BBrown: Vic Enwere Commits to Cal, Coaches Identify New Possible Target
Not surprising to anyone 2014 RB Vic Enwere reaffirmed his commitment to Cal tonight via Twitter and it appears the Michigan coaches already knew it was coming.
Well before Enwere announced anything publicly, earlier today Coach Singletary and Coach Nussmeier reached out to RB Marlon Mack who is currently committed to UCLA. The offer from the Bruins is by far his biggest on paper as most of his other offers are from less than powerhouse programs.
Position: Running Back
Ht/Wt: 6'0" / 190 lbs.
Location: Booker High School (2014) – Sarasota, FL
Offers: Ball State, Florida Atlatntic, Florida Intl, Indiana, Iowa State, Marshall, Middle Tenn St, Northern Illinois, Ohio, South Florida, UCLA
Ranking: ★★★ .8365 (247 Composite)
FILM
Coach Singletary and Coach Nuss reached out to Mack today and expressed how impressed they were by his film. He told me that the coaches asked him a lot of questions to see how interested he might be in Michigan and tried to make sure he understood that they had taken notice of his skills.
Mack was very open with me about how he basically committed to UCLA simply to see what other schools might then become interested. He told me that he likes UCLA, but he doesn't love them. That to me sounds like a kid fishing for a specific offer, although he tells me that there isn't necessarily one particular offer he covets.
This might come off as a little dishonest but he told me that he truly feels like he's been overlooked and thought committing would be a good way to get noticed. He did say he felt shocked that Michigan has now taken notice. The coaches didn't mention anything to him about an offer yet but obviously they would like to add a running back to the 2014 class and Mack appears to be a backup plan if things go south with Jeff Jones.
January 11th, 2014 at 8:33 PM ^
Brandon, I know its early but do you think Nuss will do things differently than Borges with recruiting and offering types of kids?
January 11th, 2014 at 8:35 PM ^
January 11th, 2014 at 9:29 PM ^
our QB recruits the last couple of weeks of his tenure. Does anybody really wonder why?
January 12th, 2014 at 2:36 AM ^
Except David Sills, who holds one of the two 2015 QB offers we've sent out and has two teammates committed to M, told Brandon that he had "actually never talked to Coach Borges." That's not "I'm no longer recruiting QBs because I know I am about to be fired," that's "I don't recruit QBs."
January 12th, 2014 at 9:52 AM ^
Every other QB recruit Brandon interviewed said they had been talking to Borges until recently. How you can turn that into "I dont recruit QBs" is beyond me.
January 12th, 2014 at 1:52 PM ^
Actually...
Jimmy Fitzgerald: "I haven’t ever talked to [Borges] too much, Coach Mallory is my main contact"
Nick Johns: "It’s been a long time since I’ve talked with Coach Borges."
Alex Malzone: "I haven’t talked to Coach Borges since my Ohio State visit."
January 11th, 2014 at 8:36 PM ^
Nuss is probably still going to want big backs, see Alabama, but with a slightly different skill set to flourish in the zone blocking scheme. A 1-cut and go kind of guy, like an Arian Foster is ideal for a zone running team. Derrick Green and DeVeon Smith might be able to do that, but that's not exactly why they were brought to Michigan. I actually think Derrick Green could be scary good in a zone scheme. He definitely has a burst through the hole and good speed for a big back. His vision will be key.
January 12th, 2014 at 10:07 AM ^
Smith and Green both strike me as capable backs, with Smith having just a bit more burst. If we have any line dominance at all, I could see some big time play action gains downfield to our big WRs. Woo HOOO, is this excitement I feel? Am I an over-optimistic moron? Wouldn't be the first time, but lovin' it for now.
January 12th, 2014 at 11:09 AM ^
January 12th, 2014 at 10:59 AM ^
January 11th, 2014 at 8:34 PM ^
January 12th, 2014 at 12:57 AM ^
To be fair UCLA was after Joe Nixon HARD and just grabbed Nate Starks out of Colorado. The usual pattern with UCLA recruiting is to not get too attached to their early commits as those guys rarely make it into the class. It seems both the coaches and the players use the commit as a placeholder before finding a better deal. Watching UCLA close out a class has become absolutely fascinating the past couple of years with the number of late changes and flips.
Not surprised Mack took the tactic he did and I would be very surprised if he ended up a Bruin, hopefully we get ourselves a sleeper Wolverine.
January 11th, 2014 at 8:34 PM ^
January 11th, 2014 at 8:40 PM ^
He's in 5A District 13...anyone with Florida high school league knowledge?
January 11th, 2014 at 8:48 PM ^
but it looks like it's not the most competitive of the Florida leagues. MaxPreps ranks Booker #147 in Florida; the best team in the league, Hardee, is ranked #80.
January 11th, 2014 at 8:51 PM ^
The biggest schools play in 7A football in Florida. The smallest schools play in 1B. So just him being in 5A means he plays in one of the three biggest conferences in Florida. Definitely a decent-good competition level. Notre Dame has a 4* running back committed from a 5A school in Florida.
January 13th, 2014 at 9:17 AM ^
Actually, Florida has 8 classifications, 8A being the largest. There is talent that comes out of Booker HS though (Baraka Atkins and Sam Shields are both NFL players). Booker plays in a conference with smaller central Florida schools (DeSoto,Hardee along with Manatee county schools Southeast and Bayshore). The school I teach at is a 7A (down from 8A last year in a division with Sarasota Riverview, East Lake, and Palm Harbor University HS). We went 3-6 this year and beat Booker in a pre-season game 23-0.
