Posted under Football, Recruiting

Posted under Football, Recruiting

A series exploring the commitments (and subsequent decommitments) of Michigan’s lost members of the class of 2009. This one has by far the most literary-sounding title.

The Commitment
Pearlie Graves’s recruitment stayed under the radar until he committed to Michigan. He was offered in the summer, but most fans thought that he was to be forgotten about when Dequinta Jones went blue. However, the Wolverine coaches stayed on Graves, and even when he came on an official visit to Ann Arbor, most Michigan fans thought “what a waste for a guy that isnt coming here.” In late November, he pulled the trigger for Michigan, and fans were no longer down on him, as he had become a 4-star to at least one site.

The Decommitment
For much of the recruiting process following Graves’s commitment, most Michigan fans thought that he was more likely to stick with Michigan than fellow DT DeQuinta Jones. He made little mention of taking other visits (though he had apparently gone on some without alerting the recruiting sites or even Michigan’s coaches). Still, he seemed likely to stick until the very end, when Big 12 teams and even a couple from the SEC came calling. Graves said he would make his final decision on Signing Day, and by that time Michigan’s chances looked rather grim. Indeed, when he faxed in National Letter of Intent, it went to Lubbock, Texas rather than Ann Arbor.

The Impact
This one hurt. Though Michigan landed Big Will Campbell in the class of ’09, they needed more than one defensive tackle, and whiffing on two guys (both of whom considered themselves “committed” to Michigan up until the last minute) on Signing Day was a major blow. Michian now finds itself in need of multiple defensive tackles for the second year in a row, and the class of 2010 is not nearly as strong at the position was was last year’s crop.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

A series exploring the commitments (and subsequent decommitments) of Michigan’s lost members of the class of 2009. SPOILER ALERT: This one has a happy ending.

The Commitment
Michigan fans undoubtedly remember the least about William Campbell’s commitment, if only because it took place long, long before any othermembers of the class of 2009 committed to Rich Rodriguez. In fact, he didn’t even commit to Rodriguez at first: he committed to Lloyd Carr in the summer of 2007, after attending Michigan’s summer camp. For some context, that would be like Michigan receiving a verbal commitment for the Class of 2011 sometime this summer. When Rodriguez took the helm in Ann Arbor, Campbell didn’t wait long to reaffirm his commitment to the Wolverines.

The Decommitment
The entire time he was committed to Michigan, Campbell said he would like to take visits to other schools. He insisted he was firmly committed to Michigan, with no chance of anyone prying him away, but that he’d like to travel around the country and see Miami, Baton Rouge, and Los Angeles (Pete Carroll didn’t agree: he refused to host Campbell on an official visit, because he thought it would be impossible to pry Big Will away from Michigan).  When several schools told Campbell that they wouldn’t pay for his trip to their campuses, he decommitted from Michigan, in order to prove that he would at least welcome their recruiting pitches. His decommitment hit Michigan fans particularly hard, because it came within days of Then-5* QB commitment Kevin Newsome’s decommitment.

The Impact
The William Campbell story here takes several twists and turns. Michigan fans shudder every time he takes a visit, internet creeps by the name of “Dandy Don” say it’s 60-40 he’ll end up at LSU, and there is growing uncertainty that he’s as “basically still committed to UM” as he was when he originally decommitted. All this tension builds up to Army All-American week, and upon his arrival, Campbell states that he will no longer consider Michigan. After letting out a stream of expletives, most Michigan fans hope he’s just joking around. In the end, he re-commits to the Wolverines at the Army Game, enrolls early, and lives happily ever after the end. If anything, Campbell’s decommitment gave the Wolverines a better shot at landing a (much-needed) second defensive tackle in the class, though they were unable to close with any.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

A series exploring the commitments (and subsequent decommitments) of Michigan’s lost members of the class of 2009.

The Commitment
Kevin Newsome was, by all accounts, the Michigan coaching staff’s #1 quarterback target in the class of 2009 (after Russell Shepard’s very early commitment to LSU, of course). A track star in the hurdles, and a pretty good passer (though raw) as a quarterback, he had the game of Pat White, just ratcheted up a couple levels. Michigan fans paid very close attention to Newsome from the beginning, and things looked very encouraging when he visited for the Spring Game, even though it was a rain-soaked affair at Saline High School. Shortly after returning home to Virginia, Newsome gave off signs that he was a heavy Michigan lean. The tipping point came when he made the Eiffel 65 song “Blue” (lyrics: “I’m blue”) his background track on MySpace (sadly, I’m not kidding). Within a couple weeks, he committed to Michigan, giving Rich Rodriguez his first big-time QB commit.

The Decommitment
Though he initially said he was a solid commitment to Michigan, and even helped the Wolverine recruiting effort by calling other prospects, Newsome quickly started seeming a little soft in his pledge to Michigan during the summer. He stopped talking to other recruits as much, and even told some recruiting sites he was considering taking visit to other schools. Michigan fans were getting worked up over the idea of losing Newsome even before he announced he was transferring high schools for his senior season, and heading to Hargrave Military School to play on their post-grad team. They perhaps tried to talk themselves into being comforted by this fact, as Hargrave has a reputation for encouraging committed recruits to remain with their current schools. However, just a week before the 2008 season began, Newsome rescinded his pledge to Michigan and re-opened his recruitment.

