2021 ttun Shenanigans, Arguments, Surrender Cobras, Feckless Marmots, and Quitty Cowards

[LovelandBuckeye]

Must confess, no idea what you are on about, but if it makes your life a bit better, then ...

View attachment 29748

Not all heroes wear capes.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

Slot Machine and football need flipped per his request.
But I am laughing at this image

Nah. His way is better. RENO JESUS!

 

[NFBuck]

It's the most wonderful time of the year; when the scUM Lollipop Guild (aka "Insiders" and blogs) pump the DFBIA full of optimism. Rainbows and lollipops for everyone!

What we're hearing: Cade McNamara entered fall camp with the lead, and JH said as much at B1G Media Day at the end of July. Up until a few days ago, all indications were that Cade is the starter signed, sealed, delivered. The praise on Cade hasn't slowed down, with Harbaugh saying recently on Jon Jansen's pod that he's "leading the way there". What has changed is that the spotlight has shifted towards one JJ McCarthy. Harbaugh teased McCarthy's development on that podcast but the most fawning praise has come from insiders.

Balas has mentioned McCarthy heavily in two consecutive posts, hinting most recently that the gap may be closing ($). This will certainly be a storyline to monitor moving forward. Not much Alan Bowman chatter right now, as the focus has largely been on Cade and JJ up to this point.

What we're hearing: Not a ton of buzz on anyone, and that may just be because they have known quantities. Blake Corum and Hassan Haskins continue to be mentioned together in the same breath, while Donovan Edwards is getting plenty of praise. Gattis was interviewed at a Harbaugh golf outing before fall camp began and called Corum "one of our top-three most talented players on our team", before discussing how COVID created hurdles for the young back last season that don't apply this year. However, Gattis noted that the positional group "starts with Hassan Haskins", which should give you an idea of where things stood entering last week.

After a week of camp, we got Harbaugh on the Jansen pod, heaping praise on both Haskins and Corum essentially in tandem. The most important quote followed:

Well right now, if we were playing tomorrow, it's going to be Blake and Hassan and Donovan is going to get some real good touches

Tavierre Dunlap has been mentioned here or there but not much on him.

"Real good touches?"

What we're hearing: Much of the intrigue at the WR position after the first week of camp has centered on Daylen Baldwin, the FCS transfer Michigan got from Jackson State and someone I forgot about until like two weeks ago. If the buzz is any indication, I won't be forgetting about him again for some time. Harbaugh brought up Baldwin on the Jansen Pod within the context of being a "big receiver" option, but most of the smoke has been coming from Balas' chimney. After mentioning Baldwin earlier last week, his weekend update described Baldwin as "the real deal" ($).

Baldwin doesn't seem like a guy who needs to be hyped up, so the fact he's starting to get some love is rather interesting. There's unanimity about Ronnie Bell and Cornelius Johnson as the top two guys, but I can't help but wonder if some of the Baldwin hype is due to one of those two guys perhaps not quite being as sharp as had been expected. Meanwhile, the slots are all being mentioned as roughly equivalent to each other. Harbaugh described their positive aspects on the Jansen pod:

The third best... Roman Wilson with speed, Mike Sainristil with his ability to block and get open, AJ Henning is really going to pop this year and make some plays

That more or less sums up reasons to be interested in each but there doesn't seem a ton of indication who is ahead there. We did get to see an incredible catch from Henning that made it on a Twitter highlight reel the other day

What we're hearing: The chatter around the TE's has been strangely scant up to this point. That started with Harbaugh's appearance at B1G Media Day, when the TE's were not mentioned whatsoever. Obviously, reporters got interested and JH was asked about it on Friday, an interview that Isaiah Hole of WolverinesWire typed up for us. His comments started with Erick All:

I just haven't had a chance to talk about (All)! Just love him! One of my very favorite players on the team. Competes like a maniac. Continued right back into camp. He's got himself into great shape.

Ya know, I'm not really buying this one. Unless talking about tight ends is somehow contraband if you're not directly asked about it, a convention I'm not familiar with, then something is going on here. Is it possible that it just slipped JH's mind at Media Day? Sure, but generally speaking, if coaches want to hype a guy, they don't need prodding to do so. All of this said (pun intended), we did receive information from one of Seth's sources stating that Erick All is currently banged up, and that may be a reason for the tampered discussion around the junior TE. I'm not sure if that extends all the way back to Media Day in July, but it does perhaps explain some of the recent muted chatter.

