Thursday Recruitin' Sees Final Four Pay Off, Finally
Roseboro follow-up
![Wolves1_8-20-12[1]](https://mgoblog.com/sites/mgoblog.com/files/images/Thursday-Recruitin_9512/Wolves1_8-20-121.jpg "Wolves1_8-20-12[1]")
NC DE Darian Roseboro took an extensive visit to Michigan last weekend and reported back favorably; Sam Webb has an article on the result, in which Roseboro's dad raves and says he's seen what there is to see:
“I’ve seen all I’m going to see,.” Mr. Roseboro said flatly. “I’m not going anymore visits. Maybe he and his mother and grandpa will go one or two more places… maybe Tennessee, maybe (North Carolina) State, (North) Carolina or Duke. It won’t be any place further than what we’ve been.”
They want to come to a decision in the next couple months between Michigan and the schools listed above. NC State is popularly held to be the biggest threat… can we still be confident recruiting against NC State? I feel we can. .
Camps and such continue
Rivals's camp tour arrived in Detroit recently, and while there aren't a whole lot of local 2015 kids that Michigan seems to be pursuing there is one they're definitely after. He is Cass Tech RB Mikey Weber:
"Nussmeier, the day he came in, he contacted me and he brought me to their facility and he showed me a lot of things and he really opened my eyes back to Michigan," Weber said. "Nussmeier brings that Alabama style of running and that's what I'm looking for."
Weber was named the #1 player on offense in attendance:
Weber was virtually unguardable during the one-on-one period. The Rivals250 member is extremely agile and can change directions on a dime. Weber ran extremely crisp routes and had very good hands.
MSU seems the main competition unless Notre Dame puts on a press, but we are now in a situation where we can hope a highly touted running back commits to MSU before Michigan's target decides. In this case that's OH RB Larry Scott, who is reportedly about to drop to MSU.
/waves tiny 'punt' flag
Notre Dame, for its part, just got back in after a "misunderstanding" had Weber thinking an offer was coming when it was not. The two parties still seem to be at arm's length at the moment.
Weber's planning a hats-on-the-table decision at the Army game, FWIW.
![Alex Malzone[1]](https://mgoblog.com/sites/mgoblog.com/files/images/Thursday-Recruitin_9512/AlexMalzone1.jpg "Alex Malzone[1]")
Malzone just has to fire the photon torpedoes down the tubes to get an offer
MI QB Alex Malzone was the QB MVP, FWIW, and may be inching closer to a Michigan offer:
The most noticeable thing about him was his rifle arm. The ball really pops off his hand and gets to his target in a hurry. Malzone's good footwork helped him throw a very accurate ball. He was able to hit most of his receivers in stride throughout the day.
His throwing session($) for various college coaches went well:
“My conversation with Coach Nuss went very well,” Malzone said. “He’s been all around the country seeing guys throw. I think he has one more, maybe two more on his list. He told everyone from the beginning he was going to see everyone throw. And then see what happens from there. And that’s pretty much what he told me. He said he was very impressed."
If I had to bet, Malzone's recent performances and flagging interest from the crew of elite California dudes will lead to Michigan issuing that offer. Wake Forest has issued his first BCS offer.
Elsewhere, PA OL commit Jon Runyan Jr showed up for a camp in the NY/NJ area, providing an opportunity for someone to provide scouting on him:
Runyan, a Michigan commit, was technically sound. His initial punch had purpose and he moved his feet well. He stayed low in his pass protection stance, and he did not reach. His balance was good, but he had a little difficulty when a speedy defensive lineman tried to go straight up the field on him. He was solid, and will continue to improve as his strength and size increase.
Listed at 6'3.5" and 265 pounds, Runyan is slated for the interior unless he hits a growth spurt.
Welp, part one
If you need a definition of how the recruiting landscape has shifted over the course of the last football season, here it is($):
Coming off a spring game visit to Michigan State on Saturday, Detroit King linebacker Tyriq Thompson has the Spartans out front as the team to beat in his recruitment. … Thompson's father played for Michigan and he holds an offer from the Wolverines.
