Tomorrow night, Michigan will be holding its 2008 junior day. While past Michigan junior days have been held surrounding a basketball game, this year that is not the case.

Michigan will be holding its first annual “Night of Champions,” likely taking its name from the famous New York Bodybuilding competition. “Night of Champions” is neither a novel idea nor name, taking place at such schools as Central Michigan, Idaho, and even reclassifying school Western Kentucky. However, it is certainly a departure from the way Michigan has operated in the past. As the name references, this event is a competition between members of the football team to show off their physical improvement from winter strength and conditioning.

Back to the topic of juniors, expect mostly regional prospects (in-state, Ohio, Indiana, maybe northeastern Illinois or western Pennsylvania) to attend. From the recruiting board (and some who have been removed/not added), that would include (my educated guesses on) the following prospects (and definitely several more):

Michigan
QB Mike Schaaf – Not a dual threat, but could be a good baseball prospect that could pick UM and also play football.
QB Thomas Gordon – A fallback prospect, though his teammates Will Campbell (committed) and Teric Jones (seeking an offer) will almost definitely come.
RB Edwin Baker – He now has a UM offer, though his commitment to Sparty may prevent him from attending.
RB Teric Jones – He may get his offer at RB or slot, and he is one who could commit if the offer comes through.
RB Larry Caper – Committed to State, and new-UM hasn’t shown tons of interest, but he could make it in.
Hersey Jackson – He wants a UM offer.
WR James Jackson – He has a Michigan offer, and Michigan wants him badly.
WR Cameron Gordon – Prospect on Michigan’s radar who is still looking for an offer.
TE Dion Sims – He has an offer and Michigan wants him. OLSM BBall lost last night so he should be able to make it in.
TE Reid Fragel – Potential future OT could hope for an offer.
TE Mitch Kessel – Probably won’t ever garner an offer unless our recruiting class starts (continues?) to suck late in the year.
OT Zach Matthias – He is still an instate sleeperish type guy.
OG Ricky Clemons – Could be looking for a future offer.
OG Aaron McCord – Also a potential DL target.
DT William Campbell – Michigan commit can recruit for the good guys at this event.
LB Chris Norman – An MSU commit.
S Brock Reynolds
S Jamonne Chester
S Shamari Benton

Ohio
WR Josh Jones – Looking for big name offers. Can he make the long trip during a school day?
OT Marcus Hall – Top prospect. Michigan would love for him to come in.
OT Chris Freeman – From Trotwood-Madison.
LB Zach Boren – Legacy recruit with no scholarship offer.
LB Julius Ferrell
S Justin Turner
CB DJ Hunter
CB Tony Graham – Another Trotwood guy.

Indiana
QB Morgan Newton – He has been picking up some steam lately, though some doubt his fit in the read-option offense. His basketball obligations have ended.
QB Jordan Luallen

Illinois
QB Darwin Rogers – His class at Leo High has a lot of prospects.
DE Craig Drummond – A top prospect Michigan would love to have come in.

Pennsylvania
RB Jordan Hall – Don’t know how far he’d be willing to travel for a junior day, both he and Terrelle Pryor are eligible to play in their basketball game tonight, so he might be too tired to come.
WR Je’Ron Stokes – Can he make the 4 hour drive on a school day?
DE Juantez Hollins
DE Jack Lippert
LB Dorian Bell – Michigan would be ecstatic if he’d make it in, and he is currently planning to attend.
LB Dan Mason
LB AJ Fenton
S EJ Banks
CB Corey Brown – Dorian Bell’s Teammate. Plans to attend.

Also, NC S Devonte Holloman’s lovely mug is featured in the free portion of the latest Scout post about Junior Day, so don’t be surprised if makes an attempt to come in.

**BONUS** If Trotwood guys come in, they may be accompanied by some of Michigan’s 2008 commits from their school. Same story with Boubacar Cissoko and the Cass Tech guys, and maybe even BB commit Stu Douglass tagging along with Morgan Netwon?
**Double Bonus** If Jordan Hall can make it in, may he bring along uncommitted 2008 uber-recruit Terrelle Pryor? I’m sure Michigan would be very pleased to have him in, especially if he brought his mother with him.

Defensive spring preview coming tomorrow, the last day before the start of spring practice.

