Thursday 16 June 2011

Quick Notes

- Jordan Diamond was on campus yesterday, and could be back in Ann Arbor over the weekend. This would give him a good chance to meet Andrus Peat, another elite OL prospect who should be around on Saturday.

- Unfortunately these guys won't get to meet Adolphus Washington, who is postponing his Michigan visit for the mean time. Don't worry about Dwayne Stanford though, he'll still be there this weekend.

- Eric Olson could announce his college decision at any time now, and Michigan is thought to be right up there on his list. A decision should be coming before July 4th, so keep an eye out for this one.

- Jarrod Wilson is another guy who could pull the trigger any day now. He's visited his top three of Michigan, ND and Penn State, and according to his coach Ricky Powers, has all the information needed to make a decision. Given the way UM appeared to cool on silent commit Wayne Morgan, and Armani Reeves, you'd think UM were fairly confident about landing Wilson. Also, with Ricky Powers a former UM player, I think Michigan is probably the favorite here, and I'd be pretty surprised if he ended up elsewhere.


61 comments:

  1. Thanks for the updates.

    As for Wilson, I can't imagine it's not either MI all the way, or down to MI and ND.

    I never underestimate the appeal of the golden dome.

    Great school, tradition, and further along with the rebuild.

    He really wins either way. But even if he had them otherwise equal in all categories except early playing time opportunity, we all know what that means.....

    They simply cannot offer him the opportunity to play, let alone play for a guy like GM.

    As for Peat, I think his brother, a DL with whom he is very close, being at Neb carries some weight.

    Opportunity to play early for a team that recently sent a LT to the NFL as the overall number one pick in the draft will also carry some weight.

    This may end up being a case where missing out on a guy like Jake Fisher helps out a year later. Turns out Fisher was probably really impressed with the free rental car program at OR!!!!

    I bet we make Peats top 5, which is all we should really hope for at this point. And, if Diamond commits soon, and they meet and hit it off this weekend, you never know...But we won't know for a long time.

    Peat is smart, and being advised well by his dad, according to quotes attributed to them.

    They will assume that every program in the country will either hold open, or make a spot for him, and they are correct.

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  2. More OL visitors. Blake Bars from Tennessee will be here this weekend, and Chris Muller from PA. Should be a good solid recruiting weekend!

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  4. On a Buckeye note, the implosion continues:

    In addition to our taking Richardson, Ross and Strobel (and likely others to follow)

    We have
    Dodson to Wisconsin

    and now JaQuay Williams a lifeling Buckeye fan from Pitt as chosen Auburn and

    2011 Commit Ejuan Price has asked to be released.

    I expect more fall out as this unfolds and wouldn't be totally surprised to see other 2011 commits request a release.

    Many are really wanting Meyer to come out of retirement believing that he can turn things around..... This story will likely not unfold until the end of this coming season.

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  5. Blue Marrow, you are speaking my language. I have a hard time understanding how Kelly could have taken more than a dozen DB's since January '10 could still be in with Reeves and Wilson. We have quite a few, but are expecting attrition. Peat giving us a visit makes a huge difference, and of all the top programs he'll visit, ours has the benefit of RR taking only 3 OL in the last 2 classes. There's room for him, whereas Alabama takes too many players, none of whom were Jake Long. Chris Muller, Blake Bars, Andrus Peat, Jordan Simmons, and many of our current commits in this weekend? TomVH wasn't kidding, this could be a good month.

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  6. Urban Meyer is just a pipe dream. Those buckeye slappies are hanging all their hopes on that rumor thinking that osu will possibly only have this season as a down year and are expecting to return to their "winning" ways next year. They're so completely naive and clueless that I almost feel sorry for them. How they expect to achieve the results of the past decade without being able to pay their players, while on probation with scholarship reductions, attrition, and who knows what else is beyond me. Why would Meyer want to trudge into that kind of muck? That school will be lucky to get their 10th choice for head coach.

