I realize Strobel got one. Find a better photo then, pickers of nits.
This has to be talked about. Hoke left a roster that was in relatively good shape considering all the highly rated players who had to stick through some awful program degradation. He signed good classes, and those classes have by and large stuck around and fulfilled their academic duties. But an inordinate amount of them inexplicably didn't redshirt, and because of this there are some holes on the horizon.
I'm sure there are explanations in many of these cases that we are not party to. It's only the sheer volume of head-scratching non-redshirts under Hoke that gives us reason to call all of them into question. Like how I'm sure there are legit medical hardship waivers that occur at Alabama but [graph].
Some guys the coaches were forced to play early, and there's no need to discuss them beyond a mention as such, e.g. Jabrill Peppers. Mason Cole outcompeted a pile of guys to start at left tackle last season. That sort of thing gets a full pass. Beyond that, I've broken each Hoke class into categories of increasing argh:
- WTF. Wasting redshirts on special teams and dime back when last year's dime back is on the bench.
- Pick ONE. Needed bodies at this position, but not all the bodies. Battles for 2nd on the depth chart should be resolved in time for the ultimate loser to have a 5th year as consolation.
- Need the dudes (and other things I don't blame on the coaches). Immediate starters or guys who played because Michigan sorely needed his body and his pulse at that position.
Names that should have redshirted are in red.
Class of 2011
Did you really need both, 2011? [Upchurch]
Hoke arrived to an offensive machine with two years of eligibility remaining, and a nightmare defense of guys who couldn't displace recent departures like Jonas Mouton, Ray Vinopal, Adam Patterson, Greg Banks, and James Rogers. The immediate need was obvious and Hoke rightfully set about recruiting freshmen who could fill those roles. So I'll give him a pass for some of it.
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| Hollowell's 2011 contribution was more than scooping up a fumbled kickoff against VT, but it was also more than Ray Taylor's. [Melanie Maxwell|AnnArbor.com] |
Wtf: None.
Pick ONE
Raymon Taylorand Delonte Hollowell. The year following the Never Forget defensive backfield, Hoke recruited five likely cornerbacks: Blake Countess, Raymon Taylor, Delonte Hollowell, Tamani Carter (redshirted, transferred before 2012), and Greg Brown (early enrollee, transferred before 2011 season). The roster still had J.T. Floyd, Courtney Avery and Terrence Talbott (left program summer before 2012 season), available. In a pinch, Troy Woolfolk could have converted back when Thomas Gordon won the free safety job. At least one, and probably two true freshmen would have to play.
It immediately became apparent that one would be Countess. So to fill out the two deep they would need to burn Taylor or Hollowell's shirt. Hollowell arrived as the quintessential Cass Tech mite corner. The guy was 164 pounds, but saw some action at dime back vs. Nebraska, and recovered the fumble at the end of the first half. Taylor had two tackles and a personal foul.
Brennen Beyerand Frank Clark. Going into the season Beyer was a SAM and Clark a WDE. The difference between those positions in Michigan's 4-3 under was not very great, particularly because when Beyer was inserted it was for a 5-2 look. The WDE's depth chart was Craig Roh and Jibreel Black; SAM was Jake Ryan and Cam Gordon. The reason I say one would have played anyway is the rush end position has a lot rotation, and Black was already the starter in the nickel formation.
There wasn't much to differentiate the two in aggregate play; Beyer was the more consistent, Clark the more explosive. The coaches chose to have them compete through the year instead of preserving one. Had they done so Beyer was the obvious choice despite Clark's higher ceiling. Beyer was smaller and Michigan had Roh to be a more solid edge defender, but only Clark to be a merchant of chaos (remember the Sugar Bowl interception). On the other hand Frank had a rough history before Glenville, and could have used an adjustment season. Either way he would have been dismissed after last year's incident.
Needed dudes etc.
