Texas Slot WR Terrance Robinson is expected to make his decision tonight, after an in-home visit with Rich Rodriguez (the timing makes this one sound good for Michigan).

South Carolina DB J.T. Floyd visited Michigan last weekend, and was in Knoxville this past weekend. He plans to announce a decision between the two tomorrow. All signs point to good news for Wolverine fans here as well.

South Carolina WR Jaron Brown will announce his decision on Thursday in a press conference at his school. He will pick a hat from Michigan or one of the two South Carolina schools. I am far less optimistic on this one than the other two prospect decisions.

Other guys left? Ohio OL Patrick Omameh, who will decide to reaffirm his commitment to Cincinnati or switch to Michigan, Florida QBs Justin Feagins and B.J. Daniels, and of course Pennsylvania QB Terrelle Pryor (unofficially down to Ohio state and Michigan, but with the recent developments, don’t hold your breath).

There will likely be a couple more as-of-now surprising guys that pop onto the radar, but these are the key targets for right now.

etc.. J.B. Fitzgerald considering a switch? He;s in Ann Arbor for an unofficial visit this weekend.

Posted under Recruiting

No new commits over the weekend, but Michigan did get a reaffirmation from Marcus Witherspoon. Additionally, J.T. Floyd visited Tennessee this weekend, and is expected to choose between Michigan and the Volunteers tomorrow or Tuesday.

WOLV talked to Bill Martin yesterday at the wrestling match, and while he couldn’t comment on any specific recruits, he indicated that he was very pleased with Rich Rodriguez, and he has been on the road every day during the week, until the visit weekend.

Posted under Recruiting

Michael Brewster, he of the Ohio State Buckeye Unofficial Recruiting Team, has assembled a group of his friends called the “Brew Crew.” This seems a little douchey, but harmless, right? The latest word from Jeannete, PA, however, is that three members of said OSBURT (Brewster, JB Shugarts, and not-yet-enrolled Jacob Stoneburner) are in attendance at one Terrelle Pryor’s basketball game. This, in itself, sounds like a great way for NCAA violations to occur.

Let’s learn some rules!

13.02.5 Enrolled Student-Athlete. An enrolled student-athlete is an individual whose enrollment was solicited by a member of the athletics staff or other representative of athletics interests with a view toward the student’s ultimate participation in the intercollegiate athletics program. Any other student becomes a student athlete only when the student reports for an intercollegiate squad that is under the jurisdiction of the athletics department.

13.02.5.1 Permissible Recruitment Activities for Enrolled Student-Athletes.
(a) Off-campus contacts. Off-campus, in-person recruiting contacts that are unavoidable incidental contacts between enrolled student-athletes (or other enrolled students) and a prospective student-athlete are permissible if such contacts do not occur at the direction of a coaching staff member

(d) Unavoidable incidental contact. If unavoidable incidental contact occurs between a student-athlete and a prospective student-athlete (even at the prospective student-athlete’s high school), such contact is permissible, provided the institution had no prior knowledge of the occurrence of the contact.

Certainly there is a very clear violation of the spirit of the law if not the letter. It’s hardly “unavoidable” or “incidental” for the players to drive 3 and a half hours from Columbus to Jeannette. Where they got the idea and means to carry it out are questionable, but nothing could ever be proven here.

Then, an insider from OSU Scout affiliate BuckeyeSports.com posted the following:

“They were greeted by high fives and hugs”

When it is pointed out that this would take the players into far less murky waters and straight into the realm of “very clear rules violation,” the sentence was removed from the premium board.

The Pryor recruitment gets sketchier and sketchier. The OSU enrolled recruits, were they as confident as Buckeye insiders claim to be, would likely not be pulling out all the last-ditch efforts they could. The further this recruitment drags on, the less I want Pryor. Great player though he may be, there seems to be a lot of smoke in the air for there to be no fire.

Posted under Recruiting

Rich Rodriguez will be able to sign a full class of 25 (26 including Darryl Stonum), and currently has commitments from the following (alphabetically):

Michigan currently has 18 commits (out of 25-26 available scholarships for the class). With a commit or two possibly dropping out of the class (signs point to Christian Wilson), Michigan has between 7 and 8 places left to fill. Here are some potential guys being considered (in order of position importance, and then star order.

