Tuesday Recruitin'

Update 10/11: Linked to articles on FL LB Mike Marry, GA S Donovan Tate, FL WR Jeremy Gallon, MD RB Tavon Austin, GA WR Jamal Patterson, FL S Angelo Hadley, NC LB Hawatha Bell, SC S DJ Swearinger, FL S Vlad Emilien (and FL CB Mywan Jackson).

Removed CA WR Shaquelle Evans(ND), MN WR Bryce McNeal(dropped us), CA DE Keenan Graham (UCLA), SC S Devontae Holloman (dropped us), SC DE Chris Bonds(dropped us), FL QB Eugene Smith (WVU).

Bumped FL S Vlad Emilien, OK DT Pearlie Graves to blue.

2010 stuff: article on FL QB Christian Green. Webb article on decommits and such. Some links from VB.

Editorial Opinion: Recruiting board lives here.

Goodbye.

Many guys booted off the board. In order of personal hurt caused:

• CA DE Keenan Graham was never a strong possibility and Michigan already has a couple of excellent DEs locked up.
• Ditto for SC DE Chris Bonds but that guy still lists Notre Dame. Some people.
• FL QB Eugene Smith committed to WVU; Michigan has its QBs in this class.
• SC S Devontae Holloman never seriously considered M after his decommit; Michigan still needs two or three guys in the secondary.
• CA WR Shaquelle Evans plays at a position of need because of the last guy on this list and committed to Notre Dame.
• MN WR Bryce McNeal decommitted.

And so, yeah…

I'm getting a little antsy about getting the class to 25. They have 17 now and are likely done at QB, RB, and slot receiver. At this point three kids appear to be favoring Michigan: MI DT Will Campbell, OK DT Pearlie Graves, and FL S Vlad Emilien. If those guys commit Michigan is up to 20 and is done on the DL, leaving them to haul in five more guys assuming they suffer no more decommits. (More about that later.)

There are a number of good possibilities on the line and Michigan will likely end up with two of them. But there are currently no outside WRs on the board I see as strong possibilities (and TX WR commit Dewayne Peace has to be considered a soft verbal at this point). In the secondary, I think FL CB Mywan Jackson stays closer to home (I'd bet on UNC for both he and teammate Angelo Hadley at the moment), leaving no obvious candidates to commit. People felt pretty good about MS S Dennis Thames after his summer visit, but Thames has maintained absolute radio silence since and any information on his decision is months old.

Michigan is going to pound on the doors of anyone they think can help who's committed to a team undergoing a coaching change—they've already started with a bunch of Clemson guys and have been calling SC S and Tennessee decommit DJ Swearinger—and that will probably add a few names to the board; Rodriguez might have to pull out the snake oil to get the class full.

Speaking of commits undergoing transition: one guy who would seem to make a lot of sense is OH CB DJ Hunter, a Rivals250 guy who committed to Tennessee early in the year. Cornerback is Michigan's A1 priority at this point (with A2 being outside wideout) and if Hunter's leery about a coaching switch, Michigan should be on him like whoah. Tennessee also has a commit from top 100 receiver Je'Ron Stokes that Michigan might take a crack at.

About the blue.

Yes, as noted above a couple of guys are now expected to commit at some point. OK DT Pearlie Graves took a visit earlier this year and then everyone forgot about him until recently, when a Rivals guy called him up and he said something to the effect of($) "I am very likely to end up at Michigan"; Scout jumped on him and got a similar quote. He's in blue.

Also in blue is FL S Vlad Emilien, not because of anything so direct but more a general buildup of positive feeling. In Emilien's interview with Tom VanHaaren earlier, he announced a top two of Wisconsin and Michigan; buzz has it that Michigan was the more impressive of his official visits. Emilien visits Stanford this weekend and decides the 23rd.

I have no reassurance on MI DT Will Campbell this week, but rest assured you should be assured.

Peripheral persons.

Also noted above is Michigan's interest in the newly available DJ Swearinger; I'm going to hold off putting him on the board until such point as Swearinger mentions the interest is mutual.

GA WR Jamal Patterson, currently committed to Stanford, is another guy who might be on the board in the near future:

“Michigan has been recruiting me extremely hard lately,” Patterson said this evening. “But Stanford is still number one.”

Patterson, a member of the AJC’s The Georgia 150, has offers from nearly every major college football program in the nation, with the exception of Georgia.

Again, we'll see if Patterson schedules an official before putting him on the board. (It does sound like that's going to happen, FWIW.)

Ah, hell.

The Sam Webb article that contained this information has disappeared behind the Detroit News' paywall, but in any case: said article detailed the decommitment statuses of the rest of the class. Basically, there's little reason for concern except on TX WR Dewayne Peace and LA DT DeQuinta Jones. Jones is planning to take some official visits to places like Alabama and Oklahoma State; Peace may do so as well. At this point both are better than 50-50 to stick, IMO, but losing either would not be a shock.

Re: Pessimism.

Re: pessimism about the Jackson/Hadley duo:

Teammates Mywan Jackson and Angelo Hadley (Seffner, Fla./Armwood) were at one time scheduled to make official visits to Michigan this weekend, but those visits have been postponed.

"We were going up there together," Jackson said. "But we are supposed to go to a family get-together this weekend so we will visit Michigan after the football season."

Sometimes recruits have conflicts and can't make games: AZ OL Taylor Lewan was scheduled to come in this weekend but has a playoff game and can't make it. This sounds like a conflict that could have been avoided and that usually indicates something of a lack of interest on the recruit's part.

OTOH, Hadley on the delay:

Hadley has a trip scheduled to Michigan on Nov. 15, but isn't sure he'll make it. "I'm not sure if I'm gonna go because of our playoffs," he said.

Despite the Wolverines struggles this season, Hadley says that hasn't hurt them in his eyes. "They don't have a full-built program yet," he said. "They are working hard to recruit better players and get things going."

You tell me. At the moment I think they'll stay more southerly, but with a visit in their pocket Michigan can come from behind. Jackson was extremely enthusiastic after his unofficial in the summer.

Etc.: FL WR Jeremy Gallon will play in the Army bowl; sounds like Ole Miss leads for FL LB Mike Marry; not sure how interested Michigan is in him..