Anthony Standifer Update

Cornerback Anthony Standifer will visit Michigan on Wednesday, according to a story from 247Sports. This could potentially result in another commitment.

Nowadays recruits actively follow the recruiting classes of schools they are interested in. Standifer will know full well that UM has 2 DB commits, and he'll probably also know that UM is the favorite to land Wayne Morgan on Thursday. This could very well lead to Standifer committing early, even with all the new offers he's received lately.

His parents are also apparently coming with him on the visit, and that's always a positive, especially at a University as academically strong as Michigan.

UPDATE: A poster in the comments section below has informed me that Standifer will be visiting Notre Dame on Thursday, which suggests a commitment probably won't happen on his Michigan trip.

Great Spot

Thanks to 'TJ' in the comments section of the last post for pointing out that Devin Funchess is now rated 81 overall on ESPN's rankings.

The ESPN recruiting staff have been meeting this week to decide who makes the ESPNU150, and I believe they went over Tight End's yesterday, so this makes sense. They'll be going through film highlights all week, and if I remember rightly, I was extremely impressed with Devin's footage,; so again, this upgrade makes sense.

With an 81 rating, Funchess is now a virtual certainty to make the 150, which is great news for him and Michigan. Hopefully other players will move up as the week continues.

The ESPNU 150 will be released on June 8th.

Commitment Profile: Allen Gant

Name: Allen Gant

Location: Sylvania, OH

Position: S

Ratings: ESPN – NR* (40), Scout – 3*, 247 Sports - NR*

Recruitment: Allen Gant is what’s known as a legacy recruit; his father (Tony Gant) played defensive back for Michigan during the 80s, and his cousin is some guy called Charles Woodson who I believe may have played for UM at one point? However, Allen also had ties to the OSU program, creating a top two of UM and the Buckeyes. But with limited scholarships available, OSU didn’t offer Allen, whereas Michigan did during May. After Jim Tressel resigned at OSU, there wasn’t much doubt about where Gant wanted to go, and he announced his decision the very next day.

Offers: Michigan, Boston College, Cincinnati, Stanford, West Virginia, Toledo and some others.

Stats: Currently stands at 6’2 and 200lbs with a forty yard dash at 4.6. As a junior he made 56 tackles, three interceptions and two forced fumbles whilst also raking in 20 catches on offense.

ESPN Analysis: None available.

Scout Analysis: None available.

From the man himself: “I’m able to read the quarterback well and know what the offense is doing. I’m pretty quick and I hit hard. I’m a very hard-nosed player. I’d like to be better overall and get faster and quicker. I want to brake on passes better.”

Improvements: Pending analysis.

Film Highlights: Link here. (Short)

Final Thoughts: Gant’s ratings obviously don’t wow you like some of the previous UM commits, but I wouldn’t call him an under the radar prospect at all, which could be worrying. As a sophomore he was pegged to be one of the top prospects in Ohio for the 2012 class, but ratings would suggest a letdown in his junior performance. Maybe Charles can give him some coaching this summer :D

Anyway, his Dad shed some light on his national ranking whilst speaking to TomVH a few weeks ago:

“An analyst asked me why he's not nationally known, and it's because we knew it would probably come down to Michigan and Ohio State. We never went to any combines or camps, so his name wasn't really out there that much.”

As for DB recruiting in general, Gant has now taken the second of probably four spaces in the class and with Wayne Morgan set to announce soon, there could only be one spot left in a few days. This will put a lot of pressure on Anthony Standifer and Armani Reeves.

At 6’2 and 200lbs, Gant has pretty good size for the strong safety (SS) position; however the talent in front of him will cause him to redshirt his first year, giving him time to polish up his skill set. He’ll probably have to wait for the likes of Kovacs, M Robinson and Furman to leave before getting his shot , but he could work his way into the rotation by his RS Soph or RS Jnr year. This is a very rough prediction because UM’s safeties have been moved around loads over the past year, so it’s hard to say if MRob and Furman will even still be at that position; OLB is a possibility for both of them.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with this commitment, even if his ratings aren’t great. Maybe it’s the UM connections that he has, but I have a funny feeling that he going to be really good, I just don’t know why.

Erik Magnuson Update

Four star offensive tackle Erik Magnuson (Encinitas, CA) has named Michigan as his leader just a short while before he's scheduled to take an unofficial visit to Ann Arbor. I wouldn't expect a commitment during the visit though, as he still likes schools such as Notre Dame and Miami (FL), so he might wait until the fall to take official visits.

Still, Magnuson apparently has a great relationship with the UM coaching staff and that's vital for prospects with a long distance from home. He's actually known a lot of the coaching staff from their days at SDSU, which helps Michigan's cause a lot.

The unofficial visit will take place on the weekend after this coming one, i.e somewhere between June 10th - June 12th.

Commitments coming

So I made the grave error of going to sleep at a reasonable (UK) time last night, and as a result missed a few interesting bits of news.