Blake Countess and Desmond Morgan won starting jobs on the 2011 defensive reclamation project. They also both would lose a season to injury so we have them back yay. Thomas Rawls I'm not broken up about, though he will be a pretty good MAC back this year. RBs usually have most of the "it" they ever will as freshmen, and if they do become long-term starters the toll it takes on their bodies means they're often better off moving through their careers early. A redshirt year can make a guy a better blocker, or put some distance between a good back and his heir, or let a smaller guy fill in. Matt Wile is a special pass even though they wasted his redshirt on kickoff duties (and punting during Hagerup's first suspension). I learned recently that Wile made it clear from the start he intended to graduate in four years and do engineering things.
[Save your anger for after the jump.]
Class of 2012
Because eff you 2016!
The moment we realized Hoke is a serial redshirt burner was the kickoff against Alabama; so much of the expected to redshirt portion of the Class of 2012 was on the field that karmic irony took the opportunity to strike down Blake Countess. We're looking at the list of 2015 seniors right now and some of them it feels like they should just be entering the prime, not the end, of their careers. In most of these cases we are correct.
Wtf
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| I give them a pass for Wilson since they did it after Mike Williams's career was lost to injury. [Upchurch] |
Mario Ojemudia was 225 pounds soaking wet, though dude was so slippery the water didn't add much. He got a fair amount of run anyway despite Clark and Beyer being ahead of him. Maybe when minor injuries pocked the depth chart they would have been forced to use him, but that shirt was gone from the kickoff against Alabama, despite Mattison admitting the following spring that it's unfair to play a defensive end at 230.
From there it gets even less explicable. Sione Houma was wasted entirely on special teams, making 1.5 tackles.
Royce Jenkins-Stone was recruited for the SAM and was a raw obvious redshirt, yet there he is at the far left of the photo above, burning it against Alabama. Last year he began to look ready and the fist-shaking resumed in earnest. They'll still be shaking next year when he's gone.
Pick ONE
The linebackers. The starters from 2011 all returned; behind them Michigan still had Cam Gordon and the other guys who played WLB before Morgan locked down the job, but you knew right away that the backup middle linebacker spot would need one of the freshmen. The smart pick was Joe Bolden because he arrived in spring and seized the #2 role, so we figured James Ross would get the luxury of a redshirt. When they got on the field Ross was the one who looked way more instinctual, but he was also too small to take on blocks and it showed. He needed the year, and next year when there are no linebackers I'll again be pretty upset he didn't, despite the utility of his 2012 snaps.
Needed dudes etc.
Because Rich Rod didn't care to recruit tight ends until it was too late, and Hoke whiffed on the position in 2011, Michigan had to play both A.J. Williams and Devin Funchess. Funchess the #19 edition wasn't any kind of blocker, but made five starts and various freshman All America lists, and anyway was off to the NFL after three seasons. Williams wasn't any kind of good, but with Moore injured and an offensive coordinator who preferred heavy sets, there was no way A.J. could be brought along slowly. Terry Richardson went in when Countess went down and they made it up to him with a redshirt in 2013.
One either/or they did right was Chesson/Amara Darboh—that was the year they were playing Gardner at receiver and after Gallon/Roundtree was Dileo and a pile of Rodriguez recruiting whiffs. Darboh didn't play much but after Nebraska Michigan was out Jerald Robinson and Gardner was at quarterback and Jeremy Jackson wasn't going to be more than he was, so it's more impressive they resisted burning Chesson's.
So much of Dennis Norfleet's career was his coaches not understanding how to use him, but one thing they were correct to do was use him as a returner in 2012. I wish they'd gotten a shirt on him in 2013, but you have to admit in all Borges's years of trolling Brian Cook, making Norfleet the backup to an unused Drew Dileo was a master stroke.
Jarrod Wilson is a guy you redshirt if you can but it was obvious they needed to groom somebody for safety of the future since M-Rob and Furman were the extant backups; they did redshirt Jeremy Clark.
Ondre Pipkins deserves a medshirt he won't get because his injury occurred just after the cutoff. As a freshman though he was doing things:
That's Pee Wee in his first collegiate game, blowing up All-of-America Barrett Jones in what would have been a TFL if Jake Ryan had been a bit more aggressive.
