Tag: recirculate

Blake Corum ranked as top Big Ten running back

#Michigan has a great one-two punch for the 2022 season!

Pro Football Focus is doing its position rankings and it’s onto the running back position.

Anthony Treash ranked college football’s top 25 running backs for the 2022 season and he put both Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards into the ranking.

Interestingly enough, and arguably so, Corum was ranked third overall behind Deuce Vaughn (Kansas State) and Bijan Robinson (Texas) which also makes Corum the top-ranked Big Ten running back over the likes of Treveyon Henderson (fourth) and Braelon Allen (seventh).

Last season Corum emerged as an electric running back right out the gate for the Wolverines before sustaining an injury that forced him to miss a little time. But he was still able to rack up 952 yards and 11 scores on the ground while losing some carries to Hassan Haskins later in the year. The speedy back did an excellent job receiving out of the backfield as well: 24 catches for 141 yards and a score.

Treash also ranked Edwards 14th, which makes the Corum-Edwards tandem the highest ranked on the list.

Edwards receives a pretty high ranking after being the third running back on Michigan last season, but the former five-star running back shined in his limited time. In fact, PFF listed Edwards as a possible breakout candidate for the 2022 season.

Edwards really shined as a receiver last year when he was fifth on the team catching 20 balls for 265 yards and a score. He will be a huge focal point for the maize and blue this upcoming season when he will backup Corum, and he will receive his lion’s share of the snaps.

Like PFF ranked, Michigan arguably will have the best one-two punch in all of football with Corum and Edwards.

PFF also ranked the top 50 quarterbacks and Cade McNamara came in at 29th. JJ McCarthy was not ranked, but we expect him to be a top-50 quarterback if he gets the starting nod in game one.

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Two Michigan football players in PFF’s ‘breakout candidates’ for 2022

We can see both having an incredible year! #GoBlue

Michigan returns just about every playmaker on the offensive side of the ball from last year’s College Football Playoff team, save for Hassan Haskins.

With so much returning production, does the Wolverines really have anyone that could really breakout on the offensive side of the ball? According to PFF, the maize and blue have two players that could have a breakout campaign for 2022. 

Anthony Treash made a list of 31 breakout candidates for the upcoming football season, and he lists both Donovan Edwards and AJ Henning in his article.

Donovan Edwards will be a big focal point for the Michigan offense this upcoming season with the departure of Hassan Haskins. The duo of Blake Corum and Edwards should create a dynamic one-two punch for the Wolverines. The former five-star running back has shown the capabilities of being a true Swiss-Army knife for the maize and blue: great hands out of the backfield with a good sense of finding the open running lane behind an experienced offensive line. He finished the season last year carrying the rock 35 times for 174 yards and three touchdowns, and he also finished fifth on the team with 20 receptions for 265 yards and one score.

Treash seems to agree and here is what he had to say about the former West Bloomfield product:

Edwards was the Wolverines’ second-highest-ranked recruit in 2021 after quarterback J.J. McCarthy. The running back first emerged onto the scene in Week 12’s win at Maryland, when he caught 10 targets for 170 yards and a touchdown out of the backfield en route to a 92.0 receiving grade. Edwards finished with 3.79 yards per route run and a 74.3 receiving grade on 70 routes for the season.

The second player that could be on a breakout watch is WR/returner AJ Henning.

The former four-star recruit is a true do-it-all type of player. Henning has emerged as a true threat running the ball when the Wolverines do their wide receiver reverse. Henning ended the season last year carrying the ball nine times for a staggering 162 yards (18 yards-per-carry) while adding two scores. On the receiving end of things, Henning only caught 10 passes for 79 yards, but we can expect that to change this season since Michigan should want the ball in its explosive playmaker’s hands.

PFF sees Michigan using Henning as a Deebo Samuel type of role out of the backfield, and using him in any way possible. Here is what Treash had to say about Henning.

There are several breakout candidates on this year’s talented Wolverines team, but Henning is among the best, as the 2020 fringe top-100 recruit has the skill set to be an elite, dynamic weapon for the Blue. Henning showed flashes on end-arounds and sweeps last season, taking nine end-arounds/reverses for 162 yards and two touchdowns in addition to three sweeps for 39 yards. He also took a trick kick return to the house and averaged 9.4 yards per punt return across 29 such attempts. The 5-foot-10, 185-pound weapon is a slippery athlete and is a threat to convert a big gain anytime the ball is in his hands. Head coach Jim Harbaugh actually said during the spring that they envision a Deebo Samuel-esque role for Henning in 2022, including reps at running back. Henning is a pure gadget player until he can expand on his route tree, but either way, he’s destined to be a valuable weapon for Michigan’s offense in 2022.