With All not being mentioned as much, a lot of the focus has shifted towards the back-ups, and one guy in particular. On the Jansen pod, Harbaugh mentioned Luke Schoonmaker before he name-dropped All. Schoonmaker has continued to get the focus of the attention from insiders, in addition to Harbaugh. Lorenz included Schoonmaker as a guy "trending up" in his summary of first week practice notes ($). Matthew Hibner, Joel Honigford, and Carter Seltzer got the customary mention at the end of the Jansen segment, but there hasn't been a ton of buzz about them, though Lorenz did note before camp began that he would be digging on Hibner ($).

One more note about the TE's. Seth drew up a messy-looking play that leaked on a video tweeted out over the weekend and that play appeared to have Honigford on the field as the 2nd TE in a two TE running set (it was a HaskinsCat play).

What we're hearing: Not that. Right now there pretty much seems to be agreement across the board that three starters have been sharpie'd in: Ryan Hayes at LT and Zak Zinter and Andrew Stueber at two OL positions To Be Named Later. The Harbaugh interview that Isaiah Hole typed up at WW saw the head coach pretty much say exactly that:

Since we're talking about the offensive line, Hayes, Stueber, and Zinter (are) exactly where they left off in spring ball. Those guys are starting.

Zinter in particular has been the focus of endless hype that started in the spring and has not relented whatsoever through one week of fall camp. The fact he got on the field as a Tr Fr offensive lineman last season would make me believe that this hype is pretty real. The coaches love this dude. Hayes and Stueber are incumbent starters, so them being inked in as starters makes a lot of sense.

The intrigue has centered on a pair of positional battles. At LG we have a battle between Trevor Keegan and Chuck Filiaga. Harbaugh said at B1G Media Day that Keegan left spring as the starter at LG, but noted that Filiaga "has had the best offseason of any of the offensive linemen". That general breakdown of the positional group has continued through one week of fall camp, and it would appear that Keegan still has the edge, since Twitter user @JDue51 sniped a photo of practice on Saturday that appears to show the first units going at it at the Big House, and it shows Keegan at LG. (Caveat: that twitter user has since indicated to us that Filiaga was lining up with the Ones at practice too).

The other positional battle has to do with Andrew Vastardis at center. If Vastardis hangs onto that job, then Zinter slides to RG and Stueber to RT. If Zinter snags the C job, then suddenly Stueber moves to RG and it's Karsen Barnhart against Trente Jones for RT. For now it seems that Vastardis still has the center job, since he was lining up at the position in that Twitter photo. Harbaugh seems to like Vastardis quite a bit, and highlighted his improvement in physical strength over the summer on the Jansen pod. As for the RT battle, should it arise, JH mentioned Barnhart as a player having one of the best camps so far in his Friday interview, so I'm inclined to think he's got the small edge over Jones.

As for the positional group as a whole, we may need to pour a bit of cold water on the optimism here. Insiders have indicated we should temper expectations, and that the shuffling of positional battles may be weighing on the whole unit. Gattis mentioned in his golf outing interview in early August that they have "7 or 8 guys that we have that can really, really help us win". These battles seems far from settled and it may be hard for the group to gel until five are selected.

One last note: Harbaugh said Greg Crippen is one of their best true freshman performers in that Friday interview, and said he considers Crippen to be "in our two-deep".

What we're hearing: THE MAZI SMITH HYPE TRAIN IS COMING TO A TOWN NEAR YOU. This began in the spring and has ramped up in the last month. For example, Harbaugh brought Mazi Smith up in a question about Jordan Whittley at his Media Day appearance, saying that Smith had changed his body to be optimized for football. That pattern of bringing up Smith whenever the defensive line is mentioned, and specifically mentioning him before anyone else, is very intriguing. This is around the year you'd expect to see Mazi pop given his expected trajectory as a prospect, so the hype isn't crazy to see coming. It is notable, though.

