Name: Aymeric Koumba
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 260 lbs.
High school: Bordeaux (France) Lycee Alfred Kastler
Position: Defensive end
Class: Redshirt freshman
Jersey number: #90
Last year: I ranked Koumba #130 and said he would redshirt (LINK). He played in one game.
TTB Rating: 73
Koumba was very raw coming out of France last year, and it was reflected in the amount of playing time he got: he played in the first game of the year, against East Carolina. Most freshmen aren't going to play a ton, but especially guys in the trenches who come from Europe.
Not much practice buzz came out of Schembechler Hall about Koumba, but he supposedly got up to 265 pounds this off-season before being listed at 260 on the fall camp roster. He looked thin as a recruit, but now people like Sam Webb are saying Koumba looks like the type of guy you would want to be "first off the bus." At 6'5" and 260 pounds, he's roughly the same height and weight as Braiden McGregor and Aiden Hutchinson, two other guys who would have been "first off the bus" material.
Whether Koumba plays or not is a different story. Michigan's top three edge players are Josaiah Stewart, Derrick Moore, and probably T.J. Guy, but Koumba might be in the running to be that fourth or fifth guy, along with someone like Cameron Brandt. I wouldn't expect him to ascend to fourth just yet, but Brandt got 60 snaps in 2023 and Kechaun Bennett got 32. That's the type of role that Koumba has a chance to fill in 2024.
Prediction: Backup defensive end
Get him on the field, just for some taste
ReplyDeleteNext year he can contribute more
More like a true freshman than a RS given his background. Probably less chance of playing impactful snaps than most of the other young edges. Eyes on 2025 and beyond and hope he can go from zero to Ojabo once it clicks.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what you mean by "most of the other young edges" but Lugard Edokpayi (232) and Devon Baxter (240) are both lighter than virtually anyone who gets on the field at the edge positions. Dominic Nichols has the size to play this year, but it depends on who else you're including as "young."
DeleteAnyway, it seems like about 245 is on the small end of the spectrum for a playable edge.
Brandt is the first young EDGE I would guess after Guy. Nicols and Ishmail both seem more likely to get drawn in than Koumba, to me. I would also not rule out entirely, for example, Baxter, if he has the athleticism to be an impact pass rusher, to play in a pass rush package as a freshman. Or to gain weight as the season progresses. The only guy I see as clearly less likely than Koumba is Edokpayi and that could be wrong too since you never know with freshman what they might be, but he's also pretty new to football and extremely lanky so I have doubts.
DeleteAll the young edges kinda seem like projects, but some are further away than others and I think Koumba is among the furthest despite being a sophomore at the "right" weight.
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I think simply looking at weight is reductive. You've also got to consider proportions (height vs weight) and how they factor into strength and leverage.
It seems like we always have guys in the 240-250 range playing a huge role if not starting. Given that I would say it's more of an optimum than a minimum.
Jaylen Harrell has played a ton the last 3 years while weighing between 235 and 245. Josiah Stewart bulked up to get to 245 and played a ton. Meanwhile we have a lot of guys who are over 250 who don't play at all. Koumba was already at 254 last year and didn't play at all. Bennet was over 250 and didn't play very much.
So, I think it's possible to read too much into weight and it's possible that some guys are getting too big to be effective because they maybe sacrificing quickness on the edge.
Sometimes these lighter guys playing a lot are on the shorter side. Uche and Stewart are not many inches north of 6'. You've gotta find your right balance and Jaylen Harrell, David Ojabo, and Josh Uche all did that well, IMO.
Another way of thinking about it might be less how much a guy is over 245 and more about how close he is to his optimum weight (senior year). I'll give a specific example.
For some edges that might be over 280 (Mike Morris) and for others that might be 245 (Jaylen Harrell). Morris came in 30 pounds below his senior weight and Harrell 10 pounds below. Maybe that's why Harrell played right away as a true freshman and started games as a sophomore while Morris played 1 game through his first 2 years on campus. Morris was always bigger but Harrell was more ready, even when he was younger and smaller.
Anyway, I see Koumba as being exceedingly raw and after a year on campus, regardless of weight, I don't think he's very likely to have a role. But that's my speculation and I'm happy to be wrong.
ah, the strawman ... who is "looking at weight" as a sole or the only factor?
DeleteJust desperate
@ Lank 11:12 p.m.
DeleteWell, we haven't hit Cameron Brandt yet in the countdown, so it would seem we agree there that he's ahead of Koumba.
Jaylen Harrell was listed at 235 pounds as a freshman in 2020 and played 4 total defensive snaps in six games, or approximately 0.67 snaps per game that year.
Harrell was a special teams player as a freshman at 235 and a starter as a sophomore at 242, same as he weighed as a senior.
DeleteI'll be that Koumba is further off his senior weight right now than Harrell was as a true freshman.
Half of JE's posts are on the same topic. His favorite obsession.
DeleteOh come on, that's "garbage"
DeleteHarrell was a backup as a sophomore. Yes, he started three games...out of 14. He was not the starter.
DeleteCade McNamara started a game in 2022. He was not the starter for that season.
That's a terrible comparison. EDGE is a rotational position while QB isn't.* Harrell started SOME games and played a huge role as a sophomore and he continued to play a huge role as a junior and senior. He was never weighed much more than 240 and he played a meaningful role at under it.
DeleteHarrell started games so I call him a starter, which is the same thing Jim Harbaugh called a bunch of guys who start sometimes but not always, depending on the personnel/package on the first play of the game.
*Except for the QB run package which may or may not still exist under Moore. Even that was not deployed in every game.
You list 12 on your depth charts, not 11, and Harbaugh listed a lot more. Who starts depends on the personnel package for the first play call. Max Bredeson in 2023 - a starter. Tyler Morris in 2023 - a starter. AJ Barner in 2023 - a starter. Colston Loveland in 2023 - a starter. None of them started every game, all of them started some.
DeleteSo I'm going to make up my own definition of starter to be a person who plays on the 1st play of the game for the O or D.
If Michigan rotates QBs they could have multiple starters, as they did in 2022.
EDGE rotates more than QB. Stewart and Moore were playing as many or more snaps as McGregor and Harrel by the end of last year. That doesn't usually happen at QB. As you well know.
Delete"So I'm going to make up my own definition of ... "
Lmao, first "garbage," now this. The confessions of Lank are rollin!
Obsessed but you're only lying to yourself jelly
DeleteDodge, duck, dip & dive
DeleteI accept your white flag