Compare to the previous edition of the recruiting class rankings. Rivals released an updated Rivals100, so most of the previously-committed guys have at least some form of ranking. I think when the next set of rankings come out, I may switch the Rivals scores from stars to their “RR” grades, whatever the hell they mean. Thoughts on the potential switch?

5-8-09 Indiana gains commitment from Andre Kates.

Nothing new for Michigan. I’m still surprised a guy with Williamson’s speed and size doesn’t get at least 3-star status. ESPN still lists Travis Williams as committed to Michigan because their recruiting coverage is incompetent.

David Durham picks up a 3-star rating from Rivals.

Penn State passes Notre Dame, as their commit list is far more impressive overall at this time.

Notre Dame has been stagnating with these three commits for quite some time.

Antoine Lewis gets 3-star ranking from Rivals.

Nothing new for the Illini.

Lippett still unrated. ESPN ranks him higher than most of Michigan’s commits, which like, wow, you’re dumb.

Gray and Morris each get 3-star ratings from Rivals.

Zagzebski and Mason still the only Badgers holding it down.

Indiana grabs JuCo Andre Kates to get on board.

Northwestern, Purdue – 0 commits.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

A couple weeks ago, I posted about the apparent desire by Michigan’s coaches to offer every prospect under the sun. Of course, like any strategy, there are certain advantages and downsides to this technique. What is most striking, perhaps, is the difference between what Michigan is doing, and the methods employed by arch-rival Ohio State on the recruiting trail. The post (as it was intended to do) drew a ton of responses, and I went even one step further by asking a few questions of Jim Stefani, who was more than happy to answer them.

What is going on

According to Jim Stefani, Michigan has as many as 130 offers to high school prospects outstanding thus far. Many of these, however, might be from kids that they don’t really want to commit. According to Jim Stefani, “In a sense, many Michigan ‘offers’ are not really firm offers but more or less strong indications of interest by Michigan.  Take that for what you will, but it is how many schools are now approaching recruiting.  Look at the DB who wanted to verbal to U-M last week [Travis Williams] but was told to wait.” Florida, a school that uses a similar technique in throwing around a lot of offers, had a similar situation, and they had to tell a defensive back outright that the offer he had been given was not “committable.” It appears as though the main point of contention here, then, is what an offer really means.

Shouldn’t an offer, by definition, be “committable?” Isn’t that, after all, what an offer is? Wolv54 offered a hypothesis in the comments from the previous post:

The only potential problem the shotgun approach creates is that you have a finite number of schollies and you have to slow play some guys waiting for the higher ranked guys make their decisions. I would compare it to trying to get a prom date; whereas you ask the hottest girl you know and hope she says but if not, you can always take that girl that plays in the band, right?

Michigan seems to be offering both the “hottest girl” and the “band girl,” and hoping they can get the less desirable option to wait for the hotter one before making a decision. However, with a Michigan offer now just meaning that the Wolverines have strong interest in a kid, the techniques might have to be adjusted. According to Stefani, “they need to be careful that they get the right kids to commit of those 130. Believe me, even though a kid has been offered does not mean that Michigan wants him to commit right away (or, perhaps, ever).”

So why do they offer guys without actually wanting them to commit? This hasn’t always worked out, as people (like Travis Williams) try to commit, without the staff wanting it. That can lead to one of the problems that Michigan fans fear, according to Michigan4204,

I mean damn dude, were beating out schools like TCU, Tulsa, SMU, and Baylor for some of these recruits. Players used to come to Michigan because they produced pro-level talent. You have to have that talent first of all when you arrive on campus, and half of RR recruits simply don’t have that talent.

There are certainly ways out of this (and schools like florida use them as well), but it’s not always the cleanest break, as Stefani points out, “It backfires when a kid wants to commit and the verbal is not accepted or commits and then a few months later Michigan stops contact.  That is because it will upset the prospect and, more importantly, his high school coach.  If the prospects is from a program loaded with D-I talent every year it could definitely hurt.” Michigan seems to be willing to risk this.

The Contrast with Ohio State

Ohio State, as mentioned above, is using a recruiting method that seems to be diametrically opposed to that of Rich Rodriguez and staff. Jim Tressel has given out very few offers, and has many fewer commits than Michigan, though most of their commits are more highly-rated than some of Michigan’s guys. Like Michigan has its reasons for the current recruiting strategy, Ohio State also has reasons for theirs. They already have a deep talent base, and this year, they have very few scholarships to hand out. Stefani’s take:

The longer a school waits to offer, the more time it has to evaluate prospects and decide who they want to offer.  With schools in the midst of May evaluation, combines going on every weekend and summer camps coming up in June, the Ohio State coaches will have a LOT more info at hand when it comes to making their offer decisions than the school that have offered many prospects early based on sophomore year camp/combine performances and junior film.

The Buckeyes also give themselves another advantage: “many of the elite players like to wait things out, which only helps the schools who have not picked up too many early verbals.” Of course, Michigan will wait on top-top guys who have interest, but does accepting a lot of early verbals limit their ability to do so? Probably.

