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INSIDE THE FORT: September 22

ChrisBalas

Austin Powers, Goldmember
Jul 6, 2001
117,518
284,319
113
Dexter, MI
www.thewolverine.com
The latest edition of INSIDE THE FORT, including plenty of football, basketball and recruiting information ...

Starting with football ...

Michigan travels to West Lafayette to face a very confident Purdue team, one that’s playing better than most (probably even them) expected. But the Wolverines aren’t afraid … on the contrary, there’s an air of confidence in the building.

Defensive coordinator Don Brown didn’t come out and say it Wednesday, but it seemed clear he was happy to turn the page on Air Force and return to what his defense was familiar with. For as much as they’ve improved, the Boilermakers are average at a number of positions, including on the offensive line.

The receivers, according to Purdue, are “very pedestrian on the outside,” don’t get much separation, and that doesn’t bode well for a team that’s going to have to get the ball out quickly (most likely) to move the ball.

“They are very average. That’s a concern going into this one,” he said.

And while the offensive line has been ‘better than expected,’ this is — by far — its biggest challenge of the season.

“Only one of the starters was there for spring ball due to injury or being a transfer. Again, there’s worry about them holding off Michigan’s rush, but they have been better than expected.”

The tight ends are the biggest threat in the passing game, “studs in the making.” And David Blough has been good at quarterback, completing 76 percent of his passes.

“Blough was hot in the second quarter against Ohio U. after receivers dropped easy passes from Elijah Sindelar four times,” Purdue scoutman said. “Wide open, easy passes. But Blough came in and moved the offense, no turnovers and did same thing at Mizzou, but after a couple bad decisions, [Coach Jeff] Brohm got in his face on the sidelines and put in Sindelar, who got them a touchdown. But then he went back to Blough in the second half.

“Blough is more experienced, more mobile, a shorter not as good version of Drew Brees as another kid from Texas. Sindelar is a more classic pro style quarterback who can really rifle the ball.”

On the Michigan side, debate continues as to what to do on the right side of the offensive line. Redshirt junior Jon Runyan came in at right guard after a few mental errors by sophomore Mike Onwenu, and that battle is ongoing. Don’t be surprised to see a platoon there.

An opinion from one of our better scouts, who breaks down the film extremely well and has years and years of coaching …

A) Not only are there guys in the box not being blocked, darn near EVERY LINEBACKER on the field is running free – they aren’t blocking anyone at the second and third level.

B) Offensive line play is not good enough. Not only are they not getting any movement, they aren’t very mobile (take guys who struggle to move, and have the hole they are trying to pull into/through get squeezed because teammates can’t get movement, and you have a mess at the line of scrimmage).

The biggest issue (opinion) … not even trying to get to the second level. They are combo blocking and double teaming with almost everyone who isn't pulling or directly at the point of attack.

C) They are very poor at these combos and doubles... They trade two for one, sometimes in two places, on every single play. A simple example - second half going left to right, at the 40-ish yard line, run to the right, Onwenu gaps down to double with center Pat Kugler on the nose tackle. The tackle slanted away, Onwenu takes three full steps, THEN realizes the nose tackle went away … meanwhile, the middle linebacker runs freely past and blows up sophomore left guard Ben Bredeson who was pulling...

Losing Bredeson allows the SAM linebacker to make a TFL, and they do this time and time again. Stacking the box against isn’t the biggest problem.

D) If you are going to be a "Man-ball" team, then you have to dominate these doubles and combos. (See Bredeson example above). You have to add perimeter players to the point of attack in order to block these second level guys in a double/combo scheme, but you can't do that when you can't get the backside guard up the hole without getting attached or running into penetration.

E) You do NOT have to get your OL to the second level to be successful. Yes, you DO in manball offenses, but tons of spread offenses use this blocking scheme with tons of success, because they control the second level with zone read, bubble, the pop pass Denard Robinson used to throw up the slot, etc.

