Name: Giovanni El-Hadi
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 318 lbs.
High school: Sterling Heights (MI) Stevenson
Position: Offensive guard
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #58
Last year: I ranked El-Hadi #58 and said he would be a backup offensive guard (LINK). He started three games at left guard.
TTB Rating: 84
El-Hadi didn't get much experience as a freshman in 2021, playing in just one game. So it was a pleasant surprise when the coaching staff turned to him to start three games in 2022 when starting left guard Trevor Keegan had some injury issues. El-Hadi stepped in to start against Maryland, Nebraska, and Illinois, and handled himself pretty well. The offense didn't skip a beat, and he was out there moving people, not just holding his own.
El-Hadi has already exceeded my expectations for 2023, because I think he's the lone player on Michigan's roster whose height and weight have both remained the same from 2022. But the former 4-star and top-100 recruit looks like a starting quality player, with the only problem being that Trevor Keegan and Zak Zinter both returned for 2023 instead of testing the NFL Draft waters. Aside from being able to fill in this fall if an injury were to happen, El-Hadi's chances of starting in 2024 are pretty good. So he should be a top backup as well as play on the field goal protection unit.
Prediction: Backup offensive guard
I really like this kid. He had issues against Illinois, but everyone did. I can imagine the staff resting Guards with a boo-boo, and elhadi starting again ... no one will notice, because nothing will change
ReplyDeleteMichigan has their worst offensive game of the year when Keegan was replaced by El hadi and Jones was still working his way back. Offense struggled with and without corum against Illinois.
DeleteOL matters, even with elite backups
Are you putting the bad game - a week before The Game - on the backup OL? The team played poorly, period
DeletePFF actually thought the two who played best were elhadi and ... corum
I think mostly the issue was they took Illinois lightly and thought they could overpower them. But they couldn't, even with corum. In fact the offense that game was better without corum, though I wouldn't draw too many conclusions from that.
DeleteBut the point stands that this is a game where ol depth was tested and the offense struggled. When did this ever happen at RB?
DeleteAgree on the first part, but you're asking when have superior athletes take inferior opponents lightly? Um, pretty regularly actually. Not just football, but boxing, women's soccer, hockey, basketball ... you name it
Agree. But still -- I think part of why it didn't work like it might have is the OL depth shuffling.
DeleteEh, we shuffled OL all year. Keegan missed three I think, and Hayes at least two. RT saw a swap at starter
DeleteYes all due to injury. Which coincided with relative struggles. When corum was out you predicted doom and didn't happen. I'm drawing a distinction.
DeleteRemember 12 months ago everyone was raving about OL depth and concerned about Rb depth. But OL ended up a bigger issue anyway.
Yes, we replaced OL during much of the season and didn't change a thing. In fact, at OL it'd take some research to figure who missed how many games, or which games they missed ... we all know which games Corum missed
DeleteDid I predict doom? Or did I - along w/most everyone else in CFB guess a loss?
I can't see where this is going: exaggeration + conflating + lies = je not interested
GO BLUE
You're ignoring the part where it did change a thing.
DeleteI think it was actually thunder who predicted doom when Michigan lost "the focal point of the offense". You 2 usually see eye to eye on the RB stuff so I may have mixed that up.
DeleteI thought we would lose too, but corum
Fun fact: Michigan was 12-0 in games where Blake Corum played, and they were 1-1 in games in which he did not.
DeleteI was wrong when I predicted that Blake Corum's absence would lead to a loss to Ohio State. Instead, it led to a loss against TCU, a worse team than Ohio State.
Fun fact that those were the 2 best teams we played and it wasn't especially close. Corum did not cost us TCU. Not did he cost us Illinois or OSU. Quentin Johnson and Mike Morris and Luke schoonmacher injuries had a bigger impact than corums
DeleteGreat to see the highly ranked recruit panning out. Should be a starter next year. He was already ready last year.
ReplyDeleteWon't ever get the hype that Edwards gets, but since he plays a more important position he'll probably be drafted higher.
Okay, so we have it on record that Lank thinks Giovanni El-Hadi will be selected higher than Donovan Edwards in the NFL Draft. We'll see...
DeleteI think so. But we'll see.
DeleteYou can add zinter and Henderson ahead of corum to my predictions too
Delete