Michigan Football Tidbits: Future NFL drafts and Michigan players

NFL draft is over and just for fun, here is a look at how current Michigan players may fare in future drafts.

NOTE: Will add that players prospects could change significantly in the next few years mainly because player development at Michigan is now a very high priority.

B. Graham:
What a great choice he made in coming back for his senior season. Many former Michigan players including Woodley advised him to do so and he has shown great progress in strength under Barwis.

However, he has some limitations in that he may be too small for a 4-3 type defensive end in NFL, but could be a perfect fit in a New England or Pittsburgh type of defense. In addition, assuming he has a big senior year, two summers under Barwis wil help a lot. I now think he will go late first round next year, probably to either Pittsburgh or New England.

Warren:
Assuming he leaves after this year. He seems most likely to leave with a decent year, since he doesn’t seem very happy with playing college football and everything that goes with it. As of now late second or third round pick. That all depends on this year of course. Warren seems to have finally adjusted to the new staff and is at least displaying a renewed interest and work ethic, unlike last year. There are good signs that Donovan is planning on having a big summer and being an impact player in 2009. He could go late in the second round.

Ortmann:
I know Ortmann has struggled at times at Michigan, but consider how things have gone for him here. He came to Michigan as a tight end and immediately moved to offensive tackle. During his red shirt first year, coaches were very excited about his potential. Under Gittleson’s program, Michigan really attempted to bulk him up.Ortmann seemed to lose a lot of his quickness and then suffered a chest injury that prevented him from lifting for over eight months. Despite this, Jake Long often commented about his work ethic and projected him as being a top player at Michigan.

Two years ago during spring, Ortmann was actually one of our best offensive linemen and was projected to start. However, coaches decided to start Schilling at right tackle instead which limited his playing time. Then Coach Rod comes in with Coach Frey and completely changed the system, but Ortmann starts at left tackle and of course struggles.

In the meantime, Barwis’ program (which I continue to point out) is harder on the bigger players and Ortmann lost weight, regained his quickness, but also lost some of his strength. Now Ortmann is where he should have been three years ago. During this spring he won accolades from coaches as the most improved offensive linemen on team.

He has good size, his strength is back, and he is a good pass protector with above average athleticism. With a healthy senior year and good combine next year, Ortmann could go as high as the fourth round, which would be a huge improvement over just a year ago.

Minor:
Good NFL size and more than enough speed, but probably will be somewhere around a low fourth or high fifth round picked. Why you ask? Mainly his running style. He runs upright–which is fine if you have top athletic talent–but in Minor’s case, it will hurt his stock.

C. Brown:
Completely different story on C. Brown and his NFL future in terms of draft status. It will probably be similar to his career at Michigan–boom or bust. NFL teams will be impressed with is speed, but depending on his senior year they may be turned off by his lack of production and all his injury problems.

However, some NFL teams like taking chances on players who are able to put up great combine numbers. C. Brown may be one of those players. Because of that, I predict C. Brown may go higher than Minor and probably somewhere in round four, assuming he shows some productivity this year and stays healthy.

S. Brown:
Similar to C. Brown, but in S. Brown’s case his inability to play safety will hurt him and he is just too small for NFL linebacker. So maybe a late six or early seventh round, but more likely a free agent type of player.

Matthews:
Speed, speed, speed is going to hurt him when he goes to combines. A seventh round pick.

Looking into the future with some kids:

Schilling:
The move to the inside will really jump-start his chances. His continued progress under Barwis, along with his athleticism, and of course his overall approach will give him a good chance of being a second round draft pick after his eligibility runs out.

Ezeh:
Unless something changes or unless he adds weight and becomes more of a B. Graham type player I do not see him becoming an NFL caliber middle linebacker. Of course as stated above, with player development being a high priority and another two years under Barwis–anything is possible.

Something interesting that when one looks at our current roster, there are very few top round players. Not that this is always an indication of wins and losses for a team, but eventually if Michigan wants to compete with the top BCS teams, Coach Rod and his staff are going to have to significantly upgrade talent.

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Written by CoachBt and ErocWolverine

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