Somewhat brief update today after the blitzkrieg of news last week. 2010 Recruiting Board.

Moved to committed:
OH CB Courtney Avery, onetime Stanford commit. Commitment post. Michigan offered him Thursday, and he committed Saturday. He’s seen at left tossing the rock as a highly prolific HS QB.

Michigan doesn’t seem to be high on the list of FL RB Roy Finch anymore. Oklahoma and Stanford appear to be his top two choices at this time, though he maintains that he is still open to everyone. Finch plans to make a commitment before his high school seaso kicks off.

FL WR Kenny Shaw, the former high school teammate of Ricardo Miller at Dr. Phillips High School, is still favoring the Florida State Seminoles. He’s had them on top for quite some time, and is expected to end up in Tallahassee.

Removed NC WR Anthony Creecy, who committed to NC State.

FL OL Torrian Wilson visited Michigan last week for a pretty long stay. I don’t expect him to make a decision any time soon, but it does appear a though the Wolverines are still in a pretty strong position.

SC OL Eric Mack seems to be heading towards a commitment to South Carolina. In nearly every article, he mentions that he’s excited at the prospect of playing with several of his former teammates, should he choose the Gamecocks. Still, Mack intends to wait until Signing Day before making a decision, so schools will have plenty of time to get back into his recruitment.

Removed OH OL Dakota Anderson, who committed to Ball State.

MI DT Jonathan Hankins came to Michigan’s summer camp looking to ern an offer from the Wolverines, and prove that he was getting his body into good shape. However, as Sam Webb reprts on the WTKA recruiting roundup, Hankins’ conditioning was still not what the Wolverine coaches were looking for, and he might have to keep waiting to maybe earn that offer.

SC DE Brandon Willis from Byrnes (the same school as 5* RB Marcus Lattimore) will be releasing a top 5 list sometime this week. Neither Clemson nor South Carolina will be on it, and though I’d be moderately surprised if Michigan makes his final 5, the Wolverines did get a shout out in the article, which means there’s maybe a slightly better chance than I give them credit for.

FL CB Lorenza Wood will announce a decision on Friday between Michigan, Notre Dame, and Georgia Tech. Though he was once a Michigan lead, conventional wisdom now has him committing to the Irish. He also has a ridiculous plan for his commitment:

Apopka cornerback Lo Wood’s father — Lo Wood Sr. — told the Sentinel on Tuesday night (June 16) that his son will make his college football commitment on June 26, and he won’t know who it will be until his son tells him the night before.

At that time, Lo Jr. and Lo Sr. fly to the city of the school of the younger Woods’ choice, and they make the announcement on campus.

Having fun buying plane tickets on, like, an hour’s notice.

Removed FL CB Lamarcus Joyner, who has officially narrowed his list of suitors to Ohio State, Florida State, Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee.

MI P Mike Sadler and FL P Brandon Tarpley each excelled at Michigan’s kicking camp over the weekend. If Michigan looks to extend an offer to a kicking specialist (which they probably will with Zoltan graduating after 2009) it will probably be one of these guys. I won’t add them to the board, because there’s not a listing for punters on it.

In a bit of 2009 news:
Incoming freshman RB Fitzgerald Toussaint participated in the Annual Big 33 Classic, in which he helped lead his Ohio team to a 38-31 victory over Pennsylvania. Toussaint, Michigan’s only commit playing in the game, caught 1 pass for 54 yards and a touchdown, and ran 4 times for 11 yards, including a 6-yard touchdown.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

Stephen Schilling is widely regarded as Michigan’s best offensive linemen, and will be a third-year starter for the Wolverines in 2008. He makes the switch from right tackle to guard, which is a more natural position for him, and allows him to take advantage of his athleticism. Schilling has started 24 of the 25 games in his Michigan career, though he missed last year’s Ohio State game (not-so-coincidentally a subpar rushing performance) with an injury.

Vladimir Emilien will be a true freshman in 2009, but that doesn’t mean he’s unlikely to garner much playing time. Emilien enrolled in the winter semester, and took part in the Wolverines’ spring drills. He was one of the more impressive defensive players this spring, and may even have a chance to make it into the starting lineup.

