TVH Weekly: Eric Olson, Adam Bisnowaty, Se'Von Pittman and Much More

Submitted by TomVH on

With sixteen commitments now on board it could start to get interesting for Michigan recruiting. They arguably have anywhere between 21-25 spots total for this class, which means they have at most 9 more scholarships available. Here's a look at what could happen next and some notes from a few prospects.

As always you can follow me for more updates on Twitter @TomVH, and email me with any tips or questions at [email protected].

Eric OlsonEric Olson

6'6", 265 lbs.

Offensive lineman

Cambridge, Massachusetts


Olson's name popped up later than the other linemen Michigan has been looking at. He has an offer and took in Ann Arbor this past week.

Our flight was delayed so we got in late Tuesday night. We pushed everything to Wednesday, but I have a buddy who's a freshman there so we went out to dinner with him on Tuesday. On Wednesday we met with Coach Mallory, went to the business center, the academic center and met with the academic advisor. They took us on a tour, went to the facilities, the Big House, and Al Glick field house. It was pretty unbelievable, they have the best facilities of any school that I've been to. It's a pretty special place. I got chills walking down the tunnel and seeing the Go Blue across it. The Big House was great.

As I reported last time academics will be a huge factor in Eric's decision. He's done his homework on each school and got to see what Michigan has to offer in person.

The Ross business school is a prestigious place. They talked about the rankings and the opportunities you have from there. I asked how difficult it is to be on the football team and in the business school. They said that Zoltan Mesko did it and he was near the top of his class. With summer classes you can get some of the core classes out of the way.

With the academic side layed out clearly he also got a chance to sit down and talk with his potential position coach.

We met with Coach Funk and talked about his experiences and where he's coached. My school runs basically the exact same offense they want to run, a two-back pound it play-action offense. Their depth chart is a strong point for their recruitment because it's pretty wide open. There's a chance to play early there. Coach Hoke told us that he wants to recruit high character kids and his main focus is to get them a degree. 

Since this was Olson's last visit he now has some thinking to do, but he's not sure of when a decision will come.

I've dabbled with the idea of going out to Stanford's camp, but I'm not sure. These past couple days we've been talking about it. We'll make a decision to either commit somewhere or I might go out to Stanford. I don't know when it could happen, could be a week, tomorrow, a couple weeks. I'm honestly not sure yet.

I believe him when he says he's not sure. I think he has it narrowed down in his head, but probably doesn't have his decision yet. That's at least as of when we spoke. If he decides not to go out to Stanford I think that bodes well for Michigan's chances. I'll have more on the offensive line situation further down.

Adam BisnowatyAdam Bisnowaty

6'6", 275 lbs.

Offensive Lineman

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania


Bisnowaty was making his way through an unofficial visit tour and stopped in Ann Arbor to check out Michigan. The four star lineman's athletic director filled me in on how the visit went.

Adam told me that he really enjoyed the visit. He liked everything very much, and he said that he was impressed with the head coach. The facilities were out of sight, and I know we have nice facilities, but he said it was really great there. I think he's been interested in Michigan for awhile, how can you not be interested in Michigan. Academics are important for him, and our old head coach is friends with one of the new Michigan coaches. He's traveling out to Michigan, Notre Dame, Michigan State, and Purdue. 

These trips were for Adam to gain more comfortability with each program, and to potentially help him make his final decision.

He's hoping to get [a decision] taken care of before the season, but I think he's realizing that might not be possible. He's planning on taking some official visits, and I doubt he'd take all five. His options are pretty open I don't think he's sold on any one over the other.

His athletic director, Mike O'Brien, had nothing bad to say about Adam and thought that any program would be lucky to have a kid like him. He'll probably know more about where he stands with each school once he's done taking his visits.

Erik MagnusonErik Magnuson

6'6' 275 lbs.