Outside of Mazi, we're getting a taste of Ann Arbor's most sacred August tradition: Donovan Jeter hype. On the Jansen pod, JH mentioned Jeter immediately after Mazi Smith and said the following:

(Jeter) had his best offseason ... the level of consistency that we've seen out of Donovan Jeter is the best since we've been here

It's flat-out deja vu at this point, but some insiders are asserting that it may be real this time. Outside of Smith and Jeter, Jess Speight and Chris Hinton have been the next two to be mentioned, normally in tandem, and with not a lot of other specifics being provided. As for the pass-rushers, Aidan Hutchinson hasn't been talked about much, but that's mostly because he's a known quantity. Most name-drops have been associated with his leadership on the defense. When Harbaugh was interviewed Friday, he mentioned David Ojabo in the same breath as Hutchinson, before moving on to the rest of the depth chart, noting Taylor Upshaw, Mike Morris, Braiden McGregor, and Gabe Newburg, in that order. Kris Jenkins hasn't been heard from much, though with some positive buzz. Julius Welschof has gotten mentions from Harbaugh in the context of his athleticism, but Balas suggested that he is not at the top of the depth chart currently ($). The only mentions of Jordan Whitley have been from insiders describing him being a short yardage option at NT.

The other overriding theme with this group is one of some-degree of worry. With new starters, that's to be expected to some extent, but the rumblings are that the DL is not consistently where it needs to be yet.

What we're hearing: This position has seen some of the most movement of camp so far. The big story has been the rapid emergence of Nikhai Hill-Green, a sophomore LB who some sources are indicating has now moved past Michael Barrett into a starting role on the depth chart. As recently as Media Day in late July, Harbaugh described Barrett as a "starter at LB next to Ross", but insiders have since indicated that Hill-Green has now become a projected starter and is a rapid riser right now. This is something seemingly confirmed from that twitter photo, which showed Hill-Green lining up next to Ross with the Ones on defense. The coaches love him (Harbaugh called him "not a normal sophomore" on Jansen's Pod) and he's on a rapid track to playing time right now.

That the praise has fallen on NHG's shoulders doesn't mean that Josh Ross and Michael Barrett are bad, though. Sources have indicated that Barrett is still a solid option and will play, even if he doesn't start, and that Ross has had a solid camp. The only other name to really be mentioned consistently is true freshman Junior Colson, who still is getting a lot of hype, as he was in the spring. Unlike Hill-Green, though, that hype is focused on what he could be down the line, not in the immediate present. JH did name drop Kalel Mullings, Anthony Solomon, Jayden Hood, and Joey Velazquez on the Jansen pod, but that's all it was.

An out of character less than glowing bit about the CBs...which means they must REALLY fucking stink...

What we're hearing: It's pretty much those three guys and they're all playing together as a unit. Steve Clinkscale spoke to the press the other day, which Isaiah Hole also transcribed, and said that "nothing's guaranteed" but that Vincent Gray, DJ Turner, and Gemon Green are rotating right now. That's pretty much exactly what JH said at Media Day and on Jansen's pod last week. So no change there. It's worth remembering that Green exited the spring with a starting job and Turner was ahead of Gray. That doesn't seem to have changed much.

As for the rest of the depth options, the focus has shifted to George Johnson. Harbaugh mentioned in July that they were trying to figure out if Johnson is a safety or a corner, but Lorenz indicated last week that Johnson is exclusively practicing at CB ($). Johnson's name has gotten some traction after Ronnie Bell answered a media question about which CB has given him the most trouble in camp by saying "George Johnson, never know what you're going to get out of George, a very unpredictable and very good DB", which is either great news for Johnson, or very bad news for the other three options. Clinkscale said in the aforementioned interview that Johnson is "finding his niche". It's probably still a year early to think he's going to be a contributor, but you could see him on the field as a backup corner.

Jalen Perry and Andre Seldon have been mentioned occasionally, while Ja'Den McBurrows has been talked about mostly as a promising freshman. Darion Green-Warren and the other corners are MIA right now.

What it means: I have to think that Green is locked in at one starting job, as he was in the spring, and that Turner and Gray are rotating for the other spot. Johnson may be a nickel option and Burrows could be if he learns the defense. The vibes here are still not great

What we're hearing: Well, there definitely is a coach this time. Brad Hawkins has been mentioned mostly in the Aidan Hutchinson vein of "veteran leader, known commodity", while Dax Hill discussion has centered on the possibility of him playing at multiple positions. Balas indicated this weekend that Dax is playing a significant amount of corner ($) and that revelation is mostly the result of strong play from RJ Moten and Makari Paige allowing him to move around the field.

