Friday Recruitin' Foresees Morris-to-Wangler
Today's recruiting roundup goes over spring game visitors, discusses E.J. Levenberry's timeline, and much more. Update will be a bit brief, since I have to finish my Notre Dame preview for HTTV (still time to donate --------->) and aw hamburgers I need to rewrite most of it.
Spring Game Visitors, More 2013 Stuff
E.J. Levenberry is one of this weekend's high-profile visitors.
There will be several current commits on campus for tomorrow's Spring Game—including Shane Morris, of course—and you can see the whole list of those guys over at Tremendous. I know most people are interseted in the uncommitted 2013 prospects who will be making the trip, and here's the list as it stands right now:
- Fort Lauderdale (FL) St. Thomas Aquinas DE Joey Bosa, one of the top players left on the board, is coming off a reportedly solid visit to Ohio State.
- District Heights (MD) Bishop McNamara DT Darius Commissiong doesn't yet hold an offer, but with the need for depth at the nose the 6'2", 285-pounder could be in line for one in the near future.
- College Station (TX) A&M Consolidated DE Christian LaCouture is a former Texas A&M commit (surprise!) who could be a tough pull from SEC country—LSU is a major player—but Michigan has a chance to impress in his first trip to campus.
- Woodbridge (VA) C.D. Hylton LB E.J. Levenberry, whose father recently revealed that he'll make his decision in mid-August ($, info in header). Levenberry recently spent a week at Florida State and is already on campus in Ann Arbor; Oklahoma is also in the mix, and this one could come down to the wire.
- Olney (MD) Good Counsel CB Kendall Fuller is the top corner in the country and a former teammate of current Michigan CB Blake Countess. If Michigan wants to pull an upset—Fuller has strong family ties to Virginia Tech—the connection with Countess will be key. Fuller recently named Michigan in his top six along with VT, Alabama, Clemson, Maryland, and Tennessee ($).
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Crete (IL) Monee WR Laquon Treadwell, who had to cancel his visit to Oklahoma due to HOLY CRAP TORNADO, is dropping hints—and flat-out telling Shane Morris—that he'll be at the spring game as well.
I'm working on getting in touch with Treadwell to confirm.While I was writing this post, Treadwell texted me to confirm. He'll be at the Big House tomorrow.
There will also be several 2014 prospects on campus, including Detroit Loyola DE Malik McDowell (more on him below) and the Cass Tech crew of LB Gary Hosey, DB Johnny Miggins, WR Damon Webb, and LB William White.
In other 2013 news, Ben Gedeon committed this week, and Allen Trieu has a free breakdown of his game over at Scout:
He's an athletic kid who has played all over the field. His ability to run with the ball in the open field and catch the ball on offense show what kind of athlete the Wolverines are getting. He's going to be able to run to the football and drop into coverage. His team made a nice playoff run last year, but he does not consistently play against top level competition, so he will have more of an adjustment at the college level. That said, he has all of the tools you look for and given the Wolverines' previous linebacker class, he is not a kid who is likely to be pressed into service right away.
Tremendous caught up with Gedeon for a post-commitment interview, where he reveals that he was not a silent commitment this last month, instead waiting to see how a visit to Stanford would go before making his final decision. Also, he says that Dymonte Thomas played a big role in selling Michigan to him. Speaking of Thomas, Ohio State just offered Cleveland Glenville safety Christopher Worley, which could be a sign that they're moving on from the hope of flipping Thomas, since they already have a safety commit in Jayme Thompson and their class is projected to be only around 18 recruits.
Future roommates Thomas and Morris aren't the only Wolverine commits doing a little recruiting of their own, as Kyle Bosch came up to Ann Arbor last weekend to check out the Adidas Invitational and chat up some fellow recruits. He gave Sam Webb an update about the status of Joliet (IL) Catholic RB Ty Isaac ($):
“I think (Isaac) loves (Michigan),” added Bosch. “I don’t know what he is waiting for to be honest. But I know he went out to USC. I heard he liked it. I still think he likes Michigan, and I think it is a great fit for him.”
Signs continue to be positive on the Isaac front, though there isn't much coming from his camp right now. It's still a waiting game.
There's one recent offer to report: Honolulu (HI) Moanalua DT Scott Pagano picked up offers from Michigan and Cal last week ($, info in header). He's a four-star to Scout and holds offers from most of the Pac-12, among several others.
Elsewhere, Black Shoe Diaries continues their look into enemy recruiting, interviewing Alex Gleitman of 11W.
2014 News
Sam Webb's latest at the DetNews is a profile of McDowell, who earns a glowing review from Trieu:
"Right now if I had to choose, he'd be the top kid in the state for the 2014 class," Trieu said. "He'll have to fend off some competition to hang onto that, but he's a special talent. He is a rare blend of size and athleticism. He moves with the quickness and fluidity of a smaller player. He also has great overall coordination and balance and he bends well — all of which allows him to play with good leverage. As a defender he has a great spin move and swim move, both of which he uses effectively. He needs to keep getting stronger and filling out, though, as he is still a lean 270. Although it's early, I believe he will be in contention for top player in the Midwest, as well."
