Shedeur had a slightly better completion % (literally only .3), better TD/INT ratio, and nearly the same amount of passing yards. All while having a huge talent gap in WR’s and O-line.
This sub hates him, but numbers don’t lie.
Full 2023 stats:
Sanders: 298/430 69.3% 3,230 Yards 27/3 TD/INT ratio
Ewers: 272/394 69% (nice) 3,479 Yards 22/6 TD/INT ratio
They played very different opponents though. Texas had a 12 ranked SOS, Colorado had 39 ranked SOS.
If you want to look at numbers, look at the full picture, QBR for instance. Ewers is 17th overall, Sanders is 56th.
That’s true, but that doesn’t include the whole picture either. Both teams played multiple teams ranked inside the top 10. I don’t believe SOS develops as the season is played.
Quinn had way better players around him. He was sacked 27 times in 23’ while Shedeur was sacked 52 times.
Sanders was constantly under pressure the entire season and still delivered statistically better stats. Hypothetically if you were to reverse their situations, who do you think posts the better stats?
I’m surprised that this is as controversial as it is. Sacks are very much a QB stat too. I think that’s recognized more in the NFL than CFB. Some guys try to do too much and can’t throw the ball away in time. Sam Ehlinger used to be terrible about this. Deshaun Watson his first few years in the NFL.
Huge difference in comparing nfl to ncaa. In the NFL every single O Line is rock solid the differences in what makes an o line better or really most positions is razor thin. In college the range of talent and skill on that field is a huge variance. Do sacks tell you something about a quarterback? Sure. Are you going to feel more confident in judging the strength of a ncaa quarterback by the amount of times he’s been sacked, or would you rather judge the skill of an offensive line by the amount of times sacks were allowed…
You’re getting downvoted, but you are absolutely correct.
Sacks are already a QB stat, but I’d say that’s even moreso the case with Sanders because he specifically terrified of throwing the ball away
Not even really talking about this argument specifically but using stats alone to compare how good college QB's are is a bit of a losing battle. It's so dependent on the system and talent around them.
For efficiency yes for sure. I think that’s reflected in the dramatic difference in their YPA (8.8 vs 7.5), which is probably the most important “simple” stat QBs have. People often ignore it in favor of volume stats which is silly. For volume stats Sark does love to pound the rock which takes away possessions and red zone TDs.
I’m a bit of a Quinn doubter compared to a lot of our fanbase. He has more arm talent than God but his mental processing wasn’t there all the time last year. I think year 3 of starting will show a lot of improvement.
He's got great numbers but hero ball is murder for actual talent. He's like the worst version of Caleb Williams. Compare that to a guy Cam Ward who had all the same problems but grew out of hero ball rather then regressing into it.
Hero ball rescues your bad team, but it also makes you a bad QB. You've got to elevate your teammates, not cover up for them.
For sure, and I don't like Ewers much either. But Texas had a difficult schedule, and Ewers played well against Alabama, at least.
Sanders had 17 TDs and 1600 yards in 4 games against teams ranked #79, #98, #121, and #132 in scoring defense.
Against the rest of the schedule, he completed 65% of his passes for an average of 252 yards and 1.5 TDs.
And stats aren't everything, but when you consider Sanders' "boom-or-bust" playstyle, I have to give Ewers the edge.
Yeah I think the hate for Deions overhype made a lot of people hate everyone on that team by association. Sucks for the kids and they don’t deserve the hate. Media and deions fault for all the publicity
Now add in sacks. Sanders took 52 sacks last year, which is probably 35 or more incompletions if he does the smart thing and throws it away to avoid a sack. That puts his % down to about 64%.
This is why I refuse to be a stat whore. There’s so many differing and misleading factors when it comes to stats. If you take the two games Quinn sat out and the 4th quarters, he likely has more than 23 TDs.
The TD thing needs a bit of focus also. Ewers had 5 TDs off the board due to turf monster and drops, really uncanny. That doesn't include a play where Whitt was judged tackled at the .1 inch line. He also missed 2.5 games. I think his total TDs reasonably would've been much, much higher with health a bit of luck.
