Best Guess List - Michigan Recruiting - 5/7/2013
I'm interested to hear what you guys would like to see as a recruiting class. Here are the rules. I'm going to assume 18 as a class size. Guesses must be realistic. For instance, you can include Peppers or Hand because we have a real shot at them. Putting down something such as, say, Raekwon McMillian is not realistic. Current commits are in bold, along with my hopeful realistic finish. (Ranking is 247 composite)
QB (1): Wilton Speight, 367th overall
This position is done.
RB (1): Kallen Ballage, 454th
Other top option is Jon Hilliman. If the staff can't land one of these two, would they just wait until next year to take another? (Damien Harris, Jaques Patrick, Mike Weber are top 2015 options).
WR (3): Drake Harris, 45th
Mo Ways, 615th
Artavis Scott, 75th
I think they look just for one more WR here. KJ Williams and Corey Holmes are other top options, but Scott is the one I most want.
TE (1): Ian Bunting, 301st
This position is done.
OL (3): Mason Cole, 106th
Juwann Bushell-Beatty, 284th
Alex Bars, 92nd
Probably looking for one tackle to finish OL recruiting. Jamarco Jones and Rod Johnson are other possible options, though OSU and Mizzou probably currently lead for them.
DL (3): Bryan Mone, 73rd
Da'Shawn Hand, 2nd
Malik McDowell, 26th
This has the potential to be a monster year for DL recruiting. I feel like Michigan is 50/50 for Hand and currently leads for McDowell. Hand is probably versatile enough to play either SDE or WDE. McDowell could play SDE or DT. Mone is a NT. Brady Pallante gets moved to the 2015 class on a grayshirt.
EDIT: I forgot to include Lawrence Marshall on the list of potentials. He is visiting soon. I believe he's still an MSU lean, but there's a chance to sway him still.
LB (3): Michael Ferns, 90th
Kyron Watson, 340th
Chase Winovich, 551st
Ferns is a MIKE. Watson would be the WILL. Winovich would be the SAM. I believe OSU leads for Winovich, but we'll have a chance to change his opinion this weekend. If not, they'll target another SAM. It remains to be seen if the staff even wants 3 LB's and if they'd even accept Watson's commit if Winovich decided for M. That should be more clear after this weekend.
DB (3): Jabrill Peppers, 4th
Parrker Westphal, 99th
Montae Nicholson, 124th ???
Peppers and Westphal seem like good bets to take up the CB spots. Safety is so up in the air, more than any other position in this class. Nicholson seems like a decent bet. Others are bluechip prospects Adoree Jackson (9th) and JuJu Smith (40th). I suppose if DB recruiting goes really, really well, they could take four while only nabbing 2 LB's or 0 RB's.
If that class came to fruition, Michigan would have pulled in two of the top 5, four top 50's, nine top 100's, plus 11 top 150's.
What is everyone else's best guess list?
I like threads like these on slow days. Its just nuts that this is a legitmate best guess list. If you were to tell me 6 months ago that it wasn realistic for us to pull Harris, Mone, Hand, Peppers, McDowell, and another top flight reciever in the same class, I would call you nuts.
Although I know we can get more, I'd still be very VERY happy with even 2 of the four uncommited Michigan-leaning studs (Hand, Peppers, Mcdowell, and any one of those top 200ish recievers).
I think I remember him sounding pretty interested in Michigan a couple months back. Does anyone know what's up with him? He'd obviously be a great option for the OL as well.
but there is probably very little chance of that happening. The mutual interest just doesn't appear to be there.
Not doubting you, but the most I could find about him was that he liked his visit in March, and doesn't seem the type to talk to reporters much. I don't subscribe to any sites, however, so I freely admit I could have missed something.
exactly what I read, but I'm pretty sure it was something I read from Steve on the 247 board. Could have been one of the VIP posters too. I know he visited and seemed to like it, just that it's probably not that serious of an interest. His profile lists Notre Dame and TCU as "warmer" fwiw
You'll be SHOCKED to learn that ND thinks they have him.
Scout has TCU, ND and TAMU with ND the supposed leader.
Gut feeling is #Irish @jmgoblue83: @rivalsmike Where do you think Alex Bars ends up?
