Writer: Gage O'Leary
Twitter: @Gage_Sports
Wolverines current dominance:
Today we're going to talk about the future of Michigan Wolverines football but first we must start with the present... Michigan just absolutely humiliated rival Ohio State on the road in Columbus in a legendary battle between two undefeated teams with an over 100 year history...
The Wolverines did it without Heisman candidate and superstar RB Blake Corum who had just 2 carries in the first series for only 6 yards. He didn't play a snap after that as he couldn't overcome the knee Injury he suffered against Illinois. First year starter JJ McCarthy had to step up and lead Michigan to a win over Ohio State and everyone knew it, Ohio State had to of been prepared for it and still couldn't stop it...
It was refreshing for Michigan fans to see they're 5-Star recruit finally step up and have the first real big game of his career. There was a ton of pressure on the young QB as the run game wasn't there in the first half and he delivered. With McCarthy on pace for a career game, Ohio State played more to handle Michigan's passing attack which finally opened up the Wolverines run game that has been spectacular all season. Michigan had just 10 rushing yards in the first half but that changed in the 2nd half as Donovan Edwards, who was battling a hand injury, also ended up having a career game. Edwards rushed for 216 yards and 2 Touchdowns on 22 carries and he even made some history... Edwards scored both TD's in the Fourth quarter, his first was 75 yards, which broke the record for the longest run ever by a Wolverine in "The Game" that was until just moments later he busted off a 85 yard TD run that sealed the deal. It was the 118th game between the two rivals and Edwards was able to break the record and brake it again moments later. He did all this with a hand injury that he was battling.
It was an incredible defensive performance for the Wolverines that made it so dominating. Michigan trailed OSU 20-17 at the start of the 3rd quarter and quickly scored the go ahead TD putting them up 24-20 vs Ohio State and Michigan never looked back, leading all the way to the final whistle. The Wolverines defense allowed just 3 points in the 2nd half and was led by cornerbacks Mike Sainristril, who had the best PBU I've ever seen in my life in a crucial part of the game taking a touchdown away from Ohio State and Rod Moore who made some perfectly timed hits forcing incomplete passes in big 3rd down situations. Did I mention the big PBU from Sainristril led to an interception?... I believe it was on the following play on 3rd down that Ohio State QB CJ Stroud was going down about to be sacked when he made the poor decision to throw the ball up in the air, coming away with it was defensive lineman Taylor Upshaw resulting in a turnover which led to one of the Donovan Edwards touchdowns. There was plenty of key moments for other guys on defense as well... McGregor deflected a pass to bring up 4th down, Michael Barrett had his named called a few times but one play stuck out in particular, he read a wheel route perfectly and put up and massive hit that brought over even more momentum to the Michigan sideline.
After the defensive clinic from the Wolverines I think it's fair to say Michigan once again hit the lottery on the hire of they're new defensive coordinator Jesse Minter who replaced Mike MacDonald who was hired by the Baltimore Ravens to take over as defensive coordinator in the NFL for John Harbaugh the brother of Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh. Despite losing pass rushers Aidan Hutchinson (Lions 1st round pick) and David Ojabo (Ravens 2nd round pick) Michigan hasn't skipped a beat defensively and hope that they're defense can take them farther than a Big Ten Championship, they hope to win the National Championship in the CFB Playoff and revenge the loss to Georgia last season in Miami.
How does Michigan stack up differently in the CFB Playoff this season:
There's a lot of new when you look at Michigan's depth chart this season. Of course McCarthy is QB 1, there is no Hutchinson or Ojabo, Hassan Haskins is no longer on the roster as he's went to the NFL, Mike Sainristril converted from WR to CB and guys like Eyabi Okie, Mike Morris and Michael Barrett are making their names known. In the meeting between Big Ten East champs Michigan and Big Ten West champs Iowa a year ago the Wolverines came in 11-1. Now, Michigan enters the Big Ten Championship vs Purdue undefeated at 12-0. JJ McCarthy believes this is a better version of the Wolverines than last season and it's proving to be true.
