I really like Evans. You really need breakaway speed at the tailback position these days, and Charbonnet doesn't have that. Evans is really shifty and can make guy miss.
I think Michigan linebacker play last year was average to above average, but you could see improvement from game to game. I think they will be very good in 2020, especially that McGrone dude.
There's a lot of love for Ambry Thomas, but he's a bit overrated, IMO. He will need to step up his game to be even a second team All-Big selection.
Charbonnet was dealing with injuries for a big chunk of his freshman year. And he's got more speed than you think. Even with playing through the injuries- he ran for 726 yards and scored 11 TD's as a true frosh while splitting time with Hassan Haskins.
247Sports was on the verge of rating Charbonnet a 5* before injuries caused him to miss the HS All-Star season- which is where the final rankings on those 'crootin' sites are done- so instead of rising he just kind of stayed put. Even so, Charbonnet was rated 38th overall in their final rankings, just 5 spots away from the coveted "5 STARZ" status. 247Sports' projected him as a potential 1st round pick- citing his rare combination of size, strength, and speed. If there's one thing that worries me about Charbonnet it's the nagging injuries. He missed the tail end of his HS year and the HS All-Star season because of them- and he was dealing with injuries his entire true frosh year at Michigan.
Evans is very shifty and can make people miss, and his pass catching ability is excellent, but I doubt he's much faster if at all straight-line than Charbonnet. Evans' straight-line speed is good, but isn't exactly elite. Still, I think getting him back will only make Charbonnet better because it will keep Charbonnet more fresh. And it will improve the Michigan offense as a whole.
LB play dipped last year mostly because they were replacing the best LB to ever play at Michigan imo in Devin Bush- because of ineffective DT play (it was horrible to be honest) and they also were down a starter in Josh Ross- his injury in the 2nd game of the season caused him to miss the rest of the entire season. He'll be back in 2020. Cam McGrone burst onto the scene as a RS Frosh and looks like a future high NFL draft pick to me. I like the Ross & McGrone combo- but not sure the LB play improves much if that DT play doesn't take a massive leap forward. DT is a huge weakness on that team. They need Chris Hinton and Mazi Smith to grow up in a hurry- and that's typically not a spot you want to be relying on younger players at.
Not sure where that line on Ambry Thomas is coming from- but it's wrong. Thomas was was by far the best defensive back on Michigan's team last year- and this was despite him missing all of spring and fall after contracting colitis and losing about 30 pounds. He rebounded from that in-time to start day 1 and have a great season. Pro Football Focus has rated Thomas as one of the 10 best players in the entire B1G going into 2020 by the way. They rated him #7 actually.
PFF: “Thomas lined up in press man on over 81 percent of his coverage snaps, which was the fourth-highest rate in college football, and allowed just a 53.3 passer rating on targets thrown his way in that alignment. Among returning cornerbacks, Thomas is easily one of the top 10 press-man outside corners.”
