kevin doyle

[That’s not the usual author note: Ace is off today for a family thing so you get me.]

Ol’ Doyle Rules

Yes we found a second quarterback for the class, and lo Kevin Doyle already has a prospectin’ name: a commenter in Ace’s Hello post suggested “Ol’ Doyle Rules” and this somehow got past the Sandler-hatin’ boss so it’s official. We also got a handful of post-commitment takes to share, no thanks to longtime/beloved Ireland striker Kevin Doyle who chose to muddy up recent news searches by retiring from soccer yesterday.

INSCMagazine’s Evan Massey posted an interview yesterday with Doyle (the quarterback) where he shared what Michigan liked:

“He has said that he thinks I am a very good quarterback and have played well this year against very good talent (we have played three to four games against Top 25 talent: #4, #7, #14). He said that I have shown very good signs of knowing the game cerebrally.”

He fits the pattern. Doyle described his game as a cross between Aaron Rodgers and Alex Smith, two quarterbacks who tend to keep plays alive. Elsewhere, Rivals Adam Friedman on the apparent lack of offers:

He had his heart set on going to a Top 25 program and waited for one of those schools to come calling. In doing so, many of his earlier offers dried up.

Brandon Brown named offers from Iowa, MSU, Ole Miss, Nebraska, and West Virginia, FWIW. Also Yale and Princeton. In the first link Friedman also listed some areas for improvement:

He needs to consistently throw accurate passes and consistently get the ball out of his hand quickly," Friedman explained. "Those are things he's able to do early in games but it seems to fade late in the third and fourth quarters.

[Hit THE JUMP for what’s a guy gotta do to get a receiver offer, and some ill news from the southern front]

Michigan has recently been looking around for a second quarterback to join Joe Milton in the 2018 class. They got their man last night when three-star St. John's College High (Washington DC) pro-style QB Kevin Doyle announced his commitment. While Doyle had previously been on Michigan's radar, participating in last summer's A4 quarterback camp, interest from the coaches took off over the last few weeks when Doyle got off to an impressive start to his senior season:

Doyle, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound prospect, had offers from Ole Miss, Iowa, Nebraska, Pitt and many others, but had only recently crossed more heavily onto the Michigan radar.

"It came up probably three weeks ago after my game on ESPN," he said. "We played [Concord (Calif.)] De La Salle on September 2nd and it was a tough loss, but we fought hard. Coach [Pep] Hamilton said he was watching the game and told Coach Harbaugh 'we need to re-evaluate this Kevin Doyle, he's a nice player.' They re-watched the film, got in touch and and I got to go up with my teammate Quentin Johnson for the Air Force game. We spent a lot of time together and it was all positive.

"After watching our St. Joseph Regional game -- they're ranked No. 14 in the country -- they started to take more interest in me. They offered me and I decided it was the best place for me."

Doyle is the 14th commit in Michigan's 2018 class.

GURU RATINGS

Scout Rivals ESPN 247 247 Comp
3*, #30 P-QB 3* P-QB 4*, 80, #27 P-QB 3*, 88, #15 P-QB,

#390 Ovr
3*, #21 P-QB,

#544 Ovr

Doyle's rankings are in a relatively tight window, as Scout and ESPN give him position ranks around 30th among pro-style QBs and Rivals is likely right there with them (they only rank 30 P-QBs and Doyle has the same 5.6 rating as the #22 P-QB). While ESPN is the service to give Doyle a fourth star, 247 is actually the most bullish, ranking him 15th among P-QBs. On Michigan's commitment list, Doyle slots in between Christian Turner and Sammy Faustin.

All four sites list Doyle at 6'4", 210 pounds, and the scouting reports indicate he has room to pack some muscle onto that frame.

[Hit THE JUMP for scouting, video, and more.]