Michigan Football: 2017 Season Will Not Be One Of "Transition"

Michigan football waved goodbye to a good number of starters, especially on defense, last season, but that doesn’t mean 2017 is a “transition” year.

Last offseason, there was this ridiculous notion being passed around that Michigan football was still “one year away.” I hate that on principal because it’s a cliche that has practically saturated every team sport (and because no one is ever pushed to answer what exactly they’re “one year away” from). But I also took issue with it because it seemed to be just blatantly false.

That was a senior-laden team coming off its first double-digit-win season since 2011. That they lost three of their last four games was devastating mainly because they spent every game up to that point looking like a playoff team.

Here we are now in this offseason, and I don’t know if it’s because people need something to talk about or if it’s because producing hot takes is the industry’s best form of carpet bombing, but we’re now being told next season will be one of transition.

Tom Dienhart of BTN.com says in his schedule breakdown for the Wolverines: “No doubt, the 2017 season will be a year of transition for the program.”

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Matt Brown from Sports On Earth takes an entire column to tamper expectation for this season:

"For the first time, Michigan will be built around players Harbaugh signed, and Michigan will look a lot different than his first two Wolverines squads. It appears to be a Michigan team in transition, likely with tempered top-20 expectations rather than top-five aspirations, especially because division rivals Ohio State and Penn State both return many more key players from their major bowl teams."

To to the notion of Michigan being in a transition, I will give this: Yes, the Wolverines are transitioning from one player to the next, and yes, a few facets of the game may look different than they have in the previous two years.

But for every new face and every new scheme, there’s the matter of a schedule laced with opponents, and—please tell me if this phrase is appearing too often—the pre-existing conditions of this team.

Michigan’s schedule starts with a high-profile game against Florida in the Cowboy Classic at AT&T Stadium. After that, though, the Wolverines probably won’t be underdogs until an Oct. 21 night game at Penn State, and that’s not a given.

Not to take unnecessary jabs at Rutgers, Minnesota or Maryland, but Michigan’s next real threats probably won’t come until the final two games of the regular season: at Wisconsin and then home against Ohio State.

More important than the schedule is the fact that Michigan is not bringing in swaths of unproven talent to replace the greats of last season.

Let’s welcome Chris Evans to the potential No. 1 running back role. And the touchdown machine, Khalid Hill, at fullback. And an offensive line featuring Mason Cole, Ben Bredeson and Patrick Kugler.

Defensively, there’s Maurice Hurst, Bryan Mone, Rashan Gary and Chase Winovich along the line (that’s something to be excited about). Mike McCray is back at linebacker. Khaleke Hudson looks like a worthy replacement for Jabrill Peppers.

The talent and depth is less proven in the secondary, but the spring game showed at the very least that there’s not reason to be sweating.

Next: Top 10 running backs in Michigan history

The “one year away” idea espoused last offseason was lazy rhetoric. A different claim this year—”transition”—is not lazy, but ill-informed.

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Michigan Football: 2017 Season Will Not Be One Of “Transition”

By Tyler Fenwick | May 11, 2017

Michigan football waved goodbye to a good number of starters, especially on defense, last season, but that doesn’t mean 2017 is a “transition” year.

More from GBMWolverine