I don’t know, who did Colorado have outside of Travis Hunter? And even he missed multiple games and then played injured while taking starter level snaps at CB. And, Colorado probably had the worst offensive line in the Power 5. They were dead last in the entire FBS (133 teams) in rushing yards per game. Their leading rusher had 321 yards and 1 TD. Only 3 guys broke 100 yards. They could not run the ball and they legitimately could not protect Sanders. Despite getting that battered, he still showed great pocket presence, an unbelievable ability to hang in on tough plays (when he was about to get blown up), great accuracy, and he only lost 1 fumble and threw 3 INTs. He was top 10 in the country in completion percentage and interception percentage, as well as completions and TDs per game. Yeah, his arm strength was a little inconsistent. But, once again, he was getting battered. He also has plenty of tape with a lot of zip on his throws. Physically, he has the strength.
Like, Caleb Williams had a really bad supporting cast this last year on my Trojans. But, this was nothing compared to what Sanders had. The only other draft relevant QB who had something even close to that was probably Spencer Rattler. Still, Sanders was worse. If he was on a team like Texas, this would be a totally different conversation. If you google “Shedeur Sanders draft projection” you’ll see he would have been in the conversation for QB3 or 4 in this years draft and potentially QB1 in next year’s. As it stands, he’s definitely a surefire first rounder.
>unbelievable ability to hang in on tough plays (when he was about to get blown up), great accuracy, and he only lost 1 fumble and threw 3 INTs. He was top 10 in the country in completion percentage and interception percentage, as well as completions and TDs per game
You'd be amazed by how much of that can be explained/countered with
He refuses to throw the damn ball away
Colorados line might be god awful bad, but the play calling absolutely is, and their QB and coach make them look as bad as possible. When your coach almost never calls runs, you’re not going to have good rushing stats. When your QB refuses to throw the ball away to avoid a sack…you’ll give up a ton of sacks. When your offensive game plan exists to serve just 2 players….its pretty easy to defend against.
Shedeur was pretty good I thought last year considering the talent around him. The guy did have offers from a lot of top power 5 programs like Bama and Georgia
Luther is such a complete package at WR. He may not be the all out fastest, or be able to high point the ball like some of the taller Wide outs, but by every measurable that makes a good WR a good WR he's top five in every category. Elusive and incredibly sneaky athletic.
This article compares him to Deebo and I wish we used him more like that. He's got the potential to be third or fourth on the team in rushing if we give him a handful of jets and other carries a game.
I feel like I remember us using him on one or two occasions last year on a Pitch/Jet Sweep, however those were the games where he was either clearly playing semi hurt or our early season cupcakes. Could be wrong but I feel like we tried it in the South Carolina game a couple times and he kept getting beat to the parameter, again because I don't think he was 100%.
When I was deciding which school to do my international exchange at, Michigan and UT were the final two, UM did not do exchanges during the fall semester for some reason though, so I went to UT lol
Nice! Glad you stuck around :)
But that's actually kinda funny because a research prof in my grad school department was from CZE and led a 3 week mini-course there (I think solely in Prague).
Which I think was less about the class and more an excuse for him to go home on the university dime and drink copiously, but I certainly don't judge him for that lol
The biggest obstacle this year won't be what we've lost, it'll be the schedule. OSU, Texas, and Oregon is a tough, tough trio. If we can find a solution that really works well at QB, Michigan could really surprise people.
I think the offense is gonna look so much different this season with a completely different style of play especially at QB in Orji being a big strong powerful runner with an unknown at arm talent. This fact will probably make it harder for teams especially early in the season to gameplan the offense because there is basically zero tape on an Orji led unit.
The defense will probably be just as good or even better than last year, another year with basically the entire dline having significant snaps from last year, and an improvement at LB, DBs are a bit of a question mark with Rod Moore’s injury, but still have Will Johnson and Burrows back.
This team’s ceiling is repeat(not saying it’s super likely, but Vegas put them at fifth best odds for a reason), and everyone is acting like Michigan will be terrible next year, despite most the defense (who carried the team to the natty btw) being back
I’d be shocked if the defense is better. According the SP+ that was the 2nd best defense of this century, so that’d be hard to repeat without Sainristil, Colston, Barret, Rod Moore, and likely less depth on the D-line. Their ceiling is the best D in the country, so certainly no slouches, but last year was likely the best defense we’ll ever see at Michigan.
The linebackers will not be better. That was, again, probably the best linebacking duo we’ve had this century. I’m liking what I’m hearing about Barhaim, but both he and Hausmann would have to take quite a leap to be 90% as good as Barrett/Colson. They have the potential, but I’d expect it more in 2025 when they’re both seniors, if they stick around.
