The Board lives here. I was going to hold this update a little longer, but the post is filling up, and there is a ton of content to roll out over the next few days. Enjoy.

Moved to Committed:
FL RB Vincent Smith, FL RB Brandin Hawthorne. Commitment article on the pair.
CA QB Tate Forcier. Freep commit article.

Added:
NJ DB Nyshier Oliver. Tennessee decommit now considering Michigan, among others.

New Information:
FL TE Orson Charles. Georgia might not have a spot for him anymore.
VA OL Morgan Moses. He may not qualify out of high school, and could be headed to prep school for a year.
IL DE Craig Drummond. Nursing an ankle injury.
NC LB Hawatha Bell. Plans on taking a Michigan official visit.
MD LB Jelani Jenkins. Some fluff. Also, he might want to major in sports medicine (and Michigan has a very good program in this).

Removed:
FL LB Frankie Telfort. Michigan is out of his top (final) six.
FL RB Jaamal Berry. He’s finally done what we’ve been waiting for so long and verballed to Ohio State.

Etc.:
FL slot commit Jeremy Gallon. Fluff from the local paper.
First official 2010 offer. Chris Dunkley isn’t the only one that was sent out today, I assume. People like Devin Garndner, Ricardo Miller, and Marvin Robinson almost definitely received them as well. The board isn’t going live soon, but keep this stuff in mind.

Analysis:
Vincent Smith and Brandin Hawthorne had pretty much been penciled in as commits to this class, even before the official announcement. The commitment from Forcier, however, was surprising, if only in the timing. He fills the void left by Kevin Newsome, and Michigan is back to being locked down on the quarterback front. From here, the next possible commit is from a DE (perhaps Craig Roh, who visited this weekend?), and then an OL or two. I’ve emotionally detached myself from Darius Winston, as I don’t think he will select Michigan on Friday (surprise us all, Jay Hopson!).

Posted under Recruiting

Pahokee, FL teammates Vincent Smith and Brandin Hawthorne have both announced their intentions to sign letters of intent to Michigan in February. The duo announced their respective decisions today, instead of their original plan, which had them announcing at their team’s game against Olive Branch (MS) tomorrow. Smith is a 5-9, 170-lb running back, and Hawthorne is a 6-0, 185-lb linebacker who boasts a 4.7 40-yard dash.

Recruiting Notes
Michigan fans first became aware of Pahokee High School when slot receiver Martavious Odoms joined the class of 2008 in February. They quickly learned of Odoms’s younger teammates, including WR Nu’Keese Richardson (Florida commit) and Smith and Hawthorne. Smith was the first of the two added to the board, when he reported in March that he was about to receive a Michigan offer. That offer became public in June, and Hawthorne was added to the recruiting board shortly thereafter, when he placed Michigan in his top two, despite not reporting an offer. In early July, Brandin stated that he wouldn’t make a school decision until after he had taken his official visits. However, in the middle of July, both he and Smith stated that they would announce their college decisions on August 30th at their game against Olive Branch. At the end of July, the duo started dropping none-too-subtle hints that Michigan would be the choice for both Blue Devils. Towards the end of August, both Hawthorne and Smith announced that they had set up 5 official visits, though they still planned to announce on August 30th (an announcement that they subsequently moved forward by one day). With the final choice of Michigan, it is unlikely that they will have spots reserved for them in the class if they still intend to take officials to schools other than Michigan. The runners-up for Smith were Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Tennessee. finishing in second for Hawthorne was Louisville.

Player Notes
Both players may be considered slightly undersized for their positions, though Rich Rodriguez has focused on adding speed to the team first, and will likely worry about size and speed in future classes. Smith projects as yet another RB/Slot combo, with his diminutive stature and decent quickness. Hawthorne is probably going to end up as a weakside linebacker unless he has a pretty significant growth spurt. He will have to add a ton of mass to play linebacker, and hopefully he won’t lose too much speed doing so in Mike Barwis’s program.

Video

Pahokee’s spring game, courtesy of our friends at SoFLAFootball.com. Unfortunately, the video quality is a little too low to get any great detail.

The Vincent Smith Story from PrepTicket.

Etc.
With a pipeline to Pahokee High School now firmly established, Michigan is likely to go after Doral Willis, a top defensive tackle/offensive line prospect in the class of 2010. In addition, Nu’Keese Richardson, who liked Michigan early in the process but is a Florida commit, has expressed interest in visiting Ann Arbor with Smith and Hawthorne this year. Both Smith and Hawthorne have stated that plan to enroll at Michigan in January.

Posted under Recruiting

The Board misses you. You should really visit every once in a while.

