Monday Recruitin' Commits To Switzerland
PSU Visit Recap: KLS Enjoys His Official
Keisean Lucier-South on his official visit [Bryan Fuller/MGoBlog]
Thanks to their 2-4 start to the season, Michigan saw their visitor list dwindle significantly by the time their biggest recruiting weekend of the season came around, but a win in front of 113 thousand at night in the Big House still left an impression on those who came.
The biggest name to hit campus, of course, was five-star CA WDE Keisean Lucier-South, who schmoozed with Jabrill Peppers, watched the game with a trio of Michigan commits (Tyree Kinnel, Alex Malzone, and Darrin Kirkland), and seemed to thoroughly enjoy his official visit. Time will tell if Michigan is truly a threat to land KLS, but the initial returns are good, at least.
Most of the other 2015 recruits in attendance were the aforementioned commits, and while Kinnel and Malzone seem quite solid with their M pledges—Kinnel called Saturday "one of [his] best visits," per 247's Steve Lorenz—that's not the case with Darrin Kirkland, who spent the weekend prior in South Bend. After Saturday's unofficial visit, Kirkland told Rivals' Josh Helmholdt where he currently stands ($):
"My options are going to continue to be open, but I do love Michigan and am still committed to Michigan," he said. "It is a great place to be, a great atmosphere and a lot of great opportunities for myself as well as for my family. But, I still remain… I would say a good word is 'neutral,' for right now."
Besides Notre Dame, Kirkland has also been hearing from Texas, Oklahoma, Oregon and USC recently. Each of those schools had offered him prior to his senior season except USC.
Kirkland told TomVH today that he still plans to take all five of his official visits, and will determine with his family today where he'll take them. He's still in the class for now, of course, but if Saturday didn't solidify his commitment, it's hard to see that remaining the case.
Commits Visiting Elsewhere: An Ongoing Series That Probably Won't End Anytime Soon
In totally unsurprising news, TE commit Chris Clark announced on Twitter that he'll take an official visit to North Carolina, the school he initially committed to before eventually flipping to Michigan. If your head is spinning, I understand. Clark's another guy who seems very likely to end up elsewhere.
According to Mike Farrell, CB commit Garrett Taylor will take officials to Ohio State and Penn State in November. His commitment also seems highly unlikely to stick at this juncture.
2016 QB Messiah deWeaver, at least, isn't setting anything up, though it's hard not to take notice of the last bit of this quote he gave to 247's Steve Wiltfong($)...
“For me when I picked the school, it was more than playing football. It was academics and football second. The football part, they were going through a tough time, but they’re going to start winning. They’re young, and you have to take the losing with a grain of salt. I saw something bigger than that because they’re so young. I think the winning is ahead of them. They're not a bad team, they’re just very, very young. I wasn’t getting too worried about them losing because I know better times are ahead of them.
“I think they’re about to start winning here. I’m still watching closely to make sure Coach (Brady) Hoke is going to be there, which I think he is.”
...and get a little concerned about whether or not he'll stick if/when Michigan goes through with a change. At this point, though, hanging onto 2016 recruits is well down the list of priorities for this program.
No, This Also Doesn't Contain Good News
Ex-commit Darian Roseboro committed to NC State over the weekend. Happy trails, sir.
Finally, four-star UT OLB Osa Masina has seemed like a longshot for a while, and now his planned official visit to Ann Arbor may not even materialize, per Scout's Doug Kimmel ($):
"Michigan is another school that I've been high on. Obviously, I've heard some of the rumors about coaching changes and see there recent struggles, but I still really like that program. It's got great history and academics that are hard to beat. I am looking to set up a trip to Michigan. There is also a chance I take an official visit to Utah, but it's likely that I take an unofficial there. I am still leaning towards leaving the state, but the Utes definitely have my attention."
He's saying positive stuff about the program; at the same time, he still hasn't actually scheduled the visit, and if he takes an official to Utah that'd likely leave M out of it. UCLA is considered the favorite in his recruitment.
October 13th, 2014 at 6:25 PM ^
I thought I saw on twitter that Brian Cole took an official to Wisconsin this weekend as well. The good news train keeps on rolling.
October 13th, 2014 at 6:39 PM ^
I would certainly consider Darrin Kirkland a not-commit.