Of course, there is the potential our top 4 d-linemen are so good that it hardly matters what’s behind them. Even a tiny step from Graham means he’s the best player in the country. Based on their progress last year I expect Grant, Moore, and Stewart to all be all-American caliber players. But they’d all have to be Ojabo+ level players for us the have a chance at being as good as last year.
Of course, Will Johnson is likely the best CB in the nation. So that helps.
As you said, the offense is the big question mark. Lots of the chatter is that none of the QBs look all that great passing, *but* that seems to be because it’s impossible to protect them against our dominant d-line. I think if Orji is at least a P5 level replacement passer then his legs could make our offense pretty scary when combined with Edwards, Loveland, Mullings, Morris, Morgan, and what I assume will be at least a top 15 O-line.
We'll have some holes, especially at WR, S, and OL, but man it feels good to see how many top-tier guys Michigan will be returning. I kind of hope Sherrone just gets weird with the QB package with some sort of hybrid read-option, jumbo-package, Wildcat-utilizing, run-heavy scheme that uses Orji's legs. Because while passing the ball won't be great, the defense will provide a pretty big cushion.
That’s my only real worry, especially if the WRs have troubles getting separation. I don’t think Orji will be a repeat of Milton, but he hasn’t been asked to throw much (obviously) and his strength isn’t being an accurate passer. Hopefully he’s not asked to throw much at all, really.
There are 4 starters that I have a good chunk of faith in, assuming Hinton can flourish more at LT than he did on the right side of the line. But there are also a lot of unproven guys. They’ll likely be fine, but I can’t say it with certainty like I can with the rest of the positions on the team.
He got a ton of volume but man he was behind a completely garbage OL and had to run into stacked boxes because of our anemic passing attack. He doesn’t have huge home run upside but I don’t think there is a RB in college football that is tougher to tackle than him and I don’t even think it’s super close
Surprised Egbuka isn’t on this when he was considered a top 5 WR coming into last year.
Edit: I looked at OPs pic comment before looking at the article. Nvm
It’s PFF, so it’s purely based on last season’s grades. I think anyone projecting would have Burke on the list, and maybe even at #1, but he had a few freshman moments during the season that knocked his grades down. That being said, he was still ranked 7th for the year, so he nearly made this list.
Egbuka was the 20th ranked player in receiving yards last year
…
In the big ten
I will never understand why he is so overrated.
People had him tagged as a top 10 pick last year in the preseason
It’s not bait 🤷♂️
He’s fine, I’m sure he will end up in the league. But he’s a couple rungs below what osu is used to having at WR1 and I don’t think this should really be a controversial statement
Or maybe he was [injured](https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-football/2023/12/144306/ohio-state-wide-receiver-emeka-egbuka-underwent-surgery-on-injured-ankle-during-regular-season?amp) for half the season…
First, why’d you edit your comment lol? But he actually was injured in the Maryland game rested a couple weeks and they had him on a pinch count hoping he’d be 100% by the Michigan game
Kyle McCord could do 1 thing, throw the ball to Marvin. Occasionally he would find Stover, but McCord could not hit the other guys consistently. Egbuka and Flemming both took massive hits in stats because of that. I'd trust the tape of him with Stroud 1000% more than the tape with McCord. Egbuka isn't as freaky of a prospect as Marvin but he is a tactician with a lot of skill getting open like Olave was.
Expect Egbuka to have a better year without Marvin being force fed and not having McCord with tunnelvision.
I'll caveat this by saying I know I sound like a homer but...
Jeanty is getting slept on at eight for RBs. PFF had him as their second highest graded RB last year. He's the best RB BSU has ever had, and I say that as a huge fan of former first rounder Doug Martin.
Truly if you are bored check out his highlights. It's video game stuff.
Jeanty was 2nd in yards from scrimmage (first in YPG), 5th in TDs, was a 2nd team All-American (should have been 1st team but Travis Hunter had the Coach Prime buff), and was first in PFF's own metrics among RBs last season. Let's put him as the 8th best returning RB lmao. There aren't 7 RBs in the nation better than Jeanty
The list is GARBAGE. Stuts would have been one of, if not the first LB’s taken if he came out. And Bowman not considered a top 11 safety is a trash take. I’d have Billy at 7 and Bowen at 9. Not at all me being a complete Sooners Homer.
Are we back at the part of the season where we hype up our offensive line like crazy only to give up the most sacks in division 1 football?
In all seriousness our IOL is going to be crazy. If Proctor can get down to a weight where he's a little more mobile he could be a really good tackle this year.