Previously MSU was only in play for certain recruits with family backgrounds that favored MSU or had academic red flags that Michigan, for better or worse, is shying away from. Now they're leading for a Michigan legacy with a Michigan offer. This is what happens when you have the most unwatchable football season in the country while your instate rival wins the conference and Rose Bowl.
Quick, play some more LFO, Special K!
Welp, part two
CA DE Keisean Lucier-South called Michigan a childhood favorite and was super-enthused about the offer that did come from Ann Arbor, but at the moment he's got another school out front($):
"UCLA is probably I would say the team to beat right now. I have been talking to them the most right now and I've seen them and been to their school the most so they're the team to beat."
He does have an official planned to Michigan this fall (also ND) and is going to take his time.
2016 stuff
OLSM LB Daelin Hayes was set to commit to Michigan at that Rivals camp before putting off his decision. His performance at the camp justified the early offer:
Hayes is looking like he will be among the nation's best in that class after what we saw on Sunday. It was always known that Hayes was talented, and that at 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds he had ideal size. However, he missed his sophomore year after getting injured in the first game of the season and there was some questions as to justhow good he was. We got that question answered pretty sufficiently on Sunday when Hayes proved to be on another tier athletically.
As far as his recruitment goes, his current offers are from M, MSU, Wisconsin, and Tennessee and isn't maintaining any leaders. He plans to camp($) at M, MSU, and Wisconsin so it doesn't seem like he's looking to go too far afield.
MI OL Thiyo Lukasa seems to be an instate battle, one that probably favors Michigan this instant but see Welp Part One above.
Basketball is going better, stop me if you've heard that before
![action_kam_chatman[1]](https://mgoblog.com/sites/mgoblog.com/files/images/Thursday-Recruitin_9512/action_kam_chatman1.jpg "action_kam_chatman[1]")
Chatman and Wilson zoom up available rankings
It's another final rankings update, so Michigan recruits must be shooting towards the ceiling. This time it's Scout, which finally makes Kam Chatman a five star (at #23) after Chatman was the #1 four star on Rivals and 247. Also rocketing up the rankings is DJ Wilson, who finishes #67 after being an anonymous three star upon his commitment. "Gold in them thar hills" tag: deployed.
Unfortunately, it seems like Michigan and Cole Huff aren't going to end up making sweet three point babies… this sentence got really weird really fast. I was powerless to stop it, you have to believe me.
Anyway. According to his AAU coach, Huff is down to two:
Cole Huff is down to Creighton and Iowa where he is visiting tomorrow he will be making a decision following the visit #Eleate
— clint parks (@Brotherhood05) May 1, 2014 Given the way they'd been talking about Michigan before I have to assume that Michigan did not end up pursuing Huff. That isn't the craziest thing in the world if Chatman and Wilson are both stretch fours… I just thought a guy who had that size and shot like that would be a lock to perform under Beilein. C'est la vie.
With Huff off the board, the next major event in basketball recruiting is likely to be the June window in which Michigan conducts its elite camp and fires out offers to 2016 prospects. Michigan is going to have a couple of big, big time guys on campus for that camp. One of them is going to be NV PG Derryck Thornton Jr. If that seems like an odd place for a guy super interested in Michigan to be, Chris Balas has a long piece($) on the reason Michigan is high on his list. Turns out Jeff Meyer coached his father back in the day when he was at Liberty, and things went better than they do with Rutgers coaches:
"One word - integrity," Thornton Sr. told us last year. "I remember him as a man as much as a coach. He had high integrity. Of course he'd get after you in practice, but that's what you do as a coach. There were times he'd call you just to check on you and see how you were doing."
Tom Crean just fainted, then cut down some nets.
Thornton plans to be at Michigan's elite camp for nearly a week, and an offer will certainly follow. Thornton is the #19 player in the country on the 247 composite, and their Crystal Ball has swung from 100% Arizona to 50-50 over the past few weeks.
As a bonus, Thornton and his dad have seemingly convinced NJ SF Tyus Battle to take in the elite camp as well. Syracuse is supposed to lead for Battle; get 'em on campus and all that.
And Michigan has plenty of options after those two… it seems that the 2016 cycle is the one where Michigan is really starting to see the payoff from their recent success. AL SG Josh Langford (not that Josh Langfeld), claims "high interest($)" in Michigan…
“Oh I definitely want to get up to Michigan,” Langford’s father said. “And Michigan State has also shown a lot of interest too so, I definitely want to get up to Michigan to check them out.”
