about time we had a michichusetts tag

T.J. Guy Has Committed to Michigan Comment Count

Seth April 17th, 2020 at 1:49 PM

Don Brown has grabbed yet another 3-starry type out of Massachusetts. Defensive End TJ Guy is just outside the top-750 in the 24/7 composite, the 44th WDE and #6 player in Massachusetts, and a low 3-star strongside end to Rivals.

Listed at 240, Guy is likely to grow into an SDE or maybe even a DT; he's a basketball player, so it's harder to project what his body will look like if he's concentrating on football. Fellow 3-star commit Dominick Giudice from New Jersey is also listed as a WDE but projects inside.

The film shows a 6'4" kid playing off the edge who's way too strong for Massachusetts-level competition. Guy was committed to Boston College until he reopened his recruitment in February, two weeks after Michigan offered on January 31. He got an offer from Nebraska earlier this month, and Pitt was involved too. Guy is also a pretty good basketball player. He's Michigan's third commit from Massachusetts this cycle, along with TE Louis Hansen and ILB Casey Phinney; and Phinney's high school teammate Drew Kendall, the #1 player in the state, is one of Michigan's top remaining OL targets.

Comments

k1400

April 17th, 2020 at 2:12 PM ^

There is nothing after the jump......except soon to be a bunch of "hurrr durrrr....3 stars.... Harbaugh stick to tiddly winks....light everthing on fire."

TuffBammBamm

April 17th, 2020 at 2:19 PM ^

Wouldn't that be a dong punch if Brown/Harbaugh are snagging up all these generic 3*'s in the hopes of landing the top player in the state only to lose out down the road?

Good for Guy, but underwhelming addition to a defensive class that is seriously lagging in talent.

On the plus side, every defensive recruit Michigan has snagged is an improvement from the last commit.  I think by commit #6 we should have a #300 player, or so.

Brown should take a break from his relentless recruiting for a while and allow the other slackers on this defensive staff to do some work.  It might benefit the program.

ERdocLSA2004

April 18th, 2020 at 2:42 AM ^

I don’t understand the broken record about recruiting Ohio.  A 3* is a 3*, who cares where they are from.  What’s the obsession with Ohio recruits?  Is there a huge contingent of Ohio 3* that are winding up as game changers and going high in the draft?  Okudah, Olave, Dobbins, Fields, young.  None of course were 3*, but none are from Ohio either. Where are these Ohio 3* that are populating OSU’s roster that we apparently can’t live without and are going to put us over the top?  Recruit our own state well and recruit talent regardless of where they are from.  Recruit Florida, Georgia, and Texas well.  F-ohio.  

TrueBlue2003

April 18th, 2020 at 6:24 PM ^

It matters a little bit though.  Because if you get the three stars from Ohio, it means another Big Ten team can't get them.  The ability of MSU to scoop up below OSU level guys from Ohio was a contributing driver for MSU's success at the time RichRod turned his focus to Florida.

A lot of Ohio three stars were the stars of those MSU teams: LeVeon Bell, Conner Cook, Denicos Allen, Dan France. Many others were solid contributors.

These N'eastern guys are much more likely to end up in the ACC if Michigan didn't take them.  So at least their opponents wouldn't get them if Michigan didn't take them.

You're correct that Michigan will be just good regardless of where the three stars come from, but if they're going out of region just to get three stars they're doing the whole big ten a favor and probably elevating the middle tier of the conference and thus making those games more difficult for themselves. The effect is probably not huge, but it's there.

Also, it's likely that guys playing further from home are more likely (even if only slightly) to transfer than someone from the region.  Parents and friends of Ohio kids can drive up for games or weekends easier than those from outside the region and those are probably draws if a kid is struggling to earn playing time.

