Four Star Defensive End Domique Easley has just scheduled two official visits for the fall, unfortunately neither are to Michigan. He will visit Boston College on September 5th and Penn State on September 19th.
At least he mentioned Michigan in a list of schools that he is in contact with a lot, and with Easley looking to take some more visits, UM could be in the mix for an official.
Josh Furman, the four star Safety from Old Mill Senior High School in Millersville, Md has chosen to officially visit Michigan on September 12th, when the Wolverines host Notre Dame.
“Michigan is showing a lot of interest,” Furman said. “I’m very curious to see what the campus is like and I can’t wait to see a game at the Big House. I also really like (wide receiver) coach Tony Dews. He’s a great guy and I just get a good feeling about him.”
Furman denies having a leader, however he did say that he grew up as a Miami fan, and that they are his dream school....lucky for Michigan that the Canes haven't offered Furman yet!
Penn Hills HS's safety Brandon Ifill has a favourite school, but its not Michigan, its Maryland. “They are my favorite school so far,” Ifill said of the Terps. “I like everything about them. The only thing I need to see about Maryland is what it’s like there on game day. I’ve been there before and I’m pretty familiar with them already. I love the coaches. They are real I also like their style...”
Ifill is a three star prospect on scout.com after seeing his stock fall a lot since the start of summer, when he was a four star prospect and in the top 20 safeties in the nation.
Michigan are still in the race for Ifill, but a good visit to Maryland on September 26th, when they play Rutgers (another school recruiting Ifill) and a commitment could follow soon after.
It appears Michigan is moving back up Mathis' list after a recent trip to Ann Arbor to check out a practice. Dior was really impressed by the new facilities, like the locker room etc, which he had not seen before.
Mathis has a top three of Oregon, MSU and Illinois, and he said this weekend that those three still lead the way. Michigan, however, is steadily moving back up his list after the recent visit.
"I'm probably going to move Michigan [up], but I've got to see how everything plays out the next two months," Mathis said. "I hadn't been up there in awhile, but after a little while it felt like home again and I felt comfortable."
This is encouraging for Michigan, Dior is probably the best corner in the state of Michigan, and it would be great to add him to the class, but Oregon is still the leader here.
Carl Davis (Sterling Heights, MI) is a three star defensive end who grew up supporting the Wolverines, however when it comes to schools recruiting him, he has a new favourite.
The Iowa Hawkeyes are the frontrunner, “Iowa is recruiting me the hardest,” Davis said. “I really like the coaches. Coach Kirk Ferentz is a great guy and I like how they get along with the players. It’s a great atmosphere there for football. The team is very together and tight. They seem very hungry to win.”
One reason Iowa might be ahead is because Michigan hasn't actually offered yet, but like Tim Jackson (see previous post), UM has asked Davis for some game film and might consider offering after the first few games of the season.
Davis has said an offer from the Wolverines will probably earn them a top five spot in his recruitment, along with other schools such as Iowa and Michigan State.
Tim Jackson (St. Petersburg,FL) is a defensive end who had a big summer, performing well at all camps that he attending, resulting in him picking up 18 offers. Jackson expects another offer to come very shortly, from the University of Michigan.
The Wolverines have apparently been showing a lot of interest in the three star DE, they asked Jackson for some film not long ago. Michigan will be filling most of its class out with defensive players, and if Jackson continues his good form he could have a great senior season.
He doesn't have a list of top schools yet, but admitted if the Wolverines did offer, they would definately shake things up and probably earn a top five position. Other schools in the mix are Florida and Florida State, along with Wake Forest, who Jackson plans to take an official visit to shortly.
If you haven't already, make sure you check out the latest post on Mgoblog about the season ahead for the current Michigan commits. It runs through all 18 committments and gives a good idea of who is poised to hit the bigtime!
Check out the article here.
Will Hagerup is probably one of the most important recruits for Michigan this year, he is the only punter the Wolverines have gone after, and they really need him as a replacement to senior Zoltan Mesko.
Hagerup has swapped his officials around, he will now visit Michigan when they host Indiana on September 26th, which is good because Michigan should beat Indiana easily. It's also after Hagerup's visit to Ohio State, so Michigan will be fresh in his mind when he decides to commit.
