2015 Recruiting Picture Comment Count

Brandon Brown

 

JJ Rice vs CC FB
Malzone. [photo: MI Prep Zone]

Quarterback

Total Needs: 1

Commits: 1 (Alex Malzone – Bloomfield Hills (MI) Brother Rice)  

Moving Forward: The Wolverines are all set at quarterback for the 2015 cycle.

Running Back

Total Needs: 1-2

Commits: 0

Top Candidates: Damien Harris – Berea  (KY) Madison Southern, Mike Weber – Detroit (MI) Cass Tech

Honorable Mentions: Jacques Patrick – Orlando (FL) Timber Creek, Johnny Frasier – Princeton (NC) Princeton

Moving Forward: With the transfer addition of Ty Isaac the Wolverines will probably be satisfied with just one running back commitment in the class. If both Damien Harris and Mike Weber decide they’d like to be Wolverines, I’m sure the coaches would find a way to let it happen. That being said, neither of them are sure things and Michigan could end up landing neither.  It appears that Weber has now become the top target while Harris may be leaning toward the Buckeyes. Either way, both have said that they will be in attendance for the BBQ at The Big House on July 27 which will be another huge recruiting event.  Jacques Patrick and Johnny Frasier remain longshots at this point, but both are still being recruited by the staff.

Wide Receiver

Total Needs: 1-2

Commits: 0

Top Candidates: Brian Cole – Saginaw (MI) Heritage

Honorable Mentions: George Campbell – Tarpon Springs (FL) East Lake, Auden Tate – Tampa (FL) Wharton

Moving Forward: This position group worries me more than any other on the board. The staff has offered 11 wide receiver prospects. Four of them are committed elsewhere and outside of Brian Cole, the rest don’t seem to be very likely options. Cole is probably going to be an in-state battle between the Wolverines and Spartans and the upcoming season of each school could prove huge in his recruitment. George Campbell was once a Michigan commit but that seems like ancient history at this point. He’s likely to remain somewhere in Florida. Fellow Florida-native Auden Tate holds Michigan in high regard, but pulling skill players out of Florida has always been a tough task. I haven’t had direct communication with Tate so gauging his interest level is difficult. If Tate visits for the BBQ that will be an obvious move in the right direction.

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Clark: Committed to Power Words.

 

Tight End

Total Needs: 1

Commits: 1 (Chris Clark – Avon (CT) Avon Old Farms)

Top Candidates: Tyrone Wheatley Jr. – Buffalo (NY) Canisius

Honorable Mentions: N/A

Moving Forward: The Wolverines could very well be done at the tight end position. Chris Clark was a somewhat unexpected pleasant surprise, at least timing-wise, and with him in the fold landing another tight end isn’t a must. Tyrone Wheatley Jr. is a legacy offer and told me that he was definitely offered by Michigan as a tight end. That being said, he’s a pretty solid defensive end as well so if he decides he’d like to follow his dad’s footsteps to Ann Arbor, the coaches could give him a look on defense if they felt they were set at tight end. If Wheatley Jr. decides to commit elsewhere, it’s likely that the Wolverines won’t look at another tight end.

Offensive Line

Total Needs: 2-3

Commits: 2 (Jon Runyan Jr. – Philadelphia (PA) St. Joseph’s, Grant Newsome – Trenton (NJ) The Lawrenceville School)

Top Candidates: Patrick Allen – Reistertown (MD) Franklin

Honorable Mentions: Drew Richmond – Memphis (TN) Memphis University School, Connor Williams – Coppell (TX) Coppell

Moving Forward: Solid recent recruiting classes have allowed the staff to build some much needed depth on the offensive line. The coaches have been able to secure verbal commitments from two offensive linemen in the 2015 class already and would take one more if he’s a big-time talent. The staff is currently content with Jon Runyan Jr. and Grant Newsome as the lone linemen commitments. Patrick Allen has a top four in order of Oklahoma, Ohio State, Georgia, and Michigan. I doubt Michigan can pass the other three, but by default he’s probably the most likely to become part of this class right now. Drew Richmond is one of the most coveted linemen in the country who has mentioned he’d like to see Michigan for himself, but with no plans to do so as of right now, he’s probably a pipe dream. Connor Williams compares to Richmond in terms of his Michigan interest and is also a longshot at best for the Wolverines.