Posted under Recruiting

Impossible to confirm if it really is O’Neill, but this is and interesting tidbit from ESPN’s Senior Bowl chat yesterday:

Dann O’Neill (Grand Haven,MI): Mike, I’m committed to michigan right now to play tackle this fall. Any advice on preparing myself the rest of the winter for a season in big time college football?

Mike Pollak [ASU C]: Get your mind focused on working hard and be coachable. When you are at this level, you will be expected to work harder than you ever thought possible.

Posted under Recruiting

Michigan really needs this kid. (In Michigan’s favor, what other school can say they’d be screwed without him?)

An article in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review states what has essentially become common knowledge by this point: Pitt is not a factor.

“Pitt’s out, period. I won’t go there, for sure,” Pryor said. “I get false stuff said about me all the time. I’m used to it.”

Pryor already took an official visit to Ohio State and said he counts Ohio State, Michigan, Florida, Louisiana State, Oregon and Penn State among his finalists.

“I want to play in a college town, a facility that has 100,000 and is packed,” Pryor said. “That’s how I want to do it.”

Stadiums of schools that Pryor has stated he is still interested in (Capacity, and average percentage of capacity per game in ’07)

1. Michigan: 107,501 (103%)
2. Penn State: 107,282 (102%)
3. Ohio State: 102, 329 (103%)
4. Louisiana State: 91,600 (101%)
5. Florida: 88,548 (101%)
6. Oregon: 54,000 (109%)

Only the Big Ten schools have over 100,000 seats, though all schools have consistently “packed” stadiums: Oregon is the outlier on the high end, with 109% of capacity (58,845 per game), but its stadium is also half the size of Michigan’s.

By this criterion, all but the Big Ten schools (and maybe LSU or Florida, but probably not, especially because LSU got involved really late) are eliminated. This follows the conventional wisdom at this point, by which Pryor is down to Michigan and OSU, with maybe PSU sneaking in close.

From this list of three, Columbus is certainly not a college town (“college town” != “town with a college,” and even still Columbus is a big city). State College is a very nice college town, though it is in the middle of nowhere. Ann Arbor is slightly less of a college town, but it is accessible to the outside world as well (and is only 20 minutes from DTW).

Taking into account only the factor stated in the article, it seems like Michigan and PSU are the best destinations, though of course, it is expected to be a UM/OSU decision.

Posted under Recruiting

Terrelle Pryor (never heard of him) has set up his official visit to the University of Michigan. Originally, he had intended to visit the weekend of February 2, but now it appears as though the visit is taking place this weekend. The reasoning behind this switch is unknown. Some claim it is because of a conflict with Jeannette’s basketball schedule, though others perceive it with cautious optimism that an in-school visit by assistant coaches went well. Michigan is Pryor’s only visit currently set up. Michigan fans are chomping at the bit to welcome Pryor, imploring their fellow Wolverines to attend the basketball game against Iowa (undoubtedly a part of any official visit weekend), and even setting up a Welcome Pryor Block Party.

Conventional wisdom has Pryor choosing between Michigan and Ohio State, with Duke and Oregon also finalists. However, also mentioned in the article is Pryor’s addition of LSU as a team under consideration. Terrelle is currently unsure which other schools he will visit.

Posted under Recruiting

Several Michigan fans have expressed concern with Rich Rodriguez’s recruiting prowess, based on the classes he was able to pull at West Virginia, and the prospects he is in on now at Michigan. Is Rich Rodriguez a bad recruiter? Are players who would fit Rodriguez’s system simply not as highly-rated?

First, Coach Rodriguez’s recruiting situation at West Virginia is not at all similar to what it is (and will be) at Michigan. WVU’s recruiting class for the current year is ranked 53rd. However, this includes the decommit of 5-star Josh Jenkins (at least partially because of Rod’s departure), and some recruits who were likely to commit to West Virginia following Rodriguez to Michigan (which includes LB Taylor Hill, and is expected to include D.J. Woods in the near future). West Virginia’s 2007 class was ranked 18th, and 2006’s class was tied for 56th. This was all despite top-ten finishes during that span.

Moving to Michigan, the in-state talent pool will be greater, as will national recruiting prowess. West Virginia was able to recruit primarily in the East, mostly northern, but with a few Floridians and a couple pulled from the South, along with some players from Ohio. Michigan regular gets commitments from players in Texas, California, the east coast, and all over the Midwest. In this case, the prestigious name of Michigan can only help in recruiting, despite the fact that West Virginia has been more successful (or at least as successful) in the past 3 years.