The Wisconsin visit is now on September 5th.
Terrance Talbott, who was previously unranked by scout.com is now a three star prospect, which is fair, and expected. If you missed it, Terrance and his brother Terry committed to Michigan last week.
Posting might be a bit light today, I get my exam results in about 30 minutes. I guess if I do well I'm more likely to post some news!
Great news for the Wolverines here as five star prospect Anthony Barr has listed his five finalists; Notre Dame, USC, UCLA, California and Michigan.
Barr mainly played running back last year for his high school, racking up 1890 yards and 20 touchdowns. Rivals and ESPN list him as an athlete though, so he could play on either side of the ball. Has the build to play maybe safety or outside linebacker in college, hes 6'4 and 230lbs.
Barr's father actually played RB for Notre Dame, which probably gives them a slight edge at the moment, however current Michigan defensive co-ordinator Greg Robinson went to the same high school as Barr, which might help the Wolverines a bit.
When talking of his list, "I did it based off, first of all where I'd fit in best and where it'd be a good fit for me," he said. "Each school has pretty good football tradition and they're also not doing too bad at the moment. Also, I think I could go to any of these schools and make an impact right away, and I also think each of these schools can get me better for the next level."
He'll be setting up some visits shortly, but his committment probably won't be until the end of his senior season.
Good article from the Detroit Free Post about the current Michigan recruiting class, and how the number of commits could be even greater than last years class, due to three players leaving the program in the last few weeks.
Also mentions that Michigan are still keeping in lots of contact with current verbal commits in order to lower the chance of any decommitments (there were six last year).
Check out the full article here.
Eric Mitchell (Cape Coral, FL) committed to Ole Miss yesterday, after having a final two including Michigan. The three star cornerback travelled to Ole Miss earlier this summer and felt right at home there.
Scout.com's #47 corner said Michigan was a close second, and that he likes what Coach Rodriguez is doing with the program, but after the visit to Ole Miss, he knew that where his future was.
Not a big loss to the class by any stretch of the imagination, still plently of defensive backs left on the board.
Michigan has lost a bit of ground in recruiting Ohio TE Alex Smith. The four star recruit from West Chester, Ohio has named a few schools at the top of the list; "Cincinnati, then Wisconsin, then North Carolina, and Kentucky is in there too."
However he does plan to visit many other schools; "I got to check out Michigan, Kentucky, North Carolina State and Michigan State," Smith said. "And I'd like to make a trip down to LSU and Miami. Oregon wants me to make it up there. We'll see how it goes."
Michigan's offense doesn't usually involve the TE position much, and Smith has mentioned this as a downside to joining Michigan. However with the improvements made by Kevin Koger and Martell Webb this summer, Rich Rod could look to use the TE more, which would help in Smith's recruiting.
Smith has just scheduled his first official visit, Wisconsin on September 5th.
It seems like two favourites are starting to appear in the race to sign elite defensive tackle prospect, Sharrif Floyd. Florida and South Carolina have really made an impression on the five star recruit, leaving other schools, such as Michigan and Penn State trailing behind.
Floyd visited Florida's campus for the Friday Night Lights event, and ended up meeting a few of the players, including Brandon Spikes, one of the top linebackers in the country. Unfortunately Sharrif didn't know who Brandon Spikes was!
Floyd said Michigan amongst other schools are still in the running, but he spoke very favourably of SC and Florida.
All Michigan fans who follow recruiting have probably been waiting on this for a while....
Inkster's Devin Gardner is now a FIVE STAR PROSPECT!! The quarterback from Michigan is now rated by scout.com as the 39th best player in the nation and the 4th best QB, and as if it couldn't get any better....William Gholston is one place behind him at 40th.
Scout.com shaked up their class rankings, with quite a few changes to the top 100. Seantrel Henderson stays at #1, but positions 3-5 have new faces.
The change in rankings is a bit of a mixed bag for Michigan commits, unfortunately (DE/LB) Ken Wilkins has dropped down to three stars, but (WR) Jerald Robinson climbs to four stars. Those are the only changes in stars, apart from Gardner's, there are a few position ranking changes, but nothing major. Ricardo Miller is now the #25 WR, I can't remember what he was before, but I have a feeling he might have been a bit higher.
