Michigan Offers Shane Lemieux Comment Count

Brandon Brown

Shane Lemieux

Name: Shane Lemieux

Position: Offensive Tackle

Ht/Wt: 6’6" / 300 lbs.

Location: West Valley – Yakima, WA (2015)

Offers: Oregon, South Carolina, Arizona State, Arkansas, Boise State, East Carolina, Miami, NC State, Washington State, California, Georgia State, Idaho, Louisville, Michigan, Purdue, Utah

Rating: ★★★ .8517 (247 Composite)

Ranking: #770 NAT  (247 Composite)

FILM

Michigan hasn’t recruited the state of Washington a lot but with new offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier having ties to the state, that appears to be changing just a little bit. A few offensive linemen prospects have been offered from the evergreen state, one being Shane Lemieux. Lemieux is a big boy, already tipping the scales at around 300 lbs. and with that size and his versatility he could probably play guard or tackle at the next level. Shane participated in a track meet the day we spoke, one in which he placed first in the shot put, but he’s not just a typical big guy when it comes to his events. I asked him to expand on the type of athlete and football player he is.

Yeah, my meet went great, I took first in the shot! I do the 100m sometimes, but not in varsity meets, only in league meets. (laughs) I’ve run the 40 yard dash in 5.1. I like to model my play after Taylor Lewan and Kyle Long, especially Taylor because he plays tackle. I feel like I have all the traits he does because I am a long and strong left tackle who can explode off the line. I am athletic enough to block safeties when I have to, but I can also drop back in a pass set and go up against anyone. Considering that my high school runs the same type of offense upfront that Michigan does, he’s (Lewan) someone I look at.

Lemieux swore that the Michigan reference didn’t have to do with me. He says he definitely took notice of a player like Lewan on his own and realizes the type of opportunity a place like Michigan offers.

Looking at a player like Taylor Lewan and what he did at Michigan definitely carries some weight with me. Coach Funk really developed him and I feel like he could do the same with me.

Michigan has obviously gotten Lemieux’s attention, but there are plenty of other suitors that he has taken a liking to.

My recruitment is going pretty good. I’d have to say that Boise State, Oregon, Arizona State, South Carolina, and Cal have been showing me the most interest. Michigan and I have talked a bit before the offer but I am positive it will pick up now. As of right now I will have to say that Oregon, South Carolina, and Boise State are all in a tie for first, but my other top schools are Michigan, Arizona State, Miami, and Arkansas. They aren’t up there with Oregon and those others only because I haven’t visited. I know that Michigan will be up there because I have always been a fan.

Lemieux has an eclectic collection of high interests, but his desire to learn more about the Wolverines is strong.

I just want to see Michigan in person because I have never even been to the state. They just have so much tradition. I know about the 11 championships, their Heisman winners, the most games ever won. When I was little I started liking Michigan because their helmets really stood out. (laughs) I love those helmets! And they are just a really good team. I mean they won 7 games last year and that was considered a bad year for them. Two years ago they had an 11 win season and lost to a good South Carolina team by just a little bit. I like how they have such high expectations. I’ve also heard that Ann Arbor is a great college town. Not too big, not too small.

Lemieux obviously knows his stuff when it comes to Michigan history, but the Wolverines do appear to be playing catch up behind the three schools he mentioned and until he visits Ann Arbor that probably won’t change. Lemieux did mention Alabama and Wisconsin as very respectable programs he’d like to earn offers from as well.

Lemieux’s dad lives in Rock Hill, South Carolina, explaining his high interest in the Gamecocks, but his step-dad thinks that Michigan is “badass” and has spoken very highly of the Wolverines even before Shane earned his offer. The helmets, the history, and his step dad have all piqued Shane’s interest enough to put Michigan squarely on his map when it comes to visits and a decision.

I would like to commit before my first game next season. Once I commit I would probably still take my official visits though. I am very interested in Michigan but like I said, I want to see them before I really rank them among the schools I have visited. I plan on visiting Michigan June 22-June 24. Even still I would put Michigan in my top list right now.

Shane described himself as a blue collar kid just trying to get to the next level. He’s not going to have a problem doing that with a solid offer list already, but where he ends up seems to be pretty open.

------------------

THE VIBE

5 – Trending Blue

4 – Solidly in a top 2-3

3 – Contender in a top 3-7

2 – Among large (8-15) group under consideration

1 – Let’s see if he visits before we talk

0 – Passing interest or none

There’s no guesswork when it comes to Lemieux’s top three. Oregon, South Carolina, and Boise State are front runners for him right now, but if his trip to Ann Arbor materializes it sounds like Michigan could find itself squarely in the mix.