Offensive Lineman

Carlsbad, California


As you know by now Erik has committed. He told me it would be happening around two weeks ago, he just wanted to take this visit to see everything in person. Now that he is committed he will be putting on his recruiting hat.

It wasn't anything that I expected at Michigan, it was crazy. It was such a cool place and everyone was so nice. I want to get the best players to commit there now so I've been talking to OL Isaac [Seumalo, 4 Star], DT Aziz Shittu, and OL Jordan Diamond. The coaches didn't know much about Isaac because he's from a small school, but they know of him now. If they offer him, we want to play together, so I think he'd be really interested. 

Erik was on campus for the jersey reveal, but as I said on Twitter he was NOT allowed to attend the event.

They didn't want to take any chances with any NCAA stuff so I couldn't be in there. I did see some pictures of them and they look good. I'm going to try to come out there for the Notre Dame game with my family and then I'll probably take an official visit by myself for another game.

Magnuson was a huge pick up in himself, but it sounds like he could be a good recruiter for Michigan as well.

Se'von PittmanSe'Von Pittman

6'5", 245 lbs.

Defensive End

Canton, Ohio


I spoke with Pittman's head coach this past week, and since then there have been some rumors flying around. I'll discuss some of what I was told this week here and a little bit further down. First, here's what his coach had to say.

There's four schools that have never really wavered in his top group, Michigan, Ohio State, Notre Dame, and MSU are the four and the southern schools are in there because they've won National Championships and all that. When it comes down to it though I think that distance might be an issue for him. Brady and Greg have done a great job with him in recruiting. He plans on getting up there sometime at the end of the summer.

The Ohio State mess is not the only factor playing into why Pittman feels strongly about the Wolverines.

I've known Greg [Mattison] and Brady [Hoke} for awhile and think the world of them. Brady at Ball State, we spent a lot of time together. I've worked several camps with Greg at Notre Dame and MIchigan. He's a first class guy.

As far as how his recruitment is going to play out, his coach had this to say.

[Se'Von] wants to take a couple official visits. They're going to be game day officials because his intentions are to be a mid-year graduate and enroll early. He's done a lot of homework, he's gone to camps, spring balls, evertyhing. He might be going up to Michigan's camp, we have a couple kids going up there, so he might come up too.

I was told by someone that I trust, and that is very close to the situation, that Michigan a few weeks ago thought they were very close to landing PIttman. Since then I was told that they have slowed things down with him. I don't want to get into too much or speculate but we'll see how it plays out as he gets closer to his graduation, and if he does indeed graduate early. It's not over with him by any means.

Offensive and Defensive Line:

That's a good segue to now talk about where Michigan is at with both offensive and defensive line recruiting.

First the offensive line. With Magnuson committing that gives them a true left tackle and Ben Braden and Caleb Stacey on the interior. Michigan is still in great shape with Illinois OL Jordan Diamond. If you missed it I spoke with his mother about where they're at this past week. He and his family will be visiting Ann Arbor this week for the Sound Mind Sound Body camp, and will also pop in to see the coaches.

Eric Olson and Adam Brisnowaty are fresh off visits as I just talked about. Colorado OL Paul Thurston should be deciding within the next few months and has Michigan in his final group. Someone that hasn't been talked about much is Tennessee OL Blake Bars (6'5", 275 lbs, 4 star), who is originally from Michigan and is still an option. The coaches could potentially offer Magnuson's friend Isaac Seumalo, who happens to be ranked 175th overall in the nation per Rivals. 

There is still some drama with the offensive line, however. Ohio State commit Kyle Kalis told me this past week that he is still committed to Ohio State but is listening to other schools. Michigan is one of those schools he's listening to and he could potentially visit. The possible kicker here is that Kalis and recent Michigan commit Tom Strobel are friends. I asked Kalis if Strobel's commitment would have any effect on him and he said, "I'm not sure, maybe." That might sound like nothing, but to me it sounds like Strobel has an opportunity to get in his friend's ear. This could be something to watch as Kalis has said the sanctions on OSU and their potential head coach would matter in his final decision.

