2024 Michigan Season Thread

[FearlessF]

they've got a good chance of playin a real game in a couple weeks or so

[medinabuckeye1]

Jim Harbaugh named honorary Captain for Michigan’s opener against Fresno State.  Snicker

I expect @Mdot21 to like it but thus seems unnecessarily dangerous to me.

[Mdot21]

I expect @Mdot21 to like it but thus seems unnecessarily dangerous to me.

I really don't care either way to be honest.

it definitely smacks of Michigan giving a giant middle finger to the NCAA however. probably not a great idea to be honest to keep antagonizing them when they have another ruling hanging over your head.

[Mdot21]

sounds like Jeem can't be there and his father Jack will be an honorary captain. I like that. Jack is a former Michigan coach, worked under Bo Schembechler in the 70s.

Sherrone Moore gushing over his true frosh RB Jordan Marshall at his press conference. Moore says Marshall has been very impressive in camp and will get a shot to play this year and Moore said he's got a chance to be a very special player.

[FearlessF]

[Honestbuckeye]

Film Study Season Preview: Jesse Minter Slowed Down Ohio State's Vaunted Passing Attack, But Can His Success Be Duplicated? | Eleven Warriors
Film Study Season Preview: Jesse Minter Slowed Down Ohio State's Vaunted Passing Attack, But Can His Success Be Duplicated? | Eleven Warriors

For you Michigan folks, who are into the Xs and Os like me.  Good read.  Gives a ton of credit to Jessie Minter (appropriately so).   It also validates what I was saying, especially after last years game, about the complexity of the reads  due to multiple things going on in different parts of the defensive backfield.

[Mdot21]

Film Study Season Preview: Jesse Minter Slowed Down Ohio State's Vaunted Passing Attack, But Can His Success Be Duplicated? | Eleven Warriors
Film Study Season Preview: Jesse Minter Slowed Down Ohio State's Vaunted Passing Attack, But Can His Success Be Duplicated? | Eleven Warriors

For you Michigan folks, who are into the Xs and Os like me.  Good read.  Gives a ton of credit to Jessie Minter (appropriately so).  It also validates what I was saying, especially after last years game, about the complexity of the reads  due to multiple things going on in different parts of the defensive backfield.

Not sure what to think of Wink, but he comes from that 3-4 Ravens scheme and Minter and McDonald worked for him as assistants when he was DC with the Ravens- and they took his scheme and adapted it and put their own mark on it- as any great DC's would do. Having said all that I like that they are keeping the same 3-4 Ravens system/scheme and not asking these guys to learn a whole new language- instead just adding new wrinkles to it and Wink will obviously call plays and coverages differently than McDonald or Minter as well he's not those guys. Keeping that scheme in-tact is huge because that's the way they've built their roster the last 4-5 years on defense and they guys they have on defense are tailor made for it.

Rod Moore being out for at least half the season and maybe longer is the biggest obstacle for that defense in it's quest to be just as good as it was last year imo. Moore was the QB of that defense and the guy who made all the calls and got everyone in the secondary lined up. Rod Moore was a top 5-10 returning safety in the country this year until the injury. Not quite in that tier 1 Caleb Downs or Malaki Starks realm but just a notch below them in a tier 2 with like 4-5 other dudes. And the blow of Moore's injury was compounded by the fact that Keon Sabb left in the portal. Sabb wasn't a starter but he was a damn good safety and only a RS Frosh and a budding young star- and that 4-man rotation they had with Moore, Makari Paige, Qunetin Johnson, and Keon Sabb was just nasty. Plus Sabb could kick down to the nickel better than any of those other safeties. Makari Paige returns for his SR year and they got Quentin Johnson to come back as well and I know Michigan got a couple dudes in the portal that are solid players and should add some depth- but losing Moore was a crushing blow and Keon Sabb deciding to hit the portal was just insult to injury.

They have to rebuild the depth and get some young guys to step up in depth/role playing spots- but man their starters should be really good.

EDGE- Derrick Moore, Jr.
DT - Mason Graham, Jr.
DT - Kenneth Grant, Jr.
EDGE - Josaiah Stewart, Sr.
LB - Jaishawn Barham, Jr.
LB - Ernest Hausmann, Jr.
CB - Will Johnson, Jr.
CB - Jyaire Hill, RS Fr. or Aamir Hall, 5th Sr.
Nickel - Zeke Berry, RS Soph. or Ja'Den McBurrows, RS Jr.
FS - Quentin Johnson, 5th Sr. for now. Rod Moore, Sr. whenever he's back healthy
SS - Makari Paige, Sr.

[medinabuckeye1]

it definitely smacks of Michigan giving a giant middle finger to the NCAA however. probably not a great idea to be honest to keep antagonizing them when they have another ruling hanging over your head.

This was my thought. It seems like calling the Judge names when he is about to sentence you. In theory the judge should be impartial and not hold your antics against you but it can't help and could hurt, why?

