Crystal balls coming in from this weekend's official visits
This weekend was obviously a huge visit weekend and crystal balls have already started rolling in. Here is the list of crystal balls that have come in so far this evening for recruits that visited this weekend:
4* OT Bennett Warren: Crystal balls from Brice Marich and Steve Wiltfong. Warren would likely be the last OL in this class. He's a large person at 6'8" 330
3* DT Deyvid Palepale: Crystal ball from Brice Marich. Palepale is another large person at 6'3" 290. I think there is almost universal agreement among recruiting analysts that Palepale will not be a 3* for long. His tape and offer list show that. A lot of his Hudl tape is him playing DE and even at 290, he has the athleticism and burst better than some DEs I've watched
4* DE Dominic Nichols: Crystal ball from Brice Marich. Nichols is 6'5" 245 and looks the part as a strong side edge. His Hudl film shows his power and looks like he uses his hands well at this stage of his development
4* DE Elias Rudolph: Crystal ball from Brice Marich. Rudolph is on the slighter side at 6'4" 205, but his Hudl film is very impressive. He's an extremely natural pass rusher with some nice moves already. Even better, he was believed to be an OSU lean previously
Thank you for the info and putting it together for us. Much appreciated!
As they always say about visit weekends... Balls, or it didn't happen!
Thanks for posting.
In honor of earlier responders redwhiteandMGOBLUE and TeslaRedVictorBlue, I am temporarily called myself VetBlue.
I missed my chance to step in line.
Signed,
St Joe Blue(s)
All of your defensive linemen are belong to us
Yeah, this is good news, but what we really need now is CBs for CBs.
ALL YOUR BALLS ARE BELONG TO US.
Bill the Cat was definitely the best Presidential candidate of all time.
Given the two odds on favorites today I'd certainly vote for him.
Ack thppt!
Man, I miss Bloom County!
never the same after winning the Outland Trophy
That cartoon with the lead up to your posted image is one of my favorites. So much so I cut it out and kept it to this day.
They are being admonished by a self righteous women to appreciate and focus on what is most important to them. She meant the women in their lives but this what they did.
Speaking of balls, have a question. MLB has honored Mother's in the past with players using pink bats on Mother's Day. Wondering why they don't honor Father's in a similar manner, say using Blue Balls on Father's Day?
Blue balls are rarely used. Hence the name...
Obligatory Wingding
FYI / In addition — I have listened to the first 10-15 of the post-weekend Rivals podcast so far and they believe M made good progress with both the 5* DL Scott and high 4* Ohio CB Bryce West on their visits — aka they are now firmly “in it” if not exactly favorites. They felt that no one should hold their breath over the other 5* visitor - WR Ryan(?) Wingo post his official to M - sounded like they feel UGA for him.
Also do not forget that M got several predictions (can’t recall which networks) for the running back Kapanaa out of Vegas over the weekend. I know Mike Hart is high on the kid but I hope they at least wait to see how the official visit for Tatum (#1 overall RB) goes in 2 weeks before accepting a commit elsewhere.
M made good progress with both the 5* DL Scott and high 4* Ohio CB Bryce West on their visits — aka they are now firmly “in it” if not exactly favorites
Definitely seems that way based on commit and recruit interactions on social media. Seems the same with Boo Carter
So do we tweet at 'croots now? Or just accept tweeting 'croots?
I'm confused...
Noticing how recruits and commits are interacting with each other on Twtitter is not "tweeting croots"
West was said to be basically next to an OSU lock. If we evened that battle it would be fairly shocking.
Yeah I'm not buying the West stuff. I'm sure his visit was amazing but he goes to OSU next. If this drags out then there is a good shot, but I don't think it does get dragged out . Same with Carter
Both Carter and West seemed to be having a great time based on the pics. Battles where the recruit has a fondness/loyalty for the home team are difficult to win. I think you have to persuade their parents that this is an opportunity to transform their kid into a special human being on and off the field. You also have to convince the kid that being a great player at Michigan garners much more attention than at Tennessee and sell the idea that we can prepare him better than they can, to handle that challenge. Would really like to see Boo in Blue.
https://twitter.com/boo_Carter6/status/1668048149393358852/photo/1
Boo is a freak and tweeted all weekend.
