Instate WR Fred Smith has chosen Michigan State over Michigan. A large part of his decision hinged on the possibility of (not) playing for Tom Izzo’s basketball squad (we have the next Matt Trannon).

The commitment of Smith leaves up in the air the possibility that Michigan takes another wideout in the 2008 class.

Posted under Recruiting

The Offensive Depth Chart has been updated to reflect my smoke-fire-etc. information that Carson Butler will be reinstated to the team. The Scholarship Count/Eligibility Chart was already modified to take this into account with the departures of McKinney and Schifano, who have also been removed from the Depth Chart. Rumors have it that Steve Schilling is being looked at as RG, also reflected in the Depth Chart, though it may be the Timeless Lloyd Carr Motivational Tactic being employed in the direction of Alex “Lazy” Mitchell.

The Recruiting Board has been updated to reflect McGuffie and Cox, their effects on recruiting the position, Fred Smith’s presumed lean-ness, etc. Starting with the next recruiting class, remind me to make a static recruiting board so as to remove the necessity of all this copy-and=paste crap.

I apologize for the fact that this looks like crap. I’ll have Paul fix it later.

Feed Smith announces Sunday at 6, expected to be Blue.

Posted under Personnel, Recruiting

Detroit Southeastern WR Fred Smith has set an announcement date. Smith, who is down to just the instate schools, has decided he will announce his college plans Sunday at 6 a his high school.

This is god news for Michigan, as he had previously been rumored to be leaning toward Michigan State. However, a Michigan visit, in conjunction with phone conversations with Sam McGuffie and Ryan Mallett, seemed to have pulled him back toward Michigan. Just as this change occurs, Smith moves up an announcement date that he had postponed just days earlier.

Smith is a four-star prospect, with good size at 6-3, 210. He has been written about in this space before, which you can see here. His family all favors Michigan, and he is a lifelong Michigan fan himself, who was swayed toward State with promises of early playing time and bringing up a flailing program. McGuffie and Mallett sold him on something far more important, however: winning.

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

Per Jim Carty, Lloyd Carr is considering the return of Carson Butler to the Wolverines.

Butler was acquitted of assault charges in the St. Patrick’s Day incident (the other defendant, Chris Richards, was convicted). In light of his legal troubles being cleared, Carr has decided to rethink Butler’s expulsion from the football team.

This will definitely have an effect on the field for Michigan this year, as Butler will be a second option with experience at the TE position to Mike Massey’s perpetually-injured shell of a body. This would allow for both incoming freshmen to likely redshirt.

However, there is a potential negative effect on recruiting, as Michigan recruited two top tight ends to make up for their dearth of bodies at the position. While a bird in hand is worth two in the bush, both Brandon Moore and Kevin Koger are phenomenal athletes, and it would be a shame to lose either of them.

Posted under Personnel, 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

Shocker of the Century!

As expected, Sam McGuffie announced his intention to become a Michigan Wolverine tonight on television. McGuffie is on of the most electrifying players in the class of 2008.

Like fellow Texan Darryl Stonum, there is a chance that McGuffie may enroll for the Winter term at Michigan.

Posted under Recruiting

Sam McGuffie announces tonight on Click2Houtson’s High School sports spotlight, at 10 pm central. Stay tuned for the result.

Posted under Recruiting

Sam McGuffie, he of the perpetually-delayed announcement, is set to announce at his school this Friday. McGuffie will not be announcing on television, so as to avoid the same sort of good-natured (or maybe not-so-good) that Darryl Stonum was subjected to when he announced.

UPDATE: Or maybe he doesn’t mind being harassed on TV. He’s announcing on Sunday.

Obligatory Video Action

Posted under Recruiting

My work will never be as extensive as MGoBlog’s, so just take it for what it is.

Current Commits: 12

Projected Scholarships: 17

Stonum and Koger have been moved to committed, and Middleton was dropped from TE recruiting (he will be pursued as a DE). Christian Wilson moved to presumed lean. Hale and Saddler moved to presumed leans (UM and WVU in top 2). With the addition of Threet to QB commits (though he is an ’07 recruit), all other prospects removed from the board, as Michigan is done at the position. Fred Smith moved to presumed lean.

McGuffie, a presumed lean, keeps having his announcement pushed back. Most recently, it was to be this coming Sunday night, but it has been pushed back again.

Posted under Recruiting