 

Alumnus93

April 19th, 2020 at 11:03 AM ^

The obsession is the gray history we've had with them...that they have far more on the line than players from other states, because of the effect personally in many facets.  Not hard to understand.     A guy from Mass along with family, didn't become a traitor for coming to AA.  They don't get flak when they lose to OSU.  

not TOM BRADY

April 17th, 2020 at 2:22 PM ^

I am going to need to see a couple of Upshaw, Welschoff, Morris, Newburg to turn into actual players to have faith in the staffs DL projections for these lower tier guys. 
 

To me it seems like they are taking the approach of where can we find athletic guys and add weight to them to move them inside for these lower rated guys. They need to hit on these projections. 

harmon1

April 17th, 2020 at 3:03 PM ^

While Harbaugh is busy beating out Syracuse, Pitt, and the service academies for Phinney, Guidice, and Guy....PJ Fleck just landed a top 50 overall cornerback recruit.

Amazing people keep defending this staff's recruiting incompetence. 

DonBrownIsAStr…

April 17th, 2020 at 5:24 PM ^

Harmon1, you seem lonely. I assume you live in your parents basement. Is the room carpeted? You seem like you'd be in your late 40's. Did you move your Poison and Motley Cru posters to the basement room or did you throw them out as a sign of maturity when you moved downstairs for "privacy?"

wolverine1987

April 17th, 2020 at 5:39 PM ^

I agree that Harmon type posts don't belong in a new recruits announcement thread. 

But it's not wrong to say our recruiting has been disappointing in overall higher level talent the last couple years and there doesn't seem to be much prospect of change. 

But oh well, last year I vowed to never again allow myself to be mad or have much emotion of any kind about our football team, so I'm ok with it. 

Gucci Mane

April 17th, 2020 at 3:03 PM ^

I get that good scouting and development could turn these low rates guys into contributors or even good players. But 5 stars are almost always contributors. We need more elite players. It’s so sad Recruiting  seems to have dropped. And I would love to be wrong and sign a top 5 class with some highly rated guys, but wtf. 

TrueBlue2003

April 19th, 2020 at 2:40 PM ^

But there is another element in addition to talent: coaching.

Oklahoma and Clemson before the past couple years are also regularly in the 8-15 range in recruiting but regularly go to the CFP.  Wisconsin recruits almost only three stars and is usually in the 30s and yet is on par with Michigan in terms of success during the Harbaugh era (and was way ahead of Michigan during the dark days).

Yes, it's nice not to be an underachieving team anymore the way we were under Hoke and the way Texas is now, or LSU was before this past season, but it's fair to say, hey 8-15 is good enough in recruiting to win conference titles every few years with good coaching and player development. and then it's fair to be disappointed when a coaching staff that is amongst the highest paid in the country fails to get more out of their talent when lower paid staffs around the country do this regularly.

 

TheCube

April 17th, 2020 at 3:05 PM ^

MA must be the hidden jewel of the country since it seems like Michigan is the only relevant P5 program that recruits it so hard... kinda perplexing no one else caught on yet. 

 

Good for the kiddo. Hopefully we see him on the field in 3 years. 

wolvorback

April 17th, 2020 at 3:07 PM ^

Good for the kid, but I just don’t get Don Brown recruiting.   This is an actual question and me not being a smart ass, but how many of his generic 3 stars that he has brought in on defense turn out to be elite/high level contributors?   It’s almost like he never realized he left Boston College and can now recruit a different type of player.  Part of me is looking forward to seeing what the next DC has on the recruiting front.   I want a high level recruiting DC.  

