As always, the recruiting boards can be found directly to the left or right here:
2009 & 2010.

The first-draft Scout 100 for 2010 has been released. Obviously it will change a ton even before signing day, but certainly by the time any of these guys sign anywhere. For now, it’s just a helpful way to see who some prospects might be (of course, remember some of these guys will completely disappear, and some will merely be replaced by other guys).

Recent indications have been that 2009 OL Quinton Washington might be leaning to Michigan. Might he now be looking towards South Carolina as his favorite? I’m not familiar with the source, so take that FWIW. At least he’s not claiming a favorite.

From the same article:
MN WR Bryce McNeal‘s decision will be announced at the Army game. Obviously, I wouldn’t expect said decision to be for Michigan. SC DE Sam Montgomery‘s official visit will be some time in January, and FL CB Jayron Hosley‘s will be January 17th.

Not that I ever though Michigan had a chance with him, but maybe things are less dire than it seems with 2009 AL CB Dre Kirkpatrick? Michigan has been out to visit him, and it sounds like there might be a chance he’ll return the favor to Ann Arbor.

2009 FL K Commit Brendan Gibbons‘s high school coach is retiring, and there is one item of note:

He coached 29 All-State players and three All-Americans (Davey Ford, 1996; Abram Elam, 1999; and Brendan Gibbons, 2008), and 11 of his former players are playing college football.

Cardinal Newman is not much of a huge pipeline, for what it’s worth. Hooray Brendan, though.

Scouting report on 2010 TX QB Aaron Johnson, including season stats:

Quarterback Aaron Johnson is only 82 yards away from topping the 1,000-yard mark [rushing] for the season… The Lobos can throw; Johnson has passed for 1,505 yards and 15 TDs, but has been intercepted seven times.

So, he’s productive, but perhaps not as accurate as one might hope? Take from it what you will. Also, in today’s “non-relevant information” department, take a look at the weightlifting facility of Lake Travis, the team Longview will be playing this weekend. Yes, that is a high school. Also, here are some highlights of last week’s Longview game.

Want some fluff on 2010 FL WR/S Eric Dungy? It’s your lucky day! Standard “he doesn’t have an ego despite having an NFL coach for a dad” stuff.

Removed 2010 OH LB/DE Jamel Turner. He has committed to Ohio State, giving them a good start for a second consecutive year.

Another recruiting post will be coming within a couple days, because there’s a lot more information to share.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

MI WR Jeremy Jackson
Huron went 4-5 and missed the playoffs.
Chelsea (L, 27-35) Jackson had touchdown catches of 7 and 29 yards.
Tecumseh (L, 34-42) No mention of Jeremy in the game article.
Dexter (W, 44-21)

“Our coaches said we must win this game,” said Huron wide receiver Jeremy Jackson, who tallied 151 yards [and 1 touchdown] on seven catches. “This was our game of the year and we played like it.”

Temperance Bedford (L 7-33) No mention of Jeremy in the game article.
Yspilanti Lincoln (W, 40-12) No mention of Jeremy in the game article.
Pinckney (W, 30-0) Jackson had 4 catches for 59 yards.
Adrian (W, 42-41) Jackson had three touchdown grabs. One was for 20 yards and one was for 10. No mention of how long the other was.

“The whole defense was talking to me, telling me that I was overrated and all that,” Jackson said. “I just had to come out and play.”

Pioneer (L, 10-34) No mention of stats, but:

Twice during the game, Ryan Griffin broke up slant pattern passes to star Huron wideout Jeremy Jackson that possibly could have gone for touchdowns.

Saline (L, 28-40) Jackson had a 6-yard touchdown reception.

FL WR Ricardo Miller
Dr. Phillips went 9-1 and lost in the second round of the playoffs.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

Everyone knew Michigan was going to struggle this year. Maybe nobody thought the Wolverines would fall to Toledo, but everyone except the most fanatically-blind Michigan supporters knew that a Big Ten title was likely out of the question, and a bowl game might be a reasonable goal. There was always the future to look forward to. A year of learning under the spread system. A year of Barwis. A good 2009 recruiting class. The future was looking bright, because Michigan fans certainly weren’t planning to bail after one trying year under Rich Rodriguez. The members of that 2009 recruiting class, on the other hand? Some may not stick around to help clean up the carnage.

