eldridge massington

Today's recruiting roundup covers new offers in both the '13 and '14 classes, the updated Rivals rankings, and more.

Found: Goal Line Back, Destroyer Of Worlds

If you like to watch enormous people destroy things, you'll very much enjoy Maurice Hurst Jr.'s senior highlight tape:

About the only thing that's missing is him beating a block in a fashion other than bull rush. When your bull rush works like this, though, there's not much reason to switch things up at the high school level:

When you're done marveling at MASS DESTRUCTION, check out the "block" by the fullback

Also, if Hurst is never used as a goal-line back at Michigan, I'll be a very sad panda.

247 released senior highlights of Jake Butt this week, as well—he did impressive work on offense this season, lining up both as a traditional tight end and split out wide.

[Hit THE JUMP for a roundup of Michigan's latest offers, the updated 2013 Rivals rankings, and more.]

Today's recruiting roundup addresses some disturbing Twitter-related news, the recruitments of Ty Isaac and Henry Poggi, a pair of new 2013 offers, and a way-too-early top 25 for the class of 2014.

On Twitter and Recruits

Prepare to be creeped out:

Ohio State has learned that a convicted sex offender from Kentucky has made contact with Buckeyes student-athletes both in-person and through social media websites.

The Lantern obtained a Friday email that was sent from OSU athletic director for compliance Doug Archie informing Buckeye student-athletes that the university is aware of photographs OSU players have taken with Charles Eric Waugh, 31, a man listed on Kentucky’s sex offender registry, Archie said in the email.

"The University has become aware that an individual who is listed on Kentucky's sex offender registry has recently been seen in pictures with our student-athletes," Archie said in the mail, which was preceded by a warning text to student athletes.

Land-Grant Holyland has further details, including screencaps of Waugh tweeting inspirational quotes to Ohio State players and recruits and a photograph of him with 2013 recruits Alex Anzalone, Joey Bosa, and Mike Heuerman (above). Waugh is a registered sex offender—and currently on probation—because he was convicted in 2007 of "five counts of possession of matter portraying sexual performances by minors." As Land-Grant Holyland points out, Waugh could be in deep trouble, as the terms of his probation explicitly prohibit him from using any social media platform that allows access to minors, which is obviously the case with Twitter.

What strikes me most about the whole ordeal, however, is that several people—including a pair of current Buckeye players—came to Waugh's defense when he was called out by LGH on Twitter for sending quotes to underage kids and "pandering for [retweets]." This happened prior to the revelation that he was a sex offender, but I still find it deeply worrisome. One of the most prevalent arguments I see when people defend interacting with high school recruits through social media is that many of the recruits enjoy those interactions, so they're justified. I can't agree with that logic—there's a reason most high school kids can't vote, and it has to do with gaining a proper understanding of the world around them.

I'm not saying people shouldn't ever follow recruits; given the nature of my job, that would be hypocritical. I honestly don't see why people want to do so—the amount of relevant news gained is dwarfed in comparison to the sheer volume of high school drama, tweets with far too much information, and life musings of high schoolers—but that's your prerogative. When the line is crossed to interacting with recruits, however, it becomes a problem; even if you can't see an issue with chatting with a high school kid you don't know, there is the fact that NCAA violations are being committed at an alarming rate. I've had people ask me to tweet at recruits and encourage them to go to Michigan, which not only violates NCAA rules and the principles of journalistic integrity, but is also asking me to insert myself into a life decision for which I have no business giving input.

I realize that I'm speaking to a small fraction of the blog's readership, and also that there are a large number of fans who won't see this. But things will change soon—this isn't the first or last time that recruits will unwittingly interact with a sex offender, to put it bluntly—and I can't foresee fans having such unfettered access to recruits remaining the norm. Get ahead of the curve, remember that you're dealing with high school kids, and understand that it isn't your job to tell these young men what they should do with their lives. Brady Hoke will handle recruiting just fine without you.

(As for Facebook, by the way: don't. Just don't. Please don't make me list the reasons why you shouldn't "friend" recruits.)

