The board lives here.

Posted under Recruiting

The board can be found here. I’m still trying to decide which days/how often to post recruiting updates. Until I settle into something of a rhythm during the season, I’ll just post them as the post fills up.

New Information:
MI WR Cameron Gordon. He is in no hurry to make a decision. I wonder ig Michigan will pursue him a little stronger now that they want his 2010 teammate Devin Gardner.
TN WR/DB Marsalis Teague. He may take a Michigan visit.
MI TE Dion Sims. Still hasn’t made up his mind, but his current choice is basketball over football.
GA TE Terrell Mitchell. Michigan is outside his top 3 (SoCar, WVU, Kentucky). With the Wolverines not really planning on taking a pure TE, he may be close to removal from the board.
CA OL Michael Philipp. USC starts showing some interest.
MD LB Jelani Jenkins. Michigan will make his next cut (Sam Webb Audio). Sounds like Michigan made quite an impression on his visit.
NJ DE Anthony LaLota. No longer planning an early decision, Michigan official tentatively scheduled for Wisconsin game (Sam Webb Audio, same as above).
AZ DE Craig Roh. Sam Webb fluff from the Detroit News. Remember, Roh is officially visiting this week.
SC S David Sims. Michigan out of his top 5. It’s unclear from the article whether that is “top” or “final,” so he remains on the board for now.
Also: Vincent Smith and Brandin Hawthorne have moved up their announcement(s) from their game Saturday to tomorrow.

Removed:
KY DE Trevor Foy. He is down to a final 2 of Purdue and Louisville.
MD OL Brennan Williams. Down to a final 3 that doesn’t include Michigan.

Etc.:
MI DT commit William Campbell:Uh… yeah.
IN LB Commit Jordan Barnes. Fluff from the hometown paper.
Plantation, FL guys all plan to graduate early, take the info just in case Michigan nabs one of them.

Etc.:
If anyone manages to catch the Miami (Oh) game against Vanderbilt tonight, e-mail me your thoughts. I’s on ESPNU and I won’t be able to make it somewhere to watch.

Posted under Recruiting

The Board is here.

Moved to Committed:
FL S Mike Jones. Also, he apparently plans to enroll early.

New Information:
MI QB/S Thomas Gordon. Fluff from the News.
MD RB Tavon Austin. He plans to take an official to Michigan.
MD OL Brennan Williams. Selected for the Army Game.
OH OL Marcus Hall. Michigan is in his top 5 (audio).
GA LB Devekaeyan Lattimore. Wants to take a Michigan visit.
MD LB Jelani Jenkins. Fluff with a Michigan mention.
FL CB Angelo Hadley. Michigan in his top 7.

Removed:
FL CB Brandon McGee. He is deciding soon, and Michigan doesn’t appear on his favorites list.

Etc.:
Fluff on TX QB commit Shavodrick Beaver.

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

Added:
NC OL Travis Bond. Plans to visit Mich (info in header). Smart money is on MSU or Toledo weekends.
TN WR Marsalis Teague. There is some Michigan interest.
VA OL Morgan Moses. Virginia’s top OL plans a Michigan visit.
SC DB David Sims. He plans to take an official visit to Michigan, so it stands to reason that they are in his top 5.
AL DE William Ming. Mega-old article, but it mentions that Michigan is recruiting him.
IN LB Tyquan Hammock. Visited Michigan this week.

New Information:
MD DE Jason Ankrah. Extends his PSU visit. Is he feeling the Nittany Lions?
MD LB Jelani Jenkins. His teammate Caleb Porzel picks Maryland. The two had discussed being a package deal.

Removed:
MD RB Caleb Porzel. Committed to Maryland.

Posted under Recruiting

The Board.

Added:
PA OL Adam Gress. Offered (info in header).
FL DE Ryne Giddins. Offered.

New Information:
NJ DE Anthony Lalota. ND is probably his favorite.
MD LB Jelani Jenkins. West coast swing.
FL DT Antwan Lowery. Miami and Florida are near the top of his list.
GA S Darren Myles. Michigan will make his next cut.
AZ DEs Craig Roh and Devon Kennard. Both will have top 10 lists out soon.
MS DT Josh Boyd. He will camp at Michigan.

Removed:
SC WR Alshon Jeffrey. Southern Cal commit.
FL OL Nick Alajajian. Not in his top 6, combined with the fact that a decision date has been set, seem to show that Michigan is not in this race.
MI OL Zac Matthias. Wisconsin commit.

Analysis:
Jeffrey and Alajajian were both considered longshots with only token inclusion on the recruiting board. Matthias is a bogger loss for MSU (the Spartans need all the good linemen they can get – especially instate and especially those who are good enough to end up at a lineman factory like Wisconsin) than it is for Michigan, who didn’t like him enough to offer before camp…. Speaking of camp, those itching for more commitments should be in luck, as summer camp (Sunday-Thursday) is usually a time when a couple guys get offers and commit.