This will happen for the rest of the season. Guys will either full-on commit elsewhere or be on the fence and at least look elsewhere. Then we will hire our new coach. Some of the on-the-fence guys will come back, some will have moved on, and some new guys will jump on. All in all, it will be worse than it was 2 months ago, but luckily it's a small class anyway so no hige deal.
The new guy will be a bunch of recruits simply by being the new guy at Michigan, and whether or not he wins will be the determining factor long-term, just like it always is.
October 14th, 2014 at 10:44 AM ^
I would think that a "name" hire like Harbaugh(s) or Miles or Mullen would bring in some new recruits that were not even on the radar.
It won't bring the class totally back up to where it was (say what you want about Hoke, but the man can recruit), but it will mitigate much of the damage.
Right now the comparisons are between Hoke's recruiting class and and a black hole, so it looks dim. But the comparisons at the end of the day will be between Hoke's recruiting class and (Harbaugh's/Miles'/Mullen's/etc.) recruiting class, albeit on short notice. I can live with that.
The key will be a good coaching hire that moves the dial.
October 14th, 2014 at 11:29 AM ^
With Miss St's success, I'd think that UofM getting Mullen is about as likely as me banging the Queen of England. Why would a coach that's built a program from the ground up in the toughest division in the toughest conference to finally achieve a #1 ranking leave at the end of the year? Unless he's very financially motivated?
We had a better chance to snag him when MSU was ranked in the high teens.
October 14th, 2014 at 12:04 PM ^
I think I agree. Money would have to #1 to him in order to go from Miss St. to UM. He has already proved and proving himself as someone who can build a program, so I'm not sure he'd want to take a step back again in that regards.
October 13th, 2014 at 6:59 PM ^
We're going to lose recruits, unstable coaching situations tend to do that.
October 14th, 2014 at 10:45 AM ^
After looking at what DG went through over the last four years, can you blame them?
October 13th, 2014 at 7:59 PM ^
October 13th, 2014 at 8:45 PM ^
If Hoke is kept on for another year- what happens to recruiting?
On the one hand it stays the course, but on the other hand many recruits may feel his position is so unstable that they may not want to take a chance on it.
October 13th, 2014 at 9:47 PM ^
I think recruits would still be on the fence about Michigan if Hoke were to stay on for another year. Brandon is most likely out as AD this year and the spotlight will soley be on Hoke next season. If he does not get fired this year it will certainly be next year, classes will be comprised of local talent .... recruiting on a national level is pretty much over.
October 14th, 2014 at 6:46 AM ^
October 14th, 2014 at 10:47 AM ^
They would have to bring him back next year and give him an extension for it not to tank recruiting.
Some crazy shit would have to happen in EL and Columbus for that to happen.
October 13th, 2014 at 8:46 PM ^
What a depressing ass read.
October 14th, 2014 at 10:50 AM ^
We're spoiled. More schools than not go through this repeatedly. I live in the DC area and it seems like Maryland goes through this every few years. They're totally used to it by now.
October 13th, 2014 at 9:00 PM ^
When the whole world seemingly wants Brady Hoke fired, the Athletic Director fired, and is petitioning the president of academics to please fire the AD so he can't affect a coaching search, it all screams instability to those who haven't been around here for ages.
A new coach is going to have to start and develop his own recruiting train to be viable. I would think the class signed this February, is going to be pretty meh whether its Hoke or not based on all the calls for firing. I haven't seen Sparty mentioned prominently but it wouldn't surprise me if one or several of our current recruits ultimately go there or Ohio.
October 13th, 2014 at 9:52 PM ^
/s
October 13th, 2014 at 11:12 PM ^
Different circumstances I suppose. With the rumors of him not being there why would he hold the commits to a policy that demands loyalty? I'm sure being recruited by a coach that possibly won't be your coach doesn't seem low risk to these kids.
October 13th, 2014 at 11:52 PM ^
if a coaching change is going to happen, let it happen much earlier than it did 4 seasons ago. Brandon's "process" must NOT be allowed to happen again; any new coach coming in doesn't deserve to be given such a short period of time to recruit.
October 14th, 2014 at 10:52 AM ^
Yeah, plus all his "process" did was wait until January to pick the guy he was going to pick in November anyway. It was pointless theatre.