F) You can NOT run a zone double/combo scheme up front without the spread stuff mentioned above, because, again, you have to occupy the second level somehow. If you don't block them with a BASE scheme, and you don't "occupy" them with read/bubble/pop/spread tricks, then what ARE you doing to get to them?

Bottom line, in his opinion … there’s a lot to figure out here, and right now there’s no identity. Is it a case of too many cooks in the kitchen? Perhaps … but regardless, they need to figure it out.

Harbaugh knows it, too. There needs to be accountability in the staff, from the analysts up, and he’s aware that the offense is not good enough right now.

On the injury front, redshirted (and injured) offensive guard Grant Newsome received some good news from doctors the other day, and the hope is that he will be able to return to the field for spring ball, at least. Head coach Jim Harbaugh said it would be earlier (maybe bowl practice) in an ideal world, but they’ll err on the side of caution.

Fifth-year senior running back Ty Isaac was bruised up during the game with Air Force, but it only takes a little competition to toughen a kid up. Some of our spotters said he told doctors and coaches he was ready to go back in after junior Karan Higdon’s big touchdown run in the fourth quarter … nobody wants to get Wally Pipped.

We expect Isaac to be good to go Saturday. This is one of those ‘play through the pain’ things … think Chris Howard wearing the flak jacket at Michigan State in 1997.

****

On the basketball recruiting front, things continue to get interesting. Four-star Canadian Ignas Brazdeikis has been quiet since returning from Vanderbilt — before that, it appeared he might be ready to drop for Michigan.

We do know that he’s listening closely to his coaches when it comes to talking to the media, etc. In fact, when he gave us his initial official visit list (several days after we asked), he apologized and said, “I’m sorry — my coaches wanted me to hold off until we could tweet out all the dates.”

The 6-7 forward did speak to us after his Michigan visit and was blown away, but he hasn’t spoken to anyone about Vandy yet. We do know he could commit somewhere any day, so stay tuned.

Four-star shooting guard Noah Locke out of Maryland … it’s going to be Michigan, Xavier or Florida for Rivals.com’s No. 63 senior nationally. Some close to him said he would decide immediately after next week’s official visit with the Gators (there were rumblings it would be moved to this weekend, but not true), and that the allure of Big Ten basketball and all Michigan has to offer would probably be too much for him to pass up.

Justin Ahrens, a three-star shooting guard out of Versailles (Ohio), will visit Ohio State this weekend, but that class if filling up quickly. Tuesday night, Ohio State landed a commitment from four-star power forward Jaedon LeDee from Houston The Kinkaid School. That was followed Wednesday by a verbal commitment from four-star guard Duane Washington from Chatsworth (Calif.) Sierra Canyon, a former U-M target, and Luther Muhammad, a four-star guard from Jersey City (N.J.) Hudson Catholic, is expected to pledge tonight.

Ahrens loved everything about his Michigan visit, and there have been conflicting reports as to which way he might be leaning. We’ll keep an eye on this one, too.

Michigan’s chances with four-star Colin Castleton of Daytona Beach have gone way up, as well. Castleton loved his visit with head coach John Beilein, and he’s tight with assistant Luke Yaklich. He set up his official visit for next weekend, Sept. 29, yet another sign that Beilein and staff aren’t waiting around. He’ll receive an offer, and at that point there’s even more competition for the two remaining schollies.

****

Finishing with football recruiting …

Lorton (Va.) South County three-star wide receiver Dillon Spalding picked up an offer from Michigan while in Ann Arbor for the Air Force game and might possibly be leaning toward the Wolverines. The 6-2, 210-pounder is widely regarded as the best 2018 wide receiver in D.C. by media members and would be a solid late-cycle addition to Michigan’s class. A source closer to the situation thinks that Michigan is in a fantastic spot.

“He’s all for Michigan after visiting,” our source said. “He’s a high academic kid and wants to play on the big stage and Michigan is really the best combination of that. I think he’d be a great fit at a place like Michigan.