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  7. Yup. If he wanted to coach football he would still be coaching in the recruit hotbed that is Florida where the beaches are white, the weather is warm, and he is worshiped as a God. If he couldn't handle the stress of coaching in Florida, he'd keel over in a month under the weight of sanctions and deranged lunacy of the fanbase in C'bus.

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  8. Blue, Is it confirmed that Fisher received inproper benefits from the Ducks?

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  9. Does anybody know if the website 5th. Quarter is a good site for info?

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  10. @Jer
    I believe it has some good info but that's just my opinion.

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  11. Jer89 - 5Q is not bad. I look at their ranking info which I don't think is actually formulated. It appears to be a consensus of other rankings. They seen to report "news" the next day. It's a good rehash read.

    Michael & Jay - you have got to start reading 247 Ohio State.....they are not a delussional fan base. They are clearly being picked on by the NCAA and really have done nothing wrong. Having said that, it's no wonder that everybody who is anybody in the coaching world would want to coach there.

    I don't know how many posters we have in Benji's World but I love the intelligent conversation and sometimes grown up debate. We've had very few trash talk posts here. Any that we have had are generally met with criticism by the majority. This keeps up, I'll have to ask some of you to come drink some of my beer on September 3rd.

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  12. Funny thing about 247 TSIO is they pretty much ALL say the best thing about Tressel getting fired is the OC will finally get fired too. They are so mad about how porous their OLine is and say no pocket qb in their right mind would ever go there. I can't wait to introduce their new qb to our new front 7 this fall. :o)

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  13. Boards lighting up over there right now....."Urban Meyer will never coach at tOSU". I'm sure it's because he's evil or something like that. Whoever they get will be the best ever though. What I love about their board is that as long as someone seemingly does something they approve of or want, they are God like but snub Bucknuts world in any way and you are the new Dr. Evil. I can only hope that most of the posters are not Alumni......if they were, it would speak volumes of their acadamic standings.

    For what it's worth, I am not UofM Alum....wish I was!!!!

    Go Blue

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  14. GoBlueNorth,

    That was sarcasm, right? The 247 Ohio State is actually where I lurk to get their feelings about osu related news. They're obsessed with Meyer and truly believe he's their savior. The new investigation in Florida concerning osu paying for recruits is freaking them out but most of the posts are VIP so I'm unable to read them.

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  15. Jay,

    There's a new post on there "Big Head Coaching Nugget Coming In Today's Boarding House". If you read some of the comments that can be seen, it appeasr that Meyer has said he's not interested. BTW......Sarcasm....Me, that hurts Jay, that really hurts!!! My wife is home, she's taking my computer away!!!! She is Alum, you think she'd understand!!!!

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  16. Why is she taking the computer? There's new dirt on osu every day it seems. She can't deny you that. I can't stop reading about their haplessness. Pleasure overload!

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  17. She thinks we need time together......I just ran back in the house for BBQ tools....oh my got....she's co

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  18. Jay and Davon and the rest of you. Ever since Benji got this damn site going.....I don't know who you think you are but my husband is neglecting me and my dinner wasn't ready when I got home from work....leave him alone....wait, he's getting back up!!!

    signed
    GoBlueNorth's wife

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  19. You know how you can tell it's the offseason?

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  20. Shouldn't the wife be making the dinner once GoBlue North gets home? Lol Sometimes a guy needs some time to express his opinions on sports blogs everywhere!!

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  21. Just FYI Jordan Diamond Received his 5th star from Scout today. If we get him and Peat to commit to the blue we will have two 5 stars in the fold. GO BLUE!!!

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  22. Jer89:

    I was just kidding!!!

    But, I don't think it's a stretch to assume that NCAA duck hunting season is open, in full force.

    No gloating.

    Just the facts, mam, just the facts....

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  23. Please tell me UM is not trying to land Ron Thompson anymore! UM does not need another TE they need O and D line men more.

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  24. Apparently, Thompson may be back in the running for a spot. One of our current TE commits may move to OL down the road so it kind of makes sense. With a class of 25-26, I believe there's room for him. Plus he's a 4* prospect ranked 5th in the nation at TE according to Scout. Sign him up.

