Michigan Football: Season Preview

The time has finally come. The time to see the maize and blue take the field once again.

This is one of the most exciting seasons we have had in a while, because it is the beginning of the Joe Milton era for us. For the first time, a quarterback recruited by Jim Harbaugh is our Week 1 starter. While it is disappointing that we never got to see Dylan McCaffrey get a real shot as the starter, as he is now in the transfer portal, Milton has far more potential upside as a quarterback. I have been high on Milton ever since we first recruited him here just because of all the physical tools he brings to the table, and I cannot wait to see what he can do over the course of a season.

In order to provide the best season preview I can, I will go through each position group and analyze the most significant guys in each of them to keep an eye on this season.

Quarterback

Joe Milton is going to be our starter, and he has everything you could ask for in a quarterback. He has crazy arm strength, making 60-to-70-yard passes look easy, and is freakishly athletic for his size. He is 6’5” and 243 pounds but has enough mobility to run away from defenders and even make them miss. I remember one play in particular against Wisconsin two seasons ago where he beat everyone to the outside for a 23-yard gain, and I recall being surprised at how fast he was for his size. He brings back memories of Cam Newton at Auburn, who won both a Heisman and a National Championship, and I truly believe Milton has the talent to have that ceiling as well. My concern with Milton is how he will look on the shorter throws, the ones that keep drives alive. If he throws everything as hard as he can, not too many of them will be completed, I know that from watching years of Matthew Stafford. His decision-making will also be crucial. Last year he would come in during garbage time and fail to see an underneath defender lurking on the route, and he would throw it right to him. If he can figure those two things out, then I expect him to have a great season. One thing is for sure, it will be a night-and-day difference from Shea Patterson last year. Milton’s backup will be Cade McNamara, who, according to some sources, actually beat McCaffrey outright to earn the backup role, thus leading to McCaffrey’s transfer. I do not know how true that is, because I believe McCaffrey would have transferred anyways, but that is encouraging to hear. McNamara does not look particularly impressive when compared to Milton physically, but reports out of practice have been glowing, saying that if they needed McNamara there is no doubt that he could get the job done. It is also worth noting that when Josh Gattis came up here from Alabama, he said that McNamara was the number one quarterback on Alabama’s recruiting board that year, which is interesting. Behind McNamara we do not really have much, now that McCaffrey is gone, so if we have another situation like 2017 where we go three quarterbacks deep, we will really be in trouble.

Running Back

This is one crowded group. I do not say that lightly, because I think it could be said about a number of our position groups, but man, do we have a lot of running backs that could contribute this season. Zach Charbonnet and Hassan Haskins are expected to continue to be the lead backs in the rotation. I personally like Charbonnet a bit more, I think he was a bit hindered by a lingering injury last year and that he actually brings more speed to the table than Haskins does. That is by no means a knock on Haskins, because he is also a good running back, but I would prefer to see Charbonnet be more of the 1A to Haskins’ 1B. Plus, Charbonnet put in a lot of work this offseason trying to cut down body fat and replace it with muscle. One player in recent memory that I remember hearing about doing that is J.K. Dobbins, and we all saw what he was capable of. If Charbonnet can get to that level, that would be a tremendous help to Milton and the passing game. With last year’s change-of-pace back, Tru Wilson, now graduated, that leaves three guys vying for the rest of the touches, and there will be touches for the taking. The first is a familiar name making a return, Chris Evans, who served a suspension last season for academic reasons. Now, I am not the biggest fan of Evans, and that is pretty much entirely due to his fumbling issues. He always seemed to struggle hanging on to the ball, and sometimes his fumble would be the turning point of a game. The flip side is that he is a playmaker, with above-average speed and a good pair of hands catching the ball, so he definitely has a path for touches. The other returning player is Christian Turner, who had a bit of a weird season last year. It seemed like he was the lightning to Charbonnet’s thunder, and I kept waiting for him to really explode, but then he just never did. He ended up essentially riding the bench as the fourth-string running back behind Charbonnet, Haskins, and Wilson. He had fumbling problems of his own, although the one game that sticks out was the Illinois game where seemingly everybody was fumbling for some reason, so that may have contributed to it. From what I have been hearing and reading, though, Turner put in a ton of work this offseason and has really put on some muscle, so perhaps he is now ready to turn the page and make his mark this season. The final running back that will try to make an impact is true freshman Blake Corum. I love what I have seen out of Corum on tape, he looks like he has some real potential to be a game-breaking playmaker for us. He looks lightning quick, and despite his smaller stature, 5’8” and 200 pounds, he also is a very strong runner. Corum probably has the longest path to playing time of the three guys behind Charbonnet and Haskins, but I would absolutely love to see him get some run this season.

Fullback

Yes, Ben Mason is back for his senior year. He better not fumble again.

