Scout is reporting that LA Slot/Ath Drew Dileo has committed to Michigan for the class of 2010. Of course, they cite that “The Baton Rouge Newspaper” broke the news, without linking to said newspaper. Commitment article on the 5-11, 175-lber from Parkview Baptist School can be found here.

Recruiting Notes
Michigan is in on a number of slot receivers, and news about Dileo was not generally more positive than on any of the other players they were pursuing. However, when The Advocate broke the news of his commitment today, it was not shoicking, as Dileo had been rumored to be favoring Michigan (if slightly) for quite some time. He committed today, but without having seen the campus. Until he manages to get in a visit to Ann Arbor, remain a little wary about his commitment sticking, DeQuinta Jones-style. He’s probably not quite that soft, but it’s tough to be firmly committed sight-unseen.

Player Notes
Dileo is a wideout/running back/db for his small Baptist school (still a powerhouse – he was the MVP of their state championship team as a sophomore in 2007), but will likely play in the slot at Michigan. Many Wolverine fans may see “5-11, 175-lb white kid” and immediately think Sam McGuffie, and perhaps a less freaky-fast version of the departed McGuffie may be a good comparison. However, if Dileo is able to start his career in the slot, rather than at running back where McGuffie took hit after hit for most of last year, he’ll hopefully be ably to stay a bit more healthy.

Video
It’s uber-brief, but you can see Dileo’s notable flea-flicker reception (

He had 182 all-purpose yards in the 18-17 victory over Westlake, including a 34-yard reception on a flea-flicker to set up the winning score.

)in the 2007 state title game early in this video.

I’ll be the first to admit this commit took me a little bit by surprise. More subtantive information on Dileo in the coming days.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

2010 Michigan Recruiting Board goes here. There’ll be another substantive recruiting update on Monday, because I couldn’t fit all the information into this one.

The Wolverines are among the favorites for TX QB Jeremy Johnson. The same article is also posted on other schools’ Rivals affiliates with titles such as “West Virginia, Baylor among Johnson’s favorites.” With doing much further research, I would assume that is something of a top 3 for him. Remember, WVU sites were expecting him to commit to the Mountaineers at their spring game not too long ago, but he didn’t

PA QB Anthony Gonzales has been nominated to play in the US Army Bowl. This doesn’t mean he’s in the game (it’s essentially a semi-finalists list), but certainly speaks to his talent.

FL WR Kenny Shaw is blowing up this spring, and also indicating that he is probably all-but-committed to Florida State:

Shaw visited FSU unofficially last month, and wanted to pull the trigger then.

“Honestly the reason was my parents,” Shaw said. “They wanted me to wait it out, take my visits over the summer, and then make a decision after my senior year.”

With Michigan’s current stockpile of WRs in the 2010 class, it’s sad to see a talent like Shaw fall by the wayside for Michigan, but them’s the ropes, I guess.

FL WR Chris Dunkley has transferred from Royal Palm Beach High School to Pahokee. This might slightly increase Michigan’s chances for him (he’s mostly considered a Florida lock, however). Also, it gives Pahokee an awesome set of WRs with Fred Pickett, Dennis Hall, and De’Joshua Johnson already there. Speaking of Johnson, however, he’s narrowed his list of choices to 3, Florida State, Alabama, and Oklahoma State. He won’t be removed quite yet, but considering he’s stated he doesn’t want to play in a spread offense (which, lol at him, is the scheme that best fits his skill set), and is serious enough about it to eliminate Florida, he’s probably gone baby, gone.

He also dumped Michigan, which was a difficult decision since the Wolverines have three former Blue Devils on their roster and were the first team to offer Johnson.

“I’m not going to knock them, but (the spread is) why,” Johnson said. “That was my school for a while. That was my first written offer and all my teammates are up there. It would have been fun.”

Sounds like he really liked the Wolverines, so maybe Rich will be able to convince him that players in the spread can make it to the NFL (Steve Slaton, Pat White, the ever-gusty Percy Harvey).

A spring game visit to…Northwestern?… has “wowed” OH OL Christian Pace, and the Wildcats’ turnout of 3,000 fans was enough to vault them near the top of Pace’s list of favorites.

