Friday Recruitin' Is Undersized Badger Comment Count

Ace

Things are relatively quiet on the recruiting front at the moment, but here's an update on weekend visitors, players planning to attend the spring game, and more.

Weekend Visitors, Webb on Webb, Spring Game, Etc.

The list is short this week, with Washington (DC) Gonzaga CB Devin Butler the only uncommitted 2013 prospect slated to be on campus ($). Butler currently has Penn State as his leader, but the Wolverines are among a group of nine schools also in contention for his services.

Other visitors this weekend include 2013 commits Jake Butt and Jaron Dukes, and once again Cass Tech will be well represented—2014 WR Damon Webb, 2014 RB/DB Johnny Miggins, and 2015 QB Jayru Campbell will make the short trip to Ann Arbor.

Meanwhile, top receiver target Laquon Treadwell told Chantel Jennings that he'll visit for a spring practice in the first week of April ($, info in header). That will be Treadwell's fifth visit to Ann Arbor, but he still maintains that he won't make a decision until after his senior season.

The big visit weekend, however, will be when Michigan takes the field for the spring game on April 14th. One top-flight prospect who will be on campus is Erial (NJ) Timber Creek DT Greg Webb, who was the subject of Sam Webb's latest DetNews feature. Greg Webb's father earns major bonus points for saying Mike Martin and Iowa's Mike Daniels are two of his favorite D-linemen, because "they're undersized and they're badgers." The elder Webb also shed some light on the mindset of recruits who are witnessing a rather unprecedented rush to commit early:

"Michigan already (received verbal commitments from) 16 kids," Mr. Webb stated. "They're almost finished with their class. If you look at schools like Ohio State, they don't have as many scholarships (to offer). They're probably going to only take two or three D-tackles. You have to look at the numbers. If the schools you want to go to already have 16 or 17 commits, or they're only taking three more (players at your position), I don't think you can wait until signing day. A lot of the schools that he likes are a lot of the higher-profile schools. They're all going to fill up quick, so really I think we're going to have to look how things are going the next two or three months and see (if its best to make an early decision)."

With Michigan likely taking just two more defensive linemen—and also being in strong position with DT Henry Poggi—there could certainly be extra pressure on Webb to commit early if he wants a spot in the class.

Webb won't be the only elite D-lineman on campus for the spring game, either, as four-star SDE Joey Bosa will also be in attendance ($). Bosa currently has Michigan in his top six, but the competition—Florida State, Florida, Alabama, Wisconsin, and Ohio State—is stiff. Two other recruits who will be in that weekend are Cleveland Glenville S Christopher Worley (confusing, I know), who's currently holding offers from Arkansas, Bowling Green, and West Virginia ($), and 2014 Mequon (WI) Homestead DT Brandon Hines, who'll visit Ann Arbor on the 13th before checking out Iowa ($).

Quickly: Columbus (OH) Walnut Ridge WR Rob Wheelwright holds an offer, has Michigan in his top group, and is setting up a visit with coach Jerry Montgomery ($). Santa Monica (CA) WR Sebastian LaRue has "high interest" in the Wolverines and plans on taking a spring or summer visit ($). Grand Blanc (MI) DE Daniel Davis has been hearing from Michigan recently and plans to visit next week ($). TomVH on Michigan targeting several bigger cornerbacks in the 2013 class ($).

Comments

Ace

March 23rd, 2012 at 2:47 PM ^

I'd have to double-check, but I believe he is. Just to clarify, that's by no means a complete list of the spring game visitors—just the guys who announced they'd be visiting then since my last update. I'll have the complete list that week.

turd ferguson

March 23rd, 2012 at 3:21 PM ^

Seriously.  There's a realistic way - in fact, a lot of realistic ways - to wrap up this class that would make every single position group blindingly awesome.  Something like Poggi, Webb, Gedeon, Levenberry, Isaac, Treadwell, and another top WR.  I'm still skeptical that Cravens isn't USC bound, but when it comes to DBs, I think that Dymonte Thomas might be the best player in this Michigan class and I agree with Ace that Jourdan Lewis seems underrated right now.

