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Showing posts from May, 2015

Wolverine Roster Sleepers, '15

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Channing Stribing #8 Channing Stribling CB (Jr)  - At 6'2", Stribling has the length the new staff wants out at corner and an opportunity for him to get more reps just opened up with Blake Countess transferring out. The former three-star prospect showed some promise as a true freshman two years ago but suffered a bit of a sophomore slump in 2014. I left him off my list of  leaders, role players, or best off the bench  too, but I think he has the ability to have a surprisingly good season as a backup/role player and part-time starter. If this team truly wants to compete every week this fall it is going to need guys like Stribling answering the bell when it rings. And it  WILL  ring eventually. Jaron Dukes WR (Jr) - I didn't include Dukes anywhere in my list of leaders, role players, or best off the bench  either, but I am hopeful that he can make me wish I had. Although he dropped a couple passes in the spring game, he scored the game's only TD on a quick 15 yar

Names You Should Know: The Full Roster Analysis and Predictions

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Optimistic Fan is once again looking forward to the upcoming Michigan Wolverines football season. Having a roster as loaded as this one, with three, four, and five-star quality talent to go along with an all-star head coach in Jim Harbaugh, it's hard to not have some glimmer of hope that this is the year we've been waiting for as fans. I am not about to start making predictions about how the offensive, defensive, and special teams units will produce this fall (at least not yet anyway), but I feel it's never too early to evaluate what each of our top players could bring to the table on Saturdays. Top 20 Returning Leaders for 2015: Jourdan Lewis #26 1. Jourdan Lewis CB (Jr) - Analysis:  Lewis, a Detroit Cass Tech product, simply emerged as one of the best defenders on the entire roster in 2014. He is so good that I am already hoping he comes back for his senior season in 2016. If you watch the tape you will see a guy that shut down his part of the field to the

Spring Game Analysis: What My Eyes Told Me

Shane Morris can be "the guy":  Morris has lost the backing of a large portion of Wolverine Nation, and the spring game didn't seem to do much to ease any fan anxiety over the QB position. If you were to peruse any Wolverine-related site online you will see that some have already handed the job over to incoming Iowa graduate transfer Jake Rudock. All this hype reaffirms my suspicion that most fans don't know what they are looking at and they sure as hell don't know what they are talking about in regards to a developing football team. First of all, Morris looked fine. He may have not looked spectacular, but he looked good enough to give hope that he can continue to develop. A new, unrefined, and vanilla offense going up against one of the best and deepest returning defensive units in the country hardly ever looks very good in spring practices. Why should this example be any different? There is obviously a lot of work to do, but there is plenty of time to develo