jerald robinson

Boards of note:

• 2010 Michigan football Recruiting Board.
• 2011 Michigan Football Recruiting Board.

Trench Warfare

Lots of changes on the defensive tackle recruiting front in the past couple days.

First things first, MI DT Johnathon Hankins picked Ohio State yesterday over the Wolverines. Allow me to editorialize for a moment here: This blog has a tag called "basketball recruiting is dirty like dirt in a dirt sandwich," but if half of the rumors about the Southeastern coaching staff's handling of Hankins's recruitment are true, we may need to expand that tag to football as well. Genuinely Sarcastic provides some angry detail.

FL DT Todd Chandler seems to be looking primarily at Louisville as an option outside of USF (where he is committed). Michigan might become a stronger option if his teammate, FL OL Torrian Wilson, visits Ann Arbor, but this one appears to be on the back-burner for now. Chandler's top schools have gone from the likes of Miami, Michigan, and Florida to Memphis, Louisville, and FIU, so he may have some issues—grades?—that are causing bigger schools to back off.

Wilson, by the way, is down to USF, Michigan, and Tennessee. Michigan could really use another offensive lineman in the class.

Cincinnati high school sports reporter Mike Dyer reports that Michigan visited OH DT/DE Jibreel Black both in-home and in-school on Monday. Black, who has been committed to Cincinnati, but is reconsidering after the Brian Kelly departure, will also visit Michigan sometime this month, probably the weekend of the 22nd. According to Dyer's full article, the Wolverines have replaced Louisville on his list.

Michigan has a couple defensive ends and a couple three-tech defensive tackles so all they need is a nose; if they pick up Black it's because they really like him.

All-Star Updates

More on his actual game performance in a delayed Friday Night Lights post next week, but MI QB Devin Gardner participated in the Under Armour All-American Bowl on Saturday. He impressed in practice:

"(Devin Gardner) really impressed me a lot," [Scout Florida expert Geoff] Vogt added. "He was bigger than I expected him to be. His arm was everything that people made it out to be. He was accurate... He clearly, in my opinion, is the top quarterback on that team... He'd be the No. 1 quarterback in Florida straight out this year and that's really saying something. I think he has a really bright future at Michigan."

Of course, being the clear #1 QB on the team got him by far the fewest snaps out of the 3 QBs, with Nick Montana and Phillip Sims getting more (the order was determined randomly, FWIW). That Webb article also says that Michigan is pursuing Tennessee commit LB Michael Taylor. I've added him to the board. Taylor remains a soft commit to the Vols.

FL CB Tony Grimes participated in last weekend's Offense-Defense Bowl, and MGoReader J. Lichty reports that opposing offenses mostly stayed away from him. He played both corner and safety. MGoBlog's own TomVH talked to Grimes last week, and he reiterated what we've been hearing for some time on both Grimes and his teammate, FL DE Clarence Murphy:

TOM: Are you and Clarence still planning on going to the same school?

TONY: As far as this point, yes that's the plan.

TOM: Is Michigan still on top for you?

TONY: Yes.

The two still both favor Michigan, and plan to announce on Signing Day. Tony also said that he didn't know there was a dead period between college coaches and recruits, and was wondering why Michigan wasn't contacting him as much. Sounds like other schools haven't quite been following the rules. THE NCAA WILL BE ALL OVER THIS!

This upcoming weekend is a little more notable for Michigan fans: Commits WI P Will Hagerup and PA CB Cullen Christian will play in the US Army All-American Bowl, and CA S Sean Parker who is down to Michigan, Cal, and USC, will also participate.

Early Enrollment

The semester started today, so we should finally have a good idea of which 2010 Michigan commits were able to get in for the winter semester and spring practice.

MI QB Devin Gardner is still trying to enroll early, but Inkster's semester ends really late and there are some issues with getting him accelerated. Michigan should know by the end of the week whether he will or not. Stephen Hopkins, Jerald Robinson, Ricardo Miller, Christian Pace, Jeremy Jackson, and Austin White are all enrolling, though as of Wednesday morning Robinson and Miller did not have UMich directory entries. Marvin Robinson is also making an effort to enroll early:

Robinson, who took 3 classes over the summer in an attempt to graduate in December, said the holdup stems with 2 classes he took last semester.

