Josh Helmholdt fluff in the Free Press about MI QB Commit Devin Gardner‘s recent performance at the Midwest Elite Camp. The article masterfully spews a couple hundred words without actually talking about performance at the camp. The biggest conclusion you can draw is “Devin Gardner is a dual-threat quarterback, and was present,” which, like, duh. There’s also a rather brief mention that his mechanics need work before he’s able to contribute at the next level, which anyone who follows Michigan recruiting in any capacity already knew. MI QB Robert Bolden was also there, but the boilerplate discussion doesn’t give much of a scouting report or recruiting vibe on him, either.

IS QB AJ Derby is back from an Elite 11 camp and campus tour on the west coast, and is talking a little recruiting. He’ll narrow down to a top 8 or top 5 sometime over the summer, and make all of his official visits. Michigan offered him as a QB a couple weeks ago, and is likely to make at least his first cut.

CA RB Malcolm Jones has a top three of Stanford, UCLA, and Oklahoma (info in header). Michigan doesn’t seem to be particularly interested in him, so his presence on the board may be starting to head towards an end.

SC RB/CB Jerrell Priester says he’ll camp at Michigan this summer. He doesn’t have an offer yet, but that might be a good opportunity for him to earn one. Of course, Michigan’s chances for a guy who comes out with a quote like this:

“Notre Dame is at the top of the list, but it’s open,” he said. “I’ve got to go where I’m wanted and do the best for me.”

are probably not superb.

Though it was reported last week that FL WR Fred Pickett had committed to West Virginia, both he and his coach say that is not in fact the case. Though Pickett’s likelihood of landing in Ann Arbor is approximately zero, this is still somewhat relevant to Michigan fans. Pahokee head coach Blaze Thompson says he’s now instructing his players (several of whom Michigan has offered, including WRs De’Joshua Johnson and Chris Dunkley, CB Merrill Noel, and others) to take their time in the recruiting process, and not rush into a decision that they’ll change later. This follows last year’s saga of Nu’Keese Richardson, who committed to Florida, then was snake-oiled away by Lane Kiffin. Speaking of the Pahokee boys, DT Antonio Ford plans to visit Michigan next month. And let the Pahokee fluff keep on coming, as Sam Webb discusses Michigan’s connection to the tiny Florida town in the Detroit News. Included is a scouting report of LB Zachery Allen:

“The thing with Allen is upside,” Vogt said. “More and more schools are intrigued by him. Right now, he’s maybe a little bit undersized for the positions that colleges are recruiting him for, but he has an outstanding frame, he can run, and he’s very physical at the point of attack. He’s one of those players who projects well at the next level because when he gets into a college weight training program they are going to sculpt him. He’s going to be an outside linebacker at 6-2, 230 that can really get after it.”

…and the information that Michigan probably has a good chance with Noel, DT Richard Ash, Allen, and even Dunkley.

General defensive recruiting fluff by Josh Helmholdt in the Free Press. Of note: the Wolverines lead for PA CB Cullen Christian and FL CB Rashad Knight still.

Michigan has offered NC S Keenan Allen. He hails from the same high school as DT prospect Gabe King (though King will not be eligible to participate this fall). They have also offered another teammate, 6-6 LB Chris McCain, according to the article.

Michigan zipped an offer to OH S/Ath Bobby Swigert (info in header). It’s one of his first high-BCS-level offers, along with Pitt and Colorado, and the Wolverines are looking to figure prominently in his recruitment.

Michigan has offered TX S Marquis Flowers (info in header).

MD S Lorenzo Waters plans to make a visit to Ann Arbor this summer (info in header).

FL CB Lorenza Wood has a list of four favorites: Notre Dame, Michigan, Stanford, and Ole Miss. Michigan was his heavy favorite early in the recruiting process, but a visit to South Bend has changed the wind. After chatting with Notre Dame DC (and former Wolverine DB) Corwin Brown, the Irish are now considered to be on top. Wood plans to decide in July.

Re-removed MD CB Louis Young, who reaffirmed his commitment to Stanford. Young had stated that he was interested in other schools earlier this spring, but now says he’ll stick with the Cardinal.