As far as Michigan prospects go, there arent any major changes in stars, although safety Sean Parker is no longer a five star prospect. Michigan favourite Cullen Christian climbs from #69 to #61 in the player rankings, but still a four star prospect. Unfortunately his teammate Brandon Ifill slips to a three star prospect, he is now the highest ranking three star Safety.
Tony Grimes slips a bit in the cornerback rankings, but still 4 stars. Johnavon Fulton climbs the cornerback rankings to take Grimes' old spot of #5, Fulton has a Michigan offer and has expressed some interest, but he is still a long shot, he lists South Carolina as his leader.
It's great that Gardner and Robinson have earned another star, but it's a shame about Ken Wilkins, who I thought was a solid four star, given that both Rivals and Scout had given him 4 stars previously.
Even though Gardner has earned a 5th star, don't expect the progress to end there, a good senior season and Gardner could start to climb the player rankings even more, a top 10 place is not out of the question. Gardner has the athletic ability along with the throwing arm to be a top 10 prospect, he has been compared to the likes of Vince Young and Tyrelle Pyror, who were both #1 prospects on rivals.com. Rivals analysts have even said Gardner has a better throwing motion than Young and Pyror did at this time. Tom Lemming has had Gardner in his top 10 prospects for a while too. The possibilites really are endless for Gardner.
Prediction for the class: The rankings are obviously going to change again after the season is over, but if they stayed like this I think Michigan might end up with around 3-4 prospects in the top 100. At the very least two, I think Cullen Christian is a lock right now, something would have to go seriously wrong for Michigan to lose out on him.
Munchie Legaux is a four star Quarterback out of New Orleans, and he has just named Michigan in his top four schools along with Tennessee, Oregon and Baylor.
Legaux is a real dual threat style QB, having 30 passing TD's and 10 rushing TD's last season, so I'm sure he could fit in well at Michigan. However, should Michigan take another quarterback in this class? They already have Devin Gardner and Cornelius Jones committed, and although the depth at QB is poor this year, it could well be a strong part of the 2010 team.
Legaux is rated as the 17th best QB in the class by scout.com, 11 places behind Inkster's Devin Gardner. My real concern with Legaux is, he may be talented, but is he good enough to come in and beat out Tate Forcier (looks in great form), Denard Robinson (endless potential) and Devin Gardner (aka Superman) aswell as Cornelius Jones (mystery man)?
The answer to that question is probably no, so does he have the athletic ability to play elsewhere? If he does come to Michigan, I could probably see him ending up at wide receiver, hes got the height (6'4), and he has good speed (4.6 forty yard dash).
Despite my views on this, Michigan clearly feel like he would be a great addition to the class, as Munchie states Michigan are recruiting him the hardest at the moment.
Note: I can't wait to see what happens when Devin Gardner gets on campus, will he be able to claim the starting role straight away? After the rave reviews hes been getting, the competition should be fierce.
The weekends are always pretty slow for news....
Aramide Olaniyan has chosen to play at the Maryland Crab bowl All Star game on December 9th. He joins another Michigan prospect Josh Furman who will also be playing in the game, and plans to announce his decision there.
If your not familar with Aramide Olaniyan, he has actually committed to Duke, but is still considering Michigan among a few other schools.
Just a quick note on Jones: He is a four star defensive end from Florida, he held an offer from Michigan, but never really showed that much interest, he just committed to Tennessee.
Terry and Terrance Talbott, from Huber Heights (Ohio) have pledged to the Michigan Wolverines.
Terry is a 265lb defensive tackle, rated as a three star prospect by scout.com, he will provide some much needed depth at the position. The same goes for Terrance, who plays cornerback. He is not rated by scout, but he expects to have a breakout senior season.
Michigan now has 18 verbal commits for the class of 2010, 7 of which are defensive players, but expect one or two of those wide receiver commits to try out on defense. The lack of depth on defense has been a real issue this year, and most expect Michigan to fill out the rest of the class with defensive players.
The brothers sat down and had a long talk with parents etc and decided that Michigan was the right place to be. The other school that had offered both of them was Wisconsin, who already have a commit from one of the Talbott brothers' teammates, who they now look forward to playing against in years to come.
