The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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bining to complete just 47.4 percent of their 215 throws this season. The line is, arguably, the most feared in the Big Ten and has proven itself through every statistical measurement — and in the way each quarterback has had a season-worst performance against the Maize and Blue — to be one of the nation's best. Best Player: DE Willie Henry Most Improved: NT Maurice Hurst On The Rise: DE Taco Charlton Impact Freshman: None Linebacker: A- Reason For The Grade: No position features more seniors than linebacker, where U-M employs five — inside back- ers Joe Bolden, Desmond Morgan and James Ross, and outside Buck lineback- ers Mario Ojemudia and Royce Jenkins- Stone — and thus, expectations were high for this group. Morgan has proven invaluable. He rarely, if ever, comes off the field and is the lone linebacker that can play in all situations. He has shown off that versa- tility with a sack, an interception, three passes broken up and a forced fumble, while tallying 44 total stops. Bolden looked like an animal in the Michigan spring game, but has strug- gled to transition into a dominant gameday player. He does serve a valu- able role, lining up the defense when on the field. After a slow start, Ojemudia was de- veloping into a force in his attacking role, recording four tackles for loss in wins over UNLV, BYU and Maryland, but he went down with an Achilles injury against the Terrapins and is lost for the season. His replacement, Jenkins-Stone, has so far been stout against the run, but he lacks the dynamic pass-rush talent Ojemudia possessed — he had 22 tack- les but no sacks through seven contests — though he should progress with ex- perience. With a healthy Ojemudia, this group, which also includes junior Ben Gedeon, could have flourished, but without him, it lacks a playmaker, tallying just 9.5 tackles for loss in seven games. Best Player: ILB Desmond Morgan Most Improved: ILB James Ross On The Rise: OLB Royce Jenkins-Stone Impact Freshman: None Secondary: A- Reason For The Grade: It takes 11 men defensively to unnerve a quarterback, but when those signal callers do have time in the pocket they're not consis- tently finding open receivers to tar- get with the football. Through seven games, Michigan boasted an 85.42 pass efficiency defensive rating, the best mark nationally through Oct. 17. According to ProFootballFocus.com's grading scale, junior Jourdan Lewis is the best cornerback in college football this season. Lewis' 16 passes defended — 14 passes broken up and two inter- ceptions — are the most by a Wolverine since cornerback Leon Hall had 18 in 2006. MSU wide receiver Aaron Burbridge caught nine balls matched up against Lewis, but the U-M defender had six passes broken up, including two on the Spartans' final offensive drive, making a pair of big stops to, seemingly, clinch the win. Teams that shy away from throwing at