You will likely see the final offensive line commits come from this group. What the combination is, I'm not sure yet. 

As for defensive line recruiting, this gets a little more confusing. With Strobel's commitment Michigan now has DE Pharaoh Brown, DE/DT Matt Godin, DE/LB Mario Ojemudia, and the aforementioned Tom Strobel. The good thing about these commitments is that a lot of them are versatile and can be moved to different spots if necessary.

Michigan will likely take three more defensive line commitments. That sounds like a lot, but the prospects they're in on are the kind that you have to take. DE Chris Wormley has said openly that Michigan is his leader and I wouldn't expect him to wait much longer before deciding. Outside of Wormley you have DE Se'Von Pittman, DE Adolphus Washington, DT Ondre Pipkins [who should be visiting soon], and DT Aziz Shittu. I'm only going to include these names for now, because these are the kids I think MIchigan has the best shot at landing in the current time. 

With what I mentioned about Pittman above I am wondering if that will alter anyone else's decision timeline. For example Adolphus Washington plans on announcing his decision at the Under Armour All American game, whereas Pittman plans on graduating early which means he needs to decide sooner than Washington. Wormley will likely announce before the season, and if he picks Michigan that's one less spot available between Washington and Pittman. If the coaches wait for Washington then it probably means they will not get Pittman.

Extra:

Pennsylvania RB Greg Garmon told me via text that he will be visiting Michigan on Monday. I'll have more from him soon, or after the visit.

Cali DT Aziz Shittu was mentioned above in the defensive line recruiting, because I think Michigan has a legitimate shot with him. Shittu has a top eleven right now that includes Michigan, Cal, Notre Dame, Auburn, USC, UCLA, Stanford, Florida, Washington, Arizona, and Nebraska. "I might make it out [to Michigan] for the Notre Dame game, those jerseys were dope," Shittu told me. Dope is good. He will probably wait to see how teams perform during the season before making any decisions. Ondre Pipkins has wavered on when he will make his decision, so Ondre's decision could potentially alter where Shittu ends up if he were to pick Michigan.

Pennsylvania DE Noah Spence is still interested in Michigan as well. His father told me this past week that they are just laying low for right now and letting Noah enjoy some time off. He just took the SAT on Saturday. Not a lot is going on right now, but the Michigan coaches did take a visit to his school during the evaluation period. 

2013 WR LaQuon Treadwell is teammates with current commit DB Anthony Standifer. Treadwell is hoping for a Michigan offer, and there's a chance he would commit right away if he received the offer. The Michigan coaches plan on watching his film and going from there. Just something to keep an eye on. I'll have more from him later on.

Ohio RB Bri'Onte Dunn has been talked about a lot lately. I've previously reported that he and his father are waiting to find out what happens with the OSU sanctions, and they will definitely have an effect on his commitment. His father told me this past week that they plan on making it out to Penn State as the next stop, and there's also a chance that they will be at the Michigan-Notre Dame night game during the season.

Utah FB Sione Houma did not commit during his visit to Michigan this weekend. He doesn't say much, but he told me that his parents went with him on the trip, and that he could potentially see himself going to Michigan. He will probably wait everything out, and I think distance might factor in here.

To stick with the fullback theme, I mentioned on the board this past week that Michigan currently leads for Texas FB EJ Fatu. He doesn't talk much either, but he sounds pretty excited about Michigan. We'll see if he makes it up soon for a visit.

I've gotten a lot of questions about quarterbacks lately. Maty Mauk took a visit to Ann Arbor this past week and Indiana QB Gunner Kiel postpponed his announcement that was supposed to take place on Sunday [the 12th]. From what I was told I wouldn't get too excited about Kiel, but I'm not sure that anyone really knows what's going on. His family keeps everything very close and doesn't leak too much. Both quarterbacks will likely decide soon and Michigan is still in the mix for both of them. If they miss on both then I would expect Austin Appleby to become a real option. He plans on camping and if the coaches like what they see, he could get an offer. I preface all of that with the fact that I don't know what is going to happen with Mauk or Kiel---both keep everything quiet.

