Somewhat brief update today after the blitzkrieg of news last week. 2010 Recruiting Board.

Moved to committed:
OH CB Courtney Avery, onetime Stanford commit. Commitment post. Michigan offered him Thursday, and he committed Saturday. He’s seen at left tossing the rock as a highly prolific HS QB.

Michigan doesn’t seem to be high on the list of FL RB Roy Finch anymore. Oklahoma and Stanford appear to be his top two choices at this time, though he maintains that he is still open to everyone. Finch plans to make a commitment before his high school seaso kicks off.

FL WR Kenny Shaw, the former high school teammate of Ricardo Miller at Dr. Phillips High School, is still favoring the Florida State Seminoles. He’s had them on top for quite some time, and is expected to end up in Tallahassee.

Removed NC WR Anthony Creecy, who committed to NC State.

FL OL Torrian Wilson visited Michigan last week for a pretty long stay. I don’t expect him to make a decision any time soon, but it does appear a though the Wolverines are still in a pretty strong position.

SC OL Eric Mack seems to be heading towards a commitment to South Carolina. In nearly every article, he mentions that he’s excited at the prospect of playing with several of his former teammates, should he choose the Gamecocks. Still, Mack intends to wait until Signing Day before making a decision, so schools will have plenty of time to get back into his recruitment.

Removed OH OL Dakota Anderson, who committed to Ball State.

MI DT Jonathan Hankins came to Michigan’s summer camp looking to ern an offer from the Wolverines, and prove that he was getting his body into good shape. However, as Sam Webb reprts on the WTKA recruiting roundup, Hankins’ conditioning was still not what the Wolverine coaches were looking for, and he might have to keep waiting to maybe earn that offer.

SC DE Brandon Willis from Byrnes (the same school as 5* RB Marcus Lattimore) will be releasing a top 5 list sometime this week. Neither Clemson nor South Carolina will be on it, and though I’d be moderately surprised if Michigan makes his final 5, the Wolverines did get a shout out in the article, which means there’s maybe a slightly better chance than I give them credit for.

FL CB Lorenza Wood will announce a decision on Friday between Michigan, Notre Dame, and Georgia Tech. Though he was once a Michigan lead, conventional wisdom now has him committing to the Irish. He also has a ridiculous plan for his commitment:

Apopka cornerback Lo Wood’s father — Lo Wood Sr. — told the Sentinel on Tuesday night (June 16) that his son will make his college football commitment on June 26, and he won’t know who it will be until his son tells him the night before.

At that time, Lo Jr. and Lo Sr. fly to the city of the school of the younger Woods’ choice, and they make the announcement on campus.

Having fun buying plane tickets on, like, an hour’s notice.

Removed FL CB Lamarcus Joyner, who has officially narrowed his list of suitors to Ohio State, Florida State, Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee.

MI P Mike Sadler and FL P Brandon Tarpley each excelled at Michigan’s kicking camp over the weekend. If Michigan looks to extend an offer to a kicking specialist (which they probably will with Zoltan graduating after 2009) it will probably be one of these guys. I won’t add them to the board, because there’s not a listing for punters on it.

In a bit of 2009 news:
Incoming freshman RB Fitzgerald Toussaint participated in the Annual Big 33 Classic, in which he helped lead his Ohio team to a 38-31 victory over Pennsylvania. Toussaint, Michigan’s only commit playing in the game, caught 1 pass for 54 yards and a touchdown, and ran 4 times for 11 yards, including a 6-yard touchdown.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

Pushed back a day because I didn’t have internet available over Memorial Day weekend. I’ve also fallen behind in actually updating the board, so look for that to be rectified in the coming days.

2010 Michigan Recruiting Board.

TN QB Barry Brunetti is focused on Penn State, West Virginia, and Mississippi State. He’s a little further down Michigan’s QB board, as the Wolverines haven’t offered yet. However, if Michigan’s other options start falling through, he could be an option down the road – if he doesn’t make a decision before that point.

FL QB Jeffrey Godfrey is taking an extra courseload so he can enroll early at the school of his choice.

OK QB/WR DeMarco Cobbs has a top 10 list, and Michigan is not on it. He says it’s not firm quite yet, so I won’t remove him from the board, but he’s teetering pretty close to removal. He has stated he wants to play WR in college, so Michigan’s opportunity at QB is probably not a huge draw for him.

