College Football Rankings: Top 25 after spring practice
Michigan Wolverines
2016: 10-3,
After seeing an absurd eight defensive players drafted into the NFL, you would possibly expect that the Michigan Wolverines’ biggest strength from a year ago won’t be as much so in 2017. Simply because of turnover and the uncertainty it brings, that’s a possibility. But from what we saw this spring from Jim Harbaugh’s group, that’s unlikely to be the case. Once again, this team will win with their defense.
The No. 1 overall recruit from 2016, Rashan Gary, looked the part in the spring game as he could be a devastating defensive force for the Wolverines up front in the 2017 season. Meanwhile, they have linebackers in Devin Bush and Mike McCray who proved to be poised to stabilize the front seven despite the losses in a big way. Michigan’s defensive prowess maintaining may ultimately boil down to young defensive backs stepping up to assume the voids left by departing players.
However, it’s impossible to call Michigan even a top-10 team simply because of their offense. More specifically, because of quarterback Wilton Speight. He was steady at his best last season and his best was far from a consistent form for him. What’s worse, he didn’t show anything this spring to inspire confidence that he’s going to take a leap forward. Even with potentially better weapons on the outside, it’s all for naught if Speight can’t step up and be a consistent leader for the Wolverines.