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  25. I agree with you but we have other needs and the other service don't agree with that four star rating. Whatever our coaches decide to do I am behind them 100%.

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  26. Benji, With all these top olinemen visiting UM do you think UM should hold more then a couple of scholarships for top recriuts that want to wait to commit?

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  27. Rivals hasn't even ranked Thompson yet, and ESPN rankings kinda suck because all they go off of is old film (no in-person scouting). I'll take these guys:

    Thompson TE
    Stanford WR
    Diamond OL
    Pipkins DL
    Wormley DL
    Washington DL
    Wilson S

    That's 7 spots which brings this class to 23. Add a QB, RB and/or another OL and we're looking at 25-26 which is where this class is projected to end up.

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  28. take less from his rankings and more from the fact that he does not have good offers outside of us. because of that, and the fact that he already burned us once, isn't he the type of prospect who we wait and see what happens with the rest of our class before accepting a commitment from.

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  29. I think the strategy might be to accept almost any prospect with talent from the state of Michigan regardless of need. They are trying to re-establish their recruiting base and the last thing they want is for talented recruits from the area to be walking around talking about how they were spurned by Michigan. I think it will be this way for the next couple of years while they repair the damage that was done in the RR era. They want all of the local prospects to know that they are open for business again....so to speak.

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  30. Did you see that OSU maybe looking into hiring PI to follow OSU players. I think this is a great idea for OSU only. Good luck getting kids to come there to be spied on. I quess they will be called Spy U fromthen on.

    GoBlue,
    I think UM has done a great job of getting local talent from Michigan. Just don't tell me that UM should take a player that did not want to go there because he could'nt get a better offer just because he is from Michigan.If UM can take a 4 or 5 star O or D linemen they should take them not a third TE.

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  31. I totally agree. I just think that might be their strategy since they are still considering Thompson.

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  32. I wonder if they're thinking of hooking Thompson as a WR (he is described as a TE/WR tweener). As for rankings could he be getting overlooked because he hasn't been playing ball all that long. I trust our coaches and maybe they want to sew up the state.

    Getting Thompson would give us:
    8 of the top 10 in state - ESPN
    7 of the top 10 in state - Scout
    Both of which Thompson made

    Not even in the picture on Rivals

    I hate blind trust and given where we stand with schollies, this might not be my choice. Having said that we need a WR and have no guarantees (Burbridge has work to do and I am becoming more skeptical of Stanford and Washington).

    I guess all I'm saying is we need to assume that the coaches know more than we all do about this kid and our needs.

    Damn.....there goes that Blind Trust again!!!

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  33. Just another quick question out there to all of you. There is talk that if we take 26 this year we might limit ourselves to alot fewer next year. I've heard as few as 15-17. It's being said that the 2013 class is going to have a great deal of talent and depth. If this is the case, your thoughts and not eating up all 26 scholarships.

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  34. Michigan just offered Norcross (Ga.) WR Jason Croom today. He's a 4* with a ton of offers.

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  35. New coach with different offensive and defensive systems than his predecessor so he needs to get as much of his type of player that fits the schemes in as soon as possible. So I'm all for taking a bunch of commits this class. Also the mystique of a new coach I'm sure is helping with recruiting, so he should take advantage while he can. There's no guarantee that Michigan will get better in the short term.

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  36. Next year we can still count on 1 at each position, plus a few extra skill players on offense. If my numbers are right then even if we take 6 OLinemen for 2012 we'll still only have 13 on scholarship for 2013 so we could reasonably take 3 or 4 more linemen next year, I wouldn't be surprised if we took 2 TEs, 3 RBs, and 3 WRs next year as well depending on how the expected attrition plays out. Our extra DEs this year will likely move around so depending on how many move back to OLB or in to DT we could take an extra 1 DT or 1 LB, or maybe 2 Safeties and 1 Corner. 1Shane, 4 OL, 2TE, 3RB, 3WR, 1DT, 1DE, 1LB, 2S, and 1CB = 19 which we have yet to reach this year. Scaled back to 3 OL and 1 less ball handler and lose 1 extra defender and the class is down to 16 which our 2012 class is at right now.

