Diaries

Mequon (WI) Homestead DT Brandon Hines may only be a sophomore, but he's already hearing from schools not only in the Midwest, but around the country. At 6'2", 265 pounds, Hines already has great size for a high schooler, and he's garnering interest from schools like Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Oregon, Boston College, and others. I had the chance to speak with the class of 2014 prospect this week, and Brandon gave me some insight into his recruitment, including some potential good news forthcoming from the Wolverines:

ACE: You said you had some exciting news. What's happening on that front?

BRANDON: Basically, I made a new highlight tape, because I broke my hand at the beginning of the season—I had a broken hand for six games, having the club kind of slowed me down. I finally got [tape of] all the games without the club and I made a highlight tape from that, and I think I performed a lot better without that club, and a bunch of colleges seem to think so too. I decided to send that film out, and one of the first coaches I decided to reach out to was Coach Mattison from Michigan, and after I sent him my film I got some really good feedback from him.

ACE: What did Coach Mattison tell you about your film?

BRANDON: I first called him and told him the day before I sent him a text asking him if he got the tape and he said he did. He had a player in his office, so he had the player find my film for him and he told me to call him back in 30 minutes. 30 minutes passes over after I'm done lifting and I gave him a call back. Basically, to my surprise, he said they were extremely impressed and they definitely want me there. I actually talked to him about my film for a little bit and we got to know each other, and he asked me if I had any offers. As of right now, I don't have any offers, but a couple schools have been hinting and when I make my trips out to those schools I'm pretty sure I'll pull out an offer.

When I was talking to [Coach Mattison] he told me he's not going to offer a scholarship over the phone, so he asked me when I was available to come to the school. He said they're going to be on their spring break [soon], but they're going to be done in early March and that's when he wants me to come out there and watch a spring practice and meet the head coach. I'm definitely looking forward to making a visit to Ann Arbor and see what Michigan has to offer.

ACE: Have you made any other visits so far?

BRANDON: Most of my visits are going to take place now. I've been to Wisconsin twice, Michigan State, and NIU, and I also went to Boston College for their junior day. Most of my big-time visits will be taking place from this week up until the end of March, that's when I'm going to be taking my big-time visits to really good schools. First I went up to Wisconsin this [past] weekend for their junior day, then the next weekend I'm heading down to Illinois—I talked to the coach there, Coach Butkus from Illinois, and he's definitely interested, he loved my film, so I'm hoping to get some good news from them. The week after that I think I'm going to be heading down to Arkansas for their junior day, and then the week after that I'll be at Michigan State, then the week after that I'll be at Michigan.

ACE: Are there any other schools have been talking to?

BRANDON: Tennessee—I sent them my film, and that's where my parents are from, so I've got some ties there—Oregon State got my film and they really liked it, and Boston College. A lot of schools are seeing my film. Also Oklahoma State I've been reaching out to and I plan to hear from them in the next couple of days. Then there are schools that have mailed me, schools like Kansas State, UCLA, USC, Wisconsin, Minnesota, there's a long list of schools. That's what I can think of off the top, but those are some of the schools, and then a lot of other Big Ten programs have been sending me mail to the extent that they can.

Things are going at a steady pace but I definitely think if in these next couple weeks I can pick up an offer it's going to pick up a lot more. I also didn't get to send out my film to all the coaches I wanted to, so I feel that once I get that out I'll definitely be in a good position, so it's only good things to come from now on.

ACE: Being just a sophomore and getting this type of attention, what's it like for you? How are you handling it right now?

BRANDON: You know, it's actually nothing new to me at all. I've known about the recruiting process and followed most of it since I was in eighth grade. I can go back and name All-Americans from the U.S. Army game when I was in eighth grade. It's nothing new to me. I've been focused on getting a scholarship for a long time, I think I've prepared myself for it. I know what it's going to be like, I know it's going to get hectic, I know I'm going to get a lot of mail. I know the first and second days I'm able to get recruited, exactly what to expect. I've talked to a lot of other high-caliber players—I talk to [2013 TX recruit] Jake Raulerson, he's a really good guy. I've talked to Kyle Bosch a few times. I talk to [2013 Brookfield, WI DE] Chikwe Obasih, from my state, a lot of other good players. They give me advice and tell me what it's like from time to time, so it's definitely something that I'm prepared for, and I'm really ready to get these offers and hopefully narrow down my choices soon.

ACE: What type of advice are those guys giving you?

