Sure, if Ruiz was leading and actually won the job there would be some nerves to come along with that. Luckily it doesn't sound like that's the case so far.

http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2017/08/mason_cole_taking_snaps_at_lef.html

"Sophomore Ben Bredeson is believed to be the closest thing as possible to a shoe-in at left guard, while fifth-year senior Patrick Kugler will have his shot at center.

Meanwhile, Cole says true freshman Cesar Ruiz is taking snaps at center and right guard, a position sophomore (and slimmer) Michael Onwenu is expected to stake the claim of."

I highly doubt he would be focusing on anything other than Center if they thought he had a legitimate shot of being the starter.

deathroh said:

Sure, if Ruiz was leading and actually won the job there would be some nerves to come along with that. Luckily it doesn't sound like that's the case so far.

http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2017/08/mason_cole_taking_snaps_at_lef.html

"Sophomore Ben Bredeson is believed to be the closest thing as possible to a shoe-in at left guard, while fifth-year senior Patrick Kugler will have his shot at center.

Meanwhile, Cole says true freshman Cesar Ruiz is taking snaps at center and right guard, a position sophomore (and slimmer) Michael Onwenu is expected to stake the claim of."

I highly doubt he would be focusing on anything other than Center if they thought he had a legitimate shot of being the starter.

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You're right. I'm just overly nervous that the right side of the o-line is going to wreck this season.

thewolverines24 said:

You're right. I'm just overly nervous that the right side of the o-line is going to wreck this season.

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chill out, it's going to be fine.

michchamp said:

chill out, it's going to be fine.

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I know it'll be 9-3 fine, but I would like the o-line to be good so we could at least compete for a Big 10 championship.

thewolverines24 said:

I know it'll be 9-3 fine, but I would like the o-line to be good so we could at least compete for a Big 10 championship.

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relax.

michchamp said:

relax.

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I'm perfectly relaxed. I'm not yelling here.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

Some info that I happened to come across..

Keith Washington - I had an opportunity to dive much deeper into the cornerback position in days since we initial discussed it in Volume 1. The guy that I?m now hearing "has been the model of consistency" is Keith Washington. That may be surprising to some, but only if we overlook his strong spring showing when he demonstrated the ability to play more physical. The lanky corner always had good speed but had been prone to getting muscled around. That?s not the case anymore. We're hearing that thus far he has done a good job of "limiting his mistakes" and at this point he is repping consistently with the ones.

Brad Hawkins - Classes limit the availability of some of the freshmen in fall camp every year, and that apparently has been the case for Brad Hawkins. That said, in the time he has been out there we're hearing he has really impressed with his coverage ability. "The kid looks really comfortable in coverage. A natural as a center fielder." I haven?t heard much yet about his tackling ability, but Scout.com?s Brian Dohn was adamant during Hawkins? recruitment that the former Camden standout has a higher upside at safety in part because ?he?s so physical.? Time will tell whether that translates to Michigan. For now we can say he is currently running with the threes behind Tyree Kinnel and J'Marick Woods, but his showing thus far definitely makes him a factor in the competition.

Josh Ross - Ross might currently hold the distinction as most impressive freshman defender thus far. The former Orchard Lake St. Mary's star as garnered a lot of praise from the coaches because of his good football instincts and OUTSTANDING physicality. He plays like his brother James Ross, the difference is Josh is bigger and faster. To better quantify the comparison, Josh is two to three inches taller than his sibling and is as strong NOW as James was when he entered the draft. More specifically, Josh put up 21 reps of 225 in Ann Arbor. James brother put up 22 during his pre-draft workout. The buzz I'm hearing about Josh reminds me of what I heard about Devin Bush Jr. last year. Bush Jr. had to often be reminded by his teammates that ?to contact? doesn't mean ?full speed?... it doesn't mean ?tackle.? "Same team, man!" Lol. Ross apparently has been told the same thing, and was the case with Bush Jr. those admonishments have often fallen on deaf ears. The edge he is playing with must be welcomed because he is getting run with the twos now (as is good friend Drew Singleton, who we'll talk about in a later edition of Inside the Sub).

