Action since last rankings:
11-25-08 Iowa loses commitment from Justin Lattimore.
11-29-08 Illinois gains commitment from Kraig Appleton.
12-2-08 Northwestern gains commitment from Jeff Budzein.
12-4-08 Purdue gains commitment from Cody Davis.
12-5-08 Purdue gains commitment from Xavier Reese.
12-6-08 Wisconsin gains commitment from Darius Thomas.

New Rankings:

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

Matt asks:

Though no BCS title game, if the Heisman comes down to a 2-man race (which it appears with Bradford and McCoy), do you think voters will vote the “I feel bad for Colt since his team got screwed” card?

I can’t really think of an instance where that sort of of logic has come into play. On the contrary, it seems like the Heisman winner typically comes from one of the teams playing for the national title. Of course, the BCS mess is as big as ever this year, and I also can’t think of a time where a team that got screwed to the degree that Texas is (in the eyes of some), all the while having a viable Heisman contender.

At this point, it appears that Sam Bradford’s performance in the Big 12 Championship Game will determine whether it is McCoy or Bradford who ends up with the stiff-arm trophy. Considering the quality of the defense the Sooners face (Missouri is 91st in total defense and 80th in pass efficiency D), I imagine Bradford will get the trophy.

An Anonymous commenter:

If Will Campbell does not enroll early at Michigan, can we take that as a non-commit?

He said he would enroll early and isn’t looking like he is going to… so we can assume he is not committing correct?

This question was actually answered pretty well by WLA-er chitownblue in the same comments thread:

Anon – it would likely mean that he hasn’t made his decision soon enough to enroll early. Nothing more. He never said “I’m going to enroll early, specifically at Michigan, and late if I go somewhere else”. The two (going to Michigan/enrolling early) are two unlinked decisions.

Campbell has stated his intention to enroll early at whichever school he picks. If there is no wind of his enrollment at Michigan by the time we would expect to know about this (and it would probably have to be fairly soon, as students are already registering for Winter semester classes), it shouldn’t be a big deal. The important question is whether it comes out that he is enrolling early at another school. If not, it just means that he won’t enroll early anywhere.

RJ says:

Looking at the video of Breaston in the NFL makes me think that we didn’t use his talents well enough at U of M. On offense Breaston, was never utilized the way that the Cardinals use him now. It seemed like most of the passes he caught were short.

The old staff tried to use Breaston as a deep threat, but they never managed to get him to catch the ball over his shoulder on the go route. He was used over the middle in his time at Michigan as well. Essentially (especially in 2006, where he was one of the most underappreciated members of the team), he played a slot role (with some combination of Edwards-Avant-Manningham-Arrington outside). He would be a great fit in the slot in the new offense as well, despite not being sub-6-foot. I shudder with excitement when I think how awesome it would have been to have him at QB in the current offense.

Griffin Fraley asks in the comments:

On your recruiting board for 2010, where did you come up with the projected star ratings for the players? I’m looking at this link: http://www.fvsports.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=372&ltemid=94

Just curious if you have any other top 2010 lists i can look at.

I started with that list, then added a bunch of other prospects from other sources, assuming most of them were going to end up in the 3-star range. As I’ve heard more about particular prospects, I’ve either promoted or downgraded their rankings. I have also used the Scout.com 2010 instate rankings and Florida 2010 rankings from SoFlaFootball and the Varsity Sports Media Magazine.

For the most part other than that, they’re wild-ass guesses from me.

Bob asks:

Does Michigan have an offer on the table for [Cameron] Gordon? On either side of the ball?

It’s been reported on the premium site that Gordon got offered sometime last week. Sam Webb confirmed it to the non-paying world on today’s WTKA recruiting roundup. This information will be included in the next recruiting update. Since Gordon has been insistent that he wants to play WR, I imagine they said he’d have a chance to contribute there, and switch positions if it didn’t work out.

Posted under Football

Of course, I’m no talent scout, but even the untrained eye can make a few observations on watching a few high school players go against good competition. Also sprinkled in are thoughts from Michigan HS football guru Prepseer.

Cameron Gordon
He won’t wow you with his speed, but I was surprised how good his hands were (especially after hearing they may be something of a liability). He was definitely Inkster’s go-to receiver, and made a few good plays and showed no fear going after the ball in traffic. Defensively, he showed that he can lay a pretty big hit, though he wasn’t a huge factor on that side of the ball. I still think that, if he wants to play receiver at the next level, whichever team he picks will see enough skill to give him a chance there.

