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