Wide Receiver

Aside from maybe the offensive line, this group will look the most different from last season, with last year’s top three receivers at the start of the season, Donovan Peoples-Jones, Nico Collins, and Tarik Black all gone now. I will miss Collins the most, DPJ a little, and honestly, I do not think I will miss Black at all. Despite all of the losses, this is still one extremely talented group of guys, and it is being said that all of them will see action this season. Let’s start with the one returning starter, Ronnie Bell. He is an underrated receiver, in my opinion. He was without a doubt our most dependable receiver in terms of production last season, consistently leading the team in receiving yards week in and week out. He will certainly continue to be a crucial part of our offense. Now, behind Bell is where it gets interesting, because we have a group of three sophomores and two true freshmen that will all be getting looks, and there is a lot of potential. Giles Jackson will undoubtedly see playing time because of how explosive he is, as he demonstrated numerous times in his limited playing time last year. I expect him to be moved around the formation a lot, playing inside, outside, and in the backfield. We saw a little bit of that last year, but with the receiving corps being so wide open this year I expect we will see a lot more of it. I thought Mike Sainristil had an underrated freshman season. He made multiple crazy diving catches on third downs because Patterson kept almost missing him on drag routes. Sainristil seems to be really adept at running routes and getting open. He does not have the same straight-line speed that Giles does, but his short-area quickness is fantastic, and that is what allows him to break free from the coverage. I expect him to play more out of the slot, and to be running a lot of those shorter routes I alluded to earlier that Milton has got to hit. The third sophomore is Cornelius Johnson, who saw the least amount of playing time of the three last season. He is the one remaining “big” receiver we have now that Collins is gone, standing at 6’3” and 205 pounds, so I anticipate he will see the field a lot, especially in the red zone. Aside from the late 39-yard touchdown against Michigan State to put the icing on the 44-10 cake, he did not do much last year, but he has a lot of ability, and I believe he will get every opportunity to prove himself this year. Having a go-to big target can be a huge advantage for a quarterback. Finally, we have the two freshman receivers, A.J. Henning and Roman Wilson. Henning was our highest-rated recruit in this entire incoming class, and was highly sought after, earning offers from Alabama, Georgia, and Notre Dame, among others. He is a dynamic player that has both straight-line speed and quickness on his cuts and has thus drawn comparisons to Tarik Cohen of the Chicago Bears. Now, Wilson, on the other hand, is an interesting prospect. He was not nearly as highly recruited as Henning (he had offers from PAC-12 schools like Cal, Colorado, and Arizona State), but I do not believe it is for a lack of talent. Instead, I think it is because he played his high school ball in Hawaii and flew under a lot of teams’ radars. There is only one thing you need to know about Wilson, and that is his speed. He was officially clocked running a 4.37 40-yard dash back in May of 2018. Yes, over two years ago. It is a very real possibility he has gotten even faster since then. Michigan players are already declaring him one of the fastest, guys on the entire team, if not the fastest. That speed combined with Milton’s arm strength could be a nightmare for defenses. I hope to see Wilson on the field quite a bit this year.

Tight End

Nick Eubanks is returning as the incumbent starter. He is not the most exciting player, and he is not a very good blocker, but he is solid. Behind Eubanks, we have Luke Schoonmaker, who caught a touchdown against Illinois last year, and Erick All, who got a little bit of run last year, but not much. I do not have any real opinion on Schoonmaker, but the play against Illinois was nice, so hopefully we see more plays like that from him. I was high on All last year, and from what I have been hearing he added a ton of muscle this offseason, so hopefully he gets more of a chance to prove himself this year.

Offensive Line

Thankfully, we got the main man, right tackle Jalen Mayfield, back after he initially opted out of the season. That was crucial because based on his play last year he was looking like a surefire first-round pick. If he can build off of last season he will be the best lineman we have had here probably since Taylor Lewan. The problem is, we lost the other four starters from last year so we will see a lot of young guys start to fill in the gaps. Personally, I am excited for it. I think the guys on the line last season underperformed a bit and sometimes would not quite give 100% on some plays. If I had to predict a line I would say, from left to right, Ryan Hayes, Chuck Filiaga, Andrew Vastardis, Andrew Stueber, and then Jalen Mayfield. I feel the most confident about the two tackles, Hayes and Mayfield, but the interior guys could be different come game time. Other names to keep in mind would be Trevor Keegan, Zach Carpenter, and perhaps even Nolan Rumler. As long as they can keep Milton upright and open up some holes for our collection of running backs, I am not particularly picky who actually starts.

