With the recent commitment of Cass Tech’s Thomas Gordon, it appears that the 2009 recruiting class is nearly full. Assuming William Campbell recommits to Michigan (which appears likely but certainly not set in stone), Michigan may save a couple slots for surprises from top prospects.

Several of Michigan’s commits have mentioned the possibility that they might enroll early. Curious? let’s run through the list:

• CA QB Tate Forcier
• TX QB Shavodrick Beaver
• FL RB Vincent Smith
• FL LB Brandin Hawthorne

Campbell, if he recommits, has also mentioned that he is on track to graduate early, and that he would like to enroll in the winter. Of course, he has also mentioned that he won’t commit until the Army All-American game, clearly unaware that he would have to register for classes before said game, which would give just a teeny hint where he was leaning.

Forcier and Beaver are obviously the most important early enrollers on this list. With the shaky situation at quarterback throughout the 2008 season, Michigan needs a signal-caller that can help ASAP. With Tate Forcier’s polished game coming out of college, and early enrollment would allow him to use spring practice to adjust to the speed and physical nature of the college game, in preparation for contributing during the 2009 year.

Since early-enrollees don’t count against the 2009 class, but rather against the group from 2008, I’m curious about whether Michigan’s 2008 class size, full save for the defections f Marcus Witherspoon and Taylor hill, will violate NCAA recruiting rules if too many of these players enroll in the winter. If anyone has particular insight into the regulations, let’s hear about it. My suspicion is that early-enrollees can count towards either class.

Ratings
for those worried about lower-ranked guys in the class, you can take heart in the following:

• Anthony Fera may only have 3 stars, but he is considered the #2 kicker in the country. Kickers are rarely given anything higher than that by the recruiting services.
• Jordan Barnes has been mentioned by others as a guy who may see a ratings bump.
• Michael Schofield is a four-star to Rivals (three on Scout).
• Brandin Hawthorne is an athletic prospect who may be a bit of a project, but has high upside.
• Jeremy Gallon has four stars to Rivals (three on Scout), and has been running up tons of yards (in several different ways) in his senior season.
• Teric Jones started the year lowly-rated because he didn’t start last year, as he was stuck behind another Division-1 prospect, Indiana’s Cortez Smith. He has been having a solid season thus far in 2008.
• Isaiah Bell doesn’t really impress either Scout or Rivals, but ESPN loves the kid.
• Fitzgerald Toussaint was already a four-star to Rivals (three on Scout), but he has been absolutely killing it this year. He has averaged well over 200 yards and a few touchdowns so far this season. If that production continues, he might even be able to make a case for five-star status.
• Mike Jones was lowly rated because he was injured his entire junior year. He is healthy this year, and is playing linebacker in HS (where he will likely play in college; he had been playing safety in high school to this point). His ranking could improve (though that isn’t always the case with early-committed players).
• DeQuinta Jones may be overshadowed by the fact that he plays on a very talented defensive line. If nothing else, he helps Michigan start a pipeline to a very strong program.
• Vincent Smith doesn’t have the height to be considered a top-top prospect by the recruiting services, but he perfectly fits the mold of Rodriguez slotback.
• DeWayne Peace was only offered after he impressed the coaches at summer camp. He is a good example of a “trust the coaches” case.

So who, aside from Campbell, might still end up in this class? The most likely prospects include another offensive lineman or two (Craig Roh’s teammate Taylor Lewan, or one of the Carolina duo of Quinton Washington and Travis Bond), possibly another defensive end, another linebacker (Jelani Jenkins plz), and perhaps even another DB. 

Posted under Recruiting

GoBluewolverine is reporting that Ricardo Miller, a Wide Receiver/Tight End from Orlando’s Dr. Phillips High School has given his word to become Michigan’s first commitment in the class of 2010. Miller is a big receiver at 6-2 and over 200 pounds.

Recruiting Notes
Miller has always been aware of Michigan, as his mom is an alumna (who favored Michigan as a destination for Ricardo). However, Michigan fans first became aware of him when he attended the summer 2008 Rich Rodriguez Football Camp for the entire week. He also attended the Friday Night Lights camp at the University of Florida, but still seemed to be favoring Michigan. Through these events, Miller formed friendships with Michigan 2010 targets Marvin Robinson (who also appears to favor Michigan early in the process) and Jeremy Jackson (the son of RB coach Fred Jackson). In August, Miller went on the record saying that Michigan was his leader (info in header), and made plans for a fall visit to Ann Arbor for the Michigan State game. However, it didn’t take Miller that long to pull the trigger, and he became Michigan’s first 2010 commit tonight.