He is a projected CB but could play some offense. He has track speed and runs a sub 4.4 forty.
His commitment date is Saturday. You never know but I think our chances improved.
Scott would be a star at Michigan. He and Carter would be the biggest victories of this recruiting season. Also, I agree that we need to find a way to wait for Tatum but keep Kapanaa on deck in case Tatum goes elsewhere. Losing both would suck but if we did, I would add to the defense.
As a fellow recruiting post list guy, I appreciate you turning it up a notch NJVictor. *Tips Cap*
I can't recall in my lifetime UM being in on so many top recruits in one cycle. Maybe back in the late 90s early 2000's Carr years - but before the recruiting industry was anything quite like it is today.
This feels like a potential Bama, OSU, UGA level class (obviously as we are currently right at or near the top in 247 rankings), but it's not just the size of the class but also the avg ranking of players that seems to have gone up. I guess owning OSU 2 years in a row can do that.
Further, owning supposedly "superior" OSU on the field with lower rated players and a more physical style of play has clearly attracted not just more talented guys, but hopefully, the same types of players in terms of culture and work ethic that got us here. Really excited to see what Herbert and staff do with the incoming flux of talent.
Go Blue
Probably since Phill Steele had us the #1 class, in 98, if memory serves me correctly.
Henson, Terrell, Walker, & others.
This is completely off memory so I could be off.
98 still leaves me with nightmares of Donovan Mcnabb ruining our season before it really began.
Whenever I get those nightmares, I try to think of something else ... and wind up thinking about Rickey Foggie, Braxton Miller, Armanti Edwards, etc. It's rough.
The Braxton Miller's, Amp Lee's and Vince Young types were a problem. I think we have better personnel and coaching now. It took us a while to evolve into a team that could defend against speed.
My eldest daughter's first M game experience. What a nightmare watching McNabb run over and around our entire defense like a man among boys for the entire game.
Worst M home game I've ever seen. At least the Appy State game was competitive and somewhat entertaining.
Don't forget Justin Fargas, #1 RB in the US and son of Huggy Bear. Lloyd ran him off by making him switch to DB.
With all due respect, Fargas did not do well at RB for us while he was here. I thought he ran a lot like Sam McGuffie. It was strange that when he transferred, he ran a bit differently and became a real good RB at USC.
Now, that could have very well been a sign that our RB coach sucked, or could be a sign that Fargas woke up after the transfer and committed himself.
You guys remember that Fargas suffered a devastating knee injury, right? To say that Lloyd ran him off is just false.
Moeller recruits were the best, and were the ones that won the title. That is what we hope future classes become. Varr continued it briefly then Tressel happened.
This will be a really good class, but Georgia is on another level
Agree 100%. Mich is having a great recruiting cycle but UGA is simply at another level.
Per 247, M has the 2nd ranked class right now. UGA has the 1st. The difference in Avg player score between UGA and M is 2.7 points. (UGA's is 94.08, M's is 91.34). To grasp the magnitude of that differential, the Arkansas Razorbacks' avg player score of 89.76 is closer to Michigan's than Michigan's is to Georgia's.
Arkansas. Razorbacks.
You bring up a good point. If you go by average player ranking, UM is 7th (still very good, but not *great*). OSU's average is 93-something.
We're building up the trenches and it's great. Our pass rush wasn't great last year and I love how they're trying to build that spot into a position where we just reload with future NFL players.
Just to put a little stink on it, sparty is last in the B1G, 72nd overall.
And there was much rejoicing
I always thought the "we jump opposing team's players in the tunnel after the game and commit felony assault because we can't win on the field" was an interesting team identity/strategy for Tuck & Co. It....uh...does not seem to be paying off.
Holy crap...they only have 3 commits. And one of them (the highest rated one) is from Tennessee, so my assumption is that he will decommit at some point in the future. What in the world is going on in East Lansing.
What happens when Tuck comes.
And this is.. bad news? It seems appropriate for the direction of that program.
The stink is MSU itself.