Phall
Master
The Wolverines and their supporters are riding a huge wave of excitement after the coup hiring of Jim Harbaugh from the NFL this past December. Football fans all know Harbaugh from his success at Stanford with Andrew Luck, Toby Gerhart, and a white-friendly roster as well as his controversial decision to depose Alex Smith as 49ers quarterback for Colin Kaepernick. His tenure is quite new still but makes for interesting press.
Harbaugh is inheriting a rather white-friendly depth chart after Brady Hoke's final two years of 8 out of 22 starters. The quarterback position has gone back to its traditional archetype, now with a whopping seven scholarship players in the pipeline. The favorite to start is probably Iowa transfer Jake Rudock, whose moderate success and experience in the Big Ten puts him leaps and bounds ahead of the resume of junior Shane Morris, who is most famous for being last year's poster boy concussion victim. True freshmen Alex Malzone and Zach Gentry may be stuck with clipboard duty for awhile. Redshirt freshman Wilson Speight may wind up 3rd on the depth chart simply to preserve their eligibility. Next year, Houston transfer John O'Korn joins the fray, and 4-star prospect Brandon Peters is inked as well. Attrition may become one of the storylines here.
The offensive line should be better with age, as it has had very similar personnel for three seasons now. The star is Mason Cole, who started at left tackle last year as a true freshman. The anchor, however, is redshirt senior and former walk-on Graham Glasgow, who has lined up at all five positions as a three-year starter and will be under center for the new quarterback. Another senior walk-on, fullback Joe Kerridge, has ten official career starts and is a de facto starter.
Rounding out the offense is junior tight end Jake Butt. Butt has caught 41 balls in his two years with the team and should feature even more as a check-down valve in 2015. While it's a bit premature to call him a future NFL star, he will have the opportunity to impress on the field. After quarterbacks, Harbaugh seems to also have a great sales pitch for tight end recruits, and this could yield some big time players down the road.
Wyatt Shallman, once a heralded power back, is lost somewhere in between fullback and tight end. He could get gimmick plays out of a crowded backfield. Walk-on receiver Bo Dever did well to feature in eleven games in the slot last year, but may not stick with the new coaching staff. There are still no white running backs or wide receivers on scholarship.
Offense:
Quarterback: Rudock (Morris)
OT: Cole, Erik Magnuson
OG: Kyle Kalis, Ben Braden
C: Graham Glasgow
FB: Kerridge
TE: Butt
Defensively, the Wolverines are the same usual story. Their starting nose tackle is junior Ryan Glasgow, brother of Graham. Remember that name for a little later, but let's just say he did not inherit his playing time automatically. He is joined by two starting linebackers, seniors Joe Bolden and Desmond Morgan, as well as a handful of reserves. Morgan returns to his natural MIKE position and could lead the team in tackles. Matt Godin and Ben Gedeon are expected to contribute.
Defense:
NT: Ryan Glasgow
MLB: Morgan
SLB: Bolden
So if you had two brothers who were captain candidates of their respective units, and you found out they had a younger brother, you might recruit him to your 85 man roster? That bit of nepotism wasn't extended to Jordan Glasgow, who joins the team as a preferred walk-on (just like his brothers). Ryan and Graham were both prolific high school wrestlers who apparently "bloomed late" and didn't get a lot of prep football in before recruiting grades. Jordan, on the other hand, has been playing two ways as a safety and running back. He will probably redshirt this year, but it seems pretty silly to bet against this family name for a third time in a row.
Calling both Kerridge and Butt nominal starters gets the 2015 Wolverines to 11 out of 22 going into opening week. There are some sumos in the offensive line pipeline, and Harbaugh really hasn't shown any interest in white players outside of the standard offensive positions. The major difference making this program likable is in the quarterback (whoever he is), who will now be fallible for his shortcomings instead of uniformly consoled. There were unprinted rumors of a serious racial divide in the locker room last year that should be alleviated by a cohesive offensive unit (and high-energy coaching staff).
Harbaugh is inheriting a rather white-friendly depth chart after Brady Hoke's final two years of 8 out of 22 starters. The quarterback position has gone back to its traditional archetype, now with a whopping seven scholarship players in the pipeline. The favorite to start is probably Iowa transfer Jake Rudock, whose moderate success and experience in the Big Ten puts him leaps and bounds ahead of the resume of junior Shane Morris, who is most famous for being last year's poster boy concussion victim. True freshmen Alex Malzone and Zach Gentry may be stuck with clipboard duty for awhile. Redshirt freshman Wilson Speight may wind up 3rd on the depth chart simply to preserve their eligibility. Next year, Houston transfer John O'Korn joins the fray, and 4-star prospect Brandon Peters is inked as well. Attrition may become one of the storylines here.
The offensive line should be better with age, as it has had very similar personnel for three seasons now. The star is Mason Cole, who started at left tackle last year as a true freshman. The anchor, however, is redshirt senior and former walk-on Graham Glasgow, who has lined up at all five positions as a three-year starter and will be under center for the new quarterback. Another senior walk-on, fullback Joe Kerridge, has ten official career starts and is a de facto starter.
Rounding out the offense is junior tight end Jake Butt. Butt has caught 41 balls in his two years with the team and should feature even more as a check-down valve in 2015. While it's a bit premature to call him a future NFL star, he will have the opportunity to impress on the field. After quarterbacks, Harbaugh seems to also have a great sales pitch for tight end recruits, and this could yield some big time players down the road.
Wyatt Shallman, once a heralded power back, is lost somewhere in between fullback and tight end. He could get gimmick plays out of a crowded backfield. Walk-on receiver Bo Dever did well to feature in eleven games in the slot last year, but may not stick with the new coaching staff. There are still no white running backs or wide receivers on scholarship.
Offense:
Quarterback: Rudock (Morris)
OT: Cole, Erik Magnuson
OG: Kyle Kalis, Ben Braden
C: Graham Glasgow
FB: Kerridge
TE: Butt
Defensively, the Wolverines are the same usual story. Their starting nose tackle is junior Ryan Glasgow, brother of Graham. Remember that name for a little later, but let's just say he did not inherit his playing time automatically. He is joined by two starting linebackers, seniors Joe Bolden and Desmond Morgan, as well as a handful of reserves. Morgan returns to his natural MIKE position and could lead the team in tackles. Matt Godin and Ben Gedeon are expected to contribute.
Defense:
NT: Ryan Glasgow
MLB: Morgan
SLB: Bolden
So if you had two brothers who were captain candidates of their respective units, and you found out they had a younger brother, you might recruit him to your 85 man roster? That bit of nepotism wasn't extended to Jordan Glasgow, who joins the team as a preferred walk-on (just like his brothers). Ryan and Graham were both prolific high school wrestlers who apparently "bloomed late" and didn't get a lot of prep football in before recruiting grades. Jordan, on the other hand, has been playing two ways as a safety and running back. He will probably redshirt this year, but it seems pretty silly to bet against this family name for a third time in a row.
Calling both Kerridge and Butt nominal starters gets the 2015 Wolverines to 11 out of 22 going into opening week. There are some sumos in the offensive line pipeline, and Harbaugh really hasn't shown any interest in white players outside of the standard offensive positions. The major difference making this program likable is in the quarterback (whoever he is), who will now be fallible for his shortcomings instead of uniformly consoled. There were unprinted rumors of a serious racial divide in the locker room last year that should be alleviated by a cohesive offensive unit (and high-energy coaching staff).
