Here are the results of the 2023 NFL Draft for Michigan:
1st round: Mazi Smith - DT - Dallas Cowboys (#26 overall) 2nd round: Luke Schoonmaker - TE - Dallas Cowboys (#58) 2nd round: D.J. Turner II - CB - Cincinnati Bengals (#60) 3rd round: Jake Moody - K - San Francisco 49ers (#99) 5th round: Mike Morris - DE - Seattle Seahawks (#151) 5th round: Olu Oluwatimi - C - Seattle Seahawks (#154) 6th round: Brad Robbins - P - Cincinnati Bengals (#217) 7th round: Ryan Hayes - OT - Miami Dolphins (#238) 7th round: Ronnie Bell - WR - San Francisco 49ers (#253)
CB Gemon Green was signed as an undrafted free agent by the New York Giants and TE Joel Honigford was signed by the Arizona Cardinals.
Below are some former Wolverines who were drafted or signed as undrafted free agents:
2nd round: Zach Charbonnet - RB - Seattle Seahawks (#52 overall) UDFA: Chuck Filiaga - OG - New York Giants UDFA: Hunter Reynolds - S - Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The following player, Eric Gray, was committed to Michigan at one point but signed with Tennessee before transferring to Oklahoma:
5th round: Eric Gray - RB - New York Giants (#172)
Ponte Vedra Beach (FL) Ponte Vedra center Jake Guarnera committed to Michigan on Friday. He picked the Wolverines over offers from Florida, Miami, Ole Miss, and Penn State, among others.
I wrote up a full scouting report on Guarnera Friday before his commitment, so feel free to check that out (LINK).
I had been working on an "If I Had My Druthers" post regarding finishing out the offensive line class, but there's only so much time in a day, so I ran out of real estate for getting that posted. I still may complete the post now that Guarnera is in the fold, but . . . he was not particularly high on that list. The amazing thing is that it's not even that he's a bad prospect, but he was low on the list because so many high-quality linemen are interested in Michigan.
Guarnera will have to transition from playing left tackle in high school to playing center (or guard) in college, and it's always difficult to gauge how those moves will go. For example, Reece Atteberry was another tackle who was slated for center, but he does not seem to have gained much traction there and now plays exclusively at guard.
Michigan now has five offensive linemen in the class and will probably try to land a sixth, if not a seventh. Guarnera is the best bet to play center. He is the third lowest ranked commit in the class, ahead of only German native Manuel Beigel and little known Zach Ludwig.
Guarnera would be the first player from Ponte Vedra High to play for Michigan.
Redshirt freshman Damani Dent has entered the transfer portal.
Dent spent a chunk of 2022 away from the team and returned late in the year, but he never set foot on the field. The Jacksonville (FL) Terry Parker product was a Jim Harbaugh favorite as part of the recruiting class, but perhaps he did not see a path to playing time. I gave him a TTB Rating of 82 by the spring of 2022 after seeing his senior highlights, but he was a 3-star, the #65 safety, and #778 overall in his recruiting class.
Michigan lost both Dent and R.J. Moten (LINK) from the safety depth chart within a week, so that must mean good things about some of the young safeties on the roster, like Zeke Berry and Keon Sabb. This fall's expected starters are junior Rod Moore and redshirt junior Makari Paige. I recently ranked Dent #132 in the 2023 Season Countdown because I did not expect him to play much this fall (LINK).
Dent is the second member of the class of 2022 to hit the transfer portal, following linebacker Deuce Spurlock (LINK), who transferred to Florida.
Louisville transfer kicker James Turner has committed to Michigan.
Turner was listed at 6'0" and 205 lbs. at Louisville last season, where he made 20/22 field goals and 38/39 extra points during the 2022 season. Before that he was 14/22 on field goal attempts and 46/48 on extra points in 2021, and he went 13/15 on field goals and 40/40 on extra points in 2020. Altogether, that makes him 47/59 on field goals. He has also handled kickoff duties at times.
Turner was a class of 2019 prospect from Saline (MI) Saline who did not get an offer from the Wolverines at the time. Michigan did not sign a kicker in 2019, but they had nabbed Quinn Nordin (2017) and Jake Moody (2018) in back-to-back classes at that point.
