A midyear recruiting prospectus is on tap for this afternoon. For now, enjoy the recruiting update. Board can be found here, as always.

New Information:
MN WR Commit Bryce McNeal. On the news.
SC DE Sam Montgomery. He has narrowed his list, and will reveal top choices soon.
NV DE Keenan Graham. UCLA leads (info in header).
SC DE Chris Bonds. Article from The State about his past injuries.
AR CB Darius Winston. Sam Webb fluff from the Detroit News.
FL CB/QB Mywan Jackson. Apparently Michigan will give him a shot at QB, and he expects to narrow by one school this week.
GA LB Devekeyan Lattimore. Video fluff:

Removed:
SC S DJ Swearinger. Tennessee commit.

Etc.:
Don’t forget, Brandin Hawthorne and Vincent Smith are announcing on Saturday. Don’t be surprised if they both don Block-M caps.

Analysis:
Keep in mind, this is the first week that the recruiting update comes before some official visits. On the docket for this weekend: CA QB Tate Forcier and AZ DE Craig Roh.

Posted under Recruiting

A weekly look at Michigan commits’ performances in their high school games.

TX QB Shavodrick Beaver No game, but 2 TDs accounted for in a scrimmage.
OH RB Fitzgerald Toussaint W 55-21 19 Carries, 115 Yds. Also his dad did not stab a guy.
MI RB Teric Jones No game
MN WR Bryce McNeal No game
FL Slot Jeremy Gallon No game
IL OL Michael Schofield No game
MI DT William Campbell No game
LA DT DeQuinta Jones No game
IN LB Jordan Barnes W 55-21 No stats given
FL S Mike Jones No game
OH S Isaiah Bell No stats given (played RB on offense)
OH CB Justin Turner W 45-29 22 Carries, 140 Yds
TX CB DeWayne Peace No Game

Posted under Recruiting

Action since last rankings:
8-18-08 Michigan gains commitment from Anthony Fera.
8-20-08 Michigan loses commitment from Kevin Newsome.
8-21-08 Northwestern gains commitment from Tim Riley.
Since there wasn’t a ton going on this week, I’ll give a little commentary on how good each of the classes is, and the size of gaps between them.

New Rankings:

Solid class by the Bucks, but they aren’t likely to challenge for the mythical recruiting national champion in February.

There is a pretty big dropoff between Michigan and OSU, especially after one of the top commits in the class is there no longer. However, Michigan has filled needs with the types of players that are god in its specific system, if not highly ranked.

The gap between Michigan and Notre Dame isn’t quite as large as that between Ohio State and Michigan, but it is a fairly sizable one. The Irish have gotten a couple of big-time commits, however.

MSU is virtually tied with Notre Dame, though their class has less upside. They aren’t likely to challenge for any more 5-star recruits either, so unless Michigan and Notre Dame lose a lot of players form their classes, this is the peak position for the Spartans.

Penn State is nearly in a tie with Michigan State, but I rank them lower because they have tons of 3-stars and few exciting prospects.

Illinois has a very strong base for their class, and Ron Zook can be expected to continue to recruit well.

There is a pretty sizable gap between Illinois and Wisconsin. They are filling needs, and I always give offensive linemen committed to the Badgers an extra mental half-star.

< /tr>

There is a cavernous, gaping hole between Wisconsin and Minnesota, even though just a look at the number of commits and stars wouldn’t seem to indicate that. Is Brewster’s recruiting mojo wearing off?

Indiana is implementing a new strategy of trying to fill their class early (which may be an overall trend in recruiting nationally). It’s working well for them so far, as they appear to be fielding their best class in years.

Cavernous, gaping hole between IU and UI. Iowa lost their best commit to MSU, but made up for it by landing the state’s top player. Ferentz is probably toast, though.

Northwestern has been built on sleepers, and they will continue to do so. However, just because a player isn’t
highly rated doesn’t make him a sleeper. Some guys just aren’t any good.

Purdue has easily the worst class in the Big Ten so far.

Posted under Recruiting

Huge update this week. There is actually more that will have to wait to Monday because this update is so JAM-PACKED. Anyway, here’s the board.

Moved to Committed:
TX K Anthony Fera.

Added:
A kicker category to the board. Thanks, Fera, ya jerk. Maybe in the light of more recent developments, I shouldn’t be calling anyone committed to Michigan a jerk.

Moved from Committed:
VA QB Kevin Newsome.

New Information:
CA QB Tate Forcier. August 30th visit (info in header).
GA WR Braxton Lane. Skipping football this fall to focus on baseball. Sounds unlikely he’ll hit the gridiron in college.
NC OL Travis Bond. His official visit is set for October 25.
VA DE Will Hill. Fluff.
SC DE Chris Bonds. Michigan and Notre Dame won’t move into his highest group until after he has a chance to see campus. They are still in his top 5.
OH DE Tank Carradine. Does he have an offer? He’s been working on his grades.
FL LB Brandin Hawthorne has set up 5 official visits, despite planning a decision before any of them. If Michigan is his choice on August 30, expect him to either forget about the other visits or not be given all the priviledges (i.e. having a spot saved for you) of a true commit.
OK CB Gabe Lynn. His friend (and former UM target) David Gordon is trying to lure him to Arkansas. Lynn’s junior highlights.

