed at a relatively low passing percentage last year (40%) but that was more than Alabama, Minnesota, Rutgers, and Nebraska. Not crazy. Even a famously pass-reliant team like OSU is running more than they pass (because they spend a lot of time protecting leads like Michigan and Alabama).
Harbaugh loves the running game and Moore clearly does too, but it'll be interesting to see how much that run/pass split changes with Moore if he starts Orji.
Hot take -- Michigan will pass more often in 2024, despite going from McCarthy to Orji. it's situational! Michigan has a much more competitive schedule in 2024 than they've had the last few seasons and will probably spend a lot less time of possession on nursing leads and more in situations where they have to trade punch for punch like Alabama (or even having to rally back from behind).
Of course I hope that's not wrong and Michigan can just plow smash through everyone on the schedule and pass less than a 1/3 of the time.
Cherry picking is misleading ...
DeleteIf one were to counter using the same approach, they could use the PennSt game ... but misleading is a form of lying
So let's look at the other close games: Maryland & ohio ... what was the split then?
Fact is, Harbaugh & his dad have talked about their gravestone having "God's Play" engraved on it. Harball is who & what they are ... and Defenses hate it!
That's a dodge Jelly.
DeleteOhio State - Michigan never trailed! It was a competitive game throughout but Michigan was protecting the lead. 182 passing yards, 156 rushing yards. Balance. Even if they ran more often to protect the lead and limit possessions by OSU.
Maryland - Maryland got a FG to take 3-0 lead and Michigan came right back to score and held the lead for the rest of the game. 141 passing yards and 150 rushing yards. Balance. Even if they ran more often to protect the lead.
PSU - no question this was a dominant run performance -- we all remember the second half when PSU couldn't stop the SMASH. But oh yeah Harbaugh wasn't even there. But let's pretend he was, that game was mostly about....say it with me...Michigan protecting a lead. To get that lead on the drive they began the first 3 possessions very balanced (you'll recall their EDGEs dominating our OTs perhaps?) Michigan played the matchup, and protected the lead. Look up the 2021 MSU game (when Harbaugh was coaching) for playing the matchup in the other direction...
Alabama was a different game with a different story. The lead went back and forth several times. Nobody was ever comfortable. The run pass mix and the yardage both ended up....BALANCED.
Go back to 2022 you'll find a similar situation. TCU, a back and forth affair all day, like Alabama, was 40 rushes to 35 passes, 342 yards passing to 186 rushing. BALANCED. Not just that, but Illinois 2022 - when Michigan was down in the second half and struggling to score all day -- 34 passes and 40 rushes. BALANCED
Michigan losing in the second half of games is an infrequent event in the last few years, but there's a pattern here that Michigan is more likely to run when it is comfortably ahead and more likely to throw when it is behind it, like everyone else. They are more likely to be ahead than everyone else, because they're a better team with an elite defense. Coaches do what they do to win games. IYKYK
from "in competitive games" and percentage of run v pass to, "bUt tHe yArDaGe"
Deletemoving
the
target
"We had a top10 draft pick and best QB to ever wear a winged helmet but still we leaned heavily toward run"
DeleteTHE TARGET is an explanation of why we lean so heavily to the run despite a great QB. Alabama 23 and TCU 22 and MSU 21 all the other games tell you a story but you want to taste the sand.
You're cherry-picking! You're moving the target! I can't keep up so I'm making excuses! Jelly gon Jelly.
Delete"We had a top10 draft pick and best QB to ever wear a winged helmet but still we leaned heavily toward run"
That is a fact you don't even try to dispute
You can't win so you cherry picked one of fifteen hands, move the target from play selection percentage to yardage , and now pretend you proved a point
L. Big L. Big L Lank
Why would I dispute the 40/60 season split when it supports my point?
DeleteHold it up high. No quotes! No insights! Just Lank's obsessed fan here to talk to Lank about Lank.
Will the number go up or down if we replace McCarthy with Orji?
Delete4o-6o is Harball Lank ... you lost when you started with the pass to run split, then moved onto yardage gained. You proved to mislead when you started with Bama while ignoring the other two close games
DeleteYour own words, used against you. But deny the quotes; you're not taken seriously anyway
*depends on if Moore is more open to Campbell as OC than what he & Harbaugh did. When Harbaugh & Moore were both suspended, Campbell went 5o-5o, despite the blowout
Harball is a word you made up to mean whatever you want it to mean in the moment.
DeleteIn anything else 40% of one thing and 60% of another thing would be considered pretty close to 50/50 AKA balanced.
For Michigan's playcalling -- it leans one way or the other depending on context. It's not complicated.
When Michigan was playing from behind for most of the season (in 2020) they threw more (56%) and ran less. When they were protecting leads for most of the season (every other year).
Nebraska and Utah and Auburn and Alabama were not "harball" teams. They were around 40/60. So what!
Harbaugh's identity is centered around a dominant OL supplemented with heavy use of TEs to create additional gaps -- all to assert dominance on the ground. But he's not a zealot -- he wants to win and will do whatever it takes to win.
He ADAPTS. To CONTEXT. He'll use a pocket passer or a dual threat passer. He'll use FBs or he won't. He'll use jumbo backs or teeny tiny speed backs. Whatever it takes to win. He'll run. He'll pass.
You don't get it. You don't know football. you don't know Harball, even though it's a word you made up.
The SMASH victory over PSU was Moore, not Harbaugh on the sidelines. Turns out removing Harbaugh made for the most run-emphasized half of football in the Harbaugh era. LOL. Sorry about the facts and how "misleading" you find them.
When going toe to toe with another giant (Saban), Harbaugh did what's needed to win -- balance. If he's going to choke the life out of a lesser opponent, he'll run all day. If he needs to come from behind, he'll pass all day. This isn't speculation -- this is what has happened throughout the Harbaugh era.
OSU and PSU -- protecting a lead. Alabama -- fighting back and forth all day long. Context. You don't understand football. Jim Harbaugh does.
40/60 is balanced, reflecting context, and Michigan winning a whole lot of games under Harbaugh. Find me a 60/40 split team and I'll show you a team that has spent a lot of time playing from behind. Look at Washington last year - a lot of back and forth games resulted in 59/41, despite an elite OL and highly productive RB room.
Sorry about the facts.
Quotes? You have none. Best you can do is one word, like a toddler or a simpleton. Not understanding the point or the context. Hold it up high a taste that sand.
"all to assert dominance on the ground"
DeleteNo sh:t. Harball
#onequote
#caseclosed
Looks like Persi has dropped to third per Sheronne. I see him as this year's Barnhart in the sense that he can be a swing player between OG and OT.
ReplyDelete...or maybe he'll be a tight end!
DeleteHe's over 300 and we've never had a TE be over 300. Closest was Wheatley, who was 290 something...and eventually moved to OT. LOL
DeleteTrente Jones was over 300 pounds.
DeleteTrente Jones was an OL. He did not move to TE. You maybe confusing him with Joel Honigford who was an OL, but he dropped 50 pounds to be a TE.
DeleteIf Giles Jackson was a running back, Trente Jones was a tight end. We've been through this. Giles Jackson was never listed as a running back, but he lined up in the backfield, so you called him a running back. Trente Jones spent a lot more time lining up at tight end than Jackson spent lining up in the backfield.
DeletePFF has Giles Jackson lining up in the backfield for exactly 12 snaps during his time at Michigan.
Trente Jones lined up at TE a total of 142 snaps.
Remember, it's not logic unless it applies to both parties...
Inconsistent. No principles. Just arguing, desperately in need of attention
Delete