[Mdot21]

Rayshaun Benny coming back to 100% from injury is huge for the middle of that defense. they have 3 d-tackles that would start at almost every B1G school. Pretty safe to say 1-3 nobody in the country has DT's like Michigan. Before he got hurt last season it was just flat out unfair to have Kris Jenkins, Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, and Rayshaun Benny rotate through all game long at DT. Jenkins just went 2nd round, Graham & Grant are both being projected as 1st round picks right now and Benny will be an NFL draft pick with a good season this year.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6VFlbJh6sI

[MrNubbz]

Film Study Season Preview: Jesse Minter Slowed Down Ohio State's Vaunted Passing Attack, But Can His Success Be Duplicated? | Eleven Warriors
Film Study Season Preview: Jesse Minter Slowed Down Ohio State's Vaunted Passing Attack, But Can His Success Be Duplicated? | Eleven Warriors

For you Michigan folks, who are into the Xs and Os like me.  Good read.  Gives a ton of credit to Jessie Minter (appropriately so).  It also validates what I was saying, especially after last years game, about the complexity of the reads  due to multiple things going on in different parts of the defensive backfield.

McCord unfortunately slowed down the vaunted passing attack i.e. look at the 1st play from scrimmge

[Mdot21]

McCord unfortunately slowed down the vaunted passing attack i.e. look at the 1st play from scrimmge

McCord was staring down his receiver a little bit there but how about we give Will Johnson credit for making a great play. You know Michigan has some really good players too, right? Will J is going to be a top 10 pick come 2025. He's a Patrick Surtain II clone imo.

OSU fans wishing McCord gone might find out that the grass isn't always greener. Was McCord amazing? Obviously not. He wasn't CJ Stroud or Justin Fields and never was going to be. Was he terrible, the worst QB ever like OSU fans tried making him out to be? No. He was a good starting college QB. Not great, not terrible either. Just decent starting college QB. And there's no guarantee that Will Howard- who lost his job at Kansas State and quite frankly isn't all that- will be any better than McCord.

[Honestbuckeye]

McCord was staring down his receiver a little bit there but how about we give Will Johnson credit for making a great play. You know Michigan has some really good players too, right? Will J is going to be a top 10 pick come 2025. He's a Patrick Surtain II clone imo.

OSU fans wishing McCord gone might find out that the grass isn't always greener. Was McCord amazing? Obviously not. He wasn't CJ Stroud or Justin Fields and never was going to be. Was he terrible, the worst QB ever like OSU fans tried making him out to be? No. He was a good starting college QB. Not great, not terrible either. Just decent starting college QB. And there's no guarantee that Will Howard- who lost his job at Kansas State and quite frankly isn't all that- will be any better than McCord.

I tend to agree with you.  That pick by Johnson was a great play- and like the article pointed out, a clever defensive scheme Michigan had not shown on film. 

Howard is no Stroud either ( but who is really).  He is a different kind of QB- more of an efficient distributer of the ball and running threat.  His accuracy is pretty good on short and intermediate routes, and average on longer throws.  I think his strength is calm under pressure- going through progressions.  Because of that and with Chip Kelley involved, I think the offense will look a bit different.  Potentially more efficient but less explosive.  With that defense, it might be a smart strategy. 

[Mdot21]

Howard is no Stroud either ( but who is really).  He is a different kind of QB- more of an efficient distributer of the ball and running threat.  His accuracy is pretty good on short and intermediate routes, and average on longer throws.  I think his strength is calm under pressure- going through progressions.  Because of that and with Chip Kelley involved, I think the offense will look a bit different.  Potentially more efficient but less explosive.  With that defense, it might be a smart strategy.

it's going to be interesting to see what Will Howard does at Ohio State. Obviously Chip Kelly coming over and getting Judkins in the portal changes the offense quite a bit. Chip wants to run the ball and he wants to involve the QB in the run game. Day's offensive philosophy obviously skews towards pass first, pushing the ball down the field and going vertical- and he'd rather his QB's not run so much. It's going to be a big change and it's going to be for the better imo. When you have a defense like Ohio State will have, running the ball and controlling the clock works like a charm. 

Will Howard is almost inconsequential imo. He's not going to flat out suck and he's not going to be amazing. He's just gonna be...pretty decent starting B1G QB. And that's all they'll need out of him. What is going to push Ohio State over the top this season was their pickups of Caleb Downs and Quinshon Judkins. They were by far the two best players available in the portal. By far. And Ohio State got them both. Downs is a complete game changer for that defense. He will be the difference from it being a top 5 defense to probably the #1 defense. He's that good and he impacts the game that much. He's a future top 10 overall NFL draft pick. Ohio State didn't really have guys like that on defense. They are very experienced and deep and have a lot of really good players on defense, but none that good. Now they do. And then Judkins just allows them lean into the run game even more- and to have by far the best 1-2 RB punch in 2024 so long as Henderson is 100% and stays that way.

They look eerily similar to Michigan 2023 to me. A very experienced team that had all their guys return to try and accomplish a mission- and they look like a team that will be built on leaning on an elite defense and elite run game. They won't be QB dependent, the QB's job will be this: don't f*ck it up and just make the few crucial key money 3rd down plays in the big games you need to here and there.

[MrNubbz]

McCord was staring down his receiver a little bit there but how about we give Will Johnson credit for making a great play. You know Michigan has some really good players too, right? 

https://youtu.be/lITBGjNEp08

any forum member here makes that catch - the only way it gets dropped is he would so shocked it was right to him