"Most likely things are going to work out where I can go up there tomorrow," Robinson said.

Even if things don't, Robinson said he's firm in his commitment and will sign with Michigan in February.

I don't recall if the Athletic Department announced early-enrolling prospects last year until after Signing Day, but hopefully we'll have the final data by the end of this week.

Meanwhile, FL CB Adrian Witty was also supposed to be a midseason enroller after not qualifying for fall but is not in the Michigan directory. It's looking grimmer for Witty by the day; from the sounds of it he is qualified in the eyes of the NCAA; Michigan's admissions are the holdup. The most likely issue is a radically improved test score that got flagged.

Persistent rumors that TX RB/WR Tony Drake is so far from qualifying that he shouldn't even be considered part of the class any more get stronger by the day.

2011

Maxpreps published its Junior All-American teams, with few prospect of interest for Michigan fans, outside of a couple pipe dreams. SoFlaFootball has also published its first 2011 top 75.

FL RB Demetrius Hart may not be the Michigan lock that we thought:

The 5-foot-8, 175-pounder has had the Wolverines out in front for some time and continues to do so, though he jokingly said that cold temperatures in the Orlando area recently may have him thinking a little.

So, yeah: That's not as negative as the headline "Florida Prospect Considers Local Programs" would make it seem. It would still be an upset for him to not land in Ann Arbor.

Michigan has offered a trio of prospects from Gardena Serra High School in California. WR George Farmer appears to be the headliner, holding offers from a who's-who of bigtime schools, including Florida and Oklahoma. DE Jason Gibson and S Marquise Lee have also received Michigan offers, along with scholarships from the likes of Miami (Yes That Miami), Oregon, and Washington.

Etc.

Michigan commits Tony Drake and Austin White come in at #8 and #10, respectively on Sports Illustrated's top running backs of 2010.

Last night, Paul and I took in a game at Canton South High School, the home of 2010 wide receiver commit Jerald Robinson. The Wildcats took on the Dover Tornadoes, one of their big rivals in Ohio's Division 3. Since this was a pretty big game, the local TV stations were in attendance, and the game was televised live in the area.

The game got off to an unceremonious start for Canton South, as their first play from scrimmage was a snap over the quarterback's head, recovered by Dover near the 3 yard line. The Tornadoes easily punched it into the endzone, and Robinson returned the ensuing kickoff near the 30 yard line. Two plays later, lightning struck again, as their running back fumbled the ball, and Dover recovered yet again, easily converting another touchdown.

From that point forward, Canton South had to throw the ball to stay in the game, something that was tough to do with an overwhelmed quarterback in his first game. When I predicted whether Robinson would be able to move up in the rankings, I said the QB play would be a factor - so don't expect him to have much of an opportunity to move up.

Robinson was targeted a couple times early on slants, and ran one reverse for 7 yards, but later in the game, he was hardly getting the ball thrown his way at all, and oftentimes wasn't even running routes as the QB rolled away from his side of the field. I would guess that he got slightly injured early in the game (and he did have his ankle rolled at one point but got immediately back up), and couldn't cut as well as he'd like. Later in the game, when they started throwing his way again, it was almost exclusively on fade routes, which were mostly well-defensed or poorly-thrown. Defensively, he didn't always appear to put in the utmost effort, and though part of that may be a matter of scheme (don't let anybody get behind you, no matter what happens), he also seemed hesitant to tackle at times, and his better upside seems to be at wideout. He finished with 2 receptions for 6 yards, 1 solo and 6 assisted tackles, and one 7-yard rush.

The Wildcats mounted a valiant comeback effort on the back of two catch-and-run touchdown receptions by James Lucas, the team's #2 receiver, but the deficit was too much for them to overcome, and they ended up on the wrong side of a 27-14 result. The teams were fairly evenly matched (especially with South not being able to use their whole playbook playing from behind), and if they played again, the result could just as easily go the other way.

Video Highlights (Photo Gallery included in next week's Friday Night Lights feature).

A pretty light week as most high school prospects are focusing on preparation for their senior season, rather than recruiting. Once official visits start rolling, it should get interesting again. All updates can be seen on the 2010 Recruiting Board.

Your Weekly Semi-Creepy Devin Gardner Update - Now with Co(r?)nelius Jones!

