2016 recruiting

Singleton already has experience playing in the Big House. [Patrick Barron]

This is the first tab I opened when preparing this post:

Paramus (N.J.) Catholic 2017 linebacker Drew Singleton is a “no doubt” prospect when his time comes, according to his head coach Chris Partridge.

The 6-foot-2, 215-pound Singleton played as a freshman in a run to a state championship last fall, and will blossom this fall as a starter.

“He’s special,” Partridge said. “He’s a freak.”

Chris Partridge would move on to Michigan, where he's now the linebackers coach, after Drew Singleton's sophomore season. This evening, Singleton announced that he'll once again be Partridge's pupil, choosing Michigan over Clemson, Michigan State, and a host of top-tier offers. Even though Singleton missed the vast majority of his senior season with an ACL tear, his rankings suggest he's still regarded as a "no doubt" prospect.

Here's his video announcement:

Singleton is the 26th commit in the class and the sixth to join in the last nine days, following Tarik Black, Donovan Peoples-Jones, Cesar Ruiz, Deron Irving-Bey, and Jordan Anthony.

GURU RATINGS

Scout	Rivals	ESPN	247	247 Comp
4*, #4 OLB, #72 Ovr	4*, #4 OLB, #51 Ovr	4*, 82, #3 ILB, #162 Ovr	4*, 95, #5 OLB, #79 Ovr	4*, #3 OLB, #66 Ovr

Singleton has maintained a lofty standing in the rankings despite missing the majority of his senior season. Only ESPN has him outside the top 100 overall; they ranked him 201st in their initial release and had him as high as #125 in their April update. Encouragingly, the site that has by far the most scouting available on Singleton, Rivals, is the one that ranks him the highest; he made it as high as #33 overall in their rankings before sliding back while sidelined with the knee injury.

There's a tighter consensus on Singleton's size: he's listed at 6'2" and 214-218 pounds on each of the four sites. He'll probably be a WILL at Michigan, though he's got the range and coverage ability to potentially play SAM.

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Commitmas continues unabated as four-star IMG Academy linebacker Jordan Anthony announced his commitment to Michigan this evening via video. The Wolverines beat out fellow finalists Auburn, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Penn State.

Anthony is the 25th commit in the 2017 class and the fifth to make his pledge in the last eight days, following Tarik Black, Donovan Peoples-Jones, Cesar Ruiz, and Deron Irving-Bey—all of them are composite four-star recruits or, in the case of Peoples-Jones, even better. If you happen to agree with Rivals, Anthony is also a five-star talent.

GURU RATINGS

Scout	Rivals	ESPN	247	247 Comp
4*, #13 OLB, #185 Ovr	5*, #1 ILB, #26 Ovr	4*, 83, #9 ATH, #123 Ovr	4*, 92, #12 OLB, #208 Ovr	4*, #6 OLB, #107 Ovr

There's a significant outlier here: Rivals, which already had Anthony at 70th overall, moved him into five-star range in their latest update. ESPN, which likes Anthony as both a running back and linebacker, also has him a little higher than the other two. He's was primarily a running back as a freshman and junior; he was primarily a linebacker as a sophomore and senior. ESPN is the only site that spends much time discussing his potential on offense:

Quite honestly it would be easy to immediately slot this guy into a linebacker role for the next level which he likely is, but the more you watch him on offense the more belief you have that he may be able to remain on offense in the right scheme as a load carrier.

They expect him to wind up at linebacker and Michigan's needs indicate he'll play defense, too. I don't believe the position-switching explains the split in his rankings; IMG is too well-scouted for sites to fire-and-forget on their highly touted guys.

Every site save 247 (6'0", 220) lists Anthony at 6'1" and 220-226 pounds. Depending on how Don Brown utilizes the SAM spot post-Peppers, Anthony could wind up at either the WILL or SAM; he's got the athleticism and coverage ability you want in an outside linebacker.

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[Dave Nasternak/MGoBlog]

Four-star Flint Southwestern DL Deron Irving-Bey committed to Michigan this afternoon to end a long in-state battle between the Wolverines and Michigan State. The Spartans were long thought to be the leader in Irving-Bey's recruitment. SpartanTailgate expected him to be an imminent addition to the class after MSU offered in May:

Per a source, Michigan State had the lead for Irving-Bey even before he had an offer from MSU. Michigan State co-defensive coordinator Harlon Barnett has been in touch with Irving-Bey since January and has done an outstanding job recruiting him. Irving-Bey plans to visit Michigan State again very soon. A source added that if MSU stays on Irving-Bey that he’ll end up a Spartan soon.