I had heard that both had Michigan as their leader, but this committment does come as a bit of a surprise, they didn't have a timeline for the process or any dates set.
Still, I'm thrilled with the news, maybe this will put some pressure on other defensive back prospects to commit to UM before the spaces run out...hint hint Cullen Christian/Tony Grimes/Brandon Ifill/Josh Shaw/Josh Furman/Dietrich Riley/Sean Parker, yes we have offered quite a few, and all of those rate Michigan highly.
A quick quote from Terrance to end this story - "Michigan has it all"
Over a month ago now, Troy Gloster (Olney, MD) cut his list of schools down to two, Stanford and West Virginia, but now he says Michigan are back in the race to sign scout.com's #8 Middle Linebacker.
Gloster has expressed a love for the tradition of Michigan and said it would be a great oppotunity to become a part of it.
Gloster has a 3.4 core GPA which is why Stanford is probably so high on his list. He doesn't know when he will commit, but he would be a good addition to the class for Michigan.
Louis Nix, a four star defensive tackle and current Miami commit has said today he will still be considering other schools. Scout.com's #11 DT says he will definately visit Notre Dame on September 19th for their matchup with Michigan State, and that he will also be considering Michigan, along with Florida and Florida State.
Michigan needs all the help it can get at the defensive tackle position right now, as the chance of Sharrif Floyd joining Michigan took a bit of a hit this week when he said Michigan probably won't get an official visit.
Vince Helmuth, once a full-back, now a defensive tackle just left the program, and although he wasn't a projected starter, there is a severe lack of depth at the position.
One DT the Wolverines should be hopeful about is Terry Talbott, who ranks Michigan as his leader right now, however he is only a three star prospect, and only 265lbs. I would love to see Michigan add an elite prospect to form a formidable partnership with big Will Campbell in years to come, so the news that Nix is considering us is good to hear.
Michigan has officially made Torrian Wilson's top three schools, along with Miami and Stanford. "I've narrowed it down to three with Miami, Stanford, and Michigan," Wilson said. "Everyone is still in the mix, I'm just trying to cut things down a little bit but all the schools still have a shot."
He doesn't list a favourite, but if I had to guess I'd probably say Miami or Michigan. Wilson has visited Michigan more than once, and feels comfortable in the State. In the spring he listed Michigan as his favourite.
Wilson does not have a definate timeline for his committment, but he did say "It's still a possibility that I could commit before the season starts but I have to see what my parents say. I could commit before but if not, then I will make my decision sometime during the season."
Three star running back Jamaal Jackson (Newark, DE) just named Michigan in his top three schools along with Rutgers and East Carolina. He is scout.com's #75 running back....personally if we were going to give another place to a RB, I would prefer it to be someone of Eduardo Clements caliber.
I know ratings aren't everything, and many three star players become great players in college (e.g Mike Hart, Braylon Edwards), but unless this guy has a breakout year I don't think it would be wise to add him to the class.
However I think right now he probably favours ECU, they have mentioned using him like Chris Johnson....as far as I know Jamaal Jackson doesn't run a 4.24 forty! Playing time will also be a factor in Jackson's recruiting, another reason why he probably doesn't favour Michigan right now.
Rich Rod mentioned to Jackson that he might have to play in the slot, similar to another RB recruit of this class, Tony Drake. Anyway, he plans a December/January committment, so we'll see how things progress over the next few months.
Last time we mentioned Sharrif Floyd, it wasn't clear yet if Michigan would get an official or unofficial visit, now it seems like it is.
"I'm going to take all five official visits," Floyd said Tuesday evening. "I'll probably visit Penn State, Ohio State, South Carolina and Florida, something like that."
The last visit will most likely be to Boston College, a school Sharrif has been interested in for a while, after seeing them send players like B.J. Raji to the NFL in the first round of the draft.
He has in the past shown interest in Michigan, so I hope he will still want to go and see what the Wolverines have to offer.
Clements has reportedly listed Michigan as his leader after a visit to...Miami?
I guess the visit must have gone pretty poorly for him to move another team ahead of the one he was visiting. Still this is good news for Michigan, who probably would take Clements in the class, despite already taking 2/3 RB's.