As shown above, Michigan fans aren’t exactly unanimously enthusiastic about the new approach. Michigan4204 was the most harsh in the comments of the previous post, using the now-old adage “Just because it worked in the Big East doesn’t mean it’ll work in the Big Ten. Trust me I hope it does, but I’m pessimistic.” When it was pointed out that there is no reason to expect any different result simply on a different conference, he was quick to point out the talent difference between the Big Ten and Big East, which, unfortunately for his argument, seems to ring a little hollow.

So, yeah. That argument certainly doesn’t hold water. Complaining about Rodriguez’s tactics on the basis of a talent difference between conferences is bogus. Of course, that doesn’t stop ontblue from agreeing with him:

Tend to agree with Michigan4204. You can take RR’s 3/4 star guys and I’ll take the USC/Florida/Suckeyes 4/5 star guys and we’ll see how things stack up in 5 years. By the way, since when did adding a marginal guy ever add to depth? It just adds another cheerleader.

Obviously, Rich and staff think the commits that they take will be guys who are able to contribute, or they likely wouldn’t waste their time. As bouje noted, “Who are the players that are really lighting it up in spring practices? Vincent Smith 3* out of Florida. He can obviously pick the 3* recruits.”

The reasons for this approach

So why does Michigan have to recruit the way they are? For one thing, they’ll probably have a lot of scholarships to fill, unlike the Buckeyes. “[L]ast year Ohio State signed a full class of 25, so they have limited schollies to hand out this year and are being very selective,” Stefani said. “On the other hand, after expected attrition Michigan is in a position to sign between 22 and 25 kids this coming year, so the Wolverines have a lot more flexibility when it comes to making early offers.” The early offers also help Michigan get their foot in the door with some guys:

Being aggressive with their early offers means that Michigan gets on a prospect’s radar earlier than those schools that have not offered.  the old adage ‘the early bird catches the worm’ applies here.  Moreover, actually picking up early verbals gets the whole process rolling as they can market their “great” (haha, excuse me) class to other prospects, as can the kids who have already committed.  They can now tell a lot of the Ohio kids, we love you but Ohio State doesn’t.  that carries some weight.

The early offers also mean that the class fills up quickly, as pointed out by Derrick, “Wouldn’t this approach force some kids to make a decision before all the offers were gone? If a kid really wants to play for michigan or any school he knows there are only so many offers available and he should be proactive in making a commitment.” Still, fans aren’t necessarily all on board with this approach, as sebaskrator said, “I’m willing to give RR the benefit of the doubt for now. Has has been able to get pretty far finding some gems before. That said, if he is able to juggle commitments around for someone he’d like more later, great.” It’s an endorsement, sure, but I’d say that’s far from ringing.

The Future

So, when Michigan’s talent base is built up to where it used to be, at least with the types of players that Rodriguez wants, will we see this strategy continue? It’s highly likely, though a school like Florida, which has had several top-tier classes in a row now, continues to use it, as AC1997 points out “I find it interesting how Urban Myer is offering everyone and their brother too, being from Utah he had the same problem that Rich Rod did (and probably worse).” The key thing that needs to happen before Michigan can audible the recruiting strategy is to show results on the field, according to Stefani, “First and foremost,once Michigan starts winning again it will become a magnet for national kids and be able to hold off on offering second-tier kids too early.” Ohio State obviously doesn’t have this problem right now, as he points out:

Ohio State is a top-tier national program that has gone to a couple consecutive BCS championship games.  They are an elite school that a LOT of kids want to play for, be they in-state kids or national kids… They can afford to wait on a lot of in-state kids because they know that they can get them later in the recruiting timeline if they finish second on some of their top national targets.  Michigan, on the other hand, is in a rare rebuilding mode and is not longer a “hot” school with national prospects.

In the future, once Michigan (hopefully) starts having on-field success again, this argument will all become moot.

There are still benefits to Michigan’s technique, as Stefani says “The risks [for an approach like OSU] are that by waiting too long to offer a prospects you have ‘bigger fish to fry’ you will lose out on him to another school (e.g. Devin Gardner to Michigan).  Once prospects are offered bythe Buckeyes, they will often have to do a ‘catch-up’ job in showing them the love.” However, It seems that Michigan will likely never go from the extreme that they’re currently occupying all the way to Ohio State’s, wherein they offer very few prospects early. In the end, a happy medium is probably most desired. AC1997 probably sums it up best: “Maybe he feels that 3-9 means he has to do that.” In another year 3-9, hopefully, will no longer be an issue.

Posted under Analysis, Coaching, Football, Recruiting

As always, the 2010 Recruiting Board has a running tally of all the updates.

A very Michigan-tastic relay team of Denard Robinson, Adrian Witty, 2010 RB Cassius McDowell, and Donte Dotson (who does not play football) won the Florida State Track title in the 4×100 relay, with a time of 40.64. They did not, however, break the state record of 40.54, partially because of a bad handoff between Witty and Dotson:

”I’m mad we didnt break it but happy that we won states,” Robinson said. “It’s a great experience. I don’t know what happened. Our exchange wasn’t that good from first to second. That is what got us. It means a lot. To two-peat means a lot, especially after losing two legs from last year.”

