What I Know, What I Think, What I Wonder — The Indiana Week Edition

I know that I am interested to see if CJ Hicks has a role in this defense against real teams. It’s great that they used him against Purdue and Northwestern, but let’s see how many snaps he gets in the first half against Indiana. Early this season, Ryan Day and Jim Knowles were adamant that they didn’t want to move CJ Hicks and that they didn’t want to derail his development at linebacker. A few weeks after that, I posted here that I was told they were now on board with moving him closer to the line of scrimmage. We finally saw that a couple of weeks ago. Hicks is clearly on board with that plan as well.

I think if CJ Hicks is on the field in the first or second quarter against Indiana, that will tell me that he is now a real part of this defensive attack, and also that he has been effective in practice. If he isn’t on the field in the first half, then there is still work that needs to be done.

I wonder if we’re seeing more redshirt freshmen play on the offensive line because of recruiting misses or because of recruiting hits. Carson Hinzman started last year because Luke Wypler left early, but it was basically him or Jakob James. He didn’t do poorly for a redshirt freshman. Austin Siereveld is starting because of injuries, and he’s done fine relative to his experience. But are they starting simply because of the guys they didn’t land or didn’t develop? Or would they be playing in any other given year as well?

I know that the mood the day after Seth McLaughlin’s injury was much more upbeat than you’d expect. This was showcased in what was a very good practice on Wednesday. I compare it to the day Christian Bryant got injured in 2013 and Urban Meyer smacked the podium because he knew what that injury meant.

I think maybe we’ve seen Will Howard turn the corner on the downfield passing. It’s not always going to be perfect, but they have been working on getting the footwork right. There have been times this year when he couldn’t pull the trigger because his feet weren’t prepared and he knew the throw wouldn’t get there in time. The better his feet are, the quicker he can pull the trigger downfield. But also the more accurate he’ll be as well.

To read the rest of this edition of What I Know, What I Think, What I Wonder, you can click here, but you’ll need to be a premium subscriber. Additional topics include more on CJ Hicks, the ongoing development of Jeremiah Smith, Gee Scott’s usage, offensive line development and response, the Buckeye cornerbacks, Michigan landing a commitment from Bryce Underwood, the comparison to Tavien St. Clair, Michigan’s locker room, Carson Hinzman’s future, Brandon Inniss’ snaps, and more.