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

With information coming in so fast, I may go back to just posting updates as they get full instead of waiting for a particular day of the week. Expect at least one more this week, because there’s a lot of stuff I didn’t fit in here.

Don’t forget to visit the 2010 Michigan Recruiting Board.

PA QB Anthony Gonzalez is a little busy to take his visits right now, but once his basketball season ends, he’ll hit Illinois and Michigan in one trip sometime this spring.

PA QB Malik Stokes (younger brother of 2009 signee WR Je’Ron) says he’s expecting offers to start rolling in once he gets a qualifying score on the SAT. Michigan is one of the schools that he’s predicting might offer.

In other QB news (or non-QB news, as it were), TX QB Aaron Johnson, though he’s a dual-threat QB in high school, and is getting looks from some schools as a quarterback, says that Michigan is looking at him as an athlete, rather than a signal-caller.

FL Slot WR DeJoshua Johnson has accepted an invitation to play in the ESPNU Under Armour All American Game next January. By the time that game rolls around, fans will already know which school the Pahokeeite plans to attend.

CA CB Troy Hill isn’t particularly stoked on Michigan. The implication of that article is that he’s no longer considering Michigan at all after Taylor Hill didn’t end up here (he’s at Kent State), but I think it’s more accurate to say that they have moved from the top of his list into the “others” category, rather than off the list altogether.

“My brother played there but transferred out after they got a new coach,” said Hill.

Apparently, the brother in question is Taylor Hill, but this statement also doesn’t make sense because Taylor Hill never even considered Michigan until Rich Rodriguez became the coach.

This particular Scout headline has a fair amount of relevant information about TX LB Caleb Lavey. 1) He has been offered by Michigan. 2) His dad was an equipment manager for Michigan’s team in the 70s. These things both bode well for Michigan, obviously. Considering all the Michigan connections with LaVey, and the fact that he’s one of the very few linebackers who have been offered, I’d assume at this time that he’s the #1 LB target, and probably the most likely of any player at the position to end up in this class. Of course, things are constantly changing in recruiting, so that status may or may not last for long.

The Detroit Free Press notes that Michigan is interested in OH OL Andrew Donnal. He’s been added to the board as well.

Free Press fluff on CA RB (and noted former teammate of Tate Forcier) Brennan Clay:

“Clay has no plans to make a decision in the near future, but he has not ruled out the possibility either. He will attend Michigan’s spring game in April to see Forcier in his first game-like atmosphere as a Wolverine, but he also plans to spend a few extra days touring the campus and football facilities. Whether that weekend will be enough to seal up Clay’s commitment remains to be seen, but there’s no doubt Michigan will be a strong contender for his services.”

Emphasis mine, because this sounds significantly more positive than conventional wisdom on Clay, for what it’s worth. Most people predict he’ll remain on the west coast (with Oregon as the favorite?). Not only do I think he won’t commit that weekend, but Michigan is a longshot to gain a commitment from him at all. Of course, there’s plenty of time to make up ground.

Georgia and Georgia Tech have both told GA RB Mack Brown that he’ll be able to wear #33 should he choose either of their schools. At Michigan, that number is currently sported by Boubacar Cissoko, but he is rumored to be switching to #2 (then again, rumor has it Justin Turner will wear that number as well, so who knows?). Brown also placed the Wolverines in his top 10 after his offer came through.

FL LB Christian Jones has been offered. So has MD LB/S Josh Furman, and VA LB Aramide Olaniyan has also received his offer (info in header), along with FL DE Delvin Jones. Rounding out the recent offer train is CA S Sean Parker. (All info in headers). All have been added to the board.

Might GA RB Kendrun Malcome be coming up soon in that list of offerees? He certainly thinks that’s likely.

“I think UGA or Michigan will be the next to offer,” he said. “I haven’t heard from Georgia Tech.” Malcome, who also runs track at Southwest, hopes to make a decision during or shortly after the football season.

So take that for what it’s worth.

In what is probably the last item of 2009 recruiting news, NC Ath Larry Raper signed with NC A&T after Michigan decided not to offer him. He has been removed from the 2009 board.

Posted under Football, Recruiting