Isaac Visiting USC, More 2013 News

IL RB Ty Isaac will take his second trip to USC this weekend, and according to Sam Webb he'll be accompanied by his mother ($). While I still think Michigan has the edge in his recruitment—his mother indicated that another visit to Ann Arbor is likely—this does signal that USC is a legitimate contender, perhaps moreso than Notre Dame. Isaac does ask that people not read too much into the trip, however:

“At this point (people) are going to find out (about the visit) anyway,” he said.  “They’re going to have writers out there that hear that I’m out there, and they’re going to write about it.  I can’t control that.  I knew I had it set up for about two weeks and I kind of didn’t want to say right when I knew because you know how some of these guys on the internet are.  They go crazy… like two visits means a commitment.  But it’s tough… you have to get out and see these places.  Just because it’s far away doesn’t mean it should be a one visit type deal. I’ve been a lot of places multiple times, so we’re just checking it out again.”

Please don't let Isaac doing his due diligence cause panic(!) in the comments. Also, as he has said in the past, Isaac plans to make his decision before the fall.

Rivals caught up with MD DT Henry Poggi after his visit to Alabama, and he played things close to the vest, abstaining from naming any leaders ($). He's working on setting his first visit to Penn State, however, and also is considering trips to Texas A&M and Cal. Given that he's taken three trips each to Michigan and Alabama, I wouldn't expect those schools to become a threat unless he takes return visits.

According to TomVH, Michigan sent out offers to two new prospects ($) this week in Fort Lauderdale (FL) University School of Nova South teammates WR Jordan Cunningham and DT Maquedius Bain. Cunningham is strangely listed at either 6'1" or 6'3" and makes the top 150 on both Rivals and ESPN, though he garners three-star ratings from Scout and 247. MAQUEDIUS BAIN (yes, he gets the all-caps treatment) is currently a Florida State commit, but he could possibly open up his recruitment; he's in the top 100 on both Scout and ESPN, but also has three stars on two sites.

Neither offer should come as a surprise considering Michigan's needs, especially with how things are trending at wide receiver. While things look good for Laquon Treadwell, there's still along way to go before he decides. Meanwhile, TX WR Eldridge Massington just committed to USC this afternoon ($, info in header). Fellow TX WR Marcell Ateman committed to Oklahoma State on Wednesday. NC WR Uriah LeMay cut his list down to ten ($), and it doesn't include the Wolverines. With two more receivers a near-necessity for rounding out the class, don't be surprised if Michigan goes hard after some new names on the recruiting trail.

Quickly: Sam Webb's DetNews feature this week is on CA ATH Elijah Qualls, who's trimmed down his current list to Washington, Oregon State, Arizona, Nebraska, California, Michigan, Iowa State and UCLA, though USC, Oklahoma, and Oregon could just into the mix if they offer. He's considering using an official visit to check out Ann Arbor. Michigan added a quarterback for the 2012 class, picking up Detroit Jesuit's Brian Cleary as a preferred walk-on.

Camps! Plus 2014 Updates

It's a big weekend for Michigan commits, as Columbus will host an Elite11 regional today then the Nike Football Training Camp on Saturday. Shane Morris will try to earn a spot in the Elite11 finals after failing to do so at the Dallas regional last month, though he'll face stiff competition from Stanford commit Ryan Burns (ESPN's #17 overall recruit) and others.

The NFTC will play host to commits Jourdan Lewis, Taco Charlton, Khalid Hill, David Dawson, and Mike McCray, who will attempt to raise their stock with strong camp performances. Scout's Allen Trieu has an extensive free preview; uncommitted recruits of note include Cass Tech DT Kenton Gibbs (no M offer), IN DT Darius Latham (offer), and a host of 2014 prospects, including MI WR Damon Webb, OH WR Thaddeus Snodgrass, MI LB Deon Drake, MI LB Gary Hosey, MI LB William White, and MI RB Lorenzo Collins. I know TomVH and Chantel Jennings will be there, as will the guys from Tremendous, so there will be no shortage of coverage on the event next week.

