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Action since last rankings:
11-11-08 Northwestern gains commitment from Arby Fields.
11-12-08 Iowa gains commitment from Tyler Harrell.
11-14-08 Iowa gains commitment from Shane Dibona.
11-17-08 Illinois gains commitment from Tank Carradine.
11-18-08 Iowa gains commitment from Martin Hopkins. Iowa gains commitment from Joshua Brown.
11-19-08 Michigan gains commitment from Pearlie Graves. Northwestern gains commitment from Cooper Gerami.

Illinois is right on the heels of Penn State, despite having 5(!) fewer commits. I’d be surprised if they didn’t end up passing the Nittany Lions by the end of the year, assuming all the current commitments hold. Michigan pulls a little closer to Notre Dame. Indiana’s top commit, Jeremy Gainer, is now a soft verbal. Continued laughing at Purdue.

New Rankings:

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GoBlueWolverine reports defensive tackle Pearlie Graves (6-3, 260) from Tulsa East Central High School in Oklahoma has given his word to become a Michigan Wolverine. Graves is the 19th commit in the class of 2009. Also, he has an awesome name.

Player Notes
Graves plays primarily defensive end in high school, and that is where the recruiting sites list him. However, he has a big frame, and with a college-level strength and conditioning program, he will likely move to defensive tackle. He will likely end up as a penetrator who is more of a speedy defensive tackle than Big Ten fans are accustomed to.

Recruiting Notes
Graves was offered by Michigan in the summer, and the Wolverines immediately became one of his favorite schools. He took his visit to Ann Arbor this fall, and went home raving about his time there, particularly the academic support. Graves’s stock has been rising lately, with several programs offering him scholarships recently. He picked Michigan over Oklahoma State and others.

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One of the most common complaints among Michigan fans early in this year was that Rich Rodriguez put all of his eggs in one basket in terms of recruiting quarterbacks. Once Terrelle Pryor chose Ohio State instead of Michigan, a rough first year was sealed for the Rodriguez era. With the two teams squaring off this week, it’s a good time to talk about the player who caused one of the most heated recruiting battles between the two schools in recent memory.

However, did Rodriguez really put all of his recruiting effort into one player, ignoring other possibilities at the position?

Terrelle Pryor
Pryor was the #1 overall recruit in the class of 2008, and given his production as a true freshman, it’s easy to see why. Analysts said Pryor chose Ohio State over Michigan because being able to redshirt as a freshman (er… or not) and playing in a pro-style offense (er… or not) would be most beneficial to his eventual pro prospects. However, the more likely factor in his picking the Buckeyes was the relationship he developed with DeVier Posey and other OU commits.

Marqueis Gray
Gray was also a top prospect to the recruiting services, and an Army All-American. Gray came from a state (Indiana) that shares a border with Michigan, meaning he wouldn’t have to travel too far to school if he did pick the Wolverines. However, Gray went with Minnesota, and Wolverine fans cried foul about Rodriguez’s lack of effort in recruiting him. Fast forward a couple months, and Gray was unable to get through the NCAA clearinghouse, and was an academic casualty of Minnesota’s highly-ranked class. Of course, Gray will play for the Gophers next year, but next year doesn’t really help the 2008 Michigan team.

BJ Daniels
Daniels hails from Florida, one of Rodriguez’s main recruiting pools. The Wolverines were on him heavily in January of 2008, but suddenly their pursuit of him cooled, though he continued to mention Michigan. Daniels ended up at UCF, and it is rumore that everything may not have been 100% compliant in his recruitment, particularly in regards to his demands. If that was indeed the case, you can’t blame Rodriguez for not doing whatever it took to land him.

Already-committed Recruits
Though there were few available prospects out there by the time Rodriguez was established in Ann Arbor, there were certainly top-flight quarterbacks committed to other schools who might be good fits for the Michigan offense, no? It certainly stands to reason, especially considering the cases of Michael Shaw, Roy Roundtree, and Ricky Barnum, that Rodriguez did at least due diligence in giving a phone call to guys like Darrin Thomas (Oregon) and even Boo Williams (of “I almost beat Ohio State this year” fame).

Justin Feagin
That brings us to the prospect that Rodriguez did land, Justin Feagin. Of course, asking a true freshman to step in at quarterback any time is a difficult situation to put a player in, particularly one so highly thought of as a thrower that the recruiting services ranked him only as a defensive back. However, Feagin was the best Rich could land, and he certainly has worked hard and done everything he could to help Michigan – and you can’t blame the kid for that effort not being enough to save his team.

So, in the end, did Rodriguez pursue only Terrelle Pryor, at the expense of the entire 2008 season? Evidence suggests otherwise, and one must assume that a guy who likes winning as much as Rodriguez does would have a contingency plan in place.

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At the request of commenter Jeff, I’ve moved the players whose seasons are done to the bottom of the update, since there shouldn’t be anything new with them. He also recommended noting who had a big game each week, which is a god idea, though it may not be all that exciting for the rest of this year, since most of the commits are pretty much done with their seasons.