Defensive Tackle

Total Needs: 0

Commits: 0

Moving Forward: Michigan does not appear to be taking a defensive tackle in this recruiting cycle. Solid recent recruiting at the position and a limited number of available scholarships in 2015 have allowed for this position to be a non-priority this time around. They’ve offered five prospects but two of them have committed elsewhere and the other three aren’t going to drop for the maize and blue.

Defensive End

Total Needs: 2

Commits: 0

Top Candidates: Keisean Lucier-South – Orange (CA) Lutheran-Orange County, Darian Roseboro – Linconlton (NC) Lincolnton

Honorable Mentions: Kengera Daniel – Raleigh (NC) Millbrook, Jalen Bates –Kaplan (LA) Kaplan

Moving Forward: This position group has two of the more probable future Wolverines in it with Darian Roseboro and Keisean Lucier-South. Roseboro plans to attend the BBQ at the end of July and  Lucier-South already has an official visit planned for the Penn State game. It wouldn’t surprise me if Roseboro pulled the trigger while at the BBQ. Lucier-South has tentative plans to commit on National Signing Day, but I wouldn’t be shocked if the environment during his official visit to Ann Arbor was enough to get him to commit. Kengera Daniel and Jalen Bates both also like Michigan quite a bit but are both a little lower down the board compared to Roseboro and Lucier-South.

Linebacker

Total Needs: 2

Commits: 1 (Darrin Kirkland Jr. – Indianapolis (IN) Lawrence Central)

Top Candidates: Asmar Bilal – Indianapolis (IN) Ben Davis, Tyriq Thompson – Detroit (MI) Detroit Martin Luther King, Joshua McMillon – Memphis (TN) Whitehaven

Honorable Mentions: Osa Masina – Salt Lake City (UT) Brighton

Moving Forward: Linebacker is quickly becoming Michigan’s deepest positional group on defense and the 2015 class could continue to build upon that. Darrin Kirkland Jr. is already in the fold and the staff continues to recruit several prospects who are very high on Michigan. Tyriq Thompson is the son of former Wolverine, Clarence Thompson, so he seems to be a very real possibility. Asmar Bilal is believed to be favoring Notre Dame but Michigan is right there for his services. Perhaps the biggest surprise among this group is Tennessee native Joshua McMillon. At nearly 250 lbs. he is massive for a high school linebacker but he has the athleticism to handle it. Our own Ace recently predicted that McMillon will commit to Michigan on 247’s Crystal Ball, citing Sam Webb’s recent optimism regarding McMillon’s comments about the Wolverines. Plucking McMillon from SEC country with a slew of SEC offers would be a big time get for the Michigan coaching staff. At one point Michigan seemed to be in pretty good shape with Osa Masina but recent developments indicate he might be staying closer to home.

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Lewis is loosely tied to Florida at them moment. [247]

 

Defensive Back

Total Needs: 2-3

Commits: 2 (Tyree Kinnel – Dayton (OH) Wayne, Garrett Taylor – Richmond (VA) St. Christopher’s School)

Top Candidates: Mook Reynolds – Greensboro (NC) Northern Guilford, Marcus Lewis – Washington (DC) Gonzaga

Honorable Mentions: Iman Marshall – Long Beach (CA) Long Beach Poly, John Reid – Philadelphia (PA) St. Joseph’s

Moving Forward: With two very solid commitments already in the fold in the secondary, Michigan can afford to be picky with any additional targets. All four of the potential future members of the class are highly coveted and two of them are actually committed elsewhere right now. Mook Reynolds is currently committed to Virginia Tech but will check out Michigan for the BBQ, while Marcus Lewis is currently considered a Gator. Lewis also plans to check out Michigan in the near future, possibly for the BBQ as well. There isn’t a lot of news out there on John Reid and I haven’t had much contact with him but he’s still on the radar and Garrett Taylor told me that he’s been recruiting him. Iman Marshall’s father told me that they are quite interested in Michigan and hope to check out Ann Arbor if it can be worked out. He’s another highly touted prospect from California that seems to be genuinely interested in Michigan, but probably won’t leave the west coast.