McDowell isn't revealing much about his recruitment, save that he liked Michigan, MSU, and OSU growing up (I know, I know), and his coach seems to want him to take his time. There are rumblings that he's a potential commit, however, possibly as soon as this weekend, so we'll see if that holds true. Picking up the top rising junior in the state this early would obviously be huge.
A couple sophomores visited campus this past week. Mequon (WI) Homestead DT Brandon Hines called his visit "pretty incredible" but left without an offer ($, info in header); the coaches want to see him in a camp setting before they do anything else. Zeeland (MI) West TE Jordan Van Dort was on campus Monday, and also departed sans offer until further evaluation ($, info in header). At 6'5", 280 pounds, Van Dort won't be a tight end for long; he seems destined for the interior of the offensive line.
One of the emerging prospects at the Adidas Invitational has a familiar name: Warren (MI) De La Salle WR Jack Wangler, son of former Michigan quarterback John Wangler. Young Wangler will be catching passes from Shane Morris this fall after transferring from Royal Oak Shrine, and he'd like to keep that connection going in the future ($):
Wangler says his affinity for Michigan is actually so strong, that he would consider a walk-on offer from the Wolverines even if other schools offered full scholarships.
"My first choice would always be Michigan regardless. I'd rather walk on than take a scholarship anywhere else, but we'll see. Whatever suits me the best, I'm fine with."
Thus far, Wangler is mostly hearing from MAC schools, but his combine performance last weekend could earn him attention from bigger schools.
Quickly: Michigan is showing interest in two 2014 receivers from Canada. Orleans (ONT) St. Peter's Tyrone Pierre, who seems to be an early Oklahoma State lean after patterning his game after Justin Blackmon, and Montreal Buerling's Jaylan Grandison, who plans to camp at Michigan in the summer.
WOOHOOO!!
Show me the money spring game...
EDIT: Wow, ok. I just realize that someone might take this as "Hoke is going to try to pay LT." It was more a reference to Treadwell is kinda like Tidwell and this is a famous line in a movie.
I saw E.J. Levenberry with Blake Countess today. They were in Gunderson's stats class. Guess he took Levenberry to class with him.
/cool story bro
to E.J. so he could follow the discussion?
Class? He took him to stats class? Wow.
If Countess was an Ohio State player, he'd have taken EJ to the Tat parlor with him.
I remember Gunderson. I took his 100 level class as a senior with MM and Obi Ezeh in my discussion. He made it about as interesting/entertaining as stats can be I'd say. Not a bad class to take a recruit to.
Have to admit, the thought of Isaac behind your OL recruits is ridiculous. I have questions about his competition level in Illinois, but if you're OL develops like it could then he would have tons of holes.
Yeah with the offensive linemen that we have been getting the last two classes anyone could run behind them.
The general feeling over at 11W is that they have conceded Thomas to us, citing "there are other fish to fry." Such arrogance.
Anyway, they are hard after Cravens and Vonn Bell, but they aren't even that optomisic about them either.
Glad to see they are finally starting to get Dymonte's messages.
In the 11W piece on BSD he brings up Thomas as a possible flip again, does anyone know where this optimism steams from?
I don't think any of us are really sure that we'll get Dymonte, but we think there's a chance. He'll be at OSU a number of times this year and that should make a chance. Personally, I think our chance of getting him is maybe 10%. He committed before we had Meyer and had already built a relationship with Hoke and fellow recruits. Bell and Cravens have both said that they will take officials to OSU so we know we are in the game. Bell came up for an unofficial recently and enjoyed it. Cravens is a long shot to leave the West, IMO. I think both Michigan and OSU will get a visit so that means we both have a shot, but I just don't see it.
What do you mean he will be at Ohio a number of times this year? Not sure what you mean
to watch Dunn.
He's said he will visit Dunn and watch him play.
Ah gotcha. I figured but just wanted to make sure that's what you meant. Thank you (also to Bama Blue).
I don't see it as arrogance, more like denial. If you follow Thomas on twitter and see his bromance with Shane, hear about him recruiting Gedeon to Michigan, and hear that the coaches did the small things to build their relationship with him like visiting his wrestling meets this past winter, it's pretty obvious that he's gone too far down the rabbit hole to not sign with Michigan. So in turn they are coping and doing what fans do and hedging against that loss.
That being said, their recruiting guy Alex mentions far too often that it's still a possibility for them to flip him. If he would move on and stop bringing it up unless there are actually signs or substantiated rumors, they could stop kidding themselves about him flipping.
*HEAD ASPLODE*
/s
Not gonna debate you about Michigan arrogance, hehe.
But, seriously, have you ever seen a recruit that Urbs ever missed out on? No, they just "cooled" on recruits that didnt end up at OSU.
You can read the same complaint/running joke on OSU boards about Michigan. That's what makes the rivalry fun.
I'm not sure if I agree with that. There are some including Alex, interviewee that are still optimistic about reversing the mistakes made by the previous staff, but also a lot of us that post on 11w do not feel that we've "allowed" Michigan to have him, or that we still have a chance. I think you have a true Wolverine in Thomas, and I wish him luck.