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The poll will remain open for 7 days, closing at 5PM next Sunday. Have your heart set on a particular candidate? Try to sway others in the comments. The full bracket is visible here.

Other Open Polls:
Minor v. Sheridan.
Gibbons v. Van Bergen.
Warren v. Stokes.

Posted under Football, Personnel

Compare to the previous edition of the recruiting class rankings. Action since last rankings (caution: there was a ton):

6-14-09 Minnesota gains commitment from Allen Veazie. Penn State gains commitment from Kyle Baublitz.
6-15-09 Michigan gains commitment from Cornelius Jones.  Michigan State gains commitment from Mylan Hicks.
6-16-09 Michigan State gains commitment from William Gholston. Northwestern gains commitment from Collin Ellis.
6-17-09 Indiana gains commitment from Leneil Himes.
6-18-09 Illinois gains commitment from Daniel Easterly. Northwestern gains commitment from Shontrelle Johnson.
6-19-09 Michigan State gains commitment from Taylor Calero. Illinois gains commitment from Mark Wilson. Indiana gains commitment from Logan Young.
6-20-09 Michigan gains commitment from Courtney Avery. Indiana gains commitment from Antonio Banks.

By the way, if one thing can be said for ESPN, it’s that they really bust their asses to rate kids as quickly as possible after they commit to a school. They don’t always get it done (see: Williamson, DJ), but for the most part, they at least put in the effort.

The Wolverines snag Cornelius Jones. TX LB Holmes Onwukaife also expressed interest in committing, but was told he’d have to play MLB rather than OLB, and promptly changed his mind. Ohio CB Courtney Avery got an accepted a camp offer, switching from Stanford.

The Nittany Lions grab DE Kyle Baublitz.

The Buckeyes haven’t moved in a while (despite a summer camp) and are more likely to go down with a potential loss of Jamel Turner.

Bennett Jackson picks up a 77 rating from ESPN.

MSU finally gets another commit in Mylan Hicks, then follows it up with a huge one (both literally and figuratively) in William Gholston, though Gholston has been basically penciled in for the Spartans for quite some time. Later in the week they added yet another prospect in Taylor Calero.

The Gophers snag Allen Veazie.

Daniel Easterly joins the Fighting Illini, along with linebacker Mark Wilson

No change for the Hawkeyes,

Nothing new for Wisconsin.

All the newest Hoosiers (of whom there are many) are unranked to the main recruiting sites, though a pair of them have ESPN ratings. Kates picks up 2 stars from Scout.

Hey, look who joined the party! The Wildcats pick up a couple lesser (sorry, LTP – “sleeper”) prospects to get on the board. Alas, the Hoosier avalanche keeps Northwestern behind them.

lolPurdue – 0 commits.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

Though he had previously been committed to the Stanford Cardinal, GBW’s front page is reporting that OH DB Courtney Avery has dropped his Stanford pledge and committed to the Michigan Wolverines. The cornerback out of Lexington, Ohio stands 5-10, 165. He is Michigan’s 15th pledge in the class of 2010.

Recruiting Notes
Avery was on the 2010 Recruiting Board when it debuted, though it was as a dual-threat QB. However, Michigan never seemed to be in strong pursuit of the two-way player. He committed to Stanford in early April, and I removed him from the board. Avery was not quite done with his recruitment yet, though. He visited Michigan this week for summer camp, where he was one of the more impressive players in attendance. When he left, the Michigan coaches let him know that he would receive a Michigan offer. Shortly after that, Avery changed his mind from the Cardinal to the Wolverines, pledging to the Michigan staff.