*I informed Shane about Coach Hoke’s visit policy once committed after he made his comment about post-commitment officials and he said he understood that approach. If Michigan jumps to the top of his list after a visit and he were to commit to Michigan, he said he’d re-think the idea.

Mandatory last name reference:

EDIT: I talked to Shane briefly today and he said that he did not plan on committing while in Oregon, it just sort of happened. He described it as very spur of the moment. He also said that a visit to Michigan is still a possibility. I doubt his recruitment is over, but his verabl to Oregon was definitely a surprise to me, and sounds like it may have been to Lemieux himself as well.

Comments

Perd Hapley

May 4th, 2014 at 9:00 AM ^

I think it would be very helpful if we had a list of recruits we have offered and a projected commit date. Obviously the date would change or become more specific when it got closer but it would be neat to look at and keep updated. It seems to me most guys have an idea of when the want to commit " before my senior season" example. Some have a specific date like at the under armor game. Have the list ordered by the nearest commit date. Just a thought.

300 lbs in high school and offers from Oregon and we all know Arkansas coach knows how to find linemen!

Magnus

May 4th, 2014 at 9:50 AM ^

I think you may be overestimating how easy it is to score interviews. These high-profile recruits are inundated with interview requests from Scout, Rivals, 247, ESPN, and various blogs like MGoBlog, Maize 'n' Brew, etc. devoted to individual teams. Furthermore, a lot of interviewers (such as Andrew, who writes for TTB) go through the player's coach, which means getting an interview involves pestering an often crotchety football coach into passing along a request for some time to chat with the player.

I'm sure Brandon realizes that interviewing high-profile players with Michigan interest (Jashon Cornell, Matt Burrell, Justin Hilliard, etc.) is the optimal way to go. It's insulting to him to imply otherwise. However, he has to take what he can get.

If you're a producer on "The Late Show with David Letterman," it's easy to get people like George Clooney and Angelina Jolie and U2 booked on your show. If you're a producer on "Bobby Miller's 2 A.M. Extravaganza," you can phone Clooney's agent, but you might have to settle for Tan Mom or David Schwimmer or Nickelback.

Shop Smart Sho…

May 4th, 2014 at 10:23 AM ^

Your reasoning is that because it is hard to talk to the high-profile guys that aren't committed the staff should spend time writing about a lower-profile guy who committs to a different school before the post even goes up?

But it is good to see that TTB is doing their recruiting coverage in a less icky manner.  I wonder what Brandon and Brian have to say about that though, because they shit all over the idea that they should go through the school or coaching staff to contact minors.

Brandon Brown

May 4th, 2014 at 12:32 PM ^

Part of it is taking what you can get. The other part is I try to write something up with new names and new offers as they surface. That's just part of my approach.

This Lemieux thing was kind of a bummer but I had this article ready on Friday and it wasn't published until today. Granted, if it had been published on Friday and he committed to Oregon on Saturday it still would've been meh, but having it published AFTER he commits somewhere else just  isn't a good look.

As for only posting stuff with the top targets, that's just going to be repetitive dialogue that would be a waste of time to read. Cornell, Hilliard, Harris, Settle, etc. Those guys are the top targets and they know it. They aren't going to come out and say, "Michigan is my leader.", "I'm going to commit to Michigan but not yet." They are just going to keep saying the same things as they always do in interviews, which is fine, but I don't feel like bugging them about information that doesn't provide any substance. It's a waste of my time and theirs. It's hit or miss with the big fish. Cornell recently came out and said that Sparty was probably his leader, but that's the first thing he's said of any real value in quite a long time.

These kids do get hounded and I try not to do that. I check in with them every once and a while and if they don't have anything new to say, then it is what it is. If they choose not to tell me their big news, that's their call too.  

LordGrantham

May 4th, 2014 at 2:34 PM ^

I'm not sure what you're arguing here.  Are you saying that because high-prolife interviews are hard to score, Brandon should just do write-ups about players who are marginally interested in Michigan?  Isn't that the very definition of creating content just to create content?

Magnus

May 5th, 2014 at 5:59 AM ^

Obviously not. What I'm saying is a) that these players are relevant because Michigan is recruiting them and b) it's not just a given that the "famous" players are automatically going to agree to do a worthwhile interview for MGoBlog.

Magnus

May 4th, 2014 at 9:38 AM ^

This isn't my site or my time, so Brandon and MGoBlog can do what they want. But I will say that such a list would be a) nearly impossible to keep up with and b) not very useful. The dates constantly fluctuate, just like we saw with Daelin Hayes and Darrin Kirkland, Jr. in recent weeks. Furthermore, a lot of prospects are extremely vague ("whenever I feel right" or "before my senior season"), and it's their right to be vague. But also, I'm guessing there aren't a ton of people interested in viewing such a list. Twitter, recruiting sites, and this site do a pretty good job of letting us readers know a week or two in advance of impending announcement dates, and anything further out than that is tentative/inaccurate at best.

rob f

May 5th, 2014 at 12:50 AM ^

west of Detroit, and yet I also wondered if this was an offer by Red to a member of Claude Lemieux's family. 

