Hello: Cesar Ruiz
[Andrew Ivins/247Sports]
The nation's consensus top center, IMG Academy's Cesar Ruiz, committed to Michigan this afternoon over Auburn and Florida, who I found out were the other finalists only when Ruiz made his announcement. This may have been a foregone conclusion. You should watch his announcement video if you're into such things:
I Have Officially Committed To ... pic.twitter.com/zgUjbNUPyL
— S A U C Y ™ (@_OverCees) December 19, 2016
Michigan beat out a significant portion of the country's best programs to land Ruiz. He's the 23rd commit in the class and the fifth on the offensive line.
GURU RATINGS
Scout | Rivals | ESPN | 247 | 247 Comp |
4*, #2 OC, #100 Ovr |
4*, #1 OC, #77 Ovr |
4*, 84, #1 OC, #69 Ovr |
4*, 95, #1 OC, #66 Ovr |
4*, #1 OC, #58 Ovr |
Ruiz is the nation's #1 center to every site save Scout, which lists him one spot below Texas Tech commit Jack Anderson. Scout is a minor outlier in Ruiz's rankings and still has him in the top 100, and his rankings are in such a tight range that his composite ranking is higher than any individual ranking. There's a strong consensus on Ruiz's talent.
There's also a strong consensus on his size: he's listed at 6'3" and 313-321 pounds. He's got the ideal build for a center and enough bulk to play guard.
SCOUTING
Ruiz has been a well-regarded prospect since his time at Camden (NJ), where he was teammates with freshman DE Ron Johnson and incoming WR Brad Hawkins. He picked up his first offers, from South Carolina and Temple, in March of 2015, and was one of the underclassman standouts at the RCS New Jersey a month later. By the beginning of May, he held offers from Alabama, Auburn, and LSU, and Bama's 247 site listed him as the starting center on their fantasy two-deep for 2018.
Ruiz was part of the group that won the Big Man Challenge at that summer's Rivals Five-Star Challenge, and he showed that he's a natural center at the Under Armour Future 50 camp to end the year, per 247's Luke Stampini:
Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy center Cesar Ruiz was the smallest offensive lineman on hand on Friday, but the four-star prospect looked natural snapping the ball and handling bigger defensive tackles. He was able to sit back with a wide base and stay in front of pass rushers using his feet.
After transferring to IMG for his junior season, Ruiz was back on the camp trail this past summer. Rivals considered him one of the best players at February's RCS Orlando and liked his potential to get even better with added strength:
Ruiz was his usual steady self. The four-star prospect is a well-rounded lineman that can play center or guard. He moves well for a player of his size and has been well-coached throughout his career. He will continue to improve rapidly as he gets stronger.
He earned an invite to the Opening finals at the Orlando regional with a performance Scout considered the best of any offensive lineman in attendance:
Ruiz worked at guard in the Final Five, but he is a center, and that is where he did most of his damage Sunday. He is very strong at the point of attack, he set a great base, and at times he wasn't moved. If Scout had to name a Top OL, it would have been him.
He soundly won two of three reps in that Final Five while working at guard:
Ruiz didn't draw much mention from the Rivals Five-Star Challenge save for in Mike Farrell's awards column, when the recruiting analyst praised Ruiz for missing only one rep after taking a nasty poke to the eye.
That was not the case at the Opening finals, where Ruiz excelled on his way to earning recognition as one of the Final Five O-linemen. Scout named him to their Super Team:
Ruiz was stoning defensive lineman after defensive lineman last week. He has great lower body strength, he showed great punch, and he was rarely pushed backwards. It is hard to find a better center out there in 2017. Ruiz is considered to be a strong Alabama lean at this time, but there are others involved here. One to watch is Michigan, but like the Wolverines, all others are chasing the Crimson Tide right now.
OL Cesar Ruiz vs DT Jay Tufele. No. 1 center in the country pic.twitter.com/ONE7AaPds0
— Brian Perroni (@Perroni247) July 9, 2016
247's Barton Simmons was blown away by his Saturday performance:
I didn't realize Ruiz was this good. He just couldn't be moved. It's not that he's a massive guy on the inside, it's just that he plays with such good leverage, such good hand placement and such tenacity that he won almost every rep. Even massive bodies like Marvin Wilson and Tyler Shelvin weren't able to overpower Ruiz but the more active defenders like Jay Tufele couldn't out-quick him either.
