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

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

2010 Michigan Recruiting Board goes here. There’ll be another substantive recruiting update on Monday, because I couldn’t fit all the information into this one.

The Wolverines are among the favorites for TX QB Jeremy Johnson. The same article is also posted on other schools’ Rivals affiliates with titles such as “West Virginia, Baylor among Johnson’s favorites.” With doing much further research, I would assume that is something of a top 3 for him. Remember, WVU sites were expecting him to commit to the Mountaineers at their spring game not too long ago, but he didn’t

PA QB Anthony Gonzales has been nominated to play in the US Army Bowl. This doesn’t mean he’s in the game (it’s essentially a semi-finalists list), but certainly speaks to his talent.

FL WR Kenny Shaw is blowing up this spring, and also indicating that he is probably all-but-committed to Florida State:

Shaw visited FSU unofficially last month, and wanted to pull the trigger then.

“Honestly the reason was my parents,” Shaw said. “They wanted me to wait it out, take my visits over the summer, and then make a decision after my senior year.”

With Michigan’s current stockpile of WRs in the 2010 class, it’s sad to see a talent like Shaw fall by the wayside for Michigan, but them’s the ropes, I guess.

FL WR Chris Dunkley has transferred from Royal Palm Beach High School to Pahokee. This might slightly increase Michigan’s chances for him (he’s mostly considered a Florida lock, however). Also, it gives Pahokee an awesome set of WRs with Fred Pickett, Dennis Hall, and De’Joshua Johnson already there. Speaking of Johnson, however, he’s narrowed his list of choices to 3, Florida State, Alabama, and Oklahoma State. He won’t be removed quite yet, but considering he’s stated he doesn’t want to play in a spread offense (which, lol at him, is the scheme that best fits his skill set), and is serious enough about it to eliminate Florida, he’s probably gone baby, gone.

He also dumped Michigan, which was a difficult decision since the Wolverines have three former Blue Devils on their roster and were the first team to offer Johnson.

“I’m not going to knock them, but (the spread is) why,” Johnson said. “That was my school for a while. That was my first written offer and all my teammates are up there. It would have been fun.”

Sounds like he really liked the Wolverines, so maybe Rich will be able to convince him that players in the spread can make it to the NFL (Steve Slaton, Pat White, the ever-gusty Percy Harvey).

A spring game visit to…Northwestern?… has “wowed” OH OL Christian Pace, and the Wildcats’ turnout of 3,000 fans was enough to vault them near the top of Pace’s list of favorites.

Removed PA OL Seth Betancourt. He is selecting a school today from a list of finalists that does not include Michigan. All indications are that he’ll don a Boston College hat.

The Charlotte Observer’s hideous Blogspot-hosted (lol) blog has some very nice things to say about NC DT Gabe King‘s ability to play the game of foot-ed ball. Caveats about his being a discipline case persist, but Michigan has offered and appear to be strong for him, so keep him in mind, even if you don’t think he’s worth the potential trouble at this point. Edited to reflect the correct name, because I’m apparently not fond enough of proofreading.

Florida is the leader for FL DE Lynden Trail (info in header).

Not a ton of information is available for free in this article about PA LB Jordan Paskorz, but the alt text for the image in the post is “Paskorz is favoring Michigan, Virginia and Pitt.” take that for what it’s worth.

More from the Sporting News on the faux-commitment of FL CB Travis Williams (they think it’s a real commit). Conventional wisdom, direct quotes, and logic say: He wants to commit, RR told him not to for now.

Michigan has offered FL CB Rashad Knight (info in header). He is a more highly-rated prospect than Williams, at the very least, and indications (article title: “Michigan Jumps in Front for Knight“) are that he also holds Michigan in high regard.

Has GA CB Jonathan Mincy been offered? I haven’t even heard of the kid, much less as somebody who was likely to have received a Michigan offer, but he’s now added to the board, tentatively listed without said offer.

CA CB Troy Hill says Washington is his #1 school right now (info in header). Remember, he said a while back that his interest in MIchigan was waning, so he’s teetering on the edge of removal.

Posted under Football, Recruiting