Action since last rankings:
8-5-08 Northwestern gains commitment from Brian Smith.
8-8-08 Northwestern gains commitment from Taylor Paxton. Wisconsin gains commitment from Josh Peprah.
8-9-08 Notre Dame gains commitment from EJ Banks
8-11-08 Illinois gains commitment from Kraig Appleton.

New Rankings:

Up: DeQuinta Jones (from 3).

Posted under Recruiting

The Board misses you. You should really visit every once in a while.

New Information:
FL RB Vincent Smith. His decision will be between Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Tennessee. Things still lookin’ good.
OH OL Marcus Hall. Preseason O-line MVP of his league.
SC OL Quinton Washington. A top 10 player in the lowcountry. Whatever the lowcountry is.
PA LB Dan Mason. Fluff.
AL CB Dre Kirkpatrick. It will be a surprise for him to end up anywhere other than Bama, especially with all the time he spends on their campus.
FL CB Angelo Hadley. He has a top/final 5 (Mich, Aub, Fla, UNC, UGa). And fluff is written about him.

Removed:
UT OL Xavier Sua’filo. After expressing early interest in Michigan, there has been no sign that he is still looking at the Wolverines.
WA DT Deandre Coleman. Washington commit.
AZ DE Corey Adams. It seems like he is down to OSU and a couple west coast schools. There hasn’t been any Michigan mention in a while.
PA DE/DT Tyrone Ezell. Pitt commit.
MI DE Justice Akuezue. CMU commit.
CA LB John Michael Davis. Same situation as Xavier Sua’Filo. No mutual interest == removal.
MI S Brock Reynolds. I hear almost nothing about this guy, much less articles about his Michigan interest.
OH CB Tony Graham. Same situation as Brock Reynolds.

Etc.:
The Free Press explores the situation with Michigan’s scholarship numbers for the 2009 class. The ESPN high school football TV schedule is different every time I look, but here is the most updated master list of games. Note that the Pahokee-Olive Branch game is not there. There is no kickers section on the recruiting board, but TX PK Anthony Fera has been offered (info in header). When I pulled guys off the list for lack of mutual interest, top players got a little more benefit of the doubt in staying on the board. Jamaal Berry is now the guy teetering on the edge, since he continues to list Michigan despite being all but committed to the Buckeyes.

Posted under Recruiting

Listed below are statistics of Quarterbacks in the top 100 rushers in a given year. Immediately below each one, there is a snippet on where each one was drafted, or how they did in the NFL. As you can see, the number of times a quarterback rushes the ball has little bearing on where he will be drafted. Rather, it is a matter of which skills you have.

All of these players are back in college this year, but several of them are NFL-bound. Pat White will be a first day pick as a receiver, and Tim Tebow and Dan LeFevour are locks to be eventual NFL draft picks. Grothe will probably also make it to the NFL, along with Jake Locker, Matt Grothe, and maybe Zac Robinson.

None of these players made it to the NFL (yet, as several are still eligible).

I think we all know how Vince Young made out after leaving Texas (3rd overall in 2006). Reggie McNeal was picked as a receiver in the 6th round. Brad Smith went in the 4th round at receiver, and Michael Robinson was a fellow 4th-rounder as a running back.

Rasheed Marshall (who played for Rich Rodriguez at WVU) was a 5th-round pick as a receiver. Josh Cribbs went undrafted, but is still playing in the NFL as a receiver/returner for the Cleveland Browns. Drew Stanton was the 2nd-round pick of the Detroit Lions in 2006, and is expected to challenge for their starting position this year.

Also, for the record, Michael Vick was a number 1 overall draft pick, despite only actually playing college football for 2 years, and being as far from a prototypical NFL quarterback as you can imagine. Offensive style doesn’t dictate where a “system quarterback” will be drafted. Instead, it is skill that is paramount. NFL GMs can tell if a guy has an NFL arm, regardless of whether he’s running the zone-read (Vince Young), a different type of running spread (Tim Tebow), or a passing-oriented offense (Dan LeFevour, among others).

Posted under Coaching, Recruiting

On the Recruiting Board, would you prefer that I move guys to the positions that I expect they will end up playing in college (DeWayne Peace to DB, Thomas Gordon to S, etc.), or just leave them where they are for now (either where I started them off or where Scout and Rivals rank them).

Also, Paul and I have started to put together the 2010 board. The format will be mostly similar, but if there are any new features or content you would like, or any idea to make it better let us know. Starting early in the game as opposed to half way through allows more time for development and tweaking, so dream big.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Posted under Recruiting

New Information:
FL TE Orson Charles. He loved his Miami visit, and Georgia appears to be the only other school under serious consideration. He is teetering dangerously close to removal.
PA WR Todd Thomas. Pitt leads. He is also fairly close to removal.
MD DE Jason Ankrah. One local media video piece. Two local media video pieces.
GA LB Devekeyan Lattimore. Knows where he is taking all official visits (Michigan is one).
OK CB Gabe Lynn. Still no favorite.