Player Notes
As previously noted, Miller is a big wideout, who may find his home at Michigan as an athletic pass-catching TE. In fact, tight end is where he spends most of his time on offense for Dr. Phillips, and he even has enough size to play defensive end on the other side of the ball. However, without a growth spurt, I would expect him to stay at WR on offense, being a big red zone threat. He has very good speed for a TE (decent for a WR), and is even known to take a tight end-around or two for his high schol team. He also has a big body, allowing him to overpower defenders, and he has decent hands. As a blocker, he is good on the high school level, but would need to improve his strength to block D-I defensive linemen.

Video

Sophomore highlights at TE and WR.

Posted under Recruiting

As you can see, when I purport to give comprehensive stats, it looks dumb when the stats are anything less than comprehensive. If you know of an article that can help out, let me know. I’ll fill in the remaining game articles/stats as I find the articles.

CA QB Tate Forcier
This Week: Scripps Ranch v. Morse. Scripps wins 47-7.

Season Totals: Pius 2-1

MI S Thomas Gordon
This Week: Cass Tech v. King. Cass wins 17-0.
Season Totals: Cass Tech 5-0.

Since this is Gordon’s first week in FNL, I stuck him at the bottom, and his stats are really incomplete. He’ll move in with the safeties (and hopefully with a more complete stats section) next week.

Posted under Recruiting

Action since last rankings:
9-26-08 Michigan gains commitment from Thomas Gordon.

Apparently while I wasn’t paying attention (and I rarely am), Rivals updated its rankings. I’ve adjusted them accordingly below. Also, for consistency’s sake, I’m now only including prospects who are listed on the Rivals commit lists.

New Rankings:

Down: Berry (from 5)

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Changes: None.

Up: Turk (from 1).
I still anticipate a drop for Fox. There’s got to be a reason a guy from Ohio never even got on the radar of OSU or either Michigan school.

Up: Klatt (from 3).
I’m going to be honest here: I’ve seen Maxwell play this year and BOY HOWDY does he suck. He might end up a three-star when all is said and done, unless the game against Saginaw just happened to be the worst of his life.

Down: Arcidiacono (from 3).
Up: Dukes (from 2).

Changes: Kraig Appleton not considered committed.

Up: Duckworth (from 2).

Changes: None.

Changes: Keyt not listed as a commit.
Up: Barnett, Zachery, Carr, Bolser, McShane, Ewald (from two).

Changes: none.

Changes: None.

Changes: Kris Cooke not considered committed.

Posted under Recruiting

Detroit Cass Tech QB/S Thomas Gordon (6-0 200) has given his word to become a Michigan Wolverine. Gordon will likely be a defensive back at Michigan, but could fill in as a signal-caller if an injury situation were to require it. Gordon becomes the 19th member of the 2009 Michigan recruiting class.

Recruiting Notes
Gordon made it no secret from the get-go that the Wolverines were his favorite school, and spent much of the recruiting cycle waiting for his offer. He attended Michigan’s camp with his teammates Teric Jones and Will Campbell this summer, but his performance did not earn him that coveted offer. Gordon became a more serious prospect for Michigan later, as more schools began to offer. Thomas attended Michigan State’s game last weekend on a visit, where the Spartans gave him an offer. Shortly thereafter, Michigan followed suit, but Gordon chose to not immediately end his recruitment, giving respect to those that had offered him earlier. Gordon scheduled his announcement for September 26th, and despite a few changes to that schedule, he went with his heart on that date, picking the Wolverines.

Player Notes
Gordon is the starting QB for Cass Tech High School, but wasn’t deemed worthy of an offer at that position. When he attended college summer camps in 2008, several coaching staffs requested that he work out at the safety position. Though his performance didn’t garner any big-time offers, it did pique the interest of Rich Rodriguez and company. 2 games into the 2008 Cass Tech season, the coaches were convinced he could contribute at safety. He will be a DB at Michigan, though he would also be capable of playing QB in an emergency. Gordon is given two stars by Scout, though Rivals deems him worthy of the third star. He is a high-upside guy who might see his ranking increase, since he has only been playing safety for a half season.