Hopefully Clements can visit Ann Arbor soon to cement us in at the top of his list.
Four Star Safety prospect Josh Furman has said he will announce he college decision at the Crab Bowl All star game. The game will be played on December 9th.
Furman has already said that he will definitely take official visits to Michigan, Maryland and Virginia Tech, with the Michigan visit being on the 12th of September.
Coach Rod has got some stick over the last few days regarding the checks he makes on prospects before they commit to the school.
This comes after Justin Feagin admitted setting up a cocaine deal whilst on campus in Michigan. Rodriguez had several of his former West Virginia players got into legal trouble, including Adam "Pacman" Jones.
"You know, there are some guys you recruited and they never would have given any hint of ever getting into trouble or being poor academically," Rodriguez said. "And all of a sudden they go to college and they make mistakes and you have to adjust accordingly."
Check out this article by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg (hero!) here.
Article on the ole' Detroit Free Press about a few recruits that visited Michigan over the summer, mainly focused on the Talbott brothers, Terry and Terrance, plus a couple of quotes from Brandon Ifill.
You can check out the article here.
The top punter left for Michigan knows he will take at least two official visits. Will Hagerup has put Michigan and Ohio State out in the lead, and he will visit both in September.
Although no exact dates have been set yet, Hagerup said he will likely visit Michigan during their opening game against Western Michigan, and then go see Ohio State play USC later in the month.
Obviously one of those matches is a lot more exciting than the other for a recruit to go see, I hope it doesn't push OSU in front.
Scout.com have just released their latest rankings of the prospects in the state of Michigan. Unfortunately for the Wolverines, William Gholston (a MSU commit) takes home top spot.
UM does have three commits in the top 10 though, Inkster's Devin Gardner ranks 2nd, Livonia Stevenson's Austin White comes in at #4, and Ricardo Miller, formerly from Florida jumps into the #7 spot in the Michigan rankings.
C.J. Olanyian is the top prospect who hasn't committed, and he is still a big target of UM, he ranks #5 on the list, 3 places higher than the next best non-committed prospect, Dior Mathis.
Michigan WR commit Jeremy Jackson comes in at #13, but look for him to have a big season at Ann Arbor Huron, his latest film looked very impressive.
Yes, here at Michigan we are pretty much waving goodbye to the best corner in the state. Mathis recently visited his favourite school, Oregon, and was "Blown away" by the Ducks.
It looks like Oregon is the clear frontrunner for Mathis' services now, although MSU and Illinois will get official visits in the fall, along with Oregon. When speaking of Eugene...“It is beautiful. It is quiet and peaceful. We barely saw a cop car, in fact, I didn’t see one when we were down there."
No police? I wouldn't say that is a great thing....but oh well!
After a recent visit to Columbus, Joshua Shaw (Palmdale, CA) has named Ohio State as his leader. He said "I already had a strong interest in Ohio State," Shaw said. "I'm glad my parents got to go out there. I can (now) feel comfortable saying they are my leader. As far as the visits I've been on, Ohio State was ten times better than the other ones. Ohio State is my leader. Everyone else is even."
He hasn't visited Michigan yet, so its not all doom and gloom, and he said Michigan might get an official visit during the fall.
C.J. Olaniyan from Warren (MI) is one of the best players in the state of Michigan, and he is still undecided on where his future lies. He is a four star prospect and scout.com's #29 Defensive End in the country, which is why interest in C.J isn't just up north.
Olaniyan has picked up a few offers down south, and is looking at Georgia and Georgia Tech, as that is the state he grew up in. He has yet to pick up an offer from either of the Georgia schools, but if he did they would certainly be in the running.
C.J hasn't spoken to many colleges recently, although he said he has exchanged emails with Coach Smith from Michigan. Other schools Olaniyan is looking at are Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma and Penn State.
Missouri has also gone up on his list recently as they have shown interest in one of C.J's high school teammate Martez Kelly. The two players are good friends and would like to go to the same college if the oppotunity is there.
Olaniyan will cut down his list in the next few weeks, look for Michigan to get a place in his top 5.