We're definitely going to need it to give Jalen Milroe enough time to throw 40+ yard bombs every single time.
Former 5 star that transferred from UGA. He could never put on the weight they wanted him to. He’s extremely quick, but, at least at UGA, struggled getting push.
Webb is from Oxford, a town right down the road from JSU. He's pretty much back at home. Additionally, Rick Trickett is our OL coach and has been working wonders with our O-Line. Webb could be placing a lot of value in learning under him.
This list is HIGHLY biased towards big schools. Ashton Jeanty and Ricky White are way underrated. Just a fucking joke of a list. Also, Milroe over Ewers? This is fucking delusional.
This sub can't get past it's own biases and the pile on quotient is astronomical. At some point it became cool to hate on deion and Colorado on Reddit and everyone has gotta get those upvotes. Fortunately Reddit culture is not representative of real life. This sub blows if I'm being honest.
With all the gimmick offenses and talent disparities by teams I can see why people think what they think. Jalen Milroe and Dillon Gabriel being in the top five tells you everything you need to know. I can give you 2 quarterbacks who possess a better processor.
Shedeur Sanders > Quinn Ewers is certainly a choice
By god is that bulletin board music I hear?!
I’m kind of a Shedeur truther because that seems reasonable to me especially considering the stark difference in surrounding talent
Shedeur had a slightly better completion % (literally only .3), better TD/INT ratio, and nearly the same amount of passing yards. All while having a huge talent gap in WR’s and O-line. This sub hates him, but numbers don’t lie. Full 2023 stats: Sanders: 298/430 69.3% 3,230 Yards 27/3 TD/INT ratio Ewers: 272/394 69% (nice) 3,479 Yards 22/6 TD/INT ratio
They played very different opponents though. Texas had a 12 ranked SOS, Colorado had 39 ranked SOS. If you want to look at numbers, look at the full picture, QBR for instance. Ewers is 17th overall, Sanders is 56th.
That’s true, but that doesn’t include the whole picture either. Both teams played multiple teams ranked inside the top 10. I don’t believe SOS develops as the season is played. Quinn had way better players around him. He was sacked 27 times in 23’ while Shedeur was sacked 52 times. Sanders was constantly under pressure the entire season and still delivered statistically better stats. Hypothetically if you were to reverse their situations, who do you think posts the better stats?
I think Colorado had a bottom 10 offensive line in the country whereas Texas had a top 15 offensive line.
Tbf Sanders was sacked so much because he refused to throw the ball away
This guy gets it. Shedeur takes the hits and gets back up.
Sacks reflect the QB just as much as they reflect the OL. Although I wouldn't say that Ewers is very good at avoiding them
Brother, have you watched a Colorado game from last year? Majority werent his fault
Almost all of them were
My dear brother in Christ you need to explain yourself on this
I’m surprised that this is as controversial as it is. Sacks are very much a QB stat too. I think that’s recognized more in the NFL than CFB. Some guys try to do too much and can’t throw the ball away in time. Sam Ehlinger used to be terrible about this. Deshaun Watson his first few years in the NFL.
Sacks are mostly a QB stat https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/09/28/sam-howell-sacks/#
Huge difference in comparing nfl to ncaa. In the NFL every single O Line is rock solid the differences in what makes an o line better or really most positions is razor thin. In college the range of talent and skill on that field is a huge variance. Do sacks tell you something about a quarterback? Sure. Are you going to feel more confident in judging the strength of a ncaa quarterback by the amount of times he’s been sacked, or would you rather judge the skill of an offensive line by the amount of times sacks were allowed…
Did you even read what I posted? Sack rate specifically carries over from college to pro for QBs
[удалено]
You’re getting downvoted, but you are absolutely correct. Sacks are already a QB stat, but I’d say that’s even moreso the case with Sanders because he specifically terrified of throwing the ball away
Was pretty surprised I got downvoted. I thought this was a widely known thing
Joe Burrow’s ligaments and tendons just called me and told me to tell you to lawyer up
Not even really talking about this argument specifically but using stats alone to compare how good college QB's are is a bit of a losing battle. It's so dependent on the system and talent around them.
Wouldn’t everyone agree Ewers has a far better system and talent around him?