Devin Gardner
Watching Gardner play, it’s really natural to think “wow, he should know better than to do that,” until you remember that the kid isn’t a Division-I player yet. Hell, he’s not even a high school senior. He showed good escapability and running skills, though he’s not the easy-strider that other big run-pass QBs (i.e. Vince Young or Terrelle Pryor) have been. At this point, he’s still improving as a passer, though I don’t think he was as bad as many people who had never seen him play before were expecting. Prepseer:

Gardner has blossomed into a 5 star recruit, in my opinion. I don’t kow what his actual Rivals rating is. As a Junior, he may not be rated yet. But, he has a number of BCS offers and I’m thinking he will be a 5 star when rated next year…

I predict he will commit before next season.

I’m not sure about his making a commitment that early (he seems like the type who will at least take a couple visits, if not wait until January or February to make a choice), but you have to like hearing good things like this about a definite Michigan target.

AJ Westendorp
Michigan fans have been talking about this kid a ton lately, thinking he might deserve a scholarship offer. After having the chance to watch him, I’m not sure he’s quite that good, but he’s the type of guy I’d love to have as a preferred walkon if he’s interested. He plays a similar offensive system to Michigan, with a zone-read option game and lots of horizontal passing. He is also a tough runner – he reminds me a lot of CMU’s Dan LeFevour in that respect. He could also throw well on the run. The biggest knock on him is his arm strength – he simply doesn’t have enough to earn D-I scholarship offers. Anything thrown past the line of scrimmage was thrown with a big loopy path, and the deep balls tended to look like ducks, and hung in the air for a long time. His strength actually reminded me a bit of Nick Sheridan, though his game was appreciably better in just about every other respect. Prepseer:

I don’t think he has great arm strength (something that could keep him at the Div. 2 level), but he is extremely accurate and he reads the coverage very well. Several times he would go to the third, even fourth receiver all while eluding the DCD pass rush.

He’s a smart player who would certainly warrant a scholarship if he had a much stronger arm. His coach used to be at Glades Central, and Rich Rodriguez has always recruited the muck hard. Maybe there’s a relationship there that could facilitate a preferred-walkon situation.

MSU Commits Bennie Fowler and Max Bullough
Fowler actually impressed me a lot. He had much better size than I was expecting, and pretty good speed, too. He’s a guy who will have to develop a bit before he is ready to play at the Division-I level, but if you’re Michigan State, those are the guys you have to thrive on. I didn’t think Bullough was anything special, until I looked at the boxscore and realized he was the leading tackler – in any of the state finals games. He looked really small to me, though of course it’s important to remember he’s just a junior.

If happened to watch any of the finals games, be sure to fill in your thoughts in the comments.

Posted under Football

Recruiting Boards: 2009 & 2010

Removed:
2009 FL CB Josh Robinson. Teammate of Vladimir Emilien commits to UCF.
2010 FL DT Todd Chandler. Commits to Miami of Florida.
2010 PA LB Mike Hull. Committed to Penn State a while back.

QB Devin Gardner of Inkster is likely to be one of Michigan’s top prospects in the class of 2010. His Vikings played East Grand Rapids in the state finals on Saturday, and we’ll hopefully have some video soon.

Some fluff from Sam Webb in the Detroit News:

His attendance this summer at the prestigious Elite 11 quarterback camp, sandwiched by camp visits to Michigan, Notre Dame and Michigan State, all helped to better hone his skills. “I’m stronger, faster, and my throwing motion has gotten better,” he said. “(The motion) is way higher than it used to be. Most of (the improvement) is decision-making, though.

There’s lots of talk about how awesome the coach at Inkster is. I’ve heard the same thing from lots of sources (many of them about 2009 WR Cameron Gordon) about Greg Carter. He seems to be a good disciplinarian and teacher of the fundamentals, and one of the best coaches in the state. More from Gardner:

“I think I can fit into Michigan real easy,” he continued. “They run the exact same offense that we run right now. I already knew the spread offense, but I’m learning (more). I’m doing everything better — way better. If I go to Michigan, I wouldn’t have to adjust that much.”

That sounds promising, but Gardner also has nice things to say about Michigan State and Ohio State, so don’t get too excited just yet.

I never really thought Michigan would have a great chance with 2010 CA RB Malcolm Jones (Michigan isn’t recruiting California as heavily anymore, the school is a traditional USC pipeline, etc.). I didn’t even realize, however, that he has an older brother at USC:

Sarkisian attended Friday night’s Oaks Christian High School playoff game. The Trojans have not yet offered a scholarship to junior tailback Malcolm Jones, the younger brother of USC safety Marshall Jones. Several Pacific-10 Conference schools already offered Malcolm Jones.

So he was already included on the board only tenuously – he’s now a candidate for removal at the next sign that he won’t be interested in Michigan.

