Michigan football has long had a quality problem this offseason: how will it satisfy all of its playmakers? The Wolverines enter 2022 with not only all but one hitting receiver from a year ago, but also the return of Ronnie Bell, a star playmaker who was injured and lost in his first season.
On Saturday, while we didn’t get those responses, we learned when Jim Harbaugh spoke with John Jansen on the In the Trench podcast that the Wolverines are even deeper than expected in the receiver with walking. there are so many coaches and his teammates that he has worked his way into double depth and draws comparisons to an NFL star player.
Buy Wolverine Tickets
“Yes, the top five are Roman, Cornelius Johnson, Ronnie Bell. There is no “one” recipient – they are all like Andrel Anthony and AJ Henning. These five will be strong in the starting XI rotation,” Harbaugh said. “Another guy who has grown up is Peyton O’Leary. So, Peyton O’Leary is backing up Cornelius Johnson right now in X position. And he had a Cooper Kupp-style training camp. I mean, he almost got that nickname here right now. So it was amazing.
“And then also Tyler Morris, Darrius Clemons, Amorion Walker – and Christian Dixon break into the receiver position. So, where we said we have really six really good receivers coming to camp, call it 10 now. There are 10 really good receivers. And it’s a strong group.”
Considering what we’ve heard about the three freshmen, it’s no wonder they made an impression. But O’Leary is receiving mentions from all of his teammates in the media, and he looks set to hit the field early and often in his sophomore year on campus.
Although this covers one group of positions, we still don’t know who will be the third running back, thunder for Blake Corum and lightning for Donovan Edwards, now that Hassan Haskins has moved to the NFL.
It’s no surprise that Corum and Edwards were in the starting positions – Corum shared starting duties with Haskins a year ago, and Edwards was training for the lead role at the same time. While it appears that Harbaugh will approach a third back situation by the committee, he says one has stood out from the rest. He just needs more time to complete the task.
“Blake Corum, Donovan Edwards – they’re your two number one,” Harbaugh said. — And they, as we predicted, will get most of the carries. I would call third quarterback CJ Stokes right now for just stepping in and running the game.
“And as he continues to study offense in terms of third down and defense, he’s probably leaning more towards Tavi Dunlap as the third player. But they are very close. And also the third guy is Isaiah Gash because he’s just great at sprinting right now and is the third quarterback. So feel really strong with these five defenders at the start of the season.”
Finally, Harbaugh said that the tight-and-group, led by team captain Eric All and fifth-year giant Luke Schoonmaker, will have more than just two, three or four big members in 2022. No, according to his estimates, there will be an unimaginable eight. difficult ends that will see the field in the upcoming season.
“And in terms of difficult moments, we talked about two starters: Schoonmaker and Erik Olle. Joel Honigford will play a lot, Max Bredeson broke into this deuce along with Carter Seltzer and Matt Hibner,” said Harbaugh. “Situational, Hibner — he and Max are also interchangeable there. Colston Loveland grew up in his freshman year, and Hunter Neff remained fully healthy after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament fracture and will get plenty of playing time. But you’ll see those eight for real—eight tight ends in the mix this fall.”
When Jim Harbaugh took over the program, he basically had three receivers who played early and often – Jehu Chesson, Amara Darbo and Grant Perry – two tight ends – Jake Butt and AJ Williams – and two running backs – De’ Veon Smith and Drake Johnson. Of course, there were others involved, but with five receivers to be 1s, 2 1s at the running back and 2 1s at the tight end to match the net numbers – 10 receivers, 5 running backs, and 8 dead ends. after all, it is an embarrassment in terms of wealth on a par with the elite programs in the country.
Now the program just needs to figure out how to get them all ball.