Michigan's hopes of adding another good defensive tackle to the class doesn't just lie with Sharrif Floyd, Michael Thornton also has the Wolverines up on his list.
Thornton is a four star DT from Stone Mountain, GA, with good hands and foot quickness. He is said to fit in well to a 4-3 system. Thought by many to be a Georgia lean, he has recently stated that he will take an official visit up to Ann Arbor this fall.
Palmdale (Calif.) cornerback Joshua Shaw is one of the top corners in the country after having a great summer. He has recently visited Ohio State (his current leader) and Florida on officials. But another Big Ten team will now get an official from the 4 star corner, Michigan.
He will visit Ann Arbor on November 21st when the Wolverines take on Ohio State.
Hollywood Hills, FL Cornerback Tony Grimes has officially set up his visit to Michigan this fall, which will be for the Ohio State game. But where does Michigan stand with the 4 star recruit? And where does it stand with his current teammate Clarence Murphy.
Grimes and Murphy have already decided to go to the same school together, and Michigan is one of a few schools to offer both players. Murphy plays defensive end, and is rated as a 3 star prospect by scout.com.
Murphy was very excited to get the offer from Michigan, and Grimes has recently said that Michigan is number one on his list. UM is in a prime position to lure in these two defensive players, but a decision isn't likely to be made just yet.
Whitefish Bay, WI 's Will Hagerup has committed to the Michigan Wolverines Class of 2010! Hagerup is one of the most highly rated punters in the nation, and the only one to receive an offer from Michigan, which makes it all the more important, as we could have been in trouble without him.
Hagerup is rated as the 4th best punter by scout.com and the 4th best overall kicking specialist by rivals.com.
He attended the Indiana game on the weekend and funnily enough his brother was the punter for Indiana! "It was a great visit, I felt extremely comfortable with all the coaches and people," he said.
Will chose Michigan over Ohio State, Florida and Wisconsin, all of which he had visited in recent months. I thought he was leaning towards Ohio State after watching them play USC, given the atmosphere at that game. But Michigan have had their fair share of excitement this fall, with nail biters against Notre Dame and Indiana.
Once a five star prospect on scout.com, Sean Parker has seen his stock drop slightly over the summer, but all the big programs are still after the California safety.
Parker attended the Notre Dame vs Nevada game, and was impressed with the fighting Irish. His other official visits will be to Washington, Tennessee and Michigan. USC and UCLA are still well in the mix, but due to distance he doesn't want to take an official visit to them.
Despite Parker's short height (5'10), he hits very hard and has good speed, there has been talk of him moving to corner once he gets to college. Parker along with fellow Californian Dietrich Riley are the two best safeties left on Michigan's board, just adding one of them to the class would be a huge achievement.
Pretty average day in terms of recruiting news, but here's a few quick notes:
- The OSU is shaping up to be huge day for recruiting, Michigan could be hosting several 5 and 4 star players such as Seantrel Henderson, Sharrif Floyd, Tony Grimes, Cullen Christian, Joshua Shaw and others. Of those listed, Grimes is the only confirmed one, but others are quite likely.
-Will Hagerup is still meant to be visiting Michigan this weekend, despite some rumors that he would visit for the Penn State game in order to see a better atmosphere. But I think he wants to get the decision done soon, I'm guessing he'll end up with Ohio State and UM will look like fools for not offering Mike Sadler.
John Fulton saw his stock rise during the summer months and the Florida cornerback now finds himself as the #5 CB in the nation. Fulton had previously named a top five that did not include Michigan, however that could change shortly.
Fulton names Michigan and Tennessee as teams that could be thrown into his top 5 at any moment, this just shows you what winning games can do for a team. Fulton watched the Notre Dame game, and was very impressed with Tate Forcier (who wasn't?), and he also admires former Michigan legend Charles Woodson (who got 2 INT's on the weekend).
Fulton talks weekly to Coach Tony Gibson, and the two have a good rapport, which could be key to landing a visit from Fulton after October, when he plans to name the final five schools.
Four Star DE Dominque Easley chose the Penn State Nittany Lions yesterday, making him the second 4 Star DE to commit to JoePa and Co this week, along with C.J Olaniyan.
"I always liked Penn State," Easley told Staten Island Live.Com. "I didn't think I was going to commit, but being out there and talking to everybody made me feel like this was the place."
Both recent commits for Penn State, Easley and Olaniyan were targets of Michigan.
Four star OLB Aramide Olaniyan has officially decommitted from Duke this morning; "I am still very interested in Duke, but I decommitted early this morning," he said. Michigan are well and truly in the race to sign the Virginia prospect, who visited Michigan recently for the Notre Dame match.