Q.E.D.
Class of 2013
Fuller
Wtf
The anger about some of these is coming out now because these guys are upperclassmen and thus running out of time when it feels like they shouldn't have been expected to contribute until this season anyway.
We'll start with Dymonte Thomas because there was no explanation then or now or any moment in between. Unless he was promised early playing time it makes no sense that they burned him on special teams, since depth at safety was established with the previous class and he was a skinny linebacker in high school who needed to learn the position. Instead of a 5th year from Dymonte we got a blocked punt against Western Michigan /waves tiny flag.
Delano Hill was perhaps an even bigger waste since he rotated with Dymonte on special teams, appearing in just seven games and once as a linebacker in clock kill time. Because both safeties were wasted this way, Michigan will have only its 2015 recruit at a position that requires a lot of experience come 2017 unless Jabrill is sticking around for what would be his redshirt junior season.
Ben Gedeonat least looked ready to play his position if Michigan needed him to, but with Ross and Bolden and Morgan rolling for snaps in 2013 there was no need to waste a season of Gedeon. When all the linebackers graduate after 2015 we'll have one year of Gedeon left.
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| Or maybe they could have got a medshirt for him instead of reinserting him on special teams later in the year? It was probably after the cutoff. [Fuller] |
Da'Mario Jones I don't know. Does anybody know? He played special teams but didn't even get one snap to practice his blocking at receiver in 2013. Perhaps as soon as he was made a slot receiver the coaches wanted him through as quickly as possible.
Taco Charltondidn't get that many snaps but he also arrived college-ready so this one is more about the depth Michigan had that year in Clark, Ojemudia, and (once Jake Ryan came back) Beyer. On a team with strict redshirting they maybe make him wait rather than appear in eight games and scattered special teams. On a team that burns redshirts on the slightest pretense he plays because he can, and that's what I think happened here.
Pick ONE
Cornerback needed a freshman for nickel duties and played with both Channing Stribling and Jourdan Lewis. I would have liked them to choose one and redshirt the other. Lewis only separated himself dramatically last season, when Stribling was a seldom-used backup. But Chan was 6'2"/160 as a freshman so either of those years it makes sense to redshirt him.
Needed the dudes, etc.
With Toussaint and Hayes the only other scholarship backs on the roster, it was no surprise that Derrick Green and De'veon Smith played early. Green was a 5-star, and Smith was Michigan's most effective back by the end of the year. Jake Butt had to play because the tight end situation was still very much unresolved after Williams and Funchess's freshman year.
Shane Morris is a special situation; Michigan didn't recruit a quarterback the year ahead of him because Hoke preferred to pick a QB of the future and have that guy recruit his class. Morris needed a redshirt badly after a senior season wracked by mono, and he was pretty raw to boot. But Morris was also immediately the No. 2 quarterback, and Russ Bellomy's ACL made Morris the only other scholarship quarterback in a year when Michigan's best pass blocker was Gardner's ribs.
Kyle Bosch was redshirting until the OL disaster, when he was inserted as a see-what-sticks option; with a lot of OL in his class that was fine.
Class of 2014
Needed the dudes, etc:
Jabrill Peppers would have played on any Michigan roster since 2009, when Peppers was 13. Mason Cole started at left tackle over Erik Magnusson, the guy we pegged as a lock in the previews.
Bryan Mone was a legitimate Alan Branch-as-a-freshman level contributor who had to play because Pipkins was still coming back from his ill-timed ACL early last year; Mone even started the Penn State game, FWIW.
Freddy Canteen is on the border. He left spring ahead of the other young receivers and expectations of Manningham 2005 production; alas he proved too small and wasn't used very much. They could have redshirted him but I understand why they didn't.
According to the spring roster they got shirts on Mo Ways and Brandon Watson that weren't listed last year; I thought I saw Watson against Penn State but I couldn't read jerseys that well on the blue unis so maybe it was Jourdan Lewis. So I guess they learned finally.