2022 DT Tawfiq Thomas names M to top 4
Tampa (FL) Gaither nose tackle prospect Tawfiq Thomas named Michigan to his top four, along with USF, Kansas, and Arkansas (LINK). He's listed at 6'3" and 360 lbs. and is a teammate of Mario Eugenio. I'm not sure how he's ranked as a 3-star, the #138 defensive tackle, and #1035 player overall with his offer list, size, and (decent) athleticism, but that just shows how weird this year is for rankings.
If you watch the first minute or two of his highlights, you'll see him catch a scoring pass after lining up at WR.
August 14th, 2021 at 8:58 PM ^
Where do we stand with all the D lineman who are already legit 4 or 5 stars?
/asking for a friend
August 15th, 2021 at 4:13 PM ^
Whether he is #1035 or #35 this is what UM football gets in 2021. So, make the best of it and see what happens. We ain’t beating OSU so does any of this ranking crap matter at this point? Start with beating MSU consistently. And work your way up to PSU. Gotta deal with IU this year and they will be a handful.
August 14th, 2021 at 9:08 PM ^
That is a lot of beef.
August 14th, 2021 at 9:18 PM ^
He is a load!
August 14th, 2021 at 9:18 PM ^
Can he play corner?
August 14th, 2021 at 10:08 PM ^
....or quarterback, or safety, or linebacker, or.....
August 14th, 2021 at 9:22 PM ^
We could use him, Walker and Grant on the dline.
August 14th, 2021 at 9:22 PM ^
All really big dudes are welcome!
August 14th, 2021 at 9:40 PM ^
Size has nothing to do with performance. Ask my ex-wives.
August 14th, 2021 at 9:42 PM ^
That’s a heck of an offer list. How ever is OSU going to stop that guy from getting to their QB’s.
August 14th, 2021 at 10:05 PM ^
They'll give him a different McDonald's bag.
August 15th, 2021 at 9:15 AM ^
Hopefully they'll try letting you block him. I'd pay to see that.
August 15th, 2021 at 1:27 PM ^
If they offer him.
edit: Oh I see. Clever.
August 14th, 2021 at 9:46 PM ^
Why tawfiq is he ranked so low?
August 14th, 2021 at 10:04 PM ^
He ate Don Brown's coveted DT prospect from New Hampshire.
August 14th, 2021 at 10:23 PM ^
Strange. If he was ranked in the top 200, I don’t think anyone watching his highlights would disagree, but his final four schools (USF, Arkansas, Kansas, and Michigan) are what you would expect given his current ranking.
Side note….Did anyone read the 247 article on Hunter Dickinson complaining about the university's "restrictive" NIL policies? Not a good look and they need to adapt to what other schools are doing so we don’t get left behind. Harbaugh and other Michigan coaches should be able to use it as a recruiting tool, not an obstacle to overcome.
August 14th, 2021 at 11:53 PM ^
I did not read the HD article about restrictive NIL policies, but I knew this would. While people love to talk about the Michigan "money cannon", our Ivy League president will turn it into a BB gun. Fucking sad!
August 15th, 2021 at 6:23 AM ^
I don't know of any of the major Universities that are letting athletes use their name or logo. Some companies are trying to use the back door to make it look like they are being endorsed by the school also, and that's not the case. If it's about that athlete they don't need the M in the ad.
August 15th, 2021 at 8:05 AM ^
What exactly are other schools doing that Michigan isn’t? HD is pretty off-base in his complaints considering I’m unaware of a single school that is allowing their brand to be used without their consent. NC made headlines for allowing it, but I doubt they do so without approval for what it’s being used for,
Michigan already partnered with MDen to allow student athletes to profit off of the sale of shirts and jerseys sold at the store (which obviously uses the school brand).
If you want to use blanket criticism of how Michigan is handling NIL, then you do you. But you should at least bring something to discuss. How are we falling behind? What aren’t we doing that other schools are? Is there anything we are doing that they aren’t to counter that? What do we need to do that other schools are doing to level that playing field in your eyes?
August 15th, 2021 at 11:23 AM ^
Yeah - the biggest thing that was missing from the interview and article is a discussion of what other schools are doing that Michigan isn't. I read the article - it's a lot of talk from HD about how he feels Michigan is restrictive, but there is little talk about how that compares to other schools. It read like a kid complaining his parents won't let him stay out later, without mentioning that every other kid has the same curfew.
I'm not saying Michigan can't do better, it just wasn't a good article and it's definitely a bad look without context.
August 15th, 2021 at 1:47 PM ^
c'mon. you mean the media is pushing a narrative without giving the full story?
August 15th, 2021 at 1:54 PM ^
Yeah, I think UM could be doing more but NIL isn't happening in a vacuum, and clearly lots of schools are acting similarly to UM because we aren't deluged with branded player ads and the like.
Like most sports media, these authors are so starved for access they'll basically let players say whatever they want with minimal pushback, which is how you get some off-kilter comments lacking context. I don't blame Dickinson for being annoyed he can't do more, but it very much makes sense that universities aren't going to blanket authorize use of their very valuable trademarks to a bunch of college-aged kids trying to make some money on social media advertising.
August 15th, 2021 at 1:50 PM ^
I read the article, but the complaint was "UM won't let me use the block M or some other trademarked stuff they own" which was followed up by the revelation that most schools have that restriction and only recently did UNC change their policy on that.
Again, it's a the wild west out there and I think schools are figuring out how to navigate it all.
August 14th, 2021 at 10:29 PM ^
Isn't this a pretty good school to get a foot in the door?
August 14th, 2021 at 10:37 PM ^
We’d only be getting the scraps anyways.
August 14th, 2021 at 11:46 PM ^
Where do these big guys that get around so good keep coming from?
He likes mixing it up. I don't think his final ranking will be #1035. I also don't think the offers have stopped.
August 15th, 2021 at 12:20 AM ^
We need him, Grant and Deone Walker.
August 15th, 2021 at 7:29 AM ^
In other news, we were not included in DaFuq Dumas' final 69.
August 15th, 2021 at 1:57 PM ^
I think this year's player rankings across college football are going to be really volatile and, thus, I trust coaches more than usual especially if they've seen guys. I don't think Thomas is some hidden 5* kid or anything, but there's going to be movement and so getting worked up about offers and commitments now seems foolish.