247 released a (very) early top 25 for the class of 2014, and several players holding Michigan offers made the list, including top overall prospect VA DT Da'Shawn Hand. Other offerees: NJ CB Jabrill Peppers (#3), MD OT Damian Prince (#13), NC OT Bentley Spain (#17), DC CB Jalen Tabor (#20), and MI DE Malik McDowell (#23). [EDIT: Tim Sullivan just posted over on The Fort (and said I could pass this along) that Peppers doesn't yet hold a Michigan offer, despite statements Peppers has made to the contrary. His coach confirms that Peppers doesn't have an offer at the moment.]

Peppers named a top six this week that includes Michigan, and he revealed to 247 that he grew up as a fan of the Wolverines ($). Joining the Wolverines are Stanford, USC, Miami (YTM), Notre Dame, and Ohio State; Peppers said that Michigan will "definitely" be in his top five when he has one, and he's working on setting up an unofficial visit. Getting in early on Peppers would make for a fantastic start to the 2014 class.

Quickly: Kyle Turley and J.C. Shurburtt break down Logan Tuley Tillman's junior film—there's not much insight beyond what Turley wrote up last week, but it's interesting to see him go through tape. David Dawson is still getting visited by other schools, with Florida making a particularly strong push, though he remains committed and won't take visits elsewhere—he's well aware of Hoke's policy. Trieu breaks down the emerging 2014 prospects in the Midwest, including recently-offered Parrker Westphal.

Hey, kids! Ace is off this week so I'm taking over your semiweekly recruiting overview. Why now instead of Tuesday? Taco time.

Go West, Young Mexican Staple Cuisine

OH WDE commit Taco Charlton was headed out to California for a family trip and they just happened to be having a Nike camp at the same time. Charlton decided to stop by:

If that looked like an impressive burst off the edge, you may be a Scout/ESPN analyst. The positive buzz from the event has already been translated from the twitterese and annotated by mgouser Michael Scarn:

Taco Charlton made his way to the LA Nike Camp, and he looks like one the best DE's here.  Ready for one v. one drills.

Taco Charlton is 3-0 going against the #1 OL group.  He and Joel Mathis [Scout's #8 DE in the country with offers from Alabama, Auburn, Michigan, Nebraska, ND, Oklahoma, USC] are DL MVPs on my board today.

Charlton finally got handled by the West's top OL Nico Falah [Scout's #3 OT in the country with offers from Florida, ND, Oregon, USC], but he then finished 2-0 against another of the West's best - Kenny Lacy [Scout's #15 OT with offers from Arkansas, Nebraska, most of the Pac 12 save USC and Oregon, WVU]. 

Greg Biggins also opined that "no one has come close to stopping" Charlton, a "blur off the edge." ESPN analysts on site declared him "unblockable off the edge and huge" and said he "passes every test." Michigan recruit Joe Mathis won the DL MVP; Charlton was a close second.

[UPDATE: ESPN's Craig Haubert: "a bit in the mold of William Gholston, doesn't quite have the mass that Gholston has but is a tall, long player. … He's got a nice burst. He's not overly quick-twitch, but what he is is pretty smooth and fluid for a kid his size. He did a nice job against offensive tackles in one-on-one when they gave him the inside. He was able to quickly redirect and use that long reach to knock their hands down.]

While 247 and Rivals were not present—or at least not tweeting—those two services are already high on Charlton. Scout is the only service with rankings out that didn't have him in their Top X players list, something that sounds like it will change at the next available opportunity. That would leave one (ONE!) of Michigan's sixteen recruits outside the Scout 300. That is tight end Khalid Hill, who is looking like the 2013 Sleeper Of The Year by default.

You've undoubtedly heard OSU fans scoff about Charlton not even starting for his high school team last year, an accusation that is true. (He was a pass rush specialist.) The camp setting is a good one for a 6'6" quick-twitch guy who may not know how to play football yet. He'd be a guy to watch for a move down during the season if he doesn't turn his potential into production. Michigan is able to take a flier on a high-ceiling kid like Charlton thanks to Beyer, Clark, Ojemudia, etc. If he doesn't work out someone else will. If he does… hoo boy.