October 14th, 2014 at 9:14 AM ^
That I need to ignore recruiting, and specifically Chris Clark, articles until February 2nd.
October 14th, 2014 at 9:43 AM ^
Feb. 2nd is an "artificial" signing deadline. They can extend it all the way til April...and Clark is someone I could see playing the game as long as he can.
October 14th, 2014 at 9:44 AM ^
I totally understand why a recruit may reconsider attending a school when a great coach leaves to take a step up elsewhere. I will never understand why a recruit decommits when a clearly inferior coach gets axed (presumably) for an upgrade.
October 14th, 2014 at 10:55 AM ^
I think they want to see that "upgrade" first.
They clearly like Hoke, but they don't know if they will like XXX or fit in XXX's scheme.
Plus there is the risk that a program that hired a "clearly inferior" coach in the first place will do the same damn thing again.
October 15th, 2014 at 12:02 AM ^
I would want to make sure I wasn't run off by the next coach because I'm a bad scheme fit
October 14th, 2014 at 10:24 AM ^
All this does is reinforce the notion that UM needs to get a proven name, a coach who is or has the ability to produce right away...spend some money and get the coach that can reel in and develop talent. No doubt the current staff can reel them in, but development is lacking as we all know. I hope some kids can look beyond one season when choosing a school.
October 14th, 2014 at 10:58 AM ^
If we get any more commitments until the entire AD / Coach affair is resolved........one way or the other.
There are some kids who truly love Michigan and would stay commited, but I certainly understand a current commitment who would look around, if for no other reason than to check out other schools, then hopefully not make a final decision until the affair is sorted out.
October 14th, 2014 at 11:02 AM ^
Man, oh man. I was just thinking where this class would be if it still contained everyone who had been in it at one point or another, i.e. the guys being lost right now, plus Harris and Campbell. Acknowledging caveat that I'm sure at least one person will make me acknowledge, that sometimes guys just leave for their own completely unrelated reasons, but come on, we know it's 99% about last year's finish plus this year's start.
Just how socially unacceptable IS drinking before noon on a Tuesday?
October 15th, 2014 at 4:01 AM ^
If we have Campbell and Harris there is no Weber and Cole(if there is still a Weber and Cole) and of the guys we lost, oh well. I would rather have building blocks for the next coach than a bunch of highly recruited stars that would go to waste under Hoke.
And as for the drinking, I wonder why you're starting so late in the day...
October 14th, 2014 at 11:54 AM ^
roseboro ever that solid with his commitment to Michigan in the first place? i just find it odd that at the end of august he commits to Michigan and then like a month later he's taking an offical to NC State and then shortly there after he commits to them... this kid had offers from everyone and he chooses NC State over some of the best programs in the country... i understand wanting to stay close to home, but really NC State??? I just looked at their list of commits for 2015 and its not like they are pulling 4 star and 5 star kids...
October 15th, 2014 at 12:05 AM ^
We didnt lose to Rutgers and Minnesota in the month of August. I see this as nothing more than a kid getting more information about a school and changing his mind. I was a slightly well recruited D3 football player and thought I had a school picked out until I changed my mind after a visit. This stuff happens, and if you get all bent out of shape over where an 18 year old decides to spend the next 3-4 years, you need a chill pill. (Wasn't calling you out in that last statement. Just in general)
October 15th, 2014 at 10:04 AM ^
bent out of shape at all, just asking a question... i'm pretty much numb to kids committing and decommitting now adays after the RichRod years so it doesn't bother me all that much... needless to say you didn't really answer my question now did you???
he lives in NC so getting more information about NC State would be pretty easy for him and he wouldn't have to take an offcial visit to do it, since its only a 3 hour drive from where he lives to NC State...
October 16th, 2014 at 3:26 AM ^
Again, was not calling you out, just throwing it out there for the people who do take this too seriously. As for the reason he picked NC State, out of the 3 Power 5 schools closest to him, ECU, NCST, and UNC, ECU is in the AAC, NCST and UNC are ACC, so closer and more staying power. But NC State is 4-3 as opposed to 2-4. And I doubt that at that point USC and Clemson were still recruiting him. If you factor in future, fit, coach, location and ability to be The Guy, NC State is a good choice. Obviously I would rather have him in Ann Arbor, but best of wishes to him and I hope he made the best choice!
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