Just watched some footage of Jeremy Jackson in practice. Its clear to see that Jackson has bulked up a bit over the summer, and although he may not have blistering speed, his route running and catching ability makes him a big threat.
Certainly looks like a reliable receiver at the college level, a chain mover.
A bit of a mystery man here, ESPN says he plays OLB, scout.com says he plays RB, and rivals.com say he plays Safety? Well anyway, he just committed to Ohio State!
Hagan had a Michigan offer on the table, along with other Big Ten schools Wisconsin and Illinois. But he favoured the Buckeyes for a long time, so it was no real surprise when the committment finally came.
He is unrated by all three major scouting websites mentioned above, however scout.com lists him able to run the 40 yard dash in 4.29 seconds....you gotta be kidding me! Rivals lists him with a 4.4 forty, still an impressive time for the 210lb Safety/RB/OLB!
One of the best linebackers in the country has just named Michigan in his top six schools. Khairi Fortt (Stamford, CT) today put Michigan in the mix along with programs USC, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and the Linebacker U - Penn State.
This is great news for Michigan, but I think Penn State probably has the lead at the moment. Fortt is rated a four star prospect by scout.com, and the #5 OLB in the country.
An article from the Detroit News says that Dior Mathis, one of the top cornerbacks in the state of Michigan is deciding between MSU and Oregon.
Michigan and Miami are two other schools still in the picture, but quite far behind his two favourites at the moment.
"Right now it is going to be between Oregon and Michigan State," Mathis reported. "Those are my top two right now. For (Michigan) State and Oregon, the two things that they have in common are the coaches. The coaches are just down to earth. You know how every coach will say anything to you, but when you actually go to the school they are a whole different person?
When asked of Michigan and Miami, "I haven't talked to those guys a lot, but I know that they're good schools," he told Scout.com. "I know I can go to Michigan anytime I want, and Miami was my first love. They'll always be at the top of my list or in my top five."
Check out the full article here.
William Gholston (Detroit, MI) has announced he will still take official visits, despite verbally committing to Michigan State earlier this year. “I think I'm 100% sure, but I'm going to take visits to make sure I'm sure,” Gholston said of playing at Michigan State. “It's a lifelong decision.
Gholston now sets his sights firmly on playing linebacker in college, saying “I don't want to play defensive end at all.”
This could be good news for Michigan, who lost out on Gholston in the spring, however he didn't mention taking an official to Ann Arbor. Would more likely be an unofficial if he does want to visit Michigan again.
Check out this article from the Detroit Free Post here.
ESPN's scout.inc released their player rankings for the class of 2010 today, lets find where those Michigan committs ended up in the ESPN 150!!
Well, I start at the top of the list and keep scrolling down in search of Devin Gardner's name....keep searching....keep searching....
There he is, all the way back at 117th....To say I'm dissapointed is an understatement, after being invited to the Elite 11 camp and performing so well, I really expected him to land a top 50 place, I'm still hoping he will when Rivals and Scout.com release their next rankings.
Then I discover that Gardner is the only Michigan commit in the ESPN 150....what the hell? Sometimes it really amazes me how different these different sites grade their prospects.
Scout.com's #5 prospect Andrew Norwell is rated 115th on ESPN, of course, he committed to Ohio State so I guess that is good news. Justin McCay (#3 prospect on scout.com) now finds himself 143rd on ESPN....ouch, thats a big fall.
Where is Cullen Christian? He is graded 79 overall and did not make the 150. Sharrif Floyd recently broke into the Rivals top 10, he only just made it into the top half of the ESPN150 at #74.
Seantrel Henderson, who is ranked by both rivals and scout.com to be the #1 prospect in the nation, only finds himself 4th on ESPN.
Not too promising for Michigan in terms of class ranking, I guess I'll just keep using scout and rivals for rating analysis!
Rivals.com caught up with Sharrif after the recent Top Gun camp down in Florida. Although the interview wasn't about any school in particular, Michigan was mentioned and Sharrif stated he would like to visit Michigan, but he doesn't know whether it will be official or unofficial yet.
Check out the video here.
Aramide Olaniyan, a four star outside linebacker from Woodberry Forest (VA) has said he will visit Michigan, despite being a verbal commit to Duke. Olaniyan, who is rated the #9 OLB in scout.com's 2010 class, says he is still committed to Duke, but just wants to be in a position where he knows he made the right choice.