If only there were video of this whole thing… ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE:

The legs are as follows: Dotson, Witty, McDowell, Robinson. All are very fast. Robinson finished 3rd in the 100m dash, with a time of 10.62.

Oklahoma-oriented radio interview/podcast-like-substance with CA RB Brennan Clay. Talks about how big a threat the Scripps Ranch offense was, in large part thanks to Tate Forcier. Brennan caught 70 passes and ran 107 times, so he’s definitely a multi-skilled threat. Not to sound the alarm bell quote yet, but he lists about 10 of his offers, and Michigan is not among the schools he names.

IL RB LaSteven McKinney is among the 400 nominees for the Army All-American Game, and he talks a little bit of recruiting.

Former Michigan and 10-year NFL running back Tyrone Wheatley is the [EMU] Eagles’ running backs coach and has kept tabs on McKinney.

“I talked to Coach Wheatley yesterday on the phone,” McKinney said. “He said that I’m definitely the type of player that they like and I remind them a lot of Reggie Bush. They said that they can’t see why I don’t have anymore offers yet, so it was a very good compliment and he seems like a pretty good guy.”

“I’m thinking I should have everything narrowed down by national signing day,” McKinney said. “I’m very open-minded about everything.”

I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s given at least a glance later on, though it sounds like it would be for either defense or slot:

McKinney is also a polished receiver, as Racki sometimes uses the standout in the slot… Though he is a productive running back at the high school level, McKinney is being recruited by many schools as a defensive back because of his fluid hips and quickness. Racki said every Big Ten school, including Illinois, has shown interest with only Michigan State recruiting McKinney as a running back.

I would presume that, since Michigan has 2 RB/Slots prospects already committed, he would be a defensive guy, or maybe a contingency plan for a decommit. He may be the type of kid who comes to Michigan’s camp, as the Eastern Michigan coaching staff typically attends.

OH RB/DB Christian Bryant has received his Ohio State offer, so it’s likely only a matter of time before he commits to the Buckeyes. Like many Glenville players, the Ohio State offer was all that was holding him back from becoming a Buckeye. He may wait a while to announce a commitment, as Glenville players often do, but he’s as good as Scarlet.

Has Michigan offered FL WR Ace Sanders? I had’t previously heard of the kid, and I’d be shocked if they offered yet another WR (albeit a slot). Still, I was wrong in questioning a report last week, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, and at least add him to the board as unoffered.

They’re also still visiting the high school of NC WR Anthony Creecy. Again, I’m skeptical of their desire to take another true WR, but this is a results-based recruiting board, so he’s added. Of course, any additional WR recruit may still end up at another position.

FL WR Quinton Dunbar has Michigan in his top 6, despite aforementioned glut of wide receiver recruits for the Wolverines. The need for another outside wideout is low, and a recruiting class heavy in wide receivers isn’t exactly inviting to recruits, so look for Michigan to miss one of the next couple cuts for Dunbar, barring unforeseen circumstances.

After visiting Ann Arbor earlier this spring, FL OL Torrian Wilson named the Wolverines his favorite. I assumed, like many other Michigan fans, that after the afterglow of the trip started to fade away, that Wilson would back off that statement, and eventually start favoring another school (such as the hometown Miami Hurricanes, which took 8 Miami Northwestern prospects in the class of 2008). Recent indications, however, are that Wilson still favors the Wolverines. Better yet, he plans to decide sometime this summer, which means other schools don’t have a ton of time to catch up with Michigan. Keep an eye on this one though, since I wouldn’t be surprised if the ‘Canes made a push at Torrian.

Since Wilson seems to be holding strong with the Michigan lead, it reduces the downside of FL OL Jose Jose announcing for Tennessee, except for the fact that a player named “Jose Jose” should get the full red carpet treatment on name basis alone.

IN DE Blake Lueders is going to start cutting down his school list (info in header). Considering he recently released a top 6 with Michigan nowhere to be found, don’t be surprised if the Wolverines don’t make his first cut.

FL LB Jeff Luc is among the nation’s top linebacker prospects, and is near the top of the charts overall, as well. I guess, then, that he’s deserving of a pretty serious fluff piece from Gridiron Studs:

He has turned his life completely around through football and faith. Luc now sports a 3.7 G.P.A., is on track to graduate early and wants to be an engineer major in college. As for what college that would be, that’s the big question that Luc will keep people waiting on.

” I don’t have a favorite right now,” Luc says, “I like them all.”

Here’s the video referenced in the article (and it is indeed impressive):

Yay, video.

MD LB Javarie Johnson, though it was erroneouly reported a while back that he committed to Michigan, has in fact not. However, he still did enjoy hi visits to both East Lansing and Ann Arbor, and holds both the Spartans and the Wolverines in high regard. Maryland and Miami still loom in his recruitment, but that group of schools may be an unofficial top 4. Aside from schools of choice, Johnson plans to be a January enrollee, so his decision will likely be made sooner rather than later.

