2014 RB Jeff Jones offered (MIN commit)
Per Allen Trieu. https://twitter.com/AllenTrieu
He looked awesome last night in the UA game. Trieu says he thinks there will be some interest.
Discuss!
Recruiting profile: http://espn.go.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/player/_/id/166744/jeff-jones
January 3rd, 2014 at 12:48 PM ^
January 3rd, 2014 at 1:03 PM ^
January 3rd, 2014 at 4:35 PM ^
He was already being approached and looking.
January 3rd, 2014 at 12:49 PM ^
The D. Green comment was more of a critique on him than anything about Jones, wasn't comparing the 2. Should've saved that for another thread tho, that didn't belong in here. Obviously we would be better off with more talent like that.
It was just an observation in general while watching that game yesterday (when watching Hand, Peppers, etc). These kids have so much hype coming into these games, one forgets that they'll be starting all over next year. I can be as guilty of that as any.
January 3rd, 2014 at 12:53 PM ^
January 3rd, 2014 at 1:04 PM ^
Wasn't the production per se (nobody was going to put up #'s behind that line), moreso him being brought down so easily by arm tackles w/ him being a power back, among a couple other things.
Hope he proves me wrong, but more interested in what D. Smith could look like next year.
January 3rd, 2014 at 2:39 PM ^
I for one appreciate your completely anecdotal analysis.
January 3rd, 2014 at 3:03 PM ^
January 3rd, 2014 at 1:11 PM ^
They gave him 1 carry in the bowl game. We can all debate how "credible" that critique is, but at the moment he appears to be behind another guy in his recruiting class (who also hasn't stood out on the field, but got 4 carries against KSU), getting fewer touches than Hayes (who got a carry and a number of balls thrown his way), less productive than Norfleet (who picked up 9 on his one jet sweep), and less likely to carry the ball than Devin Funchess or Shane Morris. Not to mention Fitz.
January 3rd, 2014 at 7:36 PM ^
On the other hand, those were probably the three worst teams in school history.
January 3rd, 2014 at 3:05 PM ^
Miles Garrett was the best looking DE by a mile at that event. Texas A&M really has something there. He was blazing fast and all over the place. I was surprised that Hand was not more dominant.
Peppers looked good too.
January 3rd, 2014 at 10:47 PM ^
You are probably blind. Right? Green will be a stud here. Period. He's an excellent back. But, he's a true freshman learning how to play behind an extraordinarily inexperienced offensive line! Trust me, he's a stud.
January 3rd, 2014 at 12:55 PM ^
Because being a teams 3rd or 4th option is always the difference maker...
There is a chance; zero point zero
January 3rd, 2014 at 12:56 PM ^
I also think another QB wouldn't be a bad idea since we didn't take one in 2012.
January 3rd, 2014 at 1:12 PM ^
How do you think Speight would react if we offer O'Connor?
January 3rd, 2014 at 1:52 PM ^
Speight has talked about that before, and he said he's not afraid of competition.
January 3rd, 2014 at 3:06 PM ^
He looked like the real deal!
January 3rd, 2014 at 1:11 PM ^
This pleases me
January 3rd, 2014 at 1:19 PM ^
January 3rd, 2014 at 1:25 PM ^
because there was nothing in his regular season highlight film that stood out to me at all. Didn't look particularly fast, quick, strong, or elusive. Green and Smith's videos were more impressive.
January 3rd, 2014 at 1:26 PM ^
I was vaguely watching it while working, and he kept making sweet plays. Huge stiffarms, great cuts in the hole, etc.
January 3rd, 2014 at 1:26 PM ^
January 3rd, 2014 at 1:32 PM ^
But he also tweeted about 100 times in the past day, and two of them were also pro-Michigan. So...no manufactured controversies, please
January 3rd, 2014 at 1:34 PM ^
January 3rd, 2014 at 1:35 PM ^
Until we hear something from someone who matters, I'm not worried about it. The twitters of 17-year-olds are all over the place.
January 3rd, 2014 at 1:38 PM ^
January 3rd, 2014 at 2:03 PM ^
January 3rd, 2014 at 1:39 PM ^
It's not there anymore.
January 3rd, 2014 at 3:54 PM ^
January 3rd, 2014 at 1:35 PM ^
I hope d green reads this bust talk and runs for 1000 + yards next yr... So keep talkin. I want a pissed off green for 2014-15
January 3rd, 2014 at 1:50 PM ^
January 3rd, 2014 at 1:59 PM ^
Jones has been open to other programs, and banking scholarships is kind of a silly idea. Each school is given 85 for a reason. It's less than optimal to plan on giving your last scholarship (or two or three or four) to walk-on guys that don't play very much.
January 3rd, 2014 at 2:05 PM ^
January 3rd, 2014 at 2:25 PM ^
January 3rd, 2014 at 2:24 PM ^
Jones has great feet. When you watch his highlights, watch how quickly his feet get up in down. This allows him to be very good both at power cuts and more subtle cuts. At the college level, this will make him a good runner between the OTs. Needs to work on picking them up a bit more, but that's the type of feet you want picking through traffic.
He does need to do better at pressing the line and being more assertive, as he won't be able to outrun many defenders in college and things happen much quicker. Not great top end speed, and while he has the size, he doesn't always square up the shoulders to get more yardage. Looks like he wants to split and slip between tacklers still, and will have to probably balance that more at the next level as defenders don't allow you to do that as easily. Good potential, I see him more as a man blocking scheme runner as he's better at picking his way rather than really exploding in an out of cuts like the great zone backs do, but I think he's a good offer at this point.
January 3rd, 2014 at 3:38 PM ^
This kid looked damned impressive at the UA Game. I kept thinking, "wow!", Minnesota got a really good player here. He didn't seem tentative at all, could make some cuts, and was a very good receiver as well. Would love to see him Go Blue.
January 3rd, 2014 at 3:41 PM ^
Interesting offer. I like it. Interesting in that, Steve Lorenz just said the other day that Michigan wouldn't offer him, not because of on-field concerns, but off-field concerns. Maybe those finally got cleared up. Who knows. But I'm a huge fan of this guy. Much more than Enwere, no offense to him. Watched Jones make someone fall flat on their face in the UA game last night when they tried to tackle him.
January 3rd, 2014 at 3:52 PM ^
May i ask what your take is on Speight?
I do not follow recruiting like some on here obviously but you seem to have a pretty informative take on players we are looking at...
(sorry if you have been asked this before and i missed the answer)
January 3rd, 2014 at 4:17 PM ^
Here's my commitment post from February:
http://touchthebanner.blogspot.com/2013/02/wilton-speight-wolverine.html
And here are my thoughts from last night:
http://touchthebanner.blogspot.com/2014/01/2014-under-armour-all-american-game_3.html
I think he's improved somewhat from last year to this year, which should be expected.
January 3rd, 2014 at 3:54 PM ^
You seem to know a lot of recruits too......mind telling me what your opinion of Speight is?
January 3rd, 2014 at 3:57 PM ^
FYI, he's planning an OV to MSU as well.
January 3rd, 2014 at 4:50 PM ^
He had good feet, quick acceleration, ran hard and didn't go down easily... I thought he had a better game than any of our recruits including Peppers. You could see Peppers athleticism so I'll reserve judgment on whether is is worthy of all the top accolades - but none of the other Wolverines recruits particularly impressed. It's a small sample size but Jones looked damned good. These recruiting rankings for MIchigan have been very unreliable. The "reports" that Jones is too slow is baloney... I'll take the eye test any day.
January 3rd, 2014 at 4:58 PM ^
Magnus.
January 3rd, 2014 at 5:17 PM ^
You're welcome.