UPDATE: I just update the podcast feed, so if you subscribe, you might have to tell your software to check the feed again. In the future I’ll try to get it updated over the weekend. Also, I resubmitted it to iTunes, apparently it rejected it last time. If you want to manually add the podcast feed to your iTunes copy this:

http://www.panel-creations.com/varsity_blue/podcast/vblue_podcast.xml

Select Advanced>Subscribe to Podcast and paste the URL. It should then automatically update each week.

Posted under Recruiting, Video

(Tons of) Action since last rankings:
6-21-08 Illinois gains commitment from Greg Fuller.
6-22-08 Ohio State gains commitments from Carlos Hyde and Justin Green. Wisconsin gains commitment from Montee Ball. Northwestern gains commitment from Anthony Battle.
6-23-08 Ohio State gains commitments from Bradley McDougald and Corey Brown. Illinois gains commitment from Joelil Thrash. Northwestern gains commitment from Drew Moulton.
6-24-08 Michigan gains commitment from Jordan Barnes. Michigan gains commitment from DeWayne Peace. Ohio State gains commitment from Jonathan Newsome. Wisconsin gains commitment from Chris Borland.
6-25-08 Michigan State gains commitment from Micajah Reynolds. Wisconsin gains commitment from Brian Wozniak.
6-26-08 Indiana gains commitment from Nick Zachery. Wisconsin gains commitment from Travis Frederick.

New Rankings:

Huge week for the Bucks with tons of commits. Their remaining slots are probably reserved for specific guys they know they’ll get (i.e. Marcus Hall).

A pair of three-stars in Jordan Barnes and DeWayne Peace for Michigan.

Curtis Drake is being brought in as a QB unless the Nittany Lions get a top-notch signal caller in this class (in which case he will likely be a WR). Penn State has a quantity-over-quality class right now.

Nothing new for Notre Dame. Is Charlie’s gravity losing its pull?

Micajah Reynolds commits.

Montee Ball, Brian Wozniak, and Travis Frederick commit to the Badgers.

Keise will probably end up a low 3-star/high 2-star. Same with Rengel.

The Illini pick up two unrated commits.

Two unrated commits for Northwestern.

Ferentz’s glory days in recruiting seem to be over. Barrent drops to 3 stars in Scout update.

Not sure where Aristide will be ranked, but it has to be a more important commit than a long-snapper. He was on the verge of becoming a big prospect before a junior year injury.

Keyt is a long snapper/DE who will greyshirt, according to IUFootball (who deserves props: writing about Indiana football has to be among the most thankless jobs out there). Hoosiers grab Nick Zachery.

Posted under Recruiting

The recruiting board is all-new! If you have any problems with the new incarnation, e-mail me right away. If you have any suggestions, questions, etc., let me know.

Since it’s still in the buggy stages, everything is still up to date at the old board as well.

Moved to Committed:
IN LB Jordan Barnes. Commit article.
TX WR DeWayne Peace. Commit article. He may be moved to another position as word comes out about where Michigan recruited him to play.

Added:
FL LB Jon Bostic. He apparently holds an offer.
OK DE Pearlie Graves. Awesome name, Michigan offer (info in header).

New Information:
FL LB Brandon Hawthorne. We already knew Michigan and USF were his top choices, now we know that Louisville, Tennessee, and West Virginia round out the top 5.
SC DE Chris Bonds. Top 5 of USC, USC, Michigan, ND, and ‘Bama.
OH OL Chris Freeman. Article with no Michigan mention. He is teetering near the edge of being dropped.
OK CB Gabe Lynn. Audio interview in the radio, top 5 by end of summer.
OK RB David Oku. Nebraska official 9-27.

Removed:
PA CB Corey Brown. As expected, commits to Ohio State.
PA DE Juantez Hollins. Pitt commit.
MI TE Mitch Kessel. Cincinnati commit. He was a longshot to ever get an offer.

Analysis:
Losing Brown to the Bucks isn’t that big a deal, because it was expected and prepared for, and means OSU is starting to run low on scholarships to give to other ’09 prospects. Barnes is a Chris Graham-ish player, and he may see a move to MAX back. DeWayne Peace could be a good WR or CB.

Etc.:

Posted under Recruiting

As everyone likely knows by now, Michigan commit Kevin Newsome has decided to transfer from Western Branch High School, and will instead enroll at Hargrave Military Academy for his senior football season. Despite still being a high schooler, Newsome will participate on the post-graduate football team.

Most recruiting fans are only familiar with Hargrave Military Academy because of prospects who graduate from high school, but don’t have the grades to qualify for college. Hargrave has a post-graduate program for “5th-year seniors” to improve their grades enough to qualify for college, while still playing football. Newsome doesn’t have this issue because:

1. He is going to Hargrave for his senior year, not after he graduates (the first time).
2. He is a good student (NHS member, class president, etc.)

It seems like he has a good head on his shoulders, so I doubt it’s because he needs to get grade or discipline issues sorted out. I would think it’s something more along the lines of being prepared for college football (and Barwis!).

As for whether this is good for Michigan, I’m not sure. Hargrave seems to be pretty good about keeping college coaches away from already-committed players, but at the same time, they have a good relationship with Virginia Tech’s coaching staff (3 cadets moved on to Virginia Tech just last year). Obviously, since Virginia Tech is one of the main competitor’s for Newsome’s services, that is slightly worrisome. However, Newsome’s former high school coach seems to be putting some pro-VT pressure on Newsome:

“I thought when he picked Michigan, he jumped the gun a little bit, and I was disappointed,” Johnston said. “I told him that.”
“We’re very close, and I’ve told him I’d like to see him stay closer to home,” Johnston said. “I’m not going to push it, but there’s something about playing in your home state.”

