Tuesday Recruitin'

Update 10/14: Linked to articles on FL S DeAngelo Hadley, CA WR Shaquelle Evans, MD LB Jelani Jenkins, MD DE Jason Ankrah and CB Travis Hawkins, SC OL Quinton Washington, FL RB Vincent Smith, another on MD CB Travis Hawkins,

Removed NJ WR Nyshier Olivier (ND), TX S Rex Burkhead (M not involved), VA DE Will Hill (dropped us), TX S Craig Loston (not listing us anymore).

Added GA S Donovan Tate.

I should talk about MN WR Bryce McNeal. Ah, well, it happened: decommit. Removed McNeal from committed.

Some links from Varsity Blue as per usual. Farrell's weekly whispers. Walk-on punter?

Editorial Opinion: Recruiting board lives here.

Fallout.

I was going to talk about how serious the Bryce McNeal situation was and how leery I was of that particular situation, but McNeal beat me to the punch by decommitting. His top five is now M, Minnesota, Cal, Colorado, and Florida. McNeal on M:

GH: Has your relationship with Coach Rodriguez changed at all?
BM: No, my relationships with Coach Rodriguez and Coach Dews are the same as when they started to recruit me, I don’t have any different views of them, and I hope they don’t have any different views of me.
GH: So they didn’t recruit over you or anything like that?
BM: No, not at all.
GH: Is Michigan still going to be one of the schools you are considering?
BM: I am still interested in Michigan and am keeping them in the mix, I just am not committed to them anymore. They are still in my top 5 schools.

This one is somewhere between the Newsome situation (he was gone-gone) and the Campbell situation (where he is expected to recommit). McNeal could end up back in the fold.

…but if you made me bet, I'd bet against it. The way this played out is bad according to heuristics: McNeal committed, and said he was solid, then said he would take some visits, then backed off that after a conversation with the Michigan coaches. The contents of that conversation were part reassurance and part "if you take visits we have to start recruiting other wide receivers."

This latter part was evidently enough to get him off the idea of visiting. This is no longer the case. I have some scuttlebutt on this that's vague but not encouraging; I think Colorado and Minnesota are more likely than M at this point.

Number one, set a course for wailing and gnashing, warp nine. Engage.

The upshot if McNeal is gone-gone.

Well… it's not good, obviously. At the moment McNeal is Michigan's second highest rated recruit and the only outside wide receiver in the class aside from camp commit Dewayne Peace, who may end up a defensive back. Losing McNeal would be (is?) a significant blow.

That blow is lessened because Michigan already has two high-quality outside receivers committed to the 2010 class, though, and should be okay to bridge the gap between the current players and the 2010 kids. If Junior Hemingway gets a medical redshirt, he and Stonum will both be around in 2010 on the outside.

Still: lame.

Could Michigan get in on another wide receiver? They probably would; they might look at MI WR Cameron Gordon in a different light now. They're still chasing LA WR Rueben Randle but that looks doubtful; Michigan might go after someone committed to another school.

Marylandians.

MD DE Jason Ankrah and MD CB Travis Hawkins visited for the Illinois game and had nice things to say:

“I think that they are going to be a powerhouse in the next few years,” said Hawkins, a 5-foot-10, 181-pound, four-star cornerback prospect. "Most of the players said when you have a new coach coming in, you have to get used to him, and that's what they did. Overall, they said they liked the school, and even though they are young this year, they are going to get after it next year, and they are going to be dangerous."

But, yeah, I don't think we get either. Ankrah tried to commit to Penn State earlier and was rebuffed but PSU has picked up the interest again and Hawkins just visited Oregon. Upon his return, a quote:

When asked which visit he liked best, Michigan or Oregon, Hawkins said, "I liked the Michigan academics better. But other than that, Oregon was better."

Probably not someone who ends up at M.

Something good?

We can take a break from the doom and gloom to note that SC OL Quinton Washington had very positive things to say about his visit:

"People in the stands were chanting Quinton's name," coach Art Craig said. "Q, wear the blue, wear the blue. And it wasn't rehearsed. I've got to give coach Rodriguez and his staff a hand. They did a job. They were genuine with what they wanted. To my understanding, he's their number one lineman they are going after in the nation. That's point blank what coach Rodriguez told me Friday night."

Craig said Washington took everything in and was very impressed. "He felt very at ease with them," he said. "He was very impressed with the facilities. They are building a second indoor facility. They are adding 100 skyboxes. They just opened a new academic learning center. He's a man of few words. When I asked him if they are in there with him, he said, coach, how can they not be?"

Washington is a guard recruit; he hasn't scheduled any official visits other than M yet but intends to. The instate schools were supposed to get a couple; that was before Tommy Bowden got axed.

Teammate acquisition.

FL CB Mywan Jackson has been all over the map of late, first almost committing to Michigan, then being very high on Auburn, then declaring UNC his leader and basically dropping Auburn. So, like… weird. He's got a teammate, FL S Angelo Hadley, who's also scouting around for schools and he's got Jackson's favorites on his final list:

Armwood safety Angelo Hadley, whom rivals.com rates as the state's 90th best senior prospect, has narrowed his list of potential colleges to four: Florida, Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina.

"It's going to be one of those four," Hadley told the Times on Tuesday.

Florida hasn't offered yet; if they do I assume they're the choice. When a kid lists a school that hasn't offered amongst a small set of favorites who have, that's usually the preferred destination. If they don't, well, Michigan's got a shot.

Etc.: Fluff on FL RB commit Vincent Smith; GA QB/S/WR Donovan Tate has M as one of three officials lined up but is a big-time baseball prospect. I can't see him coming to a northern school, and the chances he goes to any school are slim since he's supposed to be a top-ten pick in the MLB draft.