The latest edition of INSIDE THE FORT, including plenty of football, basketball and recruiting information.
Starting with football and the opener with Middle Tennessee State ….
Everyone is wondering who the starting running back will be in the opener, obviously, and head coach Jim Harbaugh was non-committal about it Monday, saying, “I haven’t decided yet.” The competition is relatively close and all three backs — senior Tru Wilson, redshirt freshman Christian Turner and freshman Zach Charbonnet — are expected to play.
Only one can get the first carry, however, and from sources close to it, it will probably be Turner. The buzz has been all about Charbonnet, but Turner has quietly had a very nice camp and should be the first back we see.
Charbonnet, though, is the future … make no mistake. One close to it who played with former Michigan running back Anthony Thomas believes Charbonnet will have at least a Thomas-type frosh impact in his first year, if not more (Thomas ran for 529 yards and caught 205 yards in passes his first year), and will develop into the best U-M back Michigan has seen in years.
Charbonnet’s cuts and vision have been on display the last few weeks, and he’s got plenty of speed, too.
Who gets the most carries probably depends on how the first half goes, but there’s a role for all of them. Wilson is the best blocker and has improved a lot as a runner, as well, while redshirt frosh Ben Van Sumeren will have a role as a short yardage back in situations.
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How much of the offense will we actually see Saturday? Given how polished the offense has looked in practice, generally against the No. 2 defense (they usually don’t go ones vs. ones), they are confident they’re ready to unleash it. A few have said they’re looking to make a statement in this game and really infuse confidence into a unit that already has plenty of it, especially quarterback Shea Patterson.
At the same time, they don’t want to be reckless, and they won’t be. As we reported in last week’s ITF, fifth-year senior Jon Runyan Jr. is working through something. What we’re hearing … he won’t play tomorrow unless he’s absolutely needed, but he’ll be back “when it matters.”
According to one source, that will be next week against Army. This is not an injury that’s expected to linger. In fact, if things aren’t going as planned and got tight against Middle Tennessee State — certainly not expected — Runyan could go. They’d just prefer to heal him up for a week.
As of now, it appears redshirt freshman Jalen Mayfield will move to left tackle and redshirt freshman Ryan Hayes will start at right tackle. In a sense, we’re getting a chance to see the future a bit early (assuming it plays out this way, as expected).
At quarterback, we expect backup and redshirt sophomore Dylan McCaffrey to get a number of snaps Saturday when it matters.
On defense, we’ve heard junior safety Brad Hawkins is nursing a minor injury, but it’s nothing significant. He’s expected to play, but if the game gets out of hand, he could rest it a bit and we could see more of junior J’Marick Woods. He’s had a solid camp and is the No. 3 safety at this point.
Linebackers … no surprise here. We expect junior Josh Ross to start at MIKE and redshirt junior Devin Gil to start at WILL. We’ll see a ton of senior linebacker/end Josh Uche Saturday, too, in different capacities. We should see all of the linebacker Saturday, though (five), including Jordan Glasgow at WILL, Cam McGrone and Jordan Anthony.
Expect redshirt freshman Vincent Gray to start at corner, but frosh DJ Turner has continued to turn heads.
On the opposing sideline, as a whole, Middle Tennessee State is very healthy into tomorrow’s game at Michigan, per Matthew Dossett of GoMiddle.com.
The Blue Raiders’ originally projected center, Jack Mitchell, saw his waiver denied by the NCAA and obviously will not be playing tomorrow night. Fifth-year senior Josh Fannin will likely start in Mitchell’s place, but both he and senior right tackle Amir Luckett (who started all 14 games last year) have been limited in practice.That doesn’t bod well for an offense going up against a fast defense like Michigan’s, especially one with a new QB under center.
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A bit of football recruiting (noting that INTO THE BLUE, our EJ Holland’s version of Inside the Fort, now runs separately on Mondays) …
Michigan has obviously recruited the east coast and the New England part of the country quite hard during Jim Harbaugh’s tenure at Michigan, and that trend has continued heavily in the 2020 class. Thirteen of the Wolverines’ 23 commits reside on the far east side of the U.S., including two of the highest-rated pledges in the class in Milton (Mass.) Academy four-star linebacker Kalel Mullings (No. 108 nationally) and Cambridge (Mass.) Buckingham Browne & Nichols four-star offensive tackle Zak Zinter.