— Mike Farrell (@rivalsmike) May 2, 2013
Braden Smith has supposedly dropped Michigan.
I tweeted him a while ago and asked about Michigan and he gave a non-answer. That ship has sailed.
I don't think we will get Hand or Scott.
Hand is VT or the typical schools for a freak DL from the East Coast (Clemson, Bama, FSU, etc). We'll be the ever "top 2-3" with him like we seem to be with so so many kids. As far as Scott, I just don't think he wants to come here. Period. I don't see it. He has Southern school written all over him.
Thanks for post...love these type of posts.
I definitely think a prospect none of us have even heard of yet ends up signing with us, for no other reason than it happens every year. It is an interesting year though with few spots available and so many blue chip guys interested in us. I wonder hwere the balance is between taking a commitment from a player and waiting for a player far superior to him (if there is one). Props to the coaches, because it's a position I wouldn't want to be in. Comments on your list...... I don't think Winovich is coming here. Also, Nicholson is a decent bet, but he seems to be taking the process to slowly to land a spot. I think Juju Smith will end up signing with us.
agree with you on Winovich not coming here. I just needed a SAM backer to put on my list.
Everything that i've heard says we are only targeting 2 LB's right now. I think it will be first to commit and we're done. I'd guess the last spot ends up being used for the best player left.
The only reason I listed 3 instead of 2 is because I felt like all those DB's were too much to ask for. I did clarify 2 LB's as a possibility in my comments, however. A best player left situation does seem likely, as you said.
That would appear to be a strange development since the coaches are actively recruiting both an ILB and an OLB prospect. I think the loss of Ringer might open it up for both Watson and Winovich (if they both want to come).
and it's quite possible their pursuit of Watson and Winovich means they knew about Ringer well in advance.
And by "knew" you mean telling him to transfer as he would not get the playing time here?
By "knew" I mean they probably have a general idea on who is and isn't leaving the program and they probably had a pretty good idea Ringer was contemplating leaving. Anything beyond that isn't something we would ever be aware of
I have to believe this coaching staff is honest with kids. This is not a bad thing, telling a kid in spring practice that he is a career special-teamer is good for everyone. It lets the kid decide if he wants to still go after football at another school or go for a degree at UM.
As has been said, this is looking to be a strong class, but I think your prediction is a little rosy. To guess that we will get all of Hand, Peppers, and McDowell just seems unlikely to me. Maybe I'm jaded from people like Jordan Diamond and LaQuon Treadwell, but leading for these highly touted players or being near the top doesn't mean you'll get them all. I think 2 out of 3 is more realistic. I'd guess we don't get Hand.
The other guesses seem to make sense. This is fun. I love recruiting.
a little less rosy and guessed we steal Marshall from MSU but don't get Hand. Even less rosy, we only get McDowell out of the remaining DL targets. But I don't know who else we'd even be targeting, and this is my guess list as of today. So i just went with all the most realistic options that I hoped to get. Obviously I doubt we land ALL of those kids that I guessed on. But I wouldn't be surprised at any one individual I listed coming here either.
And you're right, this is fun. Recruiting is fun as long as we don't freak out every time we don't get someone (Treadwell, Levenberry, Frost, ect.) There will always be others!
Treadwell, Levenberry, Frost . . .
Too soon. It still hurts to hear those names.
I'm still getting over RoJo and Jai Eugene.
A linebacker with offers from Michigan and OSU (considering how deep each team is at the position) is most likely going to be a great linebacker. I bet he's going to be on the rise this year
has always been kind of curious to me too. I always figured he was in the 300-350 range until I actually checked.
He's tall and very lean. Projecting him forward requires a leap of faith that he can both add weight and maintain his athleticism. Not saying he won't be good, just that he's a long way from being fully developed.
Peppers is best used at safety? How is he different than Ed Reed? Let's have the guy in a position to make the most plays possible. We could have a safety combo of Dymonte and Jabrill for a couple of years, the different looks we could throw at people with two athletic safeties like that...
Jabrill is probably good enough to play anywhere in the secondary. We could even play him 2 ways and have a package where he gets the ball. Have you seen his highlights? He can catch and has great change of direction when he runs.
