With defensive end a major need for the 2008 and 2009 recruiting classes, Michigan finally received a commitment at the position last week, and when it rains, it pours. Craig Roh, a standout at Chaparral High in Scottsdale, Arizona, has pledged his word to sign with Michigan in February. Roh (6-5, 230, 4.6) becomes the 18th Michigan commitment for 2009.

Player Notes
Roh has great measurements for the defensive end position, though he will likely need to add weight with Mike Barwis to become a fixture along the defensive front. Roh is a high-energy player with excellent speed for a lineman. He was on Jim Stefani’s early list of prospects that Michigan should pursue. He is a tweener-type, though not the bad kind: he can play either a pass-rushing or run-stopping role from the defensive end spot, though if he specializes in one or the other, he could become a more intimidating player. It is expected that he will stay at the weakside (pass-rushing) end position. Roh has been selected for the ESPNU All-Star game, which certainly puts him among the top prospects in the country. He is considered a 4-star to both Rivals and Scout.

Recruiting Notes
Roh is originally from Michigan, and still has family in the Mitten. Roh’s family takes vacations in West Michigan each summer, so he is familiar with the area. He was extended a scholarship offer early in the recruiting cycle (though perhaps not early enough for some who follow recruiting to be satisfied), and expressed a lot of interest in Michigan. He visited Ann Arbor multiple times in a single week around the Fourth of July, the second visit to ensure he could meet with headman Rich Rodriguez. The visit did not result in a commitment, but not too long after, he narrowed to a top five list of several West Coast schools and Michigan. Roh then set up an official visit to Ann Arbor for the Wolverines’ opening tilt against Utah. Following the visit, Craig gave the standard “I was blown away” lip service, but indicated that he would not commit to Michigan until after giving the USC Trojans a chance. His official visit to the Coliseum for Southern Cal’s win against Ohio State never came to fruition, and instead he took an unofficial visit to Arizona State last weekend. On Tuesday, he announced that he would make his college choice on Tom Luginbill’s ESPNU show Thursday night. When it came time to reveal his decision, Craig picked the Michigan Wolverines.

Posted under Recruiting

With no opponent to preview, we went over all the happenings on the recruiting trail for the past month as well as looking into the future. Enjoy:

 

 Recruiting Podcast for Sept. 18th [18:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted under Blogcast, Recruiting

As always, the board.

Moved to Committed:
NJ DE Anthony LaLota. Woo! A defensive end!

Added:
FL LB Mike Marry. Michigan shall make his next cut (info in header).

New Information:
OK RB David Oku. Never mind about deciding this week: he has delayed his announcement yet again.
FL QB Denard Robinson. Still feelin’ Michigan (info in header) despite the multiple QB commits.
SC OL Quinton Washington. Official visit for Wisconsin game, and Michigan looks surprisingly strong in his recruitiment (Sam Webb audio).
AZ DE Craig Roh. Sam Webb thinks he’ll end up at Michigan, unless Rick Neuheisel is particularly slimy (audio).
SC DE Sam Montgomery. Has decided which 5 schools to visit, including Michigan.
MI S Thomas Gordon. Announcing in a couple weeks, and MIchigan looks good (audio same as above).

Etc.:
2008 MI DE Nick Perry qualified on time, and is now at USC. It was thought that if he failed t qualify, Michigan might be back in the picture for him.
2008 NJ LB Marcus Witherspoon ended up at Rutgers, where he will be eligible to play this year.
FL DB Corey Addison. He is thinking about an official visit to Michigan. His commitment to SoCar will leave him off the board for now, but keep him in mind.

Analysis:
Michigan finally grabs a defensive end. If they can grab Craig Roh, a huge weakness will be accounted for at the position.

As of now, I expect to see Roh, Will Campbell, Thomas Gordon, and maybe another guy or two to finish out the class.

Posted under Recruiting

CA QB Tate Forcier
Scripps Ranch had a bye week.