Grant Perry - Some guys are just so dialed into their craft mentally that they hardly miss a beat, even when they miss time. That appears to be the case with Perry. He is such a precision route runner that just has a knack for getting open. The competition at the slot (and receiver in general) may be thicker than ever? there may be guys that are bigger, stronger, and faster? he may still be working his way back from last year?s setback, but don?t bet against. He?s getting run with the 2?s, he?s a vete, and a reliable one at that. As you?ll hear in tomorrow?s Inside Schembechler Hall podcast, Pep Hamilton emphasized the importance of the reliability factor with young wideouts. The QBs know Grant Perry will be where he is supposed to be, so count on him being a factor in this race for the long haul.

Chris Evans - Talk that he has lost any ground in the running back race is patently false.

Ty Isaac ? In the spring game we saw him bounce a play to the outside, get on his horse, and take one to the house. He has flashed similar, patience, vision, and burst in practice earlier this week when he bounced one to the outside and housed it from 60-plus yards out. Before you go lamenting what that says about the defense, it occurred against some of the younger defenders, but it was nonetheless encouraging.
Ben Mason - Jim Harbaugh mentioned Mason?s physicality when he announced the youngster?s move to fullback a few months back. Well it's definitely showing in practice. Hill and Poggi are obviously ?the guys? at the position, but the future (at least from a blocking standpoint) appears to be very bright. According to one source, "he has been laying people out."

Oliver Martin - I heard a more detailed description of the jump ball play made by Martin that was the talk of the building this week. "It was ridiculous. He went up and grabbed it from over the (defender?s) back. It reminded me of (Ohio State receiver) Noah Brown's catch versus Oklahoma.
While that?s definitely exciting, let?s remember to keep things in perspective. Exciting, but let?s keep things in perspective. Like JT Rogan said Volume 5 ? ?You have to temper that because we have to put him in the position to be successful. Sometimes you have to tell him, 'hey, where do you line up?' It's a brand-new offense for him, we're not in Iowa anymore. (Laughter)."

On the move...

Hearing Jordan Glasgow, who established moved up the #2 VIPER in the spring, is now also getting reps with the 2s at safety.

Hearing Jared Wangler is repping at fullback.

Lastly, a quick reminder. I?ve not been able to dig into every position group yet. I?ll be getting more on guys and positions not mentioned in this post in the coming days. Just because they aren?t mentioned here doesn?t mean they?re doing poorly or that I have info that I?m holding back on them. It only means I have more digging to do.

Some more...

From Pep Hamilton:

"Maurice Hurst -- there has been several occasions where we've been in the shotgun and right at the point where the ball was snapped, he could've been back there in the quarterback's lap and received the ball himself. His get-off is amazing."

"Chase Winovich -- we threw a shallow cross to one of our receivers (Tuesday) in a team drill and the receiver, he stiff-armed a safety or a linebacker and cut across the field and was right at the point where he was going to take off down the sideline. Then Chase Winovich, who was on the opposite side of the formation, rushed up field in an attempt to sack the quarterback, saw the ball thrown and then made the tackle 25 yards downfield. It's been fun to watch the layers of talent we have on this football team. We have some guys that are exceptional players that may have an opportunity to play Sunday football. They have a lot of work to do and we still have a lot of football to be played here at the University of Michigan." (Editor’s Note: we’ll have much more exciting dish on Winovich in an upcoming edition of Inside the Sub).

From Rogan:

"I've just seen a lot of really great things out of Bryan Mone. I've seen power, I've seen quickness, and I've seen speed. I think I have seen what Michigan fans had hoped to see for a couple of years now. There's a lot of optimism about him on the defense." (Editor’s note: Remember when Harbaugh and company assumed the reins of the program they ranked the roster in order and according to Harbaugh himself, Mone was ranked #3 on the list. When you look back at how many players from that team were just drafted, it further explains the optimism.)