Posted under Recruiting

Board.

I reranked the players in accordance with the latest set of Scout rankings, and moved a couple of guys’ positions. There is new information on most prospects. I also added new fields for offer status and decision/enrollment timetables. Player/personal and recruiting information have been separated. Most of the new players come on the recommendation of Jim Stefani, who I owe big time.

Changed position:
OH S Justin Turner had been at CB
MS CB David Conner had been at LB
AZ DE Corey Adams had been at DT
TX DT Jamarcus McFarland had been at DE

Added:
FL WR Andre Debose
MA OL Brennan Williams
AZ DE Devon Kennard
MD LB Jelani Jenkins
OH LB Julius Ferrell
GA S Donavan Tate
MI S Shamari Benton
PA CB Corey Brown
GA CB Ryan Campbell

Posted under Recruiting

Chesterton Indiana shooting guard Zach Novak (6-4, 215) has committed to Coach John Beilein of the Michigan basketball program. He is the third player committed to the Wolverines.

His local paper does not like to spellcheck. Like, even for the name of the person the article is about. He was an Indiana All-Star as a junior. Novak is a three point shooter who will fit in well with the Michigan team, other than the fact that he is actually capable of making the occasional shot.

Posted under Basketball

Board.

A lot of removals on this week’s board. In the next week or so, I’ll roll out a new version of the board with decision/enrollment timeframes, offer status, and maybe another couple things.

Added:
TN WR Marlon Brown. He has a Michigan offer, and will likely end up a top-25 national player.
LA WR Rueben Randle. He also has a UM offer.
OH OT Marcus Hall. Not sure we have a great chance with this guy, considering his school (Cleveland Glenville). He has been offered.
AZ DE Devon Kennard. He has reportedly been offered.
FL DB/QB Brandon McGee. He has an offer now as well. Interesting to see which position he wants to play in college.
VA CB Javanti Sparrow. Teammate of QB Kevin Newsome.

Removed:
TX QB Russell Shepard. A single tear is still on my cheek.
TX RB Hasan Lipscomb. He was really only included because I thought he might commit to LSU, convincing Shepard to go to Baton Rouge. Hey, I had it backwards!
MI RB Larry Caper. He is now somewhat committed to THE Michigan State University.

New Information:
VA QB Tajh Boyd. MVP of the Air7QBU quarterbacks camp.

A few new articles about prospects receiving offers, so lots of new prospects added to the board. Larry Caper to MSU hurts a bit, because he’ll be one of the top couple in-state prospects, but he had gotten too big to be a fit for the RR spread. Craig Loston is tenuously still included on the board, because I feel he may follow Shepard to LSU, for their dream class.

Posted under Blog News, Recruiting

Of course, I made a very sad and/or angry post about Russell Shepard committing to LSU last night. A couple of commenters noted that this was an overreaction, which may or may not be true. My response, however, is that following recruiting in and of itself is an overreaction to following college football, is it not? Besides, for anyone who knows me, dropping the F-bomb 1,004 times and the S-word once is really no big deal. This is what Michigan is missing out on, in case you don’t know.

Why I’m mad about (at?) Shepard
From the beginning of my following 2009 recruiting, it appeared as though Michigan was going to be in it for Shepard until the end. From the beginning, it appeared as though we were a close second, behind in-state favorite Texas. When Texas offered him only as a WR on his junior day visit, Michigan was presumed to be the leader. He said all the right things, including that he planned to camp at Michigan over the summer.

“I would say Texas is still up there, but Michigan is really at the top of my list, especially if they don’t get (2008 top recruit) Terrelle Pryor,” he said. “I feel like I could go there and play right away.”

Then comes his LSU visit, after which the Tigers are considered the leader, and he promptly commits a week and a half later. Of course, Shepard seems to be a kid who has his head squarely on his shoulders, and everything he’s said since the LSU commitment implies that the recruitment is definitely 100% over:

“Right now there is really no other place I want to visit,” Shepard informed. “I know I haven’t visited schools like Michigan or Florida, so this right here should tell them how I feel about LSU.”

After promising to visit Michigan and other schools, we have no chance, and Shepard will head to LSU. This also means, in all likelihood, that Michigan will no longer have the opportunity to land Shepard’s cousin, Craig Loston.