Make sure you check out this interview with Olaniyan on mgoblog here.
It would be great if we could lure a player like Olaniyan to Michigan, where he would likely play a hybrid LB/DE role, much like he does in high school at the moment.
Olaniyan plans to visit with Duke, Michigan, UCLA, and North Carolina, although the date of his visit to Michigan is currently unknown.
I use "word on the street", firstly to sound almost gangsta, but secondly because this is not confirmed information, and Henderson often changes his mind. But anyway...
Seantrel Henderson, the nation's top ranked prospect is reported to have Michigan in his list of top 5 schools, and that UM will get an official visit.
If this news is true, then it is very encouraging to know that even after a 3-9 year we can still get interest from the best recruits. But for him to really consider Michigan I would think the Wolverines would have to have a strong 2009 season, maybe 7-8 wins at least.
The other schools listed were Minnesota, USC, Florida and....Ohio State
Hopefully more to follow on this story shortly.
One of the best players left on Michigan's board is Penn Hills Cornerback Cullen Christian, and its almost certain he will be playing for the Maize and Blue in 2010.
I say "almost certain" because its not 100% garanteed, Cullen says hes only 90% sure he will choose Michigan...! Thats good enough at this stage.
He says Michigan are still recruiting him hard, even after he told them they were his leader.
As mentioned before on a previous post, after Mike Sadler committed to MSU, Will Hagerup is the only punter Michigan are now looking at.
Check out this article from the Detroit Free Post here.
Previously Shaw did not hold an offer from the Wolverines, in fact, they weren't really looking at him at all, despite Shaw being a 4 star cornerback. But with a little help from an Oklahoma commit, Joshua was able to get in contact with UM and now they have offered scout.com's #16 corner.
He already has three official visits set up, and the last two will go to either Michigan, Oklahoma, Tennessee or Penn State. Michigan is like the late arrival in this recruitment, but it looks like we are rising on his list.
From reading interviews with Shaw, it really seems like he is into Michigan, the history of the program, and the future with Coach Rod. I'd actually be a bit surprised if we didn't get an official visit.
Shaw plans to finalize his officials sometime in September, with a committment date around Christmas time. He's also just been invited to the Under Armour All Star Game.
After a long time planning, Ricardo Miller will play his senior season in Michigan for Ann Arbor Pioneer. Miller, who used to play for Orlando Dr Phillips HS is looking forward to playing with his new teammates, and he is particulary interested in their first game of the season, against Devin Gardner's Inkster HS.
Miller and Gardner are good friends and speak often, joking that their respective team will win easily in their first game.
The move will put Miller right next to the Big House, and give him a chance to adapt to the change in weather!
Mike Sadler, scout.com's #2 punter in the nation has committed to....Michigan State. This gives MSU their 3rd committment in the space of a few days, two of them could have ended up at Michigan.
Sadler was keen on Michigan from the start and attended the camp in Ann Arbor but did not earn an offer. So, like Nick Hill, he settles for MSU!
Michigan now rests its punting hopes on Will Hagerup from Whitefish Bay (WI), lets hope we get him.
Note: If you hear anyone saying MSU now owns in-state recruiting, you respond by saying "Devin Gardner"
The September 12th matchup against Notre Dame is important for many reasons. Michigan start off the 2009 campaign with four home games, with the Irish being the hardest test, if Michigan can go 4-0 through that stretch, it could set up a very interesting season for the Wolverines.
However, September 12th will also be a big day for recruiting, as Michigan entertain Florida CB Tony Grimes, LB/S Josh Furman (MD) and 2011 Florida RB Demetrius Hart. Current Michigan commit Tony Drake will also be at the game.
A convincing victory over rivals Notre Dame might just secure a committment from some of these prospects.
Four Star running back Eduardo Clements has recently named Michigan in his top 5 schools, along with Georgia, FSU, Miami and Tennessee. Clements, (who is scout.com #10 RB) has said Michigan will definately get an official visit.
Although Michigan already has two good running back committments from Stephen Hopkins and Austin White, (I'm assuming Tony Drake will be playing Slot Receiver at Michigan) I think they would make room in the class for someone as talented as Clements.