Removed PA OL Seth Betancourt. He is selecting a school today from a list of finalists that does not include Michigan. All indications are that he’ll don a Boston College hat.

The Charlotte Observer’s hideous Blogspot-hosted (lol) blog has some very nice things to say about NC DT Gabe King‘s ability to play the game of foot-ed ball. Caveats about his being a discipline case persist, but Michigan has offered and appear to be strong for him, so keep him in mind, even if you don’t think he’s worth the potential trouble at this point. Edited to reflect the correct name, because I’m apparently not fond enough of proofreading.

Florida is the leader for FL DE Lynden Trail (info in header).

Not a ton of information is available for free in this article about PA LB Jordan Paskorz, but the alt text for the image in the post is “Paskorz is favoring Michigan, Virginia and Pitt.” take that for what it’s worth.

More from the Sporting News on the faux-commitment of FL CB Travis Williams (they think it’s a real commit). Conventional wisdom, direct quotes, and logic say: He wants to commit, RR told him not to for now.

Michigan has offered FL CB Rashad Knight (info in header). He is a more highly-rated prospect than Williams, at the very least, and indications (article title: “Michigan Jumps in Front for Knight“) are that he also holds Michigan in high regard.

Has GA CB Jonathan Mincy been offered? I haven’t even heard of the kid, much less as somebody who was likely to have received a Michigan offer, but he’s now added to the board, tentatively listed without said offer.

CA CB Troy Hill says Washington is his #1 school right now (info in header). Remember, he said a while back that his interest in MIchigan was waning, so he’s teetering on the edge of removal.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

With the 2009 football season looming a mere 4+ months away, it’s as good a time as any to take a first look at Michigan’s upcoming schedule, and determine whether the teams the Wolverines will face this year should get better or worse (or remain the same) from last year to this. I also reserve the right to be completely wrong.

Western Michigan
2008 Record: 9-4 (6-2 MAC)
Key losses: S Louis Delmas, LB Austin Pritchard, WR Jamarko Simmons
Key returning players: QB Tim Hiller, RB Brandon West
Projection: Same. Sure, teams lose players to the NFL every year, but it’s not fair to the Broncos (nor would it be to basically any MAC team) to assume they’ll be able to replace a second-round pick in the secondary. However, the offense should really continue trucking behind the QB play of Tim Hiller. The Broncos should be about the same as they were last year, though they’ll rely even more heavily on a high-flying offense to make up for a much weaker defense.

Notre Dame
2008 Record: 7-6 (0-1 Syracuse)
Key losses: WR David Grimes, S David Bruton
Key returning players: QB Jimmy Clausen, RB Armando Allen, WR Golden Tate
Projection: Up. Based on roster composition alone, the Irish should be pretty rockin’ this year. One impoortant caveat: you could say that about the last two years as well, and they were somewhere between terrible and mediocre over each of the previous two seasons. Is Charlie Weis just one big, fat FAIL, or will he start to get the talent he has assembled to perform? There’s no excuse (lol book title/disingenuous motto) for the Irish to not beat up on most of their schedule this year.

Eastern Michigan
2008 Record: 3-9 (2-6 MAC)
Key losses: RB Terrence Blevins, WR Tyler Jones, LB Daniel Holtzclaw, S Jacob Wyatt
Key returning players: QB Andy Schmitt, WR Jacory Stone, LB Andre Hatchett
Projection: Up. The Eagles return some key pieces, though they also lose some important ones, the upgrade at the head coaching position appears to be a substantial one. Eastern was terrible last year, save the upset of Central Michigan in their final game of the year, and even anything approaching competency would be a leap in the right direction.

Indiana
2008 Record: 3-9 (1-7 Big Ten)
Key losses: RB Marcus Thigpen
Key returning players: QB Ben Chappell, QB/WR/? Kellen Lewis, WR/CB Ray Fisher
Projection: Same. You can tell the Indiana coaching staff is really grasping at straws in an effort to not get fired at the end of this year. They’re moving key players around (2nd-leading receiver Ray Fisher to corner, best offensive weapon Kellen Lewis all over the field, etc.), and completely revamping their schemes (reports say they’ve almost exclusively worked out of the pistol this spring). If it doesn’t work, Bill Lynch and co. are probably going to get the axe.

