2010 recruiting

As always, you can see the 2010 Michigan Recruiting Board for all the updates.

Next week's recruiting update will take a step back and look at remaining needs in the class, and the likelihood that they get filled.

Welcome Will Hagerup

As covered on Sunday, WI P Will Hagerup committed to Michigan during his official visit to Ann Arbor. Hagerup is the nation's #1 or #3 punter, depending on which service you trust. He'll fill the Space Emperor's role when Zoltan graduates following this year. For more information on, Check sunday's post.

In other puntin' news, AZ P Jordan Morgan (not that Jordan Morgan) was in the house for the Wolverines' victory over Indiana. With Michigan taking a commitment from Hagerup, however, Morgan is probably no longer on the radar except as a preferred walk-on.

Needs Moar DB Talent

CA CB Joshua Shaw has replaced an SEC team on his list with a Big Ten one ($, info in header). He's also scheduled a visit to aforementioned Big Ten school. Using our critical thinking skills, we can deduce that the Big Ten school is Michigan, which he had previously said was just on the outside of his top group.

Another big time corner has long been favoring the Wolverines, and things haven't changed for PA CB Cullen Christian. If Ohio State offers him, they'll move into his top 5, but the Michigan still holds the top spot. He'll likely visit for the Penn State game.

FL S Demar Dorsey is committed to Florida, but still considering Michigan. His pledge to the Gators is being "firmed up," so it's unclear whether there's enough of an opening to grab him.

Michigan was dropped a while back by SC CB John Fulton, but the Wolverines' good season has moved them back into his consciousness ($, info in header). Michigan is still on the hunt for elite DBs (if you've watched them play, you know why), and their pool of options is expanding.

Linebackers

Michigan is in strong position for VA LB Aramide Olaniyan, who visited for the Notre Dame game. There have been lots of articles to that effect, with no actual new information, so this should be the last one unless there's an actual update.

CT LB Khairi Fortt is announcing a decision on Monday. All conventional wisdom points toward Penn State, but Michigan is on his list of finalists. Still, I'd be shocked if he picked the maize-and-blue.

...and now for some video on MD LB Josh Furman, a more realistic option for Michigan:

There are a few more videos from this year, if you're interested. Don't forget, Furman may be deciding soon.

King's Travels and other Tales of Defensive Linemen

The odd saga of NC DE/DT Gabe King continued last week, when he moved from North Carolina to Oregon. He had been declared ineligible to play his senior season in the state of North Carolina, and will be able to play at South Eugene High School in Oregon. I guess this lends credence to the conventional wisdom floating around that he's a lock to end up on the West Coast, no?

As miniscule as Michigan's chances were before the move, they've shrunk even more now. Look for King to end up at Oregon or Cal, barring a complete shocker. Considering he's "walking distance" from UO, they're likely the favorite.

As discussed in last week's update, MN DT Beau Allen has been offered. Michigan will have to fight a number of programs if they are to land him, including Notre Dame ad Stanford.

In other defensive tackle news, PA DT Sharrif Floyd is still considering Michigan, although he doesn't have plans to take an official visit:

“Those aren’t my final five,” Floyd said. “I wouldn’t even call them my top five. They are just the five I scheduled for my official visits. I’m also looking at Ohio State, Michigan, Boston College and West Virginia.”

So Michigan is in a murky Top 9-ish situation for Floyd. The 5 officials he has planned are Florida (two weeks ago), USC (last weekend), Penn State, South Carolina, and North Carolina. The chances of landing him aren't great, but they're (slightly) better than zero.

Miami DT commit Louis Nix is wavering, and is considering Michigan for an official visit. The Wolverines are in a second group behind the Hurricanes and Notre Dame, but if he does manage to make it to campus, Coach Rod and Co. have a chance.

The interior of the line apparently isn't the only place Michigan is still looking for help. They looked to the school of CB target Tony Grimes, and offered his teammate, FL DE Clarence Murphy ($, info in header). Surprise, surprise, that's rocketed the Wolverines near the top of his list ($, info in header). His other offers come from schools like Wisconsin, Maryland, and Florida International, so Michigan could put themselves in pretty good position.