Removed:
PA WR Todd Thomas. He may have trouble qualifying. That may explain why Michigan never really seemed interested, despite his early love for the Wolverines.

Etc.:
MN WR commit Bryce McNeal is a speed prospect, but is currently too skinny to be considered speed and size. Paging Mike Barwis, who will have McNeal built like an All-American in no time flat.
TX QB commit Shavodrick Beaver welcomes competition. I was so much more into this article when there was someone in the class for him to compete with.

Analysis:
Recruiting changes from the developing Newsome situation outlined here. On the defensive end front, Michigan still really needs people. Though Tank Carradine is now reporting an offer, his recruitment remains under the radar, likely because of qualifying issues of his own.

Posted under Recruiting

So, Kevin Newsome appears to be out. Aside from losing a highly-rated player from the class of 2009, how will this affect the Michigan Wolverines?
At quarterback, Michigan is now in search of a replacement for one of its best players in the class. Thankfully, the coaches seemed to have some idea that this decommitment was possible, and even likely, as they continued pursuing a pair of highly-touted passers as contingency plans. While neither Tate Forcier nor Eugene Smith has the high upside that Newsome does, Forcier might actually be ready to play sooner, having had a private quarterback coach for a number of years. Despite Michigan’s class being seemingly full, Forcier consistently named the Wolverines among his top choices. Now that there is an opening, will Forcier jump at the opportunity, or be insulted that he was a backup plan? We might see shortly after Forcier’s recently-confirmed August 30th official visit to Michigan (for the Utah game).

Speaking of Forcier being a backup plan, this may be a slight misrepresentation of the facts. Of course, Kevin Newsome was Michigan’s #1 quarterback target. However, after Newsome’s commitment, Forcier and Shavodrick Beaver seemed to each know that the first to commit to Michigan would be the second signal-caller in the class. When Beaver was ready first, two players who were tied for #2 suddenly changed from an even race to a bird-in-hand/bird-in-bush comparison, where Beaver was given the benefit of the doubt over Forcier. So, while neither was the number one quarterback, both were in Michigan’s top 3 (of course, after Russel Shepard became unavailable) from the get-go.

What else does this mean for Michigan? While Newsome had good relationships with some of Michigan’s other commits, namely Bryce McNeal, these relationships clearly weren’t strong enough to convince Newsome to stick with Michigan, so I would be surprised if they were strong enough to convince anyone else to jump ship. McNeal also has a strong relationship with seemingly rock-solid Shavodrick Beaver, . If anything, his relationship with Newsome might help pull Kevin back into the fold (though I think this is unlikely either way).

Overall, the Michigan recruiting class will depend heavily on whether the team has success on the field in 2008. If it is an ugly year on the field, a few guys may look elsewhere, and the class could go downhill. however, losing one recruit in August (while there is still time to recover) does not a disaster make.

Editor’s note: I’m not sure if the childhood picture is of Tate or Chris, but the point remains that the Forciers love Michigan.

Posted under Recruiting

Texas kicker Anthony Fera has given his word to become a Michigan Wolverine. The 6-2, 215-lber from Houston (St. Pius X) becomes the 15th commit in the class of 2009.

Player Notes
Fera took a Michigan visit over the summer, though he missed Michigan’s kicking camp, hosted by former UM kicker Brandon Kornblue. During his performance at the regular Michigan camp, however, Michigan fans were unnerved by reports that his leg was strong but not accurate. However, that is something that Michigan’s coaches were not overly concerned about, or that their special teams coaches will have to concentrate on fixing. He is rated by Chris Sailer Kicking as the #2 overall kicker in the class of 2009, and the #1 kicker left uncommitted. He has a strong, (maybe) accurate leg, and could see time kicking or punting in the future.

Recruiting Notes
Though Fera was unable to attend Michigan’s kicking camp, the individual focus on him may have paid off in the long run. While the rumored inaccuracies in his kicking likely delayed the tendering of a scholarship offer, they did not prevent him from receiving one. Ohio State and Penn State were the primary competition for Fera, though each was unwilling to offer him a scholarship for the class of 2009. Each was giving a greyshirt offer. However, once Penn State offered a full scholarship, Rich Rodriguez liked what he saw and made a full scholarship offer of his own to Fera, which he accepted almost immediately.

