The 2011 Athlon Sports College Football Preview is on newsstands right now. Athlon is the first preview magazine to make an actual prediction not only on the
finish of this year’s squad, but also the record. They predict Michigan to finish 4th in the Legends Division with a conference record of 4-4; an overall record of 8-4. Athlon also predicts that Michigan will play Houston in the TicketCity Bowl.
The summary states that with sixteen returning starters, the Wolverines are bound to improve over last year’s results. And the seven true freshmen who played last year will return and provide more experience. If the Wolverines can field a mediocre defense there could be reason to celebrate in Ann Arbor.
For the All-Big Ten teams, Denard Robinson was the only player from Michigan to be predicted to finish on the first team. The second team has Roy Roundtree, David Molk and Mike Martin.
Big Ten Unit Rankings:
QB – 1st … RB – 7th … REC – 1st … OL – 4th … DL – 8th … LB – 10th … DB – 10th
For each school profiled, Athlon highlighted categories and awarded them to players. For Michigan:
| Big Man on Campus | Denard Robinson |
| Freshman Phenom | Thomas Rawls |
| Top Target | Roy Roundtree |
| Medical Risk | Denard Robinson |
| Stock Rising | Stephen Hopkins |