Player Notes
As mentioned above, Avery is a quarterback for his high school team, in addition to his duties in the defensive backfield. In fact, he is a rather excellent high school signal-caller, and was named his conference’s Offensive Player of the Year as a junior. However, when he gets to Michigan, he will play strictly defensive back, where he tried out in summer camp. He has good hip fluidity and agility, which help him make up for a slight lack in top-end speed. One of the biggest knocks on Avery is his size: he’s listed anywhere from 5-8 to 5-10, which is small even for a cornerback. However, he is rumored to be up to nearly 5-11 now, which not only indicates that’s he’s made up some of the height disparity, but also that he may continue growing. By the time he hits campus, he could be as tall as 6-1. Camp offers are typically a time to say “throw out the rankings” (NR on Rivals, 3* to Scout), since the coaches have been able to evaluate a prospect in the flesh.

Video

Posted under Football, Recruiting

Donovan Warren is a junior corner coming off a down year. After being named a Freshman All-American, Warren struggled a bit as a sophomore. That said, he is still a major physical talent, and if he can remain healthy for the entire year, he stands to be one of Michigan’s most important players.

Je’Ron Stokes is an incoming freshman, and a 4-star recruit to both of the major recruiting sites. He will play wide receiver and slot, and perhaps even have the opportunity to return kicks and punts. He is an electrifying playmaker who will benefit from the Rodriguez offense’s ability to get playmakers in space.

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The poll will remain open for 7 days, closing at 5PM next Saturday. Have your heart set on a particular candidate? Try to sway others in the comments. The full bracket is visible here.

Other Open Polls:
Minor v. Sheridan.
Gibbons v. Van Bergen.

Posted under Football

I sure hope so. Michigan should invite the Boise State Broncos to Ann Arbor on September 4th, 2010 to open the newly renovated Big House.

This comes somewhat out of left field, and isn’t even a rumor at this point, so much as it’s a suggestion, and from the most unlikely of sources. Idaho Statesman columnist Brian Murphy posted a recent news item – if you can call it that – about Boise State’s future non-conference schedules. A commenter suggested they travel to Michigan Stadium for the opener in 2010, and this thing has taken of like wildfire.

Of course, that comment wasn’t the source of everyone’s idea – Boise State athletic director Gene Bleymaier said Boise would start thinking about guarantee games to fill its OOC schedule and pad the pocketbooks. ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg picked up on it, along with Brian at MGoBlog. Seeing as how the Michigan athletic department has no problem with paying out guarantee money to get more home games in each season, and they’re still raking in the cash, it’s a match made in heaven: They get their home game without having to promise a return visit, and fans get a living, brething opponent that is respected on a national scale.

Brian’s post lists a number of other teams with openings in their schedule on September 4th, and Boise seems like the best realistic possibility.

Posted under Football

Brendan Gibbons is an incoming freshman kicker out of Palm Beach, Florida. With Michigan’s kickers Jason Gingell and KC Lopata departing, somebody’s got to step in and kick the ball, no? Gibbons, among the nation’s top kicker recruits in the class of 2009, is the leading candidate.

Ryan Van Bergen enters his redshirt sophomore year, after earning some playing time as a strongside defensive end in 2008. He should be a starter this year, playing both defensive end and possibly the hybrid roles that new defensive coordinator GERG Robinson favors. If Van Bergen takes a big step forward in 2009, it will go a long way to settling the Wolverines defense.

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The poll will remain open for 7 days, closing at 5PM next Friday. Have your heart set on a particular candidate? Try to sway others in the comments. The full bracket is visible here.

Other Open Polls:
Minor v. Sheridan.

Posted under Football, Personnel

Fighting the Good Fight.  It appears over 100 requests came in to override the rule change adding a week to the front of the season.  Coach Maloney is undoubtedly one of these requests as he is one of the biggest baseball personalities in the north, and the addition of the game to the front of the schedule is a hinderance to northern schools.  Here’s hoping they can get the week added to the end of the season.  At this point, we won’t know until August.  One draw back of waiting so long is the aforementioned BigEast/BigTen Challenge date being locked in already.  I’m not sure what a pushed back start date would do to the challenge, whether it be canceled or pushed back.

Chris Fetter interviewed.  This comes from MadFriars.com ($), the Padres Scout page.  I don’t want to pay money for a subscription, but maybe you do?

