Monday Recruitin'
Update 6/30: Moved IN LB Jordan Barnes and TX WR Dewayne Peace to committed. Linked to articles on FL WR Rantavious Wooten, OK RB David Oku, FL RB Vincent Smith, VA QB Kevin Newsome (second)... and here's a big long one on Newsome.
Added TX CB Demontre Hurst.
Removed NC CB Terry Shankle (dropped us, via VB), PA CB Corey Brown(OSU), PA DE Tyrone Ezell (droppes us).
I'm not adding this OL yet but he does have offers from Iowa and Rutgers and says a Michigan offer equals a commit; might bear watching.
Editorial Opinion: The big news of the week was covered in a midweek article the daya fter Peace and Barnes committed; what's left over is more Newsome worry:
He talked about his performance. He talked about his transfer from Western Branch (Chesapeake, Va.) to prep-school powerhouse Hargrave Military Academy this fall and how it will help him develop as a quarterback and a man. But the one thing he didn't want to talk about was his commitment to Michigan.
"No comment," Newsome said when he was asked about that commitment.
"No comment" seems like a hell of a comment in this instance. He bears watching. As mentioned earlier, the Hargrave move should help keep Newsome in the fold, as Hargrave's coach, Robert Prunty, knows where his bread is buttered and prohibits already-committed prospects from dealing with coaches while at school. Thus the steady stream of not-quite-qualfied guys that wander through a postgrad year at Hargrave relatively safe from the predations of other gentlemen.
Prunty's staying out of this one, though:
"The bottom line is, where the kid goes is his family's decision," said Prunty, who went to Chatham High School when Newsome's mother was at Gretna. "I'm here to support the family. All I know is that the kid is committed to Michigan. I have no part in the recruiting process with this kid. We have not talked about it."
Developments will be relayed as they, uh, develop.
Don't want him get Forcier rabble rabble?
I copped out in last week's post about the QB situation, claiming that anyone and everyone would be fine, but if I was in a Rich Rodriguez version of Being John Malkovich and had to choose, I'd take Newsome. Former Tennessee QB Tee Martin has him down, IMO:
"When I got to college I learned more about being a total quarterback, and it worked out for me. I kind of see that situation with [Newsome] not having a QB coach [in high school]. … He's the kind of kid who will get to college, gets coached up and gets into a system where he winds up being really good."
Newsome is a state-champion hurdler and sprinter who started off the year as a top-20 player and five star because of his athleticism. Each rankings revision since has seen him drop as he performs erratically at passing camps and combines, reportedly because he's attempting to change the accurate-but-long release he showed at the Army Combine to a shorter one.
If he's lagging behind some other guys at the moment, there's good reason -- poor or even no coaching thus far. He retains the upside that got him so highly-rated to start and the Hargrave move indicates a seriousness about improving.
Forcier, on the other hand, comes from a wealthy family of quarterbacks and has received intensive QB training for a long time now. It's reasonable to assume he's further along in his potential and would not improve as quickly as Newsome once on campus.
Non-quarterbacks, and by "non-quarterbacks" we mean "5'8" guys":
Pahokee RB Vincent Smith -- from the same high school as Martavious Odoms and, yes, another one of those electron sorts -- says it's "a little devastating" the instate schools have little interest in him and plans a three-school swing pretty soon:
''[When I got] my first offer from Michigan,'' Smith said, ``I knew then I was going to be good.''
How good? That's to be determined. Smith said he will visit Michigan, Tennessee and Minnesota in one swing this summer, the first time he has been to any of those campuses.
He hopes to pick one of those -- or another school -- soon after. Whichever his running back chooses, Thompson said, it should be a good fit.
''If somebody puts him in the spread offense,'' Thompson said, ``he'll be successful.''
Smith is listed at 5'9" but that may be a couple inches generous. Michigan is still looking for one more slot/RB type; past that even I'm going to look askance on anyone shorter than 5'9" not named "Boubacar Cissoko."
Speaking of diminutive running backs, it appears OK RB David Oku's top five may be more of a top three with chasers:
Oku planning officials: After previously saying he would likely take unofficial visits to Michigan, Illinois and several other schools this summer, Carl Albert running back David Oku has decided to skip the unofficials and take official visits this fall.
Oku said he will definitely take official visits to Tennessee, Florida State and Michigan during football season.
Nebraska and Illinois are the other schools in Oku's top five. USC and Ohio State have not offered Oku and have fallen out of his top five.
