2010 Michigan Recruiting Board.

PA QB Malik Stokes (younger brother of 2009 signee Je’Ron Stokes) visited Michigan for summer camp, and though he didn’t leave with an offer, picked one up from the Chippewas when he continued to the CMU camp. Central coach Butch Jones is a former RR assistant, and if Stokes ends up selecting the Chippewas, both brothers will be in the state of Michigan together. Malik also has said that the Michigan staff will keep him in mind in case something happens with either of the existing commits.

Removed FL RB Roy Finch, who committed to Oklahoma. It will be interesting to see if this might have an effect on CA RB Brennan Clay, who is also committed to the Sooners. Obviously, Oklahoma has room for 2 running backs in the class, but Clay might be slightly turned off by another prospect (and a similar one at that) at the same position. Clay’s Michigan ties to QB Tate Forcier may give the Wolverines chance to get back in the sweepstakes for his services.

FL WR Quinton Dunbar plans to take one of his officials to Ann Arbor. He also intends to visit West Virginia, Tennessee, and Florida. He won’t make a comitment to any school until National Signing Day. (Photo courtesy of SoFlaFootball).

Be ready to remove PA WR Alex Kenney. ThaRinger.com reports on what is perhaps the least aesthetically-appealing website in history that Kenney will likely commit to Penn State early this week. This is not all that surprising, since Kenney is from State College and his parents reportedly work at PSU.

SC WR/DB Nick Jones visited South Carolina over the weekend along with his high school teammate, RB Marcus Lattimore. While Lattimore is likely long-gone for the Wolverines, Jones continues to list Michigan among his favorites.

MN OL Seantrel Henderson visits both South Carolina schools, and doesn’t mention Michigan among his “offers that stand out” to Phil Kornblut.

Recruiting fluff on NY DE Dominique Easley. The Wolverines are on his offer list, but he didn’t offer up anything else about Michigan in the article. Easley, who plans to trim his current list of schools down to 5 or 6 by the end of the summer, is pictured at right.

MD LB Josh Furman will take one last visit this summer, to Michigan (info in header). He’s already been to a few other schools, but Ann Arbor is the only visit he plans to take before his football season starts back up.

Georgia has secured a commitment from a teammate of FL LB Jeff Luc. LB Deon Rogers had mostly MAC-level offers… and Georgia saw fit to offer him and accept a commitment. This is likely only relevant to Michigan because of how it might affect the Luc recruitment. Even that has seemed to hit the back-burner lately, as Luc news hasn’t been flowing as freely as it was earlier in the spring. Michigan is expected to be one of Luc’s officials, and getting a top-ranked prospect on campus always gives the team a chance to land them.

OH LB Jordan Hicks has trimmed his list to 6, and Michigan is not among them. It was never particularly likely that the Wolverines would get into his recruitment, since he seemed to favor Ohio State, Texas, and USC very strongly from the start. I’ll leave him on the board for now, since his teammate, TE Alex Smith, seems to have a pretty strong interest in Michigan (Duane Long ruminates on his likelihood of getting a Buckeye offer, as well). However, don’t expect Michigan to have a great chance at Hicks.

Removed FL LB Javarie Johnson, who committed to Miami of Florida over the weekend.

MD S Lorenzo Waters has received a Miami of Florida offer. At this time, he appears to be favoring Wake Forest, Michigan, and the Hurricanes.

Removed GA S Alec Ogletree, who committed to Georgia.

Removed FL CB Lorenza Wood, who, as predicted, committed to Notre Dame on Friday.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

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

As time goes by, it seems more and more inevitable that SC QB Cornelius Jones might pick Michigan. He’s going to visit this summer.

Removed VA QB Phillip Sims. He committed to Alabama, relieving me of my responsibility of looking for excuses to drop him. I’m comin’ for you next, Heaps.

ESPN recruiting fluff on GA RB Mack Brown. From the article it appears as though he’s more of a speed back than a big back, which I had previously pegged him as. Still, with 2 backs in the class, I wouldn’t be surprised if the coaching staff holds out for Marcus Lattimore or bust (“bust” here meaning “Austin White/Nick Hill“). Additional Brown mini-fluff from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

MD RB Marcus Coker, who was part of the mass offering of DeMatha players last week, has now confirmed that he’s received an offer from the Wolverines (info in header). Still no definitive word on any of the other four guys.