Absolutely non-informative recruiting fluff about AR RB Michael Dyer. When the entire article is simply asking questions like “What are the chances this five-star recruit will be lined up behind Tyler Wilson or Ryan Mallet for the Arkansas Razorbacks?,” you just don’t have enough material to write an article, dude. The least you can do is include a scouting report or an interview with the kid.

LA Slot Trovon Reed is starting to plan out his summer visits – and Michigan isn’t on the list at this point (Florida, USC, LSU, and Oregon are). With Drew Dileo and Tony Drake already committed, have the Wolverines missed out on their opportunity to land a top-flight slot like Reed? I’ve discussed this recruiting method recently, and though there’s no indication the Wolverines would have been a major player for Trovon, it certainly doesn’t help that there’s apparently no room for him. Reed is part of the planned mega-package including TX RB Lache Seastrunk, and not having any spots available for superstar prospects may be a troubling sign for this class. Speaking of Seastrunk, he performed well in his high school’s spring game.

Speaking of top-flight running backs, SC RB Marcus Lattimore has definitely backed off his claim that Michigan was definitely in his top 5. His current top five consists of Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, North Carolina, and Penn State (in order). No word on whether he still plans to take an official visit to Michigan for the Ohio State game in November.

Tennessee-tilted fluff on FL OL Torrian Wilson. It’s odd that they mention Michigan as “among his top schools” when he’s said in no uncertain terms to national recruiting reporters that Michigan is certainly his #1 school, but whatever. Wilson plans to visit some of the schools he’s interested in this summer (he already visited Michigan for the spring game), and he might be making an early decision.

Michigan has been in contact with FL OL Perry Meiklejohn, according to Phil Kornblut. Though the Wolverines haven’t offered yet, he may be somebody to watch down the road. Also interesting from that article: read from the top, regarding how coaches can affect the star rankings of certain prospects. I wouldn’t say it’s evidence to completely ignore star ratings, but it’s definitely enough (alon gwith other factors) to prompt me to take them with a grain of salt.

PA DT Sharrif Floyd is now hearing from the SEC. He’s tied for 4th among defensive tackles to Rivals. In a down year for talent at the position, and a year of major need for the Wolverines at said position, Floyd is probably one of their top targets along the defensive line.

Speaking of needs at DT, there’s a decent in-state prospect in Jonathan Hankins. This fluff article is (understandably) State-slanted, and it sounds as though both Michigan and Michigan State are planning to offer if he has good performances at their respective summer camps. one thing to keep in mind: he’s a teammate of 5-star OLB prospect William Gholston, and according to the article, the two are pretty good friends. Gholston will attend the Big House BBQ (info in header).

Fluff with video on FL DE/DT Corey Lemonier. His current top-4-ish substance does not include Michigan, and it seems that they aren’t heavily pursuing Corey at all. He does list early playing time as one of the key factors in his decision.

Quick scouting report on NY DE Dominique Easley, who holds a Michigan offer.

FL LB Christian Jones continues to assert that he is not a Florida State lock (though that may be lip service to some of the other schools recruiting him). What I hadn’t previously realized about him: his team last year was terrible. It’s certainly not a reason to not recruit a talented kid, but there is certainly a school of thought out there that recruiting players from programs that are successful year after year (Muskegon, Massillon Washington, Pahokee, Miami Northwestern) brings in players who are ready to win, and used to winning. It also means it’s more likely that there are players from the school in future classes for establishing pipelines.

OH LB/S Kurtis Drummond, a high school teammate of RB prospect Andre Givens, is planning to make a visit to Michigan for the Big House BBQ (info in header). I’ve added him to the board.

FL S/CB Lamarcus Joyner hasn’t mentioned Michigan at all lately, and it seems as though he’s narrowed down his list of possibilities to Ohio State, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Tennessee, and USC. One more article indicating a narrowed focus should be enough to completely remove him from the board.

Springtime means track updates!

OH WR/DB commit DJ Williamson excels on the track, not that the Youngstown Vindicator finds us worthy of knowing the actual times:

Deaver Williamson topped the field in both the 100 and 200…

The Raiders’ 4×100 and 4×200 (meet record) relays had the top times and featured Logan, Seawood, Threats and Williamson — the same group that competed at the prestigious Penn Relays earlier this season.