Firstly, I haven't read the SI article yet, but I've heard it wasn't that shocking. This is probably slightly disappointing for most UM fans, but in a way I don't want OSU to get hammered so badly by the NCAA that the rivalry game is still pointless for another three years. Don't get me wrong, I want to beat OSU every year, but I'd rather do it because we got better, not because they got worse. You know what I really hate? When SEC fans claim the Iron Bowl is a bigger rivalry...

Secondly, Allen Gant will be announcing his college decision this morning, and the timing has everything to do with Tressel leaving. Gant has always favored UM and OSU, but doesn't have an OSU offer, and the last thing on Luke Fickell's mind right now is handing out new offers. Besides, Gant's father already said Michigan was his leader a couple weeks back, therefore we should probably be expecting commitment #14.

Next up we have Wayne Morgan, another defensive back who will probably be announcing for Michigan on Thursday. No need to go into much detail here, you guys know the score with this one.

Chris Wormley in theory could also be announcing for Michigan this week, or next week. Wormley is another Ohio guy that basically from the start said, it's either going to be UM or OSU. Given recent events, UM is a massive favorite, and really the only question mark here is when will he announce.

So there's three possible and very likely commitments over the next couple weeks, and I think there will probably be a couple more in June, one from the fourth DB (whoever gets there first) and maybe a lineman of some kind. I'm basically expecting (with good reason to believe ;) ) that Michigan will have 17 commitments by the time July comes around.

Sidenote: I forgot to include Sheldon Day in the list of those effected by Tressel's resignation. Day's coach is a big OSU fan, and there were rumors that OSU was making good progress with Sheldon. Of course now the Buckeyes are probably done for Day, as they will be with many recruits outside of Ohio.

Ohh my...

Well this is a huge day in the rivalry between Michigan and Ohio State! Jim Tressel, who lets face it, has OWNED Michigan during his tenure as the Buckeye's coach, has resigned. I used to respect Tressel and the image that he portrayed, but the recent allegations have tarnished his reputation amongst me, fans, and perhaps more importantly, recruits.

I think with all the trouble ahead for OSU, he would have eventually been fired, so it makes sense for him to resign now and potentially save OSU from tougher NCAA penalties. One of the assistant coaches has been named as the Interim Head Coach, which could lessen the damage against OSU on the recruiting front; (at least prospects know the new coach).

So here's a quick look at how this will effect a few prospects:

Chris Wormley - Now 'in the bag'. With Tressel gone, I don't see ANY way Wormley doesn't pick Michigan. This will hopefully accelerate his decision timeline.

Jordan Diamond - Personally I didn't think OSU had a great chance of stealing him off Michigan anyway, but I know OSU fans were still hopeful with JD. SEC schools will probably be the main competition now.

Washington and Stanford - I thought the package deal here was destined for Columbus, but now things could be really up in the air. When they visit this summer, Michigan now has a much better chance of swaying them to the good side.

Brionte Dunn - Everyone always asks what I think of our chances with Brionte Dunn, and I never really knew what to say, until now. Michigan has a GREAT chance to steal him away from OSU. He was wavering when the allegations were made, and now he's lost his future coach, plus they will still get penalties, like a bowl ban. Ohio State is probably not looking that good for Dunn right now, whereas at Michigan there is a void at RB in a pro style offense with solid coaches. I'm tempted to say Michigan is a slight favorite, but for now I'll go with 50/50 until we actually hear from Brionte.

Sevon Pittman - Another guy who I thought would be an OSU lock; he'll be up for grabs now, but UM will be full at DE soon.

Good month ahead

So yesterday I saw that MGoBlog's TomVH tweeted that June will be a very good month for Michigan recruiting, so I thought I'd do a preview of what could/will happen in June.

- The first event will obviously be Wayne Morgan's announcement on June 2nd. Everyone is expecting Wayne to go blue, and I haven't heard anything to suggest that won't be the case.

- Allen Gant may also be deciding in June, and he's currently favoring Michigan. Gant is looking to visit sometime this month, and if he does, an on the spot commitment would not surprise me.

- With possible commitments from Morgan and Gant, plus TR already in the fold, the timetable of recruits such as Anthony Standifer and Armani Reeves will be greatly accelerated. I believe they'll just take the first one to commit, and probably turn away the other. Taking five DBs is too many in my opinion. If I was betting on it, I'd say Standifer is more likely.

- Chris Wormley is another guy who could also be deciding in June. He's going to really focus on his recruitment after his track season ends, which I think is in June - not 100% sure on that. Chris recently confirmed most people's beliefs that Michigan is his leader, so UM could land another DE.

So anyway, that's a brief look at some possible commitments in June, there are probably other targets that will announce during the month too, maybe Gunner Kiel? Sidenote: Less confident about our chances will Kiel than I was last week, I think Alabama are right up there for him now. At least he should be visiting Michigan sometime soon.