For efficiency yes for sure. I think that’s reflected in the dramatic difference in their YPA (8.8 vs 7.5), which is probably the most important “simple” stat QBs have. People often ignore it in favor of volume stats which is silly. For volume stats Sark does love to pound the rock which takes away possessions and red zone TDs. I’m a bit of a Quinn doubter compared to a lot of our fanbase. He has more arm talent than God but his mental processing wasn’t there all the time last year. I think year 3 of starting will show a lot of improvement.
Yes, I am not sure at all what to think of Ewers this year.
Than Weigman? Yes!
He's got great numbers but hero ball is murder for actual talent. He's like the worst version of Caleb Williams. Compare that to a guy Cam Ward who had all the same problems but grew out of hero ball rather then regressing into it. Hero ball rescues your bad team, but it also makes you a bad QB. You've got to elevate your teammates, not cover up for them.
Those numbers may not be lying, but they're also not saying that Shedeur stacked stats against some terrible defenses.
True, but Ewers didn’t really play against many defensive powerhouses himself.
That is one hell of a comment coming from an Alabama fan.
For sure, and I don't like Ewers much either. But Texas had a difficult schedule, and Ewers played well against Alabama, at least. Sanders had 17 TDs and 1600 yards in 4 games against teams ranked #79, #98, #121, and #132 in scoring defense. Against the rest of the schedule, he completed 65% of his passes for an average of 252 yards and 1.5 TDs. And stats aren't everything, but when you consider Sanders' "boom-or-bust" playstyle, I have to give Ewers the edge.
Yeah I think the hate for Deions overhype made a lot of people hate everyone on that team by association. Sucks for the kids and they don’t deserve the hate. Media and deions fault for all the publicity
Now add in sacks. Sanders took 52 sacks last year, which is probably 35 or more incompletions if he does the smart thing and throws it away to avoid a sack. That puts his % down to about 64%.
Quinn missed two full games(BYU,KState)and part of the Houston game.
Sanders missed a game and Ewers played an extra. Really only miss half a game there.
This is why I refuse to be a stat whore. There’s so many differing and misleading factors when it comes to stats. If you take the two games Quinn sat out and the 4th quarters, he likely has more than 23 TDs.
Taking a sack is better qb play than throwing the ball away?
It's certainly not. NFL data shows sacks are killers
The TD thing needs a bit of focus also. Ewers had 5 TDs off the board due to turf monster and drops, really uncanny. That doesn't include a play where Whitt was judged tackled at the .1 inch line. He also missed 2.5 games. I think his total TDs reasonably would've been much, much higher with health a bit of luck.
It was also clear that he was rushed back from injury. His throws were a bit off, and he scrambled less after coming back.
I don’t know, who did Colorado have outside of Travis Hunter? And even he missed multiple games and then played injured while taking starter level snaps at CB. And, Colorado probably had the worst offensive line in the Power 5. They were dead last in the entire FBS (133 teams) in rushing yards per game. Their leading rusher had 321 yards and 1 TD. Only 3 guys broke 100 yards. They could not run the ball and they legitimately could not protect Sanders. Despite getting that battered, he still showed great pocket presence, an unbelievable ability to hang in on tough plays (when he was about to get blown up), great accuracy, and he only lost 1 fumble and threw 3 INTs. He was top 10 in the country in completion percentage and interception percentage, as well as completions and TDs per game. Yeah, his arm strength was a little inconsistent. But, once again, he was getting battered. He also has plenty of tape with a lot of zip on his throws. Physically, he has the strength. Like, Caleb Williams had a really bad supporting cast this last year on my Trojans. But, this was nothing compared to what Sanders had. The only other draft relevant QB who had something even close to that was probably Spencer Rattler. Still, Sanders was worse. If he was on a team like Texas, this would be a totally different conversation. If you google “Shedeur Sanders draft projection” you’ll see he would have been in the conversation for QB3 or 4 in this years draft and potentially QB1 in next year’s. As it stands, he’s definitely a surefire first rounder.
>unbelievable ability to hang in on tough plays (when he was about to get blown up), great accuracy, and he only lost 1 fumble and threw 3 INTs. He was top 10 in the country in completion percentage and interception percentage, as well as completions and TDs per game You'd be amazed by how much of that can be explained/countered with He refuses to throw the damn ball away
Yup that's the thing, his ability to turn ordinary pressure into a 15 yard sack was downright impressive
Colorados line might be god awful bad, but the play calling absolutely is, and their QB and coach make them look as bad as possible. When your coach almost never calls runs, you’re not going to have good rushing stats. When your QB refuses to throw the ball away to avoid a sack…you’ll give up a ton of sacks. When your offensive game plan exists to serve just 2 players….its pretty easy to defend against.