“We did what we expected to do today,” said Williamson. “The heat and the wind and having the back-to-back races made it tough, but we just kept our minds straight and had a good attitude for our races.

“We really want to win state in the 4×100 this year. It was really crazy at Penn, running against the Jamaicans and I think we surprised ourselves a little bit [fourth in the big school division]. We’ll have some good competition next week, so we need to keep our No. 1 spot.”

PA Slot Receiver Alex Kenney logs a 10.67 100m time. He also plans to commit before his senior season – and embraces rastafari ideals… uh… maybe he’ll fit in well at Penn State?

CA S/WR Robert Woods runs a 47.31 and 21.43 in the 400 and 200m, respectively.

2009 OH RB Commit Fitzgerald Toussaint wins the 100m and 4×100, and comes in second in the 200m – all on a hurt wheel. The 100m time was a 10.96, despite the injured hamstring.

The Wolverines have added another class of 2009 walkon, Joe Reynolds from Rochester Adams. Reynolds will attend Michigan on track scholarship, but has also been invited to participate as a wide receiver for the football team. He caught passes for 700 yards and 9 touchdowns as a senior at Adams.

Removals…

OH TE Alex Welch commits to Notre Dame.

CA OL Matthew Jakubiec commits to Arizona.

FL CB Derek Owens has reiterated that he will be a package deal with his teammate and friend, WR Marquel Wade. Considering Michigan is in pretty good shape with a number of DBs (including fellow Floridian Rashad Knight), and they are certainly not in the market for more WRs except for maybe top-flight guys who can play multiple positions, I’ve made the executive decision that both Owens and Wade are removed from the board.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

Semi-light update today because I got impatient last week, and gave 2 recruiting updates when I really didn’t need to. The Board.

I have no idea how he wasn’t added already (probably because I forgot to), but LaTwan Anderson, a friend of Jerald Robinson and a speedy, hard-hitting safety, has been offered by Michigan. I’ve belatedly added him to the board.

PA RB Corey Brown (not to be confused with 2009 PA CB Corey Brown, an Ohio State commit) has been selected to the Army All-American game for next year.

GA QB/DB Barry Bostic almost committed to Georgia Tech on his visit, and it seems like he might do just that before long.

TX QB Connor/Conner Wood is going to make his decision within the next week or so. He’s only visited schools in Texas and Oklahoma, so one must assume the Wolverines won’t be considered. Look for him to be removed from the board very soon, when he picks Oklahoma (most likely) or Texas/a dark horse.

With two DTs already in their class of 2010, the Longhorns probably won’t offer TX DT Jay Guy. The ‘Horns were considered to be one of his favorites, despite the lack of offer. Michigan has offered, and he’ll probably be their top DT target in the 2010 class. Per BON:

recruiting at the position is probably finished unless the coaches want to go after an OOS stud or decide to offer Jay Guy, a kid who really likes Texas, but doesn’t seem likely to get an offer right now.

(emphasis mine). Keep it in mind, because I think the Wolverines are near the top of his list.

Snippet from SI on FL CB Lamarcus Joyner:

he recently said five teams have jumped out early on his list — Florida, Florida State, Miami, Notre Dame and Ohio State. He reports offers from all those teams.

Michigan is notably absent, but theres no mention of a timeframe.

FL OL Torrian Wilson likes Michigan (info in header).

FL OL Chaz Green has been offered by Michigan.

Added SC QB Kersean Wilson, who is apparently hearing from Michigan. Also from that article: keep an eye on as-yet-unsigned 2009 RB prospect Larry Raper. The Clemson decommit is giving Michigan a hard look.

Removed:
TX LB Aaron Benson to Texas.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

Following up on the 2009 recruiting update from a day ago, here’s its 2010 counterpart. The recruiting board esta aqui.

Added: MI WR Baquer Sayed. Michigan already has a couple of wideouts in the class of 2010, but Sayed seems like he may be a pretty good one, and he’s right in the Wolverines’ backyard:

“Very rarely do we have a 6-2 receiver that can run, jump and catch the ball the way (Sayed) can. I don’t know if he is going to run a 40-yard dash in front of a college scout and give him a blazing time [4.6 range]. Baquer can improve that, definitely. That is my job and the rest of our coaching staff’s job to get him to do that.” [Sayed’s coach Fouad Walker]

“I think, as a high school receiver, Sayed could be the best in the state,” said [Scout analyst Allen] Trieu. “Prospect wise, Jackson brings a little more size and Banks brings a little more explosiveness. However, I think Sayed has the best ball skills of the three.”