Michigan State
2008 Record: 9-4 (6-2 Big Ten)
Key losses: QB Brian Hoyer, RB Javon Ringer, S Otis Wiley
Key returning players: LB Greg Jones, WR Mark Dell
Projection: Down. The Spartans were beneficiaries of a bad Big Ten and some good luck last year. They were more like a 7-6 team than the 9-4 that they actually went. Take away 3 of their 4 most important players (the fourth is Jones), and they should be worse. Take away that luck, and they’re just a team. Adam Rittenberg will still predict that they win the National Championship.

Iowa
2008 Record: 9-4 (5-3 Big Ten)
Key losses: RB Shonn Greene, DTs Mitch King and Matt Kroul,
Key returning players: WR Andy Brodell, LBs Pat Angerer and Jeremiha Hunter, QB Ricky Stanzi
Projection: Same. The Hawkeyes lose arguably their three most important players in Greene (no, Rittenberg, you can’t just baselessly say “I think Jewel Hampton will be at least as good as they guy who won the Doak Walker Award”) and the defensive tackles. However, they upgrade slightly at almost every other position, and assuming they can stay healthier than they have in the past couple years, they should be about as good as they were in ’08. Of course last year, they were something of an anti-MSU, and lost a couple games they shouldn’t have. The Hawkeyes will be about the same quality of team, but the record may improve.

Delaware State
2008 Record: 5-6 (5-3 MEAC)
Key losses: QB Vashon Winton, RBs Chris Strother and Kareem Jones, LB Kevin Conner
Key returning players: DB Avery Grant, WR Laronne Moore
Projection: Down, down down. For a team that wasn’t even good to begin with, losing 3 of your top 5 tacklers, your 4-year starter at QB, and your top 3 running backs can be little other than a recipe for disaster. Delaware State is a true 1-AA cupcake, and will be even worse this year than they were in 2008.

Penn State
2008 Record: 11-2 (7-1 Big Ten)
Key losses: WRs Derrick Williams, Deon Butler, and Jordan Norwood, 3 offensive linemen
Key returning players: QB Daryll Clark, RBs Evan Royster and Stephfon Green, LB Sean Lee
Projection: Down. The Spread HD worked in 2008 because Clark was on-point all year, and the Lions had the skill position talent on the outside to force defenses to spread the whole field. With Clark tailing off in the last few games (albeit due to injury, perhaps), and the OL and wideouts gone, PSU won’t be the offensive force that they were last year. Defensively, the return of Sean Lee should help in the middle. However, the top 3 defensive ends left, and #4 is out for the season with a torn ACL.

Illinois
2008 Record: 5-7 (3-5 Big Ten)
Key losses: LB Brit Miller, CB Vontae Davis, WR Will Judson
Key returning players: QB Juice Williams, WR Arrelious Benn, LB Martez Wilson
Projection: Same. Like Iowa, the record might improve, but the team will be about as good in 2009. The offense should really click with a senior Juice Williams and junior Arrelious Benn, though you could have said the same last year (and the Illini were awesome at times, just horrifically inconsistent). The defense should take major steps back with its best two players, LB Brit Miller and Vontae Davis, gone and the third best player, LB Martez Wilson, doing things like getting stabbed in a bar during the offseason.

Purdue
2008 Record: 4-8 (2-6 Big Ten)
Key losses: QBs Curtis Painter and Justin Siller, RB Kory Sheets, WRs Greg Orton and Desmond Tardy, LB Anthony Heygood, S Torri Williams
Key returning players: S Joe Holland, QB Joey Elliott
Projection: Down. Purdue sucked last year, and nearly all of their best players are leaving town because their eligibility has expired (everyone but Siller) or because they cheat on exams (Siller). Couple all that with a transition to a new offensive scheme and a plan to rely on several true freshmen despite their lack of guru approval, and Danny Hope’s first year in West Lafayette may be a difficult one. There could be a coaching upgrade as Wilford Brimley had been mailing it in the past couple years, but there is basically no talent for the Boilers to work with.