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  37. 1. Thompson is a beast and has the potential to do for MI what Mike Williams did for USC.

    2. All schollies will be filled. Some people seem to forget that some verbals will sign elsewhere if their position suddenly becomes crowded with 4 and 5 star commits. Nice problem to have.

    3. Don't worry about until MI running out of spots, unless you are a recruit. Thats the message they are sending.

    4. Real Michigan men know when they visit. Real team players commit as soon as they know. They stop wasting the staffs time, and start recruiting for THE TEAM.

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  38. @BlueMarrow I like the comment and I agree. GO BLUE!!

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  39. Thanks for your views guys. I'm all for taking everything we can get this year......on this note I agree with Jay. I think that next year, the coaches are far more selective with their offers.....we won't have 170 offers out there. Michael, I agree that next year we may find ourselves focusing on skill positions a little more. BlueMarrow, I don't know that Thompson is a beast....what I do like about him is that with the little exposure he's had(second year playing ball), he is ranked fairly well and with the coaching we have, we may be able to turn him into a beast. I agree that only the recruits need to worry about us running out of schollies. But I just can't agree with number 4. These kids have to visit open minded and without Maize and Blue glasses on. They are making a life choice that is more than just about a winged helmet. I don't begrudge them taking their time and looking around. When they do commit, there should be no question that they are Wolverines. The other issue is that some of these kids feel in their heart that they want to be "Michigan Men", but there are parents and HS coaches overseeing their decision making.

    Phil

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  40. Amen bluemarrow, expecialy #3. I absolutly love that we're filling up fast. Hope it goes this way every year, let's recruits know if you wanna play for UofM better sign up when you can!! Can't wait for football season, detroits going to kill it this year as well!! Go Michigan!! Lol

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  41. @ gobluenorth. You say he's not a beast but he's highly raited for only playing two years? I'd say if you only play two years and earn a 4* that's pretty damn good. I could be wrong but I don't think any TE earned a 5th star. And I do think they will send out alot of offers next year, you can't just offer the top players in the nation and hope you get em all!! We sent out 170 offers and have a top 10 class at the moment. What's the problem with that?

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  42. I sure Thompson will be a good player. I just don't think UM needs a 3rd. TE and I do know one of the other guys that commited may turn into a Olinemen. But there is no shortage of Olinemen that want to come to UM so why try to turn a TE into a linemen when you can sign one that is already a Olinemen?And UM took a pretty good TE last year in Barnett.So unless UM will be playing 2 TE on everyplay you don't need that many.

    Next years class will be smaller so coaches will have to be sure on who they want to offer. They will go after curtain player and curtain needs. Like WR and RB.

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  43. I agree with that. But Morris coming nxt year we're going to have the upper hand on some of them skilled players. And there's no telling how many spots we will have next year, that would be purely speculation, even by the coaching staff! Even if there was a set number it'll still change by this time next year.

    Morris was one of the elite qbs this year with Kiel & pike (beating pike out) I'd guess he'll be a 5* in 2013. If that were true we could fill the class fast, and land another top 10 class easily!! Expecialy if we land a highly recruited WR & RB! And with all that being said I wouldn't hold out for to many recruits next year or any year! We wouldn't have to. Top prospects commit to THEIR team early all the time. I wouldn't gamble on waiting to fill the class at the end of the year with all the top prospects that won't make up there mind, and I don't think our coaching staff will either. Or at least I hope they won't!!

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  44. Smokey,

    Just saying we have an awful lot of offers out there. Quite a few more than OSU and a little more that MSU and ND. Not suggesting for a minute that we offer 4 and 5 stars only. I just think the coaches will hold back a bit and not throw a net out. They'll do the 4 and 5 stars but they'll find those diamonds in the rough too. As for Thompson.....I trust the coaches....they see something there. He's local so they probably have eyes right on him. Rankings aside, he is only a 4 star on Scouts. He's not rated at all on Rivals and is a 3 star on ESPN.