Multiple sources have indicated that Moten has been a riser during the spring and fall period, and Paige already saw some of the field last season as a true freshman. Harbaugh mentioned those two shortly after discussing Hill and Hawkins on the Jansen pod. The other names at safety haven't been talked about much recently, and it looks those four names are pretty much your two-deep at safety, with three or even four potentially being on the field when Hill plays corner.

All-in-all, this is a little more subdued than we're used to hearing from up there heading into the season, but still plenty of room for...

...particularly all the buzz about the QBs and WRs if they're saying a few sections down the the CBs are basically an ass sandwich.

As an aside, I remember a time when I used to read these things and recognize many of the names from when they were recruits because they were either kids tOSU was at least sniffing around, if not offering, or from Ohio. I don't know who 70% of these dumb bastards are.

 

[NFBuck]

Lou MacAdoo

August 17th, 2021 at 4:08 PM ^

This is the first thing I've read that has actually gotten me excited for the season. Thanks for that.

Joined: 10/16/2011

 

[buckeyemania11]

Lol i've constantly read chatter that Corum is "one of their best players" Harbaugh himself even said this.

A guy who averaged 2.8 YPC last season being "one of the best players on the team" cannot in any way be a positive.

The secondary is so bad that the scUM propaganda ministry can't even church it up. You can bet that DFBIA takes this as the QBs and WRs just being on another level though.

 

[Buckeye86]

Not a ton of buzz on anyone, and that may just be because they have known quantities.

The only logical conclusion is that they all look great and no one is talking about it because it’s expected. Yep, that checks out, it’s not because they are all mediocre and doing nothing noteworthy behind a bad offensive line.

The FCS transfer being the most exciting thing in the WR room is also clearly a good sign and not something to be worried about.

 

[buckeyemania11]

The DL chatter there is classic too. They hype up a handful of guys that have never shown anything in multiple years at scUM like they are all of a sudden going to be earth movers.

And then drop this at the end.

but the rumblings are that the DL is not consistently where it needs to be yet.

Bravo whatever GoBlower wrote that.

 

[NFBuck]

The only logical conclusion is that they all look great and no one is talking about it because it’s expected. Yep, that checks out, it’s not because they are all mediocre and doing nothing noteworthy behind a bad offensive line.

"Known Commodity"



3 Years, 22 games, 11 TFL and 3.5 sacks, 1 Untied Shoe. THAT is the guy they are hanging their hat on.

 

[Jaxbuck]

3 Years, 22 games, 11 TFL and 3.5 sacks, 1 Untied Shoe. THAT is the guy they are hanging their hat on.

Bosa 3.0

 

[NFBuck]

Bosa 3.0

I wonder if they've ever watched "Multiplicity"

 

[Buckeye86]

"Known Commodity"

View attachment 29749

3 Years, 22 games, 11 TFL and 3.5 sacks, 1 Untied Shoe. THAT is the guy they are hanging their hat on.

That was actually about the running backs, but isn’t it great that it can apply to almost every position.

DFBIA is like the anti John Cooper quote…”if they sit around and don’t do shit for 2-3 years, they’re in line for a big season!”

 

[buckeyemania11]

There's so much to mock here.

Nikhai Hill-Green - Getting hyped over him because he might beat out Michael "THICC CURTIS SAMUEL" Barrett for one of the Linebacker spots.

Barrett has been mediocre at best in 13 games so far in his career. Of course the writer frames this as "This doesn't mean Barrett isn't good"

 

[NFBuck]

That was actually about the running backs, but isn’t it great that it can apply to almost every position.

DFBIA is like the anti John Cooper quote…”if they sit around and don’t do shit for 2-3 years, they’re in line for a big season!”

Oh, they say it about Hutchinson, too...

As for the pass-rushers, Aidan Hutchinson hasn't been talked about much, but that's mostly because he's a known quantity.

Pass Rusher :: Known Quantity
3 Years :: 3.5 Sacks

 

[buckeyemania11]

When one lower 3* flames out and proves to not be very good, despite previous hype, they just throw the next one in there and hype the hell out of them too. Its a endless cycle up there.

 

[gmen6981]

You bitches are really slipping. I've read through the last several pages without seeing so much as one FUCK scUM!!!