TuffBammBamm

April 17th, 2020 at 3:58 PM ^

Per Scouts primary recruiters

2016

Josh Uche – 3* OLB #707 Nationally

2017

Aubrey Solomon – 5* DT #23 Nationally

Jordan Anthony – 4* OLB; #106 Nationally

Kwity Paye – 3* WDE; #486 Nationally

Ben Mason – 3* ILB; #816 Nationally

2018

Aidan Hutchinson – 4* SDE; 112 Nationally

Taylor Upshaw – 3* SDE; 561 Nationally

Sammy Faustin – 3* CB; 592 Nationally

Julius Wlschof – 3* SDE; 645 Nationally

2019

Anthony Solomon – 4* CB; 223 Nationally

Mike Sainristil – 3* CB/WR; 595 Nationally

George Johnson III – 3* CB/WR; 876 Nationally

2020

Nikhai Hill-Green – 3* OLB; 390 Nationally

Kalel Mullings – 4* OLB; 236 Nationally

Jaylen Harrell – 4* WDE; 293 Nationally

Osman Savage – 4* OLB; 299 Nationally

Eammon Dennis – 3* CB/WR; 482 Nationally

Kris Jenkins – 3* SDE; 511 Nationally

2021

Louis Hansen – 4* TE; 186 Nationally

TJ Guy – 3* WDE; 759 Nationally

Dominick Giudice – 3* WDE; 1,282 Nationally

Casey Phinney – 3* ILB; 941 Nationally

wolvorback

April 17th, 2020 at 7:31 PM ^

Aiden was the 24/7 #112 player in the country and #1 in Michigan.  Doesn’t exactly answer my question about the success of the random generic 3 star recruits. 

 

Last season, Kwitty Paye had a good season, but not a consistent performance that is needed to be an elite defensive end.   Are we trying to beat the current Michigan state team and Iowa or are we trying to compete and win titles?

True Blue Grit

April 17th, 2020 at 6:27 PM ^

Clearly the statistics are against this Don Brown recruiting strategy.  Going up against an offense with primarily 4* and 5* players, using primarily 3* defensive players will not go well most of the time.  This is a strategy that will doom us to losing to elite and very good teams most of the time.  If that's what our AD is happy with, that's what we're going to get.  And that's what we're going to have to get used to.  

Alumnus93

April 17th, 2020 at 6:27 PM ^

I am really beginning to miss Lloyd Carr's program, which was a fine one.... as was Mo's... 

not getting Ohio players is hurting the program, which historically did well when the team was chock full of them because they knew the importance of the rivalry and had so much on the line

Gucci Mane

April 17th, 2020 at 7:27 PM ^

Carr didn’t perform much better once tressel came. I lm happy with a Harbaugh. He just needs to start using bag men far more. It seems as if now they make no effort to pay players. I can say for sure, the player I know best (current NFL rotation pkayer) wasn’t paid at uofm which is outrageous. 

goblue2121

April 17th, 2020 at 5:44 PM ^

Just a reminder that 16 and 17 year old athletes like to read articles and comments about themselves. Trashing them and coaches repeatedly will do wonders for the program, so I'm confident it will pay off sometime soon. \s  Anyway, welcome TJ. U of M will prepare you well for the challenges you'll face in life.

ih8losing

April 17th, 2020 at 5:54 PM ^

Harbaugh's poor recruiting is one of the most disappointing aspects of his tenure at Michigan. Yes, on-field results are the ultimate mark of success but boy would it be easier to get a couple wins with more talent. 

Outside of the losses to OSU, losing bowl games disappoint tremendously. I was fortunate to attend this year's bowl game and boy was that another massive let down. It wasn't even the score, it's the realization this program just doesn't belong in the top tier nor is it close to getting there.

 

Off to the weekend, or is it Monday today? I can't tell anymore 

Bill22

April 17th, 2020 at 7:53 PM ^

Recruiting Kwity Paye was a stroke of genius by Don Brown.  As a native Rhode Islander even I wouldn’t have recruited him to Michigan.  The only pro I can remember EVER coming out of RI was Mike Cloud.  RB in the 90’s who played for Portsmouth and BC.  With the exception of Paye’s program, Bishop Hendricken, you’re talking very low level HS football.  Borderline pathetic compared to the average programs in states like OH and MI, let alone FL, TX, GA, CA.

DB has a knack for spotting athleticism that fits his system.  He also has the best relationships in NE for major CFB recruiting.  Say what you will about either or both.

This kid TJ Guy sounds like a carbon copy of Kwity.  I’ll take him!