BRANDON: When I was a freshman, I thought I needed to get to the U.S. Army combine, gotta get to this combine, this combine, this combine; I went to those combines, did really well, got MVPs at most of them. Then I actually talked to Kyle Bosch about it, and he was like, "You know what man, straight up, they're a waste of money," besides the Army combine and stuff like that. He told me that you've got to get to the college camps, that's what you've gotta do, see the coaches one-on-one and just impress them that way, because it's better to see them first-hand than third-party. Jake Raulerson, he's really religious, a really good guy. That's where I get most of my faith advice from, I guess you could say. I follow that example, he's a really good guy, and he's strong in his faith which is extremely good. It's a lot of different stuff coming from different people, but I definitely appreciate all of it and it helps me.

ACE: When you head out to these schools, what specifically are you looking for? I know it's a long way off, but what's going to come into play when you're trying to pick a college?

BRANDON: School major are definitely a big key for me right now. I'm trying to see what a program is going to be like when I get there. I want to talk to a lot of the players, not just the star players but everyone, like when I went to Wisconsin I talked to Derek Watt, who I threw shot against, I talked to Darius Feaster, who went to my school, and I talked to a lot of other players who aren't the biggest big-time players but will give me the real feedback of the school. Then I'm definitely looking at the campus and the area, that's a big thing for me. I'm from a big city, Milwaukee is a pretty big city. I definitely need someplace where it's kinda populated, a big fan base for a school would be a good thing for me.

Also, the coaching staff, I have to have a coaching staff that pushes people. The coaching staff I'm with at my high school right now, I moved here [to Homestead], and they're tremendous. They're on you all the time no matter what. They will stay on you, they're going to push you, and they're going to push you past your limits. That's something I'm definitely looking for. Today I had a really tough workout with one of our coaches who's one of the to speed trainers in the state, so I'm definitely looking for some high-caliber coaches.

ACE: Looking back on your sophomore year, I know you said you were hurt for a little bit there, but how do you think you played overall?

BRANDON: Coming in sophomore year, I was nervous, really nervous. I guess you'd say my first three games at Homestead I was really nervous, because it's been a really good program, like 10-1 and 11-1. It's a lot to live up to, to play at that level. With the injury I think I performed pretty well. I think when I got to the fifth game I just built a lot of confidence, the team saw a lot of confidence with me and I exceeded [expectations] from there. I pulled in 42 tackles and six sacks. I think I pulled in some pretty good numbers and it was a solid overall season. But I think I'm definitely looking to possibly get to a state title next year. I think we have a lot of good players and we can definitely pull it off if we all work together.

ACE: What would you say your biggest strengths are as a player, and what are you trying to work on to improve for next year and to ultimately earn those scholarships?

BRANDON: I think I'm a good technical player. You see a bit more a technical side to me as opposed to a bull-rush type style. I do a lot of swim moves. I think that's my knack, I have a knack for playing like a skinny person when it comes to using moves. My key strength is definitely my strength—I think I'm pretty advanced with my strength, I think I bench 300 and I squad 405, so I think that's definitely an advantage for me. The thing I want to work on next season is my speed. I want to become a fast player. Being from the South, I think that's something I definitely have to live up to is my speed. I think if I cut a little bit of unnecessary weight I'll be a pretty good player, and that's definitely what I want to be known as coming into my junior year, is more speed than strength.

ACE: Going away from the football field, what's one thing—like a hobby or something—that you like doing that has nothing to do with sports that you'd like people to know about you?

BRANDON: This is so far-fetched from what you'd think. I collect sneakers. That's an odd hobby but I'm really into sneakers and clothing. Besides football, you'll probably catch me online looking at some new shoes. That sounded weird, but...

ACE: My brother is kind of a sneakerhead, so I know where you're coming from. Is there a specific shoe that you're trying to look out for? I know there's some Jordans that are kind of the holy grail, but is there a specific shoe that you're trying to look out for?

BRANDON: I'm not tied to Jordans, but I'm definitely trying to get the Olympic 6s when they come out in July. July is when my birthday is, so they'll be pretty easy to come by. We have a coach at our school, a basketball coach, who's pretty crazy for his sneakers and is actually known for his sneakers. I think he has over 900 shoes, so he's definitely giving me some advice and helping me improve my sneaker game. His name is Brandon Maddox, he's a good guy.

ACE: Man, 900, that's nuts. How many do you have?

