Welcome to August, everybody! Fall camp is about to get underway and we are really in the home stretch now. The Michigan Wolverines football team is almost back.
As we approach the season, we get more and more eager to have our offseason questions answered. We’re getting close to when we finally get those questions answered, so let’s pose some more of them. I have one question for each position group of the 2022 Michigan football team. Let’s start with the offense:
Quarterbacks
This one is easy — who is going to be the guy at quarterback this season? JJ McCarthy or Cade McNamara? You all know the story on this one. McNamara is a Big Ten championship-winning player, but McCarthy is a former five-star loaded with talent. This is one of the biggest questions surrounding this team.
Running Backs
How are the running backs going to perform after losing Hassan Haskins? Last season, the Wolverines had the dynamic duo of Haskins and Blake Corum. This year, they still have Corum, but Donovan Edwards will be the other member of this year’s duo. Edwards showed his skill last year, and Harbaugh constantly raves about him. I think the room is going to be juuuuuust fine.
Wide Receivers
Can Ronnie Bell stay healthy? This position room is stacked and everyone is excited about the return of Bell. In less than one game last year, Bell was already making highlight reel moments. Everyone was excited, and then he went down with a season-ending ACL injury. If he stays healthy, he is going to have a monster year.
Tight Ends
How much action will the tight ends get? Erick All and Luke Schoonmaker are as good as it gets, but I wonder how Michigan will distribute this wealth with the amount of talent at every position.
Offensive Line
Can the line repeat as Joe Moore Award winners? The offensive line lost some valuable talent from a year ago, but still returns some important members and struck gold in the transfer portal with Olu Oluwatimi at center. This unit can be just as good, if not better.
Now let’s look at the defense:
Defensive Line
What is this defensive line going to look like without Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo? This is the biggest question surrounding the defense. These two put up numbers last year that don’t come around often. Obviously, Michigan still has a lot of talent and a lot of hungry guys coming in this year, but will it be enough?
Linebackers
Can this be the best unit on Michigan’s defense? When you look at the guys that are projected to start, it’s a solid list of players who have experience and have shown a lot of talent: Nikhai Hill-Green, Junior Colson and Michael Barrett. I think this is going to be a superb group, despite the lack of hypo this preseason surrounding this group.
Safeties/Corners
I wanted to clump the whole secondary together because I have one question that applies to both: Is this secondary good enough to contain Ohio State’s pass game? Obviously, it’s just one game on the schedule, but it’s the most important and could decide Michigan’s season. So even though it’s just one game, if the secondary can’t stop that attack, it could cost the Wolverines a Big Ten title and CFP appearance.