FL CB/Ath TC Robinson, the cousin of S commit Marvin Robinson, is currently favoring Michigan (info in header). If an offer ends up coming through for Robinson the Second, I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up in Blue, what with the family connection and all.

Continuing the Pahokee-centric bent from Monday’s recruiting update: Josh Helmholdt expands in the Free Press on Michigan’s recent rash of offers to Pahokee players:

Michigan returned to Pahokee early during recruiting for the class of 2010 and offered four-star wide receiver De’Joshua Johnson.

Smith visited Pahokee High last week and offered three more Blue Devils: linebacker Zachary Allen, cornerback Merrill Noel and defensive tackle Richard Ash. They also have offered wide receiver Chris Dunkley, who will be transferring to Pahokee from Royal Palm Beach High for his senior season.

And as I speculated Monday:

The five Pahokee players with U-M offers plan to travel with Pahokee coach Blaze Thompson to Ann Arbor for a camp in June.

Establishing pipelines obviously helps the players find a comfort level with Michigan, and the staff obviously realizes this. By the way, Tennessee is among De’Joshua Johnson’s tentative list of three finalists, but good luck getting into Pahokee High to talk to him, Kiffykins. I hope hope hope a now-standard Lane Kiffin moment of Social Norm Non-Awareness takes place if he does indeed apologize to the Pahokee community. And, while we’re on the topic, let’s get some SoFlaFootball love from some of the guys who are new-ish to Michigan fans:

Merrill Noel 2010 CB 5′8″ 160: While Noel is being recruited as a cornerback, look for him to be used a lot inside the box this fall for Pahokee. Noel has great speed and is a physical defender. Noel has a host of offers, the latest being Michigan, but the school to keep a close eye on is Wake Forest.

Richard Ash 2010 DT 6′3″ 265: Ash has moved himself into being the top prospect coming out of Pahokee this season. His body is a work in progress and very easily can be around 280-pounds before he leaves high school. Ash’s agility is impressive and is quick off the ball. Today in practice he did a nice job of shooting the guard-tackle gap and getting into the back field. A lot of talk going around that Florida is the school to beat for Ash as of now.

Zach Allen 2010 LB/DE/TE 6′2″ 180: Allen lines up as a defensive end during the 11-on-11 portion of the practice, where he was fairly active. Allen is lean right now, but in the future should be able to add the weight needed to play at a high level. The Alphonso Smith affect seems to be flowing through Pahokee, as Wake Forest is a school to watch for Allen.

Famliarize yourselves, yo.

I know I promised not to spout Army Game nominations just for the sake of doing it, but here’s the list of players from the state of Michigan who are being considered:

Huron wide receiver Jeremy Jackson, Chelsea tailback Nick Hill and Saline quarterback Joe Boisture are three of 10 players from Michigan on the list released this week. The game will be played Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010, in San Antonio’s Alamodome and broadcast live by NBC…

Other in-state finalists include University of Michigan commit Devin Gardner (QB, Inkster) and MSU commit Max Bullough (LB, Traverse City St. Francis), along with Williams Gholston (DL, Detroit Southeastern), Dior Mathis (DB, Detroit Cass Tech), Austin White (RB, Livonia Stevenson), Robert Bolden (QB, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s) and Jordan Sanders (DL, Rochester Adams).

So, let’s tally ’em up: 2 Michigan commits, 1 State commit, 1 BC commit, and 6 uncommitted, at least one of whom will land at each of the in-state schools, per conventional wisdom. Speaking of Austin White, he was part of a 1:30.95 4×200 relay team. It’s not quite Denard Robinson fast, but it’s nothing to sneeze at. Dedicated article for his Army nomination.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

2010 Michigan Football Recruiting Board. This was kind of a slow weekend, so there isn’t a whole ton of news. However, the later recruiting update this week will probably be pretty full. (Translation: I was on vacation this weekend and want to get the Monday recruiting post up without any further delay).

For those worried about the low ranking of slot commit Drew Dileo, hopefully his being ranked #17 in Louisiana will assuage those fears a bit. Louisiana is typically a talent-rich state, that #17 in that state is comparable to top-10 in Michigan in nearly every year. Couple that with the fact that Tiger Rag is an LSU fansite (like a Scout or Rivals page, but to the best of my knowledge, unaffiliated), and likely to slightly underrate the prospects who have already committed to out-of-state schools, and he’s probably a slightly better get than previously believed. Add in the stellar academic credentials, and things don’t look so negative, after all.

Josh Helmholdt Free Press fluff on who might be the second QB in Michigan’s class of 2010.Mostly non-informative, though he does say that the most likely options at this time appear to be LA QB Munchie Legaux, SC QB Cornelius Jones, and TX QB Jeremy Johnson. MI QB Robert Bolden is primarily interested in pro-style offenses… and Oregon? Either way, it’s unlikely that he’d end up in maize-and-blue.

