The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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THE WOLVERINE 2018 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ■ 69 BY CHRIS BALAS F or years, Michigan put wide re- ceivers into the NFL like Mi- chael Jackson churned out hits in his prime. Not a year went by, it seemed, that the Wolverines were bereft of at least one pro talent on the roster, and in some years — 2004 comes to mind, with Braylon Edwards, Jason Avant and Steve Breaston manning the position — there was a crop of them. Having more than one big-time playmaker is often the difference between first and sec- ond place. When you throw in a few outstanding re- ceivers with a 1,000-yard back and a passer who can get them the ball, you get the 2004 squad — or the last Michigan team to win a Big Ten title. Running back Mike Hart would prove to be elite; Edwards, Avant and Breaston were one of the nation's best trios; and freshman quarterback Chad Henne was capable of get- ting them the ball. Since then, only two Michigan receiv- ers — Mario Manningham (U-M, 2005-07) and Devin Funchess (2012-14) — have had solid NFL success, a noticeable hole during a dearth of championships. Edwards predicted last year, after watch- ing film on the Wolverines' incoming fresh- man class, that was about to change. "I think it's one of the most talented I've ever seen, if not the most talented," Edwards said of U-M's 2017 recruiting class of re- ceivers. "I can't really name a drop-off in players. From Brad [Hawkins] to Oliver [Martin] to Donovan Peoples-Jones to Tarik Black, I like everything about them." Hawkins has since moved to defense, but each of the others — as well as another freshman in 6-4 Nico Collins — backed the legend's thoughts up with very good springs. Head coach Jim Harbaugh, though, said there was no mistaking the top two out of spring ball, noting Black and Peoples-Jones were tied as the most impressive of the bunch. Last year, Harbaugh seemed to challenge them by listing one in front of the other dur- ing different weeks — one week Black was the guy, the next he'd say, "I think Dono- van's moved past him." Black, though, was the most ready, and he proved it out of the gate. He caught two passes for 83 yards in his first game in a Michigan uniform, including a 46-yard touchdown in a 33-17 win over Florida in Texas, and he was on track to break the Wol- verines' freshman receiving record before breaking his foot in week three against Air Force. Peoples-Jones did his best to pick up the slack, but being "the man" as a frosh is no easy task, especially when he's the focus of opposing defenses. When there are two men to concentrate on, though, and they both have NFL poten- tial and a year to improve in the weight room and on the field, that's when it gets tough for opponents. Ready To Emerge That's where the Wolverines are heading into year four of the Jim Harbaugh era, for- mer Michigan wide receiver Ron Bellamy, now the head coach at West Bloomfield High School in southeast Michigan, said after see- ing a number of practices in the spring. He compared Black and Peoples-Jones to some of the NFL receivers he played with at Michigan — Bellamy was one himself, having spent time with the Detroit Lions — and predicted similar success for U-M's potentially dynamic duo. Sometimes, he said, it just takes time. Those expecting 1,000-yard receivers in their first years just weren't being realistic. "I remember myself after high school … I ran a ton of post and go routes and struggled at the top of my routes getting in and out of breaks and creating separation early on in my career at Michigan," Bellamy recalled. "It's something you had to learn. "We were never asked to do that in high school, and it seems like these kids weren't, either." Fans, though, get caught up in press clip- pings and recruiting rankings, and when Peo- ples-Jones — a five-star prospect according to Rivals.com, and the No. 12 player in the entire country when he committed to the Wolverines over Alabama, Florida and oth- ers — didn't tear it up out of the gate, many wondered what was wrong. On the other side, Black proved in spring ball as an early enrollee that the recruiting analysts might have undervalued him. He was Rivals.com's No. 11 receiver and No. 76 overall player nationally, but it was clear watching him run routes and make catches against U-M's outstanding cornerbacks in practice that he had the makings of some- thing special. "I think he might be one of the most under- rated [prep] receivers in the country," Peo- ples-Jones said last year during spring ball. And he might have been right. Black caught 11 passes for 149 yards and a score before his season-ending injury, which over the course of 12-game regular season would have given him 44 receptions for 596 yards — a conservative estimate given how talented receivers have a tendency to im- prove. Peoples-Jones, for example, struggled mightily to get open on routes in his first several games. He had problems getting sep- aration when he was lined up on the outside against an aggressive defensive back, so the coaches often put him in the slot or tried to get him the ball on an underneath drag route. By the end of the year, however, he had started to figure it out. He caught four passes for 34 yards in game six, a win at Indiana, and was wide open but missed on a bomb on the Wolverines' first possession. He hauled in a 48-yarder as part of a four- catch, 64-yard game in a late-season loss at Wisconsin in which he also had a touchdown called back in controversial fashion, and he brought in a career-high six catches for 58 yards in an Outback Bowl loss to South Carolina. Though his 22 catches and 277 yards fell Black reeled in 11 catches for 149 yards and one touchdown over Michigan's first three contests in 2017, but a broken foot sidelined him for the remainder of the season. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN SECOND-YEAR SENSATIONS Tarik Black And Donovan Peoples-Jones Could Be U-M's Next Outstanding Receiving Duo