    Do you think they might look at him as a WR?

    I agree with your comment on Morris....have to think some good prospects will want to play with him. Also agree that many top prospects commit early. Just don't agree that if a kid doesn't commit right away......he might not be a Michigan Man as was indicated earlier on this post.

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  45. I'm all for holding 3-4 scollys till the end, but if we can fill a class early with good talent I have no problem with that. I'd like to see that be a trend in the future, fill up fast & heavy!! But I'm not saying take whoever will come, make sure you like what you see, which I'm sure they do..you look at espn class rankings and all the top 10 classes look very similar. If they don't pull off a top 10 class then I might doubt the strategy, but as if now couldn't ask for anything better.

    Benji. On the class ranking poll I noticed it only goes to 15. Am I to assume that we are gaurenteed a top 15 class? Lol

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  46. Our top story tonight: sparty doesn't have any new commits either - Andrus Peat gives Michigan fans a shout out preceding his Fathers Day visit to Ann Arbor.

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  47. Sevon Pittman to MSU that was out of nowhere ..and to think he wanted to sign with us a few weeks ago...This is what happens when we hold out and wait for a bigger fish that we may not even get

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  48. Woo- hoo, get scared Pittman to Mswho. Screw EL & the rest of their fans. Hoke & Co. know what they are doing. Long ways to go before NSD.

    In the end run, the class is going to be beyond solid !

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  49. I can't believe this. This came out of know where. I hope he likes looking up at BIG BROTHER?

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  50. Why do people think Pittman going sparty is a big deal? A coach slowing on a recruit is the nicest way they can say nevermind. If Hoke didn't want him after all then why is anybody worried? I totally expected him to go to another school after Hoke slowed him up. Besides it will be fun for sparty if they actually keep Pittman, and land Burbridge and Thompson and then have to wait with baited breath to see if they qualify or crap out.

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  51. It is a big deal the kid is a good player.If UM loses a player I perfer it be to a non Big ten or Sec team.The wac would be best LOL. Know I would like to say congrats to MSU and Pittman I say that so I don't sound like OSU and MSU fans.

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  52. Dude we didn't lose a good player. He would've been good in this class if he had committed before Pharoah and Strobel but he was too late. He may be a good athlete but the coaches backed him off because they have even better kids to consider, better on the field, and more likely to actually make the class academically. People thought he was a lock for this class once we heard he was commit ready, but I don't know why people STILL thought he was a lock when the coaches held him up. At that point it was over.

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  53. Jesus christ people. Pittman going to MSU isn't the end of the world. Michigan isn't going to get everyone you want.

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  54. I have heard that QB Maty Maulk will be making his decision soon. Will Kiel make his decision before incase they pick the same school?

    And does anybody know how Stanfords or any of the other players weekend visit went?

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  55. Stanford did not come he is rescheduling because he wants to come up with Washington. This is a good thing. Michigan set the bar High today with Peat per his twitter. Many of the lineman came away impressed this weekend. No word as of yet what kind of timeline we are looking at for these recruits yet. Everyone needs to relax things happen during recruiting and it is still early on. Michigan fans are getting spoiled lately. LOL

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  56. Pittman is a loss but not the end of the world. We still have Wormley and Washington as possibles. We really do need to land at least one of these but both would be ideal. All the best to Se'von. We can't and won't win them all.

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  57. Hoke didn't want Pittman. He tried to commit last week and hoke said he would have to wait.

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  58. David,

    I've read that in several places.....have you got a link to the actual story or how do we know this?
    Thanks
    Phil

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  59. Ha you really do have to just laugh at the MSU fans. They get one 4 star commit and they think they're headed for a NC. Some of the posters on RCMB actually believe Dantonio is building a major powerhouse over there. LOL!

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