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

The full board. A bit of information was rearranged, but not enough to note it here.

New InformationVA QB Kevin Newsome – linked to State Track meet article.
CA QB Tate Forcier – linked to his Michigan offer. Also, current internet rumor du jour is that he is visiting Michigan this weekend.
PA RB Jordan Hall – Plans an early decision.
MN WR Fritz Rock – Life story article from the Gopher Hole. Football Story
MS DT Josh Boyd – has reportedly been offered.
MD LB Jelani Jenkins – has reportedly been offered.
FL WR Andre Debose – Track results.

Added
IL QB Darwin Rogers – run-pass QB from Chicago.
FL RB Vincent Smith – HS teammate of Martavious Odoms and Nu’Keese Richardson. May be close to a Michigan offer.
GA TE Terrell Mitchell – He claims a Michigan offer.
IL OL Chris Watt. He has a Michigan offer.
OH LB Dan Fox. Michigan Junior Day attendee.

Removed
OH WR Josh Jones. At this time, it doesn’t appear that he will be a top prospect.

Etc.
Sam Webb column in the Detroit News on Junior Day.

Posted under Recruiting

Board.

I rearranged the information for a few prospects to make it a bit easier to digest.

A lot of prospects have reported that they aren’t “feeling the love” from the new staff like they were from Carr’s or are from other schools. However, it is important to note that the staff not only had to fall behind in ’09 to catch up with the ’08 prospects (they caught up with ’08, so one must assume with an entire year they’ll be able to do it in ’09), but they also are moving families to a new city, getting acquainted with the team’s current players, and even getting to know each other and develop new schemes. Once some of these things get worked out, ’09 recruiting should pick up.

If Michigan ends up with any of their top 3 quarterback prospects (Shepard, Murray, and Forcier, IMO), they will have a QB who is enrolling in winter for spring term. Hopefully it works out better this time than it did for Ryan Mallett.

Junior Day is next week (3-14ish), and after that, the recruiting picture could start to clear up quite a bit (including, possibly, a commitment or two).

New Information:
TX QB Russell Shepard. Linked to an article from New Era Scouting. BON thinks Mack Brown may give up on him.
FL QB Aaron Murray. Now reporting a Michigan offer, though I’ve noted conflicting information on the topic.
CA QB Tate Forcier. PSU and Oregon are the favorites? Michigan still seems to be strongly in this one.
FL WR Nu’Keese Richardson. He was the high school teammate of new Wolverine Martavious Odoms.
MI WR Cameron Gordon. 2007 Michigan summer camper. He will be playing at Inkster, not Melvindale this coming season.
PA OT Eric Shrive. Linked to local paper’s blog devoted to Shrive’s recruitment.
OH OT Chris Freeman. Have noticed that some fans are curiously interested in him as a power forward for their basketball squads.
LA DT Chris Davenport. Now has a Michigan offer.
MS DT Josh Boyd. Plans to decide on signing day.
OH DB Justin Turner. Left him at CB, though he may be a college safety. He now has a Michigan offer.

Removed:
MI RB Edwin Baker. To Michigan State. A candidate to be re-added if he wavers.

Added:
OK RB David Oku. Michigan is in his top 9. His junior highlight.

Posted under Recruiting

One last recruiting update before I head off to a land of indeterminate internet access known as “spring break.” Over the next week, I’ll post if I have access, but otherwise I plan on having Paul go back and post the highlights (read: lowlights) from the home basketball games so far.

Anyway, the board. LSU junior day information courtesy of Bayou Bengal Blog.

Added:
TX RB Jazsman Mitchell. A little guy who will probably end up a slot WR if he comes to Michigan.
TX RB Hasan Lipscomb. Included because of the impact he may have on Russell Shepard. The two are high school teammates and friends who are both going to LSU’s junior day this weekend. Lipscomb grew up as a fan of the Bayou Bengals.
LA DT Chris Davenport. Top DT who is attending LSU’s junior day this weekend.
SC DE Chris Bonds. Michigan is in his top 5.

Removed:
TX DE Mike Brockers. Committed to LSU.

New information:
TX QB Russell Shepard. He is attending LSU’s junior day this weekend. His current girlfriend goes to LSU (not sure why he needs to date someone two years older than him, but I digress). They are considered in his top 3 along with Texas and Michigan.
FL QB Eugene Smith. His dad attended Miami of Florida. Various sources have him listed as a pro-style quarterback, despite his 4.65 dash time.
MS QB Clayton Moore. He is a pass-run or pro-style QB rather than run-pass. A second team All-State selection as a junior. He may enroll early at the school of his choice. He is also a baseball propect who may opt to play minor leagues instead.
PA WR Todd Thomas. He now reports a Michigan offer.
MI WR James Jackson. His offer from Lloyd Carr’s staff has been reaffirmed.
MS WR Dennis Thames. First team All-state selection as a junior.
NC OL Xavier Nixon. He is a nimble center for his basketball team. Has relevance to his foot quickness.
MS DT Josh Boyd. 2nd team All-state as a junior.
MS LB David Conner. First team All-state as a junior.
NC S Devonte Holloman. Wants to trim his list to 5 by summer. HS QB.
TX S Craig Loston. Michigan is in his top 5.

Posted under Recruiting

The Board. Also, if you’re worried about Michigan not getting any new commits, while schools like Texas (7), Ohio State (7), and USC (9) are reeling them in, fear not. Michigan should start getting commits around junior day, which will likely happen in mid-to-late March. Due to the transition of the coaching staff, it is happening a little later than usual. Juniors will take in a spring practice rather than a men’s hoops game.

Added:
MS WR Dennis Thames. His uncle is Detroit Tiger Marcus Thames, and Clayton Moore is his HS teammate.
MS DT Josh Boyd. He reports an offer from Michigan.
TX DE Jamarcus McFarland. If Michigan is serious about recruiting Texas, he would be a great prospect to nab.
AL CB Dre Kirkpatrick. Scout’s #1 CB early in the game. Still scrambling to fill more DB target spots.
OH CB DJ Hunter. Claims offers from every Big Ten school except Ohio State.

Removed:
TX WR Greg Timmons. Committed to Texas.

New Information:
CA QB Tate Forcier. Maryland may have him as their #1 QB target. He will start considering Michigan once the Pryor situation is resolved.
PA OT Eric Shrive. He now reports a Michigan offer.
MI RB Hersey Jackson. After a dispute over a 40 time listed on GoSpartans.net, I asked Allen Trieu of MichiganVarsity.com. He said Jackson ran a 4.6 at a camp last summer. Updated accordingly.
TX WR Josh Gordon. Added a 4.5 40-yard dash time.
NJ OL Khalil Wilkes. His dad played for Rutgers.
NY DE Andre Civil. He wants to stay in the northeast for his college ball. Unless he develops into a four or five star prospect, he is on the verge of being dropped.

Posted under Recruiting