Eduardo Clements Update

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.

Is it time for a mailbag?

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.

Quintin Tucker

"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.

Marcus Rush commits

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!

Brandon Ifill visit

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.

Team Rankings

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.

Terry Talbott update

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!