Belmont Hill High School head coach Chris Butler squared off against both Mullings and Zinter last season (defeated Milton Academy, but fell to Buckingham Browne & Nichols), and gave a brief recollection of each U-M commit.
“Zinter was the best high school offensive lineman I’ve ever seen,” Butler said. “He is as good as advertised and is an impressive, impressive young man. I think it’s awesome that Michigan is bringing in all these great people, because he is someone the program will be proud to say is one of their football players. The feet and the athleticism he has for his size is scary, and the way he moves is what makes him so dominant.”
Despite being rated just outside the nation’s top 100, Butler actually said that he felt Mullings was underrated, simply due to his location.
“New England guys are finally starting to get a lot more recognition on the national level,” Butler explained. “Our league is a very competitive one, and there is a lot of good football being played at prep schools in New England. It’s evident from the fact that Mullings has over 30 offers around the country.”
Another east coast recruit who hasn’t necessarily received as much attention as Zinter and Mullings in U-M’s class has been Blairstown (N.J.) High three-star defensive end Aaron Lewis.
An opposing coach who squared off against Lewis last season — Shawnee’s Tim Gushue — also raved about the what the young defensive end is like as a person, before analyzing his on-field abilities.
“I’ve talked to their coach about him,” Gushue said. “We’re both on our State Coaches Association committee, so we share a lot of car rides up to Rutgers (that’s where we have our meetings). He just raves about Lewis as a person, and what he brings to the table as far as the example he sets for others in the weight room, practice field and in the locker room. I know he’s a good student as well, so it seems like he has all the qualities to be a top-notch player.
“Michigan is recruiting on a level unlike a lot of other schools, so be fun to follow Lewis’ career to see if he can translate what he did here in South Jersey to the Big Ten. More importantly, a question to ask is whether or not he can compete every day in practice, because that is a task in itself. I’d like to think he’ll be able to compete there. We had a kid go to Oregon a few years ago when Chip Kelly was there, and I just told him you’ll have to be in great shape in order to give your best rep every single time you step onto the field. I’m sure the Blairstown coaches are telling Aaron the same thing.”
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To basketball and recruiting and the first of two big visit weekends for new head coach Juwan Howard and Michigan hoops …
Five-star big man Walker Kessler of College Park, Ga. (Rivals.com’s No. 19 senior nationally) will be in for a second time, excited to get to know Howard a bit more. Distance is thought to be a factor here, and Auburn and Duke are the heavy favorites, but getting him back on campus was a big first step.
Kessler likes U-M a lot, but some believe Duke is really applying the pressure here and he ends up a Blue Devil.
“The longer it goes, the more likely it is it’s Duke,” one insider told us.
Five-star shooting guard Jaden Springer is a long shot, but assistant coach Phil Martelli did coach Springer’s older cousin, DeAndre Bembry, at St. Joe’s. There’s a lot of respect out there for Martelli, and Springer will at least be on campus.
Hosting a recruiting weekend for a football game is big to Howard, who has fond memories of his own visits in Ann Arbor. His son, three-star, 6-7 forward Jace (who recently received an offer and will be up next weekend), noted just how much his dad was looking forward to moments like these when we spoke with him last month.
“It’s a very awesome time for him,” his son said. “I was very happy for him because I know it was like his dream to coach here. He always wanted it, and just for him to get that opportunity for him to coach a school he loves so much was just amazing.
“He always talked about the school, would root for basketball, football … we’d always have our football jerseys on on game day. We were always like a Michigan family on football Saturday before he was even hired.”
Class of 2022 Jett Howard, a potential future five-star guard, is also expected to be on campus Army football weekend.
The Wolverines will be putting the full court press on that group next weekend … we’ll have more on that in next week’s ITF, but they’ve made inroads with five-star Hunter Dickinson (“Purdue has been strong, but if anyone can steal him away, it’s Juwan and Michigan,” one insider said) and five-star shooting guard Nimari Burnett of Napa (Cali.) Prolific Prep.
As mentioned, four-star Lance Ware will also be on campus, and it seems to be a Michigan vs. Kentucky battle for Rivals.com’s No. 34 player nationally. The Camden, N.J. standout had a great summer and is a borderline five-star now.
