2009 Michigan Football Recruiting Board

Be sure to read the official mgoblog recruiting philosophy before committing suicide over anything you read here.

A Note on "Stars": These are my guesstimates. Players don't have stars associated with them yet. When the recruiting services add them I'll adjust my ratings. Half-stars appear to provide some additional accuracy. Generally a 4.5 star is a guy solidly in the top 100 on Scout/Rivals/ESPN and really highly rated by one. A 3.5 star is either a guy who is is a 3 on one site and a 4 on the other or a four-star that no one seems particularly excited about.

A Note on Premium Info: No illicit sharing of said material will appear on this site. Players are listed with interested schools in their profiles; this information is public. Commitments are by definition public. Any assertions as to schools in the mix, decision dates, or leaders I will back up with links to public information.

Projected Class Size:

As of right now: 14, with reasonable attrition bumping the number to 17 and a likely transfer or two plus a default level of knuckleheadedness getting Michigan to 20 or so. More detail on the scholarship situation can be found at the depth chart by class.

Total: Michigan will have the full 25 to give and maybe 27.

Update 1/5: In an effort to cut down on the size of the board, I've excised the list of changes that lurk at the bottom. All relevant articles are linked, and if you want to see each change as it happens you can check the revisions tab at the top.

Linked to articles on TX CB Demontre Hurst, FL CB Jayron Hosley, OH CB Justin Turner (and FL WR Jeremy Gallon), FL RB commit Vincent Smith (another one), SC DE Sam Montgomery (second), MI DT Will Campbell, SC OL Quinton Washington, FL LB Brandin Hawthorne, LA DT Dequinta Jones, OH CB Mike Edwards, FL CB Mywan Jackson, OH OL Henry Conway. Added OH CB Dale Peterman, FL CB Adrian Witty. Moved MI DT Will Campbell to committed. More on Campbell.

GBW video interviews with NJ DE Anthony Lalota, FL WR Jeremy Gallon, FL K Brendan Gibbons, OH CB Justin Turner, OH OL Marcus Hall (who I've put back on the board.)

Scouting stuff on AZ OL Taylor Lewan (second), FL WR Jeremy Gallon (and Will Campbell), AZ DE Craig Roh (plus more Lewan), MI DT Will Campbell, OH CB Justin Turner, FL K Brendan Gibbons.

Removed GA S Darren Myles (dropped us), CA OL Michael Phillip (no mention of he and M for a long time).

As always, some links from Varsity Blue. Excellent piece on remaining targets from GS.

The Board

Legend:

Icon	Name	Meaning
	Sad Josh	The genre of player with unrequited interest in Michigan. Unlikely to receive offers; most will eventually fade off the list and go to Duke or Michigan State or something.
	Nefarious Eduardo	Player is a longshot. Either they've declared someone else a leader publicly or popular opinion holds that they're likely to go to another school.
	Data	Either no opinion or Michigan is one of a fairly even group of chasing schools. Players in this category maintain no leader or change their leader frequently. The default category for players that we don't know much about yet.
	Happy Teeth	Players who have Michigan in a small leading group or have Michigan as a tenuous favorite. Should be regarded as a good shot, not a slam dunk.
	Mr. Blue	Player is either a verbal or is expected to be one sooner or later. Players with this designation are 65%+ to be Michigan commits.

Additional note: (EE) next to a Michigan commit indicates the player intends to enroll early.

Quarterback

Needs: Severe, desperate, desperately severe and desperate. David Cone apparently is not panning out, -- he was behind a walk-on last year -- which leaves Michigan with two freshmen and no one else. Michigan needs at least two dual-threat quarterbacks to run the Rodriguez system after picking up Justin Feagin last year, who's fast but may not be a QB.

Projected Commits: 2, with maybe another one or two guys being brought in at WR being promised a shot at QB. Update: Michigan has two strong prospects in the fold and is unlikely to reel in another, but given strong interest from a couple good prospects I've kept them on the board until we're officially dropped.

Quarterback

Prospects
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Tate Forcier	CA	****	Michigan (EE)		Brother of former UM QB Jason. Offer. Many impressive early offers. Personal site; stats. ESPN note. Rivals article. Encouraging note; another. Commit article from USA Today. MLive. Home schooling article. Highlights. #2 Dual Threat to ESPN. Interview.
Prospects
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Denard Robinson	FL	****	M, UF, UGA, others		Will visit officially. Offer. Article. Video. Scout article. Scout again.

