Michigan Football: Sights And Sounds From Fall Camp

With week one of the 2021 season less than 30 days away, the Michigan Football program took the field on Friday for the first day of fall camp.

The Michigan Wolverines football program took the practice field on Friday, officially marking the first day of fall camp for the 2021 season.  With camp finally underway, the Michigan Football social media platforms have been releasing both photos and videos from camp so far - giving fans a small window of insight into the work being done to prepare for 2021.

Though the Wolverines return key veterans like seniors Aidan Hutchinson and Brad Hawkins, the vast majority of the position group battles consist of mostly young and unproven talent.  

It begins with the quarterback position, with junior Cade McNamara currently leading the battle for QB1 after putting together a solid spring and summer cycle.  Though McNamara has the most Michigan experience of any of the other quarterbacks on the roster, the arrival of transfer quarterback Alan Bowman - a guy who has 16 career starts at Texas Tech under his belt - and the continued growth of true freshman JJ McCarthy should certainly make things interesting as fall camp progresses.  

The offensive line is another position group that has a lot of question marks heading into 2021, though offensive coordinator Josh Gattis feels extremely confident about the progress the group is making.

"We've got seven offensive linemen right now returning that have started football games for us in the past," said Gattis on Thursday. "We played 10 total offensive linemen in a six game schedule. It was interchangeable every week. To see some of those young guys - having played four offensive linemen who were freshman, three of those guys are returning. Seeing their confidence grow, seeing the experience they were able to get last year in such a short season, we're looking forward to that translating into execution and success. I feel really good about the offensive line. I like where we are, we've got some really, really good talented players, some young players, and they're playing really well together right now."

As Michigan looks to solidify the starting cast for position groups across the board, one former ESPN insider has already put together a national ranking of the top 60 position groups in college football heading into 2021. For purposes of this article, we'll focus strictly on where Michigan falls within the Big Ten conference.

Quarterbacks

1. Indiana, No. 18
2. Wisconsin, No. 20
3. Purdue, No. 29
4. Nebraska, No. 30
5. Ohio State, No. 31
6. Penn State, No. 33
7. Minnesota, No. 42
8. Northwestern, No. 48
9. Michigan, No. 54
10. Illinois, No. 55

Unranked: Michigan State, Maryland, Iowa, Rutgers

Running Backs

1. Ohio State, No. 8
2. Penn State, No. 12
3. Wisconsin, No. 16
4. Minnesota, No. 19
5. Iowa, No. 35
6. Michigan, No. 50

Unranked: Michigan State, Illinois, Nebraska, Purdue, Rutgers, Maryland, Northwestern, Indiana

Wide Receivers

1. Ohio State, No. 1
2. Penn State, No. 13
3. Purdue, No. 22
4. Indiana, No. 24
5. Maryland, No. 25
6. Michigan State, No. 46
7. Michigan, No. 53
8. Iowa, No. 55

Unranked: Rutgers, Northwestern, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska

Offensive Line

1. Ohio State, No. 2
2. Minnesota, No. 11
3. Wisconsin, No. 13
4. Michigan, No. 42
5. Penn State, No. 47
6. Iowa, No. 53
7. Illinois, No. 55

Unranked: Purdue, Michigan State, Rutgers, Maryland, Northwestern, Nebraska, Indiana

Defensive Line

1. Ohio State, No. 4
2. Penn State, No. 17
3. Purdue, No. 25
4. Illinois, No. 31
5. Michigan, No. 46
6. Iowa, No. 47
7. Indiana, No. 50
8. Northwestern, No. 58

Unranked: Rutgers, Maryland, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin

Linebackers

1. Wisconsin, No. 6
2. Penn State, No. 15
3. Iowa, No. 21
4. Ohio State, No. 30

Unranked, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Rutgers, Maryland, Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue

Defensive Backs

1. Indiana, No. 7
2. Iowa, No. 9
3. Wisconsin, No. 10
4. Penn State, No. 16
5. Ohio State, No. 19
6. Maryland, No. 28
7. Northwestern, No. 39
8. Michigan, No. 42
9. Michigan State, No. 46
10. Nebraska, No. 54

Unranked: Rutgers, Minnesota, Purdue, Illinois

Special Teams

1. Iowa, No. 4
2. Penn State, No. 8
3. Michigan, No. 40
4. Illinois, No. 49
5. Ohio State, No. 50
6. Indiana, No. 58

Unranked: Michigan State, Maryland, Rutgers, Minnesota, Purdue, Northwestern, Nebraska, Wisconsin