Tremendous got a camp reaction from Charlton. He'll try to duplicate his impressive performance at the upcoming Columbus Nike camp.

Go Slightly East, Young Mountain

Logan Tuley-Tillman, Shane Morris, some short guy, and Patrick Kugler via Morris's twitter. Good lord is Michigan bringing some big dudes. Also check LTT's shoes.

Undoubtedly worn out by his daily commute from Chicago to Ann Arbor, IL OL commit Logan Tuley-Tillman plans on relocating to the state of Michigan($, info in TomVH tweet) this fall. Fire up your high school dream-team fantasies now. He won't be protecting Shane Morris's backside, though—he wants to enroll early, which De La Salle does not permit. Ace is no doubt rooting for Pioneer to cut down on travel time.

Perhaps more enticing than LTT showing up in the area even earlier than expected is what he told 247 in a freebie:

“I have been helping recruit a running back, wide receiver, and a linebacker from my class,” said Tuley-Tilman. “I can’t say which ones but I am pretty confident they will be going to Michigan. I just try to stress to those recruits about how much of a family we are at Michigan and that we really have something special going on here. The support at Michigan from the fans and everyone around the university is better than anywhere else in my opinion.”

I'm guessing those guys rhyme with Shmy Shmisaac, ShmaQuon Shmreadwell, and Shmen Shmedeon. Michigan is the presumed leader for all three. IL RB Ty Isaac has returned from USC, has no visits planned at the moment, and wants to decide sometime in the next couple months. OH LB Ben Gedeon has been less definite about his timetable but also seems on the verge of picking a school. He is planning a Stanford visit this weekend, after which a commitment could come at any time. Ohio State insiders say they're scrambling to get back in, which implies this is going a particular direction. IL WR LaQuon Treadwell is the farthest away from the Hokéball*. He's still planning a full slate of official visits before he decides.

BONUS GOODBYE MASSIVE ATTRITION NOTE: LTT's currently got a GPA just under 4.0.

*[Is it possible that no one has referred to this recruiting binge as Hokémon yet? Gotta catch 'em all.]

Go To Another Header Concept For The Secondary, Author

Michigan's still going after a number of defensive backs despite having commitments from MI CB Jourdan Lewis, OH CB Gareon Conley, and OH S Dymonte Thomas. They were in on DC CB Devin Butler, who has an announcement date and seems headed to ND or PSU. They're recruiting Priest Willis and a couple other guys from the West Coast. They are of course in on super-safety Su'a Cravens, and now they're pursuing a Cole Luke from Arizona:

“Michigan has been recruiting me pretty hard,” said Luke. “They are a great school and have a great football program, so why wouldn’t I be interested in them you know. Michigan has produced players like Charles Woodson, who I really look up to. I know that they have a good coaching staff because of what Michigan did last year so that’s what really stands out to me about them.”

He says there's an offer out for him, but you know how it goes these days with the whole "committable offer" business. Offers to guys across the country can be mere visit inducements. Luke is visiting Texas and Oklahoma in the near future but doesn't have anything scheduled for Michigan yet.

In other longshots Michigan is still pursuing, presumed VT lock and MD CB Kendall Fuller will make it up for the spring game. On campus, have a shot, etc. OH CB Darian Hicks has also set a visit($), though he lacks an offer.

This suggests Michigan is planning for 24 guys in the class. They've got 16 commits now. If they add a tailback, two WR, two DL, and two LBs they'll be at 23. There's no room for another defensive back unless they grit their teeth and go with two WRs or forgo one of the highly-touted linebackers Michigan seems to be heavy leaders for… unless they go to 24.

Is this a Dymonte Thomas backup plan? Probably not. OSU just flipped OH S Jayme Thompson, the Toledo kid who set three or four announcement dates in February in an effort to trawl for big local offers. When none were forthcoming he eventually went forward with a SeVon Pittman-style non-commitment to West Virginia. That ended yesterday.

OSU's now got three defensive backs in a class that won't get very big. Picking up Thompson looks like cutting their losses. We'll see. Buckeye insiders refuse to give up the ghost there.