Turner should be Michigan's starting placekicker this fall. Redshirt sophomore Tommy Doman has not been used much so far in his career, but he will probably fill in at punter for the departed Brad Robbins and perhaps on kickoff duties. Meanwhile, the placekicking duties will likely be a battle between Turner and incoming freshman Adam Samaha, with Novi (MI) Catholic Central walk-on product Charlie Mentzer also in the mix.
This is the first player to commit to Michigan in the spring portal window, but Michigan landed several players right after the season, including TE A.J. Barner, LB Ernest Hausmann, OL La'Darius Henderson, OL Chris Hinton, OL Drake Nugent, DE Josaiah Stewart, and QB Jack Tuttle
NOTE: This was posted on touch-the-banner.com prior to the draft, but I didn't migrate it over here to Blogger until after the draft concluded.
With the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft coming up on Thursday night, here's a look at how things might play out for several former Wolverines:
CB D.J. Turner II: Turner wowed people at the Combine by running a 4.26 in the forty, which seems to have launched him from maybe a mid-round pick to the lower end of the 1st round. Personally, I do not view him as a 1st round talent and I do not think he's physical enough at 5'11" and 178 lbs. to play up to those expectations. But it sure seems like a lot of people are convinced he's going to go in the mid- to late 20s on Thursday night. Prediction: 1st round
DT Mazi Smith: Smith was the #1 freak on Bruce Feldman's "Freaks List" last year, but that athleticism wasn't enough to turn him into a surefire 1st round selection in 2023. In fact, some early optimism about being a high 1st round pick has fizzled to the point where many think he's a 2nd rounder. At 6'3" and 323 lbs., he has good size but isn't an outlier in that area. I think he could slip into the last few picks of the 1st round, but more likely he'll have to wait until Friday. Prediction: 2nd round
Cheshire (CT) Cheshire Academy defensive lineman Jerod Smith committed to Michigan on Tuesday evening. He picked the Wolverines over offers from Alabama, Georgia, Notre Dame, and Texas, among others.
Smith is listed at 6'3" and 265 lbs. As a junior at Windsor (CT) Loomis Chaffee, he made 63 tackles, 8 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, and 1 interception. He has a twin brother named Jacob, who is a defensive end prospect being pursued by an almost identical list of schools, including Michigan.
Rochester (MI) Adams tight end Brady Prieskorn committed to Michigan on Tuesday afternoon. He chose the Wolverines over offers from Alabama, Georgia, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and many others.
Prieskorn is listed at 6'6" and 225 lbs. As a junior in 2022, he caught 24 passes for 648 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Former starting linebacker Nikhai Hill-Green will be playing his fourth season elsewhere after entering the transfer portal.
Hill-Green signed as part of the class of 2020 and is now the eleventh player from that class to have transferred, including the third today after A.J. Henning (LINK) and safety R.J. Moten (LINK). I gave him a TTB Rating of 74 when he committed (LINK). He was a 3-star, the #25 outside linebacker, and #393 overall in his class.
Hill-Green played in three games as a freshman in 2020 and then started six games in 2021, making 50 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, and 1 pass breakup in his second year. However, his 2022 season was a wash due to injury, and he was in a battle with several other players for playing time in 2023, including incumbent Michael Barrett, up-and-comer Jimmy Rolder, and Nebraska transfer Ernest Hausmann.
It would not be surprising to see Hill-Green follow his former high school head coach at Baltimore (MD) St. Frances to Charlotte, where Biff Poggi is the new head coach.
Rising redshirt junior safety R.J. Moten is transferring out of Michigan.
I gave Moten a TTB Rating of 68 when he committed in July of 2019 (LINK) and compared him to former Wolverine Josh Furman, who finished his career at Oklahoma State. Moten was also a high-level baseball prospect but decided to pursue football instead.
Moten played in just one game in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. Altogether, he played in 29 career games, including five starts in 2021 and ten more in 2022. He managed 65 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, 4 pass breakups, and 1 interception during his career. So Michigan is essentially losing a starter, even though Makari Paige kind of usurped the starting safety job toward the end of 2022. When Michigan was missing some linebacker depth toward the end of 2022, the coaching staff practiced Moten at linebacker during bowl prep for the TCU game, thinking he might be able to play in case of emergency.