The Impact
When Newsome decommitted, many Michigan fans simply thought “Tate Forcier, come on down!” However, Newsome was still a loss for Michigan (I still think what could have been if Newsome and Forcier had been the two commits, but I digress), as he has very good physical attributes for the position in the Rich Rodriguez system. Though raw as a passer, he has good size and a high ceiling, though his floor could be very low. Michigan ended up replacing Newsome with Forcier, so the dropoff from that position is not too bad overall, especially considering Forcier, with all his coaching, is likely more ready to compete right away. However, down the road, Newsome could be the best of the bunch – though he’ll do it for Penn State now.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

As had been rumored by Wolverine Liberation Army more than a month ago, Class of 2009 Michigan commit Denard Robinson has left Michigan’s recruiting class, and will indeed enroll at the University of Florida. He cited fan negativity on the internet as one of the primary reasons for his change of heart. It is unclear whether, as a signee of Michigan, he will have to sit out a year before becoming eligible at Florida.

Robinson recently wowed Michigan fans by running the 100-meter dash in 10.44 seconds, the 2nd-fastest time for a high schooler yet this year. However, instead of taking that speed to Michigan’s quarterback position, he now intends to head to the defensive secondary of the Gators. Florida and Michigan were his final two choices on Signing Day 2009, and he chose the Wolverines over the Gators, citing a desire to play with his friend, Adrian Witty (Witty, a high school teammate who played with Robinson on the same team in high school, could not be reached for comment), as well as the chance to prove himself as a signal-caller.

The Wolverines now only have two scholarship quarterbacks on the fall roster, one of whom is David Cone. Current rumors have them approaching Ohio State’s Terrelle Pryor as a transfer candidate, which they consider a “trade up” for the departure of Justin Boren. Another possibility is Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young, who left the University of Texas after the 2005 season with one year of eligibility remaining.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

Posted under Football, Recruiting

The third annual post in which I approximate the baseline and potential of each Michigan commit for the Class of ’09. Of course, it goes without saying that these are estimates, and don’t take into account any extenuating circumstances (i.e. transferring to Arkansas/Ohio State, etc).

Ceilings and floors are on a different scale from each other (yes, this is different than past years, and I probably should have said something about it the first time around, since it’s no longer a strict “floor/ceiling” measure). Floor is a 1-5 scale of readiness to play right away, while ceiling is a 1-5 scale of overall potential.   

Posted under Football, Recruiting

A series exploring the commitments (and subsequent decommitments) of Michigan’s lost members of the class of 2009.

The Commitment 
DeQuinta Jones may be in a dead heat with Pearlie Graves for the “most spectacularly-named decommit award,” but he runs away with the “weirdest commit story” consolation prize. The first Michigan fans even heard Jones’s name was when he committed to the Wolverines out of the blue while he was at LSU’s summer camp. After a few days of bickering between the premium sites (TheWolverine said he was committed, GoBlueWolverine insisted that it wasn’t a done deal – of course when it was revealed that he did indeed commit, GBW “broke” the story and claimed they were the first on the scene – nice integrity, guys), Jones was considered by all to be verbally committed to the Wolverines.

The Decommitment
Jones was nominally committed to the Wolverines up until the end, though later in the process, Michigan was lucky to be counted among his top 5. Jones opened up towards the end of the summer, taking visits to various schools in the Southeast. Even bringing Jones on campus a week and a half before Signing Day couldn’t firm up his commitment. On Signing Day, he switched from Michigan to Arkansas, and sent the Razorbacks his letter of intent.

The Impact
Jones was the more highly-rated of Michigan’s two lost defensive tackles, and considering the need along the D-line, this was a big loss for Michigan. Jones’s recruitment also shined a light on the annoying inability of high school seniors to understand the word “commitment.” I understand that you want to reserve your spot at some school, any school, but if Michigan is barely hanging on in your top group of schools, you are “committed” to them, you’re “considering” them. If that’s the case, giving an official decommitment would be the more honest approach to your recruitment. Of course, with the coaches of all the pursuers aware of the situation, it’s more frustrating for fans than anyone.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

A series exploring the commitments (and subsequent decommitments) of Michigan’s lost members of the class of 2009.

The Commitment
When searching for dual-threat quarterbacks for the class of 2009, Michigan fans stumbled upon one Shavodrick Beaver. He’s tall, he can run, and his passing is certainly good enough that he could start at a school like Michigan with a little training. Beaver, along with Kevin Newsome and Tate Forcier, was in the group of three prospects that Michigan seemed to have a really good chance at. When Newsome committed, the race appeared to be on between Forcier and Beaver. Shavodrick took control of his own destiny, and committed to Michigan on April 29th, 2008.

The Decommitment
Despite having commitments from 2 top QBs, many Michigan fans found it curious that Rodriguez continued to recruit Tate Forcier. As Newsome decommitted in late August, Forcier snagged the empty slot, and Michigan’s QB situation appeared to be set. Beaver seemed to be very solid in the class, telling anyone who would listen that he welcomed the competition, and seeming to mock Kevin Newsome for fearing it. Fast forward to December, when BEaver was still saying all the right things about Michigan. However, he apparently had shut out the Michigan coaches for a couple weeks by the time he withdrew his commitment on December 19th, switching to Tulsa. Rumors flew about the actual reason (afraid of competition, wanted to be a big fish in a smaller pond, wanted to stay closer to home, etc.), but nobody ever really heard a plausible reason straight from Beaver’s mouth. In January, he enrolled at Tulsa, and that was that.

The Impact
No sugarcoat, this decommitment hurt Michigan, at least in the short term. At the time of his decommitment all the way to Signing Day, Michigan only had 1 QB in the class when they urgently needed two. Landing Denard Robinson softened the blow, because he is a running threat similar to Beaver. However, you can’t teach Robinson to be 6-4, and he will always have slightly less potential than Beaver as a passer. Robinson is considered a faster runner, and has the ability to play multiple positions. This helps Michigan because it gives them 2 quarterbacks with slightly different skillsets, and gives them the ability to move Robinson to defensive back in the future to make the depth chart more attractive to future recruits (if necessary).

Posted under Football, Recruiting