Michigan no longer recruiting Montae Nicholson (may be full at safety for 2014)
Per TomVH TomVH
Will be interesting to see how that phone call goes with Smith. Montae Nicholson was told there is no room as of now w/ Michigan.
— Tom VanHaaren (@TomVH) August 27, 2013
Tom then clarified by saying that they're full at that position, not for the class.
.@meddler76 no room for his position, not overall.
— Tom VanHaaren (@TomVH) August 27, 2013
So we may be full at safety for the 2014 class, which would not only mean that we not recruiting Nicholson, but we may not be going after Juju Smith as well. It sounds like Smith is going to contact the coaches today, and then we'll see whether or not we are still going after the 5-star California safety
August 28th, 2013 at 2:20 AM ^
This^^. The mini-meltdown on the thread has been entertaining. SLOW workday to say the least.
August 27th, 2013 at 1:57 PM ^
Clearly, the coaches are not trying to create a 22-position team in every recruiting class.
The curious timing of the offer/commitment of Kinnel has something to do with this I'd guess. Also, probably how the '13 class is looking now that they've arrived. Optimistically, CB looks very strong with Stribling emerging, so guys may move to Safety. Pessimistically, some of the CB recruits don't have the one-on-one skills to stick there, so guys may move to Safety.
Also, it's possible the coaches are re-thinking their bigger-is-better philosophy a bit in the secondary. See: offers to Crawford and Kinnel, plus Avery seemingly ascending quickly ahead of younger but bigger players.
August 27th, 2013 at 1:59 PM ^
will not be asked back, such as Josh Furman? Any insight on this out there?
Also, the schollies that Hoke gave to Glasgow, Reynolds & Kerridge, are they one year deals?
August 27th, 2013 at 2:10 PM ^
I believe they are on a year to year basis. Reynolds is a 5th year senior, anyway.
August 27th, 2013 at 2:48 PM ^
August 27th, 2013 at 3:45 PM ^
Hoke can continue for starters... and most likely will... but it is not obligated to.
August 27th, 2013 at 2:12 PM ^
sometimes don't come back for their own reasons. If they have their degree, they might just want to move on with their non-football career or look for more playing time as a grad transfer.
August 27th, 2013 at 2:19 PM ^
I'm going to pout for a good hour or two.
August 27th, 2013 at 2:36 PM ^
Interesting. Alot of people had this guy penciled in as a commit.
August 27th, 2013 at 2:44 PM ^
...Nicholson seemed like the leader at S for Michigan. The arrow was down on Westphal and Smith was a "wait and see" type. I'm just interested as to why this comes out now and not weeks ago when we got our most recent DB commit for 2014.
August 27th, 2013 at 2:49 PM ^
August 27th, 2013 at 2:47 PM ^
I know Montae's family personally, and was really pulling for him to come to Michigan. He is a great kid - both on and off the football field - wish him all the best. I could sense UM was pressuring him to commit, and I think that turned him off. He wants to wait, take his officials - who can blame him.
PSU, Pitt and Oregon have to to be the leaders for him at this point.
Things change - I am still holding out hope.
August 27th, 2013 at 3:15 PM ^
I thought Nicholson was one of our best options at Safety for 2014, and this surprises me too.
On the one hand, I understand how someone wants to take all their officials and take their time in making their decision. On the other hand, I can understand the coaches giving three different kinds of offers, depending on the recruit:
- We have a committable offer for you . . . today, right now. Once the spot (or spots) we're recruiting for are filled, the offer is no longer committable. IIRC, this happened with offensive line recruiting, when we had the commitment palooza Saturday a while back. We filled the spots, and that was that. This kind of offer tends to go to high 3 star and low 4 star recruits.
- We have a non-committable offer for you . . . we'll let you know if and when it becomes commitable. This happened with Drake Johnson, the Ann Arbor Pioneer RB who committed almost on the spot, once a committable offer was on the table. This happens when a recruit is below the radar, 2 star, low 3 star.
- We have an open, committable offer for you, that you can accept at any time. This kind of offer is pretty much reserved for the likes of Da'Shawn Hand, Jabrill Peppers, Leonard Fournette, Adoree' Jackson, etc. Perhaps Malik McDowell, Marshon Lattimore, JuJu Smith, and a few others are here, but eventually, there comes a time when the offer can be pulled.
Recruiting moves so fast now. Keeping spots open is fraught with danger, when someone you are hoping will sign on decides to go elsewhere.
August 27th, 2013 at 8:04 PM ^
August 27th, 2013 at 2:56 PM ^
Bad things come to those who wait in the new era college fooltaball recruiting. Unless of course your a concensus top 10 talent like Hand. They will keep a spot open for you.
August 27th, 2013 at 10:55 PM ^
This^^^ Every kid who says he wants to wait and take all his OV's and do the hat dance on NSD, better make sure these days that he is an unambiguous 5-star.
This ain't your daddy's, er, older brother's recruiting world anymore. Classes fill up by the time you are a HS senior.
The NCAA really should move Officail Visits to the summer before your senior year.
August 27th, 2013 at 2:56 PM ^
The other possibility is that due to Ohio getting there two most recent recruits one of which is at DB Erick Smith and hopefully CB Lattimore are both silent commits who due to their experience at the BBq want in here.
I know which I like more but I'm inclined to believe in former rather then latter.