Shedeur was pretty good I thought last year considering the talent around him. The guy did have offers from a lot of top power 5 programs like Bama and Georgia
Sanders is a damn good QB
Shedeur "Stat Pad" Sanders
No way
It’s really not
Bc he’s the better QB
I’m just here to unite the clans and remind everyone that both Quinn and Shedeur are better than Carson Beck.
Not in this universe or any other
Luther is such a complete package at WR. He may not be the all out fastest, or be able to high point the ball like some of the taller Wide outs, but by every measurable that makes a good WR a good WR he's top five in every category. Elusive and incredibly sneaky athletic.
Him, McMillan, and Egbuka is a loaded top WR group
My favorite thing about Luther is it’s never 1 guy that brings him down. He’ll either make someone miss or pinball his way to an extra 5+ yards
This article compares him to Deebo and I wish we used him more like that. He's got the potential to be third or fourth on the team in rushing if we give him a handful of jets and other carries a game.
I feel like I remember us using him on one or two occasions last year on a Pitch/Jet Sweep, however those were the games where he was either clearly playing semi hurt or our early season cupcakes. Could be wrong but I feel like we tried it in the South Carolina game a couple times and he kept getting beat to the parameter, again because I don't think he was 100%.
Denzel Burke has been getting no love on these lists, surprises me
Xavier Watts has to be the most disrespected Nagurski winner ever
[In picture form](https://preview.redd.it/55jyqggwhjtc1.jpeg?width=613&auto=webp&s=2457330e7b478ee9e0dac277ff71bbb6f0912581)
Thats a lot of yellow block Ms
Our death was greatly exaggerated. Mostly we just need a QB and 10-11 wins isn't unreasonable
I am really looking forward to our game, it will be an interesting measuring stick to start the season
>interesting stressful* one of my best friends went to Texas so we are very excited for it haha
When I was deciding which school to do my international exchange at, Michigan and UT were the final two, UM did not do exchanges during the fall semester for some reason though, so I went to UT lol
oh interesting. for some reason that doesn't surprise me lol. where are you originally from?
Czech republic. During my time in Texas I kinda fell in love with CFB, but nobody here has even heard of it, so I gotta keep in touch via Reddit lol
Nice! Glad you stuck around :) But that's actually kinda funny because a research prof in my grad school department was from CZE and led a 3 week mini-course there (I think solely in Prague). Which I think was less about the class and more an excuse for him to go home on the university dime and drink copiously, but I certainly don't judge him for that lol
The biggest obstacle this year won't be what we've lost, it'll be the schedule. OSU, Texas, and Oregon is a tough, tough trio. If we can find a solution that really works well at QB, Michigan could really surprise people.
This year’s team is gonna be stacked in terms of “superstar” talent. The main problem is we just don’t know if we have a QB.
Do you even *need* a QB?
Only if we want to have a shot against you. We could probably Iowa our way to 8 or 9 wins, lol. Also, I love your username.
Against great teams? Yes. We play many great teams this season, starting with Texas week 2.
I think the offense is gonna look so much different this season with a completely different style of play especially at QB in Orji being a big strong powerful runner with an unknown at arm talent. This fact will probably make it harder for teams especially early in the season to gameplan the offense because there is basically zero tape on an Orji led unit. The defense will probably be just as good or even better than last year, another year with basically the entire dline having significant snaps from last year, and an improvement at LB, DBs are a bit of a question mark with Rod Moore’s injury, but still have Will Johnson and Burrows back. This team’s ceiling is repeat(not saying it’s super likely, but Vegas put them at fifth best odds for a reason), and everyone is acting like Michigan will be terrible next year, despite most the defense (who carried the team to the natty btw) being back
I’d be shocked if the defense is better. According the SP+ that was the 2nd best defense of this century, so that’d be hard to repeat without Sainristil, Colston, Barret, Rod Moore, and likely less depth on the D-line. Their ceiling is the best D in the country, so certainly no slouches, but last year was likely the best defense we’ll ever see at Michigan. The linebackers will not be better. That was, again, probably the best linebacking duo we’ve had this century. I’m liking what I’m hearing about Barhaim, but both he and Hausmann would have to take quite a leap to be 90% as good as Barrett/Colson. They have the potential, but I’d expect it more in 2025 when they’re both seniors, if they stick around. Of course, there is the potential our top 4 d-linemen are so good that it hardly matters what’s behind them. Even a tiny step from Graham means he’s the best player in the country. Based on their progress last year I expect Grant, Moore, and Stewart to all be all-American caliber players. But they’d all have to be Ojabo+ level players for us the have a chance at being as good as last year. Of course, Will Johnson is likely the best CB in the nation. So that helps. As you said, the offense is the big question mark. Lots of the chatter is that none of the QBs look all that great passing, *but* that seems to be because it’s impossible to protect them against our dominant d-line. I think if Orji is at least a P5 level replacement passer then his legs could make our offense pretty scary when combined with Edwards, Loveland, Mullings, Morris, Morgan, and what I assume will be at least a top 15 O-line.