Oku was a childhood fan of Florida State and has repeatedly said that depth charts matter quite a bit to him; they are probably your tentative favorite.
Aaand how about one more? FL WR Rantavious Wooten has an awesome name and some impressive offers:
Wooten said he now favors LSU slightly over Miami, West Virginia, Michigan and Georgia. He's claiming all have offered as well as Auburn, Tennessee, UCF, South Florida and Rutgers, among others.
Michigan gets some mention after LSU and Miami; an official visit seems likely.
Brief notes: as suspected, the Michigan "lead" for PA CB Corey Brown was totally hypothetical: he committed to Ohio State. IL OL Chris Watt dropped Michigan, which is disappointing. FL S Mike Jones($, info in header) is visiting ND and M, his leaders, as we speak; AZ DE Craig Roh($, you know the drill) just got done visiting.
Wheres the link for the recruiting board?
Can you make comments more compact?
Need to put some color behind the post title to make it stand out.
Cincy,
If given a choice between Newsome, Forcier and Beaver, I'll take Newsome. The kid was in contention to be his class valedictorian, he is incredibly athletic, and seems to be doing everything he can to improve his skills. My take on Forcier is that he is the younger version of Threet. I think that Threet will be a workable QB and may surprise some people, but Newsome brings physical tools that Forcier can't, all while still being very smart. (The fact that Newsome and Threet are smart kids / good students scores a lot of points in my evaluation as the most important ability for a QB is to analyze a situation and react accordingly.)
WolvinLA,
Let me clarify my point. Both Threet and Forcier were/are top rated recruits for their given year. I may have undersold Forcier's athletic ability, but he is clearly not Newsome. And Threet did run the spread in high school, so may not be as much of a Navarre-type statue as the MSM would lead us to believe.
I agree with your reasoning on this one. Newsome is a very smart kid, who posesses the most athleticism of any QB outside of Russell Shephard in this year's class. He has far more upside, IMO, than does Forcier.
I think situations like this one with Newsome might be nagging us until Coach Rod can prove that he can develop QBs into those whom will play in the NFL as QBs; I think the uncertainty of how he will be used and how his talent will develop is the reason for Newsome's unease.
Not to mention that it's a near-certainty that other coaches are feeding him a line of BS which is something along the lines of "Pat White will be a WR in the NFL. Do you want that to happen to you? Have some money and think it over."
I think you're right when you say that you'd rather have Newsome. He is a very smart kid, who would likely be able to learn the offense quickly and make the right reads - which is crucial - once he has done so. He is also more athletic than any other QB in this class, aside from Russell Shephard, and has a lot of upside IMO.
If you as me, I think we might see some QB prospects like Newsome waver in their commitment to us in the next couple of years. Newsome is somewhat of a unique case because he considers himself a passing QB who just happens to be a track star; Beaver and Forcier consider themselves true dual-threat QBs. Newsome's concern is likely that he will not be utilized as a passing QB in Coach Rod's offense - he doesn't want to be a Pat White. The problem is that RR has no track record AT MICHIGAN in which he has produced a QB who is capable of playing that position in the NFL.
And I'm sure other coaches are telling Newsome that he will never pass for more than 1,700 in a season and will be drafted as a WR if he goes to Michigan. Hopefully our snake oil is of a higher quality.
Trudat, Dex, but on the upside it looks like we're getting more participation now, so either you have more chances to make friends or most likely more people to alienate. I wonder though- will we get chastized for talking football on the open section of the board?
And personally I've been a Forcier guy, but I think you guys are swaying me. Hey Waymen- Do I get my Newsome Mafia library card revoked for that?
Brian,
I just want to indicate I agree with you. The comments used to be very useful but after the coaching search, they just became unmanageable. This should help.
Is there going to be anything on the Barwis S&C camp that was on Saturday? Also - MSC reports we may lose a DT to grades, any truth to this?
Awesome. It says Anonymous Coward as promised. Can I register that name?
I agree with the idea Newsome is probably tired of hearing "are you still committed to UM?" It seems every single interviewer asks him that. No comment is probably better than what he feels like telling them.
As far as Forcier - we have already seen what "good family values" can do with one disgruntled family. Isn't there some small chance he is pushing the issue with UM to chase out other QBs? It's not completely implausible considering his brother was basically forced out, even if it was LC and not RR, there might still be some hurt feelings there.
but is he Michael Shaw fast?
Everything I have heard or seen on jackson is that he is just another electron sized back/reciever and God knows we already have enough of them.
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