Wisconsin
2008 Record: 7-6 (3-5 Big Ten)
Key losses: RB PJ Hill, TEs Garrett Graham and Travis Beckum, LB DeAndre Levy, LB Jonathan Casillas
Key returning players: QB Dustin Sherer, WRs David Gilreath and Nick Toon, LB Jaevery McFadden
Projection: Up. The Badgers were a team that lost plenty of games they shouldn’t have, and the important question for tham is whether that was bad luck or the horrifically bad coaching ability of Bret Bielema. The early appearances are a bit of both, so the Badgers should be a bit better, but not by leaps and bounds. Hill wasn’t even Wisconsin’s best RB for much of the year, and Sherer was the better QB, despite Allan Evridge starting the year under center. Simply getting the right pieces the ball more often should help. I think Bielema has a definite ceiling, especially with players he has recruited and coached for four year.

Ohio State
2008 Record: 10-3 (7-1 Big Ten)
Key losses: RB Beanie Wells, LBs James Laurinaitis and Marcus Freeman, CB Malcolm Jenkins, WRs Brian Robiskie and Brian Hartline
Key returning players: QB Terrelle Pryor, RB Dan Herron, CB Chimdi Chekwa
Projection: Down. The Buckeyes really should have been awesome last year, and might have been if Terrelle Pryor had started the whole year, and not been a true freshman. Alas, this was the case, and OSU’s last best chance at a national title for the next couple years leaves town with Beanie Wells and James Laurinaitis. Regardless, the Buckeyes are never going to fall completely off the map as long as Jim Tressel is the coach, so there’s a definite floor for their team. either way, they’ll take a significant step back in 2009.

Posted under Analysis, Football

From Sunday’s game. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this slideshow is worth about half a normal Formerly Anonymous post.

Posted under Baseball, Other Sports, Photo Album

The NFL Draft has come and gone, which means I don’t have to worry about the NFL for another year. Only Terrance Taylor (4th round to the Colts) and Morgan Trent (6th round to Cincinnati) were drafted, but 7 other ex-Wolverines signed rookie free agent deals. Here’s where they ended up:

Carson Butler – Green Bay
Doug Dutch – Washington
Sean Griffin – Seattle
Brandon Harrison – Indianapolis
Will Johnson – Baltimore
Tim Jamison – Houston
Mike Massey – Cleveland

Best of luck to all of them in their NFL careers.

Another former Wolverine has found a destination: Steven Threet has announced his intentions to transfer to Arizona State, where he will sit out a year, then have 2 remaining seasons of eligibility. Good to see Threet has landed on his feet, and it sounds as though he’s parting with the program in a more… reasonable way than other defectors

Posted under Football, Personnel

Bow before the 2010 Recruiting Board.

ESPN posi-fluff on LA QB Munchie LeGaux. They say his stock is likely to rise, though it’s unclear whether that might result in more offers for the dual-threat passer. He performed well at an Elite 11 camp.

An update on SC RB Marcus Lattimore‘s favoring of Auburn:

Running back Marcus Lattimore (6-0, 210) of Byrnes High in Duncan visited Auburn on Friday and Saturday with his mother, stepdad and a friend, and he left there with the Tigers the favorite for his services.

“They’ve got a big lead,” Lattimore said. “Georgia and Florida State would be second. And USC and Clemson are still going to be up there. My mom liked (new Auburn head) Coach Gene Chizik and everything. He has a three-year plan for me and no other college has done that for me.”

Lattimore said he won’t take any more visits until he goes to Penn State this summer. He will attend the Nike camp this weekend at Georgia.

Are they so entrenched that they can’t be beaten? Certainly not. Does it sound like Michigan has a good chance? No.

Despite the lack of news on FL RB Cassius McDowell of late, he reports that the Wolverines still lead for him. It’s unclear whether Michigan is interested in taking another scatback-type in this class, but if they are, the HS teammate of Denard Robinson and Adrian Witty is certainly a good option.

