Players we should be looking at: 22-23 season.

[_MB_]

Don't look now, but we're only 17 days out from week one so we had better get started.

Nice to be back in the college football/draft realm. I haven't been able to scout since Saquan Barkley was at Penn St.

Start with your favorite program. Who you got eyes on?

[Phantom]

Not my favorite program.

CJ Stroud

[_MB_]

Not my favorite program.

CJ Stroud

Yea, I'm definitely looking at Quarterbacks this year.

[_MB_]

Just having a first glance here at the QB rankings and spotted Tyler Van Dyke out of Miami at 30th overall.

Looks like he had a stinker or two last season so we'll see if he can be more consistent this year. Was a 4 star recruit when Miami got him.

[Snake]

Not my favorite program.

CJ Stroud

He could be a top pick, or fall out of the first round. Outside of a few guys in recent years, QB draft stock fluctuates heavily. Some guys expected to go in the top 15 in this past draft ended up falling as more tape and scrutiny accumulated. Every wide receiver that Stroud has played with has been a first or second round pick and that won’t be any different this year. No holding it against him, just pointing out how stacked his teams have been. I’m pretty curious where Young and Stroud end up going.

As a B1G, SEC, and ACC alum, I have a bunch of football to watch from a distance but the Buckeyes have my eye usually.

Zach Harrison is gonna be a big question mark for the buckeyes. He was the number one prospect in high school at one point. Fell off a little bit but remained a five star prospect as a senior. He is a physical freak. Prototypical 4-3 DE/EDGE dimensions. But the production hasn’t been there at all. 7.5 sacks in 27 games. The defense has been a weak spot for the buckeyes for years now. They swiped the Oklahoma State defensive coordinator and expectations are sky high. If Harrison can get tougher and produce against good competition with better coaching, his stock will shoot up.

[mdb1958]

Just having a first glance here at the QB rankings and spotted Tyler Van Dyke out of Miami at 30th overall.

Looks like he had a stinker or two last season so we'll see if he can be more consistent this year. Was a 4 star recruit when Miami got him.

What website has him listed at 30?

[_MB_]

Just having a first glance here at the QB rankings and spotted Tyler Van Dyke out of Miami at 30th overall.

Looks like he had a stinker or two last season so we'll see if he can be more consistent this year. Was a 4 star recruit when Miami got him.

What website has him listed at 30?

Draftek. That's my old go-to.

[Cheb]

For Michigan, the obvious answer is Blake Corum.

The lightning to Hassan Haskins' thunder, Corum was the best player on the field when he was on it. Splitting carries with Haskins kept him fresh, but when he was on the field he delivered the goods: 144 carries for 952 rushing yards at a respectable 6.6 yards per carry with 11 tuddies. He showed some skill in the passing game as well, catching 24 balls and showing some moxxy as a pass blocker.

For those who have never seen him play, think of a shorter (5'8") Christian McCaffrey-type, an explosive dual-threat with elite speed who isn't afraid to run between the tackles.

There's a non-zero chance that he leads the country in rushing and/or total yards this upcoming season. While he's still only a junior, he may declare early if he gets a predraft grade of a second or third round pick.

The selfish part of me wants him to stay for his senior year though. He is the best Michigan running back since Mike Hart and an absolute joy to watch play.

[Cheb]

Oh, I forgot about Mazi Smith!

He has only been decent on the field thus far in his career, 40 tackles in basically one year of play, but this senior defensive tackle topped the annual "Freaks List" as the most athletic freak in college football:

Michigan has another player atop Bruce Feldman’s list of college football ‘freaks.’

The Athletic’s college football writer published his annual list of the 100 most impressive athletes around the country on Wednesday, and Wolverines defensive tackle Mazi Smith checked in at the very top. That’s right, at No. 1.

“The 6-foot-3, 337-pound senior has rare power and agility,” Feldman writes. “So rare, in fact, it’s hard to find the right superlative to begin with.”

Through Michigan’s strength staff, Feldman found out that: Smith has benched 22 reps of 325 pounds (not the typical 225), close-grip benched 550 pounds, posts a 44-inch vertical jump, and broad-jumped 9 feet, 4 1/2 inches. And that’s just his power and agility.

As for speed, well, Smith has that, too. The Grand Rapids, Mich., native has clocked a shuttle time of 4.41 seconds, which Feldman notes would’ve tied any defensive tackle at the NFL Scouting Combine this year; a 3-cone drill time of 6.95 seconds, which would have been the fastest; and a 60-yard shuttle of 11.90 seconds.

Perhaps even more impressive, however, is Smith’s performance in some of the drills Herbert and his staff ask the players to take part in. In one specific drill, players attempt to jump up a series of seven 26-inch high stairs as fast as they can. The program record is apparently 2.21 seconds, and Smith did it in 2.82 seconds. (For comparison, Aidan Hutchinson, who was No. 2 on Feldman’s ‘freaks’ list last year and is 60 pounds lighter than Smith, did it in 2.57 seconds.)