Putting Peppers at safety wouldn't leave much room for the tweeners to get PT if/when the coaches discover that Delano Hill or Channing Stribling or Reon Dawson can't play corner.
QB-Wilton Speight
HB-Jonathan Hillman
WR-Drake Harris
WR-Mo Ways
WR-Artavis Scott
T-JBB
G-Mason Cole
T-Roderick Johnson
DL-Malik Mcdowell
DL-Bryan Mone
DL-Dashawn Hand
LB-Michael Ferns
LB-Kyron Watson
LB-Chase Winovich
CB-Jabril Peppers
CB-Parrker Westphall
S-Juju Smith
I think we land both Peppers and Hand, with a guy like Juju seeing Hand and Peppers with heavy Michigan interest, strengthening his already strong interest.
With the caveat that I think Michigan will take another RB, and Hillman seems to be the strongest option right now. That spot could be filled by any number of guys though, Hillman is just a best guess at this point in the game.
Hilliman
poor Ian Bunting :(
I forgot Bunting, just realized that
Even at 17 members, this would almost certainly be the #1 class in the country, at least to ESPN.
I'd guess that the coaches would only take 1 more lb, a SAM type. Our depth at ILB is an embarrassment of riches, even sans Ringer. Poole, McCray and Gedeon waiting behind a talented young 2 deep. I'd expect a WDE type and/or an extra Safety for the class. WDE because they'll rotate in, and an extra Safety because our depth has a lot of developmental players in it.
Hoke said that McCray will come in as a SAM. That actually doesn't leave a great deal of depth if Poole is questionable going forward and with Jones graduating.
aside from 2014 recruiting, but do you think McCray sticks at SAM?
I'm not sure. His height is in question, with some claiming he's 6'4" and others claiming he's 6'1". I don't know if he has the instincts to play MIKE, so I think his skills might fit the SAM better.
If Poole is questionable then the depth would be thinner, but I suppose the coaches have some flexibility with Ferns being such a good ILB prospect, but with SAM size
I don't think they should take a Rb
take Ballage or Hilliman, but without either of them, maybe they don't. If Smith redshirts, that essentially puts him in this class, one year away from Derrick Green. And considering the prospects they are in on for 2015, they could survive that.
Rawls and Hayes will be a senior and redshirt junior, respectively, when the 2014 class arrives. There's a strong possibility that Green will leave early. So that essentially leaves Johnson, DeVeon Smith, and Norfleet as long-term options. That group has potential, but there's no one that really jumps out. I think you need at least one RB in every class, maybe more. Hole said he wants at least two every year.
Without arguing the logic of your conclusion, you're looking three years into the future (after Green leaves) while assuming NO addition of RBs after this year. I don't think th lack of a RB in this class will lead to an apocalyptic "obly Smith, Johnson and Noefleet" scenario, especially with two very probable (and seemingly talented) RB options that could be called Michigan leans in the 2015 class.
I'm not assuming there won't be additions, but there's a reason that coaches try to keep a steady flow of talent at each position. We didn't do that at OL, and now we have really young guys starting on the interior. We didn't do that at QB, and now we're really thin if Gardner gets hurt.
I see a distinction. OL requires both numbers and time to cultivate, along with the highest rate of error in determining talent. QBs also generally need time to develope, and that situation has been admittedly mishandled, but the policy of taking no more than one a year, to make it obvious who the leader is, is a part of that.
We can, and have, taken more than one RB most years. RBs are also the position most likely to walk on to the field and have an immediate impact. It is logical to take one every year, but in our situation- lots of numbers, small incoming class, many talented recruits at other positions interested- I don't see it without the talent. We don't need bodies at RB, we need skill. Because if some combination of Rawls/Johnson/Norfleet/Hayes/Shallman can't carry some of the load for the Green and Smith, adding more comprable huys isn't going to help. That's simply the outlook for the immediate future.
I somewhat agree but saying "we shouldn't take a RB" is different than saying "we should only take an elite RB." If all we can get is someone like Vincent Smith, I might agree. If we can get Fournette or Mixon or Hood, then we should take a RB.
What ever happened with his recruitment? I haven't heard anything about him in a while.