Zach Putnam to Double A.  Baseball America does the Cleveland Indians report card ($) propping Putnam.  There’s also an article on ohio.com (HT: m.go.licious).  Zach’s struggled a bit since moving up, going 1-2 with an ERA over 6.00.

Burgoon Blows 1st Save of the Season. Perhaps a little over worked with a league leading 3 saves in the first week of play, Burgoon let one go last night.  His defense didn’t help as the tying run was let on by an error.  He ended up taking the loss later in the inning from a pair of walks and a fielder’s choice.  To quote quag77 from the comments of the Interview post,

Yeah, that was a tough one. 4 runs scored, all unearned on 3 errors, 2 past balls and 2 walks in the 9th.

Matt Gerbe struggles in 1st summer start.  This was just ugly for Matt. He walked the first four batters to start the game and was immediately pulled. His ERA is currently 36.00.  Meanwhile, his teammate Sinnery is 0-1, giving up 3 runs in 7 IP.  Tough loss.  I’d take that hear in Ann Arbor any time.

Lima Locos keep winning.  Anthony Toth is the lead off man and every thing I’ve seen has him hitting really well.  I wish I had the stats to back it up, but their site is “under construction.”  As far as pitching goes, Kolby Wood struggled a little bit in relief during an exhibition, but freshman Broshanon has done pretty good in limited appearances (including last night’s, which I have no stats for).

Matt Broder gets a win.  Freshman Broder got the win, pitching 5 innings (only a 7 inning game) for the Michigan Rams allowing just one unearned run.

Ryan LaMarre struggling.  So far he’s batting just .154 in 26 at bats (3 singles and a triple).  He may not stay in the lead off role much longer with that average.

Dufek and Oaks excelling.  Mike Dufek leads the Leesburg Lightning in batting average (.351) and has thrown 3 shut out innings in relief.  Alan Oaks isn’t a regular, but he is batting .333 (5/15).  He is a regular starting pitcher.  He’s 1-0 in his 2 starts with a 3.60 ERA.  He hasn’t been going deep into games with only 10 IP on the season, but it should be interesting to see if he starts going deeper.  Oaks may be making a push for a starting rotation job next spring.

Alexandria Beetles Pitchers. Matt Miller has given up one run in 3.2 innings with 2 walks and 5 Ks.  Kevin Vangheluwe has an ERA of 9.31 in 9.2 innings of work.  Why he has 6 appearances (0 starts) and Miller only has 3, I’m not entirely sure.  Could be that Vangheluwe only makes it in during blow outs.  Alexandria’s record isn’t so great.  Tyler Mills is still listed on the roster, but he’s yet to see an inning of work.  Injury?  Still at school?  I don’t know.

Travis Smith has bad luck.  He’s 0-1 in 4 appearances (3 starts) for 14 innings pitched.  His 3.86 ERA looks nice, too.

Who is this Jeff DeCarlo and what did you do with ours? Jeff DeCarlo has a 1.69 ERA.  I’m shocked.  In 5.1 IP he’s given up 1 hit, struck out 5, and only walked 2.  He does have a hit batter, so maybe he is the same guy?   Also, his teammate, freshman Kevin Krantz has seen limited time on the infield.  He’s currently 2/9 at the plate and an error in 10 chances on the field.

Everyone Else.  His .286 batting average isn’t great, but his on base is a bit higher around .320.  He hasn’t had much luck with base stealers as the league is 17/19 against him.  John Lorenz is only batting .148 in split time with Quincy.  Garret Stephens leading his team in hitting at .318 and tied for on base percentage of .400.  He’s got 2 home runs and a .500 slugging percentage.  Very nice.

These posts may be few and far between.  We’ll see as the summer season goes along.

Posted under Baseball

Penn State Offense

QBs

Daryll Clark returns as a 5th-year senior with an additional year of prep school under his belt, so he’s been out of high school for 6 years. Dude’s experienced. His two primary backups, however, have both departed. Paul Cianciolo graduated (presumably to pursue his minor league baseball career) and Pat Devlin transferred after it was clear he would not be the Nittany Lions’ starter, even with Clark banged up late last season. In steps erstwhile Michigan commit Kevin Newsome, an early-enrolled true freshman to back up Clark.