Very few Hockey last names evoke such a negative reaction among Red Wing fans as the name "Lemieux".  The hatred towards Claude, nearly two decades after Darren McCarty gave him a long-overdue beating, is still so intense that, to many Detroit hockey fans, Mario Lemieux is almost nothing more than an afterthought. 

GoBLUinTX

May 4th, 2014 at 9:50 AM ^

Coach Funk really developed him and I feel like he could do the same with me.

Maybe he rethought the above proposition after seeing what "fans" had to say about him.  

Let's see if this sounds good.  Lemieux is recruited by Michigan and is offered.  He has good things to say about Michigan and especially the OL coach.  BB contacts him and Lemieux implies that he'll wait until later this summer to make a decision. He wants to visit A2, but will make his decision before his own first HS game.  Oregon, doing their due diligence by keeping contact with Shane finds out about the Michigan offer.  Quick as you can say it, Oregon shows him the accepted wisdom about Coach Funk from the most intellectual of Michigan blog sites, and Lemieux is sold, Michigan is not the place he ought to be.

mGrowOld

May 4th, 2014 at 10:16 AM ^

You honestly believe that a kid would make his school choice and his evaluation of the quality of the coaching staff he'd be ultimately playing under based on the opinions of random, faceless, unqualified internet posters and NOT his high school coaching staff, his parents or his own eyes?

If that truly is the case then the kid is too stupid to pass our academic requirements for admission so it doesnt matter.

BTW - you do realize this whole football "blog-thingie" is not unique to Michigan right?  That virtually every school in the country has at least one, sometimes several, and virtually ALL of them are populated by random, faceless, unqualified internet posters who get upset at their respective school's coaching staff from time-to-time?  Oregon included.

GoBLUinTX

May 4th, 2014 at 10:50 AM ^

a dichotomy, don't we.  For argument sake let us suppose you are correct and the collective we fans really are just a bunch of ignorant rubes nobody should listen to.  You then have to ask yourself a few questions, why does anybody bother reading what others have to say, and why should you think what you have to say should be taken more seriously than what others have to say?

Let's take the question of Coach Funk.  Lemieux said that he's impressed by Funk and that he believes Funk has done a great job with Lewan.  On the other hand the accepted wisdom on this site is that Funk should have left with Borgess, so pitiful has he been with developing offensive linemen.  Do you notice that the two propositions are in direct contrast with each other?  

You say that Lemieux, were he to take us at our word on Funk, wouldn't have the smarts to make the academic grade at UM.  Is it then your position that "we" are wrong about Funk and that Lemieux is actually correct?  Is it your position that Lemieux's coaches have been taken in somehow and really believe that Funk is much better than what the scapegoating Michigan fans believe?  Does that mean we ought to take a reevaluating look at Funk?

Lastly, the thesis that nobody reads what we have to say, at least not prospective recruits, football players, and coaches is about a self serving statement as one can make.  You want to believe it, you have to believe it, it's what gives you and others cover for the bile and invective you and others spew about Michigan football on nearly a daily basis.

mGrowOld

May 4th, 2014 at 11:39 AM ^

1. Please reference the "bile and invective" I spew about Michigan football on nearly a daily basis.  Other than my frustrations regarding the price of season tickets relative to the open market which is not connected to the team itself.

2. I didnt say nobody read the board posts - I said players didnt pay any attention to them.  I actually recruited for Michigan for three years here in Northern Ohio (pre internet) so I think have just a wee bit of understanding of the process and I can tell you that I believe internet message board posting play 0.0% in the decision-making tree of recruits. Because they are all the same in their "bile and invective".  To try and pin the decision of Lemieux on comments made on this blog regarding Funk is laughable in its naivete.

3. No, I dont think the random comment made by a player who has never even visited the school,much less spent any time with the coach should cause anyone to re-evaluate Funk.  I think the results on the field should be the yardstick and I, like many posters here as well as local and national media, have been challenged to find positives to cling to so far.  As others have stated, perhaps it was Borges, perhaps it was his family situation that caused the problems last year - I dont know.  I do know that this year we all are hoping for much better results and if they dont occur it would surprise me if Funk was still here in 2015.