For the future

The 2011 news has been slow in the past couple weeks, but FL RB Demetrius Hart is a kid who many expect to eventually pick Michigan. He went off in his high school game on Friday. The evidence of said performance begins about a minute into this poorly produced video. [Editor's note: OH SNAP.]

NY Ath Quentin Gause is hearing from Michigan, and it may not be a coincidence that the Wolverines are the first school he mentions. A commitment is a long way off, but Gause may be leaning Blue at this early stage. He plans to take a set of unofficial visits when his high school season ends.

Etc.

Michigan appears to be fading for OH TE Alex Smith. "Spartans winning with recruits," unfortunately for them not on field. I believe I forgot to mention this last week, but I removed CJ Olaniyan, who has committed to Penn State, as well as the similarly-committed NY DE Dominique Easley. Josh Helmholdt says most recruiting visitors will come to the Penn State or Ohio State games. I missed this a while back, but OH WR commit DJ Williamson had ankle surgery at the beginning of the month ($, info in header).

If you can help out finding articles on any of the commits, e-mail me, and I'll try to include your contribution. This week, I made it to two games, and they're listed at the top. If you want up-to-the-minute updates of the games I attend, follow me on Twitter @varsityblue. Michigan received a commitment from Will Hagerup over the weekend, and I'll try to catch up with his season in the next edition of FNL.

MI QB Devin Gardner

Last week: Inkster defeats Highland Park 27-22. Gardner passed 9/16 for 129 yards with 2 TDs and 2 interceptions. He also ran 11 times for 74 yards and 2 more scores. MGoBlog was there, so check the photo gallery and video.

This week: Inkster (2-2) @ Bay City Central.

MI RB Austin White

Last week: Pregame fluff. Stevenson defeats Northville 31-0. White ran 22 times for 164 yards and 2 touchdowns. Again, we were there, so enjoy the video of (most of) his performance.

This week: Stevenson (3-2) @ Novi.

NEW COMMIT WI P Will Hagerup

The MGoCreeperVan was out again this weekend, and Paul and I headed to Highland Park to see them take on Devin Gardner's Inkster team. After that, we stopped by Livonia Stevenson to check out Austin White in action against Northville.

Inkster @ Highland Park

I've seen Devin Gardner in action 3 times now, and every time I walk away more impressed than the last. While he's shown flashes of brilliance in the past, against Highland Park he showed true game-breaking ability despite not having his best statistical performance. He finished 9/16 passing for 129 yards, with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. He also tacked on 74 rushing yards on 11 carries, including 2 exciting touchdowns, as he led the Vikings to a 27-22 victory.

Michigan fans are familiar with the Devin Gardner scouting report by now: he's improving as a passer and has athleticism that high school defenders are unable to stop. That was on display against Highland Park, but I also thought he showed a "wow" factor running the ball that I hadn't seen out of him before. He no longer looked like somebody toying with lesser competition, but rather a guy who will be able to bring that dominance to the next level. Don't take my word for it, check out the video evidence:

Okay, he threw two interceptions, but one was an very athletic play by the defender. Both are things that should happen less once he gets college-level coaching (and his future QB coach Rod Smith was in the house, though he wasn't allowed to talk to Devin). The two touchdown runs showed why he's an elite prospect (and possibly still underrated by the scouting services), and gave Michigan fans something to be excited about for the future.

Livonia Stevenson v. Northville

The Inkster game ended a little later than expected and I have top-end ability to get lost in Detroit, so we were a little late to Austin White's game. [EdThe video we have isn't comprehensive, and White scored a 58-yard touchdown as we were walking in at the end of the first quarter. Still, I've seen him in action two times before, so we still have a robust library of Austin White footage with the newest addition:

Against Northville, White didn't do anything to surprise. I've come to expect at least one big touchdown run from and a couple other long runs that don't find the endzone each game. As per usual, he sat the entire fourth quarter. Stevenson's blown out their last three oppoents.