Defensive Line

Not a whole lot has changed in this group. Aidan Hutchinson and Kwity Paye are back at the two defensive end spots, and Carlo Kemp is back at defensive tackle. Hutchinson and Paye are good, but I do really wish they would get a bit more consistent pressure. Chase Winovich was a menace when he was here. I mean, he was in the backfield even more often than Rashan Gary, who faced a lot of double teams. We need Hutchinson and Paye to be like that for this unit to really be a force. I think they have it in them, they just have to actually do it. The starting end spots are locked down, and with Michael Danna off to the NFL, we could see a number of guys play rotational roles. Luiji Vilain is a name that jumps out to me as a guy that could take a lot of those rotational snaps. Beyond him, it is really anyone’s guess. I doubt we will see true freshman Braiden McGregor yet, but that certainly would be exciting. As for Kemp, I am not his biggest fan. He does fine early in the year but when we go up against the monstrous offensive lines of Wisconsin, Iowa, Penn State or Ohio State, he just gets shoved back. He is not big enough to play defensive tackle against those teams. I would actually rather see him not play at all if a team starts to run it down our throats. As for the other defensive tackle spot, it is kind of an open battle with Michael Dwumfour transferring to Rutgers. The four main guys I would anticipate seeing would be Donovan Jeter, Jess Speight (brother of former quarterback Wilton Speight), Mazi Smith, and Chris Hinton, with Jeter being the guy I would expect to start. Like I said, if we play a team that keeps opening up running lanes, I would much rather see two of these four in the game instead of Kemp.

Linebacker

This is probably the easiest position to predict here. Perhaps my favorite player on this entire defense, Cam McGrone, will be starting alongside Josh Ross. Ironically, it was an injury to Ross last season which allowed McGrone to explode onto the scene, and now they are starting together. With Khaleke Hudson now gone (good riddance, in my opinion), the Viper position is open for the first time in a while. The presumed favorite to fulfill that role is Michael Barrett, who has been an interesting player since he got here. He is an incredible athlete, but the coaching staff seemed to have a hard time finding somewhere to play him. He played quarterback in high school, but he has been tried at both linebacker and running back in Ann Arbor. Well, he finally has a spot, and I hope that he seizes the opportunity because I cannot wait to finally see him on the field. This group has the potential to be one of the best linebacker corps we have seen in a while.

Cornerback

With Lavert Hill graduating and Ambry Thomas opting out of the season, the cornerback room is a little bit in shambles. Vincent Gray seems like the top guy right now, but behind him it is just a mess of guys. I like Gray, and Don Brown has continuously raved about him, saying that he hopes he can keep him around all four years he is eligible, I just do not really know if he can be a number one cornerback. Gemon Green is another name I have heard a lot, so it is entirely possible he starts opposite Gray to open the season. What would be interesting about that duo would be that they are both 6’2”. It is not very often you see two cornerbacks with that kind of height both starting. Sammy Faustin and DJ Turner are two other guys that could also start, and it is likely we see both of them get some significant playing time. One other guy I want to highlight in this group is true freshman Andre Seldon. I have no idea if he is going to get any playing time this season because of how many cornerbacks we have on this roster, but mark my words, he is going to be a really good player for us. It is only a matter of time before he sees the field. This position group as a whole might make me the most nervous of all the groups on this defense. We are going to need a few of these guys to really have breakout seasons if we want to stop some of the high-octane offenses that we are going to face this season.

Safety

Brad Hawkins and Daxton Hill are locked in as the starters with Josh Metellus out of the picture and off to the NFL (another guy I was not upset to see go). I think Hawkins is underrated, and I believe Daxton Hill is going to become a superstar just like McGrone did last season. Hill has everything you could want in a safety, he is fast, long, and not afraid to make hits. He slowly worked his way into playing regularly last season, making a ton of plays for us, and he is only going to go up from here. One thing that I have heard that could happen is Hill getting significant snaps at cornerback. I am not completely opposed to it, because I think he could perform really well at cornerback, but I think playing him at safety allows him to really let his freakish athleticism flow and gives him the opportunity to make way more plays. If Hill does get snaps at cornerback, there are at least five guys we could potentially see at safety instead. Aforementioned cornerback Sammy Faustin could rotate back, or we could see Gemon Green’s twin brother, German Green, or true freshman Makari Paige, or one of the three other freshmen that we have at the safety position. Like I said, I hope Hill plays at safety because I think it is best for him, but we certainly have no shortage of replacement options if we do have him play cornerback.

This team has incredible potential as a whole, but with the nature of this season, it is impossible to know how it will shake out. I hate to say it, but a 4-4 season is entirely in the cards. I certainly hope it would not get that bad, but with Minnesota, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Penn State, and Ohio State on the schedule, we have to run quite the gauntlet. It pretty much goes without saying that Milton could very easily hold the key to this season. If Milton can begin to realize his potential, that alone could be a huge factor to helping us get to where we want to be, and that is competing for Big Ten titles and eventually a National Championship. Frankly, I am just excited there is a Michigan football season to watch, and no matter how it goes it is going to be a lot of fun to watch this team play.