2010 OH RB Erick Howard was going to move to Seattle but didn’t end up doing so, a factoid that, until recently, had confused the hell out of me. Well, now it’s a little more clear:

Howard’s mother, Ruth, wanted him to move to Seattle with her so he could spend time with his sister, who had just given birth to her first child. Howard resisted but followed and respected his mother’s wishes…
He missed his friends and teammates. He begged his mother to let him return… She was reluctant but eventually gave in.

…and now that makes a little bit of sense.

”Now, I always carry a pencil and I go to all of my classes trying to be as prepared as I can,” he said. ”I’m working toward stepping it up and being a better student and earning a scholarship to play football in college because my dream is to play in the NFL.”

So he’s trying to succeed through football, etc., etc. He was the district player of the year, and Michigan may get involved with his recruitment down the road.

2010 FL OL Jose Jose might be similarly unlikely to end up at Michigan (he loves the hometown Miami Hurricanes), but he is certainly a prospect that Michigan fans may find intriguing. Luke Stampini of SoFlaFootball.com brings the video:

2009 IL OL Commit Michael Schofield is playing in a high school all-star game in Hawaii. That rules.

Luk Stampini of SoFlaFootball.com on Pahokee 2010 Slot De’Joshua Johnson:

When De’Joshua told me before the game he was going to be the starting QB, I didn’t believe him. He does like to joke around a bit. After watching him play, he looks to be the best QB Pahokee has put on the field this year. Accurate passer, and when you have the athletes PK does, that’s all you really need to be as a QB. He doesn’t have the little things true QB’s have like knowing when to throw the ball away or when to tuck and run.

Verrry interesting. Might he be the type of guy Michigan tries to bring in to play slot, but giving him a chance to try his hand at QB first? It looks like some of the problems with his game at QB are a matter of inexperience at the position (aside from the fact that he’s 5-9, of course).

Ohio All-State teams:

Division 1
WR Michael Edwards (Cle. Glenville) 6-1, 180. 2009
OT Marcus Hall (Cle. Glenville) 6-6, 305. 2009
RB Erick Howard (N. Canton Hoover) 5-10, 210. 2010
LB Scott McVey (Cle. St. Ignatius) 6-1, 215. 2010
LB Jordan Hicks (Lakota W.) 6-2, 210. 2010
LB Jewone Snow (Canton McKinley) 6-2, 237. 2010
DB J.T. Turner (Massillon Washington) 6-2, 180. 2009

Division 2
OL Andrew Norwell (Cin. Anderson) 6-7, 275. 2010
DB Courtney Avery (Lexington) 5-11, 170. 2010 (QB)

Division 3
RB Fitzgerald Toussaint (Youngs. Liberty) 5-10, 195. 2009
DB Isaiah Bell (Youngs. Liberty) 6-2, 215. 2009

So, all of Michigan’s commits from Ohio were first team all-state in their divisions. Also: Fitz was the co-offensive Player of the Year in Division III.

Interesting comment from Black Shoe Diaries on Jelani Jenkins’s recruitment:

I have no concerns in this area whether we get Jenkins or not.

I’m sure it’s intended to sound so flippant, but it really comes off as though PSU fans couldn’t care one way or the other whether they land Jelani Jenkins. I’m sure Michigan fans don’t feel that way, and want Jenkins as the cornerstone of the 2009 LB class, not some cherry on top of it.

The new format for recruiting posts is still something of a work-in-progress, so feel free to comment on it.

Posted under Football

Posted under Football

Action since last rankings:
11-22-08 Minnesota gains commitment from Daryl Robinson.
11-24-08 Michigan gains commitment from Vladimir Emilien.
11-28-08 Northwestern gains commitment from John Pasencia.

Michigan passes Notre Dame to regain its throne as #2 recruiting class. Considering the fact that Notre Dame is likely to start hemorrhaging recruits when their coach is either fired immediately or effective following another shitty year in 2009, I doubt the Irish will get back up to the #2 spot. However, stranger things have happened.

New Rankings:

Down: Shaquelle Evans (from 5)

Up: Steve Hull (from 2).

Posted under Football

The Board.

Moved to Committed:
FL S Vladimir Emilien.

New Information:
MD RB/Ath Tavon Austin. I was about ready to remove him, but not it looks like he’ll visit December 12th.
AZ OL Taylor Lewan. Visited Minnesota this past weekend. Maybe helping Michigan in this one: the Gophers just lost their OL coach.
MI DT William Campbell. Bama-related mention.
IN LB Commit Jordan Barnes. Same as above (link the same as well).
FL LB Commit Brandin Hawthorne. Visiting Pitt this weekend (info in header).
OH CB Commit Justin Turner. Not losing faith in Michigan.