TX QB Shavodrick Beaver
Rider loses to Sulphur Springs (on ESPN2) 16-22.
Beaver’s stats: 21-33 (63.6%) for 249 yards (7.55 yds/att) and 2 TDs. 18 rushes, 84 yards (4.67 yds/att).
Video:

MI RB Teric Jones
Cass Tech beats Crockett 26-6.
Jones had over 200 yards, can’t find exactly how many.

OH RB Fitzgerald Toussaint
Liberty defeats Struthers 32-14.
Toussaint rushes 19 times for 258 yards (13.6 ypc) and 4 TDs, of 72, 57, 37, and 35 yards. Take out the TDs and he rushed 15 times for 57 yards (3.8 ypc).

FL RB Vincent Smith
Pahokee beats King’s Academy 40-7.
Smith had “over 100 yards” and a touchdown.

MN WR Bryce McNeal
Breck beats St. Bernard’s 35-33.
McNeal has an 85-yard kickoff return TD, igniting a big comeback.

FL Slot Jeremy Gallon
Apopka beats Freedom 57-21.

IL OL Michael Schofield
Sandburg beats Stagg 20-8.

LA DT DeQuinta Jones
Bastrop beats Dollarway 42-6.
No Jones mention.

NJ DE Anthony LaLota
Hun loses to Wyoming Seminary Prep 0-10.

FL LB Brandin Hawthorne
Pahokee beats King’s Academy 40-7.
No Hawthorne mention.

IN LB Jordan Barnes
Homestead beats Columbia City 28-9.

FL LB/S Mike Jones
Edgewater loses to Tallahassee Lincoln 14-30.

OH S Isaiah Bell
Liberty defeats Struthers 32-14.
No Bell mention in the article.

OH CB Justin Turner
Washington loses 13-23 to Youngstown Ursuline.
Turner had a 13-yard TD reception.

TX CB/WR DeWayne Peace
South Grand Prairie beats Summit 16-7.
Peace had an 85-yard TD reception, consisting of him catching a short pass over the middle shaking a couple defenders, and running a long way.

TX K Anthony Fera
Game canceled due to hurricane.

As always, if you have anything to share, let me know in the comments.

Posted under Recruiting

Action since last rankings:
9-8-08 Purdue gains commitment from Trevor Foy.
9-12-08 Michigan gains commitment from Anthony LaLota.

Michigan State and Notre Dame are virtually tied. So are Penn State and Wisconsin. Once a couple more commits drop to any of these schools, it will be a bit easier to differentiate them. I left Notre Dame ahead of State for now, because I think they are more likely to close out strong, unless there’s another 2007 on the way for the Irish.

New Rankings:

Posted under Recruiting

Princeton, NJ prospect Anthony LaLota has pledged his intentions to become a Michigan Wolverine. LaLota, who attends The Hun School, stands 6-5, 260, and runs a very respectable 4.65-second 40-yard dash. Anthony is the 17th commitment in the class of 2009, and the #1 player in the state of New Jersey.

Recruiting Notes
Early in the process, Notre Dame was thought to be the prohibitive favorite for a verbal commitment from LaLota. With their three New Jersey commitments (including one from LaLota’s high school teammate Tyler Stockton), and nothing but effusive praise for the Irish from LaLota, it seemed his recruitment could have come to an end as early as June. Michigan’s offer came in June, and the Wolverines seemed to be an also-ran for LaLota’s services. Near the end of July, LaLota narrowed his impressive list of suitors to seven, and the Wolverines made the cut, though they were still considered an underdog. Late in August, Sam Webb reported on WTKA that LaLota’s decision would not be coming early, and that perhaps Michigan was stronger with Anthony than had previously been known, especially after the unofficial visit he had taken the previous weekend. LaLota also tentatively scheduled an official visit for the Wisconsin game. Then, this week, LaLota’s recruitment came to a head. Michigan and Penn State emerged as his rumored top 2, with other sources reporting that he would either pick a Big East/ACC school or Michigan. When he scheduled his announcement for Friday night at 8, Michigan fans were cautiously optimistic that he would don a block-M cap. LaLota did indeed pick Michigan, and is the 17th commitment in the class.