Fluff on MI QB Commit Devin Gardner. It's nothing you've never heard before, if you're more inclined to not click Free Press links.

Inkster has eight road games and three brutal trips to Ohio to play against Cleveland St. Edward, St. Ignatius and Steubenville High -- all powers.

With no home games and needing to win five games just to make the playoffs, Gardner's situation is different from any top-flight quarterback in the state.

I've yet to figure out why the Vikings have no home games. There's a pretty good photo gallery by the Free Press, as well. There was video floating around the interwebs of Gardner's performance at a scrimmage last week, but it appears to have been taken down.

Rivals AMP caught up with QB Commit Cornelius Jones. They're currently not allowing embedding of said video, but Jones says he's 100% solid with Michigan. He's open to switching positions once he gets to Ann Arbor, but will come in as a quarterback. Jones's high school season began on Friday, and you can see how it went in this week's Friday Night Lights feature.

By the way - there's still some confusion about whether Jones's first name is "Cornelius" or "Conelius" (no 'r'). Alas, I've been unable to definitively clear that issue up, so I'll continue with option A until it can be settled once and for all.

Officially Visitin' (Or Not)

Hopefully once the season gets underway, I'll be able to devote an entire section of each recruiting post to that week's docket of visitors. For now:

OH TE Alex Smith has started talking about his favorites, despite being "committed" to Cincinnati. I think at this time it's fair to say he's no longer a commit to the Bearcats, they just lead for him. Wisconsin and UNC are atop his list behind Cincy, with Kentucky shortly behind. Smith's only scheduled official visit thus far is to Wisconsin for the season opener, and a Michigan visit no longer sounds like a lock.

WI P Will Hagerup had named his official visit to Michigan for the Western game on September 5, those plans are changing. He'll now head to Ann Arbor for the Indiana game on September 26th. This will be his last official visit before deciding, which is a minor boost to Michigan's chances.

Michigan will get an official visit from VA LB Aramide Olaniyan, currently a Duke commit ($, info in header). He's taking all five visits, so the Wolverines may have a chance to pry him away with Duke if they really want him.

Though there was talk about who would be getting Sharrif Floyd's official visits in the last update, he intends to change his plans for those visits ($, info in header). Since Michigan was not under consideration in the previous list, any chage is good for the Wolverines. No word on whether they're in his newly-adjusted plans.

Scouting Reports? Scouting Reports

Rivals covered a couple scrimmages, and talks about a couple M prospects of note:

S- Latwan Anderson- Glenville- After turning in a great performance vs. Elyria Catholic from the safety spot, Anderson put on a show at wide receiver against Cardinal Mooney. He made a spectacular catch above his head along the sideline against Braylon Heard. He also made a circus one-handed catch out of bounds that drew loud applause from the crowd. At safety, he forced a fumble at the goal line on Braylon Heard.

WR- D.J. Williamson (Michigan commit)- Warren Harding- Speed will never be an issue with Williamson, he can really glide on the football field. He is still growing into a natural receiver, but should really benefit from having a solid passing quarterback take over at Harding, transfer Jordan Miller. Williamson also played some cornerback, and showed good ability to break on the football.

Williamson sounds like a potential sleeper; you can't teach speed. Ohio HS Sports.com also took a look at a few players, including WR Jerald Robinson:

Jerald Robinson, WR/DB , Canton South -- Michigan commit is always a big-play threat and also had 7 interceptions last year. His three-year QB has graduated and he'll face double and triple teams, but he'll still produce.

So, hooray for that, I guess. A lot more preview-type stuff on Michigan commits in Friday Night Lights.

Defensive Backin'

OH S/WR Bobby Swigert has narrowed to a list of four suitors: M, Stanford, Nebraska, and BC.

If things go as planned, Cullen Christian may end up as the "Guy Everyone Took For Granted And Aren't Excited When He Commits" for the class of 2010. He's still saying good thing about Michigan, and will play multiple positions for Penn Hills this season:

"Michigan is No. 1, but I probably won't make my decision until sometime during the season. I don't know how close I am to pulling the trigger...

Teams didn't throw the ball to my side much last year. At safety, I can make plays."

He is taking official visits to UCLA, WVU, and Maryland in the first month of the football season. I would presume one more official visit, then hopefully a commitment to Michigan when he takes his final visit to Ann Arbor.

