2010 Countdown: #45 Teric Jones

Name: Teric Jones
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 194 lbs.
High school: Cass Technical High School in Detroit, MI
Position: Bandit
Class: Sophomore
Jersey number: #14
Last year: I ranked Jones #76 and said he'd redshirt. Jones played some cornerback and special teams, making 7 tackles altogether.

Last year I thought Jones would redshirt. He came to Michigan after being recruited as a running back or slot receiver, but with the shortage of cornerbacks, he immediately started getting reps on defense. He played cornerback against lesser opponents Eastern Michigan and Delaware State, and he contributed on kickoff coverage, making 7 total tackles. Ideally, he would have redshirted in 2009, but Jones played admirably in a tough situation.

Now he's a sophomore and has changed positions once again. Jones moved to bandit in the spring, which is a strong safety-type position. He'll be backing up probable starter Jordan Kovacs and competing with players such as Brandin Hawthorne, Vlad Emilien, and incoming freshman Marvin Robinson for playing time. I don't expect that he'll challenge for a starting position, but he's an adequate backup and could move back to corner if any injuries occur. The best thing Jones has going for him is excellent speed, as he almost chased down Roy Roundtree during the spring game. He's also a pretty tenacious hitter for such a small player.

Prediction for 2010: Backup bandit, special teams coverage

2010 Countdown: #69 Terrence Talbott

Name: Terrence Talbott
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 172 lbs.
High school: Wayne High School in Huber Heights, OH
Position: Cornerback
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: N/A
Prediction for 2010: Scarce playing time

The younger brother of defensive tackle recruit Terry Talbott, Terrence is a small-ish corner. Despite graduating in the same class, the brothers aren't twins - their birthdays are separated by about nine months. Terrence is an excellent athlete, with good speed and great leaping ability. I'm afraid that his athletic skills don't quite translate into being a great football player, though. There's just a little something missing.

But this team needs help in the defensive backfield, and Terrence might be a little further along than Courtney Avery at this point. There's been some indication from insiders that Terrence's upside is questionable, and his ceiling might be limited to special teams coverage. I have a feeling that his situation might be similar to that of sophomore defensive back Teric Jones, who played scarce minutes in 2009 because the coaches didn't want to burn Justin Turner's redshirt. In other words, the coaches would rather have the player with less upside (Jones, possibly Terrence Talbott) use up his eligibility in four years rather than devoting a scholarship to him for a fifth year.

We'll see what happens, but I'm guessing we'll see Terrence on the field against Massachusetts and/or against other teams against whom the score gets out of hand.

2010 Recruiting Grades: Slot Receiver

Two slot receivers joined the class of 2010, both of whom committed early in the process.

New England Patriot receiver Drew Dileo

The first is Drew Dileo, a 5'10", 175 lb. player from Greenwell Springs, LA. Despite not having overwhelmingly impressive offers, Dileo can fill a role at Michigan - punt returner. Since Steve Breaston left after the 2006 season, Michigan has suffered from poor to mediocre punt returning. The role was assumed by guys like Donovan Warren (who took a lot of chances), Greg Mathews (sure-handed but slow), Martavious Odoms (whose butterfingers only show on punt/kick returns), and Junior Hemingway (again, slow). Dileo can play slot receiver, but his earliest chance to contribute will probably be on special teams.

It's a good thing this photographer had a high-speed shutter.

The second commitment at slot receiver comes from D.J. Williamson, from Warren, OH. Williamson is listed at 6'1" and 172 lbs., meaning he's thin and willowy. He has state championship track speed, but unfortunately, that speed hasn't necessarily shown itself on the football field. Since his commitment, he struggled through a senior season in which he was injured and his quarterback play was subpar. He could play out wide or in the slot, but said on National Signing Day that he'll start off inside.

Predictions: Dileo reminds me of New England Patriots receiver . . . Troy Brown. He'll probably redshirt in 2010, as guys like Odoms and Jeremy Gallon could handle the punt returning duties. But at some point in his career, we'll likely see Dileo deployed as a sure-handed, occasionally exciting returner. Williamson as a slot receiver intrigues me. When he appeared to be an outside receiver in the making, I thought he would get outmuscled and I'm not impressed with his route running. He has reportedly suffered from the dropsies at times, but if he can get that problem worked out, Williamson could be a speedy Roy Roundtree in the slot working against slower linebackers and safeties. As it is, I don't see him contributing for a couple years.

Grade: B. Neither player is an immediate-impact sort, but they don't need to be with guys like Martavious Odoms, Jeremy Gallon, Terrence Robinson, and Roy Roundtree ahead of them (in addition to Teric Jones and Kelvin Grady, who could play slot). Dileo fills a hole, and Williamson has the speed to make a few big plays before all is said and done. Ultimately, this is a position/class where Rodriguez could afford to "miss" with a player or two and not suffer greatly in the future.