White is an upright runner, sort of like Brandon Minor. He doesn't have the size or power that Minor does, which may lead to getting killed by a headhunting safety at some point. However, that's where the Minor comparisons end. Austin has excellent change of direction, quick in and out of his cuts, and shows good balance. He can find his way through traffic. If he gets into the open field, he's likely to score, but might not have the raw Carlos Brown speed to continue that at the next level. He didn't show this against Northville, but he's also a productive receiver both out of the backfield and as a split end.

Austin looks like he'll be a productive player at the next level. With all the young backs Michigan has, he'll probably get the luxury of a redshirt year, then be able to contribute as a redshirt freshman.

For more in the world of Michigan commits, check back later this afternoon for Friday Night Lights.

One of the nation's top punters has committed to Michigan, which like, hooray. Informative update coming a little bit later.

Alltime updates can be found in the 2010 Michigan Recruiting Board.

Your Breathless Seantrel Henderson Update Returns!

It's been a while since I've talked about the recruitment of MN OL Seantrel Henderson (Photo by the Pioneer Press) in Wednesday Recruitin', so this should be a pretty serious update, especially considering that he's one of the most-discussed recruits in recent memory. First, we head to ESPN and Steve Wiltfong:

"The choice will ultimately be up to Seantrel, but we're trying our best to make sure he gets the best experience," said Sean Henderson, Seantrel's father.

Not that I'm going to accuse any parental tampering here, but this quote is fairly ironic, considering Seantrel started the recruiting process saying "I'm not interested in Notre Dame." The instant his father took over the media correspondence, Notre Dame was suddenly among his favorites, and they're now receiving an official visit. I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'. Also of note from the article:

Besides the schools he's taking official visits to [ed.: ND, USC, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Florida] and Minnesota, the five-star Henderson is also considering Michigan, Michigan State, Iowa and Wisconsin.

That's still a top-10 list, and there's a lot of time before Signing Day, when he plans to decide. All teams still have a somewhat-legit chance at landing the guy.

Local fluff on Seantrel. For what it's worth, he still plans to try both football and basketball at his school of choice. The emergence of Michigan's basketball program can only help the Wolverines in that regard.

Tim Brewster took to a helicopter to impress local recruits, including Henderson (photo from MNdaily.com). In an article on the same topic,  his high school coach implies that there may be some (slight) academic concerns with Seantrel:

"He'll always take care of the football part of it," Scanlan said. "I just hope he gets his homework done and that he is getting everything taken care of when he comes back on Monday. That's the part that might be a concern. Because there are so many distractions; he's really focused on football. Let's just make sure that school takes care of itself, too."

Keep on eye on that, though it doesn't sound like he's in danger of not qualifying.

Seantrel is writing a weekly diary for the Pioneer Press, and I hope this is just an unfortunate coincidence in paragraph structure:

I heard this week from Ohio State, USC, Michigan and Oklahoma. It is tough sometimes to tell a school you aren't really interested...

Considering it's the Wolverines among a group of his top schools, I don't think that's intended to imply that he's uninterested in any of those programs.

Doug Lesmerises gives fluff from Seantrel's official visit, including a couple relevant quotes:

"Mostly I want to know about academics," Henderson says. "I want to learn about that if I'm going to be staying here for three years or whenever, and I want to know the people I'm surrounded by. I didn't know Ohio State was like, the biggest school. I didn't know they were so high on the academics and they give a lot of help to athletes."

Obligatory laughing at each part of the last sentence for entirely different reasons. For the record, Seantrel enjoyed his visit to Columbus, though there was nothing really said other than standard post-visit quotes (aside from his dad thinking Oklahoma is still in the Big 8, of course).

And, after that huge information dump, I'll editorialize for minute. Henderson (unlike many prospects) realizes that it's talent, and not school choice, that will get him to the NFL. Sure, he can pick up better coaching at some places than others, but if he's an NFL player, he's an NFL player, regardless of where he goes. Because of that understanding, the two biggest factors in his recruitment are expected to be education (check) and ability to win a championship while he's in school.