BRANDON: I have 45 pairs. I'll buy shoes that I'll wear to school, and then I have my shoes that I just don't touch. I'll just let them sit there, then maybe on a rare occasion like when I go to a formal dinner I'll wear those shoes out. It gets pretty intense. I have a big sneaker collection for my age. Being 15 I can't even get a job, so I don't have the biggest advantage.

Forward Overview:

The last time we faced off against the Wildcats we got a pretty big wake up call. Coming into the series we were ranked #1 and they really used that emotion of playing the top ranked team against us. Add that to the chemistry issues facing the team after losing Kevin Lynch, Hunwick getting ejected and it was a long weekend.

This time it's a little different, NMU is coming into this series with terrible offense. The honest truth is that with decent defense and outstanding goalie numbers, if the offense wasn't so anemic they could be ten spots higher in the AP Poll.

The top line of Gron, Thurber, and Seckel can cause major damage. They score most of the points and play the best defense, after them the Wildcats have almost nothing. Justin Florek is NMU's Lindsay Sparks, he is an offensive nightmare but can't play a lick of defense.

The other issue for the Wildcats is the penalty minutes, towards the end of the roster NMU has a few 8 point scorers who are around the 50 PIMS mark. Althought the PK has been good (7th) they still have to kill more than most of the country (142).

Key Matchup is their top line vs our top pair. Without the depth NMU is going to need the top line to produce, look for Merrill to have a bounce back series after last weekends disaster.

Defensive Overview:

Just like Michigan State, Northern comes into the season with major depth issues on the blueline. Kyle Follmer puts up great offensive numbers but the -1 is awful, that means he has been on the ice for 23 goals this year. They also have a problem staying out of the box, Michigan has one blueliner over 25 PIMS and NMU has none under 25.

The key matchup here is getting started early. Although this unit has been bad at times, they have shown that they can ride a hot goalie for the win. Coreau has the numbers to carry them so they need to get on him fast.

Goalies:

The perfect example of how great numbers don't always translate into wins, Coreau is near the top of the league and his SV% is outstanding. Still he's 10-5-2 because he isnt getting the support in front of him. The matchup is the same as for the defense, we have to get on him before he can get confident.

Michigan Overview:

Stats are not current, MGOBLUE has not updated statistics from the MSU series.

Forward Overview:

I really liked how they played against MSU, the big question was how would the team adjust to the line shuffling without Brown. They had a pretty good series getting 5 goals in the two games. I have given up the Sparks watch, I think it's safe to say he won't score for the rest of the regular season.

Defensive Overview:

Despite the way the series looked our defense played outstanding against Michigan state. The loss doesn't fall on the defense, but on the PK. The first game I was disappointed with how Merrill played and it might have been the worst game of his career. Maybe we are just spoiled to be getting such great proformances game in and game out, but I expect a bounce back tonight.

Taking a look at the PK:

I love what MSU does on this PP, it is designed to attack our 1-2-1 diamond and they execute perfectly. They have the center occupying a penalty killer leaving the wings free, when the puck is cycled down to the corner the left wing crashes.

At this point they have a variety of options, the center is not one of them. They can try back door, the pinching defensemen or get risky and go for the other blueliner who isnt pictured. Our penalty killers have to haul back to the net, but they can't get back in time so he takes it himself.

Hunwick is playing the deflection, expecting a pass through the middle or the back door. Right over his head

Goalies:

Still playing at a high level, nothing he could really do about the PP goals last weekend.

Prediction

I underestimated NMU the last time we played them, I thought we would roll over them pretty easy. I still think we will this weekend, mostly because NMU is really bad on the road. Also we need these points, we need to finish the season strong for the tourney.

Background: Original article, Bill Connelly’s follow-up

I don’t think Success Rate is a misguided stat as much as I think it is a misguided strategy. I think the overall concept of S&P that Bill uses is very sound, I just think the emphasis should be more on the P than the S.

My biggest problem with the stat is that it is black and white. As comments on his article note, a metric that works on a sliding scale would a significant step in the right direction. On 1st and 10 losses and gains of 4 aren’t and shouldn’t all be treated the same. Just as gains of 5 and up are all valuable, just not equally as valuable. For my metric the sliding scale is factored into the expected points at any play. So there is some element of success rate built into PAN, but it is an integrated, sliding scale as opposed to a separate, black and white component.

There are only three things that matter for evaluating a team on a drive, where did you start, how many points did you score and what position did you give the ball back to your defense/special teams. Plays taken to achieve results and time elapsed off of the clock can be valuable in certain situations, but in general those three data points are the key. If we can effectively measure each play in how it contributes to those three key factors at once, why break it up into two pieces and why make it black and white?