Moten is the tenth member of the class of 2020 to depart, and the second of the day, along with wide receiver A.J. Henning (LINK). Michigan also landed an amazingly alliterative trio of safety/linebacker hybrids in 2020 with Moten, Jordan Morant, and William Mohan, and all three have now transferred (Morant to Duke/Mississippi State, Mohan to Tennessee before being dismissed).
Presumably, the two safety starters are now Rod Moore and Makari Paige, with Keon Sabb and Zeke Berry also looking like promising players for the future.
Rising senior wide receiver A.J. Henning is entering the transfer portal. A class of 2020 signee, he still has two years of eligibility remaining.
I missed on Henning when I gave him a TTB Rating of 89 (LINK), making a comparison to Jeremy Gallon. The recruiting services also seem to have missed on him so far, ranking him as a 4-star, the #18 wide receiver, and #102 overall in the 247 Composite. He still has a couple seasons to reach that level, but he hasn't shown a ton so far outside of a couple big plays against MAC-level teams. In fact, I wrote about him back in December as someone to look out for as a potential early departure (LINK).
Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State, and others pursued Henning out of Frankfort (IL) Lincoln-Way East, but the Wolverines won that recruiting battle. He made a minimal impact in 2020 with just 9 touches, but he showed promise in 2021 when he ran 9 times for 162 yards and 2 touchdowns - including a memorable end around for a TD against Ohio State - and caught 10 passes for 79 yards. But his offensive usage tailed off in 2022, when he tallied just 12 offensive touches (9 catches, 3 carries); his most memorable moment of his final season was a punt return touchdown against UConn.
Where Henning's departure will be felt most is on special teams, where he returned 28 punts for 201 yards (7.2 yards/return) and the 1 touchdown; he also returned 11 kickoffs for 241 yards (21.9 yards/return). But in general, that type of production is replaceable. In fact, no leading kick returner in the Jim Harbaugh era has had a lower average except Ambry Thomas in 2017-2018, and Henning had the lowest punt return average of anyone in that span, too.
So, in other words, I don't think Henning is a terrible player . . . but this might end up being addition by subtraction overall. All other punt returners (Ronnie Bell, D.J. Turner II) are headed to the NFL, so somebody brand new will be returning punts. Meanwhile, Roman Wilson averaged 22.8 yards/return on kickoff returns, so he might be a candidate to return kicks, along with freshman running back Cole Cabana, sophomore running back C.J. Stokes, and others.
Henning is the ninth member of the 2020 class to depart, joining CB Darion Green-Warren (Nevada), DE Aaron Lewis (Rutgers), LB William Mohan (Tennessee), S Jordan Morant (Mississippi State), LB Osman Savage (Alabama A&M), CB Andre Seldon, Jr. (New Mexico State), QB Dan Villari (Syracuse), and LB Cornell Wheeler (Kansas)
Micah Kaapana - RB - Las Vegas (NV) Bishop Gorman: Kaapana is a 5'11", 195 lb. prospect with offers from Arizona State, BYU, Oklahoma State, and Utah, among others. He's a 3-star, the #51 running back, and #612 overall.
Elijah Newby - LB - Cheshire (CT) Cheshire Academy: Newby is a 6'4", 200 lb. prospect with offers from Kentucky, North Carolina, Penn State, and USC, among others. He's a 3-star, the #59 linebacker, and #642 overall. This is the same school that sent wide receiver Tarik Black to Michigan in the 2017 class.
Name: Peter Simmons III Height: 6’2″ Weight: 291 lbs. High school: Bonita Springs (FL) Bishop Verot Position: Defensive tackle Class: Redshirt sophomore Jersey number: #75 #70 Last year: I ranked Simmons #120 and said he would be a backup offensive lineman (LINK). He did not play. TTB Rating: N/A
Simmons is yet another walk-on whose burden was so heavy that he got one inch shorter from 2022 to 2023. Whoever's measuring these walk-ons needs to be fired.
Anyway, in addition to getting smaller, Simmons has moved from offensive guard to defensive tackle this off-season. I do not expect that to have much effect on his playing time. He is still unlikely to get on the field unless it's a huge blowout.