This is also the time of year where we’ll start to hear about which prospects are planning to make it in to Ann Arbor for summer camps and other summer visits. FL OL Torrian Wilson and RB Eduardo Clements from Booker T. Washington in Miami plan to make it in for summer camp. Look for more comprehensive lists to start being formed as the time approaches.

Added NC DE Fre’Shaud Hunter, who has received a Michigan offer (info in header).

Added TN LB Justin Maclin to the board. He’s received a Michigan offer (info in header).

Added FL CB Merrill Noel, who has received a Michigan offer (info in header). Noel is one of the strong contingent of Pahokee players this year, headlined by WR De’Joshua Johnson. Johnson (who would be a prototypical slot in the spread offense) has stated he doesn’t want to play in a spread, and has eliminated Florida and Michigan, despite saying that he would love to play with his former teammates like Vincent Smith and Martavious Odoms. However, Pahokee does have a number of defensive players, including DTs Richard Ash, Doral Willis, and Antonio Ford, along with LB Zachery Allen who, like Noel, was just offered (info in header). If the Wolverines want to keep the Pahokee pipeline open (and they most certainly do), there are plenty of legit options in the class of 2010.

By the way, since 400-some recruits have been nominated for the Army All-American Game, I’m not going to bother individually listing which prospects with Michigan interest have been nominated. However, I may throw in “US Army Game nominee” when I bring them up in the context of having other news to discuss.

Removed:
DC QB Ricardo Young and VA CB Derrick Hopkins. Both committed to Virginia Tech.
MI QB/Ath Tony Lippett committed to Michigan State.
OH OL Andrew Norwell. Yeah, he’s been committed to Ohio State for a really long time now, and I just noticed he was still on the board.
OH LB Scott McVey. See above.
VA LB Aramide Olaniyan. It appears as though his commitment to Duke will hold.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

Posted under Football, Recruiting

2010 Michigan Recruiting Board.

OK QB/Ath DeMarco Cobbs has a top 10 list which includes Alabama, Arizona, Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Southern Cal. Most schools are recruiting him as a receiver, rather than a QB. Michigan appears to be on the outside looking in. Time for some flufftastic fluff. The list is apparently a fluid one, but I’ve heard very little about Michigan involvement of late.

Removed DC QB/Ath Ricardo Young, who will announce a college decision today from a group of school that does not include Michigan.

Michigan’s chances at SC RB Marcus Lattimore, TX RB Lache Seastrunk, and AR RB Michael Dyer are not high (they’re certainly lower than Auburn’s chances). HOWEVA, at least one of them (Lattimore) has stated that he’ll officially visit An Arbor, and this video was too good to pass up (HT: JCCW).

FL RB Eduardo Clements is favoring Miami, Georgia, and Florida State. As mentioned here earlier, Michigan is a fairly recent entrant into the sweepstakes for his services, so they have a chance to claw their way back in.

FL WR Marquel Wade wasn’t previously on the board, but maybe he should be if the Wolverines want any chance to land his teammate, FL CB Derek Owens:

Additionally, it appears Wade and teammate Derek Owens will commit as a “package deal.”

At this point, it’s probably more likely that I should remove Owens from the board than expect Michigan to pick up yet another receiver. I haven’t heard much news on the Owens/Michigan front, so keep tuned for a potential removal in the near future.

SC OL Eric Mack has received a Michigan offer, so I’ve added him to the board.

SC DT AJ Cann has named a top 7 that does not include Michigan: South Carolina, Clemson, North Carolina, N.C. State, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Tennessee.The recruitment has been odd, in that Michigan was thought to be very strong for Cann, and they somewhat suddenly fell off the radar. With a pre-season decision on the table, they probably don’t have much of a shot to get back in this one.

Added UT DT Ricky Heimuli to the board, as he’s received a Michigan offer (info in header).

Somewhat encouraging news that FL LB Christian Jones may not be an FSU lock:

FSU is the clear front-runner because that’s where his father ( Willie Jones) and brother (Willie Jones Jr.) played defense. “Everybody wants to know if they can get him away from FSU,” said Tom Oliver, Lake Howell’s coach. “Christian’s dad wants him to look for what’s best for him. He’s open.”

So it’s certainly possible, if not likely, that someone can pull him away from the Noles.

Sporting News fluff on OH LB Jordan Hicks. Though the Wolverines have offered, his interest level doesn’t seem to be particularly high. Most people have him pegged to end up at OSU or Texas.

After last week stating that Michigan was his leader, TX LB Corey Nelson has named Texas A&M as the top school on his board. At this point, Nelson is already starting to develop a reputation as a guy who chenges his mind with the wind, and to not pay too much attention to his top schools until he starts making visits.

OH LB Jewone Snow plans to visit Michigan again by the end of May. He had previously visited for the spring game with his 2011 teammate Steve Miller.

The Wolverines have extended an offer to FL CB Tony Grimes (info in header). He’s added to the board.

Michigan is showing interest in FL CB Keion Payne. Whether that will result in an offer down the road remains to be seen.

