Hello: Antwaine Richardson
Photo via 247.
Michigan's camp tour has paid off once again, this time in the form of a commitment from three-star Delray Beach (FL) Atlantic CB Antwaine Richardson, according to multiple outlets. Richardson, a high school teammate of incoming freshman DE Shelton Johnson, earned an offer on Sunday after performing in front of the coaching staff at the South Florida satellite camp. He's the 11th commit in the 2016 class and the first at cornerback.
GURU RATINGS
| Scout | Rivals | ESPN | 247 | 247 Comp |
| NR CB | 3* CB | NR CB |
3*, 86, #81 CB, #822 Ovr |
3*, #88 CB, #879 Ovr |
As you can see, Richardson is another under-the-radar type, so let's head off some of the inevitable comments right now and note that his top two was Miami (YTM) and Wisconsin—yes, both programs offered—before Michigan swooped in.
All four sites list him at 6'0" and 162-168 pounds, a nice frame for a cornerback.
SCOUTING
The only scouting reports out there on Richardson right now are quotes from... Richardson. Those can be helpful, but first let's take a look at his film:
I like what I see. Richardson has decent footwork for a taller corner, and he knows how to use his length to his advantage. He's not afraid to be physical; there are a few really impressive jams at the line and some big hits on his tape. A few of the special teams clips indicate he's the type of high-effort, high-athleticism prospect Harbaugh covets.
When Richardson got his Miami offer, he compared himself to a couple of the NFL's very best at his position, per 247's Nate Adelson ($):
“I compare myself to Richard Sherman and Patrick Peterson,” Richardson said. “I’m a speed corner, I can play off or press, and I’m aggressive on the line. I’m trying to get out of my breaks quicker and sink my hips while I’m backpedaling. I have good footwork and I don’t let anybody catch the deep ball on me.”
He also relishes contact, something he told Scout's Benjamin Worgull after adding his Wisconsin offer:
“You have to be real good (to play) in the Big Ten because they have Ohio State, some good teams in the Big Ten,” he said. “You have to bring your ‘A’ game when you play those teams, so getting an offer from Wisconsin means I got to bring my ‘A’ game.”
In Richardson’s mind, his ‘A’ game encompasses all defensive schemes.
“In man coverage, I love covering,” Richardson said. “I am aggressive, I love to tackle, I love to hit hard and I don’t think nobody can catch a deep ball on me.”
For now, that's about it on Richardson in the scouting department. Despite the lack of articles on him, what's on film should answer any questions about why Michigan offered him and accepted his commitment.
OFFERS
Richardson holds offers from Florida Atlantic, Iowa State, Miami (YTM), Rutgers, South Florida, Syracuse, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and several others.
HIGH SCHOOL
Delray Beach Atlantic has a solid history of producing D-I prospects, and specifically top-level defensive backs: Mike Rumph (Miami), Brandon Flowers (Virginia Tech), and Jayron Hosley (Virginia Tech) were all picked in the first three rounds of the NFL Draft. Current San Diego Chargers OT Orlando Franklin (Miami) is also an Atlantic product.
STATS
According to 247, Richardson had 37 tackles, ten pass breakups, two interceptions, and three forced fumbles as a junior.
FAKE 40 TIME
ESPN has full testing results that include a 4.70 40-yard dash, which gets zero FAKEs.
PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE
Richardson should be afforded a redshirt when he gets to campus, as Michigan is only set to lose Wayne Lyons (and, if his fifth year is unrenewed, Terry Richardson) from their group of cornerbacks after this year. The competition should be wide open when Jourdan Lewis and Channing Stribling graduate following the 2016 season. While Brandon Watson, who looked ready to play a bigger role this spring, and Reon Dawson will provide competition, Richardson and 2015 incoming freshman Keith Washington have the advantage of being hand-picked by Harbaugh and Co.
UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS
Michigan is now up to 11 in the class, which is projected to have only 14 spots right now, but that number will inevitably rise between attrition and possible unrenewed fifth-year seniors. Wide receiver, tight end, offensive line, defensive tackle, defensive end, and outside linebacker remain pressing needs, and Michigan is likely to stay in pursuit of help at defensive back unless they decide they'd prefer Chris Evans at corner and Kiante Enis at safety.
Decent, not great athlete. Much more comfortable in press coverage than playing off. Doesn't have great feet, sloppy in his backpedal, not great lateral change of direction, but better at breaking forward vertically or opening and running (press coverage or Cover 3 where he can open up immediately and run). Average top end speed, needs to add a lot of mass, but currently looks like a player that likes physical play and tackles well for the position.
His ability to play press coverage seems to make him at least partially a good fit.
I think he's a good press man corner. I don't think you want him on the field side matched up with a speedy guy, because he can get burned in open space. But if you keep him in more confined spaces and use him to support the run or underneath routes, I think he'll be fine.
Needs to refine technique and get much stronger, but his skill set, in general, once refined, fits best with what Durkin seems to want to do (press with a Cover 3 changeup). So as far as Richardson goes, it's about as good of a fit for him as he'll find. Probably ultimately a boundary CB
he's 6', perhaps not a burner, and given his seeming enjoyment of being physical and tackling, is he a potential candidate for safety if he could put on the 20-30 lbs he'd need there?
