Breaking Down Jalen Mayfield And Ambry Thomas Going Pro With Big Ten News Potentially Looming
We've already outlined and discussed how both Jalen Mayfield and Ambry Thomas have opted to forego their remaining eligibility at Michigan to prepare for the 2021 NFL Draft, but it all feels a little bit different today.
According to reports from from several prominent media members, the Big Ten coaches and athletic directors are discussing multiple start dates for the season. Early October, sometime around Thanksgiving, New Year’s Day and mid-January have all been discussed but no decisions have been made at this time. There are a lot of moving parts considering that the school presidents and athletic directors, as well as televisions executives, all have to get on the same page before anything can actually happen.
With that said, did Mayfield and Thomas make a decision too soon?
Unfortunately, one thing is clear — it doesn't matter.
Mayfield and Thomas are both done at Michigan. They're not at school anymore and they are not and have not been practicing with the rest of the team. They've made their decisions and can't reverse course now.
With Mayfield gone, offensive line coach Ed Warinner has to find a completely new unit. All five starters from last year are now NFL bound making Warinner's job extremely challenging. He does have two players with starting experience in redshirt sophomore Ryan Hayes and redshirt junior Andrew Stueber, but they haven't played much and the rest of the crop is extremely green.
A little over a week ago, I discussed Michigan's potential starting lineup.
If I had to take a stab at the starting offensive line today, I'd say it'll be Hayes at left tackle, Carpenter at center and Barnhart at right tackle. Throw Filiaga and Stueber in at the two guard spots and give it a go.
LT - Ryan Hayes
LG - Chuck Filiaga
C - Zach Carpenter
RG - Andrew Stueber
RT - Karsen Barnhart
Since then I've learned that redshirt freshman Trevor Keegan may actually have an edge at guard over Chuck Filiaga. However it shakes out, Warinner does have some talent to work with and, based on his track record, he'll figure it out and do very well with his guys.
At cornerback, Mike Zordich also has his job cut out for him. With Thomas off to the pros, Zordich has no starters to choose from. He will almost certainly trot redshirt sophomore Vincent Gray out there to hold down one spot, but the other one is completely up for grabs. Per a source who has seen every rep by every cornerback over the last few years, redshirt freshman DJ Turner or redshirt sophomore Gemon Green will win the job. We haven't seen either of them in action, but they're reportedly ready to step up and Zordich has been quite complimentary of Turner in the past.