TomVH

California DB Tony Jefferson recently announced his intention to take an official visit to Michigan, although committed to UCLA. Jefferson is a four star safety with a fake [ed: !!!] 4.5 40 time. As I mentioned in a different thread, my computer broke again, so this will be somewhat brief, and in a different format. I spoke with him about the change in his recruitment, and here are some bullet points about what he said:

• Wherever he goes, he will be enrolling early, which means he will be deciding soon.
• His visit will be November 7th for the Purdue game.
• "The coaches (from Michigan) have been talking to me for awhile now, and they've really turned up the intensity. That's part of why I'm taking a visit. I've been talking to coach Singletary and Rich Rodriguez. They've basically been telling me that I'm a priority for them, and they really want me."
• "I've been watching their games, and I really like the way they've been playing defense. I know at Michigan I could get a really good education, and always be fighting to play in a bowl game; I like that."
• "I have a really strong feeling towards Michigan. I get along really well with their staff, and Tate Forcier has been talking to me alot. He's a San Diego boy, and he's been telling me about how much he loves it."
• He said that UCLA hasn't done anything wrong, he just doesn't want to second guess himself.
• His final list is UCLA, Florida, Michigan, and Miami.
• An interesting side note: He has a lot of family in Florida, and confirmed that if he committed to Florida, his family might move there.

It seems like Florida has the best shot, but he seemed sincere when he said he has a strong feeling towards Michigan. Since he's never been on campus, you never know. The coaches have definitely shown him they want him, and he mentioned that it means a lot that they're showing so much interest. He'll visit Florida on November 28th and will decide shortly after.

The new meme across college football analysts is the disappointing performances by Terrelle Pryor. Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated even went as far to ask if he chose the wrong school.There’s been blame put on Terrelle, Tressel, and I’m sure someone will find a way to blame Rich Rodriguez for Pryor’s woes.

It’s only two weeks into his sophomore campaign, and there has already been talk of Pryor being a bust. This past Saturday, Pryor and his Ohio State team lost in a close game to a USC team that’s ranked number three in the nation. Pryor has made poor decisions on the field, and even recently one off the field, HOWEVA, there are a few questions that need to be answered when addressing Terrelle Pryor. The first question that came to mind was if Terrelle Pryor was a victim of the “OMG star rankings,” and the new media hype of scouting services.

Pryor was ranked as the number one player in the country in 2008, and a five star recruit by Rivals.com. The attention he got throughout the recruiting process seemed like he was getting drafted right out of high school. He was dubbed the savior, the next coming of Vince Young, and even added to the media attention by holding multiple press conferences to announce that he would be announcing a decision, and then eventually announce the decision. The question is; was the hype warranted? Was Terrelle Pryor that much ahead of the rest of the field, and as college ready as the professionals said he was? I took the stats compiled from Pryor’s junior  year of high school, and compared them to Devin Gardner,  2010 QB prospect committed to Michigan.  For argument’s sake, I’ll leave their names out of their stats. Gardner hasn’t yet completed his senior year, and Pryor was dubbed the number one player in the nation after his junior year, anyway.

Rushing Att.	Yds.	Avg.	TD	Pass Att.	PC	Pct.	Yds.	TD	Int.
115	1,401	12.0	22	170	98	58.0	1,886	26	7
Rushing Att.	Yds.	Avg.	TD	Pass Att.	PC	Pct	Yds.	TD	Int.
192	1,676	8.7	29	163	92	56.4	1,732	15	<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />-

 

Devin Gardner owns the first set of stats, and the second group belongs to Terrelle Pryor. As you can see, Pryor had approximately 200 more rushing yards, and 7 more rushing TD’s. Gardner, however, has a better passing percentage, more yards, and 11 more touchdown passes than Pryor. The two are also close in height, with Pryor having an inch or two on Gardner, while Terrelle is around 40 pounds heavier than Devin.

Devin Gardner is ranked as a 4 star prospect, and the 53^rd best prospect in the country. So, it would seem by comparing stats and stature that 40 pounds is what separates Gardner from the 5^th star, and the paparazzi following.

I’m not defending Pryor, or lobbying for Gardner. I’m merely comparing the two, and questioning the reason for the hype surrounding Terrelle Pryor.

It’s been said before that the recruiting services base a lot of their opinion on NFL potential. While the NFL has adopted the wildcat and more athletic quarterbacks, the biggest emphasis is still on passing ability. Again, based off of these stats, Pryor is not light years ahead of his peers.

It seems like Pryor has fell victim (I hate to call him a victim of anything) of the new media hype machine. They created the monster, and after building his castle, seem to be deconstructing it one poor decision at a time.

(The next stat that needs to be analyzed is how Pryor compares to past number 1 rated quarterbacks in their freshman and sophomore seasons. I’ll have another post on this later.)

I just spoke to Aramide Olaniyan again (for those concerned, he's off campus now). The win seemed to push Michigan over the edge for Olaniyan. I'm not interested in writing a whole piece, so here's some quotes from our discussion.

- "This was way more amazing than I thought it would be. The fans were crazy, I couldn't believe it. This was the first place I've been that fans recognized me."

- "There's definitely some things I need to consider now. I don't want to say too much, but I need to sit down and discuss some things with my parents. I'm taking an official visit in December, and my parents will be there with me, so I want them to see what I just saw."

- "I actually got to talk to coach Robinson, and some other coaches. I also got to see how I would be used in the defense (the quick, or OLB). I love the defensive scheme. I think they played well today."

- "I've never seen anything like that before. I went to a couple games last year, and this was crazy."

- "I love Michigan, and that definitely exceeded my expectations."

- "I talked to Austin White, Dior Mathis, and Devin Gardner. They were all cool guys, I got along with them really well."

