Former five-star recruit Eyabi Anoma has taken the long, winding path to Michigan. Can the Tennessee-Martin transfer make an impact after flaming out at Alabama and Houston?
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EYABI ENIGMA
According to multiple reports, Tennessee-Martin grad transfer Eyabi Anoma enrolled at Michigan and will be eligible to play this fall. On3’s Anthony Broome says the 6-6, 270 pound edge defender will have two years of eligibility remaining.
Anoma isn’t your usual FCS-to-FBS transfer. Ranked as the composite No. 4 overall recruit in the class of 2018, he signed with Alabama and rotated in for 90 snaps as a true freshman. He’s spent the last three seasons in the college football wilderness, though, after being dismissed from both Bama and Houston for violating team rules.
Anoma landed at FCS playoff team UT-Martin for the 2021 fall season. (Remember, there was a 2021 spring FCS season, too.) He started eight of 12 games, and while he only played the third-most snaps among UTM edge defenders, he was easily the most productive and best-graded. According to PFF, he generated pressure on nearly 10% of his pass-rush snaps.
While arriving about two weeks before kickoff isn’t ideal, edge is an easier position to pick up on the fly than, say, inside linebacker or safety. After watching what video I could find of Anoma at UT-Martin, I’m convinced he can contribute this year and potentially break out down the road with some refined technique.
THE TAPE WE COULD FIND
I watched UT-Martin against: Jacksonville State (highlights), Missouri State (condensed game), Montana State (full game) and Samford (highlights). The middle two were playoff games, a win and a loss, respectively.
Let’s start with the disclaimer: in addition to the limited available film, I’m not going to claim I can do anything but semi-educated guesswork about what a player with so much talent will looks like after three years away from FBS football. (This applies to most things, really.)
Anoma’s range of outcomes is vast.
The bottom end of that range is, of course, another quick exit from the football program. I’m not concerned about Anoma ruining the locker room or any such bunk; if he’s a problem, he won’t be around long.
If the top end of his range isn’t his pre-college expectations, it’s not too far off, even if there’s a slim likelihood of getting picked in the top five after one or two seasons of Big Ten-level ball.
PASS RUSHING
There will be a long-term adjustment period. Anoma’s pass-rush arsenal appears limited to sprinting around the corner or trying a speed-to-power bull-rush. He ran around the tackle only to be pushed past the quarterback on a frustrating share of his pass-rush reps. He’d get off the line well but rarely used his hands:
His lack of technique was more understandable when he had to don a hard cast on his right hand during the playoffs. He attempted a couple half-hearted spin moves that went nowhere and otherwise stuck to speed-rushing.
The plays that were available didn’t happen to include any of his sacks, annoyingly. It was easy to figure out how he got them, though: his first step is explosive. He flashed the ability to turn the corner, though it didn’t always coincide with enough pressure from the DTs to finish the play:
I liked his motor. He went hard down-to-down and extended his pursuit of plays to the whistle. QBs couldn’t assume they were rid of him after the initial rush. When he got stymied at the line or sensed a quick pass, he got his hands into the passing lane:
Anoma can even spot-drop into a short zone and deter passes that way. UT-Martin asked him to do that on occasion and it created a couple sacks when the QB saw a 6-6 dude where he expected an open receiver.
RUN DEFENSE
Anoma uses his hands better in tight quarters. Although he mostly lined up on the outside, he played 40 snaps between the tackles, including a few stray plays as a passing down nose tackle. Listed at 270 pounds last year, he’s got the size to hold up as a 3-4 DE in the right situation.
His first step allowed him to single-handedly blow up plays and gave him the momentum to rock some larger blockers. He regularly shed blocks and pursued sideline to sideline:
His high effort level was even more evident against the run than the pass. I had to watch the following play a few times before I realized he reached this QB keeper from the far side DE spot:
Even if No. 10 doesn’t beat his block to make that play, Anoma was getting to the QB before he reached the sticks on what looked like a ideally executed veer option. He held the edge with consistency and tackled with strength. That strength forced a fumble to open the playoffs:
I don’t understand why he didn’t play more, though it’s entirely possible I’m missing something. I can only go off what I saw, which was Enoma playing full drives while looking like UT-Martin’s best defender, not looking gassed and then sitting for long stretches in favor of inferior players. The stats and PFF grades back that up.
SO? WHAT’S THE IMPACT FOR 2022 AND BEYOND?
Hell if I know. I wouldn’t assume anything about this move.
Jim Harbaugh’s staff pursued Anoma out of high school. Harbaugh has, shall we say, something of a savior complex. Anoma is exhibiting signs that he’s getting his college life and football career back on track.
While I share many of your concerns about replacing Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo, I’m not assuming the OLBs are a disaster because the coaches had an opportunity at a high-upside lottery ticket. I feel even better about that knowing Anoma has two full seasons of eligibility remaining. This isn’t necessarily a play for the present.
It could turn out that way, though. Anoma will get his opportunities. I imagine the coaches will see what they’ve got during the cakewalk September schedule. I love seeing Michigan take this shot. The worst outcome is they’re back to where they stood on Tuesday.
NO. GO HOME AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU’VE DONE.
It feels incredibly Michigan right now to have a feature in the New York Times on the university’s prized Galileo manuscript not, in fact, being a Galileo manuscript:
At least it would be if it were authentic. After Nick Wilding, a historian at Georgia State University, uncovered evidence suggesting the manuscript was a fake, the library investigated and determined that he was right: The university said Wednesday it had concluded that its treasured manuscript “is in fact a 20th-century forgery.”
“It was pretty gut-wrenching when we first learned our Galileo was not actually a Galileo,” Donna L. Hayward, the interim dean of the university’s libraries, said in an interview.
Well, yeah, that’s an understandable feeling. Surely U-M is addressing their past mistakes while no longer putting a fake document on display. Anyway, let’s move to a later paragraph.
Now the staff of the Michigan library is considering ways to use the object to examine the methods and motivations behind forgeries, potentially making it the centerpiece of a future exhibit or symposium.
“The forgery is a really good one,” said Hayward. “The discovery in some ways makes this a more fascinating item.”
God fucking dammit. Don’t you dare charge people to see this, U-M. We paid enough for football tickets from 2007-2020.
FROM THE MAIZE AND BLUE THINKING CHAIR…
- Let’s call it meaningful. Both ESPN recruiting gurus, Toms Luginbill and VanHaaren, select Will Johnson for their preseason all-true freshman team ($).
- I won’t pretend to have any idea if this is good or not. Michigan ice hockey announced they’re hiring Rob Rassey, a longtime Harvard assistant before recent stints as a Detroit Red WIngs scout and head coach in the USHL. He has no direct U-M ties, which is good after the Year of WilmerHale.
- Please don’t be the subject of an independent investigation. Michigan also announced the hiring of director of ice hockey operations Topher Scott, a former Cornell player and coach who seemed to be a hockey program consultant of sorts for the last six years. His most important trait at the moment is having no ties to the last director of ice hockey operations.
- They can do that? NBA 2K appears to be making the first notable advancement in a sports video game franchise mode since the advent of Ultimate Team and other in-game purchase scams.
- Lol. Lmao.
MICHIGAN-ADJACENT VIDEO OF THE DAY
Here’s the whole dang BTN B1G Show episode on the Michigan and Iowa stops of their fall practice tour. The timestamps for each segment are in the YouTube description: