Thursday 29 December 2011

DeAnthony Arnett Update

The news has broke, and it looks like there is major problem with any potential Arnett to Michigan talks; Derek Dooley and Tennessee won't let him join a BCS team in the state of Michigan, which is beyond a joke really.

His father is seriously ill, so he should be close to him. Why not let him be close to his father as well as allowing him to live out his potential at a decent football school? Its completely unfair because Arnett cannot afford to pay his own way at UM or MSU, so unless Tennessee changes their tune, he'll have to play for Western/Eastern/Central Michigan, I think?

We're not even playing Tennessee in the future, and seen as we're good and they're...not good, we're unlikely to meet them in a bowl in the next 3-4 years. In these circumstances, he should be allowed to transfer to any school.

McNamara to Oklahoma

Tight End Taylor McNamara committed to Oklahoma today, which is actually very good news for Michigan. McNamara dropped UM when he decided to visit California instead about a month ago, so we had no chance with him anyway.

His commitment to Oklahoma is good though, because it may discourage Sam Grant from visiting the Sooners, who recently offered the Ohio prospect. Who knows, maybe even Oklahoma is full at TE now (I don't know much about their class/depth chart), in which case Michigan has one less competitor.

Arnett to transfer

2011 ESPN 150 wide receiver DeAnthony Arnett is apparently transferring from Tennessee, due to the illness of his father and the firing of the Vols' WR coach, according to this article.

The illness of his father is a very tough thing for Arnett to go through, so its understandable why he probably wants to play college football in his home state. If he does transfer, he'll probably seek a waiver from the NCAA so that he doesn't have to sit out a year.

Michigan won't take another receiver from the 2012 class, the whole Monty Madaris thing is a dead end. But a player as talented as Arnett might just interest Brady Hoke if the Wolverines have one spot left in the class towards the end. This is definitely something to keep an eye on.

Saturday 24 December 2011

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of you, and a happy new year too! Thank you for reading this blog, and commenting on posts etc, I really do appreciate it.

I won't have internet access for my laptop over the next few days, so I won't be able to post anything. I doubt any big recruiting news will happen, but just in case you can follow me on Twitter here, where I'll be able to tweet from my phone!

Happy Holidays!

The MGoRecruit Team

Wednesday 21 December 2011

Commitment Profile: Jehu Chesson


Name: Jehu Chesson

Location: Ladue, MO

Position: WR

Ratings: ESPN – 3* (79), Scout – 3*, 247 Sports - 3*

Recruitment: Chesson was a Michigan visitor in summer and came away impressed, but we didn’t hear too much about him until his official visit to UM for the Ohio State game. He was rumoured to be very high on Michigan after that game, but kept his word to visit Iowa a couple weeks later. The Hawkeyes visit was good, but not good enough to leapfrog UM, so he committed to the Wolverines a few days later. Northwestern was also in the final three.

Offers: Michigan, Iowa, Northwestern, Oklahoma State, Illinois, Missouri, UCLA, plus non BCS offers.

Stats: Currently stands at 6’2.5 and around 180lbs, with no reported 40 yard dash time (he’s probably a 4.4 – 4.5 guy). As a junior he racked up 605 yard receiving with 11 TDs. (Snr year stats to follow)

ESPN Analysis: Chesson has good size to go along with some surprising strength and decent speed. Can play either slot or wideout, and gets off the LOS and into his routes quickly and smoothly. He can be a vertical threat with his speed and height, but we’re not convinced he has elite speed to burn the better corners at the college level.
One of his best assets is his ability to adjust to the ball and make spectacular grabs. He can really bail out a QB if the throw is off target, often making acrobatic catches in traffic. He needs to improve his intermediate routes, but does well on option routes against zone coverage.
Overall is a good BCS caliber prospect who could develop into a top receiver given his upside (height, decent speed, good hands).

Improvements: Route running is something to be worked on, as he apparently drifts on hitches and curls.

Film Highlights: Link here.

Final Thoughts: With Chesson’s commitment, Michigan now has their two wide receivers for this class; and both are guys that might not have elite ratings, but both posses good upside. For those who are moaning about why we don’t get elite WR prospects, just remember that Justin Blackmon came to OKST a similar size to both our current commit, AND he was rated lower! Just something to keep in mind!

At Michigan, Chesson will certainly get his chance to play early because Michigan lacks WR depth, and it’s a relatively easy position to play as a freshman, as long as you know how to block! 

As for the rest of the class, this won’t have a great effect, because we’ve forecasted this for a while now, and so to have the Michigan coaches (I’m guessing?). It does mean that Monty Madaris won’t visit though. UM shouldn’t take another WR unless Dorial Green Beckham comes calling, and the odds of that happening are 0.000000000000000000001%

Tuesday 20 December 2011

Ohio St Sanctions

Yeah so OSU got hit with a one year bowl ban, and more scholarship reductions.

I really hope Meyer was telling recruits that they won't get extra sanctions, because now that could come back to haunt him.

For the record, Brionte Dunn is sticking with OSU, despite the bowl ban.

Chesson Decision + Dan Gibbs update

Firstly, the big news this week will be the announcement of WR Jehu Chesson, who is expected to make his collegiate decision tomorrow. Michigan fans are optimistic, as they should be, you'd figure that UM wins a recruiting battle against Iowa and Northwestern! Plus there is a great opportunity for Chesson to play early, UM loses Odoms and Hemingway after the bowl, so playing time is up for grabs. PLUS, Chesson knows he's guaranteed to have a high caliber QB throwing him the ball throughout his UM career.

In other news, in state offensive lineman Dan Gibbs will take an official visit to Michigan soon. He's a three star prospect on some sites, and a very smart guy (considering Penn and Dartmouth), so he'd probably be a good fit at Michigan. If he gets offered, it could end his recruitment right then, if not, maybe he'll get a preferred walk on spot. I'd imagine Michigan will wait until they know where they stand with the likes of Kozan, Garnett, Diamond etc before offering Gibbs.


Monday 19 December 2011

Weekend Updates

I've gone back home for the holidays, so I've been busy lately; let's catch up on some recruiting news!

- Jehu Chesson visited Iowa yesterday and will decide sometime this week. He'll talk it over with family/coaches etc and Michigan should be the choice. It seems like he had a good time at Iowa, but I don't think it will be enough to pass up the opportunity at Michigan.

- Yuri Wright visited Notre Dame, and Michigan is up next for him in mid January. Firstly though he has the Army All American game.

- Michigan is in a good position for Armani Reeves still, but the fact is that he remains a Penn State commitment, and his decision will largely come down to who their new head coach is. Usually in this situation the recruit wants the new coach to be someone already on the staff, because they have a relationship already, so if Penn State hires externally, and assuming its not Urban Meyer (jokes!), I think we'll get him.

- Speaking of Urban Meyer, he just landed a commitment from Noah Spence, the number four player in the nation....wow. I know we're not meant to get carried away with all this recruiting hype around OSU, but look at their current DL recruiting class: Spence, Washington, Pittman, Schutt. There are some monsters right there, so just be thankful that we have the best OL class in the country: Stacey, Bars, Braden, Magnuson, Kalis + one more in the future!

- Josh Garnett has named a final three of Michigan, Notre Dame and Stanford. It's surprising that Washington didn't make the cut, as he's been a frequent visitor to them and of course they're the in state school. Stanford are the favorites in my book, they've got great academics, he's already visited them once before, and he's still got his official there to come.

Thursday 15 December 2011

Quick Hitters

- Now that Brionte Dunn is off the board, Michigan has gone after David Perkins (South Bend, IN). He's originally from Michigan, but moved to South Bend and ended up as a Notre Dame commit. He decommitted from the Irish and is looking around. Michigan is now in the running to get an official visit, which is obviously vital as they are playing catch up to a bunch of other schools. Perkins is considered a linebacker by most, but Michigan wants him as a running back.

- Armani Reeves had an in home visit with Michigan coaches this week, and Sam Webb continues to say that Michigan is in a good position. He'll set up a visit soon which could seal things for UM.

- Everyone keeps asking about Josh Garnett, so I'll say this: I think Alex Kozan is a much more likely option. Whilst Garnett rated his Michigan visit very highly, I think he'll end up closer to home at somewhere like Stanford or Washington. Maybe Stanford because of his academic focus.

Tuesday 13 December 2011

Commenting on the blog

It seems like a few Ohio St fans have been exploiting the new settings of 'anyone can comment', and this doesn't sit well with me :P Therefore I've changed it back to the old settings where you have to have an account to post.

Ohio St fans: Just remember, 40-34 and 58–43–6. Those are key numbers! You can brag all you want about your win streak, I'm sure I would have done the same had I been around for Michigan's  NINE game winning streak, but in the end, the only thing that matters is the last game, and the overall record. The last game shows who has the current bragging rights, and the overall record shows which program is winning the rivalry.

Screw the last post


BillBankGreene Bill Greene
RT @ScoutRecruiting Dunn Reaffirms To Buckeyes

As this tweet says, Brionte Dunn will be a Buckeye.

I literally just posted something about how Dunn and Kozan would shape the rest of the class with their decision timetables, but now that is mute.

Our most likely final five will be Chesson, Grant, Reeves, Kozan and Wright. (Pretty darn good)

Plus we're going super hard after Ty Issac now for sure! This development with Dunn hurts, but got to be positive and look to the future!

The Key Recruits

There's five spots left, but the class is still somewhat hard to predict because of two recruits; Brionte Dunn and Alex Kozan.

Firstly, let's look at who we have a realistic shot with (in my view): Alex Kozan, Brionte Dunn, Yuri Wright, Jehu Chesson, Armani Reeves, Sam Grant. (If Grant stays with BC, Michigan will go after J.P Holtz).

Right now I think we'll end up with Chesson, Reeves and Grant; we are in a very good position for all three. Chesson is deciding probably within a week, and Grant could decide at any moment. If Armani Reeves visits in the next two weeks, he could also pull the trigger soon. After this it gets interesting:

- Michigan really wants a 6th offensive lineman because our depth is so bad, therefore if Kozan wants to commit, they'll take him and be left with one spot between Dunn and Wright, which is not ideal. Given that Yuri Wright is taking official visits up until the last week of January, its looking like Michigan won't have room for him in the class, presuming Dunn is already on board.

- Speaking of Dunn; now that he's not enrolling early, he's delayed his visit to Michigan. He's now got plenty of time to pick out a date in January, and if he picks it 2-3 weeks in advance, you can bet the likes of Kyle Kalis/other Ohio commits will try to make it in too.

So to conclude: Kozan is likely to decide before Dunn, and Dunn is likely to decide before Wright. Which means the only way Dunn and Wright end up in the class together is if Kozan goes elsewhere and Michigan can't find another offensive lineman.

We're not completely out of it for Garnett and Diamond, although personally I don't like our chances with either right now. However if Kozan does in fact commit elsewhere, Michigan could make a last ditch attempt during signing week for both these guys, even if it means leaving out Wright.

Sixth OL > Third CB


Hope this makes sense!

Sunday 11 December 2011

Quick Dunn Update (Updated)

TrieuA Allen Trieu
According to @BillBankGreene Canton Glenoak (Ohio) RB Brionte Dunn will take his official visit to #Michigan next weekend.

This is good news for us, as some (myself included) had concerns that Dunn might shore up his OSU commitment this weekend whilst on his official there. At least now Michigan will get another major shot to land him.

UPDATE: Brionte Dunn will not be enrolling early. This means the saga is likely to go on until late January/Signing Day. This will give him more time to build a relationship with Ohio State's 2nd coaching staff, but it also means he'll get to see Michigan on the national stage in the Sugar Bowl. The key event is still this weekend though with his official to UM.

Friday 9 December 2011

Who should win the Heisman?

This year's Heisman trophy race is a really close call, so I thought it would be interesting to see what you guys think. On the right of the blog is a poll, vote away!

Personally I think Monte Ball should win it, based on his insane stats. He's a touchdown machine, and he's done it against some pretty good defenses too. This may sound harsh, but I just hope Trent Richardson doesn't win it, because if he does it'll show how truly bias the media is to the SEC.
Monte Ball has superior numbers in pretty much every rushing statistic; he's even thrown a touchdown pass! When Richardson has played teams with traditionally good defenses, like Penn St and LSU, he's averaged 4.3YPA and 3.9YPA respectively. Whereas Monte Ball torched the PSU defense for 156 yards and 3TDs at 6.2YPA. Alright Penn St might have been a worse team at that stage in the season, but its a considerable jump in performance nonetheless. Ball also rushed for 100+ yards at over 5.0YPA against Michigan State....twice, and the Spartans had a pretty good D this year. So yeah, that's why I don't think Richardson should win, but he probably will because the media think "oh, I'll take the SEC guy because SEC defenses are sooooooo fast and sooooo physical!!!!".

In choosing between the quarterbacks, its really a toss up with RG3 and Luck. I think RG3 has better numbers, but you have to give Luck credit for basically running his own offense, making calls at the line of scrimmage etc, it's impressive to watch in college. Neither of them have a great supporting cast, so perhaps one of them should win, given they were most valuable to their team.

The wildcard entry is Tyrann Mathieu, a defensive back out of LSU. Its kind of cool to say that the only defensive Heisman winner came from Michigan, and I don't really want that to change. The honey badger only has two interceptions this year, and I don't even think he's that good of a cover corner - isn't Claiborne their best cover guy? Mathieu does have the big play ability though, forcing fumbles and returning punts.
I don't see him winning it, although he'll have a great chance next year as a junior...

This weekend - officials here and elsewhere (Edited)

Should be a pretty important weekend for Michigan recruiting, especially if you want us to land a certain running back from Ohio...

- Brionte Dunn is visiting Ohio State this weekend, officially. The Buckeyes are rumored to have a slight advantage over Michigan in the race to sign Dunn, and there's a legitimate chance of Dunn shoring up his commitment to the Buckeyes this weekend. Urban Meyer will tell him that the NCAA won't penalize them further (probably true) and that Brionte will have great success in Meyer's offense (definitely not true). But still, if the pitch works, this hold saga could be over by tomorrow evening.
Michigan had an in home visit with Dunn yesterday, and according to Sam Webb's podcast this morning they sent Al Borges and Fred Jackson. Hopefully it all went well, and they convinced him to at least give Michigan an official visit next weekend. Whatever the case, I'll be keeping a nervous eye out for a possible story tomorrow evening.

- In more encouraging news, Michigan is pursuing Tight Ends, specifically Sam Grant, who is a 6'6 235lb prospect from St Edward H.S in Lakewood, Ohio. Does that school sound familar? It should do, because it's the home of current UM commit Kyle Kalis too! The four star offensive lineman is visiting Michigan officially this weekend and there's a good chance that he brings Grant along.
Grant is a three star (78 overall) prospect on ESPN. Oh, and I should probably mention that he's a Boston College commitment. Still, the Eagles finished 4-8 this year, and one of those wins was against an FCS team, so it's clear to see why Grant may not be 100% on board.
Things have cooled down dramatically with Pharaoh Brown, and it looks like Taylor McNamara won't visit. J.P Holtz is still an option, but we need to get him on campus soon. For the moment, Sam Grant, welcome to the projected class!

- As posted earlier, Anthony Standifer and Michigan mutually parted ways this week, meaning an extra spot opened up in the class. Even if Standifer stayed, UM would still have taken Yuri Wright, giving us 3 CBs. So we now want 2 more CBs in this class, Yuri Wright and one more.
If the rumblings today are anything to go by, that one more could be Armani Reeves; a current Penn State commit who is now looking around after the scandal. One potential obstacle to this is Reeves' current teammate, LB Camren Williams. If the two want to stay together in college, scout.com's Sam Webb stated it cannot happen at Michigan, because the Wolverines are completely full on LBs.

Personally, if they really want another DB to go along with Yuri Wright, I hope they give Wayne Morgan another look. Morgan was a silent commit to us earlier in the year before things broke down, but he's still on the market and the competition doesn't look too strong for the four star prospect.

EDIT:
- Forgot to mention the OL. Firstly Jordan Diamond is in Columbus right now, which isn't great for whatever slim chances we have with him. Secondly, there's a good chance Michigan will get a visit from Alex Kozan. He's a guy that got a late offer, but always said he'd visit; I guess now is the time. If Michigan wants a 6th OL, this could be the guy, because I don't rate our chances with Garnett, Diamond, Banner or Evan Boehm.

Anthony Standifer decommits

Three star CB commit Anthony Standifer has decommitted from Michigan this week, apparently in some kind of mutual decision. This means both he and the coaching staff thought it was best. I don't know what the situation was, maybe he wasn't happy about UM looking at a 5th defensive back (Yuri Wright and possibly Armani Reeves are set to visit).

Standifer was only a three star prospect, but he had very nice film and is a bigger CB, which can be useful for the team. In the end though, if we get Yuri Wright as his replacement, then that's fine with me, since Yuri is in the 6'1-6'2 range and rated much higher.

For the class as a whole, this gives Michigan five spaces left. They ideally want Brionte Dunn, Yuri Wright, a Tight End, Jehu Chesson and a 6th OL.

Also, one has to wonder how this will affect our chances with Standifer's teammate, 2013 WR LaQuon Treadwell, who currently has Michigan as his leader.

Thursday 8 December 2011

Brionte Dunn Update

Michigan has an in home visit with Dunn today, but the big news recently is that Dunn will visit Ohio State this weekend on his official visit. A trip to Michigan will probably take place the following weekend.

I'm not sure if it's better to go first or last in these situations, but we have to remember that there's always a chance he could firm up his commitment to OSU on this visit, which would mean UM won't get another shot. That probably/hopefully won't happen, but it's something to keep in mind.

Wednesday 7 December 2011

Quick Yuri Wright Update

Four star CB Yuri Wright's top two schools are apparently Michigan and....the Colorado Buffaloes; according to the tweet of a rivals.com analyst. Why Colorado? Well they have one of Wright's former teammates on their roster, and I guess it can't hurt that they recently sent CB Jimmy Smith to the NFL in the first round of the draft.

But still...Colorado?!! Other schools will still get visits, like Rutgers and maybe Georgia, but Michigan seemingly has a great chance to lure him in now. As mentioned yesterday, Wright plans to visit Michigan in January, and hopefully he'll make a decision in the week after that.

Yuri is a four star recruit on ESPN, but he carries a rating of 82 and a ranking of 40th overall in the country, which would make him our top commitment should he jump on board. He also plays on a high school team that is ranked #1 in the country, so he's got a winning mentality! At 6'1 and 185lbs, Wright would provide Michigan with a big CB, and someone who could really push for playing time as a freshman.

ESPN list his positive traits as Man-to-Man coverage, Zone Coverage, Instincts, and Run Support. Combine that with the fact that they mention he has excellent top end speed, and we have all the characteristics of a top cornerback.

Tuesday 6 December 2011

Quick Hitters

A few notes from 2012 and 2013 prospects:

- Jordan Diamond is setting up his official visits, he's scheduled two already, one of which is to Ohio State. I think the Urban Meyer hire has had a positive effect for his recruitment, and given his timetable for a decision, Michigan is all but out of it. The only way he'll end up in the class is if he visits Michigan officially and commits shortly after. If he waits until signing day, Michigan should be full.

- CB Yuri Wright has finished his high school career with a state championship, and possibly a national championship? Do they do that for high school football? I'm pretty sure Don Bosco prep is the consensus #1 team in the country. Anyway, Wright is now ready to take some official visits. His Michigan visit is likely to come in January.

- Michigan coaches have popped in on two top 2013 prospects from the state of Illinois recently, firstly stud RB Ty Issac, and more recently OT Logan Tuley-Tillman (per Allen Trieu's twitter). Issac is going to be a top, top prospect, so its hard to gauge our chances with him right now, although its at least encouraging that Michigan is in there early. Tuley-Tillman was a visitor for the Ohio State game and shortly after named Michigan in his top group.

- Another 2013 prospect who was at the OSU game was Ohio defensive end, Taco Charlton, and he caught up with MGoBlog's Ace to discuss his junior season and his thoughts on Michigan.

Note: From now on, whenever I remember to do so, you can click on a player's name to go to their ESPN profile.

Monday 5 December 2011

Commitment Profile: Amara Darboh

Name: Amara Darboh

Location: West Des Moines, IA

Position: WR

Ratings: ESPN – 3* (78), Scout – 4*, 247 Sports - 4*

Recruitment: He made a couple of visits in the spring and summer, but his recruitment really came down to his official visits in the fall. Michigan and Notre Dame were his final two visits, and it was clear to see that UM was his preferred choice. He had the chance to visit Florida too, but decided to commit to Michigan instead.

Offers: Michigan, Notre Dame, Florida, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Iowa State, Kansas State, Nebraska, Vanderbilt and Minnesota.

Stats: Currently stands at 6’2 and around 195lbs, with a reported 40 yard dash time of 4.42. He suffered a shoulder injury during his senior year and thus only played seven games, but he still racked up 48 catches for 765 yards and 11 touchdowns.

ESPN Analysis: Darboh is a combination of strength and quickness as a big receiver with a sturdy build, long arms and nice height. He is part playmaker and part possession player and against this level of competition he can really stand out.

Shows some physicality at the line of scrimmage and is generally quite a good blocker. Shows great ability to find the open spaces in zone coverage and help out his quarterback, but he can also go over the middle and make catches in traffic.

Makes good adjustments to the ball while its in the air, often bailing out his quarterback if the pass is inaccurate. Can often be a body catcher at times, but he secures the ball well. He knows how to use his size effectively, which should make him a good target in the red zone at the next level. The main concern is his top end speed, which doesn't look anywhere like his forty yard dash times would suggest. Needs some polish in his route running, but should be a solid BCS prospect.

Improvements: Speed? For the record, not many reports think he lacks top end speed, in fact others list speed as an asset of his. Route running is an area for improvement, along with other general WR tools.

Film Highlights: Link here.

Final Thoughts: Michigan needs WRs badly in this class, and Darboh is a commit that we should be really happy about. If that forty yard dash time is legit, then Darboh should have the speed and size to give Michigan a proper downfield threat to open up the deep passing game. His size will also come in handy for blocking.

When he gets to Michigan, he will have the chance to compete for playing time immediately along with the other WR prospect that Michigan will land. We're lacking depth at the position, and with Hemingway and Odoms departing, Darboh will have a really good chance to see the field early if he progresses in summer camp.

This commitment won't have a great affect on the rest of the class, as Jehu Chesson has already said that he's still going to visit Iowa, and Jordan Payton just seems like an unlikely option now. Chesson and Darboh did get on well at the OSU game though, and even talked about coming to UM together, so this commitment might help just a bit with him, although I think we will get Chesson anyway.

Sunday 4 December 2011

We're going to a BCS Bowl Game!!!

This, apart from the victory over Ohio State, is one of the most exciting moments I've witnessed as a Michigan fan. This was meant to be a transition year, but the team has pulled off a ten win season and made it to the BCS Sugar Bowl to face Virginia Tech.

A BCS bowl is a big deal for a lot of reasons. Firstly you get to showcase your team on the national stage, or as Dave Brandon puts it, help spread the Michigan 'brand'. It's also great news for recruiting, as hundreds of future prospects will watch Michigan compete on a big stage against a good opponent.

I haven't watched much of Virginia Tech, but they haven't beaten anyone good, and they've received a beatdown from Clemson....twice! Hearing this, I'm reasonably confident at this early stage that Michigan can pull off the win, and this would be huge for the program as it would really confirm that Michigan is back.

Amara Darboh, welcome aboard!

Wide Receiver Amara Darboh has committed to Michigan, per 247 Sports. He tweeted #Go Blue about 30 mins ago too! The commitment to Michigan was expected, the only question was whether he'd visit Florida before announcing, and I think he made the right choice!

According to some, Darboh has been a Michigan lean for a long time, but needed to convince his circle that Michigan was definitely the right place for him.

More to come in the commitment post, which will be up either later tonight, or early tomorrow morning.

BCS Update

Michigan jumped an amazing four spots to #12 in the final coaches poll, all but securing us a place in the top 14 of the BCS standings. Michigan State (#13), Georgia, Houston and Oklahoma all dropped below us after suffering losses this weekend.

Alabama remained at #2 in the coaches poll, which means they'll probably play for the national title. Therefore we'll end up in the Sugar Bowl vs some random team, maybe KSU or BSU.

If I had a vote

I'm sure a lot of you are anxiously awaiting the final BCS standings which come out tonight, so to help kill some time, here's my thoughts on the BCS rankings.

#1 LSU vs #2 Oklahoma State (!!!)

Explanation: If you look at strength of schedule, I really don't think Alabama deserve to play LSU in the national title game. Imagine if they did have a rematch and Bama won by 3pts in overtime, who would really be the national champion? The teams would have split two games, by equal winning margins, but I would still argue that LSU had the more impressive win in Tuscaloosa and thus should be national champions? Screw that! Put Oklahoma St in there, a team with the ability to actually score points on LSU, and a team that has played a tough schedule. The cowboys only loss comes in double overtime on a week where there were clearly off field distractions for the team and university in general. Their defense isn't great in terms of yards, but they are opportunistic, as proven yesterday. Plus, Justin Blackmon will own whatever corner LSU matches up against him.

