Michigan FOOTBALL Moving Forward

"Ben Bredeson was named to the Football Writers Association of America Freshman All-America team, which was announced on Monday.

Bredeson, a 6-foot-5, 310-pound true freshman, played in all 13 games this season, including eight starts at left guard. He was previously named an honorable mention All-Big Ten selection by both the coaches and media."

Seems “immediate impact/college-ready” applies, lending credence to the scouting reports. Granted, he wouldn’t have been starting in an ideal, healthy-Newsome world.

Some interesting comments re: Filiaga’s AA game struggles:

"problem with this eval that they are failing to mention is he was asked to play RT all week when all he’s done in HS is LT so he even admitted he was having issues getting the right footwork done most of the week. I’d take there re-rank with a grain of salt, regardless of rank this guy is going to be very good i’d bet on it "

"doesn’t matter just saying he only had a week with coaches he’s not familiar with learning new footwork so I think rivals is giving an unfair assessment of his actual skill level as they sound like they are going to drop him in the rankings. Even if RT at Mich he’d have months of training with an elite college staff to learn that footwork. Either way kid is the real deal "

“OL usually struggle during this week. It’s just a harder position to play and it’s no wonder that year after year the DL dominates.”

“Those drills are a meaningless.
The physical advantage is all for the defense in these drills as they are just purely pass rushing with no run threat. Easy to do spin moves when there is no gap assignment, easy to bullrush when their are no pads, can fly up the field with no fear of a trap, screen, draw or option.
See how they do if they have to play run or pass. In a game the O-Linemen knows the play not the D-Linemen. Let Filagia drive on a D-Linemen to see if they can leverage and get off the block.
Game film and live game evaluation is much more important in my opinion.”

"Switching sides is REALLY much tougher than it sounds for players

That said, he probably needs a year … but who doesn’t on the line?"

“Once he locked on to a guy it was over, working on his first step will be coached. I think the old saying is you can’t teach his size and that’s a good place to start with an offensive lineman.”

Sounds like his AA game struggles were caused by poor technique/footwork. That is something he supposedly excelled at at his natural position (Left Tackle). The bad news is that many project him to play RT at the next level. The good news is that he has a lot more time than one week to work on that technique.

As of right now, it is very unlikely that Becton and Filiaga are the same in terms of readiness. I suppose that could change by the time the Florida game rolls around after a month of college coaching. Becton is more athletic, but his technique is raw and inconsistent at this stage in his development. I don’t think that can be remedied in just a month of practice. Filiaga, like all high school OL, needs to refine his technique, but he’s much further along than Becton. Filiaga would probably be a disaster in pass pro, but he might be close to respectable in run blocking.

We need to hope that at least two of Ulizio, JBB, and Runyan can develop into legitimate tackles by the Florida game. I feel relatively confident in an interior of Bredeson, Cole, and Onwenu with Ruiz and Kugler serving as backups.

Hopefully Newsome can be ready. That would be huge.

Maybe Ruiz could start at guard and move Bredeson over to T?

UFRs disagree. I’m going with UFRs

I have to defer to your football evaluation, as I’m far from an expert in that regard. That said, I think we’re debating varying degrees in just how bad either of them would be as freshman. Neither of them would be above average as freshman.

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Freshman All-American = Struggled mightily.

I’m still holding out hope that Newsome makes it back this year in good form. Opinions seem to vary from “it’s possible” to “he’ll probably never play again.”

Bredeson did rep at LT last fall camp as was said to be neck-and-neck with Newsome. That might have been coachspeak, but kicking him to LT or RT at least seems to be an option.

I’m hoping that Kugler stays for a 5th year and can crack the lineup. He played some early in the year and actually looked better than Bredeson. Competition caveats apply. If he (or Ruiz) can be serviceable at G, then Bredeson can probably move to Tackle.

I definitely agree. Losing Hamilton just before signing day last year hurts, as he would likely be a prime contender to start at LT next year. I’m still kind of surprised that no ultra-elite 5-star tackle has chosen to play under Harbaugh and Drevno, given the coaching pedigree and depth chart.

drool

Assuming no Newsome, Bredeson-Ruiz-Cole-Onwenu-JBB(?) would be a massive line. How the hodgepodge of JBB/Ruiz/Filiaga/Steuber/Kugler/Ulizio plays out is going to be very interesting, and that’s assuming that Big Mike is ready for the starting spot, when he really hasn’t done much, to date. Time for Drevno to earn that mill

Well, let’s see here. Our Oline is generally considered average at best and Bredeson was the weak link among that mediocrity.

Bredeson starts From MGOblog UFR grades

Vs Rutgers +1; worst grade among OL

Vs Illinois +6; 3rd among OL

Vs MSU -2.5; 2nd worst among OL

Vs Maryland +3; 2nd worst among OL

Vs Iowa -3; worst among OL

Vs IN .5; second worst among OL

Brian hasn’t done UFR for OSU or FSU but I’m sure it will follow the pattern.

So yeah, consistently being worst/second worst on an average at best OL is struggling mightily unless you are equipped with better evaluation skills than Brian

But as long as you’re a FR all American who cares right? Lol

Can you briefly explain what Brian’s +/- system is?

That’s a loaded question I’m not intelligent enough to expand on lol

Nice. It certainly helps if the prospect is from Michigan.

It’s always going to be tough pulling elite prospects from the more talent-rich parts of the country. Harbaugh has already done a good job of it, and I think he’s going to get better at it as we establish ourselves as a perennial contender. Leatherwood and/or Wills would have been great this year, but we were fighting an uphill battle.

What? You cited Brian’s +/- ratings. What do they mean?

The fact that Drevno cobbled together a competent line of freshman and sophomores while at USC gives me some hope.

I’ve never actually witnessed a Michigan practice under Harbaugh, so this is just speculation–but I’ve wondered if Drevno’s additional responsibilites from being an OC have hampered in any way his OL coaching.

Or not…?

I’ll just ask people over there.

From Filiaga’s “Hello” post:

"At the Army Bowl, Filiaga has had some trouble in practice with elite edge-rusher Jaelen Phillips, the #5 player in the composite rankings, but otherwise performed well on day one, per TMI’s Josh Henschke:

He has all the tools to be a good one at the next level. The first thing that stood out was how massive of a kid he is. He lined up versus five-star defensive end and UCLA commit Jaelan Phillips for several reps, winning only twice. Phillips is a monster, and beat Filiaga with his speed. Our scouts are bullish in their opinions that Filiaga is a great run blocker (mauler), but suggest his technique needs to improve as a pass blocker. Now don’t get things twisted, he dominated in all his other reps. Again, it’s just a matter of him learning to play with consistent technique. The coaches had Filiaga pulling and trapping, so that kind of gives you an indication that he moves well."