Congrats to him, I have to check out his highlights, hopefully he is just under the radar.
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and The Tie (aka Al Golden) has shown that he cannot build a fence around his own city to keep others out.
please watch this video. thank you. and you're welcome. pic.twitter.com/0NXUScViVE
— shrill (@theshrillest) June 11, 2015
I'd give you an upvote but the video clip is covering up the moderation buttons.
VVS claims another victim.
you're doing the Lord's work BiSB.
/s
So, "Nothing is guaranteed, but I would really like some guarantees" is the logic here?
Look at it from a recruit's perspective. Would you entrust your shot at the NFL to a program that's wasted 4-star after 4-star after 4-star the past few years? Yes, there's a new staff, but there are entrenched, successful staffs elsewhere. It. Will. Take. Time.
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Oh man, I'm pretty sure the 'A Three Star from the South Is Like a Four Star from the Midwest' is now the proper way to evaluate recruiting again. Like under Rich Rod.
Given what he did with a boatload of 2 and 3 stars at Stanford, we should be alright. I'm guessing Harbaugh probably realizes that once within a general range of size and athleticism, the type of kid is what matters most. D'antonio knew this a long time ago while we were clamoring over Hoke's 4 star trains. Worked out just fine for Sparty.
Given what he did with a boatload of 2 and 3 stars at Stanford, we should be alright.
In 4 years at Stanford:
2 losing seasons
1 top 25 finish
zero conference titles
58% win percentage
If he does what he did at Stanford, he'll be run out of town.
Pescadero, let it go.
Nobody's talking about his first two years at Stanford when he was working his way out of the doldrums of NCAA football.
I've seen you make this same comment over and over again, and it has become tiresome. You're purposefully misconstruing people's words just to make some pointless point.
He's been doing it for almost a year now at least. It's highly annoying and trolling, but it's consistent.
Harbaugh had ONE season at Stanford that would be acceptable at Michigan.
Harbaugh did very well with 2-3 star players at Stanford - but he didn't do THAT well.
...and that one year he did really well? He had a good number of 4* players contributing.
Even dismissing your B.S. assumption that Michigan fans are wishing for 4-8 and 5-7 seasons...
...Harbaugh went 8-5 and 12-1 in his final two seasons. If you don't think he would get a fourth year after going 8-5, then you haven't been paying attention. And if he went 12-1 in his fourth season, he wouldn't be run out of town.
So you're assumed premise is wrong, and so is your conclusion. I don't know why you feel the need to perpetuate this argument.
I don't assume Michigan fans are wishing for 4-8 and 5-7 seasons.
I assume Michigan fans are looking to compete for national championships and regularly beat Ohio State.
...Harbaugh went 8-5 and 12-1 in his final two seasons. If you don't think he would get a fourth year after going 8-5, then you haven't been paying attention.
If Harbaugh goes 4-8, 5-7, 8-5... he will not get a 4th year at Michigan.
So you're assumed premise is wrong, and so is your conclusion.
My assumed premise is that a lot of folks around here think Harbaugh is going to compete for national championships and regularly beat Ohio State by finding under the radar 2-3 star players. My conclusion is - that ain't going to happen.
He didn't do that at Stanford, and he won't do that here. No one does it.
Being a great coach can help a lot - but no one is winning national titles without recruiting much better than Harbaugh has so far.
He did have one super stud QB massively skewing the results there. Hard to figure where Stanford ends up without Andrew Luck. Although Harbaugh does get full credit for finding and coaching him. His ability to put great QBs onto the field is beyond reproach. Alarm bells should be going off about the rest of his recruiting though. It took us a couple of years to reach the "stars don't matter/the coach knows more than the recruiting sites" point with RichRod, and we're already there with Harbaugh after only six months.
And it's one that a lot of fans/pundits nationally have raised -- how much of Stanford's success was system/coaching and how much was finding Luck?
I think Harbaugh answered that in SF, but people keep bringing up Stanford and that question still remains.
I'm sort of with the guy above in that we shouldn't take it as gospel that just because Harbaugh likes a 3-star it means that 3-star should be considered an undercover 5-star that the morons out there just haven't figured out yet.
Alarm bells should be going off about the rest of his recruiting? Michigan currently has the 15th ranked class in the country. And this is coming off the worst seven year stretch in what, 100 years? Did people really expect Harbaugh to come in and sign a class on par with FSU, OSU and Alabama in year one? If so, maybe those alarm bells should be going off for a different reason.
Yes, alarm bells should be going off. The ending of the 2015 class was a major faceplant. Harbaugh whiffed on every decent candidate on signing day except for the guy whose dad is on his staff. Since he was announced as the coach he has received 18 commitments, only five of which are four star guys, two of which are two star guys, and one of which is unrated because he was third on the depth chart on his high school team. Two of those four star guys are QBs, but we lost a four star QB decommit to our in-state rival in that time frame. Two of them are outside of the rivals Top 250. The lowly ranked prospects have offer lists that pretty much match their ranking. Harbaugh and his staff have opinions on some guys that are massive outliers.
