ESPN.com released its ‘Position U’ rankings, which identify the schools that produce the most college football talent at each position. It turns out, the Michigan Wolverines have been some of the best at churning out high-level players at offensive line, linebacker, tight end and wide receiver.
The evaluations are, of course, bit subjective, but Hale revealed the process he used for determining the criteria for the rankings.
“It’s a combination of college success, draft stock and NFL success,” he wrote. “Our formula awards points for all-conference and All-America selections, rewarding the best college performers. It awards points on a sliding scale based on where a player is drafted, rewarding impressive NFL evaluations.
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“Then, using data from Pro Football Reference, we add more points for production through the first five years of the player’s NFL career — beyond that, credit belongs to the NFL trainers and coaches — so that the draft busts and the late bloomers all get credit, too. Of course, we also need to account for the transfer portal, which is an increasingly big issue in the rankings. Our plan: Awards won in college belong to the school where it happened. The draft and NFL production get credited to the last school a player played for.
“Lastly, success in developing fullbacks in the 1950s doesn’t really translate to the modern game, so we had to determine a more precise timeline for inclusion. We set our starting point at 1998, the start of the BCS era, only counting players developed since then.”
It’s no surprise that Michigan checks in No. 5 nationally at producing offensive linemen. The Wolverines have seen 17 of their offensive linemen become NFL Draft picks since 1997, including All-Americans Jon Jansen, Steve Hutchinson, who was just inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, David Baas, Jake Long and Taylor Lewan. More recently, all five of the Maize and Blue’s starting 2019 line has since been selected in the draft.
The Wolverines trail No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Wisconsin, No. 3 Ohio State and No. 4 Oklahoma for offensive line production.
Meanwhile, Michigan slots seventh at linebacker, behind No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 USC, No. 5 Penn State and No. 6 Oklahoma. The Wolverines have had four All-Americans — Larry Foote, LaMarr Woodley, Jabrill Peppers and Devin Bush — at the position since 1998, and have seen 17 ‘backers picked during the observed time frame.
Michigan ranks ninth in producing tight ends, slotting behind No. 1 Miami, No. 2 Iowa, No. 3 Stanford, No. 4 Florida, No. 5 Missouri, No. 6 Wisconsin, No. 7 Oklahoma and No. 8 Notre Dame.
Most notably, the Wolverines developed Jake Butt into a two-time All-American in 2015 and 2016, while Bennie Joppru also earned the distinction in 2002. In addition to those two, who were both NFL Draft choices, Michigan has seen five more of its tight ends become draft selections since ’98.
Finally, the Wolverines slotted 10th for wide receivers, trailing No. 1 USC, No. 2 LSU, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Alabama, No. 5 Ohio State, No. 6 Florida State, No. 7 Oklahoma State, No. 8 Florida and No. 9 Clemson.
While Michigan hasn’t had an All-American wideout since Braylon Edwards in 2004, the Wolverines did have two to earn the honor during the time frame — Marquise Walker and David Terrell — before him. In addition, they’ve had 16 receivers drafted since 1998, including Nico Collins this past spring.
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