"Khaleke Hudson is a great downhill player. He is similar to Jabrill Peppers in the defensive component. He might not be the return man or he might not be as twitchy maybe but, man, is he strong and he's fast. You saw all last year he was an impact player on the special teams. There was a play where he came up late as a blitzer, timed up the snap count and the tackle was slow getting there and Khaleke just blew right by him. Seeing him in a blitzing role, a VIPER role, I think is going to be good for us and for our defense this year."

"On offense, I ran into Oliver Martin because I missed most of practice (Tuesday). I had stuff going on, but I saw him at the end and I asked how was practice? (He said), 'it was good.' I said, 'yeah? Pretty good?' He said, 'yeah... it was probably my best one yet.' Okay, so I don't think anything of it. I go in to the building and I have multiple coaches come out and tell me, 'oh, you have to see this play... Oliver Martin put together a sequence of going up and over the back of a defender and snatching the ball away, beating a defender on a nine, and then juking a guy. So there was a lot of good stuff. You have to temper that because we have to put him in the position to be successful. Sometimes you have to tell him, 'hey, where do you line up?' It's a brand-new offense for him, we're not in Iowa anymore. (Laughter)."

"Then I saw a great post route thrown to Tarik Black. We were inside of Glick maybe four or days ago, I think it was Wilton who threw it down the middle to Tarik's outstretched fingers. I mean, it was a sign of things to come, perhaps. It was a beautiful catch, a beautiful throw, and well executed."

“I think it was two days ago, I saw John O'Korn overthrew a corner route to Sean McKeon, just barely. (O'Korn) was upset about it and got an opportunity to make up for it against tighter coverage and an even tighter corner route at the back of the end zone in a red zone period and was able to make a beautiful throw to and (McKeon) made the catch. (O'Korn) was fired up, Sean McKeon was fired up."

“So those are some bigtime plays that caught my eye like, wow, those are the things you like to see. The big play was maybe a little absent from our offense last year. You felt like it was numbing repetition of three and five-yard gains and the occasional big catch, but not maybe the big catch and run, or the home run. So, we would like to be the beneficiary of some of those this year and help our defense out a little bit that way."

From yesterday..

- Brandon Peters has had a couple good practices. My source said he "made up some ground" but Wilton Speight's command of the offense and his leadership are big reasons he's likely to start the season. It's been beaten to death, but his assertiveness is one of his best qualities and right now, that's something that Peters still needs to be developed. But my sources keep saying that Peters' talent is unquestionable. He's going to be very good, just not certain when his shot will come.

- At tight end, Sean McKeon continues to impress and I've heard Ian Bunting has "awaken" in the last two practices. Tyrone Wheatley Jr. still in with the first group as well.

- As Sam said, C/RG will likely be Kugler and Onwenu. Ruiz is working behind them at both spots. He has gotten some 1st team reps at center, but Kugler is still in the lead there from what I was told.

- BTW, same person told me to disregard the one rep Ben Bredeson lost to Aubrey Solomon that's been online. Bredeson is having a good camp, that's just more of an indication of how good Solomon can be (and it being one rep).

- On the D-line, Michael Dwumfour is making a charge. Lawrence Marshall moved inside, but he doesn't have Dwumfour's size/power yet. Marshall is still working at end at times to spell Chase Winovich. Heard good things about how Carlo Kemp is doing as well. Noah Furbush getting a look at LB in "big" packages.

- At safety, Tyree Kinnel and Josh Metellus are very likely your opening day starters. J'Marick Woods has been physical though and is making a push to get into the two-deep.

- Nate Johnson, Dylan Crawford and Eddie McDoom have been working as return men. Donovan Peoples-Jones may factor in there as well

From a couple days ago...

While the coaches haven't yet etched the center and right guard spots in stone, my gut tells me the guys that had those roles in the spring (Kugler and Onwenu) will most likely to hold on to them this fall. Long way to go of course, and competition can shake things up, but that's what my gut is telling me.

Right tackle is another story. I don't have anywhere close to a gut feeling about it. Coaches mentioning the wide open competition there aren't just offering up "coach speak." Jon Runyan, Juwan Bushell-Beatty, Nolan Ulizio and the freshmen are all getting looks. The one most intriguing to me, though, is freshman Chuck Filiaga. I felt that way before fall camp opened even more now in the aftermath of hearing talk about his strength. One source mentioned "he's the strongest guy at the position right now."