…MI PG Cassius Winston is waiting on his offer, KY PG Quentin Goodin is tentatively planning to go head-to-head with Thornton at the elite camp, and ON PG Jamal Murray has M and MSU near the top of his list with only one visit under his belt—that to Michigan. Chances are Michigan locks down a top-50 PG in 2016.
Etc.: 2016 PA RB Miles Sanders is a Michigan offeree who's just getting into the recruiting process($). Penn State just offered. 2015 UT LB Osa Masina releases a top eight with Michigan in it. More importantly: is his twitter handle a shoutout to Greg Ostertag?
NC TE Chris Clark still has Michigan on top($) over OSU and MSU. Michigan leads for MO WR Jeff Thomas, who is part of the class of… 2017. Must be good. He's got M/OSU/MSU offers already.
2014 is such an important season for alot of reasons. One good season can turn all of that around.
I really hope you're right. Nuss could pull a Mattison 2011 and just blow everyone out of the water. New coaches can sometimes pull miracles.
and not to be "that guy" (who says we don't really want em after they commit elsewhere), but im curious to know how commitable is this offer to tyriq thompson. he's ranked as a generic three star recruit. sure, MSU has made a living off these players, but its not exactly jabrill peppers here either.
Lack of results on the field, yes. But this crap about player development is just silly; most of Hoke's players are just now maturing and earning playing time. That first year was basically all RR's players, and (shockingly) older players matured into solid performers.
We'll see, but MSU was a tirefire for a couple of years while Dantonio "developed" his recruits into 3rd and 4th-year players. We'll see the same with Hoke.
What do we make of Beilein recruits skyrocketing up the late rankings? I'd love to believe that's because these guys are showing something at the end of their high school careers to indicate that they're much better prospects than it seems.
I wonder, though, if that's just recruiting services betting on Beilein and his staff to turn these guys into overachievers. If you're Scout, you're probably thinking that you'll be evaluated by how well these guys play after high school, and a Michigan recruit is more likely than most other recruits to perform better than his high school talent suggests. Better to overrate them a bit now and figure that Michigan's talent development will pull them up toward those loftier rankings later.
.....though as long as the revised rankings turn out to be right, I won't worry about the endogeneity problem.
Ha. True, but I wouldn't complain if Wilson really is the 67th most talented player in the country and Beilein's about to turn him into the 6th most productive player in the country.
I don't personally believe it too much. Chatman has grown an inch or so since he committed, while not seeming to impact his ball handling, rebounding or vision, which is what he has been praised for. That gives him more potential to a Scout's eyes.
D.J. Wilson (and Ricky Doyle) both suffered injuries in their junior years and have been playing their way back onto scouts' radars. D.J. Wilson in particular by looking at film has seemed to look more impressive with the newer film. Both Chatman and Wilson have had scouting pieces written on them since the last rankings update (basketball rankings are very infrequently updated), so it's not like they are getting bumps without the services seeing them.
That said, it's certainly a possibility that they are getting bumps off of Beilein's name alone. However, if that were the case, you would think Ricky Doyle would have gotten a similar level of bump as time went on, and he hasn't. He has stayed outside the top 100 consistently to most services.
One other 2014 Michigan signee got a late bump from Scout: Previously unranked, Muhammad-Ali Abdur Rahkman is now a 3-star according to his Scout profile.
I'll also use this as an opportunity to point out that, yes, there should be two hyphens in his full name:
Key information learned and confirmed today: Incoming U-M freshman Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman prefers a hyphen between Muhammad and Ali.
— Brendan F. Quinn (@BFQuinn) April 30, 2014
Wow, that kid can play. It would be really fun to watch him play in a Beilein offense. Great quickness, great handle and he appears to have some range.
There are two predictions on 247 since 4/28 (after Roseboro's visit): one basketball contributer from 247 has Michigan, a writer from Land-Grant Holy Land has him going to NC State.
I swear that half of all Crystal Ball projections are from Land-Grant Holy Land and I don't think I've even been to that site.