Do I have unreasonable expectations? Butch Jones landed the 5th ranked recruiting class in the country in his first year, and they have been in the wilderness longer than we have. James Franklin landed a class with 11 four-star guys at Penn State despite having to put together most of that class under the assumption that they wouldn't play in a bowl game as freshmen. Nick Saban followed up a decade of disappointment with the #1 class in the country with his first full class. Brian Kelly's first full class was ranked #10 on rivals. Rick Neuheisel landed the #14 class in the country and UCLA was worse off when he took over than we are now (he had also been fired from two jobs). Jim Mora, Jr. landed a Top 10 recruiting class in his first season. That was after a decade of Karl Dorrell and Rick Neuheisel. Brady Hoke put together an excellent first class, most of which was assembled on the heels of a 37-7 loss to OSU and a 52-14 bowl game loss. Those are just a few examples. There are many more. Outstanding first year recruiting classes aren't the exception. They are pretty common.
What kind of class should we expect?
And what about pulling Shelton Johnson on NSD, who we stole from Florida State?
Also, you're talking about a 5th ranked class and 4-stars for the *end* of the recruiting cycle. This recruiting cycle has not ended. Some of these players (such as Dytarious Johnson) will probably move up in the rankings. Also, the better recruits tend to wait until later in the cycle. Of Rivals' 25 five-star prospects right now, only 11 have committed (3 of which are quarterbacks, who always commit early). Meanwhile, Michigan has a very good shot at Rashan Gary and Ben Bredeson, both of whom are very highly touted prospects.
So no alarm bells. It's only June.
By the way, in the 2012 class (which finished #7, according to Rivals), here's who was committed by this point in the recruiting cycle (using their final ranking):
Six 4-stars and six 3-stars. The 4-stars included Tom Strobel, Royce Jenkins-Stone, and Terry Richardson - who have all done zilch - and then Magnuson, Kalis, and Bolden.
In the 2016 class, here's who we have committed:
Five 4-stars, five 3-stars, and one 2-star (who will probably be at least a 3-star by the time it's over).
In other words, the only difference between this class and the #7-rated 2012 class is a single 4-star prospect. And if 2012 is any lesson, that missing guy has a 50/50 chance of of being a Tom Strobel.
It's June.
...let me introduce you to 2006 Stanford: They were 1-11. They rushed for 65.1 yards per game and 2.1 yards per carry. They gave up 210.5 rushing yards per game and 4.9 yards per carry. And they weren't winning in the air, because they passed for 10.2 fewer yards per game than their opponents. They were terrible.
Michigan was bad last year, but they were significantly better than 2006 Stanford.
"I don't assume Michigan fans are wishing for 4-8 and 5-7 seasons."
Then don't say Harbaugh will get run out of town. You're trying to weasel out of the B.S. you've been spewing. If Harbaugh goes 8-5 and 12-1, his job security will be just fine.
Man, you are just one gigantic troll. I'm not sure how you missed that Stanford was 1-11 and one of the worst teams in the country the year before Harbaugh got there. Your willful ignorance is just amazing to me.
And you completely refuse to pay attention to Erik in Dayton's response to your trolling about him having gone 12-1 with upperclassmen 2 and 3 stars that he recruited and underclassmen 4 stars. Astounding.
I will not block someone for having a dumb opinion...
I will not block someone for having a dumb opinion...
I will not block someone for having a dumb opinion...
I will not block someone for having a dumb opinion...
I will not block someone for having a dumb opinion...
I will not
....
Truth.
And those two and three-star guys were freshman and sophmores during the two losing seasons. By the time they left Stanford, four of them had become All-Americans and twelve of them were at least honorable mention all-conference (and Owen Marecic was at least honorable mention all-conference at two positions).
EDIT: I'll add to what I said: Harbaugh recruited 27 two and three-star players in 2007 and 2008 if you don't count the recruits he inherited in 2007 from the prior staff. So 44.4% (12/27) of his two and three-star recruits during those years became at least honorable mention all-conference. And Marecic was, as I said, honorable mention or better at two positions.
I've said it repeatedly -
Harbaugh did GREAT at Stanford considering where they were coming from. He turned them from awful into a top 20 team.
Harbaugh may be better at finding diamonds in the rough than any other coach.
...but the reality is, there has only been ONE team since 1995 that won a national championship that didn't have at least two top-10 recruiting classes in the prior 4 years.
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If Harbaugh keeps recruiting as he has so far - we won't have two top-10 recruiting classes in the next 4 years.
Will he keep recruiting like he has? Probably not.... but if he does, he is highly unlikely to sniff a NC.
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Harbaugh went 4-8 in his first season at Stanford in 2007, with wins over their rivals #2 USC and California, breaking a 5-year losing streak against both USC and Cal, a 36-game USC winning streak at home, and dashing USC's national title hopes. The USC game was considered to be a bigger upset than App State. If Michigan went 4-8 with wins over OSU and MSU, I think most people will be quite satisfied.
come on man.
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