Etc.:
Want to see Pahokee play in person (and likely Vincent Smith and Brandin Hawthorne commit)? There are tickets available. Bastrop (DE commit DeQuinta Jones, WR target Rueben Randle) will have a game on the ESPN family of networks. Much annoyance to the abundance of articles talking exactly how many games are going to be on ESPN without saying which games. In case you’re curious, Western Branch is figuring what to do without Newsome. According to Sam Webb, Michigan may not be out of it for Oku. I’ll leave him off the board for now.

Posted under Recruiting

Action since last rankings:
7-25-08 Indiana gains commitment from Colin Rodkey
8-3-08 Iowa gains commitment from Keenan Davis. Michigan State gains commitment from Dan France.
8-5-08 Northwestern gains commitment from Brian Smith.
8-7-08 Illinois gains commitment from Bud Golden.
I also finally bit the bullet and moved to Rivals’s (superior?) rankings. Next week I’ll put all the commits back in star order.

New Rankings:

Down: Simon, Fellows (from 5), Carter (from 4). Up: Fields, Clarke, McDougald (from 3).

Down: Newsome (from 5), Jones (from 4). Up: Gallon, Schofield, Toussaint (from 3)

Down: Watt (from 5), Calabrese (from 4), Golic (from 3) Up: Fox, Martin (from 3), Tausch (from 1).

Up: Barrent, Maxwell, Spencer, Treadwell (from 3), Klatt, Reynolds, Fowler, Hoebing (from 1).

Down: Shrive (from 5), Arcidiacono (from 4), Drake, Dukes (from 3) Up: Kuntz, Figueroa (from 1).

Down: Carter (from 4), Hull (from 3). Up: Thrash, Fuller (from 1)

Up: Harris (from 3), Borland, Frederick (from 1). Down:

Up: Lipscomb (from 3) Stephens, Keise (from 2), Michel, Orseske, Rengel (from 1). Down: Alipate (from 4).

Up: Barnett, Carr, Zachery (from 2), Ewald (from 1). Down: Kiel (from 3). Not on rivals commit list: Keyt.

Up: Rogers (from 2), Clark (from 1).

Up: Trumpy, Battle, Moulton (from 1)

Down: Henry (from 3), Cooke (from 4). Up: Aristide, Bush (from 1).

Posted under Recruiting

New Information:
CS DE Chris Bonds. Top 6 (Michigan is oviously in it, considering they have secured a visit).
AL CB Dre Kirkpatrick. Takes in an Alabama practice.
GA LB Devekeyan Lattimore. Old, but super fluffy to a hilarious degree.
FL RB Vincent Smith. Video fluff.
MS DB Dennis Thames. He will be on display at some county fair or something.

Removed:
OK RB David Oku. The 2009 Noel Devine has dropped Michigan in an effort to get to a decision faster.
FL WR Rontavious Wooten. Will choose between two non-Michigan schools.

Etc.:
Sam Webb talks defensive end recruiting (audio). Cass Tech is going spread this year. It couldn’t be any worse than their offense was against OLSM when I saw them play last year. The ESPN 150 was released. Relevant persons:
Commits
65. Bryce McNeal (82)
91. Isaiah Bell (81)
147. Kevin Newsome (80)
Targets
5. Dre Kirkpatrick (90)
9. Jelani Jenkins (86)
10. Rueben Randle (86)
21. Shaquelle Evans (84)
22. Sam Montgomery (84)
25. Darius Winston (84)
38. Darren Myles (83)
43. Branden Smith (83)
48. Morgan Moses (83)
67. Craig Drummond (82)
77. Gabe Lynn (82)
78. Marcus Hall (82)
86. Craig Roh (82)
88. Donavan Tate (82)
123. David Oku (81)
132. Eugene Smith (81)
140. Chris Bonds (81)
141. Tate Forcier (81)

It’s utterly ridiculous that Will Campbell is not even in the 150, seeing as how he’s a no-brainer 5-star to both of the other sites, and ESPN spoke breathlessly about him following the Penn State Nike Combine. Just another hit to ESPN’s recruiting credibility (as though they needed one). Their reasoning:

Dominating the combine circuit without pads during one-on-one drills (geared toward the defense) does not give an accurate description of a DT’s ability to truly play the position. When comparing Campbell against the 10 DT’s that made the 150, we felt he wasn’t in the same class talent-wise. He didn’t display the ability to be as explosive as the DT’s above him.

If you’re looking for which idiot at ESPN to complain about, this was said by one Billy Tucker (side note: Campbell’s explosiveness is one of his greatest strengths, besides natural size, of course).