It's the Maize 'n' Brew of Ohio State sports. It's probably not a bad publicity idea. They got the "privilege" of voting, so now their website pops up on a ton of prospects' pages.
is going to be even more dependant upon next year's success than normal. If it breaks right, it could be really, really good. If not, well Brian et al. will have no shortage of "sleepers" to choose from.
So if Malzone ends up at Michigan we can all agree to spend four years calling him Brother Malzone, right? Good, glad that's settled.
I slightly confused as well. Maybe a movie reference?
Best series ever created. Although I beleive its Brother Muzzone, but yeah...
of course he lists UCLA out front now - he hasn't even visited Michigan yet has he? According to other places he actually wants to visit twice this summer, one unofficial and then an official to UM.
And hopefully eventually Michigan (eg Hoke) decides to make Spring Games worthwhile. As they are now, it's a complete waste of time. It's not a scrimmage at all, so nothing to get out of that, if it's a practice it's a horribly slow and pointless one, it's boring to fans and recruits alike. It may not be the biggest recruiting event, but compared to what other schools do, Michigan's "spring game" definitely doesn't help any.
I agree on the spring game thing. It's a wasted opportunity. Even if Hoke feels like he needs another practice, I can't imagine that the marginal benefit of a 15th practice five months before the season starts is really that much greater than the benefit of having a true scrimmage. Throw in the recruiting and fan enjoyment/loyalty benefits and it seems like a no-brainer.
Its going to be really hard to top UCLA visit or no visit. UCLA should be pretty good this season. Tough to turn down the home team in favor of a big ol mystery at Michigan.
Not that I would blame KLS for going there, but aren't UCLA's facilities still terrible? Or did they finally improve them recently?
They are, but are slowly improving them. This just goes to show what winning and showing player development can do for recruiting outside of pointing to shiny facilities.
I am scratching my head at the "meh" attitude both UM takes to the spring game and parts of the blogosphere take to it. It need not be "awesomeness" but we are in dire competition with programs all across the country for every recruit and cannot just lay on "fergodsakes". Yes it is true a recruit is not going to pick you based on solely the spring game but they compare and contrast every aspect of programs. Game day in fall is going to be just about the same anywhere in the country - a full stadium, tailgating, cheerleaders, bands, etc. So it's a wash. Meanwhile the spring game we look like Northwestern in atmosphere and interest. And the drills on the field...meh. It speaks to waning momentum - if I am at this spring game in AA, then a week later to go to OSU, go later to Nebraska, and then 2 weeks later go to MSU and I look at the spring games I see programs in very different conditions.
I am also boggled because Mr. Brand(on) has another major marketing opportunity he is wasting. Last point, there is the point of getting very young kids immersed into UM culture. If you are a 7 year old boy, getting face to face time and autographs at this type of event will stay with you for the next decade. Maybe mom and dad cannot afford the real game day experience, etc but this is a way to get exposure to a whole new audience. Then I see those guys I met face to face on TV and I am hooked. That 7 year old is most likely are going to be a U of M fan for life and the way season tickets are going we cannot just assume the stadium will be full forever. ... so it could have benefits down the year 20 years. Hell, a few of those kids might be recruits in a decade.
And it need not be 60K people but gosh this attitude of "you are lucky we even are letting you see us live in April.... you are barely worthy" is ridiculous. It is a fan event, UM football in the fall is not going to live and die by this 1 practice being lost and morphed into something interesting on the field.
Hoke is on record that he'd like to have a game where the players draft their teams. Iirc, this was re a scrimmage at the end of fall camp. But if he feels this way, I don't see why it can't happen during the spring, once the team is sufficiently deep and the classes are more evenly distributed.
Hoke's full of shit on this issue. The reason they don't have a real Spring Game is "Fort Schembechler". Can't have anyone seeing the one halfway effective offensive play the team can pull off right now.
I don't get it, you'd think after the horror show that was last season they'd be reaching out and trying to build as many bridges as possible to try to build up some public goodwill, but they just seem determined to keep everyone at bay which continues alienating everyone who should be advocating for you. It's not a good choice right now.
I agree that UM is missing opportunities here. If they make this practice a real scrimmage that is actually fun to watch and therfore draws crowds, it could pay off in recruiting in the ways you mention above. It could also bring in money, something the AD really likes.