Name: Trevor Andrews Height: 6’1″ Weight: 224 lbs. High school: Brentwood (TN) Ravenwood Position: Linebacker Class: Redshirt sophomore Jersey number: #42 #57 Last year: I ranked Andrews #124 and said he would be a backup linebacker (LINK). He did not play. TTB Rating: N/A
Andrews, a high school teammate of Junior Colson and Myles Pollard, enters his third year in the program. So far he has yet to see the field in a Michigan uniform. I'm not sure if 2023 will be much kinder to him, because he's dropped down from 6'2" to 6'1" on the roster. But the former high school quarterback has transitioned to defense, so it was bound to take a little for him to adjust.
Name: Brady Prieskorn High school: Rochester (MI) Adams Height: 6’6" Weight: 225 lbs. Position: Tight end Class: 2024 Offers: Alabama, Arkansas, Central Michigan, Cincinnati, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Memphis, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, Pitt, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Toledo, Wisconsin Commitment: Uncommitted
Notes: ESPN 4-star, #1 TE, #92 overall, #2 in MI . . . On3 4-star, #5 TE, #92 overall, #1 in MI . . . Rivals 4-star, #3 TE, #67 overall, #4 in MI . . . 247 Sports 4-star, #4 TE, #95 overall, #2 in MI . . . Brother Caden played tight end at Memphis and will play for Ole Miss this fall
Brandon Baker – OT – Santa Ana (CA) Mater Dei: Baker is a 6’5″, 285-pounder with offers from Miami, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas, USC, and others. He’s a 4-star, the #1 offensive tackle, and #36 overall. UPDATE: Baker rescheduled his visit to April 24.
Brady Prieskorn - TE - Rochester (MI) Adams: Prieskorn is a 6'6", 230-pounder with offers from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and others. He's a 4-star, the #2 tight end, and #54 overall in the class. Both crystal balls so far are in favor of Michigan.
Benedict Umeh - DT - Avon (CT) Old Farms: Umeh is a 6'5", 260 lb. prospect with offers from Auburn, Florida, Miami, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, and others. He's a 4-star, the #10 defensive lineman, and #68 overall.
2025
Carter Lowe - OT - Toledo (OH) Whitmer: Lowe is a 6'5", 290-pounder with offers from Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State, among others. He's a 4-star, the #16 offensive tackle, and #160 overall.
Taz Williams, Jr. - WR - Red Oak (TX) Red Oak: Williams is a 5'11", 165 lb. prospect with offers from Alabama, LSU, Michigan, Notre Dame, and Texas A&M, among others. He's a 4-star, the #29 wide receiver, and #210 overall.
Name: Aymeric Koumba Height: 6'6" Weight: 230 lbs. High school: Bordeaux (France) Lycee Alfred Kastler Position: Defensive end Class: Freshman Jersey number: N/A Last year: Koumba was the equivalent of a senior in high school (LINK). TTB Rating: 73
Koumba is a transplant from France who was supposed to enroll early but now won't arrive until summer. As a foreign player playing against subpar competition (by American standards), he was able to do a lot of things with his athleticism that he won't be able to do immediately against FBS opponents. Even though a guy with 1st round talent in David Ojabo spent some time playing high school ball in New Jersey, he took two seasons of being a non-factor before exploding in 2021.
I would be surprised if Koumba makes an impact in 2023, and that surprise would have existed even if he had enrolled early. At roughly 6'6" and 230 pounds, he has a long way to go before he will be a viable Big Tenn player.
Name: Bryce Wilcox Height: 5’11” Weight: 185 lbs. High school: Sharpsburg (GA) Trinity Christian Position: Safety Class: Redshirt freshman Jersey number: #38 Last year: I ranked Wilcox #116 and said he would redshirt (LINK). He redshirted. TTB Rating: N/A
Wilcox is a talented athlete who was listed at 171 pounds coming out of high school, so his chances of getting on the field last season were very slim. I believe he also had some injury issues last season that kept him sidelined, so he redshirted as expected.
So here we are in 2023, and I don't expect much to change, even though Wilcox is up to 185 lbs. He could potentially be a special teams player, but Michigan has pretty solid depth at the safety position.