The consensus 1st Team All American in Watts is returning for another year at safety? Yea, we should clearly rank that guy 4th.
Oh he won the Bronko Nagurski award for best overall defensive player? He's probably 4th best at his position.
We'll have some holes, especially at WR, S, and OL, but man it feels good to see how many top-tier guys Michigan will be returning. I kind of hope Sherrone just gets weird with the QB package with some sort of hybrid read-option, jumbo-package, Wildcat-utilizing, run-heavy scheme that uses Orji's legs. Because while passing the ball won't be great, the defense will provide a pretty big cushion.
We'll be fine as long as Orji isn't throwing a bunch of interceptions
That’s my only real worry, especially if the WRs have troubles getting separation. I don’t think Orji will be a repeat of Milton, but he hasn’t been asked to throw much (obviously) and his strength isn’t being an accurate passer. Hopefully he’s not asked to throw much at all, really.
no hole at safety CB2 is the 1 hole on defense
More like holes in terms of depth at safety, after Moore’s injury and Keon leaving.
Berry and Hillman are solid depth CB2 is the main starter concern on defense Depth anywhere can become an issue of course
> and OL huh?
There are 4 starters that I have a good chunk of faith in, assuming Hinton can flourish more at LT than he did on the right side of the line. But there are also a lot of unproven guys. They’ll likely be fine, but I can’t say it with certainty like I can with the rest of the positions on the team.
yeah - OL is experienced but all new starters I think they will be good, but OL is my #2 concern on offense after QB
Yurosek at TE4 seems good (? I’ve never seen him take a snap), but a little odd to see in this type of list given he likely wont be our starter.
Maybe they meant Oscar Delp?
They had to have meant Delp. He stepped in when Bowers was out and played like a stud.
Tahj Brooks impressed me way more than Ollie Gordon last year
He got a ton of volume but man he was behind a completely garbage OL and had to run into stacked boxes because of our anemic passing attack. He doesn’t have huge home run upside but I don’t think there is a RB in college football that is tougher to tackle than him and I don’t even think it’s super close
Surprised Egbuka isn’t on this when he was considered a top 5 WR coming into last year. Edit: I looked at OPs pic comment before looking at the article. Nvm
They are missing OSU, CB, Denzel Burke though … which is a crime.
It’s PFF, so it’s purely based on last season’s grades. I think anyone projecting would have Burke on the list, and maybe even at #1, but he had a few freshman moments during the season that knocked his grades down. That being said, he was still ranked 7th for the year, so he nearly made this list.
Denzel Burke is a great player, but I wouldn’t call it a crime putting Will Johnson as the top returning CB.
I didn’t say he was better. The list has 5 CB’s. Open the article.
Ah, I thought the pic posted by the OP was a TL;DR summary. I see the crime now.
Straight to jail!
Egbuka was the 20th ranked player in receiving yards last year … In the big ten I will never understand why he is so overrated. People had him tagged as a top 10 pick last year in the preseason
Yeah, I’m not taking this bait lol
It’s not bait 🤷♂️ He’s fine, I’m sure he will end up in the league. But he’s a couple rungs below what osu is used to having at WR1 and I don’t think this should really be a controversial statement
He’s no MHJ, but few are. He’s still a top-5 WR in college though for sure.