If you know of an article that can help out, let me know. I’ll fill in the remaining game articles/stats as I find the articles. 2010 updates will come in the form of a year-end wrapup.

Still Playing

CA QB Tate Forcier
This Week: Scripps Ranch v. Cathedral. Scripps loses 70-37.
Season Totals: Scripps Ranch 7-3.

Seasons Over

MI RB Teric Jones
This Week: Cass Tech v. Southeastern in round 2 of the state playoffs. Cass loses 40-0.
Season Totals: Cass 7-2. Lost in 2nd Round of the playoffs.

Season Totals: Liberty 8-2, lost in first round of playoffs.

IL OL Michael Schofield
Season Totals: Sandburg 6-3. Lost in first round of playoffs.

NJ DE Anthony LaLota
Season Totals: Hun 4-4. Missed the playoffs.

IN LB Jordan Barnes
Season Totals: Homestead 8-1, lost in first round of playoffs.
Barnes: 58 tackles, 1 sack, 2 interceptions.

OH S Isaiah Bell
Season Totals: Liberty 8-2, lost in first round of playoffs.

MI S Thomas Gordon
This Week: Cass Tech v. Southeastern in round 2 of the state playoffs. Cass loses 40-0.
Season Totals: Cass 7-2. Lost in 2nd Round of the playoffs.

Obviously Gordon’s stats are woefully incomplete at this point. If you can help out, leave a message
in the comments.

OH CB/S Justin Turner
Season Totals: Washington 6-4. Lost in first round of playoffs.

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Action since last rankings:
11-9-08 Minnesota gains commitment from Ra’Shede Hageman. Minnesota gains commitment from Matt Garin. Minnesota gains commitment from Joey Searcy. Ohio State loses commitment from Bradley McDougald (scholarship offer rescinded).
11-12-08 Northwestern gains commitment from Tyler Scott.
11-13-08 Michigan gains commitment from Brendan Gibbons. Penn State gains commitment from Garry Gilliam.

New Rankings:

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The Board.

Moved to Committed:
TX K Brendan Gibbons.

Added:
SC S DJ Swearinger. Michigan has called the onetime target and former Tennessee commit.
Other Tennessee commits may start dominating this category sometime soon.

New Information:
FL RB commit Vincent Smith. Scouting report from SoFlaFootball.
LA DT commit DeQuinta Jones. Still looking at Oklahoma State (Alabama is the other school he’s still considering, for the record).
MI DT ex-commit William Campbell. Here’s his recruiting schedule for the rest of the fall. Sam Webb thinks OL might be his best fit (audio).
SC DE Sam Montgomery. He’s definitely still planning to come on an official.
MD LB Jelani Jenkins. Committed to the awesomely-named Maryland Crab Bowl. Michigan is expected to be in his next cut (audio) – but it’s getting into the top 5 that’s important.
OH S/LB Isaiah Bell. Taking his official visit this weekend (info in header). I’d assume Fitzgerald Toussaint comes along with him.

Removed:
FL QB Eugene Smith. Committed to West Virginia.
SC DE Chris Bonds. Eliminates Michigan from consideration. In case you didn’t believe me the first time.
FL LB Jon Bostic. Uh, not quite sure why he’s still on the board anyway. Michigan is out of it.
AL CB Dre Kirkpatrick. I don’t know how he managed to go this long without an article explicitly trimming his list, but now there’s assurance he can be removed.

Etc.:
Still elsewhere-committed, GA WR Jamal Patterson is hearing from Michigan regardless. Might they be able to convince him to take a visit?
MD RB Tavon Austin is supposed to announced sometime very soon, but I predict his choice will be between WVU and UNC.

Analysis:
QBs on the board committing elsewhere should be something we get used to: Michigan is unlikely to grab another one, but none on the board have technically eliminated the Wolverines, so on the board they stay. The Wolverines will probably start looking for more DB prospects, so keep an eye out. The outside WR position is also yet to be filled, and it’s looking like a prospect who is or has been committed to another school may end up filling the role.

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I’m actually just heading out to Ann Arbor, so I don’t have time for a substantive post, but kicker Brendan Gibbons out of Florida has committed to Michigan today. Much more when I have an internet connection again.

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If you know of an article that can help out, let me know. I’ll fill in the remaining game articles/stats as I find the articles. 2010 updates will come in the form of a year-end wrapup.

CA QB Tate Forcier
This Week: Scripps Ranch v. Mira Mesa. Scripps wins 25-21. Game stats.
Season Totals: Scripps Ranch 7-2.

Posted under Football

Action since last rankings:
11-2-08 Minnesota gains commitment from Kerry Lewis. Minnesota gains commitment from Hayo Carpenter. Purdue gains commitment from Chris Quinn.
11-4-08 Northwestern gains commitment from Davion Fleming. Minnesota loses commitment from Eric Stephens.
11-6-08 Purdue gains commitment from Gabrison Holmes.
11-7-08 Notre Dame gains commitment from Shaquelle Evans.

Lots of commits this week, though nothing changed in terms of team rankings. Notre Dame solidified its grasp on #2 by picking up one of the top wideouts in the country.

New Rankings:

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