In the end, the reason that I’m mad about Russell Shepard’s commitment to LSU is that he chose them without even giving Michigan a real chance, when it sounded all along like he would be fair to (if not was favoring) Michigan.

The Coach and Recruiting
Another reason I’m upset about Shepard’s commitment is that he’s the first prospect I really wanted since Rich Rodriguez has been the coach that has picked someone else. This applies only to recruits who we had a realistic shot at getting, and that Michigan had a chance to change once they had made their decision. This eliminates Nick Perry last year. While I would have loved to have him, I realized that once he made his decision, he immediately signed his letter of intent to attend USC, and his recruitment was over.

It’s my subconscious hatred for losing, especially when I feel like I can win, that has me really upset. Will my anger help Rich Rodriguez sway Shepard? Definitely not, but conceding Shepard to LSU feels like giving up to me.

Additionally, though it is very early in the recruiting process, it seems like a lot of Michigan’s targets are committing to other schools. Michigan will probably have a chance to snatch one or two back, but not all.

This brings us to my proposed:

Wizard Hat Ethics
Fans may say “well, Rodriguez stole Roy Roundtree from Purdue, and Michael Shaw from Penn State, so he can just steal Shepard from LSU.” First things first, neither PSU nor Purdue is LSU, in terms of prestige, defending-champion-status, weather, etc. Also, there is a line at which I think the wizard hat and snake oil use should be limited.

If Michigan is in on a prospect, and that prospect commit elsewhere, his Michigan recruiter (or Rich Rodriguez himself) should give the recruit one last call. During this call, the recruit is asked whether there is any chance that his commitment could be changed, or if he is taking visits elsewhere. If he answers yes to either of these questions, he is not considered committed, and Michigan should continue recruiting him like usual.

However, if he says he is solidly committed, Michigan’s coaches should tell the recruit that they enjoyed the experience of recruiting him, and to keep the Wolverines in the back of his mind in case anything changes. The high school coach should be informed that Michigan is requesting a call in case there is any wavering in the recruit. Then, Michigan should leave the recruit alone unless contact is made, or he publicly decommits from his school.

If a recruit decommits from a school and commits to another (especially if he claimed that the first commitment was solid), then that recruit should not be committed anywhere again until his Letter of Intent has been signed and sent in on signing day.

Another factor to take int account in this whole thing is whether coaches feel Michigan has been given a fair chance. This includes the prospect at least genuinely listening to recruiting pitches from his area or position recruiter, and the head coach. Another factor in this category is whether the recruit has been on campus, especially if he has previously stated that he would like to at least unofficially visit. Unless the recruit is as solidly committed as they come Michigan should continue recruiting until coaches believe they have been given a fair shot.

Of course, the degree to which coaches will pursue a committed recruit should hinge upon the level of the recruit. If Michigan only sort of wants a guy, and he commits to Indiana, they will probably just drop him. If the nation’s #1 recruit has been flirting with Michigan for a while (even going so far as to unbutton his shirt a little bit and show Michigan his bra – or is that taking the metaphor too far?), and commits elsewhere without giving Michigan a fair shake, then by all means, he should be pursued.

Joe Tiller was obviously ridiculously naive when he claimed that Rich Rodriguez tricked Roy Roundtree into switching his commitment. The long story short is that Roundtree liked Michigan more, and if he was willing to switch, it was because he was not solidly committed to Purdue in the first place, and knew it wasn’t the best place for him in the end. If Roundtree had reaffirmed his Purdue commitment even after being contacted by Michigan, I would hope, per my Wizard Hat Ethics, that RRod would have left him alone.

Posted under Recruiting

Earmuffs…

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK A THOUSAND TIMES FUCK.

From the varied commitment articles, it sounds like there is approximately zero chance of wavering. We’ll see if the wizard hat gets dragged out for this one, but I think Shepard will probably stick. This probably also eliminates Michigan with Shepard’s cousin Craig Loston, a five-star safety.

SHIT.

More comprehensive updates coming as the information gets out, but this is not good. Not good at all.

Posted under Recruiting

Board.

I rearranged the information for a few prospects to make it a bit easier to digest.

