Daily Brews: Donovan Peoples-Jones drawing first round hype for 2020 NFL Draft

Donovan Peoples-Jones has not gotten a ton of action this season at wide receiver due to an early-season injury and Michigan still struggling to find itself offensively, but that has not stopped the potential NFL Draft stock of the junior wide receiver.

Peoples-Jones appeared in some notable draft content this week with ESPN’s Todd McShay listing the wideout as the 26th overall player in his most recent Big Board (ESPN+ required).

“Peoples-Jones will line up outside or in the slot, but no matter where he is running routes, he displays natural hands and the ability to adjust to passes thrown outside his frame,” McShay said.

“He is really smooth in transitioning upfield after the catch and will occasionally lower the shoulder as a tough open-field runner.”

McShay was not the only draft analyst to add to the Peoples-Jones hype this week, as Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller included him in a mock draft that he did on Twitter that sends him to John Harbaugh’s Baltimore Ravens at the No. 21 overall pick.

Peoples-Jones has played in three games this season after missing the first few weeks with a foot injury. In that time, he has notched nine catches for 93 yards and a touchdown reception.

It is still too early to know if Peoples-Jones is going to declare for the draft or not. This is set to be one of the most loaded wide receiver drafts at the top of the board in the last few years with Alabama stars Jerry Jeudy and Henry Ruggs, Oklahoma’s Ceedee Lamb, Colorado’s Laviska Shenault and Clemson’s Tee Higgins all possible first round picks.

It would also be notable for Peoples-Jones to be a first rounder because Michigan has not had a skill player selected in the first 32 picks of the draft since Braylon Edwards went No. 3 overall to the Cleveland Browns in 2005.

Only two wide receivers (Marquise Brown, N’Keal Harry) were drafted in the first round last year, but the star power at the top of the board could change things, especially if Peoples-Jones continues to be on the first round radar in projections. First, we will wait and see if the Wolverines can get him involved in their own offense.

Sherrone Moore helps continue the Dax Hill hype

Michigan tight ends coach Sherrone Moore may have his hand in a different position group, but he was his primarily recruiter and hand a big hand in getting the 2019 five-star talent to Ann Arbor.

So far, he has been as advertised.

“(Dax Hill’s talent is kind) of what we thought it would be,” Moore told the media on Wednesday. “A kid that if he walked into the room right now, if you didn’t know it was him you would have no idea he’s here. Just a kid that works, he grinds and he’s going to do what he needs to do. He’s extremely talented and it’s good to see him progress how I thought it would and how the defense thought it would.”

The upside continues to stand out for Hill, who has worked his way into more snaps with the first-team defense and is now the No. 1 player on the depth chart at the nickel position, as Jim Harbaugh said on Monday. Moore sees greater possibilities for this season still ahead.

“He can be as good as he wants to be,” Moore said. “He’s an excellent athlete, he’s as fast as anybody in college football. He’s got great ball skills, all the above. I think it’s going to be him spending time with Coach Partridge and learning every single nuance of what the offense is going to do that week and making sure he knows it just as well as Coach Brown knows it. When he keeps doing that and invests in that, the sky is the limit for him.”

Shea Patterson named 47th-best QB in country by PFF

Pro Football Focus is keeping tabs on all of the starting quarterbacks in Division I and came out with its latest rankings this week, which puts Michigan signal caller Shea Patterson at the 47th-spot overall.

Here is what they had to say about why he is set in that spot:

Speaking of keeping the ball off the turf, Patterson has seemingly started to find his stride after five fumbles marred his first three games. They didn’t put up a ton of offense against Iowa (few should) but limiting mistakes has been Patterson’s recipe for success before and this team will need him to uncork more of his big-time throws that we’ve seen before. He has seven BTTs through six weeks and is seeing an average depth of target of 11.1 on the year and it’s likely we see more big-time throws from the current leader in the Big Ten in career big-time throw numbers.

LSU’s Joe Burrow, Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts, Alabama’s Tua Tagavailoa, Ohio State’s Justin Fields and Texas’ Sam Ehlinger make up the top five.

PFF explains how these rankings come about:

These rankings are based heavily on the individual player’s PFF grades for the season. The avoidance of negatively-graded plays, propensity of positively-graded plays, strength of competition and value towards a team victory are all heavily factored as well. A player’s effect on their team’s offense, their expected points added per dropback (or rushing attempt) and overall accuracy from our advanced ball-charting tracking are also considered among other factors.*

The full list can be seen here.

Other Brews

• Flanagan High School in Florida is set to retire the jersey number of former star player, Michigan Wolverine and current Pittsburgh Steeler Devin Bush on Oct. 17
• USC wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. is calling his shot for the game at Notre Dame, saying that he told the younger players that Saturday’s showdown in South Bend will “be fun when we’re running up the score.”
• A student on campus at Penn State was spotted wearing a Michigan State shirt (she is from the state of Michigan) and James Franklin spotted it, so he literally gave her his PSU vest to cover up with.