As for Michigan, I have us ranked 14th, which would make us eligible for a BCS bowl, which I think we'll get. I have MSU at #13 because they did beat us by two touchdowns, and they played a great game last night against Wisconsin. Still, MSU won't go to a BCS bowl, even if they are ranked higher than us because...they're little brother, and will always be a less attractive team. They'll end up in the outback bowl or something like that, call it karma for the way they played against us, i.e dirty.

Thursday 1 December 2011

The final five


Ahh the time has finally come to put some percentages into the equation! There's an assumed five spaces left in the class, so here's how I think things could play out, with percentages for each recruit. Remember, these are just my opinions, although I'd like to think they are well reasoned opinions...

1) WR Amara Darboh: There's been a fair bit of buzz since his Michigan visit last weekend. Everyone is assuming Michigan is leading, and the only thing in our way right now is a trip to Florida that might not even happen. Even if he does go to see the Gators, I still love Michigan's chances; (Florida's leading receiver is Andre Debose with 15 catches for 423 yards...their RB has 28 catches....). Notre Dame could be a contender, but they already have 3 WRs committed along with an athlete who could play WR or Safety.
Chances of picking Michigan: 80%

2) WR Jehu Chesson: Another visitor from last weekend; Chesson struck up a friendship with Darboh, and there's a strong possibility that they will attend college together at Michigan. Chesson loved his UM visit, and the competition is Iowa and Northwestern, not exactly big time schools. Jehu has a great chance to play at a big time school in Michigan, at a time when the Wolverines are searching for their next great receiver; it should be hard for him to pass up that opportunity.
Chances of picking Michigan: 65%

3) RB Brionte Dunn: You know the story. If he goes with his head, it's Michigan. If he goes with his heart, it's OSU. In the end I think he realizes that his best opportunity to excel is at Michigan, in a pro style offense in front of a monster OL that is taking shape in this current recruiting class.
Chances of picking Michigan: 55%

4) CB Yuri Wright: He's been heavily focused on his high school playoffs recently, and thus didn't get a chance to visit, but there's a good chance he makes it up to Ann Arbor this month. Yuri has spoken highly of Michigan, even though he hasn't visited yet, and that has to be a good sign. If all goes well on the visit, Michigan may well be the team to beat.
Chances of picking Michigan: 40% (It's not a high percent, that's because there are still a lot of schools in the running.)

5) Mystery Tight End: It could be Taylor McNamara, it could be J.P Holtz who was visited this week by the coaching staff, or it could be a TE out of nowhere! Whoever it is, Michigan wants/needs one more in this class.
Chances of picking Michigan: N/A (none have visited yet, or even set a visit date)

This means, despite the good visit from Josh Garnett and Jordan Diamond last weekend, as well as the coaches visit to Evan Boehm this week, I don't think they'll get another OL in this class. A lot of it has to do with decision timetables, as well as proximity to home in the case of Garnett. This also means that I don't rate Michigan's chances with Stefon Diggs; the competition will be too great, and his timeline probably doesn't help our cause.

Things can change, but if I had to call it today, this would be my guess.

EDIT: Some of you have commented that this post sets the bar too low. To be honest I don't really see it that way, it's just realistic. Michigan wants Brionte Dunn more than they want a 6th lineman, and they definitely want 2 WRs, so that's three players you'd take over Garnett/Diamond etc. Then personally I think they need another tight end in the class, because A.J Williams could easily move to OT and become a really good player there. Lastly we have Yuri Wright, who is a stud corner. I don't have any real preference as to who to take, Yuri Wright or a 6th OL, I just think Wright would be more likely to commit before Garnett/Diamond.

As for Stefon Diggs, it would be extremely optimistic to put him on this list when he's still considering 7 other schools, and hasn't visited/given any indication that Michigan is in a top 2-3. Plus Darboh and Chesson are both announcing before Christmas (maybe even before Diggs visits!), so if they choose UM, we might not even have room for Diggs.