2013 instate OL Steve Elmer was offered by Wisconsin. He now holds offers from Wisconsin and Mississippi State. I spoke to his dad a few weeks ago, I just haven't posted the interview yet. That will go up this week.

Comments

AAB

June 12th, 2011 at 2:25 PM ^

Not sure if you're comfortable answering this, but when you say "they have slowed things down with him" does that mean it was Michigan's decision and not Pittman's?

jcorqian

June 12th, 2011 at 2:27 PM ^

Thanks Tom, tremendous amount of information packed into this update.  Possibly not having room because so many good players are interested is a great problem to have.

ryebreadboy

June 12th, 2011 at 2:32 PM ^

Wow, tons of information in here.  Thanks, Tom!

Hopefully Washington reconsiders his timeline.  We still need to get him and Stanford up for a visit.

ken725

June 13th, 2011 at 1:29 PM ^

I hope he does reconsider his timeline.  It seems like the coaches might be higher on Washington IF they are willing to wait for him to announce.  Pittman and Washington are both highly rated and I'm not sure if we should wait for either.  I would take the first who wants to commit to us, but I'm not a coach so I will let them make the decisions.

briangoblue

June 12th, 2011 at 2:33 PM ^

That is a LOT to digest. Keep up the great work during what has been the most exciting offseason since I started following the site. This must be what the recruiting momentum was like the year or two after the 97 championship. Crazy.

M-Wolverine

June 12th, 2011 at 9:00 PM ^

There was some real top of the line 5* or high 4*'s that were reeled in, but not these numbers, where we seem to get just about everyone we want, and so many. This is getting a little surreal. In a good way.

TomVH

June 12th, 2011 at 2:41 PM ^

I've said before that I think he'll stay out west.

Some other names to consider that I guess should be up there as well are Zach Banner and Joshua Garnett. Both have said they want to visit. If the class fills up before the season starts though, they might be out of luck. That's why I have those prospects in the update first.

A lot of what's going to happen with every spot is who commits first and when. 

GATO

June 12th, 2011 at 3:12 PM ^

"If the class fills up before the season starts though, they might be out of luck."

 

I can't remember a recruiting year with as much momentum as this one.  The fact that we may end up turning away some big time players is something that shocks me but potentially a good problem to have.  I think we will need a good season on the field to keep the ball rolling but if we do we could have something similar to the UTexas recruiting model down the road.  It seems like filling a large part of their class by february every year has worked out well for them. 

ryebreadboy

June 12th, 2011 at 7:11 PM ^

Both of those players are absolutely phenomenal. Hopefully things don't fill up before they get a chance to come out and visit. Getting them out here early will be very important. Hopefully we can schedule lots of high-profile official visits for the ND night game (especially since recruits like Pipkins and Shittu seem to love the throwbacks) and get things wrapped up swiftly afterward.
<br>
<br>There's most likely definitely not going to be time for people to wait until after the season or the all-American games to announce, though. I think we will at least want silents in hand if that's what the recruit (example, Washington) wants to do.

Beavis

June 12th, 2011 at 2:42 PM ^

Thanks Tom.

9 more scholarships max might break down like this... in a near perfect world:

3 DL:  Washington, Pipkins, Wormley

2 OL:  Diamond, One of the many others

1 QB:  Appleby / Mauk / Kiel

1 WR:  Stanford / Burbridge

After that it becomes a numbers game with fifth years and attrition, but I could see it playing out one of several ways to get to 9:

1)  Take a FB and get a high profile RB (Dunn, Garmon, Marshall)

2)  Take one FB/RB and get Burbridge to qualify

3)  Take a legit FS with someone from group 1 or 2 above

I think the real takeaway on this is Michigan cooled on CBs and on Pittman.  So, the coaches must think we're good on everything DB related except a true FS.  And, with all the attention from top DL (that don't apparently have grade issues like Pittman), we'll only take guys they feel 100% confidant in.  I'm also pretty sure based on this that they're reserving two spots for Washington and Stanford.