Smith even dominated Michigan’s combo-twist machine aimed to measure resistance in the trenches, forcing the strength staff to call the manufacturer to have more weight added to the machine.

“Mazi’s rotational strength is ridiculous,” Herbert told The Athletic, touting Smith as the strongest defensive lineman he’s seen in his 25 years in football. “He is an incredible combination of rare traits packaged into one player. He is just ridiculously strong and powerful.”

As noted above, this isn’t the first time a Michigan player (notably, a defender) has appeared at or near the top of Feldman’s annual list. Hutchinson was No. 2 last year, and Kwity Paye was No. 1 in 2020.

Source

Of note, the two guys mentioned at the end of the article who were in the top two on the "Freaks" list last year and the year before, Aiden Hutchinson and Kwity Paye, were both Michigan defensive linemen who went in the first rounds of their respective drafts. So if Mazi Smith can put up even a modicum of production on the field, he may get drafted in the first round just on traits alone.

Here's his "highlights" from last season, if you can call an average defender doing his job a highlight. He's #58 in the middle of the defense:

[_MB_]

Fuuu... That's a freak all right.

[Kress]

Bryan Bresee is my obvious choice. He's another freak of nature out there.

[mdb1958]

Ascending the ranking ladder will pretty much do away with college favoritism.

[Phantom]

Do we need OL and QB ( some of you gushing on Trask Ugh) next year? we definitely need several OL.. I think we’re set on defensive back

We don’t need draft RB early like in 1st

[Cheb]

Do we need OL and QB ( some of you gushing on Trask Ugh) next year? we definitely need several OL.. I think we’re set on defensive back

We don’t need draft RB early like in 1st

We have a ton of holes next season, and no cap space to sign inexpensive replacements. The following players are all free agents next year:

Tom Brady
Lavonte David
Akiem Hicks
Julio Jones
Will Gholston
Rakeem Nunez-Roches
Blaine Gabbert
Kyle Rudolph
Aaron Stinnie
Sean Murphy-Bunting
Jamel Dean
Mike Edwards
Anthony Nelson
Cam Gill
Scotty Miller
Logan Ryan

I doubt we draft high enough to get a blue chip QB but it's possible.

While one could argue we need a defensive lineman, the top picks in three of our last five drafts have all been on the defensive line, and I don't think we need to pour more top picks into that position group.

What stands out to me? Three of our top four corners are gonna be free agents (SMB, Logan Ryan, and Dean in some order). CD3 is good but he needs a friend besides Zion McCollum who isn't a total scrub. If I were Licht, I'd be scouting corners hard this season.

[Kona]

Agreed, I think we go CB and OL early next season. Donavan Smith is here through 2023, due to our tight cap and having to pay Wirfs soon, I could see them drafting his replacement as a swing type year 1 then take over year 2.

As you said, besides Davis and McCollum the cupboard will be pretty bare. Wouldn’t mind having Dean back, but I think he’ll price himself out after this year.

[Phantom]

For Michigan, the obvious answer is Blake Corum.

The lightning to Hassan Haskins' thunder, Corum was the best player on the field when he was on it. Splitting carries with Haskins kept him fresh, but when he was on the field he delivered the goods: 144 carries for 952 rushing yards at a respectable 6.6 yards per carry with 11 tuddies. He showed some skill in the passing game as well, catching 24 balls and showing some moxxy as a pass blocker.

For those who have never seen him play, think of a shorter (5'8") Christian McCaffrey-type, an explosive dual-threat with elite speed who isn't afraid to run between the tackles.

There's a non-zero chance that he leads the country in rushing and/or total yards this upcoming season. While he's still only a junior, he may declare early if he gets a predraft grade of a second or third round pick.

The selfish part of me wants him to stay for his senior year though. He is the best Michigan running back since Mike Hart and an absolute joy to watch play.

Yeah, he deserves all the hypes he getting, he’s really good. MB, check him out

[MJW]

From Nebraska, Trey Palmer will play on Sundays. I would have said that two days ago, but he just had a monster game (in a loss, natch) against Purdue - 8 touches, 297 yards, 2 TDs. He has all the traits you'd want in a receiver - good size (6'1 190), speed, quickness, hands, and fluidity.

Also, Ochaun Mathis, who was considered a Day Two type if he'd come back to TCU last year. He has 28 tackles and 2 sacks, but he's applied a ton of pressure. 6'5 260 with some traits.

