OL Erik Magnuson Has Michigan in His Top Three

Submitted by TomVH on

Erik MagnusonThe Rivals Top 250 list was recently released and Michigan still has a shot with around 45 of those top recruits. Among the top prospects is La Costa Canyon offensive tackle Erik Magnuson. The 6-foot-6, 275-pound lineman checks in as the number 34 overall prospect in the nation with a 4 star ranking. Considering the competition among offensive linemen in the 2012 class, that ranking says a lot.

Back in March Magnuson updated us on his knowledge of Michigan and familiarity with the new coaching staff from their days at San Diego State. "Yeah, I know [the coaches] from there.  I feel like Coach Funk is a great coach and really knows a lot about the offensive line….Coach Funk is just the man. He took me in when I was a sophomore and just really treated me well," he said. He also mentioned that despite the fact that he lives in California he prefers the cold weather of Michigan.

Erik's then top five consisted of Michigan, Oregon, USC, Miami, and Oklahoma but was still changing as offers were coming in. He now knows who the top three programs are, but isn't ready to announce all three schools just yet. "I haven't come out with the top three yet. I'm waiting a little bit to make it public, but I will say that Michigan is one of them," he said. "I'm only taking official visits to schools that I'm really serious about and I will be out to Michigan this fall for an official." 

Magnuson will release the rest of his top three to the public soon, but isn't sure when exactly. He also doesn't have a set timeline for when he'd like to make his decision, but is hoping that comfortable feeling lets him know when he's ready.

Erik Magnuson Junior Film

Comments

Space Coyote

May 17th, 2011 at 1:11 AM ^

Magnuson is a very good recruit and, in his words (and based on his top group), he seems to be very high on Michigan.  This would go a long way to solidifying the offensive line depth going forward, as Magnuson seems to perfectly fit at one of the tackle positions.

He would still need a redshirt year IMO, as he has some technique issues and needs to gain some muscle mass, but he has the athletic ability and seems to have the potential size to be a very good tackle at the college level.

5280rad

May 17th, 2011 at 1:06 AM ^

From what he says about Funk it sure sounds like we have a staff that has some SERIOUS recruiting gravitas, on top of what we can offer recruits with regard to UM's academics, Big house, etc.  I am sooooo anxious for fall to get here!!  I know these guys can coach too not just recruit, but I don't think any of us knows for sure what our ceiling will be on the field this season.

MrWoodson

May 17th, 2011 at 1:19 AM ^

Ben Braden (MI) (6'6", 285 lb)

Caleb Stacey (OH) (6'4", 275 lb)

Jordan Diamond (IL) (6'6", 289 lb)

Paul Thurston (CO) (6'5", 274 lb)

J.J. Denman (PA) (6'7", 305 lb)

Erik Magnuson (CA) (6'6", 275 lb)

MrWoodson

May 17th, 2011 at 1:54 AM ^

I think the plan is to use him as a TE/HB because of his mobility, but it all depends on how he fills out. Not clear to me if he is a good 250 lbs right now or if he has some weight he can drop before they build him back up. If he is solid now, he will probably end up on the OL (or even the DL) before all is said and done.

Ace

May 17th, 2011 at 2:05 AM ^

Brady Hoke and Co. are so good at recruiting that they've even managed to convince Californian recruits that they'd prefer Michigan weather.

It's over. We're gonna win everything.

Eye of the Tiger

May 17th, 2011 at 2:12 AM ^

But it begs the question: who thought we'd be here right now?! I didn't. Actually, had something suggested it to me in January, I'd have told them to lay off the glue.

Obviously a lot is riding on how we perform this year. But a 9 win season would seal it.

Hate to take this back to CC territory, but I think this kind of recruiting is what we all thought the Michigan brand was capable of, and lacking, during the late Carr years...and hoped RR would bring.

