Hello: Antonio Kinard Comment Count

Brian

Michigan's junior day netted a few commitments while this site was busy hoping the world didn't cave in the day before the NCAA tournament was selected.

antonio-kinard Antonio Kinard is a 6'4", 200 pound linebacker from Youngstown Ohio. He committed to Michigan over the weekend. The details:

GURU RATINGS

Scout Rivals ESPN
NR NR NR

It's too early for all but the most preliminary rankings; basically all we have to go on is that he's not in Rivals' initial top 250. He's #22 in the state to Ohio High magazine, for whatever that's worth.

OFFERS

Just the one from Michigan, with that issued shortly after Signing Day. FWIW, in mid-February a BP mod asserted he was likely to receive an OSU offer within a week or so; that apparently did not transpire. Penn State and WVU may have been on the verge.

STATS

ESPN says 86 tackles and 6 sacks a year ago.

FAKE 40 TIME

We have two times here, one of which might not be fake:

Kinard combines size with speed.  He runs the 40-yard dash in 4.6 seconds and is also on the Liberty track team.  He has run the 200 meters in 22.8 seconds and also long jumps.

VIDEO

Video from Scouting Ohio.

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

Well, the evidence here is flimsier than normal: there's no scouting reports and only one ranking, that from a local, not national source. Preliminary indications—the Ohio High ranking and lack of other offers—are that Kinard will be a three-star sort. If the potential Penn State and Ohio State offers were

While that's not ideal, Michigan was familiar with Kinard after recruiting a couple of his Youngstown Liberty teammates and was quick to offer, so they obviously thought he was a talent they shouldn't wait on. One thing seems assured: a redshirt. Kinard is 6'4" and 200 pounds, so unless he puts on a ton of weight this year he'll need to bulk up some once he arrives if he's going to be effective.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

It's unclear what position Kinard is slotted in: it could be linebacker either inside or outside or DE—as Varsity Blue notes, Greg Robinson's schemes often deploy a "spinner" who's a hybrid DE/OLB. Kinard's also the first defensive commit of any sort, so he won't affect Michigan's recruiting going forward. They'll still pursue TX LB Caleb Lavey and so forth and so on.

Comments

BlueSwave34

March 17th, 2009 at 11:38 AM ^

I love the fact that we are recruiting those Ohio boys. I think Osu and Psu waited too long and Michigan was there to jump right on him. Good job RR and GO Blue!!

goody

March 17th, 2009 at 11:54 AM ^

it seems like a good pick-up. You can pack on weight and make kids stronger and faster but no amount of training can make a kid 6'4" as a incoming senior.

foreverbluemaize

March 17th, 2009 at 12:04 PM ^

I liked what RR said at the presser on signing day. Not word for word but basically he said he does not care how rivals ranks these kids or how many stars they have he just wants the kids that he feels are a good fit for the team. He said that he cares more that they are going to work hard and be smart enough then whether or not they have 5 stars.

Erik_in_Dayton

March 17th, 2009 at 12:13 PM ^

OSU is pretty stacked at LB, so a lack of an offer from them probably only means that he's not an elite prospect. He could still be a very good one...I've been told that a good amount of OSU recruiting watchers thought Isaiah Bell was a hell of a player but OSU just didn't have room for him.

evenyoubrutus

March 17th, 2009 at 12:40 PM ^

I have a feeling RichRod and his staff spend maybe 3 or 4 seconds on recruiting-websites every year. And that's probably only when they accidentally click on a link before they realize they've gone to a site unintentionally.

Magnus

March 17th, 2009 at 2:27 PM ^

There's usually a guy in the athletic department who spends at least part of his day cruising around the internet and looking at updates. Rodriguez himself (and the other coaches) might not visit Rivals or Scout, but they're told the important developments.

IBleedMaizeNBlue

March 17th, 2009 at 5:25 PM ^

Seems a bit early in the process to be offering 3-star projects, don't you think? And from the looks of this kid's tape, he seems to be just that. Maintaining loyalty to a school is one thing, but shouldn't you offer this type of guy later in the recruiting process?

The Barking Sp…

March 18th, 2009 at 7:40 PM ^

While there are many UM fans buying into the "Well, the guy may not have any other offers, but with a lil chocolate milk and Barwis, he'll be great" theorum, I'm not so sure. Sure, Rich Rod may say he don't care 'bout no stars 'n sich, I'm not so sure.
What I'd like to see is some of this "Hey, this is MICHIGAN" stuff pay off with a dynamic new coach who knows that THIS is MICHIGAN and recruits PLAYAS instead of a roster full of diamonds in the rough. I hope Rodriguez learns that he is recruiting to Michigan and lands talent to go with what I believe are some pretty serious player development skillz. And I agree, this is kind of early to be offering kids like Kinnard, who would have been just as available in August as he was today. Can you say, "future decommit"? As in, kind of given the cold shoulder and pushed aside as the recruiting heats up and UM lands or is in position to land more talent at this position? From what I've garnered, UM has about 17 scholarships for 2010---let's do a lil cherry picking.

And oh yeah, I'm sure Rodriguex has a guy checking Scout and Rivals for "important developments"--Ahem. Maybe like the 1294th thread asking if George Morales has earned a scholrship?