Etc.
With two of his good friends and teammates now solidly committed to Michigan (on top of Boubacar Cissoko, who is a freshman standout in Ann Arbor), there is a good chance that William Campbell is more likely to recommit to Michigan.

Posted under Recruiting

Added:
AZ OL Taylor Lewan. Both premium sites have front-page headlines indicating he’s been offered. He’s a teammate of DE Commit Craig Roh.
FL CB Jarvis Byrd. Michigan is showing interest in the Pahokee-an (Pahokeeite?).

New Information:
VA DE Will Hill. Enjoys a Tennessee visit, still plans to visit Michigan before deciding.
SC DE Chris Bonds. The perpetually-injured one now says he’s probably not going to visit Michigan.
FL LB Commit Brandin Hawthorne. He’s still taking other visits. I wonder if the Michigan coaches might discourage that at his official visit this weekend.
FL LB Mike Marry. Michigan is in what appears to be a Top 7 for him. How about a little video?:

MI S Thomas Gordon. Back to deciding this weekend (info in header, the answer is almost always “yes”).
FL CB Mywan Jackson. North Carolina now leads (info in header).

Official Visits this Week:
TX QB Commit Shavodrick Beaver (though that is apparently not the case)
FL LB Soft Commit Brandin Hawthorne
MD RB Tavon Austin
SC OL Quinton Washington

Analysis:
Chris Bonds might be a casualty of 2 DE commits. Michigan’s continued pursuit of o-linemen definitely indicates that they see Anthony LaLota staying on the DL. Michigan definitely still seems to want another CB (in addition to another LB), as their increased interest in Jarvis Byrd seems to indicate. That would fill a need and keep a pipeline open.

Etc.:
MSU picks up a TE transfer. This probably hurts them with Dion Sims. I personally think he wants to go to OSU if he picks football, but the Buckeyes’ class might fill up before he gets a chance to commit there.

Posted under Recruiting

The 2009 recruiting class looks more and more every day like it is pretty much wrapped up, except for perhaps a couple more prospects that may end up in maize and blue.

The 2010 Varsity Blue recruiting board does exist, and I’ve been keeping up with it to some degree. My original plan was to have a grand unveiling either the day after Signing Day 2009, or whenever Michigan gets its first commit for the class of 2010.

My question for you is: would you like me to wait that long, or release the board into the wild sometime sooner? I still wouldn’t likely give weekly recruiting updates, but they’d certainly come at some interval.

As of now, the 2010 recruiting primer is the largest source of 2010 material I’ve published (Genuinely Sarcastic has a 2010 board of their own going). Would you like more, or should I hold off a little longer on the creepiness of stalking high school juniors?

Posted under Recruiting

Ed. Note: The premium sites are now reporting otherwise on Gordon’s decision, fyi.

The Board has got it all, man.

• Remember: Cass Tech S/QB Thomas Gordon announces his decision this weekend. Here’s a little Cass Tech fluff, too.
• IN LB Commit Jordan Barnes unofficially visited Purdue last weekend. Not sure if you should read anything into that, so take it FWIW.
• Major (5 page) Tate Forcier fluff from the AANews. Obligatory “omfg he should mma w/ mike b.”
• Michigan is going hard after Georgia commit LB Mike Gilliard. They probably won’t land him, but it’s a good sign they’re after at least 1 more LB.
• I’ll give a few 2010 tidbits here and there as the season progresses (more about the 2010 board tomorrow). A top instate player will have a hard time going against Green and White when it comes to his recruitment.

Posted under Recruiting

UPDATE: DeWayne Peace stats added for this week.
As you can see, this feature is getting more and more polished as the weeks go by. Next week, it’ll look just a little bit better.

CA QB Tate Forcier
This Week: Scripps Ranch v. West Hills. Scripps wins 17-10.

Posted under Recruiting

Action since last rankings:
9-14-08 Northwestern gains commitment from Patrick Ward.
9-15-08 Wisconsin gains commitment from AJ Fenton.
9-16-08 Indiana gains commitment from Javon Cornley.
9-17-08 Purdue gains commitment from Josh Johnson.
9-18-08 Michigan gains commitment from Craig Roh.

New Rankings:

Posted under Recruiting