Olaniyan will be back in Ann Arbor for an official visit in December, and he could be a wolverine soon after that trip.
Well this is getting spooky? I've predicted all Michigan results perfectly this fall, (I missed the Western Michigan game!) correct winners and scores. Check out today's gameday prediction below.
Tune in next week for the Indiana prediction!!
I probably won't be able to equal last weeks perfect score prediction, but I'll give it a shot!
Eastern Michigan aren't Notre Dame, they don't have that many weapons on offense so I think this will be a much more solid performance from the Michigan secondary, who look to bounce back after a poor week. I fancy Donovan Warren to get a pick as well, to cement himself as a bit of a lockdown corner.
Michigan have an injury on the offensive line, but look for the running game to be sound as usual, Brandon Minor will have 100 yards at least. On offense, Denard Robinson will get a lot more throwing plays, presuming Michigan get off to a good start. Nick Sheridan will probably see some action in the second half as well.
After last weeks heroics against Notre Dame, all I want to see here is a solid game of football, Michigan don't need to be flashy in this one, just get the job done. Do not underestimate Eastern Michigan that much, they came back strongly against Northwestern last week, but still, I can't see Michigan losing this one. Here are some quickfire predictions:
-Brandon Graham to get his first sack, Warren to get first INT of season.
-Brandon Minor to get 150 yards on the ground
-Denard Robinson to account for 2 TD's
Final Score: Michigan 45 - Eastern Michigan 17
Four star safety Josh Furman loved his recent visit to Ann Arbor, and despite planning to announce his decision on Dec 9th at the Crab Bowl, an October decision could be more likely.
Furman was impressed with everything at Michigan, not just the performance on the field vs Notre Dame, and I'm pretty sure Michigan are #1 on his list right now. He wants to visit a couple more schools as well, like Virginia Tech, but if they don't live up to Michigan, then expect Furman to pull the trigger in October/Early November.
Sorry if the title got your hopes up, Aramide Olaniyan hasn't committed to Michigan, instead C.J Olaniyan has gone to Penn State. The four star defensive end chose the Nittany Lions over Michigan and many other top schools including Notre Dame and Oklahoma.
Michigan never really seemed that involved with C.J, even though he plays in the state of Michigan. I can't remember him ever announcing UM as a leader or anything like that. However when speaking only last month (31st August to be precise); “I haven’t started thinking about it,” Olaniyan said. “I should have my top five by the end of September, but right now I really don’t have any favorites.”
So this is surprising that he is committing to Penn State right now, but I guess things can change, and fast.
Its time already folks! Make sure you get on ESPN's Heisman website, where you can vote for the player you think deserves to win the most prestigious award for individuals in college football!
Note that Freshman QB Tate Forcier is already 7th in the voting, and seen as he is the only Michigan player on the leaderboard....you better vote for him!!
Click this link.
Also note who is in 4th place. LB Eric Berry? I thought he was a Safety? And it also says he plays for Wake Forest? Poor show ESPN!
Four Star defensive end Gabe King is hearing a lot from Michigan again, and they could get an official visit this fall, writes Sam Webb in the Detroit News. Michigan needs all the help it can get on the D-Line, and adding a prospect of King's quality would be great for the Wolverines.
Check out the full article here.
Three Star Linebacker Troy Gloster (Olney, Md) says he is almost ready to commit to a school, the big question is which one?
“It'll be sooner rather than later,” said Gloster, who strongly favors West Virginia and Michigan. “I'll probably do it sometime mid-season. It'll be a big relief of stress and pressure to get it out of the way and know where I'll be going to school for the next four to five years.”
Gloster wasn't at the ND game on the weekend, but he was very impressed with the performance, he knows Michigan are a program on the rise again. Tradition is one of the reasons he likes Michigan, the chance to play for the most "winning-est" team of all time is a big opportunity.
Gloster has had a good start to his senior season, racking up 11 tackles, one sack and one fumble caused in two starts, where his team has gone 2-0.
Marvin Robinson committed to Michigan early in the spring but over the last few months he had expressed interest in visiting other schools. However these plans have changed, and the only visits he will take, are to Ann Arbor.
Robinson will travel up north for the Ohio State game, bringing 2011 CB prospect and teammate Sam Rancy with him. Robinson may also go to the Penn State game as well.
The four star safety has been watching Michigan's progress this season, and is impressed with their start to the season. One player he keeps an eye on is senior SS/LB Stevie Brown. Coach Greg Robinson has told Marvin that he is a great fit for the hybrid position Brown currently occupies, so Marvin is already trying to learn before he enrolls early next year.
Individually Robinson has had a great start to the season, wrapping up 25 tackles, one INT and one forced fumble in two games, however his team has struggled badly on offense, and as a result they are 0-2.
