8 — Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
2016 Season Review: Butt tops deep group of tight ends
With the Michigan football team’s
2016 regular season in the books, the
Daily looks back at the performance
of each unit this year and looks
ahead to the future in 2017. In this
edition: tight ends.
At this time a year ago,
Michigan tight end Jake Butt
announced he would put off the
NFL Draft and return for his
senior season. He said he had
unfinished business. And while
he didn’t get to finish all of it, he’ll
still go down as one of the best
tight ends in program history.
Butt was the clear No. 1 option
at that position again this season
for the Wolverines, perhaps an
even more central figure than
last year. In 2015, A.J. Williams
complemented his blocking skills
with 12 catches for 129 yards.
This year, the next-most frequent
target was redshirt freshman
Tyrone Wheatley Jr., who caught
two passes for 27 yards. He and
freshman Devin Asiasi caught their
first career touchdown passes.
Butt’s production dropped off
a bit (from 51 catches and 654
yards to 43 and 518), but for the
first time, he captured the Mackey
Award, given to the best tight
end in the country. He now holds
Michigan records for receptions
and receiving yards by a tight end
with 135 catches and 1,618 yards.
Despite receiving fewer targets,
the tight ends were still a focal
point of coach Jim Harbaugh’s
offense, as usual. Butt lifted the
offense, in particular, on third
down, when redshirt sophomore
quarterback
Wilton
Speight
looked to him as a safety net to
move the chains.
HIGH POINT: Butt was fairly
consistent as a short-yardage option
all season, but his biggest impact
came in Week 3 against Colorado,
when he totaled a season-high 87
yards on seven catches. That day,
the Wolverines faced their first
deficit of the season, trailing by two
touchdowns after the first quarter,
and Butt’s presence over the middle
helped them slowly rally.
Two of Butt’s four touchdowns
came a week before against Central
Florida, though Butt also dropped
two passes in that game, a rarity for
the sure-handed senior. Another
memory fans will keep from the
season about Butt is that he was
usually the primary option coming
out of coach Jim Harbaugh’s
famous “train” formation. After
Michigan broke the huddle with
nine players in a straight line under
center, Butt was often the first
target over the middle.
Asiasi
and
Wheatley’s
touchdowns, on Sept. 24 against
Penn State and Oct. 22 against
Illinois,
respectively,
were
promising signs as well.
LOW POINT: The weakest
game for the tight ends, and the
passing game as a whole, came
on Nov. 19 against Indiana, when
redshirt junior quarterback John
O’Korn stepped in for injured
starter Wilton Speight. That day,
the Wolverines completed just
seven passes for a season-low 59
yards, none of which went to a
tight end.
Butt’s lowest production of the
season as an individual came in
the middle four games of the year,
during which he caught just 10
passes for 118 yards, and perhaps
that was because the Wolverines
won three blowouts in that span
and
faced
Wisconsin’s
strong
defense in the other game. Butt
reemerged
down
the
stretch,
opening up the passing game Nov.
5 against Maryland to the tune of
five catches for 76 yards.
THE
FUTURE:
Just
like
at
wide
receiver,
graduation
losses are leaving the cupboard
fairly bare from an experience
standpoint.
The
returning
tight ends — Wheatley, Asiasi,
freshman
Sean
McKeon
and
redshirt sophomore Ian Bunting —
combined for just eight catches for
61 yards. Freshman Nick Eubanks
is another name to watch in the
next couple of years.
Of those players, Bunting seems
like the best option to become the
No. 1 receiving option because
of his size (6-foot-7, 252 lbs.).
Harbaugh loves to make use of tight
ends, though, and whoever steps in
as the starter will have plenty of
opportunities, considering fifth-
year senior wide receivers Amara
Darboh and Jehu Chesson are also
graduating.
GRANT HARDY/Daily
Senior tight end Jake Butt posted his second consecutive All-American season in 2016 and won the Mackey Award.