New Information:
FL RB Vincent Smith. His decision will be between Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Tennessee. Things still lookin’ good.
OH OL Marcus Hall. Preseason O-line MVP of his league.
SC OL Quinton Washington. A top 10 player in the lowcountry. Whatever the lowcountry is.
PA LB Dan Mason. Fluff.
AL CB Dre Kirkpatrick. It will be a surprise for him to end up anywhere other than Bama, especially with all the time he spends on their campus.
FL CB Angelo Hadley. He has a top/final 5 (Mich, Aub, Fla, UNC, UGa). And fluff is written about him.

Removed:
UT OL Xavier Sua’filo. After expressing early interest in Michigan, there has been no sign that he is still looking at the Wolverines.
WA DT Deandre Coleman. Washington commit.
AZ DE Corey Adams. It seems like he is down to OSU and a couple west coast schools. There hasn’t been any Michigan mention in a while.
PA DE/DT Tyrone Ezell. Pitt commit.
MI DE Justice Akuezue. CMU commit.
CA LB John Michael Davis. Same situation as Xavier Sua’Filo. No mutual interest == removal.
MI S Brock Reynolds. I hear almost nothing about this guy, much less articles about his Michigan interest.
OH CB Tony Graham. Same situation as Brock Reynolds.

Etc.:
The Free Press explores the situation with Michigan’s scholarship numbers for the 2009 class. The ESPN high school football TV schedule is different every time I look, but here is the most updated master list of games. Note that the Pahokee-Olive Branch game is not there. There is no kickers section on the recruiting board, but TX PK Anthony Fera has been offered (info in header). When I pulled guys off the list for lack of mutual interest, top players got a little more benefit of the doubt in staying on the board. Jamaal Berry is now the guy teetering on the edge, since he continues to list Michigan despite being all but committed to the Buckeyes.

Posted under Recruiting

New Information:
CS DE Chris Bonds. Top 6 (Michigan is oviously in it, considering they have secured a visit).
AL CB Dre Kirkpatrick. Takes in an Alabama practice.
GA LB Devekeyan Lattimore. Old, but super fluffy to a hilarious degree.
FL RB Vincent Smith. Video fluff.
MS DB Dennis Thames. He will be on display at some county fair or something.

Removed:
OK RB David Oku. The 2009 Noel Devine has dropped Michigan in an effort to get to a decision faster.
FL WR Rontavious Wooten. Will choose between two non-Michigan schools.

Etc.:
Sam Webb talks defensive end recruiting (audio). Cass Tech is going spread this year. It couldn’t be any worse than their offense was against OLSM when I saw them play last year. The ESPN 150 was released. Relevant persons:
Commits
65. Bryce McNeal (82)
91. Isaiah Bell (81)
147. Kevin Newsome (80)
Targets
5. Dre Kirkpatrick (90)
9. Jelani Jenkins (86)
10. Rueben Randle (86)
21. Shaquelle Evans (84)
22. Sam Montgomery (84)
25. Darius Winston (84)
38. Darren Myles (83)
43. Branden Smith (83)
48. Morgan Moses (83)
67. Craig Drummond (82)
77. Gabe Lynn (82)
78. Marcus Hall (82)
86. Craig Roh (82)
88. Donavan Tate (82)
123. David Oku (81)
132. Eugene Smith (81)
140. Chris Bonds (81)
141. Tate Forcier (81)

It’s utterly ridiculous that Will Campbell is not even in the 150, seeing as how he’s a no-brainer 5-star to both of the other sites, and ESPN spoke breathlessly about him following the Penn State Nike Combine. Just another hit to ESPN’s recruiting credibility (as though they needed one). Their reasoning:

Dominating the combine circuit without pads during one-on-one drills (geared toward the defense) does not give an accurate description of a DT’s ability to truly play the position. When comparing Campbell against the 10 DT’s that made the 150, we felt he wasn’t in the same class talent-wise. He didn’t display the ability to be as explosive as the DT’s above him.

If you’re looking for which idiot at ESPN to complain about, this was said by one Billy Tucker (side note: Campbell’s explosiveness is one of his greatest strengths, besides natural size, of course).

Analysis:
Oku’s removal is sad, but maybe warranted considering the thousands of RBs Michigan has recruited. Same goes for Wooten and slots. Other than those two guys, not a ton of action this week. In the next couple updates, I may start removing prospects that are highly unlikely to end up at Michigan (I’m lookin’ at you, Hersey Jackson).

Posted under Recruiting

Though we’ve all seen what can happen when social networking sites are relied upon to be a source of recruiting information, sometimes the evidence is overwhelming.

Pahokee Blue Devils Brandon Hawthorne and Vincent Smith won’t announce their respective college decisions until August 30th, but it appears as though Michigan has a very good shot at landing both. Several readers have chimed in to let me know that each has changed various aspects of his Facebook page to indicate impending commitment to Michigan.