Posted under Recruiting

Homer Ferguson from the site I referenced earlier today about Jelani Jenkins sent me an e-mail explaining what I didn’t get the first time around:

Jelani Jenkins was a UVa lean, but his teammate Caleb Porzel decommitted about a week ago. Porzel’s parents got very nervous about the number of kids who Al Groh has brought in who get busted for weed. Also, Mike London was the lead recruiter for that high school, and London left last January to take the head job at Richmond. His first move was to bring in 3 kids from the Peninsula District, which is the hotbed of HS football in the area. UVA never had much luck there because Al Groh doesn’t get along well with the local coaches.

Homer was also kind enough to give his take on Kevin Newsome:

You also referenced Kevin Newsome. Forget it. He’s going to Vah-tech. Michigan doesn’t have a shot in the world. If he commits to Michigan, that means they bought his mama a new house. To get a player out of the 757, you need to get someone with ties to the area or deep, deep pockets (a la Percy Harvin, Chris Bell, Jerod Mayo). WVU hired Chris Beattie who coached Tahj Boyd one year at Landsdown (alma mater of Percy Harvin) and knew Logan Heastie from trying to recruit him to move into Landsdown district. Coach Cav and Coach Newsome from Vah-tech are going to lock Newsome up ASAFP. They thought they could sleep on Boyd because they have his HS coach in their back pocket, but Boyd and Heastie were a combo deal. Heastie wanted to go out of state, and Boyd got mad because Vah-tech wasn’t pushing that hard. But, Coach Cav won’t let that happen with Newsome.

I’m not necessarily sure he is going to be right in the long haul, though I do see VT as one of Newsome’s favorites. However, it’s a bit too impersonal to say Player is from X area, therefore he will attend X State University. Newsome seems to be genuinely interested in Michigan, and they have a real void at his position. We’ll have to see how this one shakes out. Note – I have also heard (secondhand) that VT people think they are fighting an uphill battle for Newsome.

Anyway, thanks a ton to Homer, and make sure you check out his site.

Posted under Recruiting

Full Board.

Recruits at the Spring Game:
Obviously a lower turnout than usual because of a variety of circumstances, but Kevin Newsome, AJ Fenton, Zach Martin, and Henry Conway were all there, along with several 2008 commits and (I believe both of) the 2009 Cass Tech guys.

Added:
IN OL Zach Martin. He was at the spring game, and I believe he got offered.
OH OL Henry Conway. He was at the spring game, and I’ve heard he was an impressive physical specimen.

New Information:
PA DE Tahir Basil visits PSU and Rutgers.
MN WR Fritz Rock Florida visit.
MD LB Jelani Jenkins probably won’t go to UVa. I do not follow this post’s logic at all, so help me out if you get it.

Etc.: Freep C”>Spring Game Article. Ranking the BCS coaches. Much more Spring Game stuff up later today or tomorrow, including video.

Posted under Recruiting

The Board. Sometime in the coming days MGoBlog’s Brian and I are going to come up with a collaborative effort on the recruiting board. More info when we hash out some definite plans.

Added:
SC OL Quinton Washington. He seems mostly interested in southern schools, but Michigan has offerred.
AZ DE Craig Roh. Jim Stefani has noted that he was someone Michigan should offer – and now they have.

New Information:
TX QB Kolby Gray. Once included on the board as something of an afterthought, he is starting to become kind of a big deal.
NV DE Justin Chaisson. He plans to make a decision after his senior season.
VA CB Damien Thigpen. He recently visited a couple Big East schools.
MD LB Jelani Jenkins fluff.
IL OL Chris Watt <3 ND. :(
PA OL Eric Shrive is going on a midwest visit or two. Michigan not on the itinerary.

Removed:
TX DT Jamarcus McFarland. He is down to a top 3 of LSU, Texas, and Oklahoma.

Posted under Recruiting

The Board.

Thanks to a couple guys who e-mailed me about new prospects, and always to Brian, for unearthing a few I hadn’t heard about yet. I checked out these guys and added the ones I found to meet the arbitrary criteria I established for the board.

Added:
OH DE Devon Curtis. A high school teammate of Patrick Omameh.

New Information:
VA QB Kevin Newsome will not play QB if he goes to WVU. Track article on Newsome and HS teammate Javanti Sparrow.
MD LB Jelani Jenkins may want to stay closer to home, according to his coach.
MN WR Bryce McNeal on the GopherHole.
UT OL Xavier Sua’Filo is committed to the ESPNU Under Armour game.
MI DT William Campbell and PA LB Dorian Bell are committed to the Army game.
NC S Devonte Holloman fluff from Yahoo.
TX S Craig Loston is down to two schools. I don’t think either of them is Michigan.

Etc.: Toledo Blade article on the QB situation. Recruiting fluff from the Freep. Administration Op-Ed responding to the Carticle.

Posted under Recruiting