A few others that could have a breakout season may be JJ McCarthy, Luke Schoonmaker, or Andrel Anthony.

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CBS Sports ranks Big Ten head coaches

What do you think of this ranking? #GoBlue

On Thursday, CBS Sports came out with an article ranking all the Big Ten coaches from worst to best.

Back on June 14, we ranked the Big Ten coaches as well, and for this article, we are going to compare the two lists and see where they stack up to one another.

There is a few differences between the two rankings, but you will see some common themes as well — like the top three coaches in the Big Ten.

One thing is for certain though, the Big Ten has some really good coaches, and they could lead a ton of programs out there. CBS Sports has five Big Ten coaches ranked inside the top 15 in the nation.

Without further ado, here are the Big Ten coaches ranked by CBS Sports.

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Ranking the top 22 returning Big Ten football players

Such a loaded conference!

We are now into July and college football — week zero — will be upon us in late August, so it’s time to really start thinking about college football again.

The 2022 football season is going to be taking off, so for this article, we are going to rank the top 22 returning Big Ten players for the upcoming season.

It was difficult coming up with just 22 players. This conference is pretty loaded on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. I considered All-Big Ten awards, stats, and production when making this list of the top 22. I’m sure there will be plenty of disagreement with this ranking, so please share your thoughts and what you would change.

Without further ado, here are the best 22 Big Ten football players ahead of the 2022 football season.

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Predicting the 2022-2023 Michigan basketball starting lineup

Michigan has the pieces to win the Big Ten next season.

Barring any late surprises, the Michigan basketball roster is set going into the 2022-2023 season now that the Wolverines landed Youssef Khayat, the Lebanese basketball sensation, on Sunday.

While the Wolverines lost some contributors from last year’s team: Caleb Houstan and Moussa Diabate to the NBA, Frankie Collins to Arizona State, and Brandon Johns to VCU, Michigan added a couple of key pieces this summer with the additions of Jaelin Llewellyn (Princeton) and Joey Baker (Duke) along with Khayat.

The Wolverines have a solid recruiting class coming in the fall with Juwan Howard’s son, Jett Howard, headlining the class. Since Moussa Diabate declared for the draft, incoming center Tarris Reed should see significant playing time, and point guard Dug McDaniel should see some backup play as well. The bigger question mark from the incoming freshmen will be how does new forward Gregg Glenn fit into this year’s rotation, or does he see a redshirt year?

With all that being said, we are going to do our best to predict what next year’s lineup is going to look like when Michigan takes the court for the first time.

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Moussa Diabate and Caleb Houstan in latest NBA mock drafts

Hope they both go to the right place on Thursday! #GoBlue

Michigan basketball had a star-studded 2021 class which was headlined by two five-star freshmen: Caleb Houstan and Moussa Diabate. When Juwan Howard signed them, it propelled the Wolverines to have the third-ranked class according to 247Sports composite.

Both saw just one season in Ann Arbor before they decided to forgo their three remaining seasons of eligibility to enter into the 2022 NBA draft — which is Thursday, June 23.

After their first year with the Wolverines, Houstan averaged 10 points-per-game, four rebounds-per-game, and shot 35% from 3. The big man, Diabate, averaged nine points-per-game, six rebounds-per-game, and shot 54% from the field.

After going thru the draft process, and talking with scouts, family, friends, and coaches they felt they were ready for the NBA draft. Depending on the sites you visit, or people you may listen to, everyone has their own opinion on if the former Wolverines are ready to make the jump after just one collegiate season.

Here are a few sites that have their final predictions out on where Houstan and Diabate will go — or if they will go at all.

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What five-star Nyckoles Harbor had to say about Michigan football

Michigan needs to land him!

The 2023 recruiting trail has been quiet for Michigan football recently. The last commitment to Jim Harbaugh and company came back on March 29 when three-star running back Benjamin Hall committed.

According to the 247Sports Composite, the Wolverines have the 25th ranked class with six commits. Michigan is looking to reel in some big targets like five-star Dante Moore and Nyckoles Harbor during the upcoming months.

