Michigan positional breakdown: Wide receivers

By Bart Doan  |   Monday, June 29, 2009  |  Comments( 2 )

Michigan Wolverines
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College football season starts in under 70 days; so, unless you’re in a lot of trouble, the depth charts are somewhat set. The final analysis of each position must be completed so that we can see how overly optimistic we are about our teams’ chances. Until Western Michigan visits on the first week of September, here is how it shakes down for the Michigan Wolverines, starting with the wide receivers/tight ends.

The main cast: Martavious Odoms, Greg Matthews, Roy Roundtree, Darryl Stonum, Je’Ron Stokes, Kevin Koger.

What happened last year: Literally nothing. Odoms was the team's leading receiver, and he amassed only 443 yards total. That, by the way, was in the bottom five in the nation for a team's leading receiver. The problem was the lack of a vertical passing game, where questions about Matthews’ speed were resoundingly answered, and not in a good way. That left a gang of tacklers every time Odoms caught the ball out of the slot position. Coach Rich Rodriguez’s patented bubble screens were completely useless without any other threat to break a big play on the field. Matthews was supposed to be the next Michigan receiver to step up and become great. That never happened, more in part to the quarterback situation than anything. He was billed as a possession guy and never got the accuracy needed to excel in that role. Stonum’s freshman campaign was filled with disheartening drops in wide open space. If anything, it’s imperative that he improves looking the ball into his hands instead of being on the go before securing the ball.

What to expect: Well, you can expect more than you got last year, which is like looking for an area with more water after spending the last 10 years in the Gobi Desert. More than likely, it again will be freshmen who determine how far this unit progresses. Stability at the quarterback position will help, but the guys taking the snaps figure to be freshmen as well. Rich Rodriguez hopes and prays that one of Roundtree or Stokes can fill the gaping hole of being a vertical threat to help open up his aforementioned bubble screen game. Odoms has the ability to be a big-time star in this offense, but he’s unable to be productive in all forms of route running being only 5-foot-8. Quarterback Tate Forcier seemed to form a bond early in spring practice with Roundtree, so there stands reason to believe that the redshirt freshman might just have the keys to be that particular role player. Though Rodriguez is known for neglecting the tight end position, Koger became a useful asset when the current lot of receivers were unable to step up. Tight end historically has been a strong position at Michigan, so perhaps Rodriguez will just gravitate his play-calling to where the production is and Koger will again be a presence over the middle of the field.

Outlook: Hands down, this is the weakest position on a team that went 3-9 last year. While some of it can be attributed to the carousel at quarterback with no viable option emerging, there were glaring third-down drops, porous route running, and an overall lack of playmaking ability that was sorely missing from this unit. Rodriguez has brought in an absolute slew of pass catchers or potential slot receivers in his short tenure at Michigan, but it remains to be seen who will step up. It’s a lot easier to count on even inexperienced veterans than guys who’ve never been part of live college football action. Though the guys are a year older, it would be overly positive to expect major strides from anyone other than Odoms. This will undoubtedly be one of the weakest areas the Wolverines will need to overcome to succeed on a weekly basis.
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About Bart Doan

Bart has been with Realfootball365.com for about six months and thoroughly enjoys writing for the site. He has been featured for his writings on college football in The Sporting News, The Indianapolis Star, Sports Illustrated, and on CBS Sportsline.com. When he's not drowning himself in the ...
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