Somewhat-explanatory fluff on SC QB Commit Cornelius Jones. Sounds like he was running with the wrong crew within the past couple years, but has turned himself around:

“I realized I wasn’t going to do anything with my life if I was to keep going on the road I was going,” he said. “I got in touch with one of my positive friends, and he took me to coach Brown. He gave me a chance, and I’ve been running with it every since.”

“He came into my office one day and said he was told he couldn’t play football at Spartanburg anymore,” Brown said. “He wanted to know if that policy still stood after I took the job. He didn’t have any prior discipline reports and had a 3.7 GPA, so I knew that this was a kid that had been doing what he was supposed to do.”

With the scant amount of football he’s played, there’s a ton of upside with Cornelius, and Michigan fans should be excited to have him in the same class as Devin Gardner. Better still, it seems as though any potential character issues are firmly in his past, and Michigan will get an upstanding citizen as well. Also, there’s now a highlight video of Cornelius available. Alas, Youtube version has already been taken down, so click through and enjoy.

Removed OH QB Derek Roback. He’s down to a final 3 (info in header), and since Michigan never showed any interest in him, it’s pretty clear they aren’t among th finalists.

MI RB Austin White has set an announcement date (info in header). It’s coming up soon, and considering that Michigan had been deemed the leader for Austin within the past few days, it’s highly likely he’ll be pledging to the Wolverines. Keep an eye on Austin in the near future.

Michigan doesn’t seem to be heavily involved with Denard Robinson and Adrian Witty‘s teammate, RB Cassius McDowell. However, if their recruiting does shake out quite the way they’ve planned, he’s definitely a strong possibility for Michigan. In the past, he has spoken of being interested in the Wolverines. Video from McDowell’s junior season:

Cassius McDowell from SoFLAfootball.com on Vimeo.

Removed IN RB Roderick Smith. He committed to Ohio State last week, which I neglected to mention in the last recruiting update.

OH WR Tyrone Williams is likely to commit to Ohio State sometime soon (info in header).

Removed FL WR/DB Kadron Boone. He has a top 9 that he’s looking to trim into a final 5 sometime soon. Michigan is not on said list.

Removed IL TE CJ Fiedorowicz, who committed to Illinois. He hadn’t been prominently listing Michigan.

Fluff on SC OL Eric Mack, with no Michigan mention. It appears as though he wants to play his college ball in the South, looking at the teams he does talk about. He will not commit to any school until after his senior season.

Removed OH OL Travis Jackson, who committed to Michigan State.

Removed NJ OL Dante Weaver, who committed to Temple.

I left him on the recruiting board because I figured he may take visits, and that appears to indeed be the case for Cal commit TX DT Jay Guy (info in header). Michigan is among his offers, but it’s unclear whether that interest is reciprocated on his end. If so, an official visit may be in order.

Michigan is in the top 6 for PA DT Sharrif Floyd. If the Wolverines can get him on campus, he could be the answer to defensive line recruiting woes over the past two classes. As an added bonus, Penn State (regarded to be his favorite) already has two defensive tackles committed, making Michigan a much more attractive option.

Ohio DE Darryl Baldwin plans to make a college commitment by the end of the week. Though Michigan was strong for him early in the recruiting process, I think most analysts are expecting him to end up elsewhere, probably Ohio State.

Fluff on CT LB Khairi Fortt. He has a Michigan visit in his plans for the summer, and he’s hoping to narrow his list of scholarship offers to about 10 by the end of the month. He won’t announce a final decision until during his senior season, however.

Surprise, surprise. FL LB Christian Jones favors Florida State. He has a list of top schools (which doesn’t include Michigan) and plans to make a tour of unofficial visits to several colleges this summer. If that trip happens without a stop in Ann Arbor, or any other indication that the Wolverines are in the running, I’ll remove him from the board.

Removed GA LB Tyrone Cornileus, who has a final four of Gerogia Tech, Miami of Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

Removed OH LB Cameron Ontko, who committed to Wisconsin. His brief stay on the board comes to an abrupt end.

CA S Sean Parker will visit Michigan for an official this fall, though he’s not sure exactly when that will be.

FL CB Keion Payne counts Michigan among his offers, but it doesn’t appear that Michigan is one of the schools that has a good chance to land him. It appears as though Miami of Florida and Ohio State (if they offer) are his leaders.

2011 FL RB Demetrius Hart “has favorites” (info in header). We’ll use the mighty VB cryptography kit to decipher who that might be: 1) This article is posted on TheWolverine, therefore Michigan must be among the favorites 2) The article is written by a TheWolverine staff writer, confirming the conclusion of part 1, and implying that Michigan likely leads. Hart has said in the past that he’d probably commit to Michigan as soon as he can get an offer in writing (September 1st, for the record), so this information is not surprising.

Posted under 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

As time goes by, it seems more and more inevitable that SC QB Cornelius Jones might pick Michigan. He’s going to visit this summer.

Removed VA QB Phillip Sims. He committed to Alabama, relieving me of my responsibility of looking for excuses to drop him. I’m comin’ for you next, Heaps.

ESPN recruiting fluff on GA RB Mack Brown. From the article it appears as though he’s more of a speed back than a big back, which I had previously pegged him as. Still, with 2 backs in the class, I wouldn’t be surprised if the coaching staff holds out for Marcus Lattimore or bust (“bust” here meaning “Austin White/Nick Hill“). Additional Brown mini-fluff from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

MD RB Marcus Coker, who was part of the mass offering of DeMatha players last week, has now confirmed that he’s received an offer from the Wolverines (info in header). Still no definitive word on any of the other four guys.