There's been a lot of murky insider-y talk about Michigan being one of Seantrel's favorite schools, but he's uncertain over whether he'd be able to win a championship in Ann Arbor. The fast start to the season really helps in that regard, especially beating one of his other contenders, in Notre Dame. If the Wolverines keep winning, they can really help themselves with a number of prospects, Henderson not least among them.

Your Quarterbacking Overlord Fears No Man

There has been some internet hand-wringing about what will happen to the commitment status of MI QB Devin Gardner with Tate Forcier having such a good stellar season. However, there's nothing to worry about. Devin thinks Tate looks very good, and he's not worried about competing against a possibly-entrenched starter. He'll compete to earn playing time, and if he doesn't get any of those minutes, he'll accept a redshirt.

Because it's Clear they're Needed...

...Michigan is still pursuing a number of linebackers. The main options:

VA LB Aramide Olaniyan has been a soft commit to Duke for quite some time, and his visit to Michigan seemed to have softened it even further. Since his interest in the Blue Devils has been waning, he made it official, decommitting from Duke. That's a good sign for Michigan, especially considering how much he enjoyed his time in Ann Arbor. He's taking another one sometime this winter, so if Michigan wants him, they appear to have as good a shot as any.

MD LB Josh Furman had long been planning to announce a decision at the Maryland Crab Bowl in December, but now it seems like a decision may be coming sooner ($, info in header). He was also in attendance for the Michigan-Notre Dame Game, which again is probably a good thing, considering it came shortly after heading to Ann Arbor.

MD LB Troy Gloster is a third realistic option, and he has had the Wolverines near the top of his list for quite some time now. Now it appears as though they're in a top 2 with West Virginia, and a decision might be coming before the end of his high school season ($, info in header). If such a decision does indeed happen, Michigan would at least know where it stands in it linebacker hunt.

If Michigan is unable to land any of those three linebackers, there are a couple prospects slightly lower on the recruiting board that they still have a chance at landing. One such player is OH LB Jewone Snow, son of Michigan great Garland Rivers (and nephew of Michigan State's Percy and Eric Snow). He'll observe the in-state battle on October 3rd, which may help him decide which team he likes more. Of course, one reason I'm personally enamored with Snow is his connection to 2011 OH DE Steve Miller, one of the top prospects in the Buckeye State.

In the Trenches

Though they'd fallen off his radar, the Wolverines have put themselves back on it for NC DE/DT Gabe King. Still, his coach has a lot of connections out west (his two favorites are Oregon and Cal), and he's now moving to Oregon, so don't expect MIchigan to seriously contend for him(King photo by Roy Philpott for the Detroit News).

MN DT Beau Allen was receptive when Michigan finally came after him, but it appears as though they may have been too late. He has a top four, with a couple schools trailing behind, and Michigan is nowhere to be found.

Etc.

CA S/RB Dietrich Riley still plans to visit MIchigan. CA CB Joshua Shaw will make a trip to Ann Arbor as well.

If you can help out finding articles on any of the commits, e-mail me, and I'll try to include your contribution. This week, I made it to two games, and they're listed at the top.

MI RB Austin White

Last week: Stevenson defeats South Lyon 37-0. Austin ran 8 times for 173 yards (21.63 YPC) and 3 touchdowns while only playing in the first half. I was there, so enjoy some rockin' HD video. Paul FAILs at titling, so you'll just have to trust me that this game took place at Stevenson, not Pioneer.

Ace from The Wolverine Blog also has video of the great performance.
This week: Stevenson (2-2) v. Northville.

MI WR Ricardo Miller

Last week: Pioneer pounds Saginaw Arthur Hill 58-20. Ricardo had a quiet night, catching only 1 ball for 20 yards. He was open a number of other times, but was not thrown to. He also had a decent night blocking. Again, I was there, which means you get video highlights:

This week: Pioneer (4-0) @ Temperance Bedford.

MI QB Devin Gardner

Last week: Inkster defeats Lakewood (OH) St. Edward 14-7. No real word on stats, except that Gardner had a run for a successful 2-point conversion.
This week: Inkster (1-2) @ Highland Park.
Etc.: The WCBN blog interviews Gardner.