Even though there are some differences and I got things off on a bit of the wrong foot, I think there is more in common than different with the two approaches. What I think is the ultimate issue, however, is coaches calling plays with success rate in mind. Advanced NFL Stats did a great article on this very subject (especially the Importance of Run Success Rate section). He found evidence at the NFL level that coaches are coaching to down by down success rate as opposed to drive success rate. Coaches appear to be attempting to win each battle and at times losing sight of the war.

The battle/war concept is what I think is the most interesting of this so you’ll have to wait until part 3 of this series where I’ll look at how strategy can adapt to score more points while risking a bit of short term success rate. Early next week I’ll post part 2, a look at how Wisconsin’s offense runs and how Russell Wilson was really the most dangerous part of the Badger offense.

Programming note: Brian is out for the day and I've got a pretty busy non-blogging day myself. We've got a lot of content ready to go, and I'll be checking in throughout the day, but Friday Recruitin' will either come late this afternoon or will morph into Saturday Recruitin', depending on my schedule.

Everett (MA) OL John Montelus recently earned a place at #214 overall in the Rivals250, making him one of the top prospect for 2013 on the East Coast. Standing at 6'5", 295 pounds, Montelus already has a college-ready body and holds early offers from Michigan, Boston College, UConn, Florida, N.C. State, Rutgers, Syracuse, Virginia, and West Virginia. I caught up with John recently to talk about his recruitment and his interest in the Wolverines:

ACE: Which schools have you been in contact with the most right now?

JOHN: Right now I'm contacting pretty much all the schools that have offered.

ACE: I know you got the Michigan offer relatively recently. Who have you been talking to from Michigan?

JOHN: I've been talking to Coach Funk and Coach Mallory. Both these guys are really good and I can't wait to go down there to make my unofficial visit soon.

ACE: Do you know when you want to visit the school or is that still up in the air right now?

JOHN: It's still up in the air right now, but I'm definitely going to make a visit soon.

ACE: What do you know about Michigan as a program?

JOHN: They have really good academics and they produce a lot of good offensive linemen.

ACE: Looking back at your junior year, how do you think you performed on the field?

JOHN: I played well. I did better than my sophomore year. I got way bigger; my sophomore year I was 245 and my junior year I was 295.

ACE: What would you say are the biggest strengths of your game, and what are you looking to improve to get to that next level?

JOHN: My biggest strength is definitely pass-blocking. I can run-block, but next year we're going to run more. I need to work, basically, on run-blocking.

ACE: You mentioned wanting to visit Michigan. Are there any other schools you want to visit at this point?

JOHN: I'm going down to Florida on my April vacation.

ACE: Do you have an idea of when you want to narrow down your choices?

JOHN: At the end of the summer I'll probably have my top five favorite schools.

ACE: When it comes time to pick a school, what are going to be the main factors that you're looking at?

JOHN: Good academics and a winning team, that's all I want.

ACE: In terms of position, I know you play offensive tackle in high school. Is that where you think you fit best at the college level?

JOHN: I could play offensive tackle in college, but if coaches think I can play guard I'll play guard. It doesn't matter what position.

ACE: Going away from the football field, what's something about you that you think people should know about you?

JOHN: What do I do after football? Mostly I lift in the weight room.

ACE: Always working hard, it sounds like.

JOHN: Yeah.

I think we need a UFR to confirm that Michigan didn't lose this game 35-0. Or that they did. I'm not sure, because there's no UFR.

Pickerington (OH) North tight end Jake Butt recently was named as the #96 overall prospect in the Rivals250, and he's seen his recruitment take off in recent weeks. Butt now holds offers from Michigan, Boston College, Duke, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue, Stanford, Syracuse, Tennessee, UCLA, and a handful of MAC schools while also generating interest from Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Wisconsin. I caught up with Jake this week to talk about his recruitment, top schools, and upcoming visit to Michigan:

ACE: How many offers are you up to at this point, and which schools have been in contact with you the most lately?

JAKE: I'm up to 18 offers, and the most contact I've been getting is from Michigan—I've gotten a lot of stuff [from them]—Tennessee, Northwestern, Purdue, Maryland, and Iowa.

ACE: You've said that Michigan was your leader in the past. If you had to make a top five right now, which teams stand out to you the most?

JAKE: My top five would have to be Maryland, Northwestern, Michigan, Tennessee, and Stanford. Michigan I'd say is my leader just because of the attention I've been getting from all the coaches, and they said I'm the number one tight end on their board. They've got the number one quarterback in our class committed, Shane Morris, he's a beast. There's just a lot of plusses going on with them. But it's still early, so it's all subject to change.