There are competing schools of thought on the link between winning and success on the recruiting trail. On one hand, you have the fans who hope prospects see the opportunity to come in and compete right away (and, realistically, some recruits do follow this train of thought). On the other side, one can find those who think a recruit will want to stay as far away as possible from anything that could be perceived as a “sinking ship” (again, some recruits think this, as well).

I personally think, from my trials and tribulations in following recruiting, that there is something of a hybrid between these two schools of thought. We’ll start when a recruit is young. If a child grows up watching a program succeed regularly, he might become something of a fan of that program. More likely, however, it may become “familiar” to him, if only on the most shallow name-recognition basis. Actual wins and losses (of course, except in the case where a recruit grows up a diehard fan of a certain program) probably don’t really become a factor until a high schooler becomes something of a potential recruit. Once a young man realizes that he might have an opportunity to play division 1 football (brother), the attention becomes a little more focused on the programs who might be potential destinations. This typically happens around a prospect’s junior year.

Senior year, however, is not likely a time for recruits to radically alter their perceptions of a program. If a team struggles during the 2008 season (this is completely hypothetical, of course), a young quarterback from San Diego or Wichita Falls (again, completely hypothetical, and I randomly selected those cities) will see that as an opportunity to come in and compete for a starting position right away. This is especially true of those hypothetical recruits who intend to hypothetically enroll early hypothetically. Hypothetically. Only the more loosely-committed players, or those who look at depth charts and realize that, although there is playing time up for grabs, it is not at their position, are the ones who might be swayed from the 2009 class.

So, who might fall into the category for this class? Bryce McNeal, Brandin Hawthorne, Anthony Fera, and DeWayne Peace have taken or plan to take visits elsewhere, along with former commitment William Campbell. DeQuinta Jones has been heard from very little since he committed, and his status is a virtual mystery to Michigan fans. As long as Michigan’s coaches continue to do a good job recruiting these players, they should retain those that they want. McNeal seems to be the most likely to decommit at this time.

So, let’s bring this back to the 2010 recruiting class. If high school juniors see a program lose, and form their perception from that, it means Michigan’s 2010 class could be pretty bad, right? Well, yes and no. Michigan already has 2 commits, both of whom are likely to be 4-star or 5-star prospects. A third is presumably on the way, another 4-star or better player. All three of these players have Michigan ties from long before their junior years of high school, and their perception of the Wolverines isn’t bound to change radically. Joining a class of highly-ranked prospects is one of the antidotes to a less-than-stellar year. Jeremy Jackson, Ricardo Miller, and hopefully Marvin Robinson all will be an incentive for other good recruits to join the class.

This may be one of the factors in some of the more inexplicably-good recruiting classes in recent memory. Notre Dame can sell its tradition, but one would think a 3-9 year would deter top prospects from joining the class of 2008 in South Bend. At the end of the day, however, the Irish finished with the #2 class in the nation. The only team that finished ahead of the Irish? Alabama, a team that had a recent history of mediocrity, despite its history. Nick Saban, in his second year in Tuscaloosa, and coming off a 7-6 record that didn’t exactly scream “WOO PROGRAM ON THE RISE” pulled in a stellar group of players to help turn the Tide’s fortunes around.

So, can Michigan, with its young, exciting coach pull in top classes in 2009 and 2010, despite a 2008 season that will likely end well below .500? The recruits aren’t stuck with Michigan, but we fans are hoping that Rich Rod can keep the snake oil flowing.

Posted under Coaching, Recruiting

The 2010 Board lives here.

