#61. Kendrick Bell - WR - Kansas City (MO) Park Hill: Bell enters his fourth season on campus as a 6'2", 205 lb. wide receiver. After starting his career as a quarterback and then quickly transitioning to receiver, he ascended to the point in 2025 where he started one game and played in all thirteen. He made 3 catches for 54 yards on the season, including a touchdown against Texas in the bowl game. Now he seems to be a bit of an afterthought with Michigan keeping Andrew Marsh and bringing in Jaime Ffrench (Texas), J.J. Buchanan (Utah), and higher schooler Travis Johnson, among others. There's still a chance that Bell could start a game here or there in certain packages or if an injury or two happen, but he's not looked at as one of the top few options.
#62: Jonathan Brown - RB - Columbus (OH) St. Frances de Sales: Brown is a 6'3", 200 lb. running back who was an under-the-radar land (3-star, #50 RB, #804 overall) for the Wolverines in the class of 2026. Running backs coach Tony Alford took a liking to him at a football camp in the summer of 2025 and extended an offer, and Brown supposedly looked pretty good in the spring. It's probably too early to expect much from a freshman running back who is pretty tall and slight at this point, but Michigan has a solid top three at running back and then things get murky with Brown, Donovan Johnson, and walk-ons. Here I have Brown as the #4 running back, so hopefully the top three stay pretty healthy throughout the season.
#63. Jacob Baggett - K - Charlotte (NC) Providence Day: Baggett is a 6'0", 170 lb. freshman who set a North Carolina state record for touchbacks in a single season with 95 touchbacks out of 102 kickoffs. He also made 6/7 field goals and his only miss was from 51 yards. High schoolers kick off from the -40 yard line, whereas college kickers kick from the -35, so Baggett will have a slightly larger challenge to get touchbacks for the next few years. I'm not sure quite where to place him in the countdown, because he could end up as the kickoff specialist or he could never see the field at all. Returning specialist Hudson Hollenbeck has spent most of his time punting over the past couple seasons, but Michigan also brought in Pitt place kicker Trey Butkowski (zero kickoffs in 2025) and UNLV punter Cam Brown (zero kickoffs in 2025). Whether it's Baggett or one of the other three, somebody is going to be handling kickoff duties for the first time in college.
#64. Avery Gach - OG - Franklin (MI) Groves: Gach is a 6'5", 308 lb. redshirt freshman who played in five games last season, including the Cheez-It Bowl against Texas. The coaching staff seemed to like his gritty attitude and I heard him mentioned several times as someone to watch for as an up-and-comer. I think his lack of experience will hold him back from being a major contributor in 2026, but he appears to be on that next rung of players who could slide into a key role when someone ahead of him moves on or gets injured. The problem for Gach could be that the guys ahead of him are also pretty young, so he may have to wait even beyond next year before a spot opens up.
#65. Gavin Magorien - LS - Erie (PA) McDowell: Magorien is a 6'0", 202 lb. second-year college player after transferring in from Marshall over the off-season. He was Marshall's long snapper in twelve games last season, so he's rather experienced - and pretty small, by the way - for a second year college player. Michigan seems to have pumped out solid long snappers for the past several years, so this is the first time in a while where the position is a little uncertain. However, along with Magorien, the Wolverines brought in fifth-year Pitt long snapper Nico Crawford, who also spent time at Illinois and Charlotte. My guess is that the fifth-year, three-year starter will start over the second-year, second-year starter, so here Magorien is at #65 on the countdown.
The guys ahead of Gach at OG (Norton, Link, Efobi) are all seniors so they have a couple years on him. It's true each of those 3 have eligibility to potentially return in '27 as well but I wouldn't bet on all 3 staying where they. Not in this day and age. Someone will kick back out to OT or find a $tarting job el$ewhere or both.
ReplyDeleteHamilton is probably ahead of Gach too
DeleteGach was already ahead of Hamilton last year despite being a true freshman. Gach played the max number of games while keeping his red-shirt. Hamilton played in just one game despite red-shirting already in '25. Perhaps injuries are dictating things here but Gach has been getting more hype too and Thunder had Hamilton far below at 88 which feels about right to me.
DeleteThere are two Hamiltons now on the offensive line (Luke and Ace). I assume you're talking about Luke, but Ace got some pretty solid reviews in the spring for an early enrollee freshman. I think he's probably #3 on the depth chart at center, though.
DeleteI can't believe I'm gonna say this but....
ReplyDeleteI think this RB might be rated too low. Michigan doesn't NEED the RB4 to ever be more than a depth guy or handle a handful of plays a game if there are multiple injuries at the position but....well... it seems this coaching staff doesn't put the same premium on RB depth that previous staffs have. There's just not a lot of options and even Kuzdal isn't exactly unbeatable as RB3.
Potential for freshman to contribute at RB
Frequency of RB injuries
Limited alternatives at the bottom of the depth chart
Given how low we are in the countdown I'd say there's a reasonable chance Brown gets a handful of meaningful downs in a backup role. I'm calling it -- Underrated!
Just for reference's sake, last year's RB rankings looked like this:
Delete#15. Jordan Marshall
#21. Justice Haynes
#56. John Volker
#65. Micah Ka'apana
#71. C.J. Hester
#82. Bryson Kuzdzal
#89. Jasper Parker
#92. Donovan Johnson
#118. Tomas O'Meara
Obviously, Volker and Hester didn't play, and Kuzdzal moved past Ka'apana (who isn't available this season), but the #4 running back in the countdown last season was Ka'apana at #65. This year it's Brown at #62, which doesn't count Taylor Tatum (who is no longer with the team, but when I was doing the ranking, I mentioned that he could be a possible contributor at running back if needed).