Delonte Hollowell, Wolverine

Munchkinland High School cornerback Delonte Hollowell

Cornerback Delonte Hollowell, a Class of 2011 recruit from Cass Tech High School in Detroit, MI, committed to the University of Michigan two weekends ago. He had been hinting at an impending commitment to Michigan for a few weeks, and he actually committed silently to the coaches a week before it became public.

Hollowell is listed at 5'8" and 163 lbs., so he follows in the line of midget cornerbacks that Michigan has recruited out of Cass Tech. Class of 2008 cornerback Boubacar Cissoko, class of 2009 slot receiver/cornerback/slot receiver Teric Jones (who's moving back to offense for the spring), and class of 2010 cornerback Dior Mathis (committed to Oregon) were all listed in that 5'8" range. Their one Big Ten-worthy defensive back who hasn't been offered by Michigan is Daniel Easterly, who's 6'4" and headed to Missouri this year.

Hollowell is Michigan's second commit overall - and second cornerback commit - of the 2011 class. Greg Brown, from Fremont, OH, committed back in September. With at least three cornerbacks in the 2010 class and anywhere from 3-5 safeties, don't expect Michigan to pursue many more defensive backs in 2011. They'll probably go hard after safety Ron Tanner, from Columbus, and that might be it.

As with most short cornerbacks, I'm not a big fan of the Hollowell commitment. Short cornerbacks automatically have issues with bigger receivers, and Michigan seems to be recruiting a lot of them recently. I wasn't enamored with either Cissoko or Mathis when they were coming out of high school (Teric Jones only played offense), but I'd take both of them over Hollowell. He lacks the elite athleticism and speed that the other two seemed to have. Hollowell does have excellent hands and adjusts well to the ball when it's in the air. But I'm afraid that bigger and/or faster wide receivers will give him trouble at the next level.

TTB Rating: 58

Michigan 63, Delaware State 6

5th string QB Jack Kennedy

Don't get me wrong - I thoroughly enjoyed Saturday's victory. I don't have the Big Ten Network, so by the time I got out of Saturday morning football practice and got to the sports bar where I watch BTN games, it was about 12:15 p.m. and I had already missed two touchdowns.

But I don't think I learned much about this team. Every Michigan player who looked good was doing so against a walk-on-type player. If you had any doubts about Delaware State's lack of talent, consider fourth-string QB David Cone's final stat line of 3/3 for 54 yards.

Michigan set records with 727 total yards and 461 rushing yards. True freshman running back Vincent Smith had 17 carries for 166 yards and 1 touchdown. Redshirt freshman scout team running back Michael Cox had 82 yards on 11 carries, including a 57-yard TD. Even failed tailback-turned-fullback had 73 yards and a touchdown on a 9.1 yard average per carry.

In short, yesterday was ridiculous.

However, I have to admit I was a bit disappointed in Michigan's defense. This is surely nit-picking, but Michigan only recorded 2 sacks (both via Brandon Graham) on 36 dropbacks. The Wolverines didn't force a single turnover. They held Delaware State to 2.5 yards per carry and only gave up two field goals, so I'm not alarmed. However, for a team that's good enough to score 63 points, it sure would be nice to see the defense perform just as dominantly.

Offensive game ball goes to...Michael Cox. Vincent Smith had better statistics, but I wasn't that impressed with Smith. He has adequate speed, elusiveness, and strength, but nothing I saw really wowed me. Cox, on the other hand, looks like the second coming of Brandon Minor. He runs hard and the first tackler almost never brings him down. And while he didn't exactly look fast on that 57-yarder, he's fast enough to get the job done.

Defensive game ball goes to...Brandon Graham, I guess. Nobody on defense looked that impressive. Graham had 2 sacks and 3 tackles total. For such a dominating performance, it was kind of a yawner on this side of the ball.

Let's see less of this guy on offense...backup running backs. It would be great to have both Carlos Brown and Brandon Minor healthy. For once. They've been together for four years, and I don't know if they've been 100% healthy at the same time for even one game in that span.

Let's see less of this guy on defense...Teric Jones. This was Teric Jones's first extended playing time at cornerback, and it's pretty clear why the coaches moved Troy Woolfolk back to CB instead of perhaps giving more playing time to Jones. He's only a true freshman and he didn't play CB in high school, so he's only been playing cornerback for about two months. But Delaware State was able to pick on him a little bit, and he didn't really seem up to the challenge yet. Hopefully the defensive backfield can stay healthy enough for the rest of this year to keep Jones from having to play critical minutes.

Michigan 36, Indiana 33

I've been busy this week. Between losing power on Thursday evening, not getting home until after midnight last night, and Saturday morning practice, I didn't have a chance to write a preview for the Indiana game. But these are the games that always scare me the most. Not the Toledo or Eastern Michigan or Appalachian State games, because we win most of those and if we don't, well, that's just how the cookie crumbles.