We took note of Chuck's exceptional physical strength when we watched during Army All American week in January. So just as we suspected then, physically he is absolutely capable of competing as a true freshman. "He's every bit as ready from a size/strength perspective as Bredeson and Cole were." What the coaches have to figure out in practice is whether he is as ready technically as his aforementioned predecessors. I don't know if he is, but if he shows that same precociousness, the big fella stands a good chance of beating out his veteran competition.

As Jim Harbaugh says ad nauseam these days, "it's a meritocracy."

Couple days ago...

The buzz about Rashan Gary has been palpable during camp. Virtually every player and coach I've talked to has made mention of how dominant he has been. After hearing it so much I wanted a specific example of his utter dominance. I made my way down to Schembechler Hall today for the first edition of a weekly podcast I'll be doing with Director of Operations and Communications for Jim Harbaugh, J.T. Rogan. Each week from now until the end of the season J.T. and I will go back and forth about practice (during fall camp) or the prior week's game (during the season) and we'll interview a coach in between. Being there for the podcast today afforded me the opportunity to get some "Inside the Sub Intel" as well. Both J.T. and Pep were happy to oblige my request for specifics on Rashan.

Said Rogan, "If you are not putting him against Mason Cole, someone who is a senior leader and a veteran offensive lineman, you are taking your life into your own hands. You're trying to triple-team somebody because you recognize how difficult it's going to be to get that play to be successful if you dont account for him. Even still, he manages to get in the way."

Pep then lent specificity to J.T.'s mention of the triple team attempt.

"We have a two-minute drill and we had a play call where we were going to triple-team Rashan, and he still had the quarterback running for his life. He put the ice-pick on one guy, he hit the second guy with a spin move, and just said ' boo' to the third guy. (The third guy) just moved out the way. (Laughter) He was chasing the quarterback across the field."

I'll repeat what I said prior to camp. I don't know if Rashan will break David Bowens' sack record (12) this year, but I think when the dust settles I'm betting Rashan and Chase will hold the highest total for a tandem in Michigan history

Couple days ago..

Tidbits from fall practice continue to rise to the surface. This report will focus on two guys that have risen in the ranks over the first week-plus of camp. I'm hearing Drake Harris and Oliver Martin are both now running with the two..

I didn't mention Drake in my initial report despite hearing a glowing review about his week one performance. One source mentioned Drake had "four or five picks" last week. That he was flashing excellent ball skills wasn't a surprise to me, but I felt it necessary to dig into if that was indicative of consistently stellar play from a guy who has picked the position up faster, or flashes of brilliance from a guy that showed at other times that he still has a lot to learn. It sounds like it's the latter. After St. Juste Drake is the longest corner on the roster, no receiver will out-jump him, and the extensive work he put in to learning the position during the off season has shown, but technique wise he is still a work in progress (as you'll note in the next paragraph). That said, there appears to be a great deal of optimism about how he could factor into things this fall. The biggest question with him, IMO, remains how he'll fare against the run. Now that they have a few padded practices under their belts I hope to get some returns on that today.

Oliver Martin has been really impressive. REALLY impressive. After he went up and literally took the ball from a walk-on in a recent practice it was the tipping point . The coaches had seen enough and decided to move him up against tougher competition. Then he promptly showed that his game translates against guys higher on the depth chart too. He blew by Drake Harris for a deep ball and drew immediate praise from the headman himself. It's still early, but at the very least it's time for us to start factoring Martin prominently into the discussion about this year's receiver rotation.

From Monday...

I made a few calls yesterday to get my head back in the game and got a few practice notes. First it should be mentioned that most of the week was unpadded, but word has it that the defense out-paced the offense out of the gate. Most of this report will be dedicated to the defense as a result. In addition, I’ve not been able to dig into every position group yet. I’ll be getting more on guys and positions not mentioned in this post in the coming days. Just because they aren’t mentioned here doesn’t mean they’re doing poorly or that I have info that I’m holding back on them. It only means I have more digging to do.

