TomHaverford
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I'm certainly no expert on Michigan's depth chart (paging TomHaverford), but Murtaugh's opponent previews at OneFootDown have been pretty accurate. Heitzman and Ross are sophomores, but Black (Sr) and Gordon (5Y) are very experienced.
If you were a Michigan fan, you'd probably feel pretty confident in those guys. There's some concern about SDE, but the skunkbears are really high on Ross, and most expect Gordon to be a serviceable stopgap until Ryan returns later this season.
I don't think it really matters who is declared a starter along the DL, because Mattison is going to rotate lots of guys in. Heitzman might get the start at the Strongside, but RS Frosh Chris Wormley and Matt Godin are going to get rotated in a lot. Wormley is one to watch out for, physically he might be the most talented player on their entire roster. I, like most Michigan fans are really excited about James Ross III. He could really be poised to have a breakout year at the WILL spot. Ross started 3 - 4 games last year as a true freshman and recorded I believe 38 tackles on the season. Ross showed so much promise last year and played so well in the spring and fall that he's basically pushed Desmond Morgan to MIKE LB for good.
Black should be a solid 3-tech. He got his feet wet at the position a little bit last year after being a DE most of his career. He's always been a bit of a tweener, not quite fast enough to play rush end but not quite big enough to play tackle. He should be pretty effective if they use him mainly to penetrate on pass downs and plug in the bigger, stronger Willie Henry or Ondre Pipkins on rush downs.
Cam Gordon has played a lot of football, started every game at strong safety in 2010 where he had 77 tackles, 5.5 TFL's, three interceptions, four PBUs, 2 fumble recoveries, blocked kick and 1 defensive TD. Moved to SAM LB in 2011 under the new coaches, and he was the starter going into the 2011 season, and it was a back injury to Gordon which led to Jake Ryan getting the job as a RS Fr. and never letting go of it. Cam played in every game last year as a reserve LB and on special teams. Cam has had a really solid spring and fall. There will be a drop off for sure, because Ryan is stud and it's hard to replace a talent like that, but Cam should be serviceable for a month until Ryan comes back.
That preview looks to be pretty accurate, minus a few things here and there. Pretty impressed with that.