In October, SpartanTailgate posted a slideshow of MSU's top five most-wanted recruits. Irving-Bey topped the list*:

Some recruiting insiders are hearing Irving-Bey is leaning towards Michigan, but a source close to him told Spartan Tailgate, "I know he loves Michigan State and I'm surprised he hasn't already committed." Irving-Bey plans to take an official visit Tennessee later on this month. We are also told Irving-Bey plans to visit Michigan State again in the near future. Irving-Bey is a high priority for Michigan State because he has the ability to play the same positions for MSU as Malik McDowell does. He can play multiple positions on the defensive line and with McDowell likely to declare for the NFL after his junior season, Irving-Bey is a must get for the Spartans in the class of 2017.

By that time, however, Irving-Bey had become an increasingly frequent visitor to Ann Arbor. A visit to East Lansing (for the Michigan game, incidentally) was sandwiched between an October unofficial and December official visit to Michigan. As Crystal Ball picks to Michigan came flooding in, SpartanTailgate sources changed their tune:

According to a Wolverine source, "The only way Michigan doesn't get Irving-Bey is if he waits too long."

Irving-Bey has taken official visits to Maryland on Dec. 3 and Michigan on Dec. 10. Irving-Bey is announcing at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl and likely to select Michigan but could still visit MSU.

A source close to Irving-Bey said, "Deron is still looking at Michigan State and plans to visit there in January."

A separate source said, "A darkhorse in Irving-Bey's recruitment is Maryland." ...

247Sports ranks Irving-Bey as the No. 5 strong-side defensive end in the country. Michigan State is recruiting to Irving-Bey play defensive tackle.

A source added that, "Irving-Bey's senior film wasn't that impressive and doesn't play with a high motor."

Spartan Tailgate was told Irving-Bey is not likely to end up at Michigan State unless they miss out on several other defensive linemen targets ahead of him. That's one of the reasons why Irving-Bey hasn't taken an official visit to Michigan State yet.

Here are a couple totally unrelated screenshots:

Here is a full list of 2017 Michigan State commits on the defensive line along with their 247 Composite rankings:

Three-star SDE Jacub Panasiuk (#26 SDE, #641 overall)
Three-star WDE Lashawn Paulino-Bell (#39 WDE, #709 overall)
Three-star WDE Donovan Winter (#73 WDE, NR overall)

The Spartans do not have a defensive tackle in the class and zero of the 13 DTs in the 247 database holding offers from MSU are listed with more than "cool" interest in the Spartans. Seven of them have already committed to other schools, including Michigan commit Phil Paea. The remaining six don't have a single MSU Crystal Ball selection between them. The only strongside end listed as "warm" for MSU weighs 215 pounds and is ranked 1240th overall. They're expected to pick up a commitment from a 230-pound weakside end they offered yesterday who's ranked 2106th.

But, yeah, I'm sure they passed on the consensus four-star from Flint because he was too far down their board.

A source tells me Irving-Bey is not expected to make that January visit to East Lansing.

*The rest of the list: #5 Christian Cumber (Colorado State commit), #4 Lynn Bowden (Kentucky holds large lead on Crystal Ball), #3 Ambry Thomas (heh), and #2 KJ Hamler (Penn State). I'm noting this both for the lols and to save for posterity in case it mysteriously disappears from SpartanTailgate's archives.

GURU RATINGS

Scout	Rivals	ESPN	247	247 Comp
4*, #24 DE, #279 Ovr	3*, #18 SDE	4*, 81, #18 DT, #258 Ovr	4*, 93, #5 SDE, #186 Ovr	4*, #9 SDE, #270 Ovr

Scout and ESPN both have Irving-Bey at the tail end of their top 300 lists; 247 is the bullish outlier, Rivals the bearish. His position rankings are all over the place because there isn't a consensus on whether he'll wind up on the inside or outside of the defensive line. Like fellow 2017 commits James Hudson and Donovan Jeter, Irving-Bey could be a DT or SDE at Michigan, and like Hudson he even has some potential as an offensive tackle.

Irving-Bey is listed at 6'5" by every site save ESPN (6'4") and somewhere between 265 and 284 pounds to every site save Rivals (a comically low/outdated 245).

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