The Penn State Nike Combine went off last weekend, and here are some of the returns for Michigan prospects:

[LB] Khairi Fortt (Stamford, Conn.) passed the “look test” and then showed why he is one of the country’s top prospects. Fortt moved with grace and power and was very difficult to block. He also showed great instincts, the ability to drop into coverage, and the speed to stay with running backs coming out of the backfield on pass routes. Fortt projects as a difference maker at the next level.

Whether he is listed as a defensive end or outside linebacker, Dakota Royer (Manheim, Pa./Central) is an absolute stud. He worked out with the defensive linemen Saturday and showed a fluid and aggressive style. Royer runs like a deer, with long strides. He does not weigh enough right now to play on the defensive line at the next level, but give him two years and he should fill out into the 230-to-240-pound range. One thing Royer has that can’t be taught is the ability to get to the ball in a hurry. In college, he has the potential to be an edge player who must be accounted for at all times.

Sharrif Floyd (Philadelphia, Pa./George Washington) was equally as impressive as Royer — the two worked in the same group. Floyd showed strength, power and an intense attitude… There has been some debate as to whether Floyd will play defensive end or tackle in college. Based on his performance at Penn State, put him down as an interior lineman at the next level, and he has the tools to be a very good one.

Defensive back Cullen Christian (Pittsburgh/Penn Hills) may not get as much publicity as his teammate, wide receiver/defensive back Brandon Ifill, but it was Christian who came away from the camp with honors. Ifill did a nice job Saturday and showed why he has scholarship offers from multiple BCS schools. But Christian was even better and was named the camp’s defensive back MVP.

Javarie Johnson (Washington D.C./Dunbar) passed the look test and showed a great attitude Saturday. The 6-foot-3 and 210-pound outside linebacker struggled a bit in pass coverage, but he has the potential with his long and lanky frame to gain plenty of weight and put his hand down and move to defensive end in college.

I’m not quite sure how prominently Michigan figures in Khairi Fortt’s recruitment, but they are players for all of the other guys listed (they’re in the top group for Floyd (info in header)).

Posted under Football, Recruiting

For those of you that don’t know, I’m not much into recruiting of any sort.  Baseball recruiting isn’t really OMGZ FRONT PAGE OF RIVALS! either, therefore these type of posts will probably be few and far between.  So, the article…

The Napa Valley Register is reporting Michigan’s interest in Napa Valley Indian’s pitcher Ben Ballantine (image from same post):

It will be an exciting week for the 6-foot-8 senior on top of the Big Games. He said the University of Michigan is flying him out to Ann Arbor, Mich., after Thursday’s game for a recruiting visit.

“They currently have a pitcher (Chris Fetter) who’s 6 foot-8 and my same build, 230 pounds or so, and he’s graduating this year. The head coach says I’m built just like him and I throw just like he did when he first came in as a freshman, and he wants someone to come in and try to fill his shoes,” Ballantine said Thursday. “I put together big packets during basketball season and sent them to a bunch of schools, just to see who would call back. Michigan showed a lot of interest and they came and watched me on (April 28).”

It goes on to say that his mother’s family is from Ann Arbor, and his dad’s side is from Ohio, so there is a good chance would be fine making the move from California to Michigan.

For those of you who love to stalk 17-18 year olds, his MaxPrep page.  It should have a game-by-game breakdown of his statistics.  Enjoy.

Posted under Baseball, Recruiting

Ah, the tired maxim of the spread offense’s alleged inability to get high school prospects into the NFL strikes again:

Speaking of recruiting — in this case the negative variety — check out this quote in the Palm Beach Post from Pahokee receiver De’Joshua Johnson.

“I dropped Florida and West Virginia because of the spread offense,” Johnson said. “I don’t want to play in the spread offense. I’ve seen how it affected receivers in the NFL draft.”

Johnson is reportedly leaning to Florida State and is considering Tennessee.

For his part, Pat Dooley has a decent and brief retort, though it comes off as Florida-homer rebuttal, rather than rebutting the actual claims themselves:

He might want to check his facts.

Didn’t Percy Harvin go in the first round? Chad Jackson? Meyer has had five receivers drafted from Florida during his tenure (six if you count Cornelius Ingram), the most for any school in the nation. FSU hasn’t had a first-round skill player in seven years and two receivers taken in the draft during Meyer’s tenure. Tennessee has had three during the same span.

This is a good start, but it doesn’t really hit the point at the very crux of this matter: You are what you are. Percy Harvin didn’t get drafted where he did because of the spread offense, he got drafted because he has Size X and Skill Set Y, which the NFL interprets as NFL Potential Z. Harvin has had Size X and Skill Set Y at his disposal, and would have had them regardless of where he went to college (we can debate the minor-ish point of a different strength coach at some other school helping Harvin achieve his potential to a different degree, but that’s outside of the discussion of offense – though I’d contend that some spread schemes demand a better strength coach).