Sounds as though OH RB Roderick Smith is about ready to drop for the Buckeyes. Removal from the board is coming soon for Smith.

FL OL Torrian Wilson isn’t saying Michigan leads for his services anymore, but SoFlaFootball still says the Maize and Blue are in his top group. The Wolverines, Tennessee, and Stanford will be three of his unofficial visits, with the remaining two TBD.

CA DT Kirifi Taula wants to stay in the PAC-10 (info in header). He’s cruisin’ straight towards removal from the board, and it appears as though his days on it are limited indeed. His high school, Anaheim Servite, is a pretty big USC feeder, so don’t be surprised if he eventually ends up there.

The eligibility saga of NC DT Gabe King continues, as the North Carolina High School Athletic Association has declared that he will not be able to play football for Northern Guilford (where he has transferred) in the fall. This will probably cool some schools on him, and a Greensboro correspondent has said that King is probably a guy that Michigan should stay away from, as King is always facing some sort of disciplinary issue.

Removed PA DT Aaron Donald, who has committed to Pitt. He is a high school teammate of CB prospects Cullen Christian and Brandon Ifill. Michigan’s recruitment of Ifill has tailed off a little bit, but the Wolverines are still the favorite for Christian. I assume Donald’s commitment will give Pitt a bit of help for either of those two.

OH LB Jordan Hicks has a top group consisting of Ohio State, Texas, Florida, and USC (info in header). No word on whether that a finalist list, or simply current favorites. We’ll wait and see what the next phase of his recruitment will be, but I certainly don’t think Michigan is in strong position.

Audio interview with FL LB Christian Jones, with some brief mentions of his recruitment (Michigan is not mentioned). His Florida State ties are pretty strong, so be aware that Michigan’s chances to land him are probably not very good.

FL CB Travis Williams recently visited Ann Arbor, and came away with a decision made (info in header). The two premium sites disagree on whether he’ll actually commit to the Wolverines soon, but ESPN showcases its continued incompetence, reporting that Williams has committed (he hasn’t). Even just gleaning the information from article titles, it’s pretty clear that he wants to commit to Michigan, but the Wolverines aren’t quite ready for that, because they like their chances with more highly-rated guys like FL CB Lo Wood and PA CB Cullen Christian, and don’t want to reach for Williams while those other guys are still in play. Should Michigan snag Travis in the end, don’t let that 4.95 40 time on Scout scare you: ESPN reports a combine-verified 4.61.

Track-a-palooza!:
2009 signee Fitzgerald Toussaint ran a 10.86 100m over the weekend.
MI CB Dior Mathis ran a slightly-less-impressive 11.0 100m.

Hilariously whiny and deliciously SpartyNO fluff in the Free Press about how Michigan State could totally recruit Cass Tech if they wanted to.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

The Free Press reports today (via the Boston Herald) that the University of Massachusetts will likely be slated for the 2010 season opener in Michigan Stadium, the first game after the completion of the renovation project. Since the game is more than an entire season away, a full-on Googlestalk might be a bit much, but here’s some baseline information on the Minutemen:

The UMass Minutemen play in the Colonial Athletic Association, and have competed in various other conferences (which were apparently other incarnations of the same conference, in effect) in football. They have some degree of success over the years, having captured a National Title in 1998, and losing to Appalachian State in the 2006 Championship Game. Last year, they went 7-5, and lost to both 1-A teams on their schedule, Kansas State and Texas Tech. In 2009, they again play a road game at Kansas State.

Mark Snyder also points out annoyingly, and with horrible sentence structure at the end of his article that playing FCS teams is a pattern for Michigan, as they have played 3 of them since Division I split up. This is stupid, because it’s far less of a pattern than, say, almost every other school in America (save certain outliers like Southern Cal), who play a I-AA opponent every single year, and especially those like Texas Tech and Kansas State, who play multiple in a single year (I swear I wrote this paragraph before looking up UMass’s 2008 schedule. Funny how sometimes Actual Facts back up Perceptions in a ridiculously coincidental and awesome way). Gee, I wonder why newspapers are failing so spectacularly? Hmm… Nothing against Snyder, because he’s typically one of the better UM beatwriters, but Jesus Christ is that assertion stupid. In fact, looking back on it, the whole article is written very, very poorly. A wag of the finger to you, Mr. Snyder!