Running Back / Fullback

Needs: Minor. With Shaw and McGuffie and Cox in the last class, Michigan can afford to go light this year. They'll probably take one RB (Cass Tech's Teric Jones turned in the fastest 40 of anyone at the Army All-America camp), with a second slot being reserved only for a can't miss sort. Fullbacks? Maybe one, actually. Michigan didn't take one a year ago and the Rodriguez system likes to have a pounding dive threat for its triple options a la Owen Schmitt. Ohioan Zach Boren, legendarily tearful at the idea his older brother Justin would go to Ohio State, is now a rising senior and probably fits best here, though he might have a place somewhere on D.

Projected Commits: 1-2 RB, 0-1 FB.

Commitments
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Teric Jones	MI	***.5	Michigan		Cass Tech (Cissoko, Campbell.) Fastest kid at Army combine. Video. MGoBlog on Jones. ATH WR.
Fitzgerald Toussaint	OH	****	Michigan		Youngstown Liberty (Isaiah Bell). MGoBlog on Toussaint. Vindicator article. Video clips. Newspaper profile. Rivals video. Highlights. Fluff/more highlights.
Vincent Smith	FL	***	Michigan (EE)		Offer. Pahokee (Martavious Odoms) Herald article. Free Press. Video profile. Fluff. Scout article. Rivals video. Area player of the year. Yeah, what they said.
Prospects
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Tavon Austin	MD	****	M, WVU, UNC		Offer. Baltimore Sun article, second. Will visit officially? M trailing. Very probably UNC. Or WVU; still says he will visit.

Wide Receiver

Needs: Moderate. Michigan did pick up four in the last class, including blue-chipper Darryl Stonum and a couple of exciting jitterbug sorts, but the spread demands at least three guys on the roster at all times and Rodriguez has shown a predilection for bringing in as many little speedy buggers as he can get his hands on no matter the situation.

Projected Commits: 3.

Wide Receiver

Commitments
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Jeremy Gallon	FL	***.5	Michigan		Offer. Slot waterbug. Single wing QB in HS. Rivals article. Apopka preseason #1. Profile. MGoBlog on Gallon. Video versus Edgewater, Lake Brantley, and Eustis. Postgame interview. Video versus Seabreeze; he went for 300 yards. Local fluff. Scouting report. Army All-American. Video. Doing well at the AA bowl. No doubts. More AA bowl hype. More. Video interview.
Dewayne Peace	TX	***	Michigan		Camp offer. ATH DB. Commit article. Highlight-ish substance.
Cameron Gordon	MI	****	Michigan		ATH S/LB. Rivals article, Scout interview. Detnews on Gordon. Detnews again. Offer. Down to two.
Prospects
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Jamal Patterson	GA	****	Stanford, M, others.		Michigan "coming on hard" for Stanford commit.
Je'Ron Stokes	PA	****.5	Tenn, Ill, M, UGA, UF		Tennessee commitment looking around in wake of Fulmer firing. Probably visiting December 6th. Likely to decommit.
Kenny Bell	LA	****	LSU, Bama, M		LSU soft commit plans visits to Alabama, Michigan
Travante Stallworth	LA	***.5	Auburn, M, SoCar, TCU		Auburn soft commit plans visit. TVH interview.
Willie Haulstead	FL	***.5	FSU (soft verbal), M, others.		MSU visitor.

Tight End

Needs: Minimal. Michigan will enter 2008 with six tight ends on the roster, only one of whom is a senior, just in time for Rich Rodriguez to bring a TE de-emphasizing spread to Ann Arbor. While Rodriguez will probably take advantage of the athletic abilities possessed by Butler, Moore, et al, he's probably not going to bring in any new guys here unless there's a couple positions switches from the existing group or he brings in a guy like Sims who might outgrow wide receiver.

Projected Commits: 0.

Offensive Line

Needs: Moderate. You always want to take at least three, IMO, even when you took six the year before, and since the class of 2007 has just two players, one of whom was a real flier, Michigan will again be looking for a lot of bodies here. Fortunately, there are somewhere between 2-4 instate linemen who are Michigan caliber. Also lurking, at least as much as anyone his size can lurk, is Trotwood-Madison OL Chris Freeman. Michigan raided Trotwood for three players a year ago, of course, and might have the inside track on him. Freeman's very Michael Oher: enormous even for an OL (he's 6'9"!) and sushi raw, having played only four football games in his life.

Projected Commits: 3-4.