I noticed this year that the practice is called the Mott Children Hospital Spring Game. Why not charge a measly $5 for entry and give it all to charity. Who wouldn't caugh up $5 to watch a real scrimmage as long as the money was going to charity? Then there is the concessions take. Why not?
You guys really have me confused. I thought the reason we didn't like Dave Brandon was because he's always thinking about how to make money. Now this talk about advertising for the brand and charging an entrance fee for the spring game along with concession sales. Well, my head is spinning.
that you overlooked the main focus of his coment (recruiting) or the ever-worthy point about The Mott Children's Hospital charity (which has never been questioned anywhere on this blog).
Shame on you Mrs. Brandon.
it is too early in the season and the weather often sucks ass. I'm sure there is a lot that goes into the scheduling including classes, spring break etc but lots of other schools start the spring practices much later.
Better weather would be the easiest way to gaurantee much bigger crowds.
if um had a great season on the field last year and were confident in their returning players then id understand starting spring late as suggessted or having live scrimmage just bc - but they were terrible last season and have something like 70 1st or 2nd yr players on campus right now - those dudes need all the reps and seasoning they can get. starting earlier means beginning installs of new O and D sooner than later and getting tape and playbooks and drills into those players heads asap. and hopefully like most schools, the team leaders will make sure theyre all hammering home proper technique etc over the summer. hoke may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but he still understands theres a timing and strategic importance to rolling out these things. especially with such a historically young team. and whats the point of publicizing a super duper smashmouth spring game if both units look like garbage and dont really improve? va tech just had a huge crowd as always for spring game but everyones trashing the 7-3 score, lack of cohesion and questionable performance
these young guys need practice in game like situations. This isn't college basketball where you play 1-2 exhibtions and then 10-13 non-conference games to get your fet wet before conference play. I understand they need reps but they're going to get reps in a scrimmage too.
and at what point do we have "enough depth" to have a scrimmage? Did I miss the 18 players injured or the 15 scholarships we had taken away by the NCAA? We have the same amount of players as we will in 2 years or 5 years - it is just that it is top heavy in the sophomore class rather than seniors. If anything those age kids need to be exposed more to game like conditions than a senior would. So I don't really buy that reasoning much. There are more than 10 scholarship OL now which would be the only place I could see anyone pointing to and saying "can't have a scrimmage".
The "we don't have enough depth" justification for not having a scrimmage is bullshit, unless we're substantially below our 85 scholarship limit. We're not. There are currently 99 players listed on MGoBlue's football roster, and I doubt that much more than 14 are walk-ons. And if you have to play walk-ons during a spring scrimmage, so what? And there's no law that says a scrimmage has to be the same length as a regular game—quarters could be shortened to 10 minutes, or you could play three full quarters, with fan participation contests taking up the fourth quarter. If you gave fans the chance to come down on the field and kick field goals or throw passes for prizes like season tickets or individual game tickets you'd find an immediate increase in interest in attending.
People who use the "Hoke is recovering from the RR recruiting/retention shortfalls" excuse fail to remember that there were years without a spring scrimmage/game while Carr was here.
Dude has the perfect skill set for the 3 (which is why he is transferring in the first place, didnt want to be another GRIII out of position at the 4). What I don't understand is that he appears to have better skills for the 3 than GRIII even, maybe he didn't want to come here because he didn't want to get the GRIII treatment. If we play him at the 3 then we have Doyle 6'10", Donnal/Wilson 6'9", Huff 6'8", Chatman 6"8", and Walton 6"0" as your starting 5, with no one out of position, try running the 1-3-1 with THAT length. Anyways, mayeb Beilein will never have a true PF, I would have like to see Huff come here and be ready to go after sitting out. Ahhhh, oh well...
Chatman at the 2. I don't think he has the quickness to guard other 2's.
EDIT - nevermind, I see the Larry Scott to MSU news was covered. Yep, truly dark days when we are hoping super high recruit X goes to MSU so that a bit lower recruit Y will come to UM. For those of us who weren't around for the pre Bo era, nothing like this has happened in our lifetimes.
Football "Hello" posts....I miss you.
I'm out of the loop: Is Ace on vacation or something?
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