STOCK REPORT will be a season-long feature where we rank and rate Michigan football players within their position groups. This is more than a depth chart as we consider the player's impact and potential. After each game, we will reassess the rankings as players see their stock rise while others may see their stock fall.
READ: Where Michigan ranks in every major statistical category after Week 3
READ: The Final Word: 3 final thoughts from Michigan's blowout win over UConn
JJ McCarthy with his first start as a starter, after starting last week, but still competing to be a starter? Does that make sense?
READ: J.J. McCarthy's X-Factor is daily meditation
McCarthy continued to show growth as he looked calm in the pocket and avoided mistakes. Dead horse, obviously understand the fact these games have been against weaker opponents but JJ has executed to near perfection. McCarthy has numbers like an 88.4% completion rate, 13.9 yards per attempt, 4 touchdowns, and no turnovers, and he is the #1 rated passer in the power 5. We will see if the leash comes off a little when Big Ten play starts.
The offense continues to look different with Cade McNamara. He has been sacked 4 times to McCarthy's one. You can try to blame the offensive line or receivers, and while there have been instances where they have done him no favors, he is the 7th rated QB currently. That's not completely fair given the action the others have faced, but he is even with or behind Warren currently.
He just hasn't looked the same this season. While it was great to see the crowd in The Big House cheer for McNamara as we expected they would, unfortunately, he suffered an injury that Jim Harbaugh says will keep him out for a while.
READ: Michigan quarterback Cade McNamara to be out for a 'few weeks'
STOCK UP: Davis Warren has been the second highest-rated QB for Michigan and you have to assume he will take over backup duties with Cade missing action. Maybe things would be different depending on the situation, but right now Alex Orji looks like QB4. He has only thrown one pass, but Michigan looks comfortable having him lead a run-focused offense.
Blake Corum had himself a day tying Michigan's record for rushing touchdowns in a game with 5. A few of those were vulture grabs for sure, but touchdowns are touchdowns. I thought Corum may get a bump in carries with Donovan Edwards out but overall game 3 was very similar to games 1 and 2 for Corum.
CJ Stokes had seen his stock rise in each previous version of the stock report, but he has settled into his RB3 role at this point. This was not his best game of the season, with only 18 yards on 8 carries, but 17 of those yards came after contact. He has been solid in the non-conference schedule, where he has shown flashes of speed and physicality while getting a 5.9 yard per carry average
STOCK UP: Tavierre Dunlap and Isaiah Gash competed for the RB4 spot throughout these first three games and, at this point, I am going with Gash as the clear winner. Gash has rated above Edwards and now Stokes in-game. He has a nice burst and doesn't avoid contact. He has carved out a nice role for himself in this offense.
A top three at wideout remains clear, but I decided to stop avoiding it and make some separation. Ronnie Bell is WR1 after another game where he dominated targets. On the season he has doubled the next closest, fellow starter on the outside Cornelius Johnson.
The biggest separator for me with the top two leading receivers in recent seasons has been catch rate. Johnson has only secured 44% of his targets, creating a huge gap between him and Bell, where CJ has only 4 grabs to Bell's 14. Johnson lines up almost exclusively outside while Bell still gets around a quarter of his snaps from the slot. He has done some serious damage on crossing routes from that spot early in the season.
Roman Wilson is very close to becoming my WR2 in the Stock Report after he caught 3 for 64 against UConn. He has been a home run hitter early for the Wolverines and continues to operate 100% of the time out of the slot. He is Michigan's highest-rated receiver through the first three games. The only reason I have him still at third is usage and the expectation Johnson will get more work on the outside in Big Ten play. One more big game for Wilson though, and a switch may happen.
Wilson is having the year I thought Andrel Anthony was going to have. It is hard to slap him with a Stock Down tag, but I don't have a choice. Anthony has near identical numbers to freshman Amorion Walker and Tyler Morris. I don't expect it to stay this way but right now A2 is now the last guy in Michigan's top 5 receiver core.
STOCK UP: I have been calling for more AJ Henning and we finally got a little. Henning is a big play waiting to happen much like Wilson. While I understand there wasn't a need to show too much early in the season, I expected more usage through the first few games. Henning is a unicorn like Donovan Edwards and those two are going to be matchup nightmares in Big Ten play. Henning is such a weapon as a receiver, runner, and as we saw against the Huskies as a returner.
Erick All and Luke Schoonmaker have not yet been allowed to show much of what they can do as receivers. Not shocking again with this non-conference slate, but both players will hopefully begin to make more impact soon. They have been solid as run blockers, as has Joel Honigford who often lines up with Schoonmaker in run sets.
Colston Loveland is such a fun prospect who is 4 for 4 on targets so far. He is going to find his way onto the field as a receiving threat multiple times this season.
STOCK UP: Max Bredeson welcome to the report. After a big catch and run last week, Bredeson followed it up with a solid contribution day. Want to get on the field under Jim Harbaugh? Block in the run game. Well, Bredeson is currently ranked as the #1 run blocker for the Wolverines. He even lined up as a true fullback in a goal line set. At this point, I have to put Bredeson in as TE4.
STOCK UP: Ryan Hayes was Michigan's best run blocker last week against Hawaii. He is once again great in the run game and very good in the passing game. Through 3 games he is Michigan's #1 run blocker and #2 pass blocker, which gets him a slight edge over Olu Oluwatimi. No knocks on Olu, he had a below-average game in the previous week against the Rams, but he is still positioned to be one of the best centers in the country.
Zak Zinter has been bouncing back and is now Michigan's 3rd best pass blocker behind Hayes and Olu, and 2nd best run blocker ahead of Olu. Zinter has played 131 snaps, all with Olu and Trente Jones. Zinter has arguably the toughest adjustment to make this season, with new starters on each shoulder. With those snap counts, it is obvious Michigan is trying to get the trio comfortable.
Jones is a great example of an initial eye test and film rewatch not necessarily matching up. My gut reaction was Jones struggled against UConn, especially in pass protection. It's true he hasn't been elite and did give up a sack, but he is hardly as bad as some were suggesting. I think it is fair to say he has been Michigan's 5th best starter, but he is the least experienced lineman by far. He has a chance to be good on the outside and if he does start to struggle, Michigan has lots of depth coming along.
STOCK UP: Speaking of that depth, no one has come along quite like Giovanni El-Hadi. He has played 125 snaps through the first three games filling in for Trevor Keegan, who has struggled. It wasn't El-Hadi's best game of the season, but as Michigan's 4th best run blocker and 6th best pass blocker, he rates out as #4 currently.
It is tough to drop Keegan, but I do so expecting him to bounce back quickly. None of the other starters have dealt with what Keegan has early in the season. First having to move out to left tackle against Colorado State and then dealing with an injury of his own against UConn. The grades are what they are, where Keegan is 6th in the run block and 5th in pass block, but he should be back in the 3rd-5th spot soon enough.
ADDITIONAL: Not in this chart, but want to call out the depth of this line once again. Jeffrey Persi, Raheem Anderson, Tristan Bounds, and a healthy Karsen Barnhart have all looked good when on the field. We even got a look at Andrew Gentry against UConn. The transfer from BYU is returning to football after two years off for missionary work, but he graded out as Michigan's best pass blocker Saturday. Small sample size against bad competition, but still great to see.
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