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Michigan’s 2011 Depth Chart – Offense
Rival’s has released their Michigan preview - and for me personally, it’s the first time I’ve looked at a depth chart somewhere outside of my head.
So let’s take a quick gander at the offense and I will rattle off the quick thoughts that come to mind:
QB – Denard and Devin. Yup. Stay healthy my friends.
RB – Michael Shaw and Stephen Hopkins. I think we know what we are going to get out of Shaw. He’s just a skinny guy with speed and seeming potential, but he’s never really broken through. He played well last season until he got banged up. Between the incoming freshman (Justice Hayes and Thomas Rawls) and guys with experience (Vincent Smith, Hopkins, Shaw, Cox) – I’m hoping one or two of these guys show that they can dominate or become reliable.
WR – Odoms, Stonum, Hemingway and Roundtree. I’m a big fan of this group. There is no real standout, but they all have shown flashes at times of becoming that standout receiver. I wouldn’t say any of these four guys has deserved the #1 jersey on the field yet. I really liked what I saw last season from Junior Hemingway. He showed he can position himself for a deep ball and showed some ability to put on a quick move immediately after making a catch. Roundtree, who was so sure handed towards the end of 2009, had an issue catching the ball late last season. Hopefully, Roundtree is over the dropsies. On Stonum, legal issues aside, I have this feeling we aren’t going to see him have a better 2011 than he did 2010. Stonum is Michigan’s best kick returner and it’d be nice if he could be the catalyst in giving Al Borges a shorter field to work with.
TE – Kevin Koger, Brandin Moore. I like Koger. Koger seems to be a guy that plays better when involved more in the passing game, which I think we’ll see this year. In having Martell Webb sharing snaps in 2010, I don’t believe Moore saw the field enough to make some off the cuff estimations. Hopefully Chris Barnett works out for Michigan.
OL – David Molk, Taylor Lewan, Ricky Barnum, Patrick Omameh, Mark Huyge. Another easy group to like with a lot of good experience. Molk is a great leader and always a good interview. Lewan thinks he’s a bad ass, which is a good thing for Michigan – as long as he’s not getting penalized.
PR – Jeremy Gallon. For lack of a better option? Not to knock Gallon, but he needs to have less mistakes fielding the ball before I’ll feel comfortable having him back there. Will be interesting to see if Hemingway is also in the mix for punt returns. 
The Steez?
Well, remember once upon a time, Michigan hired Rich Rodriguez. A cat from West Virginia. I, like many Michigan fans, held unreserved enthusiasm and excitement for the new brand of football I was going to see in the opener against Utah. I couldn’t make the whats-the-first-play-gonna-be-this-time-joke at the outset of each offensive possession that was so easy to use under Lloyd Carr.
All that excitement and enthusiasm is back. Largely because Denard Robinson is back, but also because it’s a new brand of football.
The steez? You mean how good I think they will be? On a scale of one to ten, I’d give this offense a preseason rating of 7.5. It’s a little conservative considering the pieces and experience coming back. After the first couple games, that rating will be between 7 and 9.
Two things will allow this offense to succeed: (1) Denard must be efficient and limit turnovers and (2) “x” running back needs play well and be reliable.
There you go folks.
I have been a U of M fan for many years. It started back in 1967, when back then during one non-conference game, all the of the state high school bands came to the game and performed. I was in the band from my city. In seeing where the football program had been heading over the years, I was really disappointed by coach Rich's performance, especially defensively. You can not expect to win many games by trying to outscore your opponent. I have a renewed hope with our new coach of getting back to a program that is somewhat equal on both sides of the ball. I have talked to some of my co-workers about the situation with the offense being consistently a threat. We came up with one idea to increase the threat maybe several times in the game, by using Gardner as QB and splitting out Robinson as a receiver. We think that with Robinson's running ability it would cause two situations. Either, the defense would more than likely double cover him and free up another receiver on single coverage, or else with Denard catching the ball there would be a good possibility of a large gain. Just a thought from the "peanut gallery".