“I think Dillon had been holding out for something a little bit bigger because he thought he deserved something a little better than Tennessee, Virginia and Virginia Tech and I think Michigan definitely fills that for him. He has quite a few solid offers but no one really had the reception that Michigan did.”

It’s now known that Indianapolis Cathedral four-star guard and Michigan commit Emil Ekiyor is taking an official visit to Alabama in late September. Any time a school is battling Nick Saban and Alabama for a kid’s signature there’s reason for concern. Ekiyor has been paying attention to the Tide and reciprocating interest for some time, but he’s still committed to Michigan and really likes the idea of playing in Ann Arbor.

Ekiyor is a much better all-around fit in terms of his academic background and just the type of kid he is at U-M, but the lure of Bama and what they do on the field is quite strong.

Fellow Michigan commits are in Ekiyor’s ear about joining them in Ann Arbor, but the official visit to Tuscaloosa does have some worried.

“I've told him to stick with Michigan countless times,” one commit said. “I've been kind of chill about it lately but I'm a little worried [now that he’s visiting Alabama].”

An official visit to Alabama is no joke, and Ekiyor may also check out Florida State in an official capacity.

One thing working in Michigan’s favor is the timing of Ekiyor’s visit to Tuscaloosa. A late September official visit isn’t ideal especially when Ekiyor will likely be in Ann Arbor for the Ohio State game in late November. Whether that ends up being his official visit remains to be seen but it’ll be a huge game more than a month after his trip down south.

There is some cause for concern, but Ekiyor has remained committed to Michigan throughout the process and Alabama has always been beating down his door. We don’t see that changing anytime soon, but Michigan clearly has a big battle on its hands.

Jim Harbaugh seems content with having just one quarterback commit in the 2018 class in Orlando (Fla.) Olympia four-star dual-threat Joe Milton. However, the doors have not been completely close on either Chandler (Ariz.) Hamilton four-star pro-style quarterback Tyler Shough or Las Vegas Bishop Gorman four-star dual-threat Dorian Thompson-Robinson.

Both Shough and Thompson-Robinson are still being recruited by Michigan and could potentially show up on campus this fall. Shough is committed to North Carolina while Thompson-Robinson is a future Bruin. The Michigan staff likes its chances against programs like UNC and UCLA. Both Shough and Thompson-Robinson seem solid in their commitments, but things can change in a hurry if stuff goes south on the field.

Carolina is currently 1-2 with losses to Louisville and Cal while UCLA is 2-1 but owns a horrible loss to Memphis.

In all situations, whether it’s trying to land guys like Spalding or four-star defensive lineman Tyler Friday, hang on to Ekiyor or four-star outside linebacker Otis Reese, or flip prospects like Shough, Thompson-Robinson or four-star linebacker Shayne Simon, confidence around Schembechler is extremely high. Many of the new recruiting staffers are considered the best at what they do and believe they will land whomever they want. There’s no sense of fear, worry or intimidation surrounding anyone’s recruitment. Things are good in Ann Arbor and only getting better.

Finally, any programs try to sell their “family atmosphere” as a recruiting pitch to high schoolers, but according to some recruits, unlike several places, Michigan’s pitch is actually legit.

Spending just a few minutes around Michigan’s athletes makes one realize the players are truly best friends, and are having the time of their life here. It’s not uncommon to hear of locker room separation between older and younger guys at colleges, but that’s not the case at Michigan.

For example, redshirt junior defensive tackle Bryan Mone recently happened to randomly run into sophomore tight end Nick Eubanks on a downtown Ann Arbor sidewalk, and the two shared a bear hug and a few words, and kept on walking. The friendship was clearly genuine.

People also often worried that junior forward Moe Wagner would think about heading back to Germany after last season ended, but it’s clear he’s having the time of life here. He was recently spotted cruising with the windows down slowly around the streets of Ann Arbor with sophomore Ibi Watson, waving to everyone they passed and handing out plenty of “Go Blues.”

Wagner is loving it here, and is clearly making the most of his time as a student athlete.
 
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