BONUS GAREON CONLEY IS GOOD BIT. TomVH on Michigan's corner commits:

I'll go on the record to say that I think Gareon Conley is the real deal. No one is talking about this guy, and he's 6-foot-1, 170 pounds with tons of athleticism, speed and ball skills. I've heard "no brainer" when his name was brought up. On top of that, Jourdan Lewis is no slouch. I saw him play plenty of times this past season and he was always making plays.

Conley is a potential riser as we go into the fall.

Defensive Line Shakeout

With Michigan down to a few targets almost everywhere, defensive line is the one spot with some remaining mystery to it. MD DE/DT Henry Poggi is a prime target for the SDE/3-tech spot; NJ DT Greg Webb is a priority at nose tackle or three-tech, and then… fuzzy. This is the normal way of things in early April. We are spoiled.

Poggi is the best bet. He's friends with IL OL commit Kyle Bosch and his recruitment has morphed from a Michigan/Alabama battle to a Michigan/Ohio State battle. It is always good when you're the constant on a shifting leaderboard. Webb either has Michigan first or fourth or tied in a top group of four($):

"Probably during the summertime I will cut it down to a good five schools. Penn State, Ohio State and Alabama are the three that will automatically make my list.

"Michigan has been recruiting me the hardest. Their coaching staff of Brady Hoke and Greg Mattison are d-line coaches, so if they think a player will be a good defensive linemen I feel like they just reach out to them a lot and that's what's happening. I talk to those guys a lot. Actually, I think that Michigan will definitely make my final list too."

TX DE and A&M decommit Christian LaCouture is visiting for the spring game…

"I'm going to visit Michigan April 14th for their spring game," he said. " Probably after that, I'm not going to visit any more schools. By then, I'll probably have the team where I want to go."

…but says LSU leads:

"Like I said, LSU right now is probably the team to beat."

When a kid's last name is LaCouture this cannot be a surprise.

CA DE Joe Mathis—Cravens's cousin—won the Taco Charlton Invitational Camp MVP and will return the favor by flying out to Detroit(!) for this weekend's Best of the Midwest Camp. When Tremendous talked to him he said he'd swing by Michigan as a part of that trip; Beaver is disputing that but I'm sure Steve asked and got an answer. Beaver gets huffy when other people break things. TomVH confirmed that Mathis will "try to swing by" this weekend.

IL DL Josh Augusta claims an offer and will swing by both Michigan schools($) this week when he's on Spring Break. He's an anonymous three star but did just pick up an Oklahoma offer; at 6'5", 275 he's probably an SDE/three-tech. Michigan has also reached out to MA DL Maurice Hurst Jr according to 247. He's a 3/4-star tweener who is the son of a former NFL player.

Meanwhile, the is-he-recruited-isn't-he on AL DT Rod Crayton… don't expect him at Michigan.

The Cthulhu Kid

…is what I might call TX WR Eldridge "Eldritch" Massington if he ends up commiting to Michigan. Massington told Tremendous that Michigan was his leader on Friday. Ace provided SNL highlights; here's a few actually featuring football from a camp now two weekends ago and an analysts's take:

"Throughout the day Massington's great frame and surprising speed made him a near impossible cover for defensive backs through the day. He struggled, a time or two, with drops but with as many quality catches as he made it seemed to be a mental lapse or two rather than a problem of drawing the ball in," said SoonerScoop.com Recruiting Publisher Josh McCuistion.

Needs moar tentacles to catch ball.

Si Se Puede

A realistic finish to a 24-member class: Isaac, Treadwell, Massington or OH WR Kevin Gladney (high three-star sort), Webb, Poggi, Gedeon, Levenberry, random three-star DB/TE/DL. Jebus. If I had only known I wouldn't have let Ace do this.

/remember the eight-commit weekend

/takes it all back

Happy Trails

CA CB Chris Hawkins is off the board to USC.

Etc.: OSU offers 2014 Michigan targets Andy Bauer($) and Malik McDowell. MI OL commit David Dawson picks up USC and Florida offers.