Analysis:
Oku’s removal is sad, but maybe warranted considering the thousands of RBs Michigan has recruited. Same goes for Wooten and slots. Other than those two guys, not a ton of action this week. In the next couple updates, I may start removing prospects that are highly unlikely to end up at Michigan (I’m lookin’ at you, Hersey Jackson).

Posted under Recruiting

The Board is here.

Moved to Committed:
FL S Mike Jones. Also, he apparently plans to enroll early.

New Information:
MI QB/S Thomas Gordon. Fluff from the News.
MD RB Tavon Austin. He plans to take an official to Michigan.
MD OL Brennan Williams. Selected for the Army Game.
OH OL Marcus Hall. Michigan is in his top 5 (audio).
GA LB Devekaeyan Lattimore. Wants to take a Michigan visit.
MD LB Jelani Jenkins. Fluff with a Michigan mention.
FL CB Angelo Hadley. Michigan in his top 7.

Removed:
FL CB Brandon McGee. He is deciding soon, and Michigan doesn’t appear on his favorites list.

Etc.:
Fluff on TX QB commit Shavodrick Beaver.

Posted under Recruiting

Scout unveiled a new set of rankings, but I’m not going to bother updating the stars for now, since I’m planning to switch to Rivals’ rankings son anyway.

Action since last rankings:
7-25-08 Indiana gains commitment from **OT Colin Rodkey.
7-29-08 Iowa loses commitment from David Barrent. Michigan State gains commitment from David Barrent.Illinois gains commitment from Andrew Carter.
7-30-08 Illinios gains commitment from Jake Feldmeyer. Iowa gains commitment from Jordan Cotton.
8-1-08 Iowa gains commitment from Drew Calrk. Michigan gains commitment from Mike Jones.

New Rankings:

Sam Longo commits. OSU probably has 3-4 slots left for people like Marcus Hall, Jaamal Berry, etc.

A defensive end goes a long way to easing Michigan fans’ fears about the position.

Chris Watt commits, failing to realize that ND OL have underperformed horrifically in recent times. Turk and Tausch have a rating ceiling of high three-stars (standard for non-all-world kickers).

Nate Cadogan commitment is now official. Figueroa and Kuntz figure to be low three-star types, maybe dropping in twos.

Tyquan Hammock goes green after not getting the Michigan offer he wanted.

The Illini grab Terry Hawthorne and Tommie Hopkins. Is Hawthorne’s teammate Kraig Appleton next to drop?

Wisconsin’s OL commits get a bonus half0star because of their inherent Wisconsin-ness. Jeff Duckworth drops for the Badgers.

Gophers pick up Eric Stephens, whom the recruiting sites give vastly different rankings (Scout 2-star, Rivals 4-star).

Dustin Kiel, Lawrence Barnett, Charles Chapman, Mitch Ewald, and Pat McShane commit. While the Hoosiers have a lot of commitments (which would rank them higher in many ranking systems) their abundance of 2-star guys really limits where this class can end up.

Trumpy and Battle will be low threes, Moulton a high two.

Aristide could end up a high three-star. He was on the verge of being a big prospect before a bad junior year injury. Bush will be a mid three-star. The Boilermakers pass Iowa.

Ferentz’s glory days in recruiting seem to be over. Rogers will end up a low two-star.

Posted under Recruiting

Added:
FL CB Josh Robinson. He plans to take a Michigan visit (info in header).

New Information:
MN WR Commit Bryce McNeal. He had been planning to take visits, but is now completely solid to Michigan (audio).
FL CB Jayron Hosley. Michigan is among those recruiting him the hardest.
AZ DE Craig Roh. His top 5 will come out soon. My uneducated guess is that Michigan will be in it.
FL DB Mywan Jackson. Reacts (quite positively) to his Michigan visit.
MD DE Jason Ankrah. Michigan is in his top 7.
AR CB Darius Winston. Though he has backed off his remarks that Michigan leads, his high school coach thinks this is still the case.

Removed:
FL DE Ryne Giddins. Down to a final 6 that doesn’t include Michigan.
NC WR Jheranie Boyd. Michigan outside of his final 10.
FL OL Andrew Carter. Illinois commit.

Etc.:
I urge you to listen to the Sam Webb Recruiting Insider podcast (linked above in the Bryce McNeal section) from WTKA. It provides a lot of good information, and I should really do a better job of listening to it myself (fortunately, VB super-commenter RJ usually helps me out if something particularly interesting is said). Also, Michigan is probably. looking to take a kicker in the class of 2009. The primary candidates are TX Anthony Fera and FL Brendon Gibbons, but the recruiting process for a kicker will be pretty short, so I won’t bother to add them to the board. Just keep those names in mind.

Posted under Recruiting