247, unsurprisingly, named him to their Dream Team, saying he "looked like a total star" during the week. Follow the Opening finals, Scout moved Ruiz into their top 100, and 247 jumped him all the way from outside the Top247 to #67 overall.
There's surprisingly little out there on Ruiz from his senior season even though he played at the most heavily scouted high school program in the country. This recap of IMG's win over Georgia powerhouse Grayson from 247's Steve Wiltfong is the closest thing to a single-game scouting report from the 2016 season:
I thought the left side of IMG’s offensive line played well in the second half in Notre Dame commit Robert Hainsey, Top247 2018 offensive guard Curtis Dunlap and the nation’s No. 1 ranked center in 2017 Cesar Ruiz. Mond did some damage running behind those three.
Rivals's latest rankings update, from two weeks ago, bumped Ruiz up 41 spots into their top 100:
“Ruiz boasts an incredibly strong upper body with massive legs and a great base. Still, his true worth is in his versatility. He can easily play guard at the next level but is also capable of remaining at center, where he has a heap of experience. Ruiz will likely go north for college. Michigan is the heavy favorite to land his pledge, but North Carolina and Penn State are also options.” – Cassidy
ESPN's evaluation concludes that Ruiz could be an early contributor and should be a multi-year starter at center:
Ruiz is a very good center prospect with good experience at the position. Looks to be progressing well and continuing to get better and has experience working against good competition on a daily basis. With continued growth as a player has potential to come in and compete for time as freshman, but if not in the big picture can be a guy who anchors a line for several seasons for a Power-5 program.
Scout's free evaluation praises his pad level(!) and doesn't have too much to critique:
Evaluation
Ruiz plays with a low pad level and explodes well. He is quick to the second level and his agility allows him to manipulate his body and make square blocks on smaller targets. He has a strong initial punch and once engaged, he drives his legs and turns the defensive play to open a hole. He retreats well in pass protection and he reads blitzes well. Adding more knee bend and getting his hands inside more are key to his development. -- Brian DohnStrengths
- Body Control and Balance
- Explosion
- Quickness Off Ball
Areas to Improve
- Flexibility
- Technique
Ruiz is the rare true center prospect who's considered such not because he's undersized, but because he's a great fit for the position. He's much more experienced at the position than most high-level high school prospects—who often play tackle no matter what in high school—and he's proven he can hold up on the interior against the best competition in his class.
OFFERS
Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Louisville, LSU, Miami (YTM), Michigan State, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Penn State, Tennessee, Texas A&M, and Virginia Tech, among others.
HIGH SCHOOL
IMG is a sports academy in Florida with a crap-ton of top-flight talent. Michigan held their spring practice there last year for reasons that should be obvious by now.
STATS
Is OL, no stats.
FAKE 40 TIME
ESPN lists a combine time of 5.26 seconds, which gets zero FAKEs out of five. That was less than a tenth of a second off the top SPARQ-recorded time for a center in this cycle. He had one of the better shuttle times among centers at 4.66, posted a solid 28.7" vertical, and missed the best powerball throw by half a foot at 42'0". His 97.92 SPARQ score is best among centers in the class, per ESPN. His Hudl profile also lists a 375-pound bench press and 610-pound squat. That is a lot more than I can do.
VIDEO
Junior highlights:
Single-game reels from his senior year can be found on his Hudl page.
PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE
Ruiz probably won't get a chance to play right away unless Mason Cole goes pro and Patrick Kugler is needed at guard—let's not do that, please—but once Cole graduates there's a good chance he takes over the center spot as early as 2018.
UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS
Ruiz is the only center commit Michigan needs, and he's the fifth total commit along the offense line; M could take up to three more OL to round out a class that should reach 32. Their next commitment could (probably should) come at 4 pm today, when in-state DL Deron Irving-Bey makes his announcement. More could come later this week. Ruiz's IMG teammate, four-star LB Jordan Anthony, is scheduled to announce on Thursday, and there are rumors that more decisions could be bumped up to this week.
