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

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

George Morales, a long snapper from Las Vegas, has pledged to become a Michigan Wolverine.

It’s hard to evaluate special teams players, especially long snappers (their only job is to get the ball to the punter/holder and get downfield; they don’t have to block), but there’s a little information on Morales available here. It will be interesting to see if the new coaching regime will honor his offer.

Posted under Recruiting

Michigan currently has 16 recruits committed to the 2008 class for football.
Boubacar Cissoko CB Detroit
Mike Cox RB Connecticut
Kenny Demens LB Detroit
J.B. Fitzgerald LB New Jersey
Rocko Khoury OL Traverse City
Kevin Koger TE Toledo
Mike Martin DT Novi
Sam McGuffie RB Texas
Elliott Mealer OL Wauseon, OH
Brandon Moore TE Trotwood, OH
Dan O’Neill OT Grand Haven
Daryl Stonum WR Texas
Kurt Wermers OL Crown Point, IN
John Weinke QB Tuscola, IL
Christian Wilson RB McKees Rock, PA
Marcus Witherspoon LB New Jersey

With Carr’s retirement now official, the new coach will likely have to re-recruit all of the current commitments, as well as the final 6 or seven members to the 2008 recruiting class. Some currently committed members of the Wolverines’ class have reaffirmed their commitments, whomever the next coach may be. Boubacar Cissoko, Kenny Demens, and Dann O’Neill have all told the Detroit News that they will remain firm in their commitments. Christian Wilson, on the other hand, will reopen his recruiting. The remaining members of the class have not spoken about their intentions, but it is likely that some of the more highly-coveted guys will be recruited heavily by other top schools, and Michigan State will likely go hard after every commit from the mitten state. Will Illinois push after John Weinke, who lives only half an hour from Urbana-Champaign? For now, it’s a wait-and-see game. More news will likely come out as the recruits themselves hear from Carr, and report to their local newspapers. Every recruit will obviously have different factors working for and against Michigan (Stonum’s former teammates at Michigan, Dantonio working hard for in-state dominance, etc.).

On an interesting note, many recruits have named Ron English as a key factor to their return to the Wolverines. Kenny Demens said he is a Michigan Man no matter what, but he would like to see English on the next staff. Both of the New Jersey linebackers had Steve Szabo as their primary recruiter. Szabo is a top-notch coach as well, though it is possible he retires.

Posted under Coaching, Recruiting

Kenny Demens (6-1, 225), a WLB prospect from Detroit Country Day high school, has committed to Lloyd Carr and the Michigan Wolverines. Demens chose the maize-and-blue over Michigan State and Nebraska.

Demens has been described by some as a slightly bigger version of Chris Graham, with true WLB size. Hopefully, he can learn the mental part of the game (and how to tackle) better than Graham has.

With this commitment, Michigan has 16 in the class, and has room to take a few more guys. It is likely that Michigan will take mostly defensive players, with the possibility of on OL and/or a WR.

Posted under Recruiting

J.B. Fitzgerald, as expected, pledged his commitment to become a Michigan Wolverine. Fitzgerald is the second linebacker recruit in the 2008 class, joining fellow New Jerseyan (Jerseyite? Jersish?) Marcus Witherspoon.

Fitzgerald, while only a four-star prospect, was the main focus of Steve Szabo’s recruiting push of late (Szabo is the linebacker coach, as well as Michigan’s recruiter for New Jersey). Fitagerald is the player for whom Michigan eased recruiting on such players as Steve Filer (ND) and Jon Major (still uncommitted).

At 6-3, 225, Fitzgerald is a Strongside or Middle Linebacker. More on Fitzgerald to come.

Posted under Recruiting

PA H-Back Christian Wilson, long rumored to be a Michigan lock, has committed to become a Wolverine. Wilson is the class’s 14th commitment.

Posted under Recruiting

Dann O’Neill participated today in a live chat for ESPN. Nothing too revealing was stated, though his latest measurement are 6’8″ 290. He hasn’t been in touch with any remaining recruits, or even any other commitments, for that matter.

Lim(enlightenment) as n approaches this interview-like substance = 0

Posted under Recruiting

Mike Cox, a running back from Avon, Connecticut, has reportedly committed to become a Wolverine. Cox is a sleeper who impressed coaches at the Michigan summer camp. When they offered him this weekend, he did not hesitate to pull the trigger for the maize and blue.

Cox picked Michigan over Duke, BC, UConn, and Maryland, though he had been picking up interest from some bigger programs (i.e. Penn State) lately. He is a north-south runner with good size, who is a likely “Mr. Inside” compliment to Sam McGuffie’s “Mr. Outside,” though neither runner is incapable of going the other way. From reports, Cox sounds like a taller, less elusive version of Mike Hart.

With this commitment, Michigan is full at the true RB position for this recruiting class (Say goodbye to your Michael Shaw, Jonas Gray, or Darrell Scott pipe dreams). They will likely pick up an H-Back (Christian Wilson) to polish off the offensive backfield.

9:30 Update: Scout confirms commitment.

Posted under Recruiting

McGuffie’s Myspace page has gone all-out “Go Blue” mode.

Commitment video can be found here:

http://www.click2houston.com/video/index.html
Click “Most popular” in the box on the right, and the video is in there. I’ll see if I can get someone smarter than me to rip it and put it on Youtube.

Don’t forget, McGuffie’s Cy-Fair team takes on rival Cy-Falls October 18th on ESPN2.

Posted under Personnel, Recruiting