Board.

Moved from Committed:
TX K Anthony Fera. He’s headed to Penn State now.

Added:
OH CB Mike Edwards. He now has an offer (info in header).
FL K Brendan Gibbons. Probably Michigan’s #1 kicking target now.

New Information:
GA QB/S Donavan Tate. He now say’s he’ll go to college regardless of where he gets drafted by the MLB. Southern Cal, UNC, Bama, Michigan, and Georgia comprise his current top 5.
MI DT William Campbell. Michigan’s top remaining target for 2009.
SC S Devonte Holloman. His teammate (and former UM target) Stephon Gilmore has now committed to South Carolina. Might that help convince Holloman to commit there?
NC OL Travis Bond. He’ll be in this weekend (info in header).
FL CB Angelo Hadley. Michigan is in his top 4 (info in header).

Removed:
OK CB Gabe Lynn. Down to a final 5 that does not include Michigan.
TX K Anthony Fera. Penn State commit.
IL DE Craig Drummond. He’ll pick between Illinois and Wisconsin.

Etc.:
FL WR Willie Haulstead is not on the board because he’s a Florida State commit, but he will be in for the MSU game this weekend.
The Freep weighs in on many of the guys who will be around. Sam Webb does the same in the Detroit News.

Analysis:
Fera’s loss is sad, and I would love to have him, but it appears as though he has moved on, and Brendan Gibbons is now the kicker du jour for Michigan.
Columbus Dispatch article in which MI TE Reid Fragel disses Michigan’s instate recruiting effort. Gee, an OSU commit trying to badmouth Michigan, I’m so surprised. Much ado about nothing.

Posted under Football

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

New Information:
FL TE Orson Charles. He loved his Miami visit, and Georgia appears to be the only other school under serious consideration. He is teetering dangerously close to removal.
PA WR Todd Thomas. Pitt leads. He is also fairly close to removal.
MD DE Jason Ankrah. One local media video piece. Two local media video pieces.
GA LB Devekeyan Lattimore. Knows where he is taking all official visits (Michigan is one).
OK CB Gabe Lynn. Still no favorite.

Etc.:
Want to see Pahokee play in person (and likely Vincent Smith and Brandin Hawthorne commit)? There are tickets available. Bastrop (DE commit DeQuinta Jones, WR target Rueben Randle) will have a game on the ESPN family of networks. Much annoyance to the abundance of articles talking exactly how many games are going to be on ESPN without saying which games. In case you’re curious, Western Branch is figuring what to do without Newsome. According to Sam Webb, Michigan may not be out of it for Oku. I’ll leave him off the board for now.

Posted under Recruiting

New Information:
SC OL Quinton Washington. Not expected to take an official to Michigan.
FL QB Eugene Smith. Re-widens his focus after previously having narrowed to a top 5.
CA QB Tate Forcier. Top 6.
PA LB Dan Mason. Will commit to a school at the Army AA game. His current plan for official visits doesn’t include Michigan.
OK CB Gabe Lynn. Fluff.
FL Slot commit Jeremy Gallon. Most important news EVER: he has dreads.
SC DE Chris Bonds. Official visit schedule shaping up. Notre Dame visit for the Michigan game (and he will be unavailable for the big UM-MSU recruiting weekend, when he will be visiting Tennessee).
FL DE Ryne Giddins. Michigan outside of his top 6.
MD LB Jelani Jenkins. GBW headline says a super linebacker visited on Saturday, and the accompanying picture is of Jenkins, so we can assume he visited this weekend, no? Video fluff:

Removed:
MS S Rod Woodson. Committed to Alabama.

Posted under Recruiting, Video

The Board. With the Newsome thing, it will be interesting to see which other QBs continue to be interested in Michigan. One formatting note: committed players are now tacked to the top of their respective positions on the board.

Moved to Committed:
VA QB Kevin Newsome. WOOOOOOOOOOO! Conquering Heroes dug up some factoids on Newsome.

Added:
OK CB Gabe Lynn. He has an offer and is friends with RB prospect David Oku. He is one of the top cover CBs in the nation.
SC DE Sam Montgomery. He reportedly has been offered by UM. A four-star prospect at a position of major need.
GA S Darren Myles. He has a Michigan offer.

New Information:
TX QBs Shavodrick Beaver and Kolby Gray attend an Elite 11 combine.
NC DB Devonte Holloman. Michigan and Clemson are his current top 2.
OH OL Marcus Hall. Top 6: OSU, USC, Ill, Mich, Fla, FlaSt. Currently plans to decide after taking 5 officials.
SC OL Quinton Washington. He is strong. but he may end up staying in South Carolina. Recruiting fluff.

Removed:
PA RB Jordan Hall. Michigan may have wanted him a bit for the slot position, but it is clear they had higher priorities there. His offer may have just been an attempt to get Terrelle Pryor to think harder about attending Michigan.
MS DB David Conner. His listed height and weight have been falling ever since the initial evaluations came out, and it also appears that he won’t leave the SEC.

Etc:
For those of you who doubted my reasoning for having a big spring game (I’m lookin’ at you, Charles), SI’s Andy Staples agrees with me. 2-part interview with Lloyd in the Free Press.

Posted under Recruiting