Other top targets include five-star CA RB Najee Harris, five-star GA DT Aubrey Solomon, top-100 UT DT Jay Tufele, top-100 NJ OLB Drew Singleton, top-100 TX OT Chuck Filiaga, and four-star MS OLB Willie Gay.
December 19th, 2016 at 2:27 PM ^
Leatherwood is on the same plane to Ann Arbor that Fournette was on a few years back.
December 19th, 2016 at 1:28 PM ^
to come back. They might opt to go somewhere else for playing time. It's not easy to hold onto good depth players.
December 19th, 2016 at 1:46 PM ^
point - hence my inclusion of my uncertainty as to his degree status. If he has his degree in hand (or shortly thereof) he may get the firm handshake - or decide he'd rather play elsewhere.
If we were actually going to pull in the amount of OL originally suspected (9? I think) it would have made a numbers crunch on the OL - and in the amount of playing time if we had an immediate impact Freshman.
Anyways - I will be quiet now.
December 19th, 2016 at 2:23 PM ^
December 19th, 2016 at 3:54 PM ^
to get their degree in 4 years. Perhaps "strongly" should be in caps. I can't imagine Harbaugh wanting to keep guys around only because they didn't graduate in time.
December 19th, 2016 at 2:29 PM ^
The irony of you saying Ruiz is as college ready as they come in a post that mentions Kugler trying to get some snaps in his 5th year is not lost here.
Can we stop with the projection of guys we have never seen play a snap on the OL? No one said Mason Cole would start as a true freshman nor that he was "as college ready as they come." Kugler was the #1 center of his class with daddy as a NFL lineman; Kalis was "the most college ready prospect of any in his class on OL." That didn't work out. Let's just cool it with the hype a bit on the lines immediate contribution - skill positions a bit different.
With all that said I would not be surprised to see him play in a backup role as Harbaugh seems to like to get guys who are going to play the next year experience, and with Cole and Kugler both gone the next year it's not your daddy's Wolverines where 80% of the kids redshirt.
December 19th, 2016 at 2:41 PM ^
Fred Jackson disagrees with cooling it with the hype.
December 19th, 2016 at 2:44 PM ^
... "not your daddy's Wolverines"
December 19th, 2016 at 12:29 PM ^
Awesome! DIB, you are next. Go Blue Mr. Ruiz!
December 19th, 2016 at 12:35 PM ^
Vamos Azul.
December 19th, 2016 at 12:38 PM ^
December 19th, 2016 at 12:44 PM ^
Best innovative Commitment ever. Go Blue!!!
December 19th, 2016 at 12:49 PM ^
"...also lists a 375-pound bench press and 610-pound squat. That is a lot more than I can do."
Congrats Ace, you are a normal human! Unlike Cesar, apparently. Welcome to Michigan, big man.
December 19th, 2016 at 12:50 PM ^
A wonderful young man to choose Wolverine. This relationship will be a mutual love affair.
December 19th, 2016 at 12:59 PM ^
How's that garden fence thing working out, Chris?
December 19th, 2016 at 1:06 PM ^
Cesar moved to Florida BEFORE Ash got there...so he got out before Ash could:
BUILD THAT FENCE!
In the meantime - here is how that fence is looking so far:
December 19th, 2016 at 1:23 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
December 19th, 2016 at 1:27 PM ^
I think it's more like this:
December 19th, 2016 at 2:47 PM ^
A few boards, some nails and a hammer, a little paint, repositioning some footings, a little alignment, and some weed trimming, and that fence will still keep no one out.
December 19th, 2016 at 3:48 PM ^
One more time they would be hopelessly overmatched.
December 19th, 2016 at 1:02 PM ^
Add Filiaga and call it good.
December 19th, 2016 at 2:06 PM ^
I'll take Becton as well. Not sure a third is needed at that point unless Wilson comes back in the fold or one of these other top end instant-starter type guys look Michigan's way again.