Only kidding RB, you and more than a few others in your fan base truly are rational, it's just the nuts who get all the attention/press.
April 14th, 2012 at 10:11 AM ^
I think we can both agree that our fan bases have their fair share of crazies.
April 14th, 2012 at 10:25 AM ^
I mean...you guys are really hogging them
Seeing the mention of Jordan Van Dort I can't help but mention that I think I was the first here to single him out. Having watched that kid play every home game last year as a sophmore and absolutely dominate everyone that lined up across from him was nothing short of impressive. I think he projects to OT and I've heard rumors that he may even be moving there this fall at Zeeland. His height is now 6-7" and his weight closer to 275. Funny thing is the kid can really catch the ball well and had great YAC last year. Of course high school secondary players trying to tackle someone that huge was a major factor in that.
I've heard that his family is Maize and Blue all the way to I hope he see's an offer and continues to progress into the stud it looks like he should become.
Honcho, what type of speed and mobility does he have? That's a big sophomore.
Very good for a guy his size. You can youtube his name and get a pretty good highlight video from last year. He has great hands and I honestly dont think I saw him drop a catchable pass last year. His presence made the normally run happy Shilluto throw the ball much more than normal last season. In the state finals he tore his ACL in the first quarter and finished the game catching several long passes and dominating the LOS. He refused to come out and get checked so they didnt know he'd injured himself until later that night. He's a smart and well spoken albiet shy kid with a great attitude. I'm really looking forward to watching him play again this fall and hopefully getting an offer to make the Michigan difference. My daughter is a classmate and friends with him and she says he's blue all the way.
I didn't see him as much this past year, but did his freshman year and I was very impressed, mostly from watching him play basketball. I've never seen somebody that big, not to mention young, have such good hands, feet and the smarts to go with it. I doubt the height and weight unless he's really grown and slimmed down since the state chanpionship game. 6-5, 290 seems more realistic to me. He's very skilled, but I don't think he's fast enough to stay at TE. Should be fun to watch him develop more.
April 14th, 2012 at 12:10 PM ^
The Cass Tech guys for 2014 have been on campus a few times already, right? Does anyone have any insight as to when we might get our first commitment from next year's class?
I would say probably not for a little while, unless McDowell commits this weekend or soon. We don't have many offers out to 2014 guys yet, only about a dozen or so (if that).
McDowell isn't allowed to commit until his junior year because of his parents. The general consensus is that he'll be blue as soon as he can be, but I haven't heard much about Hosey, Webb, White, and Miggins (This is actually the first time I've heard his name, in fact). It's absurdly early to be talking about these guys, but with the way our 2013 class is filling up you'd assume the coaching staff is going to start moving on to these guys pretty soon and I was wondering if there were any other guys out there that are elite players and Michigan "locks" (Shane Morris type guys). There are only so many guys that this staff can still be recruiting for the current class and after this next batch of assumed spring/summer commits it'll be a long time before we get anyone else I think.
Damn, I'm needy. Sorry.
I think most of their offers right now are to the "ZOMG look at that guys build and speed" type guys that just every top program in the country will be offering and start offering more of the regional 4* types in Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois you'll see the first couple drop. It's amazing how quickly people's timelines have adjusted with the sped up time frames that are occuring the past few years, it really is ridiculously early for 2014 kids.
It's still early for 2013 kids.
We need to recruit a QB named Carter. I'd just like to hear a "Carter to Wangler" touchdown call...preferably by Bob Ufer's grandson.
The she can do it. Let's hear her say Meeeeechigan.
the thing about urban's desire to put in a third digit in their scoreboard made me involuntarily squint into the "not sure if serious" look.
this isn't the mountain west and braxton miller isn't tim tebow. the guy has every right to be confident, but geez give yourself a little margain for error. that fanbase already has ludicrously high expectations and you're trying to take them to another level?
i don't know about this particular context, but a massive ego in life in general is rarely a positive trait. my gut feeling is that he'll do very well for himself there but in 20 years they'll be talking about tress and not urb.
That's racist.
Morris to Wangler at M would be sweet, good to see another Wangler potentially playing for UM. I'm from the small town of West Branch, MI, where I believe 90%+ of the world's Wanglers reside (also where Anthony Zettel is from if it sounds familiar), and one of my closest friends is Jack's cousin. If it weren't already obvious, he told me that Jack transferred to De La Salle to play with Shane and if I had to guess he would only not come to UM if they told him they didn't even want him to walk on, which I can't see happening. Would be really good to see Jack playing for UM, as the Wangler family involved with UM are great people. Every time we make the trek from West Branch down to AA to hit up the games we always stop by his grandma's tent right outside the stadium where she's always grilling a bunch of food and giving away drinks to everybody for free. John's whole family are real good people.
Yeah, you made the typical upgrade from West Branch to Clearwater, huh? Movin' on up!
Clearwater has more than 5 stoplights so it's a start.
Ace, any truth to Bosa staying longer in Columbus? Seems like he's still there.
Nope. About 15 minutes ago he tweeted "On my way to that place up north..."
Doesn't sound very promising.
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