[Terry Tate]

Do we need OL and QB ( some of you gushing on Trask Ugh) next year? we definitely need several OL.. I think we’re set on defensive back

We don’t need draft RB early like in 1st

We have a ton of holes next season, and no cap space to sign inexpensive replacements. The following players are all free agents next year:

Tom Brady
Lavonte David
Akiem Hicks
Julio Jones
Will Gholston
Rakeem Nunez-Roches
Blaine Gabbert
Kyle Rudolph
Aaron Stinnie
Sean Murphy-Bunting
Jamel Dean
Mike Edwards
Anthony Nelson
Cam Gill
Scotty Miller
Logan Ryan

I doubt we draft high enough to get a blue chip QB but it's possible.

While one could argue we need a defensive lineman, the top picks in three of our last five drafts have all been on the defensive line, and I don't think we need to pour more top picks into that position group.

What stands out to me? Three of our top four corners are gonna be free agents (SMB, Logan Ryan, and Dean in some order). CD3 is good but he needs a friend besides Zion McCollum who isn't a total scrub. If I were Licht, I'd be scouting corners hard this season.

Are you sure about that?

[MJW]

We should be in BPA mode next year, unless an attractive quarterback falls into our laps.

Even if we rally to win a Superbowl, we're $47 mil over the cap before we re-sign a single guy, and we have very few tricks to pull with our remaining contracts.

BPA, BPA, BPA. This is now a rebuild.

[Selmon Rules]

Lines and CBs

[_MB_]

We should be in BPA mode next year, unless an attractive quarterback falls into our laps.

Even if we rally to win a Superbowl, we're $47 mil over the cap before we re-sign a single guy, and we have very few tricks to pull with our remaining contracts.

BPA, BPA, BPA. This is now a rebuild.

Licht is still going to plug holes in free agency. It'll just be cheaper plugs.

[13F11B]

Personally, to do this draft and the next four properly the Buccaneers need to sell some players before the trade deadline, and then again in the period trades are allowed before the draft. I hate to see guys like Mike Evans leave, but I am not sure his value will be high after a three-year rebuild. The team also needs to get a jump start on the coaching staff (assuming Licht stays).

After that, they need to look at IOL, MLB, and Edge. The only thing that would trump that is a generational QB talent. To be honest I do not see a generational talent QB in this draft.

[mdb1958]

Should be looking to see if Vea has a partner in this draft and two would be a better improvement.

[Cheb]

Should be looking to see if Vea has a partner in this draft and two would be a better improvement.

We drafted Vea's partner this year in Hall. He just hasn't proven much at this juncture.

[mdb1958]

Should be looking to see if Vea has a partner in this draft and two would be a better improvement.

We drafted Vea's partner this year in Hall. He just hasn't proven much at this juncture.

Hall is snuggled under Gholston's wing, Hicks was supposed to be Vea's partner and both of them should of had a pup.

[mdb1958]

Just how good are Jalen Carter and Bryan Bresee?

[mdb1958]

Would you rather have Foskey or Andre Carter?

[BucsNBills]

Will Levis

[mdb1958]

Will Levis

Are there a bunch of teams looking for a QB in 2023?

[mdb1958]

Could Brenton Cox play inside linebacker?

[Grahamburn]

Will Levis

Are there a bunch of teams looking for a QB in 2023?

There are always a bunch of teams looking for QBs. We’ll be one of them and it looks like we’ll be picking in the top 10 with every passing Sunday.

[Snake]

Will Levis

Are there a bunch of teams looking for a QB in 2023?

Definitely looking:
Carolina
Atlanta
New Orleans
Tampa
Indianapolis
Houston

Could be looking:
Baltimore - will LJ stay or go?
Washington

Outside chance:
San Fran - JG gone, Lance hurt/bust?
New England - when you have two QBs, you have none, typically
New York Jets - will Saleh go down with Wilson?
Seattle - Geno is nice. Can he keep it up?

I think a third of the league could reasonably be looking to address their starting quarterback position. Including the entire NFC south.

[mdb1958]

Are there a bunch of teams looking for a QB in 2023?

There are always a bunch of teams looking for QBs. We’ll be one of them and it looks like we’ll be picking in the top 10 with every passing Sunday.

Would you prefer a 6th rounder beats Trask out for the starting job or a 1st rounder?

Roster wise my preference would be the 6th rounder.

[Snake]

There are always a bunch of teams looking for QBs. We’ll be one of them and it looks like we’ll be picking in the top 10 with every passing Sunday.

Would you prefer a 6th rounder beats Trask out for the starting job or a 1st rounder?

If a 6th round pick beats Trask for the job, its more likely Trask is just bad than us having drafted the next Tom Brady.

[mdb1958]

Would you prefer a 6th rounder beats Trask out for the starting job or a 1st rounder?

If a 6th round pick beats Trask for the job, its more likely Trask is just bad than us having drafted the next Tom Brady.

Or he reads the destroyers on the social media club.