And in class of 2009 news, The Big House Blog brings the scoop on a new walk-on punter who plans to enroll in Ann Arbor this fall. Kristopher Pauloski, from Indianapolis Pike High School was first-team all-area last year.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

Recruiting boards are in the top box on the left sidebar.

Added to the Board:
2010 OH CB/Ath Braylon Heard. He says Penn State and USC are his favorites, and though he doesn’t mention Michigan in the article, I’m sure the Wolverines are interested. He has a good first name for Michigan, and a fairly rad highlight video, as well as an equally good one from his sophomore year.
2010 NJ OL Bill Bilo. Interested in Michigan (info in header/obvious from posting on GBW front page).
2010 HI LB VJ Fehoko. Michigan is corresponding with him, and he seems like a good one – other schools of interest are Alabama, Oklahoma, and Notre Dame. Texas Tech is his current favorite.

Michigan so impressed OH OL Marcus Hall on his visit that he has a new leader (info in header). I wonder who that could be? OSU insiders think Michigan’s lead is ephemeral, but a Glenville product even naming the Wolverines his favorite this late in the process is a huge leap forward for recruiting from that Buckeye pipeline.

FL CB Adrian Witty was similarly impressed on his Michigan visit, but GBW doesn’t even try to play it coy this time, and the info is blatantly in the header. Michigan is by far his biggest offer (only others, to my knowledge, are FIU and KSU), and if HS teammate QB Denard Robinson wants to play with his friend in college, Michigan is their only option.

Tennessee is the favorite for 2009 OH CB Mike Edwards from Cleveland Glenville. The Vols are giving him the full-court press, solidifying their #1 status. He apparently has his Michigan visit this weekend, however, giving the Wolverines a chance to catch up.

Miami of Florida has entered the fray for 2009 SC OL Quinton Washington. Likely the top OL prospect left on Michigan’s board, Q looks to take all of his visits before reaching a decision.

Tennessee coaches (including Kiffin the elder and DaCoachO) were in Louisiana last week to visit 2009 DT Commit DeQuinta Jones and his teammate, WR Rueben Randle. I would assume (and, obviously, hope) that their visit was more targeted towards Randle than Jones.

You can all-but cross 2009 FL CB Jayron Hosley off the board. Following a USF visit, the USF Scout affiliate publishes an article entitled “Jayron Knows Where He’s Going.” Hmm, I wonder where that could be. He still takes his Michigan visit this weekend, though he’s bound to hate the weather.

2009 PA LB Dan Mason say’s he’s “pretty much narrowed things down to Pitt and West Virginia.” Michigan isnt even mentioned as one of the schools that just didn’t make the cut. He’ll stay on the board for now, as I assume a Michigan offer would put the Wolverines right into the conversation.

SC DE Sam Montgomery enjoyed his Michigan visit:

“I’m high on Michigan right now. They are two steps ahead of everybody. But I’ll wait and make my decision after all the visits.”

Don’t get your hopes too high though, as he has something of a reputation for aying great things about whichever school he’s heard from or visited most recently. If he’s still making such positive comments after his LSU visit, that will be notable. And here’s a little more on his upcoming timetable:

In the next month, Montgomery will take official visits to LSU, Tennessee, Oregon and North Carolina. While Montgomery won’t take official visits to South Carolina and Clemson, he said the in-state schools are still in the mix.

Montgomery said he plans not to announce a commitment. Rather, he said he will announce where he’ll attend college when he signs his national letter of intent.

2009 FL WR Nu’Keese Richardson said Michigan was among his favorites before he committed to Florida in the summer. Is he opening up his recruitment? If so, he has a chance to be re-added to the board later. Keep an eye on ‘Keese for now.

Mgoblog is obviously very awesome, and if you visit this site, you’re undoubtedly a regular reader over there as well. For that reason, I typically won’t link directly to Brian’s info, as it stands on its own. However, in TomVH’s Tate Forcier interview earlier this week, there was some pertinent info on 2010 CA RB Brennan Clay, a high school teammate of Forcier.

TOM: Your teammate, Brennan Clay, is a Michigan target for next year. Is there anything you’ve said to him about joining you, or is there anything you’ll do in the future?

