Roudtable Discussion: Team 135 Breakout Players

I admit last year’s tire fire of a football season really drained me of any excitement towards this season. However, thanks in large part to the 4 letter network, I have once again bought into the hype of college football.  And as my welcome back post I thought I would try a different approach. I asked a few of my friends to help me ease back into the blogging world. Also, if they are up for it I definitely would like to continue this roundtable throughout the season (and possibly into basketball). Anyways, without further rambling I would like to thank Chad and Shawn for helping me with this welcome back/breakout player article.

Koehn’s Lane asked me (Chad) to help kick off the college football season by predicting my breakout player on offense and defense.  No need to discuss special teams because we all know that will be Will Hagerup!

The break-out player is one of the great debates of any pre-season.  The time when we all try to take in the coach speak and random practice clips to discern who the next big thing is going to be.  There are a handful of guys you want to break out or at least match their pre-season hype.  My list of hopefuls for this season is Freddy Canteen, Mason Cole, Dennis Norfleet, Taco Charlton, Ondre Pipkins, and James Ross.  I’m not sure Canteen and Cole can really be considered break-outs even if they perform well as true freshman.  I also don’t find it very likely that they will outperform their pre-season hype.  Pipkins seems to be buried in the depth chart and, coming off of injury, I don’t think he’ll get enough playing time to break out.  James was given every opportunity to shine last year with mixed results.  I’ll listen to the past and lean to the side that he will again provide mixed results.  So that leaves me with Norfleet and Charlton as my picks for break out players for this year.  Both have seen limited playing time thus far but will be given a lot more opportunities and will be featured in a lot more standard looks.  Their athletic abilities got them on the field in the past but their technique and experience will keep them from being only situational players.

Offense
Dennis Norfleet (Chad)
Last year Norfleet had a very hard time finding any open space on the field once he got the ball.  This was obviously due to the fact that he got the ball pretty much anytime he was in the game.  I believe he should have been awarded entire series in which he could’ve been a part of the offense when he was in and not THE offense when he was in.  This year it seems he’ll have his chance to be a PART of the offense as the starting slot receiver.  This will force opposing teams out of “target Norfleet” mode and he should see him himself in space and with the ball a lot more often.  Another change that should greatly improve the predictability of not only Norfleet but the entire offense is a new offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier.  Maybe it was due to Al Borges attempting to blend the power and spread schemes but it seemed from my untrained eye that he only ran certain types of plays from certain formations.  With a change to a more cohesive scheme opposing defenses will be guessing more often and with less certainty.  My prediction…not worth much…41 catches 510 yards 4 TDs + 6 carries 60 yards 1 TD.

Derrick Green (Shawn)

Even though the offensive line will likely still remain a major question mark, I think the slimmed down sophomore version of Derrick Green is primed for a breakout season.  His freshman season reminded most people of Kevin Grady.  Green came in with other-worldly expectations and then he showed up for camp overweight and a power back without power.  Most of the grumblings around Ann Arbor have already written this youngster off, and have people wondering why Michigan can’t get production from their last two 5 star backs. Green had a major offseason where he lost weight, reduced his body fat, and from reports has regained his quick feet.  Another encouraging aspect that we can hopefully pull from coach speak is Derrick’s improvement in the pass protection area.  It was considered the major reason why he was slotted 3^rd on the depth chart behind Drake Johnson and DeVeon Smith. Fred Jackson has mentioned that the running back blocking assignments last year were very complex, and didn’t allow the true freshmen backs to be able to play without thinking too much.  Nussmeier has apparently reduced a lot of the expectations on the running backs in pass pro. All of the talk has said Green has really excelled in this new look offense.  I think Green eclipses the 1,000 yard mark this year.

Devin Gardner (Justin)

My original choices were Derrick Green and Dennis Norfleet, so I figured I should give people someone else to keep in mind.  You might be thinking how a 5th year senior quarterback could be considered my breakout player, but just stay with me for bit. Remember how many people were calling for Devin’s head by the end of last year, and all he did was play a half of football on a broken foot against our biggest rival? While converting that 2 point conversion would have cemented the legendary performance, it was still an incredible performance.  Devin showed glimpses of being a first round NFL talent while also resorting to high school mechanics, sometimes in the same drive. He has all of the tools to be the best quarterback in the B1G, even if Braxton Miller was healthy.  On top of that Michigan now has an offensive coordinator that has a track record of being a great quarterbacks coach.  In the first year of all of his coaching stops the quarterback play has greatly improved (Michigan State, Washington, Alabama, etc), and after he left the signal caller’s production slipped back. Devin spent last season either running for his life or getting crushed like a pop can, and he still finished near or at the top of the B1G in most quarterback stats.  When Devin wins B1G Offensive Player of the Year remember you heard it here first.

Defense
Taco Charlton (Chad)
Charlton enrolled early last year and had some hype coming out of spring camp.  He turned that into 8 game appearances but only 2 tackles.  Not anywhere close to what was hoped for out of him.   He’s behind Brennen Beyer on the depth chart but Beyer didn’t exactly fill up the stat sheet last year, recording 0 sacks in B1G play plus ND.  If Charlton has improved his run defense, which at 6’6” 275, shouldn’t be too difficult, he should be primed for some serious production.  I don’t see a scenario besides injury where he hasn’t taken over playing during crunch time by B1G games.  With the change to the 4-3 over we’re expecting more sacks and TFLs all around and I don’t think Charlton will disappoint in these categories.  My prediction...again worth nothing…37 tackles 8 TFL 4 Sacks 2 ff.

Taco Charlton/ Mario Ojemudia (Shawn)

First I will start with a bonus pick. Even though Frank Clark came on a lot at the end of the season to warrant a lot of this offseason hype, I still think he will leave us wanting more. We will look back and think: what a great athlete, but could have felt him more as a football player. So it makes sense that my breakout performer would be along the defensive line (or at least I am hoping they will be). Even though Charlton and Ojemudia play different positions now (SDE and WDE respectively), I am looking for either one to get major snaps by midseason.  I don’t have any prediction stats, but I think either (or both) will be a much more consistent defensive lineman than they were last season. This will probably kick off the unrealistic offseason hype train for 2015.

Jourdan Lewis (Justin )

Charlton is a great pick, but I am going to focus my attention on the secondary.  Michigan suddenly has some of the best defensive secondary depth in the country.  When did that happen?!? The scheme is to be much more aggressive on the outside which plays more into Lewis’ skill set than the returning starters.  JD broke onto the scene last season as the most college ready prospect from Cass Tech in recent memory. He was consistently in good position only to get beat by perfect throws (I am looking at you Akron QB). The added strength and press coverage should really bring Lewis into the spotlight. The other side of the field will be manned by an upperclassman (Taylor or Countess), so expect teams to test Lewis early. My estimation is that the scouting report by B1G season is to avoid his half of the field.  

Again I would like to thank Chad and Shawn for their help with this post, and hopefully you will get to read more of their predictions, analysis, and opinions. Now, who do you think will be the breakout players this year?