Again, way way too early to say anything about Hoke other than that he's built a great staff and is a dynamite recruiter. But it's been a waaaaaay better than anticipated offseason, for me at least.

fatbastard

May 17th, 2011 at 10:48 AM ^

I am consistently amazed by people that say Carr's recruiting dwindled at the end.  Maybe to a small extent, but:  Ryan Mallet, Brandon Graham, Arrington, D. Warren, Boubacar was highly touted, McGuffie highly touted, there are more.  RR was the guy who dropped the ball with sheparding good players out the door after he took over, and then recruiting 45 slot ninjas instead of defensive players.

El Jeffe

May 17th, 2011 at 12:19 PM ^

Awesome. The "RR ran off Mallett and Boren" and "RR didn't recruit defense" memes all in one. I also hear RR shredded WVU documents, runs a passing spread, and doesn't get it.

Not that it matters, but in his two full classes, he got LOIs from Bell, Campbell, Emilien, Gordon, Hawthorne, Jones, Jones, LaLota, Roh, Turner, Witty, Ash, Avery, Black, Christian, Dorsey, Furman, Johnson, Jones, Kinard, Paskorz, Robinson, Ryan, Talbott, Talbott, Vinopal, and Wilkins.

Eye of the Tiger

May 17th, 2011 at 10:03 PM ^

To beatify him.

However, I think it's empirically verifiable that his recruiting classes were considered subpar by recruiting analysts in comparison with Lloyd's last few, which in turn were considered subpar to his earlier classes. Obv recruiting is not an exact science, so take that with a grain of salt.

Doesn't mean he didn't recruit some great players--Denard, for instance, is all RR. But looking at that list, wow that's a lot of recruits that didn't or haven't panned out yet. Hopefully some of them, the ones left, will have great years this year. I've got big hopes for Roh in particular, who was one of my favorite RR recruits.

Magnus

May 17th, 2011 at 6:16 AM ^

If he commits to Michigan, things are going to get very confusing around here for me.

Message boarder: "Hooray, Magnuson!  You're awesome!"

Me: "Well, thanks, that's very ki...oh...uh..."

dennisblundon

May 17th, 2011 at 7:07 AM ^

Coach Funk is looking like an unbelievable recruiter. In these interviews, I have heard nothing but these kids singing his praise. This would be a huge get and it looks like we have a great shot.

dRich

May 17th, 2011 at 8:07 AM ^

whats the word on him last i knew he had high interest on Michigan and four other schools? visit soon?

Steve in PA

May 17th, 2011 at 11:22 AM ^

Seems to be a lot of intangibles that I can't model for this one.

 



Eric Magnuson   Michigan USC Oregon Miami Oklahoma
  If he's a 5 Star 15.8% 27.4% 22.8% 13.6% 20.5%
  If he's a 4 Star 14.7% 29.2% 23.4% 12.0% 20.7%

 

Steve in PA

May 17th, 2011 at 3:55 PM ^

This is just a prototype, Spreadsheet v1.3. Every version gets a little more accurate.   If I can keep my average above 67% I'll do a full writeup.

 

Edit:  I'm not trying to predict top 5 or top 3.  It's built to predict a winner, but the accuracy goes up drastically when a player announces a top 5. More than that is just too much data.

Pasadena_Blue

May 17th, 2011 at 11:40 AM ^

Like how he continues to punish his man long after the play is over and the runner is down.  Hopefully he has that just mean enough streak to hate whoever he is blocking, and does it without attracting any laundary in the process.  He would definitely be another great addition to the road graders that we are looking to pick up.

San Diego Mick

May 17th, 2011 at 1:43 PM ^

Magnus, I will still sing your praises even if we get Magnuson to committ. You're still an important part of the Go Blue Nation, you provide a very integral part of U-M Blogs and we appreciate your input,so no worries mate!

Both my niece and nephew graduated from La Costa Canyon HS recently, it's where Kenny Stills, WR for Okla went also. Someone we might have gotten had we had Hoke earlier, oh well.

Anyway, that school is relatively new and in a very well to do neighborhood. Their program kinda reminds me of Farmington Harrison as far as producing players. We should always be recruiting that school. A lot of rich kids and a lot of money to have strong programs in many of their sports.