On the Recruiting Board, would you prefer that I move guys to the positions that I expect they will end up playing in college (DeWayne Peace to DB, Thomas Gordon to S, etc.), or just leave them where they are for now (either where I started them off or where Scout and Rivals rank them).

Also, Paul and I have started to put together the 2010 board. The format will be mostly similar, but if there are any new features or content you would like, or any idea to make it better let us know. Starting early in the game as opposed to half way through allows more time for development and tweaking, so dream big.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Posted under Recruiting

New Information:
FL TE Orson Charles. He loved his Miami visit, and Georgia appears to be the only other school under serious consideration. He is teetering dangerously close to removal.
PA WR Todd Thomas. Pitt leads. He is also fairly close to removal.
MD DE Jason Ankrah. One local media video piece. Two local media video pieces.
GA LB Devekeyan Lattimore. Knows where he is taking all official visits (Michigan is one).
OK CB Gabe Lynn. Still no favorite.

Etc.:
Want to see Pahokee play in person (and likely Vincent Smith and Brandin Hawthorne commit)? There are tickets available. Bastrop (DE commit DeQuinta Jones, WR target Rueben Randle) will have a game on the ESPN family of networks. Much annoyance to the abundance of articles talking exactly how many games are going to be on ESPN without saying which games. In case you’re curious, Western Branch is figuring what to do without Newsome. According to Sam Webb, Michigan may not be out of it for Oku. I’ll leave him off the board for now.

Posted under Recruiting

Action since last rankings:
7-25-08 Indiana gains commitment from Colin Rodkey
8-3-08 Iowa gains commitment from Keenan Davis. Michigan State gains commitment from Dan France.
8-5-08 Northwestern gains commitment from Brian Smith.
8-7-08 Illinois gains commitment from Bud Golden.
I also finally bit the bullet and moved to Rivals’s (superior?) rankings. Next week I’ll put all the commits back in star order.

New Rankings:

Down: Simon, Fellows (from 5), Carter (from 4). Up: Fields, Clarke, McDougald (from 3).

Down: Newsome (from 5), Jones (from 4). Up: Gallon, Schofield, Toussaint (from 3)

Down: Watt (from 5), Calabrese (from 4), Golic (from 3) Up: Fox, Martin (from 3), Tausch (from 1).

Up: Barrent, Maxwell, Spencer, Treadwell (from 3), Klatt, Reynolds, Fowler, Hoebing (from 1).

Down: Shrive (from 5), Arcidiacono (from 4), Drake, Dukes (from 3) Up: Kuntz, Figueroa (from 1).

Down: Carter (from 4), Hull (from 3). Up: Thrash, Fuller (from 1)

Up: Harris (from 3), Borland, Frederick (from 1). Down:

Up: Lipscomb (from 3) Stephens, Keise (from 2), Michel, Orseske, Rengel (from 1). Down: Alipate (from 4).

Up: Barnett, Carr, Zachery (from 2), Ewald (from 1). Down: Kiel (from 3). Not on rivals commit list: Keyt.

Up: Rogers (from 2), Clark (from 1).

Up: Trumpy, Battle, Moulton (from 1)

Down: Henry (from 3), Cooke (from 4). Up: Aristide, Bush (from 1).

Posted under Recruiting

New Information:
CS DE Chris Bonds. Top 6 (Michigan is oviously in it, considering they have secured a visit).
AL CB Dre Kirkpatrick. Takes in an Alabama practice.
GA LB Devekeyan Lattimore. Old, but super fluffy to a hilarious degree.
FL RB Vincent Smith. Video fluff.
MS DB Dennis Thames. He will be on display at some county fair or something.

Removed:
OK RB David Oku. The 2009 Noel Devine has dropped Michigan in an effort to get to a decision faster.
FL WR Rontavious Wooten. Will choose between two non-Michigan schools.