No, what scare me are the games against second-rate Big Ten teams like Indiana, Northwestern, Michigan State, etc. Those games are ones that shouldn't be huge impediments on the way to playing for a Big Ten title but too often rise up to bite you in the ass or at least make you nervous.

Today's game was no exception. Indiana made it tough on Michigan before the Wolverines eked one out in the last couple minutes.

Offensively, Michigan frustrated me more today than at any other time this year. They seemed completely out of sync for the majority of the game. Luckily, Carlos Brown scored two early touchdowns and Tate Forcier led two late TD drives in the fourth quarter. Between those points, though, Michigan looked discombobulated.

Replacement center David Moosman had troubles snapping the ball, and both Denard Robinson and Forcier had troubles handling it. Michigan has resurrected the freeze play, where the center snaps the ball when he sees someone jump offsides. It's supposed to earn Michigan five yards, which it did . . . once. But the freshman quarterbacks clearly aren't prepared to run it, and neither is Moosman, since he snapped the ball one time when Indiana defensive end Greg Middleton had already got back onside. In total, it lost yards for Michigan and could end up being a turnover if, for example, the snap on the Middleton play had bounced off Forcier's knee or facemask and ended up in the hands of a Hoosier.

The game always looks like it's going too fast for Denard Robinson. It's like I looked when I was little and watching my brother play Frogger; then my mom would call him to take the garbage out, I'd grab the joystick, adrenaline myself across the road, and then drown in the river. Robinson runs the ball well and has a limit of one good throw per game. He led one good drive today and made a nice throw on a seam route to Kevin Koger. After that play the coaches should have patted him on the dreadlocked head, said "Nice job," and handed him a baseball cap (until, of course, he was needed again once Forcier got hurt).

Offensive coordinator Calvin Magee went away from the running game for a while. I have no explanation for this. Carlos Brown started the game with a 61-yard TD on a screen pass, scored a 41-yard rushing TD on the next drive, and then became a bystander for a couple quarters. We can run the ball. Our co-starters at running back, Brown and Brandon Minor, had 23 carries for 123 yards. That's 5.3 yards per carry. But 23 carries is what ONE of those guys should have, not the combination of the two, especially when Forcier and Robinson combined for 21 rushes. The guys who earned scholarships for running the ball should run it, not the guys who earned scholarships for their throwing arms.

This is partly on Forcier as well. In my opinion, Forcier is horrible at running the read option. Even when the backside defensive end stays home to contain the quarterback, Forcier tries to make things happen on his own. He's simply not athletic enough to make it work. Hopefully his reads will improve as he gets more and more experience. I guess the coaches have to keep calling the play to keep the defense honest, but Forcier needs to realize that the best thing about that play is the element of surprise when he keeps the ball. If I were an opposing defensive coordinator, I would tell my defensive ends, "If you stay home, this chump is going to keep the ball a couple times when he shouldn't, and you better make him regret it."

Defensively, it really hurts to have so little depth and experience in the defensive backfield. I thought the linebackers played better than they did last week and the defensive line did an okay job, but our defensive backfield is in shambles. Donovan Warren made one poor tackle attempt, but the Indiana didn't want to test him much. Boubacar Cissoko was replaced early by J.T. Floyd, and neither played well. Meanwhile, strong safety Troy Woolfolk is a position-changer from cornerback who missed some tackles, and former walk-on Jordan Kovacs started at free safety and missed several assignments. Indiana took advantage of the inexperience on the back end, and you can bet that other Big Ten teams will, too. I think Michigan State will have an excellent day throwing the ball next week.

Offensive game ball goes to . . . Carlos Brown (2). He had 144 yards from scrimmage (83 rushing, 61 receiving) and two touchdowns. He ran the ball well most of the day, and what he lacks in toughness, he makes up for in home run ability.

Defensive game ball goes to . . . Jonas Mouton (1). Mouton led the team in tackles with 11 and had half a tackle for loss. He reacted slowly a couple times but he stepped up to fill a hole a couple times and made some nice hits. He didn't have a great game, but nobody really did.

Let's see less of this guy on offense . . . David Moosman (1). He can play guard. That's fine. He's a pretty good guard. In fact, with his main competition at center coming from redshirt freshman Rocko Khoury, he might well be our best center with starter David Molk out (broken foot). But I hope Molk is a quick healer. Moosman had a few bad snaps, and his quarterbacks didn't do a great job of bailing him out.

Let's see less of this guy on defense . . . J.T. Floyd (2). I think Cissoko re-injured his shoulder injury, but I have a hard time believing that freshmen Justin Turner and Teric Jones are significantly worse than Floyd. At this point, I have to believe the coaches are trying their best to preserve Turner's redshirt. Jones's has already been burned. But Floyd was responsible for at least three big plays today: 1) the missed pass break-up that ended in a big gain, 2) the 85-yard rush TD by Darius Willis in which Floyd made a poor attempt to tackle, and 3) the pass interference on the right sideline - the ball was uncatchable, but Floyd still had a hand full of jersey.