December 19th, 2016 at 3:23 PM ^
And Becton... and maybe a surprise OL as well. Lorenz keeps saying we have the room to add another 10-12 (32-34 total) and don't count out a decommitment or two still. Always happens.
December 19th, 2016 at 1:03 PM ^
Laughed at this:
His Hudl profile also lists a 375-pound bench press and 610-pound squat. That is a lot more than I can do.
December 19th, 2016 at 1:03 PM ^
Yes! Nice video, too!
December 19th, 2016 at 1:04 PM ^
His Hudl profile also lists a 375-pound bench press and 610-pound squat.
December 19th, 2016 at 1:05 PM ^
GO BLUE!
December 19th, 2016 at 1:06 PM ^
This line is going to be SOOOO good in a couple of seasons. Imagine an interior line of Bredeson-Ruiz-Onwenu? Good lawdy.
December 19th, 2016 at 2:34 PM ^
but I'm kind of done fantasizing about future olines. In 2012 we thought Kalis and Mags were going to be dominant olinemen by the time they were done, and then in 2013 most people thought we had an oline class for the ages (Kugler, Bosch, Dawson, Fox and LTT).
Getting highly rated olinemen in your recruiting class is better than whiffing on them, but I'm kind of done getting my hopes to high with oline recruits.
December 19th, 2016 at 3:30 PM ^
I hear ya. But it was pretty clear that Hoke and Co., especially Funk, did not know what they were doing in regards to OL recruitment and development. With a HUGE emphasis on lack of development.
Harbaugh built a championship caliber OL at Stanford out of mostly 3-star kids, but it took him a couple years. He's way ahead of schedule here and he's passed on a good deal of highly rated kids, at several positions, and has taken low rated kids that no one else really wanted. He has an eye for what he wants, and I trust that completely.
I look at it this way, regardless of their ranking or number of stars if this is a kid Harbaugh wants then that means a lot to me. Star gazing is fun, and yes we've seen a lot of former high star kids, like you mentioned, not perform to what we expected, but this is not the Hoke/Funk era anymore. Stop acting like it.
December 19th, 2016 at 3:31 PM ^
Get back a healthy Newsome at LT and find an RT in there and holy cow! Won't matter who is behind center, but it'll help that we'll have an elite QB and possibly an elite RB too.
December 19th, 2016 at 1:06 PM ^
December 19th, 2016 at 1:11 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
December 19th, 2016 at 2:43 PM ^
December 19th, 2016 at 1:27 PM ^
HELLO CESAR!
Welcome to Michigan!
GO BLUE!!!
December 19th, 2016 at 1:34 PM ^
From Friday afternoon through this morning the threads were filled with people wringing their hands that Harbaugh and Drevno couldn't recruit top OL talent, but now the MGoBlog Schizophrenic Whiplash Train is pulling into Ann Arbor right on schedule, and JH is a recruiting dynamo/genius steamrolling the opposition. Again.
December 19th, 2016 at 1:37 PM ^
Another New Jersey kid picks Michigan.
New Jersey is the new Ohio.
December 19th, 2016 at 1:41 PM ^
December 19th, 2016 at 1:58 PM ^
Stay healthy my friend and engage!
December 19th, 2016 at 2:05 PM ^
December 19th, 2016 at 2:16 PM ^
December 19th, 2016 at 2:27 PM ^
Hail Caesar!
Et tu Brutus?
Hell no...not this time.
December 19th, 2016 at 2:33 PM ^
Center is such an important position. Really happy for him and for us! Great time to be a Michigan Wolverine!
December 19th, 2016 at 3:57 PM ^
Welcome Cesar! Now Harbaugh needs to croot some tackles and we will be in good shape!
December 19th, 2016 at 3:58 PM ^
December 19th, 2016 at 3:59 PM ^
Attending IMG is expensive and inconvenient. I thought people did it because it was a way for their kid to get noticed by college recruiters. But this kid already had a ton of college offers before he transferred. How did attending IMG benefit this kid?
December 19th, 2016 at 5:37 PM ^
December 19th, 2016 at 7:59 PM ^
December 20th, 2016 at 10:20 AM ^
It's true that they give scholarships.
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