Probability says that we won't get all of those guys, but even a good subset of them with nice replacements will leave us with an unbelievably strong class.  Most amazing of all is how consistently excellent it would be across the position groups - QB, RB/FB, WR/TE, OL, DL, LB, DB.

WolvinLA2

March 23rd, 2012 at 3:32 PM ^

My top three targets right now are Poggi, Levenberry and Treadwell, in that order.  If we get those three and fill the rest in with almost anyone we've offered at this point (and assuming our positional needs are filled), we'd be golden.  If the coaches can put the full court press on those three, the rest will fall into place on its own.

I left Isaac out intentionally.  He's obviously great, but RB would do much better without him than DT, LB or WR would without the above guys.   

WolvinLA2

March 23rd, 2012 at 4:49 PM ^

Not according to Rivals, but they don't have TI as their top RB either.  As a prospect they're close, but overall, Levenberry is #15 and Isaac is #18. 

They'll be close to all services, I assume, but I see Levenberry as a guy that will have more of an impact than Isaac.  I also like Deveon Smith more than I like McCray, so that plays a part in it for me as well.

bluenyc

March 23rd, 2012 at 5:03 PM ^

Although I agree with you, i just want to get my friday debate on while i wait to go home.  If you go by the services, Smith is unranked by Rivals and 3 star to 247 while Mccray is 4 star across the board.  So in theory, just by the rankings, Ty may be more important.  Since, we didnt get any SAMs last year and 2 different kinds of backs.  That is just by the rankings, wow, people are like you are still working so hard at close to 5.

WolvinLA2

March 23rd, 2012 at 5:12 PM ^

My initial statement had a lot less to do with the rankings and more with my opinions of them, and of the other guys we have.  At RB, we have Smith, Shallman, plus Norfleet (who I really like) and Drake Johnson from last year, and Hayes and Rawls from the year before.  At SAM, we have McCray in this class, no one in the class before, and really only Jake Ryan outside of that. 

The other thing, I'm just more impressed with Levenberry as a player than I am with Isaac.  Not by a ton, but by some.

WolvinLA2

March 23rd, 2012 at 5:08 PM ^

Scout is a real outlier for Levenberry.  Scout has him at 80 overall, when the other sites have him at 15, 21 and 21 - very consistent.  The other three services differentiate Levenberry and Isaac by a total of 13 places, 10 in favor of EJ (3 and 7) and 3 in favor of Isaac. 

I think it's fair to say they are very comparably ranked.

turd ferguson

March 23rd, 2012 at 5:15 PM ^

No, you didn't read that correctly.  There are only three rankings out so far -- I included the median to deal with the outlier problem.

  • Levenberry's overall rankings are #80, #15, and #21, which puts him at the #4 OLB spot and #28 overall.
  • Isaac's overall rankings are #13, #18, and #28, which puts him at the #2 RB and #16 overall.

Honestly, though, I'm basically indifferent between the two.  I think they're both extraordinary, top-level prospects.

WolvinLA2

March 23rd, 2012 at 5:27 PM ^

Yes, I did read that wrong.  I assumed since there were 4 numbers and an average that the fourth was ESPN, I didn't realize it was the median. 

Either way, two services have EJ a slight bit ahead of Isaac, then Scout thinks they are very different.  Nonetheless, they are still pretty close. 

DeuceInTheDeuce

March 23rd, 2012 at 3:41 PM ^

I'm amazed that there seems to be a number of good, realistic options for every position.  Past classes always seemed to have a position or two whose emptiness we rationalized with insane expectations of walk-ons or improbable position switches. It's early, but there isn't an obvious AHHHH TREY BURKE TO NBA CAN JORDAN MORGAN PLAY POINT GUARD scenario brewing in this class*.

 

*Wood knock

Hardware Sushi

March 23rd, 2012 at 3:59 PM ^

Joey Bosa is ridiculous. Pipe dream but I'd love to have him on the team.

Absolute monster.

Then again, it's tough to put all that on him since his entire St. Aquinas defensive line is in the backfield every single play.