Takeaways from Michigan football’s updated 2022 roster

The Michigan Wolverines football team began fall camp Wednesday, and competition is expected to be intense up and down the roster.

Speaking of roster, the program updated its roster for the upcoming season, and there were some interesting things that caught my attention. Here is what stood out:

Mike Sainristil officially listed as DB/WR

The fifth-year senior who has played wide receiver his entire collegiate career appears to be in line for a ton of playing time on the defensive side of the ball this season. Sainristil impressed his coaches and teammates alike during the spring while playing nickel corner, and he even had a few really nice plays in the televised spring game.

Now, he is officially listed as both a defensive back and wide receiver on the updated roster. “DB” does appear first next to his name, which could simply just be alphabetical, but it also could indicate where he is set to receive the bulk of his snaps this year.

Kalel Mullings, who played both running back and linebacker this spring, is only listed as a linebacker on the updated roster. Mullings still could play both this year but for right now, Sainristil is the only official two-way player for the Wolverines.

Tyler McLaurin, Micah Pollard listed as edges

The redshirt freshman from Bolingbrook, Illinois came to Michigan as a linebacker, and was listed as a linebacker last year, but McLaurin is now an edge on the new roster. True freshman Micah Pollard is also an edge; he was recruited to Ann Arbor as a linebacker.

McLaurin is 6-foot-3 and 231 pounds, while Pollard is 6-foot-2 and 202 pounds, so these guys are two very different edge players at the moment. I imagine McLaurin will be in line for some snaps at the linebacker/edge rusher spot David Ojabo exceled at last season, but I fully expect that to be Jaylen Harrell’s job in 2022.

Since he is stuck behind the aforementioned guys, and on the lighter side, I expect Pollard to be redshirted and bulk up in the strength and conditioning program.

The true freshman class is swole, jacked, yolked

These dudes RIPPED.

For real, though, it’s actually kinda crazy how physically gifted this group is.

Allow me to just name a handful: Wide receiver Darrius Clemons is listed at 6-foot-3, 214 pounds. Defensive tackle Mason Graham is 6-foot-3, 317 pounds. Defensive end Derrick Moore is 6-foot-3, 279 pounds. Defensive back Damani Dent is 5-foot-11, 196 pounds, and shredded out of his mind. Linebacker Deuce Spurlock is 6-foot-1, 231 pounds. Linebacker Jimmy Rolder is 6-foot-2 and 228 pounds.

I don’t want to make it sound like this is the end all, be all for football players, because it isn’t, but it sure is nice to see there won’t need to be a ton of strength and conditioning for a good amount of the true freshmen.

Other height/weight gains

-Running back Blake Corum has put on 10 pounds this offseason, up to 210 pounds. And it sure doesn’t look like bad weight.

-Safety Makari Paige gained an inch, up to 6-foot-4, and is now 200 pounds, compared to 192 last season. He very well could be in line for more playing time this year following the departures of Brad Hawkins and Daxton Hill.

-Safety Rod Moore, who missed the spring with an injury, has put on 12 pounds since last season and is now up to 185. The aforementioned Paige is his biggest competition.

-Linebacker Junior Colson is now 235 pounds, up 10 pounds from last season. His linebacker counterpart, Nikhai Hill-Green, is up 12 pounds from last season and now weighs in at 232. Both could have monster seasons for Michigan, but Colson has star potential written all over him.

-Tight end Erick All is up 10 pounds and is now at 255. Another good season could make him a very wealthy man this time next year.

-Defensive end Mike Morris is probably going to be the biggest damn edge player in America, listed at 6-foot-6 and 292 pounds. Comparisons to Chris Wormley have been made in the Maize n Brew Slack channel.

-Defensive tackle Kris Jenkins is up 10 pounds to 285, and he claims on Twitter he is actually at 290. Regardless, he is bound for a breakout season in 2022.

-Defensive end Julius Welschof has lost 22 pounds, down to 266 from 288 last year. He played more of a hybrid role in 2021, but Welschof appears to be in line for playing time solely on the edge in 2022.

-Defensive tackle Mazi Smith is a man on a mission, and that mission is to kill anyone with the football. He is now 6-foot-3 and 337 pounds, up 11 pounds from a season ago.

-True freshman offensive tackle Andrew Gentry is listed at 6-foot-7, 312 pounds. Gentry was originally going to play at Virginia, but transferred to Michigan before even playing at UVA. He backed out of his letter of intent after Bronco Mendenhall was let go after last season.

-Starting left guard Trevor Keegan notably lost 19 pounds, down to 305 from 324 last year.