Monday Recruitin' Pulls A Jordan

Today's recruiting roundup covers recruit reactions from the Northwestern game, the latest on Laquon Treadwell and Derrick Green, last weekend's high school football results, and more.

Permission To Unbuckle (For Now, At Least)

Upchurch

Michigan picked a good weekend for a dramatic victory, as several recruits were on hand to see the comeback against Northwestern. That included 2013 FL S Leon McQuay III, who was on his official visit; while McQuay's father told 247's Josh Newberg it was "a good trip," Michigan's top defensive target is staying mum on potential leaders ($):

While Michigan remains in the thick of it for McQuay III, he's not tipping his hand to his parents.

"We haven't spoke," McQuay II said. "He hasn't spoke about the visit to me or his mom...You know how it is"

The elder McQuay did say his son got a long look at the music school and was up until 2 am with the "two guys that play music on the team"—presumably Jack Kennedy and Joe Reynolds, aka JDK & Rey. Michigan appears to be right in the mix for McQuay, with USC and Florida State likely posing their biggest threat.

Tremendous reveals that the commitment watch this weekend was for 2014 UT DT Bryan Mone, who discussed the possibility of pledging on his visit but ultimately did not make the call. He did, however, tell Sam Webb that Michigan "feels like home" and is his current leader over Colorado and Utah ($). Mone had previously named both the Buffaloes and Utes as his favorite, so take this news with a grain of salt, but the Wolverines are in very good shape with the first prospect they offered in the class.

There's also a visit reaction at Tremendous from 2014 IL CB Parrker Westphal, who continues to refer to Michigan as "the standard" in his recruitment. Scout, meanwhile, had the Wesphal family in the WTKA studio for an interview, and his older brother Brandon—a junior linebacker at Illinois State—talked about helping Parrker get ahead of the curve (free article):

“It was probably eighth grade midgets and just seeing him running around on the field, his intensity and enthusiasm with everything,” said Brandon. “When I got to college I was teaching him stuff that I was learning so when he was in the eighth grade freshman year he was already like three years ahead of everybody else.”

“Ever since eighth grade it has just been a blast being able to watch him play and just do some things that I wouldn’t have thought he’d be able to do at that age, or any kid.”

Other recruits to keep an eye on from the weekend are four-star OH ATH Dareian Watkins, who said he was "sold on the program" during the Northwestern game, and MI TE Kyle Rachwal, who feels like he's "part of the family" and will be making his fifth(!) visit for a Michigan game next weekend. Neither prospect has an offer yet; if one comes for either, it appears likely they'll be in the class.

[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the recruiting roundup.]

In Which Gene Chizik Claims Things He Probably Can't Claim

VA RB Derrick Green just took an official visit to Auburn, where he watched the Tigers drop to 0-7 in SEC play after a 38-0 loss to Georgia. Any concerns about the job security of head coach Gene Chizik? Nope, because Gene Chizik told him so ($):

Green, 6-foot and 220 pounds, said he’s not concerned with Tigers’ 2-8 record and neither is Auburn’s coaching staff.

“They’re not going nowhere,” Green said. “They said, ‘We plan to be here.’ That’s what they told me. They plan to be here and they’re not going anywhere.”

Fair enough.

There was a change on Green's leaderboard, and surprisingly it involved neither Auburn nor Tennessee, where Derek Dooley is on his way out the door. According to ESPN's Dave Hooker, Green has dropped Virginia Tech in favor of Miami ($):

Green's scheduled official visit to Oregon on Nov. 16 has been postponed. He said he'll take the trip after the season. Green said he'd also like to take an official visit to Miami as well.

"Throughout this whole process, they've been recruiting me hard," Green said of the Hurricanes. "I've been talking to the running backs coach [Terry Richardson]. We've built a real good relationship. Looking at the running back position there, that's a plus. I feel like I could get a chance."

I think Michigan has the edge here by virtue of being the program consistently mentioned among Green's leaders that isn't on the verge of firing their coach (or at least strongly considering it), but he's obviously still pretty open at this point.

Meanwhile, IL WR Laquon Treadwell said something about Michigan not showing him as much attention as they had been to Josh Helmholdt after his playoff game last weekend, while Notre Dame is gaining favor with him ($). This isn't something I'd get too concerned about; it's an offhand comment after a game, with zero clarification about where either team stands in the big picture—catch him on a different weekend when he gets a couple more phone calls and it could be an entirely different story. This is why you follow recruiting on a day-to-day basis at your own peril.

Commitment Stat Roundup: Stribling Does Everything

Channing Stribling got all his scoring done in the first half of Butler's 55-26 victory over Independence on Friday. One half was enough:

In the first half, Stribling scored four times, and he did it three different ways.

He had an 82-yard interception return, a 31-yard pass reception, a 77-yard kick return and another 66-yard pass reception.

“I was amazed,” Bulldogs coach Brian Hales said. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t. I just looked at his mom in the stands and stuck my hands up. She stuck her hands up, too, like ‘What’s happening?’

“It was like Michael Jordan hitting all those 3s in the first half. I haven’t been here to see all the great performances (by Bulldogs in the past), but to see one like this, it has to be right up there.”

Stribling's postgame quote is hilariously understated [emphasis mine]:

“I guess after awhile,” he said, “I was thinking it was my night. It was cool to play a game like that.”

Sure, I guess.

Photo by Denny Barnes, courtesy of the Shallman family

Catholic Central took home the regional title with a 28-7 win over Plymouth, and Wyatt Shallman's father passed along that he recorded seven tackles, two TFLs, a sack, and several QB hurries while also seeing the field sparingly on offense for the first time this season—he's been limited by a hamstring injury and playing exclusively at defensive end as a result.

Also winning an MHSAA regional title was Jourdan Lewis and Cass Tech, which beat Saline 21-14 on the strength of a 169-yard rushing performance by 2015 RB Mike Weber. Matt Pargoff has an interview and highlights of 2014 CB/WR Damon Webb from the game, as well.

In the Ohio state playoffs, Jake Butt hauled in two touchdown catches to lead Pickerington North to a regional semifinal win over Hilliard Darby, while Jaron Dukes caught a 23-yard TD of his own in a blowout win for Marion-Franklin. Mike McCray also came out with a win, leading Trotwood-Madison with 11 tackles (eight solo), forcing two fumbles (recovering one), and catching a 34-yard pass in a 27-20 victory over Winton Woods. Ross Douglas (42 yards on 13 carries) and Ben Gedeon (14 carries, 88 yards, one TD, one lost fumble) both bowed out of the playoffs [EDIT—I can't read, and Douglas's team, Avon, won and advanced; Gedeon's Hudson squad did in fact lose].

Gareon Conley to ESPN's Brad Bournival on taking visits ($, info in header): "I'm going to do it." So, yeah, that's happening.