FL CB Tony Grimes has narrowed to a top 3 of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ole Miss. He does not plan to make a final decision until Signing Day.

Etc.:

CA WR Kenny Stills is still nominally considering Michigan. I wouldn't get your hopes up, though he may be taking an official visit. OH DE Derrick Bryant once favored Michigan, but now it appears as though he doesn't want to play in the Big Ten ($, info in header). He currently favors UCLA, Oregon, Kentucky, and North Carolina. MD OL Arie Kouandjio has named 8 schools on top of his recruitment, and Michigan isn't among them. He's bumped down to a Nefarious Eduardo, and is soon to be removed. Removed FL CB Eric Mitchell, who committed to Ole Miss.

On Monday MGoBlog took a look at current commits unlikely to move up.

Rivals and Scout rankings are useful but imperfect, and early rankings are more imperfect still. Though Michigan freshman Taylor Lewan ended up a 4-star prospect to both major recruiting site, he entered his senior season virtually unknown. By the time final rankings had come out he was a four star well within everyone's top 150. 

The following players look to be this year's Lewan and have some upward mobility this fall. Not all will move up, of course, but look for one or two of the below players to gain a fourth star, or, in Devin Gardner's case, a fifth.

MI QB Devin Gardner

Why Here? Devin has been compared to Terrelle Pryor and Vince Young, so it stands to reason that he is highly-ranked. He took his team to the state championship game (in which the Vikings lost to East Grand Rapids), and put together a solid junior campaign both on the ground and through the air.

All of the recruiting sites like Devin, but none of them love him yet. Barry Brunetti is listed ahead of him among dual-threats on Rivals, and Gardner is still chasing that elusive 5th star on Scout.

Prediction: This isn't much of a prediction. Multiple Rivals analysts have stated flat-out that Gardner will be their #1 dual threat QB and comfortably in the top 100 when they take the Elite 11 into consideration. He has shown off his athleticism—and willingness to compete—by attending various camps and combines in the summer before his senior season despite his early commitment to Michigan. He has shown potential greatness at QB, WR, and even defensive back(!); his versatility is not in question. He killed it at the Elite 11.

Unless he completely tanks this season, anything other than 5 stars will be a disappointment for Devin.

SC QB Cornelius Jones

Why Here? Cornelius Jones's junior season didn't go well. He got exposure during it, playing highly-ranked teams within the state of South Carolina in every game, but his team wasn't good. The competition (like Byrnes, the home of Marcus Lattimore, Brandon Willis, et al, who Spartanburg played twice) was. Jones ended up throwing just 1 touchdown to 12 interceptions.

Michigan extended an informal offer last April and followed through with an official offer in January. He was among the first QBs that the Michigan coaching staff extended an offer to, so they think highly of him despite the inexperience. There's something there.

Prediction: Jones' polish-to-talent ratio is very low, and his learning curve may be quick. A player doesn't have offers in the summer before his junior season if he's not talented (especially when he didn't even play as a sophomore). He's done much better in summer 7-on-7 camps, leading Spartanburg to a tournament final against Byrnes amongst a crowded field of quality programs.

Even if he can't prove his worth as a QB, the recruiting services might rank him as an athlete. If he can have a decent enough year in his senior season, he could end up a fringe 4-star guy. At the very least he should pick up a third star from Scout and get bumped up a bit in the positional rankings.

One heartening item: his high school coaching staff will have a year under their belt coaching as well. Last year was their first in Spartanburg.

TX RB/Slot Tony Drake

Why Here? Drake is the sort of guy who can excel in the Rich Rodriguez offense, but isn't likely to be considered for a high ranking by the recruiting sites. He's a speedy little bastard who performs despite his diminutive stature, and probably wouldn't last long in the NFL.

Drake was productive as a receiver as a sophomore, but was relegated to a backup running back last year.

Prediction: He is at one of the right programs to have success at: Skyline routinely pumps out a talent, and is one of the most visible high school teams in the nation. The stage is set for Tony Drake to take a big leap forward.

Now he just has to perform. Being named second team all-district at WR as a sophomore proves he might have the skill to get it done. I was pretty dubious on Drake's ability to move up, but there is an the opportunity in front of him.

