Removed:
As predicted earlier this month, TX DE Reggie Wilson chose the Longhorns.
IL RB/WR Rayvonte Rice says he’ll give up football to focus on basketball. 

Added to the board with offers or interest:
SC S Brashaud Breeland (info obvious from header). 
FL CB Mark Deas (published by GBW).
A two-fer: GA DT Michael Thornton and TX QB Dylan Thompson are both hearing from the Wolverines.

From the same article: recruiting fluff on FL OL Brent Benedict, who holds a Michigan offer. It doesn’t appear he has any plans to make a spring visit to Ann Arbor.

From the Free Press, regarding Ohio prospects with interest in both Michigan and Michigan State (admittedly, a very specific set):

Latwan Anderson (Lakewood St. Edwards) is one of the top safety prospects in the nation for the class of 2010… Anderson is in the process of narrowing down his list and plans on having a final five. Two of the schools he says will definitely be on his final list are the Spartans and Wolverines.

Derrick Bryant (Columbus Brookhaven) lives in the shadow of Ohio State, but he may not end up in Scarlet and Gray… Bryant was offered early by Michigan and the Spartans recently followed suit. The Wolverines are seen as the team to beat at this point.

Defensive lineman Darryl Baldwin (Solon) is another big-time prospect that both the Spartans and Wolverines are after… The big obstacle with Baldwin will be the fact that unlike the above prospects, the Buckeyes have already offered him. The amount of recruits from Ohio that get an Ohio State offer and don’t end up playing for Jim Tressel can usually be counted on one hand.

So: Bad on Baldwin, Good on Bryant, Neutral-to-Good on Anderson.

This is slightly old news, despite my not having heard a word about it from any other source:

Northwestern is returning to the belly of the Big Ten’s beast to try and lure away another Columbus (OH) recruit. Rivals.com reports on how interior lineman, Travis Jackson, has put NU in his top five along with Stanford, Michigan, Vanderbilt and Cincinnati after visiting the Evanston campus for junior day recently.

I’ve honestly not heard of the guy, but if the Wolverines are in his top five without an offer, he may be a prospect down the road.

SC DE Brandon Willis wins state weightlifting championship.

Another day, another article on VA QB Phillip Sims that doesn’t mention the Wolverines. He’s close to being removed form the board.

OH LB Marcus Rush has named Michigan his leader (info in header).

The always-excellent Jim Stefani gives a look into Michigan’s early returns in the 2010 class, where things might go from here, and even a couple prospects to keep an eye on in future classes.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

Don’t forget to check out all the information over time on the 2010 Recruiting Board.

Moved to Committed:
MI QB Devin Gardner. WOOOOO! The somewhat complicated story seems to be that he’s committed to Michigan, but won’t officially tell the media until his basketball season ends. So, he is committed, but the reason Rivals doesn’t list him on the commit list is his reluctance to give them an interview prior to the end of his hoops season.
OH Ath/WR DJ Williamson. More WOOOO!
OH LB Antonio Kinard. WOOOO round 3!

Removed:
FL RB Tiger Powell. Committed to South Florida.
TX CB Adrian White. Committed to Texas.

TX DE Reggie Wilson has set a decision timeline for himself: He’ll commit to a school before the end of the month. His “Final 3” consists of Texas, Oklahoma, and TCU, but I’ll leave him on the board a little longer, until there’s confirmation from another source (not that I’m doubting the credibility of BON, but best to hear it from the horse’s mouth).

FL QB Stephen Morris, one of the stars of Michigan’s 2008 summer camp, is making a name for himself. At least, there’s definitely a PR firm pumping out releases about him. Morris has also started to draw the attention of a familiar face to Michigan fans:

“I just received a couple of letters from Coach Loeffler, who is the new QB coach at Florida, and he really wants me to come up and visit. It’s funny how things turn out, he was the coach who first convinced me to come up to the University of Michigan for their football camp a couple of years ago – and we had a great time there.”

Funny how things turn out, indeed. From the sounds of it, he was more interested in Michigan than in Loeffler after his visit to Ann Arbor, but a coach with whom he’s established a relationship should certainly be considered a threat. There’s also relevant recruiting information in the article:

His list of top schools includes: (in alphabetical order) Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State, South Carolina and Vanderbilt.

The Florida attention is likely to shake that list up a bit.

TX LB Caleb Lavey is the #5 linebacker in the Dallas/Fort Worth area for the class of 2010. His measurables aren’t what’s keeping him that low, however: It’s the fact that he plays in a lower division against lesser competition.

