Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}

I know many a person has been referred to my list of 2010/2011/2012 players, the past few days I've had an opportunity to see some of those guys up close and personal at some scrimmages. (Inkster, Brother Rice are at the bottom of this article)


Thursday... had the chance to chat with a guy that many a person who are subscribers to Rivals.com's Michigan Wolverines website will be familiar with.....

Attended the Clarkston, Grand Blanc, Rochester, and Orchard Lake St. Mary's four-way scrimmage yesterday, some initial impressions

Grand Blanc.... while their defense wasn't overly impressive, their offense will be one of the best in the state of Michigan.

Tony Jones (2010 WR, Northwestern commitment) -- very solid receiver. Extremely explosive and proved that today. Surprisingly physical for his size.

Justice Hayes (2011 RB) -- Looked very explosive at runningback, he has a lot of skills. Still too early to project where the recruiting sites will rank him, but should have a good feel for that after a few games this fall.

Marcus Tucker (2010 WR) – A guy I wasn’t very familiar with before this scrimmage. He was really impressive and just was another one of a plethora of options for GB this fall

Ryan Morley (2011 QB -- throwing at left) -- Is definitely an undersized quarterback, but throws a good ball with a lot of velocity. He could be a guy that really fits well on the small stage in a spread attack. Quick release. Not a guy who is going to break a huge run, but has decent athletic ability with good quickness.

Gabe Martin (2010 LB/TE, Bowling Green commitment) -- Liked him more on offense than on defense on this day. He is a really physical guy. Has a good combination of size and athleticism, but his frame limits his potential as a tight end on the college level.

Clarkston..... looked pretty solid on both sides of the ball. Pretty explosive in the running game offensively.

Tyler Scarlett (2010 QB) -- Very undersized. Above average runner for a quarterback at the high school level. Not an overly strong arm and has a tendency to put too much touch on passes.

Dakota Bender (2010 RB) -- Undersized as well, but pretty explosive back with 4.55 speed. Solid receiver out of the backfield who is a well rounded runningback. 

Rochester.... they are improving as a team, but still struggled. A team that only won one game last year, they are a program that should be on its way to respectability.

Nick Bradley (2011 QB) -- Much like Scarlett, he is very undersized. However, he does have a much stronger arm and throws the ball with some zip. Very accurate. 

OLSM.... as a team they looked very average. Now Bolden did not attend this scrimmage for whatever reason. They were very dominant based on size along the lines.

Robert Bolden (2010 QB, Penn State commitment) -- Did not attend.

Earnest Thomas (2010 S/LB, UCLA commitment) -- Has a real nose for the football, was around the play all night. Wasn't overly impressive as his ranking on some recruiting sites would lead you to desire, but he was solid nonetheless.

James Ross (2012 LB) -- This is a guy that is very impressive physically. For a sophomore, he is huge -- 6-foot-2 and about 210 pounds. In my opinion he is still growing into his body athletically and will be a guy to watch going forward.

 

 

Tonight I attended the four way scrimmage featuring Inkster, Brother Rice, Farmington Hills Harrison, and L’anse Creuse…..

Harrison…. Looked fantastic tonight. Very aggressive defensively and were the only team that was remotely capable of defending Inkster. I’ll be honest here, I don’t know much about FHH, so I may have some names wrong, but here goes… They’ll be a team to watch this postseason, in my opinion.

Steve Slobin (2011 RB) -- Smaller back, but silky smooth and hard to tackle. Not great speed, but ridiculous quickness.

 

 

L’anse Creuse…. They were pretty over their head at their scrimmage. They’ve got some pieces, but just didn’t have the overall talent to compete with these teams.

 

Brother Rice…. What a shocker… a talented Brother Rice team. Thought they were very good defensively, but have a lot of weapons on offense as well.

Franke Popp (2010 QB) – His play basically decided a few games for BR. He played mistake free for the majority of the time that I saw him, but he had some absolutely dreadful interceptions against Inkster. He plays well and they’ll play well and win games.

Jeff DeClaire (2010 RB) – There isn’t a way that he is a inch over 5-foot-6, but he is just a shifty hard nosed runningback. Every team that faced Rice could not locate him behind the line. He will be the starter at tailback for Rice this fall.

Kevonte Martin-Manley (2010 WR) – He’ll be a dominant receiver again this fall for Brother Rice. Definitely rose his stock in my eyes tonight. Really impressive receiver.

Justin Cherocci (2010 LB) – Tackling machine. He should be a lower level college player on scholarship, just a natural football player. Little undersized, but has a nose for the ball.

Nate Saldivar-Garcia (2010 WR) – A very nice compliment to Martin-Manley, NSG is a strong, solidly built receiver.

Jimmy Pickens (2011 DB) – Played safety and a little cornerback, looked very strong as always.  I believe he was on my 2011 watchlist… if he wasn’t he should have been.

Conor Hart (2011 DE/TE) – Another guy who will be added to my watchlist for 2011. Has excellent size (6-4, 230 lbs) and is very athletic as well.

Tim Hamilton (2011 LB) – Thought he matched Cherocci’s performance at linebacker, definitely on the 2011 watchlist now.

 

Inkster…. Looked very good tonight. General consensus was that they were either tied with Rice or ahead of Rice as the most talented team in the scrimmage. Inkster was tremendous though, but tripped up a bit against Harrison.

Overall they looked really good and were much improved defensively as I expected. They’ve got some work to do on defense still, took a lot of risks and while they did produce turnovers, they did allow quite a few big plays. Specifically true for their defensive backs.

 

Devin Gardner (2010 QB, Michigan commitment) – Was as advertised tonight. Looked a little surprised by Harrison’s aggressive defense, think he is more used to teams making him throw the ball around. Overall though, he was good tonight against some very talented teams.

 

Dwight Trammer (2011 LB) – This is a guy who transferred from Oak Park and now plays for Inkster. He is a really nice young linebacker. Prototypical linebacker with a great combination of physical play and athleticism

Donavan Lindsay (2011 S) – He was great last year late in Inkster’s season and looked a little rusty early tonight. Was slow on reading some plays, but seemed to adjust as the scrimmage went on and ended up getting a couple INTs.

 

Jonathon Taylor (2010 WR, CMU commitment) – he was the lone receiver that stood out amongst the rest for Inkster. They’ve got a ton of talent in that WR group, but I’ve always liked Taylor the best out of that group. Very good receiver, CMU got a steal – he is a mid to low Big Ten prospect who is going to be a Chippewa.

Thought Inkster looked much improved along the offensive line, but they like Gardner got a little confused when Harrison brought pressure.

Will have a little more on Inkster later.

Helmets courtesy the Michigan High School Helmet Project.