Player Notes
LaLota is something of an oddity, in that early on, both recruiting services ranked him at offensive tackle, and both gave him five stars. Despite this ranking, LaLota insisted that nearly every school recruiting him wated him as a defensive end. Eventually, Rivals wised up and switched his position, dropping him to four stars in the process. Scout maintains that he is an offensive tackle, and they still give him five stars (and a #3 position ranking) as an offensive lineman. Rodriguez and company recruited LaLota at end, and that will likely be his final college destination. As a strongside defensive end, LaLota is more of a run-stuffer than elite pass-rusher. However, he is not particularly polished, and will likely add some finesse moves to his repertoire in college. One exciting thing about LaLota is that his game is all based on physical talent at this time. He has only been playing football for a couple years, and is loaded with potential upside.

Request
If anyone can digitize the CSTV announcement by LaLota, e-mail me and we’ll get it up on VB.

Posted under Recruiting

All information (past and present) lives on the board.

New Information:
VA QB Kevin Newsome. Still nominally considering Michigan, though Forcier’s commitment pretty much shuts the door on the Wolverines re-landing him. More on Newsome: Michigan isn’t one of the 3 locks to make his top 5.
OK RB David Oku. Spoke less-than-effusively about his Louisville visit. This is recruiting-speak for “I couldn’t have hated it more.” However, he rescheduled his announcement for next Wednesday. Without having visited Michigan, the Wolverines’ chances seem pretty low.
GA TE Terrell Mitchell. Michigan is still on him.
MI DT William Campbell. Some more information on his decommitment, including that he plans to enroll early wherever he chooses. Re-recruitment article from the Freep. Sam Webb discusses Campbell in the Detroit News. Quoth the mother:

“He’s still basically committed to U-M, but I said there is nothing wrong with going to visit a few schools. There is nothing wrong with that.”

This doesn’t sound too bad. Also, the article says he won’t announce his decision until the Army game, which would contradict a recent assertion that he will enroll early.
NJ DE Anthony LaLota. Michigan and PSU are widely regarded to be his de facto top 2. Also, Scout indicates that he is likely deciding soon.
MI S Thomas Gordon. The Cass Tech player has said he’d be a near-lock to Michigan were he to get an offer, and now he has it (info in header). Is his commitment just a matter of time?
FL S Jonathan Scott. His brother transfers from OSU. I guess coming to Michigan would no longer let them engage in sibling rivalry.
MS S Dennis Thames. Fluff, including top schools (Michigan still up there). His injury will keep him out 4-6 weeks.

Removed:
MI RB Hersey Jackson. He is out for the season with an injury. He hadn’t earned a Michigan offer, and needed a big senior year to get one. So much for that idea.

Analysis:
Like I said immediately in the wake of the Campbell “decommitment,” nothing has really changed for Big Will. When he was “committed” he said he’d take 5 visits and probably pick Michigan, and following his “decommitment,” he’s saying… that he’ll take 5 visits and probably pick Michigan. On that basis alone, there’s nothing to freak out about (if we didn’t really have him before, did we really lose him).

Etc.:
NC S Devonte Holloman. He will take visits other than Clemson. Typical “not including elsewhere-committed prospects” rules apply, but keep in mind that one of them will be to Michigan. He is planning to enroll early, fwiw.
MI WR Commit Bryce McNeal. A bit of fluffy stuff.
TX QB Commit Shavodrick Beaver. Don’t forget, he plays on ESPN2 in a couple hours.

Michigan Targets Visiting South Bend This Weekend:
NC OL Xavier Nixon (though he’s not on the board anymore, could a strong game from the Wolverines rekindle his interest in Michigan?).
SC DE Chris Bonds (have seen a “maybe” next to this one).

Posted under Recruiting

Hear ye, hear ye.

Come one, come all to your television sets to witness the Wichita Falls Rider Raiders take on their rivals from Sulphur Springs, tonight at 9 on ESPN2.

The Raiders are helmed by University of Michigan commit Shavodrick Beaver, and they look to get on the right tracks after falling to Cedar Hill last week.

VB will have an AWESOME FULL GAME REPORT on Beaver’s play later this weekend.

Posted under Recruiting

Posted under Recruiting

Moved from Committed:

Posted under Recruiting