The main things that an offensive scheme will affect are:

1. Production. Depending on the type of spread, a receiver may play a larger or smaller role in the offense, affecting production. One of the the things that the NFL might look at is “Well, he has X and Y, but his production hasn’t matched that. Does he have a good excuse for this, or does he not bring it on game day?” Spread offenses are even more creative in terms of ways to get receivers the ball, in Harvin/Johnson’s specific cases.
2. Preparation. Sure, a college QB who runs exclusively from the shotgun won’t be quite as ready to play right away in the NFL, and a receiver might run fewer or different routes, and have simpler reads of defenses playing in a spread offense. These players don’t come to the NFL ready to compete on day 1, perhaps. However, I’ll let Mike Leach take this one:

“I only need a three-hour window. I’ll have a great clinic for all the NFL coaches who are so horrible that they can’t teach a guy to take a snap under center and go backwards.”

Yeah, so Mike Leach is awesome, and an offensive scheme doesn’t have a huge effect on where a player is drafted (and oddly, this is especially true for receivers, whose responsibilities probably change the least out of anyone on the offense with a spread v. pro-style offense).

Let’s take a look at every receiver drafted in the 2009 NFL Draft. I’ll vaguely lump their college offensive schemes into “spread” and “pro-style.” This may seem a bit simplistic at first, but then, isn’t the criticism of the spread offense writ large simplistic itself?

Take a look at that! 13 Receivers from spread offenses and 17 from pro-style offenses were selected, with 4 from 1-AA teams, which I didn’t include because 1) I don’t know what type of offense most 1-AA schools run, and 2) If they’re taking a guy from a 1-AA school, offensive scheme is probably not on the forefront of NFL GMs’ decisions. Considering that more schools run a pro-style offense (particularly in power conferences, from which most NFL players are likely to come), that’s not bad at all. In the first round, the same number of players from each offensive type (3 apiece). When you consider that some schools that I placed in the “pro style” category also have some elements of spread offenses, such as Ohio State, LSU, and Oregon State, it’s a complete wash, at worst. And I guess that brings me back to my main point, which is not that the spread is inherently better for a wide receiver prospect’s chances of making it to the NFL, but rather than the offensive scheme on the whole is irrelevant.

So what’s the course of action? Obviously, a 17-year-old kid didn’t come up with this (bogus) assertion by himself. No, based on reputation, and the schools entering and exiting De’Joshua’s list, this almost certainly comes from one Lane Monte Kiffin. Of course, do I expect Rich Rodriguez to bore a kid to death with charts and whatnot? Probably not, but dispelling a meme, using whatever evidence is available, will certainly help.

Posted under Analysis, Coaching, Football, Recruiting

2010 Michigan Recruiting Board

Moved LA Slot/RB/Ath Drew Dileo to committed. Also, it is kinda a sad snapshot of SEC recruiting when the following sentence has to be included in the commit article in the local paper for a Louisiana player:

A Class of 2010 commitment who projects as an academic qualifier, Dileo committed to Michigan with offers from Stanford, Tulane and Rice.

Also: look at that offer list (Northwestern had offered as well). Of course he’s going to meet the minimum NCAA requirements. So, yay for upping the team GPA. Also: he plays baseball for the equally excellent Parkview baseball team, the reigning state champs. The current wisdom is that he’ll end up at slot. In the commitment post, I promised a more informative update, so here goes:

In his junior season, Dileo rushed 102 times for 760 yards (7.45 ypc) and caught 21 passes for 315 yards (15.00 ypc). However, it was in the return game that he excelled the most. He took four kicks back to the house, and was named 1st team all-district in that capacity. As I mentioned on Thursday, he was the team’s MVP in their state title game his sophomore year. The esteemed Brian of MGoBlog has found a more comprehensive highlight of that game for your viewing pleasure (Dileo is #3 for the blue guys, and can be seen mostly catching the ball):

Yay for the informative update.

Sam Webb recruiting fluff in the Detroit News regarding Michigan’s chances with FL QB Christian Green. He’s long been regarded as a Florida State semi-lock (to play WR):

“A lot of my family came through Florida State,” Green explained. “My mom graduated from Florida State. So did my cousin (former NFL wideout E.G. Green), my uncle, and a lot of people I know. So I grew up a Seminole fan. I feel real comfortable with the coaching staff. When I go up there I feel like it’s a down-to-earth environment. It is a family environment and I feel real comfortable with a lot of people. That’s one of the reasons I think it is No. 1 on my list so far.”

, but the Wolverines aren’t out of the race for him:

“My cousin Sam Sword played for Michigan back in ’96,” Green said, referring to the former standout linebacker. “He talks about Michigan every single time we have family together at a BBQ or reunion. He’s always saying something about Michigan and just gets Michigan Wolverines in my head.

“I’ve known about them for a little bit now,” Green added, laughing.

He also has a connection to the Michigan staff, as Calvin Magee is a coach emeritus there. There’s a ton more information in the article about his recent visit to Ann Arbor, so I’d say it’s definitely worth checking out.

A recruiting update on the gentlemen from Byrnes, SC, including RB Marcus Lattimore:

This much is clear for right now: Auburn still leads for his services… But really no school can be counted out. Not the Tigers or the Noles. Not Georgia, which Lattimore says he will definitely visit officially. Not North Carolina or South Carolina or Clemson. Even Penn State and Michigan still are in the mix along with others.

