The Blue Board

I think you may have taken a little more offense to my comment than I intended. I did admit I was being nitpicky, and I also admitted that your assumption that you're going to get good QB Play from cousins is a safe assumption... I totally think it's likely to happen.

I think it's perfectly fair for you to draw the conclusion that cousins will continue his strong play based on all the evidence you have for you. It's just not fair for you to say you know for a fact, that was my main nitpick.

Just as I'm not saying I know for a fact that there will be a definite improvement between the spring game and the first game. Just that it's likely a very safe assumption.

Matt Wile the kicker, and I would actually put Thomas Rawls in a position to get more playing time than Hayes. We have already have shifty fast RB's, we only have one real bruiser in Hopkins, Rawls would be the other bruiser to take pressure off.

I would totally agree with you there, MSU has more safe bets than U of M has.

Hayes is highly rated, but is a bit too small for our system. He's either going to move to slot receiver, or based off what the coaches have been saying, redshirt a year and put on 20+lbs. Thomas Rawls is the name you see getting tossed around a lot as the RB that is going to come in and do something. Many believe he has an extremely legit shot of being the starter come fall.

I think Countess has a good shot of getting some playing time at corner, however still wouldn't be shocked to see him redshift this year.

Other people I expect/think will contribute are TE - Chris Barnett, LB - Antonio Pool, and OL - Chris Bryant.

I know having an OL on there is crazy since the majority of O-Lineman redshirt. But everything i've read and seen about chris is that he has the ability to come in and contribute right away.

Other than that I don't really know of too many incoming recurits that are likely to be in the 2-deep. Of course that is purely off of rankings and once they get on campus it's an entirely different ballgame. Greg Brown is a current example of that, very low 3-star to Rivals, was an EE and got a lot of talk during spring practices.

Would suck to have to use a true frosh OL. I know you've got Demens and Cam Gordon at LB . . . who's your 3rd LB?

Most likely if he would play his first year it would be RT, Taylor Lewan has the starting LT position locked down right now.

Run of the mill 3-star from the '09 recuriting class. Was pegged a bit more for the hybrid OLB/S Spot in our 3-3-5 defense. Hasn't really done much while on campus, dealt with injuries a bit here and there. There was a little hype about him during last seasons spring practices, but don't remember hearing too much about him this spring.

Gotcha.

Wait . . . . so now they have 2 converted safeties at LB? Gordon and Jones? Oh man, no wonder they're killing it in LB recruiting right now.

I would put my money on Jake Ryan.

As for as I know yes, we also lost Cullen Christian, Ray Vinopal, and potentially DJ Williamson. There has been some rumblings of him not being on the team anymore. Though I can't seem to find any hard evidence.

Cullen Christian and Ray Vinopal left for Pittsburgh I believe.

Youngstown State - W
Florida Atlantic - W
@ Notre Dame - W/L
Central Michigan - W
@ Ohio State - L
Michigan - W/L (My Michigan bias makes me think it's a toss-up with adv MSU)
Wisconsin - W
@ Nebraska - L
Minnesota - W
@ Iowa - W/L
Indiana - W
@ Northwestern - W/L

I see them going 50/50 on those W/L, I see 8-4 for them at worst with potential to go up to 10-2. I think Northwestern is going to sneak up on some teams this year, that includes us.

Again this my prediction, not flaming here. Just my prediction.

LaLota transferred.

http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/index.ssf/2010/09/lalota_is_happy_to_be_a_scarle.html

The interesting thing about most of Michigan's transfers is none of them have really panned out at with their new team (and a lot of times they drop down to lower level schools).

LaLota was a 4/5 star player. Totally over-rated.
Emilien was a 4-star and is now in the MAC I believe?
Dann O'Neil 4-star at WMU now
JT Turner 5-star...who knows where he currently is.

The list goes on. Michigan is competing with ND for most over-rated recruiting classes over the last 5 years or so.

Probably won't happen, we're getting Troy Woolfolk back who missed last year with an ankle injury. We also have JT Floyd and Courtney Avery is starting to look real good. Greg Brown impressed the coaches this spring, he's the only True Freshman I see playing at any DB position next year, and I don't really see any DB's from the 2012 starting as True Freshman either. You have to be an extremely good athlete, even on D-1 college terms to start as a True Freshman at CB.

As for the S positions, it's still up in the air. We have Marvin Robinson, Josh Furman, Jordan Kovacs, and Thomas Gordon fighting for those positions. That's where we need the depth. Marvin and Josh are both RS Freshman, Kovacs will be a Junior, and Thomas Gordon will be a RS Sophomore.

We need some true safeties, pretty badly.

For CB 2011:
Troy Woolfolk RS Senior
Courtney Avery Sophomore
JT Floyd RS Junior
Terrence Talbott Sophomore
Greg Brown True Freshman
Tamani Carter True Freshman
Blake Countess True Freshman
Delonte Hollowell True Freshman

So by 2012 we will only lose 2 CB's. Safety positions are my biggest fear for the future on the defense.

So I guess we could see a player starting early in Greg Brown, but most likely the guys from the 2012 class realistically won't see the field (not counting special teams) till their RS Sophomore year and later. Unless they move to safety where they would have a better shot at early playing time.

I think next year our CB's will be Woolfolk and Avery, with Greg Brown and JT Floyd being their backups.

For Safety Jordan Kovacs and Marvin Robinson/Josh Furman, with the edge to Josh Furman. It will still be a young backfield.