January 11th, 2014 at 8:52 PM ^
January 11th, 2014 at 8:38 PM ^
With the somewhat new emphasis on RB recruiting for this class, can we safely assume that the coaches expect some attrition -- something along the lines of the Johnson injury being career threatening, or a guy buried in the depth chart transfering?
January 11th, 2014 at 8:56 PM ^
January 11th, 2014 at 9:09 PM ^
I think Rawls has a better chance for playing time in the Nussmeier offense than he had with Borges. He's more tailored to zone running than Borges' man blocking scheme.
January 11th, 2014 at 9:09 PM ^
That was going to be my guess. He seems extremely buried on the depth chart. He also doesn't seem to have the skillset to get on the field any other way ... 3rd down back, pass catcher, special teams, etc
January 12th, 2014 at 12:32 PM ^
if your source is He Who Shall Not Be Named here then I wouldn't put much credence into what you read.
January 11th, 2014 at 8:40 PM ^
I thought I read somewhere on this blog that the staff had supposedly already moved on from Enwere and was hoping on Jeff Jones? Should be interesting to see how things shake up.
January 11th, 2014 at 9:12 PM ^
if they get doubtful about Jones they'll make more effot to Mack.
January 11th, 2014 at 8:46 PM ^
that our new OC is off to the races in recruiting. I was impressed with the overall staff already, this is a nice way to get the wheels turning right away. It would appear that given all the activity surrounding RB recruits this is a central part of the offense going forward (I guess I already knew that but there wasn't exactly a flurry of activity...)
January 11th, 2014 at 8:47 PM ^
January 11th, 2014 at 8:51 PM ^
Back at it a little more regularly now, the holidays were a little crazy with family and visitors. I also have a student teacher starting next week so my work load at my day job is going to be lessened, haha!
January 12th, 2014 at 10:12 AM ^
NEEDZ MOAR RECROOOOTING UPDATEZ!
(Awesome job BB, thanks!)
January 11th, 2014 at 8:57 PM ^
His highlight tape is impressive, but I can't help but notice that most of the competition is a lot smaller than him. I am not saying that this will affect him in college, however, it does make me wonder how his skills will translate.
January 11th, 2014 at 8:57 PM ^
January 11th, 2014 at 9:02 PM ^
Tonight was my first contact with Mack and Jones has only answered me initially to confirm that he did get offered by Michigan.
Mack's Michigan recruitment is in it's infancy and he doesn't even have an offer yet.
Jones has been committed to his home-state Gophers for a long time and Kill seems to have a great rapport with players. Florida seems to be the other player for Jones and they just got a RB commitment the other day. Tom VH seems to think Michigan is in really good shape with Jones so that is encouraging. Should be an interesting 3 weeks until signing day.
January 11th, 2014 at 9:24 PM ^
January 11th, 2014 at 9:30 PM ^
Very possible and wouldn't be all that surprising.
January 11th, 2014 at 10:40 PM ^
January 12th, 2014 at 8:37 AM ^
January 12th, 2014 at 9:32 AM ^
January 12th, 2014 at 11:00 AM ^
Nailed it
January 12th, 2014 at 11:20 AM ^
OR... a small contingency of us thought he was as douchebag, but it turns out that his recent articles make his personality tolerable... but most people are too concerned with making amends rather than saying how they really feel so you get the psuedopositve affirmations you keep seeing...
just my opinion, what do I know?
love,
jdon
January 12th, 2014 at 11:58 AM ^
says the guy with "PREPARE THY ANUS" in his avatar.
January 12th, 2014 at 12:27 PM ^
January 12th, 2014 at 1:10 PM ^
Personally, I don't crave that much information about high schoolers. I read it cause it is there. I follow it passively, again because it is there. If it wasn't there, I could live without it... anyway, I digress...
As for your rant about 'what do I know' or 'if I was so goddamn smart... blah blah blah', I don't find the willingness to call and talk to high school kids, or follow them on twitter, as all that respectable of a profession: you won't find me wasting my time on high schoolers opinions...
I don't think Brandon is a bad guy or anything, I just think he is a guy with a rolodex and a willingness to make some calls. At first he was abrasive with some of the peopl critical of him, now he's not. Good for him.
love,
jdon
ps. at no point have I ever claimed not to be a douchebag my self: I do not lack perspective my friends...
January 12th, 2014 at 2:45 PM ^
January 11th, 2014 at 9:00 PM ^
January 11th, 2014 at 9:02 PM ^
Honestly, I just want a successful running game that complements our passing attack. One thing I really liked about what Nuss said in his press conference, was that he wants to be agressive and make defenses have to adjust to the offense.
January 11th, 2014 at 10:26 PM ^
January 11th, 2014 at 11:53 PM ^
I don't think that's what he meant. I think he wants our running game to be all like, "Hey great work on the play action today, Passing Game."
"No prob, Running Game, thanks for setting it up for me!"
January 11th, 2014 at 9:04 PM ^
I think Jeff Jones would be an ideal fit for a zone running scheme. Getting him to flip would be an excellent late addition to the 2014 class.
January 11th, 2014 at 9:05 PM ^
He seemed to be out running most of his competition. Of course, him outrunning everyone could have something to do with the quality of defensive players his team plays against.
January 11th, 2014 at 9:12 PM ^
He's listed at 4.55. That doesn't look to be too unrealistic.