Scouting report on MI RB Austin White. The “unsubstantiated rumor” that he committed to Michigan on Junior Day doesn’t exist, even in unsubstantiated form, anywhere other than this site to my knowledge. Let me know if I’m mistaken.

It might be in the best interest of FL LB Jeff Luc to get out of Miami, according to his brother. For the record, said brother went to Florida State, so this isn’t exactly an advocate for going to a school like Michigan.

FL RB Corvin Lamb has said it in no uncertain terms: he wants to go to Florida. I wouldn’t be surprised if he gave the Gators a commitment before the spring is over.

Ohio State and Michigan State, in that order, lead for OH DE Darryl Baldwin. Michigan was on him early in the process, so expect them to turn up the heat if they really want him.

For those who fear that FL S Marvin Robinson is no longer likely to end up in Ann Arbor, take heart: he recently named the Wolverines his #1 school. An early commitment still doesn’t look likely, but at least the Wolverines aren’t playing catch-up.

Michigan has offered OH OL Skyler Schofner, and also FL DE BJ Butler.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

If LSU goes after Bryce Brown, might it hurt them with TX RB Lache Seastrunk? The Tigers are widely considered to be in Lache’s top 2 with Texas, and less competition might help Michigan’s chances. Also, dude can dunk. That may be a “well, duh” moment, but for somebody who’s generously listed at 5-9, that’s pretty impressive.

GA S Daunte Carr is hearing from several schools, but so far, Michigan isn’t among them. Little Brother and Notre Dame are chasing him, along with various schools across the south.

VA OL Marquis Wallace is hearing from plenty of schools, but Wet Virginia is his only official offer. Michigan is not listed among the schools giving him attention. At this time, it would appear that Clemson and WVU are his top 2.

FL WR Chris Dunkley says he’ll give more attention to the schools that were on him early. He’s also been selected to the ESPNU/UA All-Star game, and has accepted the invitation.

TX DE Reggie Wilson has a fairly interesting backstory, in that he’s from the Ivory Coast. Whichever school he ends up attending is going to have all sorts of puff pieces on SPN broadcasts of their games, a la Penn State’s Tamba Hali a few years ago. Be careful, because this article is already pretty damn puffy. He had 58 tackles, 12 for loss, and 9 sacks last year.

Josh Helmholdt speculates in the Detroit Free Press about who might be the next recruits to drop for Michigan:

Michigan could find themselves the recipient of several more commitments in the coming months. They are being listed as the favorites by several recruits across the country including Columbus (Ohio) Brookhaven defensive end Derrick Bryant, Apopka, Fla., cornerback Lo Wood and Orlando (Fla.) Dr. Phillips wide receiver Kenny Shaw.

This corresponds with the conventional wisdom, though Bryant has recently said he’s changed his mind, and will wait some time before making a decision. Among fluff on Michigan’s existing commits so far, there’s also an interesting tidbit on MI WR Commit Jeremy Jackson:

He could be moved inside as a stand-up tight end because he is physical enough to handle linebackers and would create mismatches for them in the passing game.

That move would make him a speed mismatch as a tight end, rather than a height mismatch from the wideout position. I hadn’t considered it, but it certainly makes sense, and would slightly alter the distribution of commits in the class so far.

OH CB Christian Bryant likes Ohio State and Tennessee. Given his Glenville association, that makes perfect sense (Ohio State gets any Glenville kid they want, and CB Mike Edwards signed with UT last year). Bryant, like most Glenville kids, plans to take his time before making a decision.

I’ve been forgetting to mention this, but OH OL Andrew Norwell committed to Ohio State. He’s been removed from the board.
TX QB Connor/Conner Wood committed to Texas, so hes been removed.

…and now for your dose of epic stupid when it comes to recruiting:

Penn State is either in the drivers seat, or else in great shape, with every single one of those kids except Malik Stokes. It is the consensus that Stokes is incredibly overrated. He has contacts in the media who have inflated him like they inflated his older brother J’ron. Stokes will be a hot commodity because his brother is a year older than him and just committed in a pretty high profile recruitment, since he decommitted from Tennessee and ended up at Michigan.

Somebody doesn’t know the meaning of the word “consensus,” because it’s literally impossible for there to be a consensus that something or someone is overrated. Yes “J’ron” (which one must assume is intended to refer to Je’Ron) was incredibly overrated, which is why his stock went up after the Army All-American bowl, when he was still committed to Tennessee, and before his Comcast special was even proposed, much less filmed. I’m sure your opinion of the Stokes brothers is in no way altered by Je’Ron not giving the Nittany Lions the time of day, even when they tried desparately to get back in on him late in the process. FAIL.

For the record, I think Stokes is nothing more than a second option at QB in the class.

Posted under Football, Recruiting