A lot of prospects have reported that they aren’t “feeling the love” from the new staff like they were from Carr’s or are from other schools. However, it is important to note that the staff not only had to fall behind in ’09 to catch up with the ’08 prospects (they caught up with ’08, so one must assume with an entire year they’ll be able to do it in ’09), but they also are moving families to a new city, getting acquainted with the team’s current players, and even getting to know each other and develop new schemes. Once some of these things get worked out, ’09 recruiting should pick up.

If Michigan ends up with any of their top 3 quarterback prospects (Shepard, Murray, and Forcier, IMO), they will have a QB who is enrolling in winter for spring term. Hopefully it works out better this time than it did for Ryan Mallett.

Junior Day is next week (3-14ish), and after that, the recruiting picture could start to clear up quite a bit (including, possibly, a commitment or two).

New Information:
TX QB Russell Shepard. Linked to an article from New Era Scouting. BON thinks Mack Brown may give up on him.
FL QB Aaron Murray. Now reporting a Michigan offer, though I’ve noted conflicting information on the topic.
CA QB Tate Forcier. PSU and Oregon are the favorites? Michigan still seems to be strongly in this one.
FL WR Nu’Keese Richardson. He was the high school teammate of new Wolverine Martavious Odoms.
MI WR Cameron Gordon. 2007 Michigan summer camper. He will be playing at Inkster, not Melvindale this coming season.
PA OT Eric Shrive. Linked to local paper’s blog devoted to Shrive’s recruitment.
OH OT Chris Freeman. Have noticed that some fans are curiously interested in him as a power forward for their basketball squads.
LA DT Chris Davenport. Now has a Michigan offer.
MS DT Josh Boyd. Plans to decide on signing day.
OH DB Justin Turner. Left him at CB, though he may be a college safety. He now has a Michigan offer.

Removed:
MI RB Edwin Baker. To Michigan State. A candidate to be re-added if he wavers.

Added:
OK RB David Oku. Michigan is in his top 9. His junior highlight.

Posted under Recruiting

Update courtesy of an apparent commitment of a key target to a rival school.

Added:
PA S E.J. Banks. From Christian Wilson’s high school, he is and Ohio State target.
KY DE Trevor Foy. He attended multiple Michigan games in the fall.
Removed:
MI LB Chris Norman. No longer including recruits committed elsewhere without promising info.
Edwin Baker if he commits to State.

New Info:
MI RB Edwin Baker is apparently committing to Michigan State tomorrow, depending on how much weight you put in this random blog post. If he does, I’ll drop him without a new post.
PA RB Jordan Hall visited OSU with Terrelle Pryor recently, and it is likely Pryor’s decision could influence Hall’s.
MI OL Zach Matthias was first-team all conference as a Junior.
SC DE Chris Bonds lists Michigan in his top 5.
OH CB Tony Graham plans to camp at Michigan.
OH CB Damien Thigpen actually prefers the RB position, but will play where needed in college.

Commentary:
If the Edwin Baker commitment happens, they will have a hell of a start to their class (for State).

Posted under Recruiting

One last recruiting update before I head off to a land of indeterminate internet access known as “spring break.” Over the next week, I’ll post if I have access, but otherwise I plan on having Paul go back and post the highlights (read: lowlights) from the home basketball games so far.

Anyway, the board. LSU junior day information courtesy of Bayou Bengal Blog.

Added:
TX RB Jazsman Mitchell. A little guy who will probably end up a slot WR if he comes to Michigan.
TX RB Hasan Lipscomb. Included because of the impact he may have on Russell Shepard. The two are high school teammates and friends who are both going to LSU’s junior day this weekend. Lipscomb grew up as a fan of the Bayou Bengals.
LA DT Chris Davenport. Top DT who is attending LSU’s junior day this weekend.
SC DE Chris Bonds. Michigan is in his top 5.

Removed:
TX DE Mike Brockers. Committed to LSU.

