I feel that many have purposely mischaracterized Michigan three seasons of titles in order to paint the future in a more negative shade.
I'm here in an attempt to remind people of exactly what happened these last three seasons.
The most important thing I wish to make clear is that the three years weren't issue free, where Michigan was heathy and whole for these entire seasons.
This leads to take #1:
Michigan had some serious injury issues with their best players during the three-year B1G and Natty Championship run.
I'm here in an attempt to remind people of exactly what happened these last three seasons.
The most important thing I wish to make clear is that the three years weren't issue free, where Michigan was heathy and whole for these entire seasons.
This leads to take #1:
Michigan had some serious injury issues with their best players during the three-year B1G and Natty Championship run.
- Ronnie Bell went down in game 1 vs WMU after a 76-yard TD catch for his only catch in 2021.
- Junior Colson was forced into true freshman snaps in 2021 due to the on again off again shoulders of Josh Ross, and the season-ending injury to Nekhi Hill-Green
- Blake Corum, who was leading the team in yards, YPC and TDs at the time, went down with a serious ankle injury in the IU game (1 carry, 4 yards), missed the PSU and Maryland games, and limited him to 14 total carries in the last three games (OSU, Iowa, and UGA) of 2021.
- Zack Zinter played 2021 with a "club" on his right hand/wrist which was broken that offseason.
- 2022 B1G Defensive Lineman of the Year Mike Morris got hurt late in the season vs Nebraska. After the Rutgers game (one game before Nebby), Mike had 7 sacks in his first 8 games of 2022. Mike finished the season with those 7 sacks. he played but was hampered.
- 2022- sigh- Blake again, at the worst possible time. I've actually had some of the most pessimistic posters obviously misremember the supposed impact of Blake's injury, and state that they (laughably) at that time thought that Michigan could beat OSU (no they didn't...). The eternal optimist who is buttaball saw no way of victory over C.J. Stroud, and those WRs with our own Heisman trophy candidate sitting on the sidelines.
- 2022- Unbeknownst to the fanbase, Edwards had suffered a string of debilitating injuries, including a hand fracture and a knee issue. Most forget that Edwards was an emergency 3rd RB if Blake couldn't go. The rest is "The Don" galloping to history.
- Roman Wilson was hampered all 2022 as well.
- 2023- As a refute to the "WE LOST 5 OL" folk, I will refer to previous OL coach, former OC, and Current Head Coach Moore who stated that last season's line had 10 starters: This was not an exaggeration- It was due to the unsettled group that had to become a UNIT. Rewatching these games made me notice things that I may have missed before: When watching the OL closely, Moore freely subbed in OL players, and I would see names on the backs of OL like "El Hadi", "Persi", "Crippen", or "Gentry" in games that weren't yet in hand. In following, only two OL started every game of 2024: Nugent and Keegan. The other 3 spots for reasons discussed in #9, were manned by multiple OL over the span of the season.
- 2023- LaDarius Henderson came in injured. This caused him to not be ready for the beginning of the regular season. He didn't start games 1-4, but started the last 10 games for Michigan at LT. This forced Myles Hinton to start a couple of games before HE got dinged up. El Hadi and Persi, IIRC also got early season starts.
- And of course, our best OL, Zinter got injured vs OSU. Did it set the line back? Or serve as inspiration?
- #3 DT Rayshaun Benny got injured early vs Bama in the Rose Bowl.
- The Championship Game OL that paved the way on the ground for 308 rushing yards on 7.9 YPC and 3 TDs: (L to R) Henderson, Keegan, Nugent, Barnhart, and Jones, had only started two games together at that point, because of the loss of stalwart ZZ. They also held Alabama's pass rushers to 1 sack, after facing Iowa game one...I'd say that there's enough snaps coming back and there's the added advantage of the maturity: The line may have some different faces, but most (other than Priebe) will neither be "young" or "new". Gentry is a grown man back from a Mormon mission, along with Hinton, El Hadi, and Persi, these are all "old hats". Priebe adds that Nugent/ Ola-flavored Grad transfer juice.