Starting with football and the opener with Middle Tennessee State ….
Everyone is wondering who the starting running back will be in the opener, obviously, and head coach Jim Harbaugh was non-committal about it Monday, saying, “I haven’t decided yet.” The competition is relatively close and all three backs — senior Tru Wilson, redshirt freshman Christian Turner and freshman Zach Charbonnet — are expected to play.
Only one can get the first carry, however, and from sources close to it, it will probably be Turner. The buzz has been all about Charbonnet, but Turner has quietly had a very nice camp and should be the first back we see.
Charbonnet, though, is the future … make no mistake. One close to it who played with former Michigan running back Anthony Thomas believes Charbonnet will have at least a Thomas-type frosh impact in his first year, if not more (Thomas ran for 529 yards and caught 205 yards in passes his first year), and will develop into the best U-M back Michigan has seen in years.
Charbonnet’s cuts and vision have been on display the last few weeks, and he’s got plenty of speed, too.
Who gets the most carries probably depends on how the first half goes, but there’s a role for all of them. Wilson is the best blocker and has improved a lot as a runner, as well, while redshirt frosh Ben Van Sumeren will have a role as a short yardage back in situations.
****
How much of the offense will we actually see Saturday? Given how polished the offense has looked in practice, generally against the No. 2 defense (they usually don’t go ones vs. ones), they are confident they’re ready to unleash it. A few have said they’re looking to make a statement in this game and really infuse confidence into a unit that already has plenty of it, especially quarterback Shea Patterson.
At the same time, they don’t want to be reckless, and they won’t be. As we reported in last week’s ITF, fifth-year senior Jon Runyan Jr. is working through something. What we’re hearing … he won’t play tomorrow unless he’s absolutely needed, but he’ll be back “when it matters.”
According to one source, that will be next week against Army. This is not an injury that’s expected to linger. In fact, if things aren’t going as planned and got tight against Middle Tennessee State — certainly not expected — Runyan could go. They’d just prefer to heal him up for a week.
As of now, it appears redshirt freshman Jalen Mayfield will move to left tackle and redshirt freshman Ryan Hayes will start at right tackle. In a sense, we’re getting a chance to see the future a bit early (assuming it plays out this way, as expected).
At quarterback, we expect backup and redshirt sophomore Dylan McCaffrey to get a number of snaps Saturday when it matters.
On defense, we’ve heard junior safety Brad Hawkins is nursing a minor injury, but it’s nothing significant. He’s expected to play, but if the game gets out of hand, he could rest it a bit and we could see more of junior J’Marick Woods. He’s had a solid camp and is the No. 3 safety at this point.
Linebackers … no surprise here. We expect junior Josh Ross to start at MIKE and redshirt junior Devin Gil to start at WILL. We’ll see a ton of senior linebacker/end Josh Uche Saturday, too, in different capacities. We should see all of the linebacker Saturday, though (five), including Jordan Glasgow at WILL, Cam McGrone and Jordan Anthony.
Expect redshirt freshman Vincent Gray to start at corner, but frosh DJ Turner has continued to turn heads.
On the opposing sideline, as a whole, Middle Tennessee State is very healthy into tomorrow’s game at Michigan, per Matthew Dossett of GoMiddle.com.
The Blue Raiders’ originally projected center, Jack Mitchell, saw his waiver denied by the NCAA and obviously will not be playing tomorrow night. Fifth-year senior Josh Fannin will likely start in Mitchell’s place, but both he and senior right tackle Amir Luckett (who started all 14 games last year) have been limited in practice.That doesn’t bod well for an offense going up against a fast defense like Michigan’s, especially one with a new QB under center.
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A bit of football recruiting (noting that INTO THE BLUE, our EJ Holland’s version of Inside the Fort, now runs separately on Mondays) …
Michigan has obviously recruited the east coast and the New England part of the country quite hard during Jim Harbaugh’s tenure at Michigan, and that trend has continued heavily in the 2020 class. Thirteen of the Wolverines’ 23 commits reside on the far east side of the U.S., including two of the highest-rated pledges in the class in Milton (Mass.) Academy four-star linebacker Kalel Mullings (No. 108 nationally) and Cambridge (Mass.) Buckingham Browne & Nichols four-star offensive tackle Zak Zinter.