New Information:
FL RB Jakhari Gore. He was on academic suspension from playing football last week. Might Michigan try to avoid an academic liability? He;s probably a lock to Tha U anyway.
MI TE Colin Voss. At this time, it appears he is more of a basketball prospect than football.
FL OL Jose Jose. Fluff about his being slightly less massive.
VA DT Derrick Hopkins. VT is likely his early leader. His older brother is committed to their class of 2009.
PA DE Darius Frantz. Has been playing with a broken hand his junior year.
PA LB Mike Hull. Something I had not previously realized: his dad went to PSU, and is something of a big deal. He would get a frowny face if I were into the MGoBlog smiley face thing.
FL S Marvin Robinson. Michigan is still considered the favorite. “Scout.com: Will Robinson be #3 in 2010?” This is the sort of headline that is almost always answered “yes” (with as much certainty as possible) within the article.
TX CB Adrian White. He has a Texas offer. Usually the Longhorns snatch up whomever they want in-state, so take this as a sign that he’ll probably end up in burnt orange.

Removed:
MI LB Max Bullough. In the shocker of the century, he commits to MSU.
FL S/Ath Matt Elam. The state’s #1 junior has committed to Florida. This article on the matter implies that Chris Dunkley and De’Joshua Johnson are likely to end up gators as well.

Etc.:
Frequent commenter “i know nothing” helped me find a set of 2010 in-state rankings for Florida. I’ve taken it into account, (along with SoFlaFootball’s 2010 rankings for the tri-county area), and when I re-configure somewhat, several of the prospects’ star ratings will be adjusted, and I’ll also add a bit of player information about them. Biggest surprise: Ricardo Miller is now looking like a lock to get 5 stars, save for the requisite hatred from being an early commit to an out-of-state school.

A bunch of 2010 guys visit Alabama.

Alex Shelton also wrote in to correct me on the name of Michael Dyer’s school. It is “Little Rock Christian,” not “Walnut Valley Christian” as it had previously been on the board. It shall be fixed soon.

Analysis:
Bullough and Elam aren’t surprises to their respective schools. A lot of guys are on the board for the sake of being all-encompassing, rather than who is actually highly likely to end up committing to Michigan. They will be weeded out by their commitments to other schools.

Posted under Recruiting

Posted under Recruiting

Moved to Committed:

Posted under Recruiting

No podcast this week, because the Sports Editor of [STUDENT MEDIA OUTLET REDACTED] is too important to answer his e-mail. This is unfortunate, because I’ve really been enjoying the podcasts, as well as the process of making them. Such is life, however, and we will move on.

Posted under Blog News, Recruiting

After Ricardo Miller gave his pledge to Michigan a couple days ago, fans were understandably surprised that a 2010 prospect would be giving a commitment so soon. However, Ricardo is on pace to be one of the top 2010 prospects, and the great start to a recruiting class.

Posted under Recruiting

The board lives here.

Posted under Recruiting

GoBluewolverine is reporting that Ricardo Miller, a Wide Receiver/Tight End from Orlando’s Dr. Phillips High School has given his word to become Michigan’s first commitment in the class of 2010. Miller is a big receiver at 6-2 and over 200 pounds.

Recruiting Notes
Miller has always been aware of Michigan, as his mom is an alumna (who favored Michigan as a destination for Ricardo). However, Michigan fans first became aware of him when he attended the summer 2008 Rich Rodriguez Football Camp for the entire week. He also attended the Friday Night Lights camp at the University of Florida, but still seemed to be favoring Michigan. Through these events, Miller formed friendships with Michigan 2010 targets Marvin Robinson (who also appears to favor Michigan early in the process) and Jeremy Jackson (the son of RB coach Fred Jackson). In August, Miller went on the record saying that Michigan was his leader (info in header), and made plans for a fall visit to Ann Arbor for the Michigan State game. However, it didn’t take Miller that long to pull the trigger, and he became Michigan’s first 2010 commit tonight.

Player Notes
As previously noted, Miller is a big wideout, who may find his home at Michigan as an athletic pass-catching TE. In fact, tight end is where he spends most of his time on offense for Dr. Phillips, and he even has enough size to play defensive end on the other side of the ball. However, without a growth spurt, I would expect him to stay at WR on offense, being a big red zone threat. He has very good speed for a TE (decent for a WR), and is even known to take a tight end-around or two for his high schol team. He also has a big body, allowing him to overpower defenders, and he has decent hands. As a blocker, he is good on the high school level, but would need to improve his strength to block D-I defensive linemen.

Video

Sophomore highlights at TE and WR.

Posted under Recruiting