Harbor, a five-star athlete, that attends Archbishop Carroll in Washington (D.C.) announced his top seven schools this past Saturday. Harbor narrowed his schools down to USC, Miami (FL), Maryland, Georgia, South Carolina, LSU, and Michigan.

According to the composite rankings, Harbor, who has fantastic size — he is six-foot-five and weighs 225lbs — is the 12th ranked player nationally. The five-star recruit is a true dual athlete, as he is one of the best track sprinters out there. Harbor ran a 10.38 100-meter dash, and with his size and speed, he can line up at tight end or as an edge defender at the college level.

Recently, Harbor spoke with Adam Friedman — a national recruiting analyst — with Rivals.com to talk about each of the seven schools he is looking at.

“I’m just finishing up my junior year and I’m going to start taking some visits,” Harbor said. “It’s the end of the year with track and field and I’m getting into the football offseason. I have over 50 offers now and it’s getting a little overwhelming for my parents and me. Narrowing it down was the best thing for us and I’ll have time to get in at least one visit in late June.

“Everybody in the top seven is really neck and neck at this point,” he said. “I have an official visit to LSU planned for the Tennessee game in October and I’m going to see if I can get an official visit planned with South Carolina at the end of June.”

When Harbor was asked strictly about Michigan, he talked about how the Wolverines are his mom’s favorite. He said that his dad hasn’t seen Michigan yet, but he believes his father will like Michigan once he sees it himself — plus his family that attended Michigan is really hyping up the Wolverines.

“They’re probably my mom’s favorite school,” said Harbor. “She loves Michigan and coach Herb, the trainer. The coaching staff and her really hit it off but my dad hasn’t see Michigan yet. They’ve talked on the phone but I’m sure he’ll like it too when he can experience it. I have family that went to Michigan and they’ve been installing Michigan in my brain since I was eight years old.”

It appears that Michigan is in a good situation with the standout athlete, and if the Wolverines can maintain good communication and have a good season on the gridiron, then the maize and blue will be right there when he makes his decision.

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Ranking Big Ten teams by all-time winning percentage

Does this list surprise you?

247Sports put out an article ranking the best college football teams by their winning percentage, but the list only used the top 50 teams in college. The list was used for wins and losses after the 2020 season, the 2021 season was not included.

While there were quite a few Big Ten teams located in the top 50, not all the teams in the conference were included in this list, so it made me wonder where all the Big Ten schools were located using their win percentage.

Since the following schools aren’t in the Big Ten, we can share with you who is in the top five. Alabama is second in win percentage with .731, Notre Dame is third with .730, and Boise State is in fifth — while it has half the wins that Oklahoma has in sixth — with .728.

You can now see below the order of the 14 Big Ten schools using all-time winning percentage.

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Post spring edition: Ranking the Big Ten’s pass catchers

What do your pass-catching rankings look like?

We started off our Big Ten positional rankings by ranking the projected starting quarterbacks for the upcoming season, and then we went on to the running backs.

Now we find ourselves at the pass-catching unit. Most college teams have an abundance of receivers that they use, and even a few tight ends that receive multiple catches per game — like the Wolverines utilize.

The best way to do this is to take the top three pass catchers for each team, or projected top three, and rank the teams that way. So for this exercise, a tight end — if projected to be a top-three contributor — will be grouped in with the wide receivers.

The Big Ten lost quite a few really, really good pass catchers this past season, but as you’ll soon see, the Big Ten will have some incredible ones once again.

Here is my ranking of the best pass catchers for the 2022-2023 football season.

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Post spring edition: Ranking the Big Ten’s running backs

The Big Ten has some really good running backs!

Continuing with our post-rankings — our first ranked the starting quarterbacks in the Big Ten — we move on to the running backs in the Big Ten.

While some teams have a No. 1 running back that receives the bulk of the carries, such as Northwestern’s Evan Hull or Illinois’ Chase Brown, many teams use two or three running backs to get their run games going. Last year, Michigan had one of the best one-two punches in the nation: Hassan Haskins and Blake Corum. Wisconsin had Braelon Allen and Chez Mellusi.

We are ranking each team based on the projected top two backs on the depth chart at the end of the spring ball. Teams may be ranked a little higher based on the two backs they have, but sometimes that lead back is just too good — where the backup doesn’t mean as much.

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