It seems like we've pushed ahead to the forefront. As expected, I don't think he'll make a decision until after his parents see it for themselves in December. I was supposed to talk to Josh Furman today, too, but that might not be for a couple days now.

I just spoke to Aramide Olaniyan, and he told me he will be taking an unofficial visit to Michigan this weekend, for the Notre Dame game. He sounded VERY excited about coming up, he told me, "I owe it to myself to come see Michigan now, and also in the winter."

He'll be using one of his official visits to Michigan as well in the second week of December. "I am definitely considering Michigan right now, it's a great school, and I'm just really excited to go up there," he said.

He's excited to see the atmosphere, and the crowd at the Big House. After speaking with him, I could sense some very real excitement from him. I will have a follow up with him after his visit, to see where he's at with his recruitment.

This weekend could potentially be a huge weekend for recruiting. If all goes well, this could turn the thought process of Olaniyan, and possibly push some other recruits to commit.

Among the other recruits coming are:

- Bobby Swigert
- Josh Furman
- Delante Hollowell
- DeAnthony Arnett - I also spoke to him tonight, and he is definitely excited to see the game. He told me that Michigan was his first offer, but he doesn't plan on making a decision any time soon.
- There will be a good amount of 2011 recruits, I'm just not sure of all of them yet.

Mike Schofield (Sr.) emailed me after we spoke, and wanted to post this here. He's posted it at Rivals and Scout, as well. He's signing up for an account here, just hasn't gotten it up yet. So, I'm posting this for him.

As a parent of a Michigan Player/Student I find the story in the Freep nothing but nonsense, misinformation, bush league journalism and an attempt to tarnish the great name of Michigan Football, in short it think it is nothing more than Bullshit.
I have posted here long before this article came…and I give my permission to release any/all my post about Michigan football to the press.
 
As for the Freep, in a time of despair due to job loss, stock market struggling, gas prices high, job outlooks poor, we can rely on the Detroit Freep to attack America’s winningest College football program, East cost to West coast people love or hate Michigan Football, they are admired and or talked down about but always respected…..This being said, to publish information that is unsubstantiated is a poor/low down attempt to gain readers, viewers on a national level and raise the papers ratings at the expense of a great American football team, outstanding players, coaches and parents….
 
This news papers article is not only an attack on the program but the parenents and players, these kids are working hard….yes going to summer school, learning and getting acquainted to college life interacting with the community, fellow students in the dorms….
 
As a parent and as I have posted before, the Michigan Education was the most important thing to us, and during recruiting it was made extremely clear that Education before practice/football/games was the goal, the norm and no exceptions….
 
During the summer Michael spent more time studying going to class bonding with his freshman players and the other students in his dorm. Michael came home for visits, there were no signs of Barwis Police tracking him down…there were NO NCAA Violations, these kids played basketball, catch, and other sport activities with other college kids at the dorm, they went to visit sick children in the hospital and stopped by a summer camp for special needs kids…..where that in the Freep, that9s right that will not make national news…and is the truth…
 
I was joking with Michael in June when son Andrew came to a Michigan football camp,(JUNE 20) about Andrew being able to work with coach Frey in camp and learn new techniques and Michael who is going to be a player has not and  will not get that chance until his camp starts in August…and this is True….
 
As I have stated in my posts this organization is all about competition, you compete for a position every day, some people cannot except this, they leave, or make comments, and even  people outside the organization do not like this “the best player plays” concept and make up stories or comments. This is how rumors start….
 
Another thing, a poor reporter knows, when you go into a Media Day, and interview players you single out the freshman…they are 3 months out of High School have limited exposure to the media, so you ask them misleading questions . These kids are excited to be interviewed, and excited to put a positive look on Michigan and self serving reporters can get any kid to say what he wants by asking specific misleading information…
 
There is no practice prison where players are forced to workout hours a day, there are no coaches in disguises lurking the buildings watching players workout, there are no secrete passage where coaches meet players out of the public view….

I just spoke with Brandon Ifill about his recent visit up to Ann Arbor. He was laughing, and seemed blown away the whole time we were talking. It was a good visit, to say the least.

I asked him how it compared to his other visits, and he said, "It wasn't the same, but it was the same excitement being around a college atmosphere. I mean, it's the University of Michigan. The tradition there is so much greater than any other school. (laughs) The Big House, there's no comparison to any other school, or stadium. That was the icing on the cake. Walking down that tunnel; I got chills. I wanted to put my pads on right there. Walking on that grass, there's been so many great players to play on that field."

One of the most important things for Brandon was to get to know the coaches better, and get a feel for them. Although the Big House was overwhelming, it seems like the coaches were the best part. "I had a good connection with all of them, I liked them a lot. They were really straight forward, and that was cool. I'm pretty laid back, so I liked that. The best part of the whole visit was talking with coach Rodriguez. He was just so laid back, and he really made me feel like he wanted to get to know me as a person. Most coaches talk about their program, and football. He made me feel like I was his friend, and he cared about what I liked. It was just a normal guy, that was talking to me about football and life. There was no big spotlight, or big ceremony, it was just real," he told me.

Besides Rodriguez, the coach that caught Ifill's attention the most was, of course, Mike Barwis. "(laughing) That guy, wow. I spent most of my time with him. From what I've heard, and what I've seen, he's the best. His whole philosophy is incredible. He's somebody that can motivate you to be the best, and pull the best out of you. Just to see him that fired up about what he does is great. I've never met anyone like him before," said Ifill.

Brandon spoke to Cullen Christian, his teammate, about the visit, and expressed his excitement about everything he saw. The only thing in the way of a commitment now seems to be time. Brandon said, "I'm just waiting to build a better relationship with the coaches. I want to talk to them more, and get more comfortable with them. Everything was great, so I just want to see how that relationship gets built."