OH WR Jerald Robinson

Why Here? Robinson hasn't gotten it done on the field yet. A bad QB situation may have played a role in that. He is also a multi-position player that nobody knows exactly where to place. Originally, most Michigan fans thought he would play safety. After an impressive camp performance, however, nobody knows quite where he will play. At the moment, it seems like he'll stay at wideout.

If the quarterback situation at Canton South doesn't get better, Robinson won't have a opportunity to produce. However, if it improves, he can move up with a much better year.

Prediction Sam Webb was really high on Robinson as the best wideout at Michigan's camp, which was also attended by the likes of Ricardo Miller and Jeremy Jackson. That alone indicates that Robinson is an talent deserving of 4-star status.

With impressive performances this summer—and hopefully a better season as a senior—Robinson will have a shot at getting a fourth star on Scout, too.

OH WR DJ Williamson

Why Here? DJ Williamson is unknown. Though he has a highlight film on Scouting Ohio, the recruiting services either don't know much about him or didn't deem him worthy of even a 3-star ranking until recently. Williamson committed early and has not attended any camps, so his exposure is very low. Scout and Rivals both have him at three stars (finally), but he is way, way down on each of their wideout lists.

There is upside here: Williamson has decent size at 6-1 showed elite speed by winning the 100m dash in meet after meet on his way to the Ohio state title.

Prediction: If Warren finds a quarterback to get the ball to him, Williamson's size and speed alone should boost him up to a high 3-star. Four stars is doubtful for a guy who hasn't put in the time at combines and camps.

MI WR/TE Jeremy Jackson

Why Here? The son of a coach, Jackson got early offers from the likes of Florida and Texas before ending his recruitment early. He is a polished player as a coach's son. He had good, but not exceptional stats as a junior.

Players who have received lots of coaching in their careers but aren't dominant in high school, usually don't have the physical talents to be elite players. And with Huron moving to a veer option offense, Jackson may not have a lot of opportunity to prove that he deserves to be ranked among the top players in the nation.

Prediction You may be taken aback at first by the fact that Jackson is listed as a WR/TE. Sam Webb has been saying on the WTKA recruiting roundup for quite some time now that Jeremy is still growing, and currently looks more like a tight end than a wide receiver. With Michigan's new focus on athletic tight ends, they might encourage a further move in that direction. Jackson may have more upside there, and if the recruiting sites make this change in position, he could move up to a 4-star prospect.

[Editor's note: I would have slotted Jackson in the other group; he's polished and slow-ish, two things that don't often result in big senior-year moves. Also: high school to run a veer. To be fair, Tim's basing his assessment on Jackson as a tight end.]

OH DE/LB Antonio Kinard

Why Here? Kinard is the third in the trifecta of tweeners Michigan has committed on defense (the other two, Ken Wilkins and Jordan Paskorz, were listed as “Stuck in Neutral”). He doesn't stand out on film more than most prospects, which leads to his 3-star ranking. And with two classmates a year older heading to Michigan, he probably got at his fair share of scouting.

But Kinard is athletic, as evidenced by his huge TD run in the game that I scouted with VB last year, and Duane Long also thinks he's got serious athletic ability.

Prediction: Kinard wasn't highly productive on a defense last year that featured current Michigan freshman Isaiah Bell roaming the secondary. You'd think that an imposing safety like Bell would give Kinard more opportunities to make plays, but he didn't. He has the athleticism, though, the potential for big time production is there.

Unlike Paskorz and Wilkins, I think Kinard is likely to stay at LB. Still, I think he'll be a low-4 or higher 3-star prospect. A big move is unlikely for a tweener.

OH CB Courtney Avery

Why Here? Avery, a star for Lexington High School for the last three years, is not underexposed. The problem is that he has starred as a diminutive quarterback. Avery only started playing on defense just this past year, but couldn't go full time since he was busy tearing up opposing defenses on the other side of the ball. Now that he knows where he’ll play in college, that might change.

If Avery was a couple inches taller. He could be a Troy Smith clone (not that Smith was a giant) and use his pinpoint accuracy and athleticism to direct Michigan's spread offense. Alas, he's not, so unless he's used for the occasional trick play on offense, he'll be a corner for GERG's defense.