Here's what a commenter named "Yep" said in 2025 about Ka'apana's ranking:
"Yep I don't see any of these guys playing a prominent role on this team. Perhaps Kapanna because RB3 is wide open but even he seems pretty replaceable by one of the portal guys or a frosh."
https://touchthebanner.blogspot.com/2025/07/2025-season-countdown-61-65.html
Haha, classic lank
DeleteYep, Yep was right -- none of those 5 guys played a prominent role.
DeleteYou could argue with Channing Goodwin, who played a lot of snaps (333) and he was certainly underrated in the countdown given that, but ultimately, 6 catches after the CMU game isn't what I'd call a prominent role.
As for RB. Kuzdal ended up playing a prominent role from a low ranking (82) but Kapanna only saw 34 snaps all season. So that was spot on. Kapanna was easily replaced by another backup.
Now -- it must be acknowledged that a third RB ended up being elevated by injuries. This can happen at any position. For example, John OKorn (preseason rank 50 in 2017) ended up starting against Ohio State. Injuries are hard to predict.
The big difference between this year's RB rankings and last year's -- Depth. Last year you had 9 guys listed and 7 were legit options in the summer. This year you've only got 4 legit options. So that makes the 3rd and 4th guys a lot more likely to be relevant than Kaapana was.
You have only 4 healthy bodies at RB right now, 1 returning starter, 1 former walk-on, and 2 freshman. You don't need more than that. It's not a problem. But there's no net after guy #4 so you can bump #4 in the rankings relative to a scenario where options 5, 6, 7, and 8 exist. This year they don't.
Kaapanna is already hurt. Johnson is still hurt. Tatum transferred to Michigan in winter, another position in the spring, and another sport in summer. Everyone else transferred out since last August. Last august = boku depth. This august = bare minimum depth.
Put another way - 2 freshman (Hiter and Brown) are replacing 5 guys departing off the 2025 list. (Haynes, Volker, Kaapana, Hester, Parker). Only Kaapana remains on the roster but he's not relevant for '26. If you consider Hider as a 1 for 1 replacement for Haynes, then Brown is taking the spot of 4 guys.
This year you can't just cycle through many options (3-7) if when you call on backup options for whatever reasons. It's just Brown and Kuzdal after the starting rotation.
---------------
Looking back on last year's rankings --
#15. Jordan Marshall - Overrated. Only a part-time starter
#21. Justice Haynes -- properly rated. Impactful when he played but often unavailable.
#56. John Volker - Overrated
#65. Micah Ka'apana - Overrated
#71. C.J. Hester - Overrated
#82. Bryson Kuzdzal = Underrated!
#89. Jasper Parker - Properly rated
Of these 7 RBs - 4 were overrated, 2 were properly rated, and only 1 was underrated. My money is on Brown being this year's one underrated RB.
Goodwin the playmaker
Deletehttps://www.historyoasis.com/post/obey-your-thirst
DeleteWorth considering
✅ username change
Deletestarting off the season with Dubs
I think Haynes was underrated at #21. He would have finished #3 in the country in rushing yards per game if he qualified (122 yards/game) and was talked about as being a Heisman candidate.
DeleteMichigan went 1-2 in games where Marshall was limited/hurt. He missed Maryland (Michigan won anyway, because Maryland isn't very good) and then Michigan couldn't run the ball well at all against Ohio State and Texas, which were two of the team's worst running performances all season.
I think the record is irrelevant. If Haynes and Marshall both missed 3 games like Maryland Michigan are still 3-0. If they miss 3 games like Ohio State they are still 0-3. Haynes and Marshall were both there for the Oklahoma and USC losses so I don't think it really matters if both are there (or not) for Ohio State. That game was a clear and comprehensive L.
DeleteAs for individual values -- Marshall was there as an alternative to Haynes so I can't see putting Haynes in the top 20. Marshall was arguably better than Haynes last year (depending on your running style preference) -- and it is perhaps telling that Michigan didn't try very hard to hold onto Haynes in '26. I just don't see that as a super valuable player regardless of the stats - they are part time players rotating in and out. They are good players -- but there is two of them. Unless they are both on the field at the same time -- one mitigates the value of the other, as does the third guy (Kuzdal) being a productive (albeit, admittedly inferior) alternative who could also rush for 100 yards.
Again, these are good players but if you're THAT part-time and THAT replaceable you can't be THAT valuable, relative to all the other guys out there playing so many more snaps. Marshall (313), Haynes (286), Kuzdal (171) all played significant roles but in a world where you have 18 guys on the team playing between 400 and 827 snaps (Underwood) it's really hard to justify somebody playing so little being a top 20 player, let alone 2 of them. If we introduced positional value into the equation and you had a QB doing this you probably could make a case of a 300-snap player being a top 20 player, but RB isn't QB.
And if we ARE talking positional value -- Jahymr Gibbs is the highest paid (and perhaps best) RB in the NFL -- he will make $23M/yr. His draft classmate Jaxson Smith Njigba is the highest paid (and perhaps best) WR in the NFL -- will make nearly twice that $42M/year. Their draft classmate Will Anderson Jr (not the best or highest paid edge) will make $50M/year. Jalen Carter (same draft, also not the best at his position) will make over $35M/year as a DT. That's not even touching QBs. I know college and NFL aren't the same thing but we know that RB is a relatively less impactful position than many, if not most, others.
I think regardless of your opinion on positional value, even if you give RB the benefit of the doubt, there's no way you can stick 2 part-time RBs in the top 20 of importance.
Haha, a typical lank essay:
Delete- RBs don’t matter, if we don’t consider the result of the game
- instead, let’s imagine what might happen if they both player in games lost
- don’t look at state either; FEELINGS
- ignore MICHIGAN’s runfirtstrunoften play style (with a TrFR QB), and consider the pass happy NFL
Haha, football is back!