Wednesday Recruitin' 5-19-10

As always, the 2011 Michigan Football Recruiting Board can be found here.

BBQ Roster

As he did for junior days earlier this year, Tom has built up a roster of those attending (and not):

• MI OL Anthony Zettel
• OH DE Chris Rock
• MD DT Darian Cooper
• OH OL Ray Ball
• VA LB Corey Marshall
• OH WR AJ Jordan
• MI DE Commit Brennen Beyer

For comments on these guys, a list of those who aren't making it, and all the latest updates, check out Tom's diary. A couple other sources also have updates:

NC LB/WR Kris Frost (pictured above ) says he's trying to make it to the BBQ at the Big House this weekend, but is unsure, due to travel costs. Frost was the subject of this week's Sam Webb profile in the Detroit News. Michigan is trying to stay out front:

"Well, I've always wanted to go to Michigan," admitted Frost. "I've always wanted to attend that school. When I went up to Michigan (for the program's annual summer football camp) I was really excited. It was everything that I really thought it would be."

"I think Michigan is the team to beat because he's liked Michigan his whole life," added [Butler coach Mike] Newsome. "When I told him that they had offered him he almost jumped up and hit his head on the ceiling. He is really excited about Michigan."

Of course, it's not all sunshine and lollipops:

"Unfortunately for them, there's the problem that they are going through with their program right now. I think it is something that Kris is looking at right now and is using that to look at some other schools. "

As long as Michigan has a good season and the coaching staff staves off any threat of losing their jobs, Michigan should remain the team to beat (as we shared last week). For the record, he now says that, while he'd prefer to play wide receiver in college, he's open to playing linebacker.

PA CB Dondi Kirby plans to be there.

Unfortunately, FL RB Demetrius Hart will probably not be making the trip. FL S Ha'Sean Clinton-Dix says his teammate will ultimately pick Alabama. HC-D has been saying things like this for a while, so take it with a grain of salt until Hart himself goes on the record.

New Offers, Present And Future

AZ QB Brett Hundley has received a Michigan offer. He's being recruited by pro-style and scrambly QB programs alike, and it sounds like he's interested in the Wolverines:

"No one's in the lead right now. Everything is wide open for me. I'm going to start taking trips in June, or July. After that I'll start all my officials, when I'm allowed to." When asked if Michigan will receive one of those visits, he said, "I'm definitely going to talk to my dad about that one."

Expect much more from Tom on this kid, as they live pretty close to each other. He wants to narrow his list by July ($, info in header). Hundley's highlight video:

Michigan has offered PA Ath Mike Caputo. He's a high school wideout.

The Wolverines have offered OH OL Ray Ball ($, info in header).

Michigan has offered PA DT Delvon Simmons, and the Wolverines currently reside in his top three:

“It would probably be North Carolina, West Virginia and Michigan. They’re all pretty even at this point,” he said.

“I haven’t talked to North Carolina a lot. I’ve maybe talked to them twice. I like how they’ve been open with me. They sound good right now but I’ve got to go up there and get to know them some more before I say too much.

“Michigan is the same thing pretty much. I like their coach—the recruiting coach for around my area. I met him in person and he seems like a real nice dude.”

Michigan looks to be in good shape for his recruitment.

The Wolverines have offered TX CB Charles Jackson ($, info in header). Per Gerry Hamilton:

The 5-foot-9.5, 173-pound uber athletic defensive back prospect entered the evaluation period with offers from Arkansas and Houston (his first offer), but has since added written offers from California, Michigan and Baylor along with a verbal offer from Missouri.

Last week, May 5, coaches from Texas (Will Muschamp) and Oklahoma (Willie Martinez) stopped by the 5A school to watch the corner with a 40 1/2-inch vertical leap.

Oklahoma and Texas interest means he's probably a top prospect, but also that he'll be a tough pull for Michigan.

Michigan is close to offering PA OL Paul Gaughan ($, info in header). Same story with another Pennsylvanian, DE Desimon Green ($, info in header).

Michigan is interested, but no offer, in PA DE Shawn Oakman.

Recruiting Potpourri

Happy Trails, Trai Turner. Just a few days after saying he'd take his time and look at a few schools, LA OL Trai Turner committed to Louisiana State ($, info in header). His teammate, LA S Renaldo Thomas did or will do the same. No word yet on the third St. Augustine prospect, LA OL Jonah Austin. Austin does not hold an offer from the Tigers.

Happy trails as well to OH OL/DT Michael Bennett. With a final two of Ohio State and Northwestern, he picked the Buckeyes over the weekend.