Special Teams

Total Needs: 1

Commits: 1 (Andrew David – Massillon (OH) Washington)

Moving Forward: Michigan identified the need for a kicker, offered Andrew David, and he committed. There isn’t a need for any other special teamers in the 2015 cycle.

I’m going to predict that the 2015 class will be right around 16 members when it’s all said and done. As of right now there are only 4 remaining scholarships available but with inevitable attrition that number should go up to around 8 or so bringing the total to 16 for the class.

Comments

pearlw

July 10th, 2014 at 2:29 PM ^

I disagree with your numbers on scholarship availability.

You state that Michigan has 8 commits and 4 scholarships remaining. I think the correct number is only 2 remaining. There are errors and judgement differences in the depth chart by class on this site.

The depth chart on this site shows 81 scholarships. I have it as 84. Differences are:

1) Scott Sypniewski is on full scholarship but the list does not have it that way.

2) It is missing Ty Isaac.

3) Judgement on Joe Kerridge/Graham Glasgow. Both of these guys came in as walkons, both started last year, and both were granted scholarships last year. The question is how to treat them this coming year. Given the facts in the previous sentence, they probably should be treated the same way as each other yet the depth chart on this site has only 1 scholarship between the two of them. I think that has to be 2.

Net result would be 84 scholarship allocated for next year. There are 9 scholarship seniors this year so that would mean there are 10 available for this recruiting class (9 seniors + 1 unallocated this year).

Therefore, I see there as only 2 scholarships remaining for this class before any attrition.

pearlw

July 10th, 2014 at 3:04 PM ^

Numbers are definitely going to be tight. The fact that so many of these guys plan to wait until after their season (or on signing day) works out well as Michigan should have better feel for attrition by then. I realize that guys always say that but then commit earlier.

Hokemadness27

July 10th, 2014 at 2:34 PM ^

Brandon i know that Brian Cole is a big time target, but I havent really heard much on him. What are our chances we land him? Also If you had to guess, how many commitments could we see at the BBQ?

wile_e8

July 10th, 2014 at 2:39 PM ^

This reminds me, the site should really bring back the old recruit tracking chart. Maybe I'm just getting old, maybe I'm not paying enough attention as I used to, maybe it's because recruiting updates now cover multiple years, but I had a much easier time keeping track of all the recruits when Mr. Blue, Data, and Nefarious Eduardo were helping me out.

wile_e8

July 10th, 2014 at 5:33 PM ^

I agree that it should be aggregated somewhere.

While would prefer the the color-coded version, the biggest advantage the old recruiting board had going for it was that it was updated frequently and had it's own front-page link. The key was you could get a relatively recent 10,000 ft overview of the recruting situation all the time. If this post was perma-linked and updated occasionally, it would be 90% of the old board right off the bat, which would be great.

Hannibal.

July 10th, 2014 at 2:49 PM ^

How is it that we whiffed on Malik McDowell but we still feel like we don't need a DT in this class?  We didn't get a surefire 3-tech prospect in 2014 either.  This will make two years without a guy who would normally be considered Big Ten caliber. 

I don't see what is making the coaches so confident here.

Space Coyote

July 10th, 2014 at 2:52 PM ^

Disregard stuff that seem random if you want though (as it was a reply to something else)

"DT isn't exactly like OL, or even RB. You're going to get numbers at DT. DEs will bulk up. OL will switch over. "OL every year" is because you just need the numbers to fill out the depth chart, it's 5 positions to fill out for a position that has a pretty low hit rate. RB is a position you typically try to fill every year because those are your best athletes, plain and simple. If they don't work out, they'll likely work out somewhere else: FB, HB, WR, CB, Safety, LB, and at worst on ST. DT isn't like that. You can use them on ST, just like you can use OL on ST. But you can get numbers at DT without having to take a guy every year. It's a position kids naturally grow into."

So outside of crazy position switches, Palante, Mone could potentially play 3-tech this year, Roseboro potentially could if he came on board, Poggi and Hurst could both end up there, etc, etc. They just have a lot of bodies there right now, especially with the move to the Over. Makes sense to focus elsewhere to a degree.

Hannibal.