At this point I would say Miami and Georgia are the teams to beat, but definately keep an eye on this guy.
If you have any questions at all based on recruiting, then feel free to pop a question to bensaltz@hotmail.com. Questions can be about anything, like a particular recruit your interested in, the recruiting process in general, 2011 Michigan prospects, basically anything to do with Michigan football!
Answers to questions will be posted in the mailbag each Friday!
Note: On the email, make sure to leave a name and location.
"Kevin A" recently commented about this guy, saying he was one of the strongest players in the country. At first, I didn't have a clue who Quintin Tucker was, so I had to investigate....
He is not rated by either scout.com or rivals.com, which explains why I haven't seen much of him before. When looking at his profile on scout, despite there being no articles, biography or stats on him, one thing did stand out, Scripps Ranch HS (San Diego, CA). He goes to the same school that Tate Forcier did, which explains his interest in Michigan.
Rivals had a bit more information on Tucker, listing him capable of 405lb Squat and 365lb bench press, very impressive. After watching his video, the first thing I noticed was that he was playing DE, despite being listed as a MLB. One thing was certain, he looks like a machine at defensive end, a definate pass rusher. He even made a game-winning stop on one play, well I assume it was game winning the way the team was going crazy afterwards!
Rivals lists his three top schools as Iowa State, Michigan and San Deigo State. Not an impressive list for a guy who clearly has a lot of talent along with the physique to play college ball? The reason for this might be that Tucker missed a lot of his junior season due to CIF transfer rules.
He does not currently hold an offer from the Maize and Blue, but look out for him to have a breakout senior year, and possibly earn an offer to join his former teammate Tate Forcier.
Michigan State picked up their 2nd commit of the week this Saturday as Ohio defensive end Marcus rush chose the spartans.
His final three were Michigan, Michigan State and Virginia. In June, Rush had said that Michigan and Virginia were in front of MSU, but clearly that has changed.
This isn't a big loss for Michigan as we've already picked up a couple of good defensive ends this class, and considering Rush is only a three star, I'm not bothered about losing him, although I'd rather he went to Virginia!
Ifill visited the Michigan campus last Friday and came away very impressed with what the Wolverines have to offer. The four star safety met with Coach Rod and secondary coach Tony Gibson.
During the visit he spoke with academic advisors, went round downtown Ann Arbor and also paid a visit to the Big House. The whole visit went down really well, and although he won't be committing to anyone for a while, it certainly helped Michigan's chances.
A decision will likely come during the season, however he might cut his list down a bit within the next few weeks.
News has been slow today, so let's have a look at how Michigan's current commits compare to the other classes in college football.
Firstly, it could be argued that the 3-9 season has had a pretty big effect on the level of prospects interested in Michigan. Going by the scout.com rankings, only 5 of Michigan's 16 committments are four star prospects, which isn't great compared to the likes of Texas (11 four stars) and Georgia (9 four stars). Michigan currently rank 13th on scout's team rankings, although that could easily change.
Personally, I have a feeling many of Michigan's recruits are underrated, especially Cornelius Jones and Tony Drake, both rated two star prospects....harsh! This is because they weren't big time recruits and no-one knew much about them, so expect those two player to at least earn a third star during their senior seasons.
Good news however, is that we are beating Ohio State at the moment, who lie one place below us in 14th!
Prediction: Michigan end up around 9th-12th
Best Class in the Big ten? : I fancy Penn State to bring in a great class, which has already started very well.
Earlier this week there was a post about Terrance Talbott, now we move onto his brother Terry, a 265lb defensive tackle from Huber Heights (OH). As mentioned before, we badly need a solid DT in this class, and Terry is a three star prospect, like his brother.
The Talbott brothers are seen as a package deal, stating many times that they would like to go to the same college. Terrance earned an offer on his visit this week, and both brothers came away very impressed with Michigan. In fact, they both have Michigan near or at the top of their lists, however they will look to take some more visits before deciding.
Terry's top three schools are currently Michigan, Wisconsin and UCLA, with Michigan a slight leader, however he has yet to visit UCLA.
Make sure you check out this interview with Terry on mgoblog!