Etc.:
Sam Webb talks defensive end recruiting (audio). Cass Tech is going spread this year. It couldn’t be any worse than their offense was against OLSM when I saw them play last year. The ESPN 150 was released. Relevant persons:
Commits
65. Bryce McNeal (82)
91. Isaiah Bell (81)
147. Kevin Newsome (80)
Targets
5. Dre Kirkpatrick (90)
9. Jelani Jenkins (86)
10. Rueben Randle (86)
21. Shaquelle Evans (84)
22. Sam Montgomery (84)
25. Darius Winston (84)
38. Darren Myles (83)
43. Branden Smith (83)
48. Morgan Moses (83)
67. Craig Drummond (82)
77. Gabe Lynn (82)
78. Marcus Hall (82)
86. Craig Roh (82)
88. Donavan Tate (82)
123. David Oku (81)
132. Eugene Smith (81)
140. Chris Bonds (81)
141. Tate Forcier (81)

It’s utterly ridiculous that Will Campbell is not even in the 150, seeing as how he’s a no-brainer 5-star to both of the other sites, and ESPN spoke breathlessly about him following the Penn State Nike Combine. Just another hit to ESPN’s recruiting credibility (as though they needed one). Their reasoning:

Dominating the combine circuit without pads during one-on-one drills (geared toward the defense) does not give an accurate description of a DT’s ability to truly play the position. When comparing Campbell against the 10 DT’s that made the 150, we felt he wasn’t in the same class talent-wise. He didn’t display the ability to be as explosive as the DT’s above him.

If you’re looking for which idiot at ESPN to complain about, this was said by one Billy Tucker (side note: Campbell’s explosiveness is one of his greatest strengths, besides natural size, of course).

Analysis:
Oku’s removal is sad, but maybe warranted considering the thousands of RBs Michigan has recruited. Same goes for Wooten and slots. Other than those two guys, not a ton of action this week. In the next couple updates, I may start removing prospects that are highly unlikely to end up at Michigan (I’m lookin’ at you, Hersey Jackson).

Posted under Recruiting

The Board is here.

Moved to Committed:
FL S Mike Jones. Also, he apparently plans to enroll early.

New Information:
MI QB/S Thomas Gordon. Fluff from the News.
MD RB Tavon Austin. He plans to take an official to Michigan.
MD OL Brennan Williams. Selected for the Army Game.
OH OL Marcus Hall. Michigan is in his top 5 (audio).
GA LB Devekaeyan Lattimore. Wants to take a Michigan visit.
MD LB Jelani Jenkins. Fluff with a Michigan mention.
FL CB Angelo Hadley. Michigan in his top 7.

Removed:
FL CB Brandon McGee. He is deciding soon, and Michigan doesn’t appear on his favorites list.

Etc.:
Fluff on TX QB commit Shavodrick Beaver.

Posted under Recruiting

Scout unveiled a new set of rankings, but I’m not going to bother updating the stars for now, since I’m planning to switch to Rivals’ rankings son anyway.

Action since last rankings:
7-25-08 Indiana gains commitment from **OT Colin Rodkey.
7-29-08 Iowa loses commitment from David Barrent. Michigan State gains commitment from David Barrent.Illinois gains commitment from Andrew Carter.
7-30-08 Illinios gains commitment from Jake Feldmeyer. Iowa gains commitment from Jordan Cotton.
8-1-08 Iowa gains commitment from Drew Calrk. Michigan gains commitment from Mike Jones.

New Rankings:

Sam Longo commits. OSU probably has 3-4 slots left for people like Marcus Hall, Jaamal Berry, etc.

A defensive end goes a long way to easing Michigan fans’ fears about the position.

Chris Watt commits, failing to realize that ND OL have underperformed horrifically in recent times. Turk and Tausch have a rating ceiling of high three-stars (standard for non-all-world kickers).

Nate Cadogan commitment is now official. Figueroa and Kuntz figure to be low three-star types, maybe dropping in twos.

Tyquan Hammock goes green after not getting the Michigan offer he wanted.

The Illini grab Terry Hawthorne and Tommie Hopkins. Is Hawthorne’s teammate Kraig Appleton next to drop?

Wisconsin’s OL commits get a bonus half0star because of their inherent Wisconsin-ness. Jeff Duckworth drops for the Badgers.

Gophers pick up Eric Stephens, whom the recruiting sites give vastly different rankings (Scout 2-star, Rivals 4-star).

Dustin Kiel, Lawrence Barnett, Charles Chapman, Mitch Ewald, and Pat McShane commit. While the Hoosiers have a lot of commitments (which would rank them higher in many ranking systems) their abundance of 2-star guys really limits where this class can end up.

Trumpy and Battle will be low threes, Moulton a high two.