Devon Baxter - DE - Brandywine (MD) Gwynn Park: Baxter is a 6'6", 220 lb. prospect with offers from Maryland, Penn State, and Tennessee, among others. He's a 4-star, the #28 edge, and #363 overall.
Marquis Gallegos - S - West Hills (CA) Chaminade: Gallegos is a 6'1", 175-pounder with offers from Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon, UCLA, and USC, among others. He's a 4-star, the #23 safety, and #250 overall. Gallegos visited Michigan, Michigan State, and Notre Dame during a midwest swing over spring break.
Austin (TX) Vandegrift offensive tackle Blake Frazier committed to Michigan on Sunday. He picked the Wolverines over offers from Clemson, Florida, and Texas A&M, among others.
Frazier is listed at 6'5" and 260 lbs. in some places, and in other places, he's up to 6'6" and 270.
Name: Damani Dent Height: 5'11″ Weight: 196 lbs. High school: Jacksonville (FL) Terry Parker Position: Safety Class: Redshirt freshman Jersey number: #9 Last year: I ranked Dent #90 and said he would redshirt (LINK). He redshirted. TTB Rating: 82
Dent was a member of the 2022 class who did not play at all in 2022. In fact, he left the team for a while due to some personal issues, and he was not on the roster for much of the season. So this is quite a precipitous drop, perhaps the biggest in the countdown's history. Ranked even below many walk-ons, my concern here is that Dent spent a year away from football. That hurt his football conditioning so much, he even shrunk by an inch after being listed at 6'0" last year!
I do still have high hopes for Dent, but losing out on a year of development when other talented classmates and position mates like Zeke Berry and Keon Sabb probably does not help him in the race to get on the field.
James Flanigan - TE - Green Bay (WI) Notre Dame de la Baie: Flanigan is a 6'5", 220 lb. prospect with offers from Missouri, Notre Dame, and Wisconsin. He's the son of former Notre Dame defensive tackle Jim Flanigan, who played several years in the NFL, mostly with the Chicago Bears. James's grandfather also played in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers.
Iverson "Rocket" Howard - RB - Gaithersburg (MD) Quince Orchard: Howard is a 5'10", 175-pounder with offers from Maryland, Ole Miss, and Penn State, among others. He's a 4-star, the #6 running back, and #57 overall. With his name and nickname, I can't avoid thinking about Allen Iverson, Rocket Ishmail, Desmond Howard, Juwan Howard . . . there are a lot of associations there.
Trey McNutt - WR - Cleveland (OH) Shaker Heights: McNutt is a 6'0", 180 lb. athlete target with offers from Arkansas, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Penn State, among others. He's the son of former Ohio State defensive back Richard McNutt.
Winston Watkins, Jr. - WR - Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy: Watkins is a 5'10", 172 lb. prospect who committed to Colorado back in December, the day after Deion Sanders was announced as the new head coach. He's a 5-star, the #6 wide receiver, and #24 overall.
Name: Alexander Lidback Height: 6’2″ Weight: 217 lbs. High school: Alpharetta (GA) Alpharetta Position: Linebacker Class: Redshirt sophomore Jersey number: #46 Last year: I ranked Lidback #119 and said he would be a backup linebacker (LINK). He did not see game action. TTB Rating: N/A
Lidback is a player who I've been saying for the past couple years probably needs to stick around for three or four seasons before he would have a chance to get on the field. Without being a standout athlete or particularly big, he needs to know what he's doing and be in as good of shape as possible. He's even lighter (down from 223 pounds to 217) this season than last, so I don't expect things to change much this year. He's still probably on the outside looking in when it comes to playing time.
Name: Kendrick Bell Height: 6’3″ Weight: 180 lbs. High school: Kansas City (MO) Park Hill Position: Quarterback Class: Freshman Jersey number: N/A Last year: Bell was a senior in high school (LINK). He completed 224/339 passes (72%) for 35 touchdowns and ran for 670 yards and 10 touchdowns. TTB Rating: 74
Bell, who is the younger brother of outgoing receiver Ronnie Bell, has put up some gaudy numbers at Park Hill the past couple seasons. An athletic quarterback who can create on the move, he threw for a whopping 35 scores and ran for 10 more, accounting for 45 total touchdowns. For a team that played 11 games, that's more than 4 touchdowns per game for which he was responsible. A lot of people were surprised when he was offered by Michigan, though, because he was an under-the-radar recruit - just like his brother, who is likely to get drafted.