Prediction  Avery has some of the best upside in Michigan's entire recruiting class so far. Local observer Duane Long thinks Michigan got "a steal." Avery is just one year into his new position, potentially still growing, and was deemed good enough by Michigan's coaches to receive an offer at camp after a week of personal observation. If he can take enough time off from blazing through opposing defenses, he should be able to move up in the rankings. Avery's a quintessential late mover.

Update 7/7: Video of FL RB Cassius McDowell.

Linked to articles on MI DE CJ Olaniyan, OH S Latwan Anderson, OH DT Terry Talbott (second), WI P Will Hagerup, FL RB Cassius McDowell, FL CB Tony Grimes (second), OH WR Jerald Robinson, OH OL Andrew Donnal, OH OL Christian Pace.

Removed PA WR Andrew Carswell (Pitt), OH RB Spencer Ware, OH OL Andrew Rotheram, OH RB Roderick Smith(OSU), GA CB Darius Robinson (dropped M), OH RB Andre Givens, FL LB Zach Allen (Wake), GA DE Henry Anderson (Stanford), NY DE Dominic Easley (dropped M).

Dior Mathis stuff. More EEEE about Gardner from Lemming. The Daily Gopher is going all tracky on Seantrel Henderson.

Editorial Opinion: Recruiting board lives here. What happened this week? Nothing!

Well, not much. Things that did happen:

Happy Trails

Eh, a bunch of guys off the board as folks get serious about narrowing their lists in preparation for official visits and whatnot. The board is now thinning the herd. In groups:

• Apparent plan B guys without offers or without, you know, commitable ones: OH OL Andrew Rotheram, OH RB Andre Givens, and probably PA WR Andrew Carswell since he's an ACK WR.
• Guys who never seemed interested: OH RB Spencer Ware, IN RB Roderick Smith, GA CB Darius Robinson, and NY DE Dominic Easley.
• Mild disappointments: FL LB Zach Allen and GA DE Henry Anderson.

None of these guys were in the core group of guys who have expressed serious interest, but Allen's commitment to Wake Forest just about shuts Michigan out of Pahokee this year. Anderson, meanwhile, was a strongside DE candidate with a nice set of offers, family from Wisconsin, and an academic mindset. He would have been a nice addition to Michigan's thin defensive line class; Harbaugh snatched him up for Stanford.

Hello Early

Michigan brought in a third of its last class early, and that trend isn't slowing down. OH OL Christian Pace plans on enrolling early, joining at least Ricardo Miller and Jerald Robinson. I thought I had seen a couple other commits announce their intent to show early, as well, but when I reviewed the board I only had EE markers next to those two. If anyone has additions to that list, the comments beckon.

While we're on Pace, I've mentioned his intelligence makes him well-suited to center in the past; his coach agrees:

“He’s very intelligent,” Shoremen coach Dave Dlugosz said. “Some players understand: I’ve got to block this player on this play. Christian can look at the defense and he understands the concept of the play, and he’s capable of making adjustments not only for himself but for the rest of the team as well.

“He plays tackle for us, but Michigan is going to move him to center, where he’ll be responsible for making most of the blocking calls.”

Aaand a little more quoteporn:

“I had a number of college scouts tell me that might be the best senior lineman tape in the whole United States, it was that good,” Dlugosz said. “He’s a very, very physical player. He’s an individual that has tremendous footwork and he’s very agile. He loves the physical part of the game and he knows how to finish blocks.”

That echoes Rivals' assessment of the tape; the only thing holding Pace back is an overall lack of hugeness that makes him an imperfect fit for offenses other than the spread and limits his pro potential. Everything else points to a long-term starter. This is one of those guys you can credibly argue is a four-or-five star to Michigan even if the recruiting sites don't give him the gold star.

Pace will have a tough time unseating a then-senior David Molk when he's a redshirt freshman, but he's got at least a 50-50 shot at the starting job after that, as Rocko Khoury is the only sure center on the roster at the moment.

Speaking Of

Kurelic caught up with OH WR Jerald Robinson, who had a couple of interesting things to offer. Thing the first is a bunch of offers:

Since selecting the Wolverines, Robinson said he has added offers from Michigan State, Purdue, Illinois, Indiana, Syracuse, Pitt, Cincinnati and a few others. The additional offers have not changed Robinson's thinking.

Some ammo for the theory that Rodriguez identifies talent better than others there.

