M-Borg vs. THE Flavortown U Thread, Orig. by Buckeye Paul, absconded w/by talent.

[Mike]

I saw him score a TD for the Bears in the final year of the Silverdome.

[lineygoblue]

Another guy who left too early

[WM Wolverine]

M has 6 true freshman offensive lineman, they are building their depth up there. The redshirt freshman (Kalis, Braden, etc.) and Chris Bryant (rs soph) are much more talented than the three 5th year seniors were here last year but they'll experience growing pains. Hopefully in week 8 they are much better than they were in week 2... We have the same worries about the interior OL and after this season they lose the two bookends to graduation...

I'm not overly excited about the talent of M's present front four. Frank Clark 'might' have a breakout year (I think he'll do very, very well if practice reports are correct) and he's regarded as the lines best player. The other DE spot (SDE) is up for grabs, between guys like Wormley, Strobel, Heitzman among others. Hope is one (Wormley) emerges as a strong SDE. Quinton Washington returns as a senior starter, he'll contribute positively. I thought he was real good when the competition wasn't and was just occupying space when he was facing better competition... Jibreel Black is the likely starter at the other DT spot, I don't see him as All B10 (1st or 2nd) material but he should be plenty solid...

Gallon, Dileo, Darboh and the receivers will only look as good as Gardner and his pass protectors provide; in practice settings Gardner is making them look excellent. Things can change when you face real competition but this which was a slight worry this spring is looking like a strength. Probably the biggest reason I'm leaning more towards predicting 10 wins rather than 9...

Toussaint allegedly looks more like the back that ran for 1000+ yards as a sophomore than the guy who ran into his blockers as a junior. Unlike last season, he has more talent behind him to push him. Practice reports absolutely love true freshman De'Veon Smith. He's a pefect fit for the offense, he's not a HR hitter like Derrick Green but he sheds arm tackles, can make the first guy miss, has good vision, fights for extra yardage and has a tendency to fall forward for those very valuable extra yard or two...

I'm in a wait-and-see approach on the DB's, Blake Countess return is huge. Dymonte Thomas is supposedly ready to start on day 1 at nickel, thanks to spring practice. Raymon Taylor will look better with another year of experience as should Thomas Gordon. This group will miss Kovac's ability to wrap up running backs that get past the second level. That'll be one area I'm watching Wilson & Gordon closely the first couple games; making sure plays don't get behind them and not letting ball carriers get past them.

[Paul L]

As always, WM, great stuff and much appreciated

[Hannibal]

IMHO Michigan should at least be as good as a typical Dantonio Sparty defense, or one of Iowa's better squads. That's about the level of coaching, talent, and playmaking that we have. I am tempted to write them off a little when I see that we have a few guys like Black, Gordon(s), and Morgan projected start. Then I look at just about everyone else in the conference and see that have a few highly experienced, well coached, 3* upperclassmen isn't exactly a death sentence. We probably don't have a Jerel Worthy on this squad, but we've still got some star power in Ross and Countess, Ryan when he returns, and maybe some new guys like Wilson and Clark. I still expect the team to rely a lot on the defense this year. Maybe next year too.

[WM Wolverine]

Seniors starters (projected) on this years defense: only Washington, Black & Gordon. Pretty much agree with Hannibal's analysis, they need to create more turnovers (by getting pressure on the QB) if they want to be a very good defense along with keeping big plays to a minimum...

Against teams with better offenses (they didn't play many in the pathetic B10), imo I didn't think they were a good defense last season. That should improve this season (creating turnovers) though I see more opposing firepower on this years schedule. In '14 I expect the defense to be tremendous.

[iam416]

Thanks for the stuff on M. Personally, I'm dubious about how good M's DL will be, but I've been wrong before.

[iam416]

Mickey Mitchell made it official today for Matta. Will be interesting to see whether UFM can pull SoSo Jamabo.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Newsflash:

You are a douchebag.

[iam416]

Another really good piece from Ramzy at 11 Warriors...this one strikes a chord with me...

http://www.elevenwarriors.com/2013/08/24934/ghosts-that-we-knew-ohio-state-buckeyes-college-football

[Jeff Buchanan]

Great Read. Thanks for posting.

Too bad the meat of it had to be demonstrated by talking about osu!

The best part was where the author mentions his despair having had has beloved buckeyes win only one football game against Michigan in a decade. Those were good days ...... hopefully they are on their way back.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Ohio State and Virginia Tech to open the 2015 season on Labor Day

http://www.fbschedules.com/2013/08/virginia-tech-host-ohio-state-labor-day-2015/

[hack]

You heathens will stop at nothing, apparently. Not even Labor Day is sacrosanct.

[drok]

Really good post by Ramzy - thanks for sharing.

[SeattleLionsFan]

Wow...I didn't realize that Urban cut 7 guys this past offseason...4 transfers and 3 "medicals."

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1747603-ohio-state-football-db-najee-murray-granted-release-from-osu

He'll bring the B1G into SEC land kicking and screaming I guess.