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Sunday, January 6, 2013

The Wolverine: Big Ten's top 25 players from 2012

Emma Frain
Michael Spath ranks the top 25 players in the Big Ten from this past season.  I generally try not to be a Michigan homer, but I have a hard time understanding why Taylor Lewan is #8, since he's considered to be a top-15 NFL draft pick.  Of the first seven, six are running backs and quarterbacks; only one is a non-offensive skill player (Ohio State linebacker Ryan Shazier).  It seems he's overvaluing skill players.  Farther down the list you'll find Denard Robinson and Jake Ryan.

3 comments:

  1. Allen Robinson, the best receiver in the B1G according to this article, went to Orchard Lake St. Mary's. Was he recruited by either staff here? No. Will we have a problem with depth at receiver next year? Yes.

    Can't complain about recruiting since then, but I wonder if Hoke wished he could have that month in 2011 back.

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    1. Hoke's staff had about 3 weeks to try to pull that class together. It's tough to get upset about their role in that 2011 class.

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  2. The relationship between NFL draft position and college performance isn't real significant. See: Tree Jenkins.

    By most accounts, Lewan wasn't as good in 2012. I suspect he played a good part of the year pretty banged up. Not heavily reported, but after the MSU game he was limping very badly. Regardless, he's going to be drafted for what he COULD do.

    That's not intended to be a defense of M.Spath - putting a bunch of skill position offense guys at the top of a list is typically thoughtless. Just saying a top 15 NFL pick need not be a top 10 player in his conference. Just different criteria...

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