Under Armour All-American Corey Miller and fellow defensive lineman Brandon Willis, both from Byrnes, could end up in Garnet and Gold. In fact, the chances of that happening are more likely than not, at this point.

Things don’t look rosy for any of them, and I hadn’t been previously aware of the strong Florida State lead for the two non-Lattimore players.

An oversight on my part: last Monday, Sam Webb talked a bunch about OH RB Andre Givens on the recruiting roundup. Givens has been offered, and has a friendly rivalry in football and track with 2009 Michigan signee Fitzgerald Toussaint (Fitz is allegedly a bit faster in the 100m). Toussaint is trying to convince Givens to commit to the Wolverines, as he’s apparently unaware of the plethora of RBs over the past couple classes.

IN RB Roderick Smith is still talkin’ Buckeye commitment. He says he probably won’t make an announcement until July, or maybe even after his football season, but Michigan doesn’t seem to be involved at all. Since the Wolverines have a big back (Stephen Hopkins) in the class already, Smith is not a likely Wolverines target, and I’ve removed him from the board.

Palm Beach Post columnist/blogger guy Ben Volin says:

Rumors are swirling that Atlantic WR James Louis is close to committing, as well as Treasure Coast LB Jeff Luc and Royal Palm Beach WR Chris Dunkley, three players that have had positive visits to Gainesville in the past month.

The Louis news has indeed been swirling for quite some time, and Dunkley has long been considered a near-lock to the Gators. However, the news on Luc is neither encouraging nor surprising. If those three do indeed commit to Florida, that would give the Gators on hell of a start to their 2010 recruiting class. Go Gator.

Removed MD WR Adrian Coxson, who committed to Penn State.

OH TE Alex Welch has received a Michigan offer (info in header).

Some fluff on IL TE CJ Fiedorowicz, primarily focused around the fact that he’ll be featured on a Sports Stars of Tomorrow episode in the fall. He has also expanded his favorites list to include Wisconsin and Notre Dame (previously, it had just been a top 2 of OSU and Iowa). The quote from CJ in the article indicates that he’s already feeling a bit burned out by the recruiting process, so might a decision come sooner than expected? I certainly wouldn’t be surprised.

The Wolverines sent a coach into the school of MN OL Seantrel Henderson. No word on the effect of the visit, but with the Evaluation Period underway, expect them to be making lots of high school visits (to coaches, not players) around this time of year. Regarding Henderson, there’s a pretty significant fluff piece on him in the Pioneer Press.

“At times it gets irritating, but I know this is something I have to go through,” Henderson said. “I won’t make my announcement until February.”

The first day football recruits in the 2010 class can sign a national letter of intent is Feb. 3, but players can give oral commitments before that date.

In the meantime, Henderson and his family have set up a tentative game plan to help manage the process. By the end of the summer, Henderson will settle on a top 10. After he takes his maximum five official visits in the fall, he will trim the number to three.

Michigan is fairly consistently listed among his top 10-ish, and he plans to make another visit to Ann Arbor this summer, so Michigan is looking pretty good for now.

Last Thursday, I speculated that PA DE/LB Jordan Paskorz had been favoring Michigan. In that day’s recruiting roundup, Sam Webb revealed something very interesting: Michigan is indeed near the top of his list, and the Wolverines have now offered Paskorz.

MD LB Josh Furman has Michigan near the top of his list, and he also does fast things, running a sub-11.0 100m dash. That is wicked fast for a linebacker. Here’s a bit of ESPN fluff on Furman. Sounds very good:

He posted a wind-aided 4.39 40-yard dash, a 42 inch vertical jump, a 4.12 short shuttle and a modest broad jump of 9 feet, 8 inches. His 16 reps of 185 pounds were also very impressive and a bit surprising given his longer, rangier frame (6-foot-2, 192 pounds). While he did look a bit lean, his great wingspan and overall body length suggest continued physical development. We believe he will eventually have a well-developed frame that will tip the scales in the 225-pound range while he’ll maintain the great quick-twitch burst and speed we saw Friday night.

Lacking technique, but a physical specimen that can develop into something wicked in college.

MD LB Troy Gloster has narrowed his list of schools to a top five that includes Michigan (info in header). Also included are BC, UNC, Stanford, and West Virginia.

The high school coach of OH LB Jewone Snow thinks he’s getting close to an offer:

“Michigan is looking at all three of those players,” Johnson said. “They haven’t offered Jewone yet, but I believe they’re getting close. Stevie is a formality on Sept. 1.”

“Stevie” is 2011 DE Steve Miller, who will probably be the top player in Ohio next year (likely battling OSU lock QB Braxton Miller). He visited Michigan earlier in the spring with Snow, and the Wolverines are expected to be in his early top 2, along with the Buckeyes.

Track times galore in spring recruiting updates! Denard Robinson, Adrian Witty, 2010 RB Cassius McDowell, and some other guy from their school are quite speedy indeed. Very speedy, sir.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

Posted under Football, Recruiting