Offensive Line

Commitments
Mike Schofield	IL	****	Michigan		MGoBlog on Schofield. Sun-Times. Varsity Blue. Video. Article. Fluff.
Taylor Lewan	AZ	****	Michigan		Chaparral (Craig Roh). Blowing up after transfer and position switch from DT. Scout article.
Prospects
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Chris Freeman	OH	***	open		Offer. Trotwood-Madison (Shaw, Moore, Roundtree). BP thread, Scouting Ohio video. Bucknuts article. Daily Mail article. Tiger Rag article. ESPN article.
Henry Conway	IL	***	MSU, M, BC, Cinci, others		Will visit. Unclear if he has an offer. Doesn't; obvious plan B guy.
Marcus Hall	OH	****.5	M, OSU, Miami, Ill		Glenville. Will visit; favors OSU.
Travis Bond	NC	***	M, UNC, NC State		Plans official visit; no others scheduled yet. Newspaper profile. Another one. ESPN article. Scout article. Scout again. Video.
Quinton Washington	SC	****	M, SoCar, Clemson, others		Plans official. Offer. Visited and was impressed. Tennessee trying to get in.

Defensive Tackle

Needs: Moderate. Last year Michigan got a good prospect in Novi's Mike Martin and has three rising sophomores who saw playing time. An early commit from 2009 five-star Will Campbell helps a lot, but Campbell insists he's going to take all five official visits -- he's pretty soft. Michigan probably needs one more DT.

Projected Commits: 2.

Commitments
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Will Campbell	MI	*****	Michigan		Committed at M summer camp during his junior year, then dominated the Army Combine. Currently #23 overall to Rivals. Video interview. Detnews article. He’s Thor, man. News article. Rivals article. ESPN article. Free press. Army Bowl Guy. Scout article. Detroit News. ESPN. Shafer departure no problem. "Sappesque". AA Game article. Commit article.
DeQuinta Jones	LA	***.5	Michigan, Ok, Bama, Ark, OkSt		MGoBlog on Jones; commit article from local paper. Wavering a bit now. Praise. Visiting OSU, Ark.
Pearlie Graves	OK	***.5	Michigan (soft)		Offer. MGoBlog on Graves.
Prospects
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes

Defensive End

Needs: Severe. One commit in the last two classes at a position with two starters is asking for trouble. Even if a linebacker or tight end moves here, Michigan still needs quantity and quality. So the lack of names below? Scary.

Projected Commits: 3.

Defensive Ends

Commitments
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Anthony LaLota	NJ	****.5	Michigan (EE)		Not recruiting much yet but seems interested. Scout article. Rivals article, Terry Bowden breaks down film(!). Scout article. Down to seven. Visited and was impressed. Michigan, PSU lead? No. MGoBlog on Lalota. Video interview. Another interview.
Craig Roh	AZ	****	Michigan		USC lead; will visit. Article. M in top 3; USC still believed to be leading. Announced in top five. News article. Commit article. MGoBlog on Roh. First game as a commit. AZ player of the year.
Prospects
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Sam Montgomery	SC	****	LSU leads M, others		Offer. Originally from Detroit, sort of. ESPN article. Plans official; will narrow list soon. News article. Has visits set up. ESPN article. Will visit, yes. M top 3. Article. Still trailing. Army article.
Benny Logan	LA	***	LSU, M, Neb, TT		Recent offers from M, LSU, some others. LSU seeming retreating now.
Alex Williams	FL	***	Ark, Miss, M		Offer.

Linebacker

Needs: With four players, all of them highly rated by one service or another, in last year's class and a returning starter with three more years of eligibility Michigan can afford to take it a little easy here.

Projected Commits: 2.

Linebacker

Commitments
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Brandin Hawthorne	FL	***	Michigan (EE)		Offer? Pahokee (Odoms). Article. OMG! Shirtless! Will " decide" August 30th. Free Press. Scout article. DPOY.
Isaiah Bell	OH	***.5	Michigan		Youngstown Liberty. MGoBlog on Bell. ATH OLB. Good combine performance. ESPN article; ESPN thinks others are sleeping on him. Rivals video.
Mike Jones	FL	***.5	Michigan (EE)		ATH OLB. Orlando Edgewater (Greg Mathews). Scout article. Commit article. Will enroll early.
Prospects
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Jelani Jenkins	MD	*****	M, PSU, UF, Ill		WaPo article. Video. Newspaper profile. Detroit News. Video. WaPo article. Video interview. Article. ESPN article. WaPo article. Article.
Barkevious Mingo	LA	****	USC, LSU, Bama lead M		Offer. Scout interview. Article.
Tana Patrick	AL	****	M, Bama, USC, others.		Offer, considering visit. M coming on strong.
Dan Mason	FL	***.5	M, Pitt, PSU, WVU		Still needs an offer but will visit.
Mike Marry	FL	***	M, UCF, Ole Miss		Offer. M in top seven. Video. Leaning Ole Miss?
Willie Ferrell	FL	***	M, Miss, Tenn		LSU decommit.

