50. DT Ike Iwunnah (RS Sr.): Iwunnah was a nice little success story in 2024. In a pretty rare career swing, he went from not playing at all in his first three years to being a pretty key rotation player in the defensive line as a redshirt junior. Michigan was very talented at defensive tackle last year but pretty thin outside of Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, and Rayshaun Benny. The great defensive lines over the past few years have had to play about five guys on the interior pretty regularly, and Iwunnah broke into that rotation, making 8 tackles and 1 tackle for loss. This season should see more of the same with Benny and Trey Pierce back, along with transfers Damon Payne (Alabama) and Tre Williams (Clemson). Last year's rank: #83.
49. WR Anthony Simpson (RS Sr.): Simpson transferred in from UMass after starting his career at Arizona, playing two seasons at each stop. Altogether, he has a respectable 68 receptions for 910 yards and 3 touchdowns in his college career, but most of that (57 catches, 792 yards, all 3 TDs) came in 2023 for the Minutement. The 5'11", 184-pounder could be a bit of a gadget guy and might provide some run-after-catch abilities. I don't expect him to start, but there's a possibility that he could play a similar role to what we saw from Semaj Morgan during the 2023 national championship season.
48. S Jacob Oden (So.): Oden earned his way onto special teams late in the season, playing in four games and preserving his redshirt. The 6'1", 196-pounder could be a bit of an insurance policy in 2025, depending on the health of former starter Rod Moore, who missed all of 2024 with an injury. Michigan lost starter Makari Paige and heavy contributor Quinten Johnson, bumping up Oden, Brandyn Hillman, and Jaden Mangham, the last of whom transferred from Michigan State prior to last season. Oden will probably start seeing some time on defense this fall. Last year's rank: #87.
47. OT Andrew Babalola (Fr.): Aside from quarterback - where freshman Bryce Underwood seems likely to starter over Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene - the left tackle battle is probably the most interesting one on the team. Babalola (5-star, #3 OT, #16 overall) is listed at 6'6" and 300 lbs. on Michigan's roster and could potentially be the starting left tackle by season's end. But he's contending with redshirt sophomore Andrew Link, who started at right tackle last season, and redshirt freshman Blake Frazier. Link appears to be the nominal starter going into fall, and Sam Webb thinks Frazier will win the job. Regardless, Babalola should get some playing time this fall and will probably be the front-runner to start in 2026.
46. S Mason Curtis (So.): Curtis is one of the most interesting players on the roster when it comes to figuring out how to rank him and how much he will play. He looked like a possible edge player as a recruit, then a linebacker, and then settled in somewhat at safety last season, playing in five games at safety and making 8 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and 1 interception. At 6'5" and 200 lbs., he looks a little odd at safety but he could potentially be a "big nickel" this season if/when Michigan decides to deploy that look. Last year's rank: #112.
Babalola is the highest rated OL to be recruited at Michigan. Link, at least last year, was the worst OL I have ever watched in D-1: At any team.
ReplyDeleteBabs should pass him unless Link takes a huge leap forward, and getting better is allowed.
A bigger issue is do we have a problem our OL coaching. The OL has gotten worse over the last couple years and the only thing that saved us was getting developed talent from other teams to come in and plug holes. The recruiting, the development, the coaching looks borderline incompetent.
Now, the OL did come together at the end of the year so there is hope.
Grant Newsome is a young coach in a big role, and as you say, the OL did come together. I suspect 2024 was a growing pains year for Newsome. From everything I've read and seen, he's a smart, talented coach, and he seems to connect with the players really well. I think we'll be okay with him.
DeleteYep O-line is the biggest question on the team. Hopefully we hear good things in camp...but after last year I don't know that we can trust anything we hear.
DeleteIwunnah, man has it been that long?
ReplyDeleteIn another lame FWIW, I benched Simpson in CFB25 after his third drop
Yep there's a couple of very hard players to rank here. Babaloa could start at LT or get only garbage time snaps. Tough one! Simpson could be a rotation WR who adds a spark to a WR room that needs sparks....or he could be out of his depth like Charleston. Tough one!
ReplyDeleteInteresting to put Oden (who did not see any snaps on D) over Curtis who has been a hype machine and was in the DB rotation in the second half of last year. I see Curtis way above.
Iwunnah is a nice depth piece and it's great to see a vet emerge. I don't see him playing a bigger role this year unless injuries happen.
Borrowing from another thread to attempt to sort out the potential DB rotation:
ReplyDelete2024 DB rotation (in order of snaps)
1. Q Johnson -- gone
2. Berry
3. Paige -- gone
4. Hill
5. Hall -- gone
6. Walker -- gone
7. W. Johnson -- gone
8. Hillman
9. Curtis
The 4 guys returning will probably get more snaps than last year. Rod Moore will be back to replace 1 of the 5 departures, but he maybe limited at least in the early part of the year so the rotation may look more like 10 than 9. Anyway, 4 new guys needed with Paige, QJohnson, WJohnson, Walker and Hall out.
Assuming that Berry sticks at CB and Moore will take a while to get up to full speed, my best guess at the depth chart (in terms of snaps) for 2025 is this:
1. Berry - all conference senior may have found a home at CB
2. Hill - big talent, hopefully matured
3. Hillman - moving up the depth chart
4. TJ Metcalf - didn't transfer from Arkansas to come off the bench
5. Curtis
6. Moore
7. Anderson - more Hall than Wallace I assume
8. Mangam
9. Tevin Metcalf - in a battle with many but specializing as a nickel may give him an edge
Fully acknowledge that Oden, Edmond, Earls, and others may knock off Anderson or Metcalf but I think that top 6 are entrenched.
Also fully acknowledge that the safety rotation and deployment at nickel is anyones guess.
This has been a long summer. Forgive me if I have forgotten some of the stories. Did our coaches say they prefer taller WRs? If so, how many snaps will be available for Simpson and Semaj Morgan?
ReplyDeleteI don't know that they said they prefer taller wide receivers, but Sherrone Moore did say that they needed to add size to the wide receiver room. Which they did with Donaven McCulley, Jamar Browder, and Jacob Washington. One of those guys is going to play a lot (McCulley), but the other two are true freshmen.
DeleteSo I think there are still plenty of snaps to go around for Simpson, Morgan, Fred Moore, etc. (or some combination). Small-ish guys are going to have to play a pretty big-ish role.