We found out last week that Michigan was in the top three for NC QB Marquise Williams, and now he's trimmed his list to consider only five schools ($, info in header). Michigan, Notre Dame, and North Carolina are in that final group.

AR QB Kiehl Frazier is still wide open, but it seems as though Arkansas, Auburn, and Notre Dame comprise an unofficial top 3.

"I'm really wide open until I take some visits to see schools," Frazier told Sporting News. "After spring ball, I'm going to go some places and take it in."

A trip to Notre Dame could also mean dropping in on Ann Arbor, so stay tuned.

According to Tom, Oregon has offered AZ OL Andre Yruretagoyena, and the Ducks were his childhood favorite ($, info in header). Another recruiting update comes from AnnArbor.com, of all places.

“I think Michigan will be in the mix without a doubt because those guys have done a great job,” [Chaparral coach Charlie] Ragle said. “Tony (Dews) and those guys that come out here - Tony mainly recruits this area but Coach (Greg) Frey came out - they do a good job, but like I said, the players sell your program.”

Ragle said the 6-foot-5, 260-pound Yruretagoyena is in regular contact with both Lewan and Roh, and that Michigan likely will be in Yruretagoyena’s final five when he cuts his list in the coming month.

So, Oregon probably leads, but Michigan has a chance to get back into it.

FL TE Brandon Fulse is hearing from Rod Smith a lot ($, info in header).

Michigan is a co-leader for MI LB Dwight Trammer. Though the Wolverines haven't offered, Rod Smith got a couple chances to scout Trammer last fall (pictured at right doing just that), as he's a former Inkster teammate of current Wolverines QB Devin Gardner.

According to some Detroit newspaper of no repute, MD DT Vincent Croce has a top three of Michigan, Michigan State, and Virginia.

OH CB Doran Grant says "haha j/k" about his top 6 list also serving as a final 6 ($, info in header).

SoFlaFootball visits Chaminade-Madonne High School in Florida, and breaks down a couple guys we've been talking about recently in S Jonathan Aiken, WR Curt Evans, and QB Jerrard Randall.

The issue that Randall continues to struggle with is the fact he can be erratic with his accuracy, which became apparent during the 7-on-7 portion of the practice.

Evans played a little of everything on the day starting at cornerback, getting some carries as a running back, before finally moving out to wide receiver.

Aiken has good bulk on him and is a good athlete. He did not look to be fluid enough in coverage to move to a corner spot like many have debated; safety is probably his best option.

Aiken posts on BuckeyePlanet, and it seems as though he's favoring Ohio State despite the lack of an offer.

NJ OL Shane Mertz wants to hear from Michigan. Mertz is 6-8, 280lbs, and has great grades. I bet coaches would love to have him in camp to see what he can do.

As for academics, I am interested in mechanical engineering as a major so a school with a strong engineering program is very important. I’m looking into becoming an aerospace engineer. That’s what I want to do. Maybe some day work for NASA.

I am looking for a program that has high quality football facilities and state of the art training. I don’t have anything specific in mind but I’d like to be at a place that has great training facilities.

Samrt kid, would be a good addition.

Schools I would like to hear from are Michigan, Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Penn State. Definitely Michigan though. My dads mom is actually from Michigan. So my dad has always been a die hard Michigan football fan. It would be a great achievement for me if I could get an offer from them.

He's very interested, hopefully Michigan gives him a look.

Michigan's offer for FL RB Andrew Buie was actually on the other side of the ball:

“Auburn offered me as an athlete and Michigan offered me to play defensive back,” Buie said. “I want to play running back but I’m open to a couple of other positions.”

Doesn't sound like he's interested, and the Wolverines may fade from his recruitment.

Greg Frey and Tony Dews recently stopped into Fort Meyers to visit FL WR Sammy Watkins and his teammate, CB/Ath Dallas Crawford.

Michigan leads for LA CB Daren Kitchen ($, info in header), and he says it would be "hard to turn down" an offer from the Wolverines.

The Distant Future. The Year 2012.

Michigan is already in good position with a number of 2012 prospects. We already knew about MI LB James Ross, but his youth football teammate, MI LB Royce Jenkins-Stone, now at a school called "Cass Tech" (you may have heard of it) considers Michigan among his top schools ($, info in header).

The Wolverines also lead for OH DE Chris Wormley ($, info in header). Wormley should be a top-5 player in Ohio next year.

Keep an eye on another OH DE, LaTroy Lewis, who has a connection to Michigan ($, info in header).