SC QB Conelius Jones

Last week: Spartanburg falls to Greenwood 9-21. Jones coughed up two fumbles, but ran 7 yards for the Vikings' lone score. Spartanburg outgained Greenwood 336-120 in the loss.
This week: Spartanburg (2-3) has a bye week.

TX RB Stephen Hopkins

Last week: Marcus is downed by Katy 24-34. #2. Hopkins ran 13 times for 38 yards and one touchdown:

Stephen Hopkins cut the deficit in half with a 7-yard run, and the Marcus defense forced a Katy three-and-out on the next drive.

This week: Marcus (2-1) v. Lee.

TX RB Tony Drake

Last week: Skyline beats Plano East 45-19. Drake ran 15 times for 167 yards and a touchdown.
This week: Skyline (3-0) @ Lake Highlands.

LA Slot WR Drew Dileo

Last week: Parkview Baptist rocks Church Point 54-0.

Dileo also scored on a 38-yard punt return.

Article 2:

Michigan commitment Drew Dileo caught two of those passes for 40 yards and a touchdown.

This week: Parkview Baptist (3-0) v. Port Allen.

OH WR Jerald Robinson

Last week: Canton South falls to Louisville 14-17.

South made plays first. Bowles, in South’s second possession, found Jerald Robinson over the middle and the 6-2 speedster did the rest.

Robinson broke two tackles and went 64 yards for a 7-0 lead. Robinson added a brilliant 26-yard, one-handed grab the next possession...

Robinson (#4) photo by Julie Vennitti for the Canton Repository.
This week: Canton South (1-3) @ Minerva.

MI WR Jeremy Jackson

Last week: Huron is beaten by Monroe 7-14.

Jeremy Jackson caught seven passes for 103 yards, but penalties and turnovers kept halting drives.

This week: Huron (1-3) v. Dearborn.

OH WR DJ Williamson

Last week: Harding loses to Cardinal Mooney 6-31.
This week: Harding (2-1-1) v. Euclid.

OH OL Christian Pace

Last week: Avon Lake drops one to Olmstead Falls, 14-20.
This week: Avon Lake (1-3) v. North Olmstead.

OH DT Terry Talbott

Last week: Wayne beats Trotwood-Madison 21-19.
This week: Wayne (3-1) v. Troy.

PA DE Ken Wilkins

Last week: Trinity is beaten by Jefferson 7-34.
This week: Trinity (0-3) v. Elizabeth.

PA DE Jordan Paskorz

Last week: Hampton falls to Shaler Area 7-28.
This week: Hampton (1-2) @ Pine-Richland.

OH LB Antonio Kinard

Last week: Liberty beats Struthers 13-7.
This week: Liberty (3-1) @ Salem.

FL S Marvin Robinson

Last week: Lake Region falls to Sebring 21-29. Marvin starred for the Thunder on both offense and defense:

Led by linebacker Luke Lehning, tackle Matt Wells and safety Marvin Robinson, the Thunder defense took nearly everything out of Sebring's offense except Clarke, holding the Blue Streaks to just 20 rushing yards on their first 20 carries...

On the first play from scrimmage after Clark's 40-yard TD, Robinson burst through the Sebring secondary, took a pass from Carr in full stride and sprinted to a 64-yard touchdown.

This week: Lake Region (0-3) @ Haines City.

OH CB Courtney Avery

Last week: Lexington falls to Orrville 21-41. Avery injured his ankle in the game, and only got limited time.

Not having Jefferson (6 carries, 69 yards; 2 receptions) and Avery (13-of-22 passing, 133 yards) was a factor.

It remains to be seen whether the injury will keep Avery out of any games in the near future.

This week: Lexington (2-1) @ Lago Vista.

OH CB Terrence Talbott

Last week: Wayne beats Trotwood-Madison 21-19. I believe Terrence is still out with a leg injury.
This week: Wayne (3-1) v. Troy.

2011 OH CB Greg Brown

Last week: Ross defeats Cleveland Benedictine 28-21 in overtime.

Brown added six receptions for 99 yards.

He also scored a 6-yard touchdown in the game.
This week: Ross (3-1) v. Bloomfield Hills (MI) Lahser.