Rashan Gary and Mo Hurst have looked like everyone expects them to look, so I’ll spend most of this short report on other guys I heard have stood out thus far.

One of the first names mentioned was sophomore linebacker Devin Bush. The talented youngster has really been coming on. In one late week practice registered a pick, and a sack, and continued to look like one of the most physical players on defense. He just has a much better understanding of the defense and looks like he is going to be a lethal blitzer.

Bryan Mone is looking like the pre-injury Mone… the guy they saw when he was rated the third best player on the roster. He was never 100% last year and it showed. He not just a space eater. Right now he is making plays.

When it comes to the young guys it’s pretty clear that Aubrey Solomon is going to factor in for Michigan on the inside this year. It’s a little more up in the air after that. I’d thought the next most likely inside guy to contribute on the interior was/is James Hudson. That may wind up being the case, but I no longer believe that is most likely case. Donovan Jeter has really come. He is u to 290 now and word is they’ve kicked him inside to 3-tech.

The corner position being up in the air isn’t just coach speak. Thus far I’m hearing David Long, LaVert Hill and Brandon Watson rotating with the top group, but Ambry Thomas is looking like he could factor into the mix.

Khaleke Hudson picked up right where he left off in the spring. Like Bush, there was a lot of late week buzz about how physical he was in the run game. “He has found his home” at VIPER. I get the feeling that the coverage responsibilities there suit him better. That was a revelation in the spring and it has carried over to the fall.

The quarterback battle is indeed a battle, but any suggestion that Wilton Speight continued to cede ground to the competition in week one is wrong. Talk of a plan to start Wilton in week one and Brandon Peters after that is absolutely false.

The receiver whose name I heard first when asking about standouts was Tarik Black.

That's it for now!

All hail deathroh! Thanks for putting that all together.

Very excited to hear that Mone is back to pre-injury form. We really need him on the inside this year. I'm hopeful that our front seven can mask a lot of the issues that come with an inexperienced secondary. Gary, Hurst, Winovich, healthy Mone, Hudson, Bush, and McCray. That is a lethal group right there.

No problem.

Yep, the Mone bit was probably the highlight. I would just take average from him. If he can be good to great? Watch out...

I wasn't expecting to hear that Ross is the standout freshman LB. I'm really excited to see that group (and Bush, who we've barely seen in defense).

Sounds like the O-line is set outside of RT. I'd be ok with Filiaga taking control. With as many TE's as Harbaugh plays he should have plenty of help against the pass...imagine the potential for the running game if it's him and Onwenu on the right side...

It's been said a million times, but what a ridiculous WR class. It's like the Fab 5 in that you could form a complete 4-wideout lineup with the group, and with plus size at each position (well I guess webber and ray jackson weren't necessarily plus size, but athletically they made up for it). I really don't know if I can pick the one I'm most or least excited to see play, they all have such great upside.

deathroh said:

No problem.

Yep, the Mone bit was probably the highlight. I would just take average from him. If he can be good to great? Watch out...

I wasn't expecting to hear that Ross is the standout freshman LB. I'm really excited to see that group (and Bush, who we've barely seen in defense).

Sounds like the O-line is set outside of RT. I'd be ok with Filiaga taking control. With as many TE's as Harbaugh plays he should have plenty of help against the pass...imagine the potential for the running game if it's him and Onwenu on the right side...

It's been said a million times, but what a ridiculous WR class. It's like the Fab 5 in that you could form a complete 4-wideout lineup with the group, and with plus size at each position (well I guess webber and ray jackson weren't necessarily plus size, but athletically they made up for it). I really don't know if I can pick the one I'm most or least excited to see play, they all have such great upside.

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I'm really excited about the WR class, but I temper expectations with freshman WRs. I think Black will be the best of the bunch this year, but I don't expect anything over 500 yards for him. That's still very good for a freshman.

For sure. I'm just excited to see the skill level this year. The production will come.

Deathroh's notes need to be more copious.

byco42 said:

Deathroh's notes need to be more copious.

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I'll try harder next time