I'm not sure where the younger Bell fits in Michigan's roster. Listed and announced as a quarterback by Jim Harbaugh, that's probably going to be the first place he gets a shot. Will he stick around there for his entire career? Michigan has J.J. McCarthy for 2023 and possibly 2024, and 5-star quarterback Jadyn Davis arrives in 2024. Eventually, I think Bell is going to have to play safety or receiver. In the meantime, he's very thin at 180 pounds and has several guys ahead of him, including McCarthy, Jack Tuttle, Davis Warren, and a running option in Alex Orji. I'm expecting Bell to redshirt this season, and perhaps he will be a guy whose position gets re-evaluated on a yearly basis.
Sacramento (CA) Grant Union linebacker Kingston Lopa decommitted from Arizona. Lopa is a 6'5", 190-pounder who plays safety but is ranked as a linebacker (3-star, #55 LB, #604 overall). The decommitment came a month after being offered by Notre Dame and a couple days after one from Texas.
Michigan offered Esko (MN) Lincoln safety Koi Perich. Perich visited Ann Arbor a couple weekends ago but left without an offer; however, Michigan came back a little over a week later with an offer. He's a 4-star and the #28 safety to 247 Sports. Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Washington, and others have also fofered.
Joey Klunder (#93) and Daniel Taraboi (#66) (image via Twitter)
Name: Daniel Taraboi Height: 6’7″ Weight: 313 lbs. High school: Cedarburg (WI) Cedarburg Position: Offensive tackle Class: Redshirt freshman Jersey number: #66 Last year: I ranked Taraboi #127 and said he would redshirt (LINK). He played in one game and kept his redshirt. TTB Rating: N/A
Like everyone else without an ACL tear on Michigan's roster, Taraboi got to play in Michigan's 59-0 trouncing of UConn. After being listed at 6'6" and 295 lbs. coming in, he's now up to 6'7" and 313 lbs. on the official roster. That's a huge man to just be standing on the sideline during home games. Michigan is so deep on the offensive line that there's virtually no chance of Taraboi challenging for playing time other than late in blowout games.
Kansas City (MO) Rockhurst offensive tackle Andrew Sprague committed to Michigan on Friday. He picked the Wolverines over offers from LSU, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Penn State, and USC, plus others.
I wrote a scouting report on Sprague the day before he committed, so you can check out a lot of relevant information there (LINK).
Santa Ana (CA) Mater Dei offensive tackle Brandon Baker (image via Scorebook Live)
2024
Brandon Baker - OT - Santa Ana (CA) Mater Dei: Baker is a 6'5", 285-pounder with offers from Miami, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas, USC, and others. He's a 4-star, the #1 offensive tackle, and #36 overall.
Boo Carter - S - Chattanooga (TN) Brainerd: Carter is a 5'11", 184 lb. athlete with offers from LSU, Michigan, Ohio State, Tennessee, and others. He's a 4-star, the #20 athlete, and #263 overall. He has one crystal ball in so far for Tennessee.
Ondre Evans - S - Nashville (TN) CPA: Evans is a 6'0", 183-pounder with offers from Arkansas, Ole Miss, and Tennessee, plus others. He's a 3-star, the #76 athlete, and #726 overall.
Name: James Kavouklis Height: 6'1" Weight: 272 lbs. High school: Tampa (FL) Berkeley Position: Offensive lineman/Long snapper Class: Redshirt freshman Jersey number: #64 Last year: I ranked Kavouklis #132 and said he would redshirt (LINK). He played in one game. TTB Rating: N/A
Kavouklis is another player who is listed lighter (in this case, by three pounds) than he was as a true freshman in 2022. He played in the blowout win over UConn, but otherwise, he was able to maintain his redshirt. He is now listed as an offensive lineman with "long snapper" attached on the roster, so that might be a developing skill that lets him get on the field sometime down the road. It's rare that a school like Michigan would have a 272 lb. punt snapper, because those guys have to get down the field and make tackles, but you do occasionally see larger short snappers (for field goals and extra points) since they usually don't have to make tackles in space. Regardless, it looks like Kavouklis will once again be a deep bench backup in 2023.