August 27th, 2013 at 3:42 PM ^
Dymonte has been slated for safety from the start - nickel seems to be where they are going to plug these very upper end freshman whether they end up as a corner or a safety their sophomore year. Hill is one of those tweener guys, mixed bag whether he'd be safety or cb but most thought safety I think. Stribling was a lowly non 4-5 star so who really cares - he probably won't play until a jr because stars is what matters. Oh wait... Jarrod Wilson is a 2012 S, Terry Richardson sure won't be a safety, Jeremy Clark - all 305 lbs of him is a 2012 S, and Ross Douglas and Reon Dawson have been forgotten by the fan base but should be somewhere hopefully in the 2 deep as RS freshman next year. Maybe both as safeties since the CB spot looks "quite full" in 2014.
August 27th, 2013 at 3:23 PM ^
August 27th, 2013 at 3:38 PM ^
had the LB spot filled up last year when they turned away several high star guys away only to have Ringer and Poole flame out. It can go both ways, so why not keep in touch with Nicholson who was not going to decide until late anyway?
August 27th, 2013 at 3:46 PM ^
Good post. They probably saw they have numerous guys that looked good at DB during fall camp, while they might have seen some other area that looked weaker.
August 27th, 2013 at 3:56 PM ^
I hope you're right, but they offered Wangler the first week of August. That timing would seem to weigh against this being a situation where the staff saw their new crop of DBs in camp and decided, "we're going to be fine at safety, let's get another LB."
August 27th, 2013 at 3:55 PM ^
August 27th, 2013 at 5:10 PM ^
August 27th, 2013 at 6:24 PM ^
August 27th, 2013 at 6:48 PM ^
August 27th, 2013 at 7:23 PM ^
August 27th, 2013 at 7:31 PM ^
Well, the way things have shaken out, it definitely appears as though Wangler's committment is what closed the door to Nicholson. I have been sort of making that assumption myself, but I guess it's not necessarily true--it could well have been the plan to take 4 LBs all along and the two 2015 DBs that we just picked up are what left Nicholson without a spot, or maybe it was Watson's committment that did it and we are just now finding out about it, or maybe something else entirely.
Calling Reon Dawson a "failed corner" though, yeah, I don't know what that's about.
August 27th, 2013 at 9:08 PM ^
August 27th, 2013 at 10:47 PM ^
I see your point. I guess what I was envisioning, though, is that the coaches know how many spots they have the in class, and based on that number they have to decide how many LBs they will take, how many defensive linemen, how many safeties, etc. Evidently the staff wanted a fourth LB more than a S--or at least they did if that fourth LB was Wangler.
At any rate, in looking at the roster I don't think it's really going to make much difference in the long run whether we take a safety in the 2014 class or not. Wilson has three years left, Clark, Hill, and D. Thomas each have four years, and Reon Dawson will presumably redshirt--plus there are guys who could move over from CB and then Kinnel is committed already for 2015. That's a lot of bodies for two spots.
August 27th, 2013 at 10:59 PM ^
Rich People problems.
August 28th, 2013 at 12:17 AM ^
August 28th, 2013 at 12:13 AM ^
And while I think that taking Watson and Wangler closed the door on taking a safety, I do not know that for a fact. But my point still stands. It is very odd that the coaching staff decided to take two players with average rankings at positions that have more depth than to wait on a more decorated player at a position with a lot less depth.
August 28th, 2013 at 12:41 AM ^
It certainly seemed like you suggested Dawson was a failed corner, but either way, that's not the case. Sometimes you move a player because he is good and you want him on the field. That doesn't mean he is "failed" at another position. Is Courtney Avery is failed corner because they wanted to work him in at FS? If that's what you're saying, then I disagree that it's a bad thing. Is Norfleet a failed RB that we now have at slot receiver?
Teams always have certain positions with more talent than others, and they often move those guys around to get them on the field. This is not a bad thing. If the coaches feel we have a lot of young talent at CB and some of them can play safety, that's a good thing.
I still don't get why turning away a good recruit is viewed as a negative to so many people. It seems people on this board get more excited about future players than they do about the current ones.
August 28th, 2013 at 1:07 AM ^
My point is simply that depth-wise, safety is quite thin next year and I am surprised that the coaches would take other players over a highly recruited safety. Can we get by with just Thomas and Wilson next year? Maybe but the margin of error is slim. Can we move someone else to the safety position if we need to? Maybe but I'd rather rely on a highly touted player who was specifically recruited for that position.
August 28th, 2013 at 8:40 AM ^
August 28th, 2013 at 12:55 PM ^
August 28th, 2013 at 2:32 PM ^
August 27th, 2013 at 11:49 PM ^
I'm amazed the Minkah news hasn't found its way to this board yet. Maybe by morning
August 28th, 2013 at 12:41 AM ^
Thank you for keeping it from us a little longer.
August 28th, 2013 at 10:34 AM ^
Good attitude. Some boards have rules about who delivers information and what can be brought from other places. I just didn'ty want to step on toes.
Basically Minkah is in the works to transfer and the popular rumor is to Paramis this year to play with JBB and Jabrill. We'll see where it goes.
EDIT-and there was good reason for nobody to talk about it, the transfer is NOT happening. Shame, but it's good to hear Minkah is still so interested in playing with Peppers
August 28th, 2013 at 12:26 AM ^
sounded like a great kid with talent. Hate to push those kids away. I'm sure he will find a great place to land.