Michigan Football Depth Chart Analysis

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I think the fact that Michigan listed the starter as “Shane Morris OR Jake Rudock” means Morris has a legitimate chance at starting the game, or at least playing in it. I wouldn’t read much into the fact that Morris’ name is listed first; all the offensive “OR”s are in alphabetical order, with the only one on any chart not done alphabetically is at DT. With pretty much everybody other than Shane, Gerry DiNardo, and that knucklehead on Deadspin that forgot to put Rudock in his Michigan preview predicting Rudock as the starter, and the reports out of the practice open to students that Rudock took more of the 1st-team snaps and clearly looked like the better QB, either Morris had an off night and has actually improved significantly, or Harbaugh is trying real hard to hide his hand. My guess is the former, as there was no “OR” for the starting RB job, when that was the spot that you would figure you would be almost guaranteed to see one (or even two). That De’Veon Smith is listed as the definitive starter means one of two things: 1. He’s been that good in practice. 2. Green still can’t locate holes and Isaac needs work yet. Again, I’m going with the former. Smith’s the type of hard runner that Harbaugh loves. A notable omission on the depth chart is Drake Johnson; he must still be injured.

Drake Harris is listed as an “OR” at WR. If he’s finally healthy, that helps a lot. As I’ve said before, I like Darboh as a #2 option, as a #1, I’m not so sure. Harris, though, has #1 WR potential. True freshman Grant Perry is listed as an “OR” at the other WR spot. I thought if he was going to see the field this year, he would be a better fit in the slot, but the fact that he is where he is on the depth chart should give Michigan fans a lot of hope about this offense.

Patrick Kugler is on the depth chart at 2nd-string C, so whatever kept him out of the open student practice seems to have healed. My guess is this only shortens Ben Braden’s leash.

The coaching staff still hasn’t done anything about Henry Poggi and Wilton Speight both being on offense and wearing #19.

I’m not totally surprised that Willie Henry is starting at SDE. I am surprised that Willie Henry is starting at SDE and Maurice Hurst isn’t starting at DT. “Chris Wormley OR Matt Godin” is listed as the starter there, which I think says good things about Godin, given how good Hurst looked in the spring game. Granted, that was against a pieced-together offensive line, but still. I thought Hurst seemed like a better fit as a 3-tech, but he’s listed as the backup nose tackle, with Bryan Mone likely out for the season.

Lawrence Marshall is listed as the 3rd-string BUCK (WDE), so either he still needs to put on more weight, OR he didn’t build on what he did in the spring, OR Royce-Jenkins Stone really impressed D.J. Durkin. Marshall’s listed at 250 and behind Jenkins-Stone who’s listed at 245, so I think #1 is out. It seems like some combination of #2 and #3. There’s plenty of time for improvement for Marshall, though, as he’s only a redshirt freshman.

Channing Stribling is listed as the starter at CB opposite Jourdan Lewis. This should be seen as good news. Stribling showed potential as a freshman and never really improved from there. That he’s starting here seems like it means that he’s begun to realize that potential. I don’t see this as him being the best not-so-great option; if that was the case, and Durkin liked Wayne Lyons better at safety, I would think Jabrill Peppers would move back to CB, Lyons starts at SS, and they put the DW concept on hold for a year.

Kenny Allen is an “OR” at both K and P. John Baxter openly said that both Allen and Blake O’Neill will be used to punt. Baxter also said he had a gut feeling who the kicker would be. My gut says his gut says it’s Allen over Kyle Seychel. True freshman Andrew David is a notable omission here. It could just be that he’s going to redshirt this year. If not, I think Michigan tries to flip Quinn Nordin from Penn State.

Jabrill Peppers seems like the obvious choice at KR and PR, but Baxter talked a lot about Jehu Chesson there, so we’ll see.

Twitter: @KSchroeder2325

E-mail: schroeder.giig@gmail.com

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