I’d kinda pegged IL TE CJ Fiedorowicz as a Notre Dame lock, but it appears as though he’s favoring Iowa and Ohio State at this point. Michigan doesn’t seem to be in the thick of his recruitment, but he’d be an awesome weapon in the spread offense.

OH DE Darryl Baldwin was scheduled to visit Ann Arbor on Monday, though there haven’t been any (free) reports on whether said visit was positive or not.

Michigan is still showing interest in IL DE Louis Trinca-Pasat. Sun-Times fluff on Trinca and his teammate OL Laken Tomlinson. I’ve added Tomlinson to the board.

It’s almost difficult to NOT read the tea leaves, as each day brings further evidence (in header) that FL S Marvin Robinson is going to commit to the Wolverines, and do so sometime soon. That would (hopefully) open the floodgates a bit for some other defensive recruits to hop on board. Speaking of which, Josh Helmholdt goes over the spoils of the spring game in the Freep, including a tidbit on Marvin:

“I love the Michigan fans and I love the support they give their players,” Columbus (Ohio) Brookhaven defensive end Derrick Bryant remarked. “I was thinking some college stadiums don’t have that many people that come for a regular game and they had that many people for a scrimmage.”

“It was definitely a great environment to see all the people there supporting Michigan,” added Livonia Stevenson running back Austin White…

The recruiting results of Michigan’s spring game weekend could be immediately seen with the Saturday commitment of Flower Mound (Tex.) Marcus running back Stephen Hopkins. Several more players, however, elevated Michigan on their list of favorites following visits this past weekend.

[Torrian] Wilson, a 6-4, 315-pound offensive lineman ranked as the No. 131 player in the country by Rivals.com, named Michigan his leader after finishing up a five-day visit in Michigan. Eagle Lake (Fla.) Lake Region four-star safety Marvin Robinson, the No. 99 player in the country according to Rivals.com, also named the Wolverines as his top team and expects to make his commitment official in the next 2-3 weeks.

The Wolverines were already Robinson’s leader, though the imminent commitment thing is new this week. FL OL Torrian Wilson enjoyed the spring game as well, but it will still be tough to pull him from the Hurricanes. The other two gentlemen enjoying themselves can obviously be nothing other than a positive.

Information on a few different guys from Phil Kornblut:

USC has offered RB Roy Finch (5-8, 170) of Niceville, Fla. He also has offers from Oklahoma, Alabama, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Southern Miss, Auburn, Vanderbilt, Stanford, Oregon, Michigan and Texas A&M.

DB Brashaud Breeland (6-2, 200) of Allendale-Fairfax also was at USC’s practice last Thursday night. He’s considering the Gamecocks and Clemson strongly along with Wake Forest, N.C. State, Virginia Tech, Maryland, Michigan and Tennessee.

So, Finch is now moved to “offered” on the board, and it appears as though Bashaud Breeland (first name sic in the quote, as I believe there’s no “r”) has Michigan in an unofficial top 8 of sorts. There was a bit more information in the article, but it was redundant from previous recruiting updates.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

The Boards: 2009 & 2010

2009 MI WR Cameron Gordon has received his offer (Sam Webb audio). I personally would like to see him end up in Ann Arbor, though Iowa should provide tough competition.

2009 NC OL Travis Bond has been added to the North Carolina squad for the Shrine Bowl.

How’s this for a non-update from 2009 FL DB Angelo Hadley? His top 4 remains unchanged, and he will visit Michigan in January.

As has been the case for some time now, Hadley, whom Rivals.com rates as a three-star prospect, is still considering four schools: Florida, Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina… Hadley has taken an official visit to UNC and will trip to Michigan in January.

Among his favorites, Florida has not offered, and he can’t set up an official until they do.

Class of 2009 visitors this weekend, courtesy of the Free Press and Sam Webb (audio):
December 6th:
Thomas Gordon
Teric Jones
Isaiah Bell
Fitzgerald Toussaint
Justin Turner
MI DT William Campbell
FL (via a JC in Mississippi) DE Pernell McPhee. The former Pahokee Blue Devil is a Mississippi State commit.
GA WR Jamal Patterson (Stanford commit).
PA WR Je’Ron Stokes (Tennessee commit). Canceled per Webb.

A bevy of information from the Chicago Sun-Times on 2010 prospects:

Loyola defensive end Chance Carter is giving up basketball to concentrate on football… To live up to his enormous potential, he must dedicate himself to football.

C.J. Fiedorowicz of Johnsburgh, a 6-7, 240-pounder with 4.5 speed, is a high-bred tight end in high school. That will be his position in college.

Christian Lombard of Fremd, at 6-6 and 285-pounds, is one of the best offensive linemen in the country. Colleges came in to evaluate him in the fall and bragged about him. He has great feet, is fundamentally sound, very mobile and makes few mistakes. He was offered by Iowa as a freshman. At last count, he had 29 offers.

Michigan is among those offers. He is one of the top OL targets in the 2010 class.

2010 OH LB Scott McVey seems to be blowing up a bit:

McVey certainly was among the best players on display during Ohio’s showcase weekend of six state finals. His was the grand finale.

McVey was in on six sacks – four of them solo sacks – and hounded Elder quarterback Mark Miller on numerous other plays. He was credited with eight total tackles, but the numbers do not begin to tell the story of the 6-1, 220-pounder from South Euclid who spends his spring running over hurdles instead of through linemen.

His stock is on the rise. Might he be able to garner an offer soon? He now has one from the Buckeyes (info in header).

Removed:
2009 GA LB Devekeyan Lattimore. He has a final 3 sans Michigan (info in header).
2009 GA S/QB Donavan Tate. Commits to North Carolina.

Posted under Football