College Football: 5 reasons Michigan wins 2017 National Championship
The Michigan Wolverines just missed out on the College Football Playoff one year ago, but here’s why they’ll win it in 2017.
The wheels most certainly came off at the end of last season for Jim Harbaugh in the Michigan Wolverines. Coming into their November matchup with the Iowa Hawkeyes, they seemed to be in the driver’s seat to make the College Football Playoff. Even after being upset in an ugly game, they still appeared to have a shot. Then they lost to rival Ohio State before being defeated in the Orange Bowl.
It wasn’t the way that many saw last year going for Michigan, no question. However, it was also somewhat indicative of the situation. There were no doubt elite player on the Wolverines roster a season ago. But in terms of overall depth and top-end talent at key positions, the roster was overall lacking.
That could change coming into the 2017 season, however. Now it’s time for Harbaugh’s wild recruiting antics to start paying off as many of the guys that he brought to Ann Arbor will be featured for the Wolverines this season. Considering the pedigree of the guys that he has brought in to this point, that should mean good things for Michigan.
However, they aren’t looking for just “good” things — this is a team looking to be great. They most certainly have the chance to achieve that, and should be considered a College Football Playoff threat and a National Championship contender. With that in mind, let’s dive into five reasons why they’ll win the title this year.
5. Top-end skill-position talent stepping up
This might be an unpopular opinion, but the skill position talent at Michigan last year wasn’t as good as many would like to believe. Because of the roles that the likes of De’Veon Smith, Jehu Chesson, Jake Butt and Amara Darboh played throughout their careers in Ann Arbor, people recognized the names a great deal. However, the argument could be made that only Butt of the group had real top-end talent at his position.
The biggest indication of this comes from how the backfield was deployed last season. Whenever a defensive back in Jabrill Peppers is being brought in for carries, that doesn’t say a great deal in favor of Smith. Yes, Peppers was a weapon, but utilizing him so much is somewhat damning of the offensive situation. In the 2017 season, however, I don’t see that being as much the case.
When you look at the projected starters at the skill positions for Michigan in 2017, it’s littered with young players, but players with much more upside and potential than anyone who was in a starting role a year ago. Guys like Chris Evans at running back and Donovan Peoples-Jones at receiver are unproven to a large degree, but are Harbaugh recruits that could really revolutionize the offense. I see this offense being much better based on that alone this season.