Thing the second is some clarity on his position after Michigan's camp:

"At first the Michigan coaches were talking about defense," Robinson said. "But after they saw me at their camp (in June) they said they want me to play wide receiver."

Odd, since there were quotes from Robinson when he committed about playing receiver. Maybe the assertion was Michigan keeping the door open for a move to safety, rather than suggesting he'd definitely come in as one. Either way, that's off the table after Robinson caught everything in sight at Michigan's camp. He must have been extremely impressive given the current composition of Michigan's roster and recruiting class, which is heavy on receivers and light on safeties.

Weekly Gardner Eeee

Lemming reiterating his stance on MI QB Devin Gardner:

(Inkster quarterback) Devin Gardner is five-star player, and (Marvin) Robinson, a safety out of Florida, is one of the best. All of the other guys have one thing in common -- they are all really fast. They're all guys who fit Rich Rodriguez's system.

Getting Gardner was key, because he's an impact player. He's a great athlete, he's big (6-4, 200), and in the right hands, which is Rodriguez, he's going to be fantastic. He's going to be a great player. He needs to work on his precision as a quarterback, but he is a terrific athlete. And the quarterback out of South Carolina (Cornelius Jones) has a lot of potential. These are two quarterbacks who can run the spread.

That's the first I've heard about Jones from any recruiting analyst, by the way. Not that it's hugely useful or anything, but there you go.

Lemming goes on to say Michigan's locked down a bunch of good players and now needs just a couple positions: corner and defensive tackle. About that…

Wha?

So, yeah, Dior Mathis has a "new top two($)," and since Michigan was the presumed leader in the past this cannot be good news in their pursuit. The two leaders are now apparently Oregon and Michigan State, though the Oregon lead has to be flimsy since he's never even been to Eugene.

I'm not sure what to think about this. It sounds like Mathis has struggled considerably during the summer camp circuit—at every camp he and Mylan Hicks showed at, Hicks was mentioned first and foremost amongst corners—and Michigan has a number of other corners on the hook with better offers, if not ratings.

Here's one, FL CB Tony Grimes:

The 6-0, 170-pound Grimes reported this weekend that he will be making that official visit to Ann Arbor the weekend of Sept. 11, to coincide with the Wolverines’ home matchup with Notre Dame.

Grimes also plans officials to Ole Miss, Alabama, and Georgia, but those haven't been set yet. Miami is also thought to be a strong contender; he named UGA, M, and Ole Miss to SC-based Phil Kornblut when asked the "who's recruiting you hardest?" question.

Meanwhile at defensive tackle, the reason Michigan didn't react to MI DT Jonathan Hankins' Ohio State offer might be because he never got one. That would be more explicable than his wildly variant set of offers, which is basically "Oklahoma, Ohio State, and… uh… Virginia?"

Another name of note is OH DT Terry Talbott, who did well at Ohio State's camp:

A player whose name has come up on this blog has surfaced as a star of camp. Huber Heights Wayne defensive tackle prospect Terry Talbott has come in and put on a show. … He is just beating his opponents with elite level explosion off the ball. I have not heard measurables listed yet but the words "physical specimen" are being thrown about.

Michigan, UCLA, and Wisconsin have already extended offers; Ohio State appears to be waiting. Michigan has also offered Talbott's younger brother, a 2010 cornerback exactly nine months younger than him. (Which, like, whoah: you go, Father Talbott.) The elder Talbott is waiting:

"I'm going to wait it out," Talbot said. "I'm not going to make an early commitment. I'm going to wait until the football season is over before I pick a college."

Back to Deerfield Beach

Michigan's focus at tailback appears to be MI RB Austin White and FL RB Eduardo Clements, but if either or both of those guys fall through they could be in the market for someone else. FL RB Cassius McDowell, a former teammate of Witty and Robinson, has scheduled M as his first official, and JC Shurburtt says that Michigan is his leader.

Here he is in flight:

Eh? His style is weirdly lackadaisical. McDowell plans on waiting, so Michigan will be given the opportunity to pursue the aforementioned duo before McDowell makes up his mind.

Etc.: MN OL Seantrel Henderson will be tracked in excruciating detail by the Daily Gopher from here on out, FWIW. OH OL Andrew Donnal favors Iowa heavily($). OSU offered WI P Will Hagerup. MI DE CJ Olaniyan is cutting down to a top 5.