It seems like Kevin might be trying to avoid those around him giving him undeserved grief for not picking their favorite school. Without knowing for sure why Newsome is moving to Hargrave, and how well-received Michigan’s coaches are at that school (Rodriguez did get a commitment from a Cadet before moving on to Michigan last year), it is impossible to know whether this move impacts Michigan positively or negatively. Of course, down the road, it will be interesting to see whether this also affects Newsome’s younger brother, Keevon.

And of course, the Free Press takes this as incontovertible evidence that Newsome’s commitment to Michigan will not be honored.

Posted under Recruiting

Completing the, uh, bi-fecta for the day, DeWayne Peace has committed to the Michigan Wolverines. Peace (6-0, 178, 4.68) is a DB/WR from South Grand Prairie HS in Texas. He becomes the 12th player in the 2009 class.

Commitment Notes
Peace was a somewhat under-the-radar prospect through much of his recruitment. Until early June, he favor the Texas A&M Aggies and the Kansas Jayhawks. That all changed with a visit to the Rich Rodriguez Football Camp, however. Peace and Michigan were mutually impressed, and upon Peace’s return, A&M was out of the picture, and Michigan was in the top 2 with Kansas. DeWayne decided to end his recruitment shortly thereafter, and gave his word to become a Michigan Wolverine.

Player Notes
Peace has been impressive at both wideout and corner, and is known for good quickness and fluid hips. He moves in and out of breaks cleanly, and uses good routes to get open. At Michigan, it is unclear whether he will be a defensive back or wideout/slot.

Video
From the Super Jayhawk camp.

Posted under Recruiting

Jordan Barnes, a three-star linebacker from Fort Wayne, IN, has given his word to become a Michigan Wolverine. The 6-0, 225 pound product of Homestead Senior High School, picked Michigan over Auburn and Alabama.

Recruiting Notes
Barnes grew up in the state of Alabama, and made it clear that the two in-state schools were his favorites early in the process. However, after attending the BBQ at the Big House, Michigan started making inroads. When he announced his intentions to have a press conference, it was clear that the Wolverines were in the running along with the two ‘bama schools. Before he could get to a press conference, however, Barnes committed to the maize and blue.

Player notes
Barnes is a quick linebacker, and he uses his speed to make plays. His combination of good speed and slightly shorter stature make him a fit to end up on the weakside in college. His film shows that he could also move to the offensive side of the ball, where he could be a big, quick FB (MAX in the Rich Rodriguez system).

Posted under Recruiting

a2matt:

Have you heard anything about the Victors message board? Apperntly we are supposed to get to defensive commits by Thursday, one from Texas and 1 from Ohio.

I hadn’t heard about this (until today, when it became the hot news). If true, that would definitely be good news for Michigan football.

From Texas, I think the only player we are close to getting would be DeWayne Peace. He is a WR/DB. As far as the Ohio guy, I can’t think of anyone that we are close on (that has also been offered). There may be an offer out there I’m not accounting for, or the original poster may have the state mixed up, and Jordan Barnes (Indiana linebacker expected to pick between Michigan and the Alabama schools this week) could be the recruit in question.

More on this story as news of its veracity (or lack thereof) comes out.

Posted under Recruiting

The Board.

Added:
FL S Mike Jones. Michigan is one of the schools he is considering. They may be co-leaders with ND.
IN LB Jordan Barnes. The Michigan target is deciding this week (info in header).

New Information:
FL DE Ryne Giddins. He has made the Army Game, and will announce his decision there.
GA LB Devekeyan Lattimore. Fluff.
OK RB David Oku. He will now wait until his official to visit Michigan.
VA RB David Wilson. Michigan is still among his schools being considered.
NC DB Terry Shankle. Michigan is not in his list of 6 favorites.
PA CB Corey Brown. Michigan is in his top 5, but Pitt might be at the top (and OSU is probably up there as well).
FL DB Vladimir Emilien. Really digs OSU.

Etc.:
Fluff on ’08 player Dann O’Neill, fellow freshman Mike Shaw’s track exploits/excellence. As the article states, he is the anchor leg on the winning team.

’09 commit Justin Turner is RichRod’s only head-to-head win against Tressel so far.

Posted under Recruiting

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Episode 2:

Posted under Recruiting, Video

I’ve heard a lot of rumbling about how all of Michigan’s commitments are skill players, rather than linemen. While this is partially true (Michigan also has had a commitment from Will Campbell since the beginning of time), Michigan’s pickup of Michael Schofield changed this somewhat. Of course, the fans are never satisfied, and a couple defensive ends or safeties could go a long way to assuage their fears.

I figured this change was more a reaction to the new regime coming in and needing to be established, until I found an article with this fairly interesting quote:

While the current 10 verbal commitments to the Mountaineers’ next recruiting class are predominantly skill-position players…

This made me wonder about whether there is an inherent quality of the system, or perhaps even the personality of the coaching staff (while most of West Virginia’s old coaching staff is now in Ann Arbor, some members – including the new headman – remain in Morgantown).

West Virginia fans are apparently suffering from the same restlessness of Michigan fans, in hoping that they will stop picking up skill players and start getting some big fellas. The Mountaineer even have 3 linemen to Michigan’s 2, and this is still not enough.

I did a bit of historical research to see if West Virginia’s early commits were typically skill position players. It appears that this wasn’t always the case. Is there a trend here, or just a coincidence? I certainly couldn’t decide.

Posted under Coaching, Recruiting