Analysis

Clark is coming off an all-Big Ten year, and though he had a couple rough patches after being concussed in the Ohio State game, he is a heck of a QB, with a ton of experience. It’s the depth that kills PSU this year. Though Newsome enrolled early, the returns on his performances in spring practice were not so good. At this point, he can run much better than he can throw. If Clark were to go down, the Nittany Lion offense could become one-dimensional fairly quickly.

RBs

Evan Royster and Stephfon Green, junior and senior respectively, both return for Penn State. They were among the top rushers in a league that was full of them. Behind them, seemingly all the important backups return, though with the only experienced fullback departing in Dan Lawlor, there is a question about who will play the position (or if they’ll use one extensively at all).

Analysis

Both Royster and Green had exceptional years last year. Royster is the workhorse back, who gets the lion’s share of the carries, and Green is a change-of-pace speedy guy. He’s more apt to get the ball in space and make something happen for the offense. With nearly the entire OL gone, there is a question about how productive these two can continue to be.

Receivers

On top of Michael Robinson (and of course the suffocating defense), the three freshman wide receivers, Butler, Norwood, and Williams, were the stars of the surprise 2005 Orange Bowl team. They all depart, leaving Notably White junior Graham Zug as the leading returner, and likely the top WR in 2009. Joining him on the flank will be Brett Brackett. The tight end position is aespecially strong, with seniors Mickey Shuler and Andrew Quarless.

Analysis

Though the Nittany Lions surely have capable players stepping in, it’s going to be hard to replace the top 3 targets from last year, especially with the number of cretive ways the staff got the ball into Williams’s hands. If Quarless can stay out of trouble, I forsee a more TE-focused passing game in 2009, since there are two very capable players at the position, and both seniors. With the running game the likely focus of the offense, somebody like Zug or even Derek Moye will have to stretch the field and keep defenses honest. If Clark has enough time to find them downfield, their could still be some big plays in the passing game.

Offensive Line

From Penn State’s fairly awesome offensive line last year, three players were named all-Big Ten. Unfortunately, those three players are all gone. Stefen Wisniewski returns at a guard spot (though he’ll make the move to center), and right tackle Dennis Landolt is back for his senior year. The other three spots are up for grabs, with Lou Eliades penciled in at one of the guard spots. Redshirt sophomores Johhny Troutman and JB Walton will likely man the remaining tackle and guard spots, respectively.

Analysis

Losing three OL starters definitely hurts, especially when the three were named all-conference their senior year. Penn State has some serious re-working to do, with Wisniewski the only clear star on the line, though Landolt isn’t too far behind him, as a potential three-year starter. The other spots are all potential weaknesses, with youth and inexperience ruling the day.

Offensive Analysis

Losing the majority of the offensive line is going to hurt the run game, and also give Clark less time to pass it. With those considerations, Stephfon Green may take a few more carries away from Evan Royster this year, as Penn State may try to get the ball space to avoid the weak OL. With fewer playmakers on the edges (and with less time to throw it), the downfield passing game is likely to suffer somewhat. however, the tights ends could provide a nice security blanket for Clark, and Penn State will have to pick its chances to take shots downfield.

Penn State Defense

Defensive Line

Defensive ends Aaron Maybin and Maurice Evans both declared early for the NFL draft, leaving the Nittany Lions seriously hurting at DE. However, they are stacked at DT, With Jared Odrick and Abe Koroma returning as starters. Junior Ollie Ogbu provides some depth of very high quality. At ends, the holes will likely be filled by Eric Latimore, who is just a sophomore, and his classmate Jack Crawford.

Analysis

Evans’s early departure (and subsequent non-drafted status) leaves two questions: does Penn State not get hurt as badly by losing someone early if he wasn’t even good enough to be drafted? OR Was he that much better than the backups that he saw himself as an NFL player? Like most things, it’s probably somewhere in between. Jack Crawford, despite getting very little playing time last year (behind Maybin, Evans, and Josh Gaines who can blame him?), is expected to be the next superstar pass rusher for PSU. In the middle, the Nittany Lions have quality starters, as well as a good third optino in the form of Ollie Ogbu.