Another concern among fans is the current caliber of recruit that Rich Rodriguez is working, even with the added advantages of being at Michigan. 3 to 4-stars such as Taylor Hill, D.J. Woods, and Terrance Robinson have become the hot names of late in Wolverine recruiting circles. There are several factors to take into account here. First, Rodriguez must fill a need for slot receivers in his offensive scheme, as Michigan is almost utterly lacking in that category. These slot-types are not as desired nationally, as their use is not important to all offensive styles. Secondly, it is late in the recruiting process. This has a two-fold effect: Rodriguez must play catch-up with most recruits, who he hasn’t had an opportunity to be in contact with as Michigan’s coach (which puts him more than a year behind on most kids). Also, this late in the recruiting process, many highly-rated players are already committed. Despite this, Rodriguez was able to secure the commitment of high-4-star S Brandon Smith. Only 8 5-stars on Scout remain uncommitted (Michigan already has a commitment from a 5-star in Boubacar Cissoko):

• Terrelle Pryor had eliminated Michigan before they hired Rodriguez. Now they are considered to be in his top 2.
• Julio Jones and Deandre Brown are big (6-4 and 6-6.5(!), respectively) wide receivers. There is not much need for them on Michigan’s roster.
• Omar Hunter had Michigan as his leader at one point, but then committed to Notre Dame. After reopening his commitment, he is considered a Florida lock.
• Rahim Moore would be a nice player to have, but he has not considered Michigan since last summer.
• Jamie Harper is expected to stay within the state of Florida, and Michigan already has 2 RB commitments (plus a fullback if you consider Christian Wilson still committed).
• Josh Jenkins felt betrayed by Rodriguez when he left WVU.
• Brandon Harris never considered either Michigan or West Virginia.

Rodriguez’s primary recruiting job this year was to re-recruit the players already on Michigan’s roster that could be of use in his new offense (which didn’t necessarily mean Ryan Mallett, though he would likely have been the starter in 2008). Also, Rodriguez needed to keep Michigan’s recruiting class intact, which he has done perfectly thus far. Finishing the recruiting class with players that fit his offensive system (which Michigan’s current roster is lacking), and hopefully snagging a highly rated player along the way (Terrelle Pryor) are next in line in terms of priority. Don’t judge Rodriguez’s recruiting abilities until the first class that is all his, next year.

Posted under Coaching, Recruiting

Cardinal Mooney LB Taylor Hill has pledged to become a Michigan Wolverine. Hill had pledged to Oklahoma early in the recruiting process, then switched his commitment to West Virginia days before Rich Rodriguez left for Michigan. What does this mean for New Jersey commits Marcus Witherspoon and J.B. Fitzgerald? Time will tell. Word on the street, however, is that Fitzgerald pressured Hill to commit to Michigan on their simultaneous visits to Michigan State over the weekend.

Mario Manningham is officially going to ply his trade in the NFL next year. Good luck to him.

Posted under Personnel, Recruiting

On Saturday, you may recall that I took offense to the very poorly-written article appearing on the Free Press website, written by one James Jahnke. I e-mailed my response to Jahnke, and he was kind enough to to provide a prompt reply:

Thanks for the note, Tim.

I’m at work right now and don’t have time to read that post on the blog. (I did skim it, however. Embarrassed to be in the same state? Ouch.) But I’m guessing it says pretty much what all of my other e-mailers have been saying.

You should know that I was asked by the Freep Web editor to write that column as a counterpoint to the why-Pryor-should-go-to-Michigan column that ran on the site a few days earlier. I reckon that if the site editors properly packaged them as a point-counterpoint, the vitriol would have been reduced a little. Instead, people think I wrote that on my own initiative, which isn’t true in the least.

Anyway, I regret doing it for several reasons. First, I’m not a columnist. I’m a copy editor. In hindsight, to ask a copy editor to write a column during a 30-minute break in his “normal” shift was unfair. It prevented me from putting sufficient thought into my points and crafting them into a suitable fashion. I admit that the column, as it ran, was shallow. Oh, well. I won’t make such a mistake in the future.

Hope your blood pressure isn’t off-the-charts on account of me,
JJ

He’s mostly just making excuses (but what else can he do with such a bad article?), but fairly straightforward, and I certainly appreciate that he took the time to respond.

Posted under Recruiting