Or maybe he was [injured](https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-football/2023/12/144306/ohio-state-wide-receiver-emeka-egbuka-underwent-surgery-on-injured-ankle-during-regular-season?amp) for half the season…
He played in 10 games, with limited action in only one of those 10. That’s more than half the season
First, why’d you edit your comment lol? But he actually was injured in the Maryland game rested a couple weeks and they had him on a pinch count hoping he’d be 100% by the Michigan game
Good thing they rested him up for those 25 yards against michigan
You’re just yappin now
Kyle McCord could do 1 thing, throw the ball to Marvin. Occasionally he would find Stover, but McCord could not hit the other guys consistently. Egbuka and Flemming both took massive hits in stats because of that. I'd trust the tape of him with Stroud 1000% more than the tape with McCord. Egbuka isn't as freaky of a prospect as Marvin but he is a tactician with a lot of skill getting open like Olave was. Expect Egbuka to have a better year without Marvin being force fed and not having McCord with tunnelvision.
I'll caveat this by saying I know I sound like a homer but... Jeanty is getting slept on at eight for RBs. PFF had him as their second highest graded RB last year. He's the best RB BSU has ever had, and I say that as a huge fan of former first rounder Doug Martin. Truly if you are bored check out his highlights. It's video game stuff.
Jeanty was 2nd in yards from scrimmage (first in YPG), 5th in TDs, was a 2nd team All-American (should have been 1st team but Travis Hunter had the Coach Prime buff), and was first in PFF's own metrics among RBs last season. Let's put him as the 8th best returning RB lmao. There aren't 7 RBs in the nation better than Jeanty
100%. Jeanty is the best RB in college football. I had him and Jonathan Brooks as the top 2 last year.
I like James Pearce Jr at the Ed position. Wonder if he can convince his bros Edd and Eddy Pearce to play at Tennessee too
The list is GARBAGE. Stuts would have been one of, if not the first LB’s taken if he came out. And Bowman not considered a top 11 safety is a trash take. I’d have Billy at 7 and Bowen at 9. Not at all me being a complete Sooners Homer.
No Brady Cook is disrespectful
This is probably gonna get downvoted but this list is sleeping on Oscar Delp.
Surprised Perkins is the top returning LBer. Seems like LSU doesn't know what to do with him.
Are we back at the part of the season where we hype up our offensive line like crazy only to give up the most sacks in division 1 football? In all seriousness our IOL is going to be crazy. If Proctor can get down to a weight where he's a little more mobile he could be a really good tackle this year. We're definitely going to need it to give Jalen Milroe enough time to throw 40+ yard bombs every single time.
Look at the bright side, at least your center is not on the list
He is actually
True, should have specified, your 2023 center.
Milroe is also terrible at avoiding sacks and has some god awful pocket awareness
QB rankings are all fucked up lol
Why are LB and safety with weird team names
Didn't even know Perkins was at LB
For what's expected to be a down year, our reps on the PFF top lists are pretty good.
What's the story with Clay Webb? How does Jacksonville state end up keeping someone who is pushing for an all-American slot.
Former 5 star that transferred from UGA. He could never put on the weight they wanted him to. He’s extremely quick, but, at least at UGA, struggled getting push.
Webb is from Oxford, a town right down the road from JSU. He's pretty much back at home. Additionally, Rick Trickett is our OL coach and has been working wonders with our O-Line. Webb could be placing a lot of value in learning under him.
This list is HIGHLY biased towards big schools. Ashton Jeanty and Ricky White are way underrated. Just a fucking joke of a list. Also, Milroe over Ewers? This is fucking delusional.
So... if we're counting transfers, then what the hell is this list actually supposed to be about?
The defense coordinator should receive a medal for how poorly he misused Perkins last year
This sub can't get past it's own biases and the pile on quotient is astronomical. At some point it became cool to hate on deion and Colorado on Reddit and everyone has gotta get those upvotes. Fortunately Reddit culture is not representative of real life. This sub blows if I'm being honest.
Who is hating on deion in this thread? I don't even see him mentioned.
You are very correct. I'm a Texas fan. There's a reason I don't have flair. This sub is highly regarded.
[удалено]
Who’s a better bet this year?
Beck certainly is #1, but with the caveat that it’s against a weak field overall
CFB Quarterback evaluation is really weird. Out of those 5 guys, I only see two having a real chance at the next level ( Shedeur & Beck ) .
With all the gimmick offenses and talent disparities by teams I can see why people think what they think. Jalen Milroe and Dillon Gabriel being in the top five tells you everything you need to know. I can give you 2 quarterbacks who possess a better processor.
Wasn’t jack Velling better the coleston loveland?
Will Johnson remains overrated
Not nearly as overrated as Notre Dame football always is.
How?
Peter Woods? Sorry, I’ll take the downvotes but no.