Cornerback

Needs: Major. This might be a slice of MGoBlog paranoia, but with college football moving ever more strongly to the passing game it seems like you should regard the corner spot as the realm of three starters. Michigan has Donovan Warren returning, Boubacar Cissoko incoming, and then things get dodgy. The two-star running back recruit who's also 6'4"? The guy who came in at WR and is bouncing back and forth between the two positions as we speak? The unheralded legacy recruit? JT Floyd? Man, that creeps me out.

Projected Commits: 2.

Cornerback

Commitments
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Justin Turner	OH	****.5	Michigan		Massillon (Shawn Crable). ATH CB. BP thread. MGoBlog on Turner. Commit article. Army AA. Playing corner at the AA bowl, and doing well. Interview.
Prospects
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Mike Edwards	OH	***.5	M, Cinci, Tenn		Cleveland Glenville, but no OSU offer and is unlikely to get one with 6 DBs already in the OSU class. Video. Basically down to three. Tennessee leads.
Mywan Jackson	FL	***	M, UNC, UL		Offer, will visit. ATH QB. Video. High school QB. Good offer list. Very impressed with Michigan unofficial, Michigan “stood out.” UNC lead? ESPN article. Deciding soon.
Jayron Hosley	FL	***.5	M, OSU, UL, others		Offer. Profile; video. Will visit. VT lead?
Demontre Hurst	FL	***.5	M, Miami, others		Offer. Miami lead. Probably not visiting.
Dale Peterman	OH	***	M, UW, SoCar		Possible commit?
Adrian Witty	FL	***	M, KState, FIU, Florida		Visiting Jan 9; no offer yet. Teammate of Denard Robinson.

Safety

Needs: Moderate. Jonas Mouton is an OLB and Jerimy Finch can't decide what he wants on his Big Mac, let alone which school he wants to go to, leaving Michigan with Steve Brown, Michael Williams, and Artis Chambers across the last two classes.

Projected Commits: 2.

Safety

Commitments
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Thomas Gordon	MI	***	Michigan		Cass Tech (Cissoko, Jones, Campbell). No offer yet; but "likely" to get one and commit. News article. Free Press article. Free Press again. Free Press again again.
Vladimir Emilien	FL	****	Michigan (EE)		Offer. BP thread. Visiting for MSU game. Article. MGoBlog interview. ESPN article. MGoBlog on Emilien. Commit article.
Prospects
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Josh Hunter	NC	***.5	UNC, M others.		Visiting soon; soft UNC commit.
Dennis Thames	MS	***	Miss St leads		Nephew of Detroit Tiger Marcus Thames. Scout article; second article. Offer. Free Press. Michigan lead. Detnews article. Interview.

Kickers

Needs: KC Lopata will be gone by the time this class arrives on campus and recruited K Bryan Wright has been relegated to kickoffs, so they might look for a kicker. Punter is covered by Zoltan Mesko for another two years.

Commits
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Brendan Gibbons	FL	***	Michigan		MGoBlog on Gibbons. Rivals #7 K for 2009. Free Press. Woo! Mama said knock you out. Army AA. "Nasty." Interview.

Projected Commits: 0, though if someone wants to walk on they'll take him.

A reminder: the Star Scale for Rumor Credibility.

• 0-star: incoherent ravings.
• 1-star: clearly biased speculation without backing.
• 2-star: Some guy saying something on some board that claims insider info due to a chance occurence.
• 3-star: Information from someone less established as an insider but a frequent poster who seems sane and useful.
• 4-star: recognized insider-type person with no ax to grind who has established his bonafides on past recruits.
• 5-star: actually verified by an article and a quote from the player, a family member, or a coach.

So. Cutoff is two stars... sometimes three. Played by feel. In the future there will be denotations as follows:

UV: the information in sum(star rating).

Links will be provided so you can judge for yourself; posts that will fall into the memory hole will be copied for posterity.