 

LordGrantham

May 4th, 2014 at 12:42 PM ^

"Is it your position that Lemieux's coaches have been taken in somehow and really believe that Funk is much better than what the scapegoating Michigan fans believe? "

I don't know about MGrowOld, but it's certainly my position.  I don't care what kind of used car salesman he is on the recruiting road.  His product on the field is a joke.

mGrowOld

May 4th, 2014 at 1:24 PM ^

I believe if you read his post carefully he believes that Funk simply is much better than the scapegoating Michigan fans believe.  Nobody was "taken in" because in his evaluation - Funk simply IS an excellent coach (results be damned) and, but for the "bile and invective" of fans like me and now you apparently, he would now be a Michigan commit.

bronxblue

May 4th, 2014 at 3:29 PM ^

I'm not saying the guy is great, but he's going to get two of his tackles drafted this year.  And let's be honest, it sounds more and more like Borges's playcalling had a major impact on the offensive line's struggles last year.

bronxblue

May 4th, 2014 at 8:39 PM ^

I've always believed that this year the line had two A/B+ tackles with three D- interior linemen (not necessarily in terms of overall talent but based on performance at the time).  This year, it will probably be C/C+ across the board, which is about the same average but will be more consistent and, one hopes, with fewer holes.

Don

May 4th, 2014 at 9:01 PM ^

Somebody here—don't remember if it was Brian, Seth, or whoever—did an article a while back on the impact of experience on the tackle position vs the interior guard/center positions, and if my memory is correct it the conclusion was that youth/inexperience is more damaging on the interior than it is at the tackle position. If that's true, then your "C/C+" view would result in a stronger overall performance than last year's arrangement.

Bodogblog

May 5th, 2014 at 11:06 AM ^

Not certain if this is what you were referring to, but I googled and assumed Mathlete had put something together, because I remembered it vaguely as well.  Turns out is was mgoblogger Gandalf the Maize, who put together two excellent diaries on this topic.  For both the running game and pass protection, the experience of the interior lineman was more important than the tackles.  It's an interesting re-read.

http://mgoblog.com/diaries/experience-and-success-offensive-line-part-ii-pass-protection

Blue Mike

May 5th, 2014 at 11:14 AM ^

I would trust the opinions of players who have played for Funk, high school players who have visited and camped with him, and their coaches who have relationships with him over the opinions of the masses on the internet, as rabid and loyal we may be.

Have you spent time with Funk, evaluating his teaching ability?  If not, I'd guess that the truth about Funk's competence as a coach is closer to Lemieux's coaches evaluation than it is to your evaluation based on watching games on Saturdays.

And really, if Funk is as bad of a coach as half this board thinks he is, then the situation will resolve itself.  Either Hoke will get rid of him, or the next coach will. 

bronxblue

May 4th, 2014 at 3:27 PM ^

Seriously?  Your premise is that the University of Oregon football coaches thought the most effective way to dissuade a potential recruit from choosing UM isn't to point to Oregon's recent successes (compared to UM's recent struggles) or proximity, draftees, or playing style, but instead to tell a kid that a bunch of guys on a blog think the position coach at UM isn't that good?  

I keeping looking for /s somewhere, but I am not seeing it.

I love this blog and think it plays a nice role in UM fandom, but you are taking this site and yourself WAY too seriously if you think most kids, let along most coaches, pay much attention to it.

bronxblue

May 4th, 2014 at 3:22 PM ^

Regardless, it was still an interesting read.  And maybe it's just been because UM has been on the receiving end of these verbal commits changing their mind, but I'm not sold that this is a 100% done deal with Oregon.  That said, he was going to be a bit of a reach anyway.

I dumped the Dope

May 4th, 2014 at 7:36 PM ^

Yes Oregon is probably a team that can use a faster OL.  And they've had much success and are close to home.

That said, if I was guessing in 09 (? correct year) that Taylor Lewan would leave Scottsdale, AZ to come to Michigan I would not have guessed that at all...

It would be interesting for interests' sake to see if the "take all officials" actually gets out of the blocks or if the Ducks can quench that fairly quickly.

Whether guys are saying positive things about Michigan and do something else the next day, its just fine...recruiting is like that.  Things can go whichever way the wind is blowing...part of it.

Putting a foot in the ground this fall and putting last year on a zag trace behind us would probably be well-received in recruits hearts and minds everywhere.  I do recognize and admire the efforts that Nuss and others are putting in to make footholds into new territories, though.

 

Sam1863

May 5th, 2014 at 5:45 AM ^

"When I was little I started liking Michigan because their helmets really stood out. (laughs) I love those helmets!"

Reading this reminded me that when I was little, I wanted to be an astronaut for the same reason: I thought the helmets were cool. But I didn't end up at NASA just like Lemieux won't end up in Ann Arbor: the things you liked at 8 often don't carry the same weight when you're 18. Good luck to him.