Belmont Hill High School head coach Chris Butler squared off against both Mullings and Zinter last season (defeated Milton Academy, but fell to Buckingham Browne & Nichols), and gave a brief recollection of each U-M commit.
“Zinter was the best high school offensive lineman I’ve ever seen,” Butler said. “He is as good as advertised and is an impressive, impressive young man. I think it’s awesome that Michigan is bringing in all these great people, because he is someone the program will be proud to say is one of their football players. The feet and the athleticism he has for his size is scary, and the way he moves is what makes him so dominant.”
Despite being rated just outside the nation’s top 100, Butler actually said that he felt Mullings was underrated, simply due to his location.
“New England guys are finally starting to get a lot more recognition on the national level,” Butler explained. “Our league is a very competitive one, and there is a lot of good football being played at prep schools in New England. It’s evident from the fact that Mullings has over 30 offers around the country.”
Another east coast recruit who hasn’t necessarily received as much attention as Zinter and Mullings in U-M’s class has been Blairstown (N.J.) High three-star defensive end Aaron Lewis.
An opposing coach who squared off against Lewis last season — Shawnee’s Tim Gushue — also raved about the what the young defensive end is like as a person, before analyzing his on-field abilities.
“I’ve talked to their coach about him,” Gushue said. “We’re both on our State Coaches Association committee, so we share a lot of car rides up to Rutgers (that’s where we have our meetings). He just raves about Lewis as a person, and what he brings to the table as far as the example he sets for others in the weight room, practice field and in the locker room. I know he’s a good student as well, so it seems like he has all the qualities to be a top-notch player.
“Michigan is recruiting on a level unlike a lot of other schools, so be fun to follow Lewis’ career to see if he can translate what he did here in South Jersey to the Big Ten. More importantly, a question to ask is whether or not he can compete every day in practice, because that is a task in itself. I’d like to think he’ll be able to compete there. We had a kid go to Oregon a few years ago when Chip Kelly was there, and I just told him you’ll have to be in great shape in order to give your best rep every single time you step onto the field. I’m sure the Blairstown coaches are telling Aaron the same thing.”
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To basketball and recruiting and the first of two big visit weekends for new head coach Juwan Howard and Michigan hoops …
Five-star big man Walker Kessler of College Park, Ga. (Rivals.com’s No. 19 senior nationally) will be in for a second time, excited to get to know Howard a bit more. Distance is thought to be a factor here, and Auburn and Duke are the heavy favorites, but getting him back on campus was a big first step.
Kessler likes U-M a lot, but some believe Duke is really applying the pressure here and he ends up a Blue Devil.
“The longer it goes, the more likely it is it’s Duke,” one insider told us.
Five-star shooting guard Jaden Springer is a long shot, but assistant coach Phil Martelli did coach Springer’s older cousin, DeAndre Bembry, at St. Joe’s. There’s a lot of respect out there for Martelli, and Springer will at least be on campus.
Hosting a recruiting weekend for a football game is big to Howard, who has fond memories of his own visits in Ann Arbor. His son, three-star, 6-7 forward Jace (who recently received an offer and will be up next weekend), noted just how much his dad was looking forward to moments like these when we spoke with him last month.
“It’s a very awesome time for him,” his son said. “I was very happy for him because I know it was like his dream to coach here. He always wanted it, and just for him to get that opportunity for him to coach a school he loves so much was just amazing.
“He always talked about the school, would root for basketball, football … we’d always have our football jerseys on on game day. We were always like a Michigan family on football Saturday before he was even hired.”
Class of 2022 Jett Howard, a potential future five-star guard, is also expected to be on campus Army football weekend.
The Wolverines will be putting the full court press on that group next weekend … we’ll have more on that in next week’s ITF, but they’ve made inroads with five-star Hunter Dickinson (“Purdue has been strong, but if anyone can steal him away, it’s Juwan and Michigan,” one insider said) and five-star shooting guard Nimari Burnett of Napa (Cali.) Prolific Prep.
As mentioned, four-star Lance Ware will also be on campus, and it seems to be a Michigan vs. Kentucky battle for Rivals.com’s No. 34 player nationally. The Camden, N.J. standout had a great summer and is a borderline five-star now.