As of now you'd expect the CFB Playoff to look like this: ¹Georgia vs ⁴USC, and ²Michigan vs ³TCU. Well, that's not guaranteed yet but seems like it'll be the case. Michigan could avoid the Bulldogs in round one and would have to out muscle the Horned Frogs to advance to the National Championship and even though TCU has my respect, I don't see them surviving past Michigan if that battle were to happen and I think Georgia will beat USC meaning we could see a Michigan/Georgia rematch, this time in the National Championship game. The Bulldogs haven't been quite as impressive this season in my opinion but I still think Michigan would be underdogs in this game, but with the kinda adjustments that were made at half time against Ohio State just this time you make adjustments looking back at last season it could be a fun war.
How did Michigan get here?: Michigan was ranked in the top 10 in the AP top 25 poll this preseason but quickly moved into the top 5, then the top 4. Michigan has been ranked 3rd and defeating ²Ohio State puts Michigan at #2 in the country. Here is how the Wolverines got to this point:
Beat, Colorado State 51-7 (1-0)
Beat, Hawaii 56-10 (2-0)
Beat, Connecticut 59-0 (3-0)
Beat, Maryland 34-27 (4-0)
Beat, Iowa 27-14 (5-0)
Beat, Indiana 31-10 (6-0)
Beat, ⁸Penn State 41-17 (7-0)
Beat, Michigan State 29-7 (8-0)
Beat, Rutgers 52-17 (9-0)
Beat, Nebraska 34-3 (10-0)
Beat, Illinois 19-17 (11-0)
Beat, ²Ohio State 45-23 (12-0)
On deck: Purdue Boilermakers (Big Ten Championship)...
Michigan has dominated or controlled all but one game enroute to an undefeated regular season. We won't have to wait long to see if Michigan's dominance can hold in the Big Ten Championship and CFB Playoffs.
The future of Michigan Football:
This 2022 football season has been incredible and the best is yet to come but when it comes to the future of the program it's hard not to look ahead and get excited about the players coming in. I've never been more excited about a new player joining the Wolverines squad than I am about RB Cole Cabana who just finished his senior year at Dexter highschool. A massive part of Michigan's success under coach Harbaugh has been the rushing attack with of course Blake Corum, Hassan Haskins and Donovan Edwards in 2021 and carrying over with Corum, Edwards and CJ Stokes in 2022. Cabana is going to keep that going for Michigan upon arrival especially with Corum heading to the NFL soon as a potential 1st round draft pick. Something Corum and Cabana have that makes them elite is their cut back ability and elusiveness, aside from that I believe the most comparable player to Cabana is NFL star RB Christian McCaffrey, they are similar in size, have similar speed, similar rushing ability and both are magnificent in the pass game as well. In his senior year Cabana rushed for 1,518 yards and had a whopping 27 rushing touchdowns. He recorded 472 receiving yards with 6 touchdowns and on punt returns he had 444 yards and 3 touchdowns. I've got my eyes on him as I think he's going to be a Future Heisman award winner.
Dexter highschool has produced two Future Michigan stars as the Wolverines also got a commitment from S/WR Micah Davis one of Cabana's teammates. He's a super speedy player in the secondary who is very versatile and can get it done on special teams as well. Davis has 6 interceptions, 106 tackle's, 4 forced fumbles, and 6 PBU's. On offense Davis has 17 catches for 289 yards and 2TD's, and 150 yards with a TD on special teams. The two Dexter teammates are huge additions for the Wolverines in 2023 and beyond.
Dexter Highschool is located only 12.6 miles (about a 16 minute drive according to Google) from Michigan Stadium, AKA the Big House. That probably made the decision to stay home even easier for the two Michigan natives.
Talk about the future! Michigan will have J.J McCarthy and Donovan Edwards again in 2023, Eyabi Okie has announced he'll return again in 2023 and then you have up and comers like Mason Graham a former wrestler who has been amazing in his freshman season at his DL position and TE Colston Loveland who scored his first collegiate touchdown against Ohio State this weekend. Another Michigan TE that'll be back after a season ending injury this season is Erick All and freshman CB Will Johnson will of course be back, he'll have more playing time as well. This team has loads of talent and is only getting better. Michigan will be the most exciting team to watch in College Football if they aren't already.
Thanks for reading
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