Removed:
FL S Jonathan Scott. No apparent interest.
SC S DJ Swearinger. South Carolina commit.

Etc.:
UNC CB Commit Josh Hunter intends to visit Ann Arbor. I had been ready to eliminate OH OL Marcus Hall, because he had been naming a top group without us, but now it looks like he’s planning a Michigan visit. I still think the Wolverines don’t stand a chance, but he’ll remain on the board until they’re officially eliminated. GA WR Jamal Patterson remains “100% committed” to Stanford.

Posted under Football

For loyal readers fortunate (ha!) enough to live in Michigan (or, I guess anyone with satellite) FSN Detroit has every state championship game on this weekend, providing you with the opportunity to see several current and future targets in action, along with a lot of guys who will land at other instate schools.

MHSAA Division 8 Final Fri 10AM
Crystal Falls Forest Park v. Muskegon Catholic Central

MHSAA Division 2 Final Fri 1PM
Muskegon v. Warren DeLaSalle
Terrance Taylor was a star at Muskegon (as was USC’s Ronald Johnson), and they are consistently one of the best teams in the state, and even the country.

MHSAA Division 6 Final Fri 4:30 PM
Montague v. Leslie

MHSAA Division 4 Final Fri 11PM
Holland Christian v. Detroit Country Day
Holland Christian Senior QB AJ Westendorp is a potential walkon candidate, though don’t be surprised if he accepts a scholarship offer from a different (likely smaller) school. Though he hasn’t even garnered an offer from GVSU, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s where he ends up. Consider this your opportunity to determine if you think he deserves an offer.
Country Day has several prospects, including 2009 MSU verbal Bennie Fowler, in addition to 2010 players DT Chris Eddins and S Jason Ray.

MHSAA Division 7 Final Sat 10AM
Traverse City St. Francis v. Ubly
2010 MSU commit Max Bullough is the star linebacker for St. Francis. Offensive lineman Peter Rigan is also a potential Division-I player.

MHSAA Division 1 Final Sat 1PM
Rockford v. Lake Orion
Rockford has a 2010 linebacker of interest for Michigan fans, in Joe Stefanski.
Lake Orion is the alma mater of outgoing UM tackle Will Johnson and offensive lineman Ethan Ruhland of Michigan State.

MHSAA Division 5 Final Sat 4:30 PM
Ovid-Elsie v. Muskegon Oakridge
Ovid-Elsie has 2010 RB Chris Robinson, who could garner some bigger attention down the road.

MHSAA Division 3 Final Sun 12:30 AM
East Grand Rapids v. Inkster
Oddly, the best game (or at least one of them) is not airing until Sunday morning at 12:30 (It’s being played at 7:30, during a Red Wings game). 2009 WR/LB Cameron Gordon from Inkster has the attention of several BCS-caliber schools, including much of the Big Ten (and both instate schools). His 2010 teammate is the headliner, however, and QB Devin Gardner has his first opportunity to show off his skills on the big stage. It’s highly likely he’ll be doing the same over a year from now in one of the national all-star games.
East Grand Rapids, the alma mater of the Grady brothers, has the state’s most productive RB, Joe Glendening. They also sport TE/PF prospect Colin Voss, and Western Michigan commit TE Christopher Blair.

Posted under Football

Safety Vladimir Emilien of Plantation High School in Lauderhill, Florida has given his word to become a Michigan Wolverine. Emilien is a 6-1 190-lb player who has been clocked at 4.50 in the 40-yard dash. He is a 3-4-star prospect to each recruiting site, and and marks Michigan’s 20th commitment in the class of 2009.

Player Notes
Emilien had a fairly impressive offer sheet prior to his commitment, and is known as a safety prospect who can play either position. He has good speed in the defensive backfield, and could excel under the tutelage of Mike Barwis. He has fairly good size as well, and will likely end up as a big run-supporting strong safety. Emilien has a good reputation of going 100% on every play, a good sign that he meets Rodriguez’s all-important criterion of “loves football.”

Recruiting Notes
Emilien was offered at the beginning of May, though it seemed even at that time that he was bound for Ohio State. All indications from the beginning of his recruitment showed that he was a heavy Buckeye lean. However, the OSU class filled up fairly quickly, and there was no longer room for him in the class of ’09. When Ohio State allegedly pulled an offer from one of their commitments following an off-field incident, it appeared as though Emilien’s break may have come. However, he never committed to the Buckeyes, and after the Michigan State game official visit, the Wolverines may have taken over the top spot in his mind. Originally planning to announce yesterday, Vlad delayed his decision until today, and picked Michigan over Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Stanford.

Posted under Football