ACE: You mentioned Shane Morris. Has he been making his recruiting pitch at all to you, and if so, what's he telling you?

JAKE: Yeah, I've been talking to him a lot. He's got like 6,000 followers [on Twitter], so he'll tweet me and get all his little followers, Michigan fans, to really show their love. [They'll say] "I want to see you break records with Shane Morris when you go there," or "I want to see you catching touchdown passes from Shane," and stuff like that. I'm going to be going up [to Michigan] this Saturday and he's supposed to be there with some other recruits.

ACE: I know you've been to Michigan a couple times before. Is there anything specific you're going to be looking for this weekend?

JAKE: No, just kinda getting to know my position coach, Coach Ferrigno, a little bit better, spend a bit of time with him. Then get to see the campus, talk to some of the academic advisors, just kinda get a feel for what life is like up there.

ACE: You mentioned the coaches talking about using you as a tight end. I know with Michigan they use their tight ends in multiple ways. Do the coaches talk a lot about what your role would be like there?

JAKE: They said that they could use me at multiple position. They could use me anywhere from receiver, with a foot on the line, tight end with my hand down, or fullback even. They have a U-back and a Y-back, something like that, they have two different tight ends and they said I could play either, so I'll be playing both if I go there.

ACE: What else have the coaches been telling you when they're recruiting you?

JAKE: Different little things like "I can't wait to see you in the blue and gold," or "you'd look great in the winged helmet." They sent me an article about some of their top tight ends that they've had. Five different coaches have come down to the school, and I've talked to five different coaches by myself, too, so they're showing a lot of love there.

ACE: I've seen a concern among Michigan fans after you said the Wolverines were your leader, and that's with you not holding an Ohio State offer yet. Growing up as a Buckeye fan, if Ohio State were to come into play, how do you think that would change the landscape of your recruitment?

JAKE: You know, Ohio State is definitely a great school. They've got a lot of good things to offer. Urban Meyer is a great coach. That being said, there's a lot of great coaches out there and there's a lot of great programs out there. I like the fact that I got early offers and my early offers definitely stand out having thought of me on top of their list. I wouldn't worry about if from some of the fans's standpoint, I guess, because I'm going to pick my early offers over my late offers any day.

ACE: You just mentioned the early offers being important. When it comes down to making a decision, what else are going to be the main factors when you ultimately decide on a school?

JAKE: The early offers are kind of like a tiebreaker, it's not that big of a deal. Definitely academics is a big deal, having a good football program with a good tradition is a big deal. Then somewhere my parents want me to go. Someone told me that you want to pick a college where if you were to get hurt playing football, you can see yourself living there without football in your life, so that's another factor.

ACE: Other than coming up to Michigan this weekend, do you have any other planned visits or schools you'd want to check out?

JAKE: As of right now I don't. I'm just waiting for basketball season to end before I take other visits, but I'm going to have to get down to some schools because some schools won't give you an offer unless you show you're willing to make the trip down there, so I'll be going to some other schools too.

ACE: In terms of a timeline for when you'd want to get your recruitment wrapped up, do you know when that would be?

JAKE: Probably before next football season I'd like to get it done, but if not, I can wait until after.

ACE: How's basketball season going for you?

JAKE: Pretty good. I'm the leading scorer and rebounder for our team. I think I lead our team in steals, too, so it's going pretty good. Our team as a whole is kinda underachieving, but that being said, I set the bar high for us. I'm the only guy returning with experience right now. We had ten seniors last year, so we lost all of them, and those were our top ten guys other than me, I was the sixth man off the bench. We really don't have any experience coming back, but we're 11-8 right now and we've got a tough game coming up on Friday, too.

ACE: Just to go away from the football field and the basketball court for a second, what's one thing about yourself—whether it's a hobby that you've got outside of sports or whatever—what's something outside of sports that you think people would like to know about you?

JAKE: I'm a leader. I've been selected, not for sports, but for other activities, for leadership conferences. As a sophomore I was one out of four kids in our school that got to go to a leadership conference at Ohio State, and I got selected to a school leadership program called Sunny Side Up in our group where you have to get nominated by teachers other students from your school to go there. You get a three-day trip where you go down you get to do different things, leadership-building activities and such, so I got to do that.

ACE: It sounds like that would obviously translate well to the field and help you there.

JAKE: Yes, sir.