July 10th, 2014 at 2:58 PM ^

I could get on board with that, but wouldn't you rather have some guys who are at least favored to play that position?  I don't feel like we have had much success beefing guys up.  At best, guys like Roh and Black have been mediocre when they have packed on weight and moved positions.   I don't have much confidence in our strength and conditioning program to take 255 lb DEs and turn them into disruptive, powerful 285-lb DTs. 

We didn't even get a Wormley type guy in 2014 who could grow into the position.  We also only got two offensive linemen in 2014 and we may only get thee in 2015, so I don't think that we will have a lot of great position switching candidates there.  It sounds like Cole is a lock for offense.  I don't know about JBB but he strikes me as being nose tackle size. 



 

Space Coyote

July 10th, 2014 at 3:05 PM ^

They don't feel, with the current numbers at the position this year, that they should take a DT in this cycle. I can almost promise they'll go after 1-3 in the next cycle, though. At that point, they'll be coming in when a guy like Pipkins is leaving and the year before a bunch of the guys currently on the roster will be SRs.

Streetchemist

July 10th, 2014 at 3:04 PM ^

I'd say Tate is definitely a top candidate at WR. His interest in Michigan is high. Quotes form from a recent 247 article:



“I’m looking for plane tickets right now to get to the Big House bar-b-que,” Tate said of the Wolverines‘ end of July recruit gathering. “I’m looking to see how comfortable I feel on the campus, how I feel about the area, stuff like that.”

The 6-foot-4.5, 206-pound Tate is in regular contact with Michigan.

“I talked to coach [Jeff Hecklinski] about every two days. He tells me how nice the offense is and how he wants me to replace Devin Funchess, play that role and use me as a match up.”

“Michigan, it’s just been a dream school of mine. It’s been my favorite school since I was a kid.”

woodfeld

July 10th, 2014 at 4:10 PM ^

If M hypothetically finishes the class with these guys (realistic, but also tough):

Weber, Cole, Wheatley, KLS, Roseboro, McMillon, Reynolds, generic high 3-star we haven't heard about yet, then this year's class finishes well above (based on 247's composite) last year's 20th ranked class, which also had 16 members.

Now, there are 2 key factors here, landing an elite talent at the top (KLS or Harris) to compare with landing Peppers, and the fact that the 2015 class rankings are not finalized and we know the majority of these guys will drop at least a few spots as senior season late risers jump up.  But still, even accounting for the probable drops, this hypothetical class would be solidly better than last year's and probably finish somewhere around 15th overall with only 16 members.

WolvinLA2

July 10th, 2014 at 4:42 PM ^

Right, but that's different.  A kicker has a ceiling - you take one and you know for fact he'll be a 3-star if you're lucky.  Pallante was just a lowly rated recruit.  We chose to take Pallante despite his ranking.  When you take a kicker, you don't have a choice.  Pallante could have been replaced by a 4- or 5-star.  Andrew David cannot.

BlueCube

July 10th, 2014 at 5:07 PM ^

Masina just put us in the top 5 leaving Utah off. He has UCLA listed first but says no special order. It looks like he's trending towards the west coast though.

 

 

Also Sam Webb mentioned another wide receiver target.

 

 

Boom Goes the …

July 10th, 2014 at 7:32 PM ^

would end up with Weber/Harris RB

Cole+Tate WR

Wheatley TE

Roseboro+KLS DE

McMillon+Thompson LB

8 more

Maize and Blue…

July 10th, 2014 at 11:11 PM ^

My all pipe dream finish in recruiting this year would be:

RB - Harris or Patrick or Weber

WR- Campbell, Tate or Cole

TE/DE - Wheatley

DE - K.L.S., Roseboro

LB - Masina or McMillon

CB - Marshall or Reynolds or Lewis

Any eight of these fourteen would be unlikely, but a man can dream can't he?

FutureOfA2

July 10th, 2014 at 7:34 PM ^

The fact that there are two open spots at DE and Michigan is safely one of the top 2 teams on both the lists of two top 100 recruits at DE can be either extremely optimistic or pessimistic. I can't name another solid option at DE (potentially Wheatley?) that would be an easy pick up if Mich does miss out on one, or both of KLS and Roseboro. However, if both go blue, that's an incredible haul at a must needed position for the future.