New information:
TX QB Russell Shepard. He is attending LSU’s junior day this weekend. His current girlfriend goes to LSU (not sure why he needs to date someone two years older than him, but I digress). They are considered in his top 3 along with Texas and Michigan.
FL QB Eugene Smith. His dad attended Miami of Florida. Various sources have him listed as a pro-style quarterback, despite his 4.65 dash time.
MS QB Clayton Moore. He is a pass-run or pro-style QB rather than run-pass. A second team All-State selection as a junior. He may enroll early at the school of his choice. He is also a baseball propect who may opt to play minor leagues instead.
PA WR Todd Thomas. He now reports a Michigan offer.
MI WR James Jackson. His offer from Lloyd Carr’s staff has been reaffirmed.
MS WR Dennis Thames. First team All-state selection as a junior.
NC OL Xavier Nixon. He is a nimble center for his basketball team. Has relevance to his foot quickness.
MS DT Josh Boyd. 2nd team All-state as a junior.
MS LB David Conner. First team All-state as a junior.
NC S Devonte Holloman. Wants to trim his list to 5 by summer. HS QB.
TX S Craig Loston. Michigan is in his top 5.

Posted under Recruiting

I have seen a lot of delusional fans in my day, especially when it comes to recruiting. Some people think their school of choice will land every five-star prospect, others foolishly think they have a chance with a given guy (Michigan fans: Pryor isn’t signing with the Wolverines. Give it up). One of the most common brands of craziness comes to comparing the relative merits of certain schools. With that, I present today’s evidence: Syracuse football fans (apparently they exist) who think their school is more prestigious than Michigan (no, seriously).

I stumbled upon this goldmine when scouring the internets for information on recent OL offeree Eric Shrive. It comes from the Scout free board (I know, not the best place to find level-headed, rational people) devoted to Syracuse, and concerns the fact that several board members think Michigan’s offer to Shrive does not mean he is deserving of one from mighty Syracuse.

I don’t know what it is but I’m just not feeling it. I don’t think getting an offer from Michigan anymore to be considered “a BIG offer”. I see Michigan and think West Virginia.

Another goes on to clarify slightly that Michigan is still a big(ish) offer, it’s just not as big now that Rich Rodriguez is the coach.

Hard to explain. It’s not an offer FROM Michigan per say, it’s an offer from Rich Rodriquez. I never viewed West Virginia as being a BIG TIME offer and that’s sort of how I view Michigan now. It’s Rich Rod.

Rich Rodriguez has been one of the most successful coaches in America, at a place not exactly set up for success (unlike Michigan). Also, YOU’RE SYRACUSE.

All-time record:
Michigan 869-288-38 (.747)
West Virginia 664-442-45 (.596)
Syracuse 670-462-49 (.588)

Record Since Rich Rodriguez has been at West Virginia (2001):
Michigan 64-24 (.727)
West Virginia 61-26 (.701)
Syracuse 33-51 (.393)

If Pasqualoni was the head coach of Miami U would you consider that to be a BIG TIME offer or would you sort of view it in a different light?

If Pasqualoni was the coach at Miami U (which I assume is supposed to be UMiami), it would be a big offer if a) Pasqualoni was one game away from playing in the BCS championship game this past year, and his team had won 3 straight bowl games, including BCS games they weren’t supposed to win, and b) Miami had been one play away from being in the BCS Championship game two years ago, and had been to a bowl game for 30 straight years, and hadn’t completely sucked recently. One poster starts to grasp the big picture, realizing that, over time and in recent history,

Syracuse football doesn’t hold a candle to Michigan football.
I would think gameday atmosphere could be a big part of the answer here. I love SU, but it will be tough for them to be considered a big time fb school when there’s 30K, most of which straggles in around game time and sits on their hands (when not booing a third-down draw).

Michigan plays in front of 100K at the big house, has a huge athletic budget, the most wins in NCAA history (unless ND has more, but I think it’s Michigan), plays in a bigger football conference (even if it’s mostly perception) and always seems to appear in the top 25 at some point.

Then others come to drag it back down.

If I were a recruit, I would perceive Michigan to be a great offer for those reasons you listed. That being said, I am not in favor of writers who are supposed to be objective, singling out one offer as being better than another. This is not meant to slam Matt, as I think he does a great job (based on reading the few articles of his Scout provides as free, basically about fringe recruits) .

Sorry, guy. Michigan is a better offer than Syracuse, in much the same way that USC is a better offer than (insert school name here). Now, is it the best choice of schools for a particular recruit? Maybe not. But a bigger offer, it definitely is.

p.s. YOU’RE SYRACUSE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

Posted under Recruiting