TATE: I’ve been working on him since day one. He’s getting a lot of attention, he just got offered by USC last week. I want what’s best for him, but I have a good feeling if he was going to come back east, this would be a school he could choose. He’s going to come out for spring ball, so hopefully I can convince him. I know he loves Coach Smith and Rodriguez, and he likes Michigan. Talking with those guys is like extended family, they’re just really cool guys, which helps.

Brennan is far from a lock to Michigan, especially with early offers from schools like USC. Michigan certainly has help in the recruitment, though, and it seems (as evidenced by said USC offer) that Clay will be a top prospect in next year’s class. For the rest of the Forcier interview, head to Mgoblog.

2010 MI RB Austin White has been the subject of some transfer rumors lately. However, his dad says he is staying at Livonia Stevenson instead of transferring to Inkster High School.

“As far as we’re concerned, Austin, honestly, is at Livonia Stevenson,” he said. “If we felt there was an academic program strong enough for Austin and he may benefit from being in a quality program, then we will do what’s best for him. But there’s no issue as to why we would be looking or searching outside.”

“They have a good education program. Obviously, the only other place I would like to see Austin is where I’m at, and that would be Pioneer, and I know they have outstanding academics and a strong football program.

“But I can almost guarantee you that Austin would go in the total opposite direction of his dad.”

Mr. White is the principal at Pioneer. The Inskter transfer rumors started because Stevenson’s coach has resigned, and Austin would likely seek a good football program with a good, strict coach (the as-yet-unconfirmed rumor has it that he participated in the MSU Football/Hockey fight that got one of his older twin brothers kicked of MSU’s football team). Inkster’s head coach has a reputation for being a so-called “molder of men.” Obviously, either transfer situation (Inkster or AA Pioneer) would be positive for Michigan.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

The Board.

Moved to Committed:

Moved from Committed:
MN WR Bryce McNeal. Decommitted Monday night.

Added:
SC S Devonte Holloman. The former Michigan target has decommitted from Clemson. Potential visits include Michigan.
TX S Craig Loston. Also a Clemson decommit. Michigan was in on him early, but they may not be a player anymore. He’ll get a little time on the board until we can figure out if he’s a viable target.

New Information:
MI DT William Campbell. He’s set his visits. Sam Webb reveals what they shall be.
LA DT Commit DeQuinta Jones. He’s looking around a little bit. Might it result in a decommitment?
AZ DE Craig Roh. His game this Friday will be broadcast over the internet. You can find it at aia365.com. Just as a disclaimer, I couldn’t gt this site to work properly during the week, so don’t get your hopes too high.
MD DE Jason Ankrah. Visiting PSU for the Michigan game this weekend.
MD LB Jelani Jenkins. He has trimmed to 15; Michigan is in.

Removed:

Etc.:
A sort of state-of-the-recruiting class statement from Josh Helmholdt in the Free Press.
Not on the board because he’s technically still committed to Florida, but Nu’Keese Richardson still intends to visit for the Michigan State game next week.

Analysis:

Posted under Football

Since a flurry of updates over the past couple weeks, it’s been 5 days since the last recruiting update. Once everything settles down a bit more (i.e. no commitments), I plan to probably do 2 updates a week. The collaborative board with MGoBlog is still in the works; I’ll give an update to you when I know more about it. For all the info, make sure you visit the recruiting board. I may be adding an all-star game field to the board soon, so readers will know which Michigan prospects are headed to the Army game or the ESPNU game.

Added:
MD RB Tavon Austin. He now sports a Michigan offer.
SC QB Stephon Gilmore. He has been offered by Michigan.
FL S Jonathan Scott. He has reportedly been offered by Michigan.
MD CB Travis Hawkins. Reporting a Michigan offer.
(The last two pieces of information come from Scout articles, but the information itself is apparent from the headlines).

New Information:
SC DE Chris Bonds will officially visit Michigan.
FL WR Nu’Keese Richardson video.
AZ DE Devon Kennard fluff.
OK RB David Oku. Has a Brightcove video diary. Entry 1. Entry 2.
IL OL Chris Watt’s older brother Kevin plays for Northwestern.
IN QB Jordan Luallen has GT as his favorite (premium article, but the info is in the headline).

Removed:
PA WR Je’Ron Stokes. He has committed to Tennessee.
TX S Craig Loston has officially narrowed his choices down to Clemson and LSU.

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