 

jaggs

June 12th, 2011 at 3:42 PM ^

we're taking 3 more DL, don't 2 of them need to be true DT types? That leaves Wormley vs. Washington for the 3rd spot and hopefully, some combination of Pipkins, Shittu, O'Brien etc for the other 2 spots.

That is unless Hoke & Co. view Wormley as a 3 tech/RVB type player down the line...

wlubd

June 12th, 2011 at 3:48 PM ^

2 defensive tackles would be nice but a true nose seems more important then a 3-tech at this point. We have Godin and Strobel already and if we got Washington and Wormley, you'd have to assume someone could grow in to a 3-tech. A nose tackle though is the real need which is why Pipkins is so important.

ken725

June 13th, 2011 at 1:38 PM ^

We also don't know where Rock or Heitzman will eventually end up playing.  I know those guys were not that highly rated, but they do provide depth on the defensive line.  I know that Rock was listed as a DE, but most said that he was going to move inside because he has the frame to carry more weight.  I'm not too sure about Heitzman, but I'm sure he is a candidate to play inside as well.

jaggs

June 12th, 2011 at 5:30 PM ^

down a Wormley or Washington or even a Spence, but I reeaaallly think talented DTs are tougher to come by and our depth there is substantially sparcer (sp?). It's not like Wormley/Washington are heads and heals above the DT prospects, so why take a guy hoping someone will eventually move from that position instead of a natural DT? 

Logan88

June 12th, 2011 at 6:08 PM ^

I agree.

Personally, I would like to see only one more DE taken with 2 true DT's. I have noticed that Sheldon Day seems to no longer be mentioned as a likely commit. At one point a few months ago, I thought Day was the most likely DT to end up at UM. What happened with Day's recruitment?

wlubd

June 12th, 2011 at 6:17 PM ^

He's still interested, but he's planning on deciding late. Not much news about him because his recruitment's just moving slowly. Now obviously how much room we'll have closer to signing day could be a factor but there's nothing to suggest he's not interested in us, he's just taking his time.

ken725

June 13th, 2011 at 1:33 PM ^

I haven't heard much about o'brien lately, but I just get the feeling that we wont be getting him.  I know he is good friends with Godin, but he doesn't talk about us as much and I feel like he has been to Tenn twice as much as us if not more. 

I would be a loss to miss out on a talented in state kid, but if we get Pipkins of Shittu I wont be upset. 

EGD

June 12th, 2011 at 2:57 PM ^

Looks like a good player.  Scout has him listed as a 4-star and the #8 OT prospect, plus it says he has a 3.9 GPA and an 1100 on the SAT.  

If Pittman can enroll early, wouldn't UM be able to count his as a 2011 signee?

Also, reading this update was like what I imagine crack to be like.

cjd3mtsu

June 12th, 2011 at 7:09 PM ^

Why are all of you soooo worried about the 85 cap limit in June of 2011? We can sign a full class and be at 88 or so; trust me, after spring ball and summer camp that number will go under 85. That is a positive of living in TN and watching recruiting closely. 

It only becomes SECish if you have 90+ on the roster after spring ball and cut players after summer camp (ala Les Miles, Steve Spurrier, Nick Saban). 

 

dayooper63

June 12th, 2011 at 2:59 PM ^

Thanks Tom.  Great information, as usual.  Is there a possiblity of taking 4 DL?  If a guy like Shittu wants to come in late if we already have taken Wormley, Washington, and Pipkins, would they bring him in?  A 5 star DT with his size and ability would be hard to turn down.  I know 8 DL would be a ton, but it seems these kids are athletic enough to be moved around a little.