I’d kinda pegged IL TE CJ Fiedorowicz as a Notre Dame lock, but it appears as though he’s favoring Iowa and Ohio State at this point. Michigan doesn’t seem to be in the thick of his recruitment, but he’d be an awesome weapon in the spread offense.

OH DE Darryl Baldwin was scheduled to visit Ann Arbor on Monday, though there haven’t been any (free) reports on whether said visit was positive or not.

Michigan is still showing interest in IL DE Louis Trinca-Pasat. Sun-Times fluff on Trinca and his teammate OL Laken Tomlinson. I’ve added Tomlinson to the board.

It’s almost difficult to NOT read the tea leaves, as each day brings further evidence (in header) that FL S Marvin Robinson is going to commit to the Wolverines, and do so sometime soon. That would (hopefully) open the floodgates a bit for some other defensive recruits to hop on board. Speaking of which, Josh Helmholdt goes over the spoils of the spring game in the Freep, including a tidbit on Marvin:

“I love the Michigan fans and I love the support they give their players,” Columbus (Ohio) Brookhaven defensive end Derrick Bryant remarked. “I was thinking some college stadiums don’t have that many people that come for a regular game and they had that many people for a scrimmage.”

“It was definitely a great environment to see all the people there supporting Michigan,” added Livonia Stevenson running back Austin White…

The recruiting results of Michigan’s spring game weekend could be immediately seen with the Saturday commitment of Flower Mound (Tex.) Marcus running back Stephen Hopkins. Several more players, however, elevated Michigan on their list of favorites following visits this past weekend.

[Torrian] Wilson, a 6-4, 315-pound offensive lineman ranked as the No. 131 player in the country by Rivals.com, named Michigan his leader after finishing up a five-day visit in Michigan. Eagle Lake (Fla.) Lake Region four-star safety Marvin Robinson, the No. 99 player in the country according to Rivals.com, also named the Wolverines as his top team and expects to make his commitment official in the next 2-3 weeks.

The Wolverines were already Robinson’s leader, though the imminent commitment thing is new this week. FL OL Torrian Wilson enjoyed the spring game as well, but it will still be tough to pull him from the Hurricanes. The other two gentlemen enjoying themselves can obviously be nothing other than a positive.

Information on a few different guys from Phil Kornblut:

USC has offered RB Roy Finch (5-8, 170) of Niceville, Fla. He also has offers from Oklahoma, Alabama, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Southern Miss, Auburn, Vanderbilt, Stanford, Oregon, Michigan and Texas A&M.

DB Brashaud Breeland (6-2, 200) of Allendale-Fairfax also was at USC’s practice last Thursday night. He’s considering the Gamecocks and Clemson strongly along with Wake Forest, N.C. State, Virginia Tech, Maryland, Michigan and Tennessee.

So, Finch is now moved to “offered” on the board, and it appears as though Bashaud Breeland (first name sic in the quote, as I believe there’s no “r”) has Michigan in an unofficial top 8 of sorts. There was a bit more information in the article, but it was redundant from previous recruiting updates.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

The Board.

Added:
4 from Jim Stefani:
NJ OL Dante Weaver
TX DT De’Aires Cotton
FL RB Roy Finch
OH WR Jerald Robinson

New Information:
VA QB Phillip Sims. Fluff.
TX RB Lache Seastrunk. Closing in on his school’s all-time yardage record.
SC RB Marcus Lattimore. He already has 20 offers. Yeah, he’s kind of a big deal.
FL WR Commit Ricardo Miller. One of the fluffiest articles in history.
OH DE/LB Jamel Turner. He didn’t grow up with a favorite school, and considers himself a “free agent.”
NC DE Prince Shembo. NC State has offered (info in header).

Removed:
SC DT Kelcy Quarles. South Carolina commit.

Etc.:
MI QB Devin Gardner and RB Nick Hill played each other in the playoffs. Gardner’s team won, and is going to the state championship game.

Posted under Football