There is a long time until August 30th, and even longer before signing day, but it appears as though both Hawthorne and Smith intend to don a blue hat at their first game this season.

Posted under Recruiting

Much stuff from late last week snuck its way in here because of the JAM PACKED WITH CONTENT nature of Friday’s update.

Added:
FL WR Rontavious Wooten. Michigan is in his top 4, though LSU leads.
WA DT Deandre Coleman. I’m still convinced Michigan needs to take another DT in this class.
FL OL Andrew Carter. Apparently offered.

New Information:
Pahokee, FL prospects. Will play on ESPN August 30, where many of them also plan to announce college decisions. Also, they got in a huge brawl this weekend.
MD RB Tavon Austin. Wants to have freedom in his college offense. Seems a spread attack would be a good fit for him.
GA WR Braxton Lane. Baseball fluff. At this point, I expect him to be a top pick in next spring’s MLB Draft, and would be surprised if he went to college. Hell, we’d definitely take him for both sports.
FL TE Orson Charles. Decision Timeline.
OK RB David Oku. Talks officials (Michigan’s is for the MSU game). Video? Video:

Ladies, if you’re going to go visit him at work, don’t forget to sport some of this stuff.

Removed:
FL DT Antwan Lowery. Down to two (info in header). I’m betting neither is Mich, since he has visited several other schools.

Posted under Recruiting

Today’s update will be a little behind because a bunch of stuff came out in the last 24 hours, and I’m still getting accustomed to the new board, and I don’t want to leave you, the loyal reader, waiting. That stuff will either wait until friday, or find its way into a third recruiting update for this week.

Added:
Ain’t nobody.

New Information:
MS WR/S Dennis Thames. Discusses possibly being a package deal with teammate Clayton Moore. More has committed to Ole Miss in the time since this article.
FL RB Vincent Smith. Fluff.
MA OL Brennan Williams. Top 6 of Mich, Duke, BC, Maryland, UVa, Wake.
FL TE Orson Charles. Midwest tour doesn’t include Michigan.

Removed:
GE TE Jim Teknipp. Committed to UCF.
MI RB Malek Redd. Committed to Central Michigan.
PA DE Jack Lippert. Pitt commit.

Posted under Recruiting

The Board. Pretty much all stuff will be in guys whose status (offered, on/off the board, etc.) has changed. Additional substantive update coming Monday.

Moved to Committed
MN WR Bryce McNeal.
FL WR Jeremy Gallon. Also added to the board in this update. He will probably be a slot.

Added
NJ DE Anthony LaLota. Michigan has offered.
FL WR Jeremy Gallon. Offered and also committed.
IL OL Michael Schofield. Offered.

New Information
TN OT Alex Bullard. He will make a decision today. Probably for TN or ND, though M is still in it until the end.
FL RB Vincent Smith. Offered.
Others Monday.

Removed
MI TE Reid Fragel. Ohio State commit.
NY DE Andre Civil. Rutgers commit.
LA OL Chris Faulk. LSU commit.
NC RB Desmond Scott. Rutgers commit.
FL WR Nu’Keese Richardson. Florida commit.
NC OL Xavier Nixon. Eliminates Michigan.

Analysis
It seems like tons of guys were removed, but keep in mind that this is three weeks of action. A couple commits from somewhat highly-touted players should keep people satisfied, at least somewhat. With camps coming up fast, it should be a fun time to follow recruiting.

Posted under Recruiting

The full board. A bit of information was rearranged, but not enough to note it here.

New InformationVA QB Kevin Newsome – linked to State Track meet article.
CA QB Tate Forcier – linked to his Michigan offer. Also, current internet rumor du jour is that he is visiting Michigan this weekend.
PA RB Jordan Hall – Plans an early decision.
MN WR Fritz Rock – Life story article from the Gopher Hole. Football Story
MS DT Josh Boyd – has reportedly been offered.
MD LB Jelani Jenkins – has reportedly been offered.
FL WR Andre Debose – Track results.

Added
IL QB Darwin Rogers – run-pass QB from Chicago.
FL RB Vincent Smith – HS teammate of Martavious Odoms and Nu’Keese Richardson. May be close to a Michigan offer.
GA TE Terrell Mitchell – He claims a Michigan offer.
IL OL Chris Watt. He has a Michigan offer.
OH LB Dan Fox. Michigan Junior Day attendee.

Removed
OH WR Josh Jones. At this time, it doesn’t appear that he will be a top prospect.

Etc.
Sam Webb column in the Detroit News on Junior Day.

Posted under Recruiting