Posted under Football

The Great Lakes Lacrosse Classic didn’t go off quite as expected, as the weather in Birmingham didn’t quite cooperate. However, the teams were not to be dissuaded from playing, and managed to squeeze in the game between a number of rain delays.

Michigan State
Official recap – Photo gallery
Michigan prevailed over the “home team” Spartans at the neutral-site venue of Birmingham Seaholm High School. After a lightning delay pushed the start of the game back until about 8:15, the Wolverines came out rusty, and looked out of sorts for the first few minutes, allowing Michigan State to get on the board first. However, that would be the closest State got to tasting victory against the in-state rivals.

Trevor Yealy started taking over, as he so often does, and completed a hat trick with over 3 minutes left to play in the first quarter. The second was perhaps the most impressive, as it was a diving effort from the left side of the net, as he was taking a big hit from a Spartan defender. Clark McIntyre, David Rogers, and Peter Vasher also scored for the Wolverines, before the game was delayed yet again after a particularly loud thunderclap.

The delay lasted from about 9pm until about 10:30, and Michigan again came out of the locker room needing to shake off a little rust. Though Peter Vasher re-opened the scoring, the Spartans added back-to-back goals to bring the game within 4 goals at 7-3. However, Michigan started to roll after that, scoring goal after goal, with few interruptions by the Spartans. By the end of the third, they held a 14-6 lead.

The Wolverines added 7 more goals in the final quarter of play, and finished the game on the winning end of a 21-9 margin. Yealy finished with 8 goals, and goalie Mark Stone made a career-high 18 saves. Fellow goalie Andrew Fowler made a brief appearance while recovering from a stress fracture in his foot, as Stone left the game for 50 seconds due to a minor injury of his own.

Lacrosse updates, now serving video! A healthy tip of the hat to MFlowBlue and Wes McGowan for bringing it to my attention and creating it in the first place, respectively.

Michigan Men’s Lacrosse vs. Michigan State from Wes McGowan on Vimeo.

Up Next
The CCLA conference tournament tees of in Saline this weekend. The Wolverines have a first-round bye, and will face the winner of Friday’s Pitt/Central Michigan game on Saturday at 4pm. The Wolverines did not face Pitt this year, but bested the Chippewas 21-4 in their only meeting this year. For the complete bracket, check out the CCLA website.

Posted under Other Sports

Posted under Football, Recruiting

Stu Zaas gives us the goods once more. I’m attending the men’s game against State tonight at 7:30 at Birmingham Seaholm High School, assuming the weather clears up. Report on that game coming Monday.

Ann Arbor, MI (April 23, 2009) – U.S. Lacrosse has announced the field for the 2009 WDIA National Championship to be played in Scottsdale, AZ on May 6-9. Michigan (17-4) earned the #8 seed in the 16 team field and will face #9 UCLA (10-7) in the first round. That game will be a rematch of the Feb. 15 game which saw then #6 Michigan defeat #9 UCLA 8-7 as part of the Santa Barbara Shootout in Santa Barbara, CA.

Michigan’s potential second round matchup against the winner of #1 University of California Santa Barbara and #16 West Chester could produce another rematch as Michigan knocked off then second-ranked UCSB on Feb. 13 winning 7-6.      

In preparation, Michigan will increase its practice schedule in the next two weeks before departing for Arizona. “There is no rhyme or reason to the wins and losses earned by each team this season, so every team has an equal shot at winning,” said senior quad-captain Julie Baskind. “We need to practice hard in the next two weeks and show up to play when it counts.”

Michigan heads to Scottsdale seeking its first national championship in program history. The team’s best showing was a runner-up finish in 2006. Head coach, Jen Dunbar (second season) looks forward to the challenge of playing at nationals, “It’s exciting to have the opportunity to test ourselves against the best. We’re ready to go out and prove that Michigan means business.”  

Posted under Other Sports