Aristide could end up a high three-star. He was on the verge of being a big prospect before a bad junior year injury. Bush will be a mid three-star. The Boilermakers pass Iowa.

Ferentz’s glory days in recruiting seem to be over. Rogers will end up a low two-star.

Posted under Recruiting

Basketball target Darius Morris plans to announce his college decision tomorrow.

Morris attended Michigan summer camp, and sources have indicated that he will pick Michigan. If he does, the first piece to John Beilein’s recruiting plan will have landed, and the road will be paved for future recruiting classes.

Posted under Basketball

Though we’ve all seen what can happen when social networking sites are relied upon to be a source of recruiting information, sometimes the evidence is overwhelming.

Pahokee Blue Devils Brandon Hawthorne and Vincent Smith won’t announce their respective college decisions until August 30th, but it appears as though Michigan has a very good shot at landing both. Several readers have chimed in to let me know that each has changed various aspects of his Facebook page to indicate impending commitment to Michigan.

There is a long time until August 30th, and even longer before signing day, but it appears as though both Hawthorne and Smith intend to don a blue hat at their first game this season.

Posted under Recruiting

New Information:
SC OL Quinton Washington. Not expected to take an official to Michigan.
FL QB Eugene Smith. Re-widens his focus after previously having narrowed to a top 5.
CA QB Tate Forcier. Top 6.
PA LB Dan Mason. Will commit to a school at the Army AA game. His current plan for official visits doesn’t include Michigan.
OK CB Gabe Lynn. Fluff.
FL Slot commit Jeremy Gallon. Most important news EVER: he has dreads.
SC DE Chris Bonds. Official visit schedule shaping up. Notre Dame visit for the Michigan game (and he will be unavailable for the big UM-MSU recruiting weekend, when he will be visiting Tennessee).
FL DE Ryne Giddins. Michigan outside of his top 6.
MD LB Jelani Jenkins. GBW headline says a super linebacker visited on Saturday, and the accompanying picture is of Jenkins, so we can assume he visited this weekend, no? Video fluff:

Removed:
MS S Rod Woodson. Committed to Alabama.

Posted under Recruiting, Video

Scout unveiled a new set of rankings, but I’m not going to bother updating the stars for now, since I’m planning to switch to Rivals’ rankings son anyway.

Action since last rankings:
7-19-08 Minnesota gains commitment from Eric Stephens.
7-20-08 Notre Dame gains commitment from Zach Martin. Illinois gains commitments from Tommie Hopkins and Terry Hawthorne.
7-21-08 Michigan gains commitment from DeQuinta Jones. Wisconsin gains commitment from Jeff Duckworth.
7-22-08 Michigan State gains commitment from Tyquan Hammock.
7-23-08 Purdue gains commitment from Rob Henry

New Rankings:

Sam Longo commits. OSU probably has 3-4 slots left for people like Marcus Hall, Jaamal Berry, etc.

A defensive end goes a long way to easing Michigan fans’ fears about the position.

Nate Cadogan commitment is now official. Figueroa and Kuntz figure to be low three-star types, maybe dropping in twos.

Chris Watt commits, failing to realize that ND OL have underperformed horrifically in recent times. Turk and Tausch have a rating ceiling of high three-stars (standard for non-all-world kickers).

Wisconsin’s OL commits get a bonus half0star because of their inherent Wisconsin-ness. Jeff Duckworth drops for the Badgers.

Tyquan Hammock goes green after not getting the Michigan offer he wanted.

Gophers pick up Eric Stephens, whom the recruiting sites give vastly different rankings (Scout 2-star, Rivals 4-star).

The Illini grab Terry Hawthorne and Tommie Hopkins. Is Hawthorne’s teammate Kraig Appleton next to drop?

Dustin Kiel, Lawrence Barnett, Charles Chapman, Mitch Ewald, and Pat McShane commit. While the Hoosiers have a lot of commitments (which would rank them higher in many ranking systems) their abundance of 2-star guys really limits where this class can end up.

Trumpy and Battle will be low threes, Moulton a high two.

Aristide could end up a high three-star. He was on the verge of being a big prospect before a bad junior year injury. Bush will be a mid three-star. The Boilermakers pass Iowa.

Ferentz’s glory days in recruiting seem to be over. Rogers will end up a low two-star.

Posted under Recruiting