Sayed also mentioned potentially playing both basketball and football in college, though he would choose football if he could play only one. His recruiting has been slow to start so far, but looks to be picking up:

Sayed doesn’t hold any offers at the moment, but Michigan, Michigan State, Cincinnati, Indiana, UCLA and Bowling Green all have sent letters expressing interest.

Also added to the board: PA CB Cullen Christian. He has been offered by Michigan ($).

Michigan will continue to look to Pahokee for talent in the future, and DL Antonio Ford may be one possibility in the class of 2010. SoFlaFootball brings the info:

The 6-foot-4, 255-pound Ford has the impressive frame and long limbs coaches look for in lineman. The talented lineman is still maturing and his size is only a fraction of what he will end up being in the future.

Ford is currently offerless, but is getting communications from Duke, West Virginia, and Maryland.

OH LB Scott McVey recently visited Ohio State, where he enjoyed himself greatly (info in header). All the news on McVey has been rather Buckeye-centric lately, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up committing to the Bucks.

FL DB LaMarcus Joyner has a pretty solid top 3 of Florida, FSU, and Ohio State (in that order). He is not considering MIami of Florida, and it will be interesting to see if any other schools (namely Michigan) will be able to break his top group’s stranglehold on his recruitment.

PA LB Sam Bergen tore his ACL this past season, but that won’t stop him from being a bigtime recruit:

Bergen was, and strives to be again, the top linebacker in the Mountain Valley Conference. Despite the injury, Bergen, like his older brother Max, who is a redshirt freshman at Stanford, remains a top recruit — and he’s got two binders of letters from universities across the country to prove it.

As of now, his favorite schools include but are not limited to Notre Dame, Penn State, Illinois, Rutgers, Stanford and Boston College.

FL RB Eduardo Clements sat down for an interview with SoFlaFootball. He currently favors FSU, Boston College, and Miami of Florida. He’s trying to put on some weight going into next season to have a more successful year.

FL WR/Slot Chris Dunkley talks offers with SoFlaFootball, but he refuses to discuss a favorite. He says all of the schools that he is considering are even, though it seems Florida and Georgia may be just a bit out front. He is considering taking summer visits to USC and West Virginia.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

The board.

New Information:
OH QB Courtney Avery. Conference player of the year.
GA QB Blake Sims. Offer list.
PA RB Corey Brown (not to be confused with 2009 PA CB Corey Brown, an Ohio state commit). Currently favors Ohio State, Rutgers, Florida, Penn State, UCLA, and Bama.
FL WR Javon Bell. Fluff with a bit of recruiting info (Michigan not mentioned).
FL Slot De’Joshua Johnson. Junior video. Michigan is “hot in pursuit.”
IL OL Christian Lombard. 10+ minute interview (audio) with a Notre Dame supporter. Takeaways: Doesn’t care how far from home he has to go, looking for good academic support, being recruited by everyone at both tackle positions, thought there were as many MSU fans as UM fans at the game this year.
FL OL Jose Jose. Grew up a Miami Hurricanes fan. It looks like they are by far the team to beat for him.
TX DT Jay Guy. Horns lead for him (info in header).
OH DT Andrew Norwell. Offered by OSU.
IL DE Chance Carter. Has played some offense this season, but it just helped him realize he belongs on D.
FL LB/DE Zachary/Zachery Allen. Video.
FL CB LaMarcus Joyner. Favors Florida State, followed by the other two instate schools.
FL CB Nickell Robey. Fluff.

Etc.:
The watchlist for the 2010 Rivals250 has come out. Of course, it will change a lot before star ratings are actually issued to anyone, but Jeremy Jackson and Ricardo Miller are both on it, though not as “potential 5-star” guys (of which there are only 10). Marvin Robinson is on it as well. Sometime later, I’ll go through and take note of everyone who Michigan has or may have interest in.

Analysis:
Not a whole ton of Michigan-relevant info this time, though it seems like the Wolverines may not have a chance with two of the top DTs on the board. Christian Lombard will probably be a battle, though I don’t think Michigan has gotten itself behind yet.

Posted under Football