JAKE LOURIM
Managing Sports Editor
Season Review: Defensive Line
With the Michigan football team’s
2016 regular season in the books, the
Daily looks back at the performance
of each unit this year and looks
ahead to the future in 2017. In this
edition: defensive line.
Michigan entered the 2016
season with its fair share of
question marks. It was unclear
who would start at quarterback,
how the linebackers would fare
and what could be expected from a
safety corps losing a mainstay.
But one position group that
left no reason for concern was the
defensive line. And somehow, the
unit outperformed expectations.
Starting
three
fifth-year
seniors and one true senior, the
Wolverines’ defensive line was
among the nation’s best right from
the outset. Michigan finished
fourth nationally in sacks (44) and
had the second-most sacks per
game with 3.67. The Wolverines
were also the national leaders
in tackles for loss (114) despite
playing one fewer game than
both of their nearest challengers,
Clemson and Penn State.
Senior
defensive
end
Taco
Charlton was a breakout star,
leading the team with 8.5 sacks
and earning considerable NFL
Draft hype in the process. Starting
alongside him were fifth-year
senior
defensive
tackles
Matt
Godin and Ryan Glasgow and fifth-
year senior defensive end Chris
Wormley, the latter two of whom
also have bright NFL futures.
And that was just the starters.
Redshirt junior defensive end
Chase Winovich, redshirt junior
defensive tackle Maurice Hurst and
freshman defensive end Rashan
Gary all had their moments, too.
They helped the Wolverines wear
out opposing offensive lines by
rotating star after star into the
game, constantly fresh in their
pursuit of opposing quarterbacks.
HIGH POINT: At the time,
Michigan’s 49-10 win over Penn
State on Sept. 24 just seemed like
a good team dominating a bad
one. But when the Nittany Lions
ripped off nine straight wins en
route to a Big Ten title and Rose
Bowl berth, it made what the
Wolverines did against Penn
State all the more impressive.
Playing against a team that
finished the season ranked No.
5, Michigan racked up six sacks
and 13 tackles for loss in a total
decimation of James Franklin’s
team. Hurst and Charlton were the
stars of the day, totaling three and
two sacks, respectively.
Really, there were any number
of games that could have gone
in this spot. Michigan was so
consistently good at this position
that picking just one high was
difficult. The first three quarters
against Ohio State, for example,
were arguably the most impressive
the unit played all year.
But games have four quarters, so
a dominating win over one of the
nation’s top teams gets the nod.
LOW POINT: The Wolverines
had their fair share of rough games
against the run — most notably
Central Florida and Iowa — but it’s
hard to assign blame between the
defensive line and the linebackers.
Even Maryland found success
on the ground when it went to the
edge, albeit in an effort that saw the
Terrapins score all of three points,
but it’s not always easy to discern
where the flaws were coming from.
So we’ll give this one to the
Central Florida game, in which
the Knights netted 275 yards on
the ground. That is 22.3 more
than the number of total yards the
Wolverines defense gave up this
season, on average.
After the game, Central Florida
coach Scott Frost declared his
team had outhit Michigan despite
a 51-14 loss. Needless to say, no one
“outhit” the Wolverines’ D-line the
rest of the way.
THE FUTURE: The curse of
starting four seniors is that when
the season ends, you lose four
seniors.
Fortunately for the Wolverines,
though, their second string will all
return, and that unit should still
be among the best in the Big Ten.
Hurst, Gary and Winovich are all
back and should be in contention
for All-Big Ten honors by year’s end.
Joining them should be redshirt
sophomore Bryan Mone, who has
battled injuries throughout his
career but has shown flashes of
dominance in his time on the field.
And while the second-string
spots will be up for grabs, the
Wolverines’ starting four should
be firmly entrenched for another
exceptional season.
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Senior defensive end Taco Charlton led a loaded defensive line with 8.5 sacks.
MAX BULTMAN
Managing Sports Editor