Video
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he5R6-pKagc&hl=en&fs=1]

Posted under Recruiting

The Board is here. The updates are here:

New Information:
MD OL Brennan Williams. Down to 4 (BC, Mich, Duke, Wake).
FL TE Orson Charles. Knee surgery, will narrow to a top 5 soon.
OH DE Davon Custis. His leader is Boston College.
FL LB Brandin Hawthorne. His final two has changed. Michigan is still in it. Things still look rosy here.
FL S Vlad Emilien. Top 5 of UNC, Wake, tOSU, Mich, UF. He will probably decide in November.
AR CB Darius Winston. He has accelerated his timetable drastically. This is a bad thing for Michigan, but if he picks the Wolverines, then hooray.
FL CB Josh Robinson. Decision on November 30 (USF and UCF seem to lead).
VA CB Javanti Sparrow. Top 6 doesn’t include Michigan, and Kevin Newsome is no longer his teammate. Should he be dropped soon?

Etc.:
A really crappy article that seems to think Winston is a Mich commit. A good sign? Probably not.

Posted under Recruiting

Action since last rankings:
8-5-08 Northwestern gains commitment from Brian Smith.
8-8-08 Northwestern gains commitment from Taylor Paxton. Wisconsin gains commitment from Josh Peprah.
8-9-08 Notre Dame gains commitment from EJ Banks
8-11-08 Illinois gains commitment from Kraig Appleton.

New Rankings:

Up: DeQuinta Jones (from 3).

Posted under Recruiting

The Board misses you. You should really visit every once in a while.

New Information:
FL RB Vincent Smith. His decision will be between Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Tennessee. Things still lookin’ good.
OH OL Marcus Hall. Preseason O-line MVP of his league.
SC OL Quinton Washington. A top 10 player in the lowcountry. Whatever the lowcountry is.
PA LB Dan Mason. Fluff.
AL CB Dre Kirkpatrick. It will be a surprise for him to end up anywhere other than Bama, especially with all the time he spends on their campus.
FL CB Angelo Hadley. He has a top/final 5 (Mich, Aub, Fla, UNC, UGa). And fluff is written about him.

Removed:
UT OL Xavier Sua’filo. After expressing early interest in Michigan, there has been no sign that he is still looking at the Wolverines.
WA DT Deandre Coleman. Washington commit.
AZ DE Corey Adams. It seems like he is down to OSU and a couple west coast schools. There hasn’t been any Michigan mention in a while.
PA DE/DT Tyrone Ezell. Pitt commit.
MI DE Justice Akuezue. CMU commit.
CA LB John Michael Davis. Same situation as Xavier Sua’Filo. No mutual interest == removal.
MI S Brock Reynolds. I hear almost nothing about this guy, much less articles about his Michigan interest.
OH CB Tony Graham. Same situation as Brock Reynolds.

Etc.:
The Free Press explores the situation with Michigan’s scholarship numbers for the 2009 class. The ESPN high school football TV schedule is different every time I look, but here is the most updated master list of games. Note that the Pahokee-Olive Branch game is not there. There is no kickers section on the recruiting board, but TX PK Anthony Fera has been offered (info in header). When I pulled guys off the list for lack of mutual interest, top players got a little more benefit of the doubt in staying on the board. Jamaal Berry is now the guy teetering on the edge, since he continues to list Michigan despite being all but committed to the Buckeyes.

Posted under Recruiting

Listed below are statistics of Quarterbacks in the top 100 rushers in a given year. Immediately below each one, there is a snippet on where each one was drafted, or how they did in the NFL. As you can see, the number of times a quarterback rushes the ball has little bearing on where he will be drafted. Rather, it is a matter of which skills you have.

All of these players are back in college this year, but several of them are NFL-bound. Pat White will be a first day pick as a receiver, and Tim Tebow and Dan LeFevour are locks to be eventual NFL draft picks. Grothe will probably also make it to the NFL, along with Jake Locker, Matt Grothe, and maybe Zac Robinson.

None of these players made it to the NFL (yet, as several are still eligible).

I think we all know how Vince Young made out after leaving Texas (3rd overall in 2006). Reggie McNeal was picked as a receiver in the 6th round. Brad Smith went in the 4th round at receiver, and Michael Robinson was a fellow 4th-rounder as a running back.

Rasheed Marshall (who played for Rich Rodriguez at WVU) was a 5th-round pick as a receiver. Josh Cribbs went undrafted, but is still playing in the NFL as a receiver/returner for the Cleveland Browns. Drew Stanton was the 2nd-round pick of the Detroit Lions in 2006, and is expected to challenge for their starting position this year.

Also, for the record, Michael Vick was a number 1 overall draft pick, despite only actually playing college football for 2 years, and being as far from a prototypical NFL quarterback as you can imagine. Offensive style doesn’t dictate where a “system quarterback” will be drafted. Instead, it is skill that is paramount. NFL GMs can tell if a guy has an NFL arm, regardless of whether he’s running the zone-read (Vince Young), a different type of running spread (Tim Tebow), or a passing-oriented offense (Dan LeFevour, among others).

Posted under Coaching, Recruiting