Name: Shomari Stone II Height: 5'9" Weight: 175 lbs. High school: Washington (DC) St. John's Position: Defensive back Class: Redshirt freshman Jersey number: #37 Last year: I did not rank Stone. He redshirted. TTB Rating: N/A
Stone's claim to fame, in a sense, is that he's the son of Shomari Stone, a CNBC correspondent based in Washington, D.C. The elder Stone is a Michigan alum - though not a former football player - and a big proponent of the Wolverines. The younger Shomari was a solid player at St. John's, though not a standout, and he came to Michigan in 2022 as a preferred walk-on.
As most preferred walk-ons experience, Stone watched his entire freshman season from the sideline. I do not expect much to change in 2023, as Michigan recruited a large and talented defensive back class in 2022. Players from that class - such as Keon Sabb and Zeke Berry - will probably be taking a step forward in 2023, leaving little room for walk-ons to play.
The following depth chart has removed these listed players from the depth chart due to various reasons, even though some could return with a fifth year or COVID year exception:
QB Jack Tuttle (graduation)
RB Blake Corum (graduation)
WR A.J. Henning (graduation)
WR Cornelius Johnson (graduation)
WR Roman Wilson (graduation)
OL Karsen Barnhart (graduation)
OL LaDarius Henderson (graduation)
OL Myles Hinton (graduation)
OL Trente Jones (graduation)
OL Trevor Keegan (graduation)
OL Drake Nugent (graduation)
DT Cam Goode (graduation)
LB Michael Barrett (graduation)
LB Kalel Mullings (graduation)
LB Joey Velazquez (graduation)
CB Mike Sainristil (graduation)
S Quinten Johnson (graduation)
It also assumes that every currently rostered player and every currently committed prospect will be here in 2024, which is obviously not true.
Name: Declan Byle Height: 6’2″ Weight: 169 lbs. High school: Novi (MI) Catholic Central Position: Quarterback Class: Redshirt freshman Jersey number: #24 #20 Last year: I ranked Byle #128 and said he would redshirt (LINK). He redshirted. TTB Rating: N/A
Byle is almost certainly headed for another "redshirt" season after not playing at all in 2022. He did get a run-out-the-clock snap or two in the spring game, so there's that. But he's actually lighter in 2023 (169 lbs.) than he was in 2022 (175 lbs.), so he needs to buy into that Ben Herbert plan and be on Bruce Feldman's Freaks List by 2025. Anything less will be a total disappointment.
And Ben Herbert better start earning his $1,000,000+ and get this kid up over 180 lbs. by next season.
Dejuan Lane - S - Baltimore (MD) Gilman: Lane is a 6'3", 195 lb. prospect with offers from Georgia, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, and others. He's a 4-star, the #29 safety, and #292 overall. Gilman sent the likes of Henry Poggi and Stephen Spanellis to Michigan, but that was back when Biff Poggi was the head coach there, before he moved on to Michigan and Baltimore (MD) St. Frances. As for Lane himself, I think he might be headed for the linebacker position at the next level.
Okay, it's time to put some thoughts about the spring game on paper.
QUARTERBACK: We know what J.J. McCarthy brings to the table, and Michigan was never going to let him factor into the run game, so whatever. This comes down to thoughts on the backups. After watching Michigan have a good 1-2 punch the past two years with McCarthy and Cade McNamara, there is a big question mark at the #2 quarterback spot in 2023. I thought redshirt sophomore Davis Warren once again outplayed the competition, which comes from Alex Orji and Indiana transfer Jack Tuttle. Tuttle had a couple decent throws and showed some decent athleticism on the run, but Warren is more accurate and probably a better decision maker, despite the fact that Tuttle is a sixth-year player. Orji has decent arm strength but leaves something to be desired when it comes to his timing and accuracy; running is the best part of his game, and he's a change-up guy. I would put him at #4 on the depth chart.