Linebackers

Only Tyrell Sales departs from the traditionally-stacked Penn State linebacking corps, and junior Navorro Bowman and senior Josh Hull will be the returning starters. Something tells me the Nittany Lions aren’t sweating that third LB spot, however, as Sean Lee returns from an ACL injury that caused him to miss all of 2008. All of the depth players also return for Penn State.

Analysis

The starters should be rockin’ as usual, since Lee was an All-Big Ten performer (some publications named him an All-American) as a junior, and Bowman took home some honors of his own last year. Even if somebody goes down, there are enough experienced players to fill in adequately, if not become stars themselves.

Defensive Backs

At long last, we come to a serious, serious weakness with the PSU defense. The entire starting backfield departs, along with a depth player. Safeties Anthony Scirotto and Mark Rubin are gone, likely to be replaced by sophomore Drew Astorino and junior Cedric Jeffries. Corners Tony Davis and Lydell Sargent will be replaced by AJ Wallace and Knowledge Timmons. The Nittany Lions also took a huge DB class in 2009, so don’t be surprised to see some freshmen on the field.

Analysis

Wallace and Timmons actually seemed to be on paths to stardom, playing key backup roles on a Nittany Lions defense in 2006 that seemed to have them poised to be multi-year starters. However, that never came to fruition, but it does mean they are plenty experienced coming into their senior years. At safety, Anthony Scirotto (when he wasn’t busy rounding up a posse, obvs) developed into a playmaker in the backfield, and Mark Rubin was good enough to be picked up by an NFL team. Replacing them will be something of a task, though Astorino has impressed in backup duty before.

Defensive Analysis

This will be a down-ish year for the Nittany Lions defense, especially in terms of pass defense. They lose the biggest pieces of their pass rush, along with all four defensive backs. QBs should have slightly more time to find receivers who should be slightly more open this year. At this point in the year, Michigan’s QB situation should be hammered out enough that the coaches will let whoever it is (likely Tate) throw the ball downfield a little bit. The inside rush doesn’t look to be quite as viable an offensive strategy – but then it didn’t look too good last year either, and Brandon Minor ran for 117 yards on 5.1 per carry.

Special Teams

Penn State’s all-time leading scorer departs in Kevin Kelly, and he had developed into a pretty darn good kicker by the time he graduated. Junior Colin Wagner got a couple chances to kick last year, and he’ll probably take over full-time in ’09. Jeremy Boone returns for his senior year to punt in 2009.

Analysis

Boone showed off a pretty good leg last year, and though he’ll be getting more work this year, it probably means that he’ll be booming more, instead of trying to sit them down inside the 25. Losing Kelly hurts, as he was a 4-year starter, but at least Wagner hasn’t missed a field goal for Penn State yet, right?

Overall Analysis

Both offense and defense should take a step back (I think even bigger than a lot of experts think). The Nittany Lions have certainly emerged from the dark ages though, and will be near the top of the conference again this year, even if it’s only because the conference seems to be somewhat down. They should tear through lesser competition (read: entire non-conference schedule), and play it about even with the teams at the top of the Big Ten.

Posted under Analysis, Football

Brandon Minor was Michigan’s leading rusher in 2008, after two consecutive years backing up Mike Hart. Despite being plagued with wrist injuries, he rushed for 533 yards last year, splitting carries with Sam McGuffie. Minor led Michigan to a 17-10 halftime lead over Penn State, one of the few bright moments in the year.

Nick Sheridan was Michigan’s starting quarterback in much of 2008, splitting duties with Steven Threet before Threet went down for the year with an injury. Sheridan passed for 2 touchdowns and ran for 1 on the year, and was the engineer of the Wolverines’ upset victory over Minnesota in the Metrodome on November 8th. Sheridan is the only remaining QB on the Michigan roster with more than 1 collegiate pass to his name.

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The poll will remain open for 7 days, closing at 5PM next Thursday. The full bracket is visible here.

Posted under Football, Personnel