marcus lewis

Previously: The Offense, Last Year's D

Resources: My charting, UMD game notes, UMD roster, CFBstats

Well, it's Jon Hoke, Brady's NFL older brother. Unless you count an extra title while defensive backs coach for South Carolina under Steve Spurrier, Hoke hasn't coordinated a college defense since the Old Ball Coach was at Florida.

The film: Not a lot of recordings because BTN+ is so crappy. The footage is so bright and skips so many frames I had to rewind most of these plays six to eight times to figure out what happened (and you can only go back exactly 10 seconds). Finally I called it a night and took the kids trick or treating.

Personnel: My diagram:

PDF Version, full-size version (or click on the image)

Onetime top-150 CB Marcus Lewis, a onetime FSU transfer who's excellent in run support, has been nursing a knee injury since Penn State. He played last week, intercepted a pass, then had to quit mid-runback. He'll probably give it a go again. Lewis was a (sometimes silent) commit to DJ Durkin over three stops, and left the team last year during *that*, and because he wasn't starting over "I only do zone" Tino Ellis, who's out for the year. In Ellis's place are a murder of true freshmen, the tall and boring Deonte Banks and the extremely tiny Lavonte Gater. They also rotate through redshirt freshman/tiny person Vincent Flythe and redshirt sophomore Tahj Capehart, who didn't chart. When they need a dime they bring in dust mite Rayshad Lewis, who'll remain in that DELONTE HOLLOWELL role (and return kicks).

Safety has been, well, exciting. Antwaine Richardson, a former Michigan commit, is out for the season again and has been replaced by #55 overall true freshman Nick Cross, who was heading for a Mouton day if I'd finished my charting. The other spot was won by Deon Jones, a highly rated recruit because he can get from any A to any B, and a cyan because he has no brakes; my two-year-old thinks Jones falls down excessively.

They did try playing slot extraordinaire Antoine Brooks there, but when you're graced with the perfect nickel you leave him there as much as you can. Brooks does bump Jones when they go to their base 3-4, when it's like 3rd and 2. Past Jones they're playing Jordan Mosley, a Cam Gordonesque fellow who should be a linebacker (24/7 thought so too!), and some other guys I just want to skip past so I can include Muppet Glee Club treasurer Fofie Bazzie.

[After THE JUMP: Jon Hoke as Billy Beane]

If you missed it, Brian handled the recruiting primer for which needs Michigan should fill to finish out the 2015 class. Today's recruiting roundup will attempt to figure out which prospects are most likely to fill the ten or so remaining spots.

THE MOST LIKELY CANDIDATES

CT TE Chris Clark (4*, #2 TE, #80 Ovr. on 247 Composite): Clark, a former Michigan commit, consistently stated over the last few weeks that his interest in the Wolverines would rise significantly if Harbaugh took the job. He spoke with Harbaugh—whom he called the "LeBron James of coaching"—this week and told MLive's Nick Baumgardner it went very well:

"We kind of just talked about how he hopes Michigan turns into 'Tight End U,' and all the top tight ends he produced while he was at Stanford," said Clark, who will play in the Under Armour All-American Game on Friday. "I think six of them went on to the NFL. He said he thinks I could be a great leader for the class, and he's just hoping I'll be a part of it.

"He was a really cool guy, I liked him a lot."

Clark is now down to Michigan and UCLA, and I'd guess he ends up back in the fold.

MI ATH John Kelly (3*, #57 ATH): Kelly could play either running back or defensive back at the next level, though given Michigan's needs I'd guess he'll be recruited for defense. He spoke with Harbaugh within the last couple days and told 247's Steve Lorenz he was "really pumped" about the conversation ($). Even prior to that, he indicated Michigan was moving up his list ($):

"I would love to play for Coach Harbaugh," Kelly said. "I hear he's a tough coach. I'm looking to play for a coach that will try to squeeze out all of the talent and potential in me. His hiring is a great thing for Michigan as well. As long as he contacts me and my family, the chances of me playing at Michigan will definitely increase."

Michigan State is Michigan's chief competition, with Minnesota and Iowa also factoring in. Getting Kelly could help M's efforts in pulling in another major target: former RB commit and current OSU pledge Mike Weber, who's close friends with Kelly; they'd stated in the past they'd like to play together in college, and the Buckeyes aren't pursuing Kelly.

[Hit THE JUMP for probable visitors, other candidates, and the names you can scratch off the wish list.]

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WE CAN RECRUIT AGAIN

Jim Harbaugh hasn't even been formally introduced and I'm panic-checking Twitter every few minutes to make sure I'm not late to start a Hello post. This is because recruits read the papers watch the local news have the internet too, and they're excited. Really excited. There's a darn good chance top-100 tight end Chris Clark ends up back in the fold in the near future:

At this point, he says the three schools he's interested in are UCLA, Michigan State and Michigan.

But Harbaugh could be a game changer for him.

"He'd 100 percent (excite me)," Clark said. "I still love Michigan, I've always liked the school.

Harbaugh's track record of utilizing and producing quality TEs certainly won't hurt here.

Five-star 2015 CB Iman Marshall, who's readying to play in the Under Armour AA Game, told 247's Tom Loy that Michigan could vault back into contention for him ($):

The “big pick up” for Michigan, as Marshall calls it, is regarding the potential hiring of Jim Harbaugh as the new head coach of the Wolverines.

“That would be great,” said Marshall. “The fact that Michigan would have a dude that came from the league with the [San Francisco] 49ers and someone who has coached a national championship contending team is big. That would be real dope.”

Marshall said he's visit Ann Arbor if Harbaugh was hired, per TomVH. USC is the heavy favorite to land Marshall, but just getting him on campus would be a huge step forward after his interest in the Wolverines had cooled significantly.

Another elite defensive back, four-star DC CB Marcus Lewis, told Rivals' Mike Farrell in a video interview that he'd consider Michigan again if Harbaugh was hired, and mentioned the possibility of an official visit. Lewis, who'd previously held the Wolverines in very high regard, currently has a top three of Kentucky, Washington State, and Miami, in that order—that seems like a top group a Harbaugh-led Michigan program could crack pretty easily.

Michigan could also jump back into the mix for four-star OLB Joshua McMillon, who told Rivals' Adam Gorney he'd consider taking an official should Harbaugh take over ($). McMillon's coach, however, said he expects McMillon to stick with his Alabama commitment either way.

Harbaugh won't be the only big recruiting pull, in all likelihood. Florida defensive coordinator and current interim head coach DJ Durkin, the 2012 Rivals Recruiter of the Year, should also attract serious talent if he takes the DC job at Michigan, as expected. Top-50 2015 OLB Roquan Smith told TomVH he'd take an official to Michigan should Durkin join Harbaugh's staff.

[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup. Yes, you'll actually want to read it this time.]