No news so far today, but if your bored and have 9-10 minutes spare, check out this hilarious video of a Notre Dame fan before the game last Saturday. I mean it really is funny how pathetic this guy is!
Scout.com's #3 Cornerback in the nation has long announced Michigan at the top of his list, but he paid a visit to Ohio State on the weekend for their game against USC, who didn't? (it seems like every recruit in the country was at that game!)
Cullen was impressed by the visit, and the great atmosphere provided by the Ohio State fans, who were loud for the entire game, well perhaps not when Stafon Johnson marched in untouched for the game winning TD?
But still, Cullen has Michigan as his leader, saying "Michigan is my favorite. I grew up a Michigan fan. They show the most interest." He will visit UCLA officially in the fall, but I can't see him anywhere else but Michigan next season.
Anthony Barr, a five star running back will miss the rest of the season after breaking his ankle during the 2nd game of the season. Teammates and coaches had hoped it would just be a high ankle sprain, but results from tests showed a break.
This is obviously terrible news for an extremely talented player, Barr was ranked as the 5th best running back in the nation by scout.com, and the 2nd best Athlete on rivals.com. As far as his recruiting goes, this could certainly shake things up. Last year Safety Vladimir Emillen suffered a bad injury but Michigan stuck with him, and he ended up signing for UM.
Barr has a top five of USC, ND, UCLA, Cal and UM, and I wonder whether a program like USC, who have endless amounts of NFL quality RB's at their disposal, would still go after a player in Barr's situation, missing virtually all of his senior year. Barr can play both sides of the ball though, and I believe Greg Robinson (UM D Co-ordinator) has been recruiting Barr well to maybe play defense at Michigan.
We wish Barr a swift recovery, and I'm sure this won't hurt his prospects of playing at a top football school in the future.
Four star cornerback Tony Grimes will start to set some officials soon, the Florida recruit had previously named Michigan at the top of his list, but now claims no leader. He will set up visits for Michigan and Ole Miss in the next few days/weeks.
He was trying to get up to Ann Arbor for the Notre Dame match, which would have been a great one for him to watch, but unfortunately he couldn't make it.
I'm a big fan of Grimes, he plays physical all the times, but has good ball skills, taking five interceptions last year as a junior.
The only Punter to be offered by Michigan this year unfortunately was "blown away" by a visit to Ohio State on Saturday, despite the Buckeyes' 18-15 loss to USC.
Hagerup still has to visit UM and Florida, and will make his final decision shortly afterwards, but he came away very impressed with OSU, saying it couldn't of gone much better.
The big game atmosphere is something that Ohio State will get the edge on because when Hagerup visits Michigan, they will be playing Indiana, probably the worst team in the big ten?
Aramide Olaniyan was in Ann Arbor for the game this weekend, and the visit exceeded all expectations he had. He will be coming back for an official visit in December, but the four star outside linebacker came away very pleased with Michigan.
He wants to talk things over with his parents, who will be with him for the official in December, but given Michigan's reputation for good academics and football, I doubt his parents would have many objections!
MGoBlog caught up Aramide after the game, and you can find some quotes from that talk here.
Well, Adam Rittenberg eat your heart out! If you scroll down on this blog you will see my gameday predictions. Ok, most of them aren't right, but the main one is....UM 38, ND 34. So I predicted exactly the result of Saturday's thriller in Ann Arbor.
I was watching the game in the airport, but my flight was called about half way through the 3rd quarter, when Michigan lead 24-20. It was a nervous eight hour flight home, but I was relieved to see that Michigan won.
It really is a great start to the season, Michigan will likely start off 4-0 now, and with MSU losing to Central Michigan, I'm not so worried about that trip to East Lansing.
Here's what I noticed from the first half of the game; they need to give D Robinson more passing chances, otherwise teams just know whats coming. Forcier looked good again, I heard he threw a pick later on, but Greg Matthews has said that was his fault. Brandon Minor looked good, as did Kevin Koger. The secondary looked pretty dodgy, the coverage was too loose at times, I know ND have a great passing attack, but Cissoko certainly gave his man too much room.
But alas, back to recruiting, as this is a recruiting based blog....
There were stacks of visitors at the game this weekend, including Dior Mathis for the 2nd straight week, I was certainly wrong when I dismissed UM's chances with him a couple of months ago! He's watched two good games in Michigan, one a comfortable win, and the other a thriller! Aramide Olaniyan and Josh Furman were also in attendance amongst about 20 others as well as committed prospects such as Ricardo Miller, who has been recruiting Furman for a while!
No commitments have happened since the game, but I'm sure the results would boost UM chances with most recruits very slightly!
