Hello: Wilton Speight (2014 QB)

Submitted by bdsisme on

We have our (only?) 2014 QB, first reported by TomVH ($).

Michigan Football class of 2018

— Wilton Speight (@WiltonSpeight) February 6, 2013

We won't have to wait long to see the coaches' plan for QB recruiting: Michael O'Connor and David Cornwell are supposedly getting phone calls from the coaches this afternoon.

The Baughz

February 6th, 2013 at 9:05 AM ^

Speight is from VA. Da'shawn Hand is from VA. Speight becomes friends with Da'shawn. Speight actively recruits Da'shawn. Speight and Dashawn car pool together when they visit Michigan several times. Dashawn and Speight become bffs. Dashawn commits to Michigan!

tyjam

February 6th, 2013 at 9:08 AM ^

TVH on ESPN's national signing day chat about Speight:

@James - First of all, what a good kid. He is really polite, well spoken and comes off very personable. He's around 6-5, 6-6 and Michigan watched him throw recently. He's had interest from big schools like USC recently, I think this is a great pickup for Michigan this early.

 

yzerman19

February 6th, 2013 at 9:14 AM ^

Fact:  Borges showed up and watched him throw.  Not a Known Fact but Highly Likely: Speight threw a 20 yard out for Coach Borges.  Fact:  Coach Borges offered.  I am going to deduce his arm strength is not an issue.  Throwing under pressure and mechanical issues with delivery can affect the velocity of throws, and coaching can fix those problems.  I am going with the judgment of the coaches on this one.

Magnus

February 6th, 2013 at 10:01 AM ^

So...someone states a fact, I correct the false statement, and I'm a dick?  I guess we should just let false statements bleed into being the truth then...

Never mind. Al Borges was definitely, 100%, for sure at Richmond Collegiate last Friday morning.  And Jeff Hecklinski was not. 

Carry on, people.

TIMMMAAY

February 6th, 2013 at 11:16 AM ^

When more than one other person points out a character flaw, there's a legitimate reason. You'd do well to work on that part of your personality. Maybe it's just your online schtick, or whatever, but you do come off as a jackass much of the time. Very condescending.

You're pretty knowledgable, I'll give you that, but it doesn't mean you can act as you do and people will just accept it.

Magnus

February 6th, 2013 at 11:31 AM ^

If saying "Fact: Borges did NOT watch Speight in person" makes me condescending and a jackass when it's the exact same format that the previous person used, then so be it.  I'm okay with it.  I've been commenting on this blog for about 6 years, probably.  I doubt things will change anytime soon.  Some people don't like me, and that's just the way it goes.

Rabbit21

February 6th, 2013 at 9:18 AM ^

Welcome aboard Wilton! Listening to his interview on WTKA right now and he's well spoken and doing a great job, of he's doing this in high school he'll be a great face of the program in the future. Also, I can't lie, I like having a QB commit early to help center the class and recruit other players.

MGoShoe

February 6th, 2013 at 9:38 AM ^

...with this comment. He also stated that he wants to early enroll if he can get clearance from his HS. As noted above, he reclassified to 2014 due to a broken collarbone in his first junior season. I don't do this normally, but I think I might peruse the Richmond Collegiate 2013 schedule to see if there's a convenient game to attend.

ghost

February 6th, 2013 at 9:21 AM ^

As far as throwing motion goes look at Phillip Rivers or Joe Flacco.   Cody Hodges had a great college career and he had a really weird throwing motion.

GoBluePhil

February 6th, 2013 at 9:22 AM ^

I may like video of another QB but this kid is classy. He is very well versed and real smart. He wants to be a Michigan Man and that's good enough for me. One of the best interviews I've ever heard from a kid. GoBlue Wilton.

LSAClassOf2000

February 6th, 2013 at 9:30 AM ^

Welcome to the Michigan family, Wilton!

I've got the WTKA interview up as well - he sounds like a great kid. I believe the film was posted last week, and he looks like a solid get, and it is always nice to get QBs early on in the process rather than scramble to find one later potentially. Further, at 6'6", there has to be some advantage to having a QB that can see over the top of virtually everyone and everything on the field.

now_a_hoo

February 6th, 2013 at 9:38 AM ^

I'm no friend of Speight's Collegiate Cougars. But I'm so old I can remember when they produced a two-star QB whose only offers were NCSU and Duke, even though he was a two-time Metro POY.

Russell Wilson turned out okay.

TheGeneral

February 6th, 2013 at 9:44 AM ^

I don't see this commitment meaning if we take 2 the 2nd would have to be a lower rated guy. Wilton said the coaches were high on Cornwell and he just wanted the opportunity. Wilton has his chance. Now UM has their guy that loves Michigan. And they don't need two but they could take two. So continue going after top guys knowing you're good whether you get them or not. If another top guy is afraid of competition do we really want that guy? If we do get them it's gravy. Cornwell isn't going to decide soon so being sure to have a guy is great.

Wilton seems like a great kid. Hello, and Go Blue!

Michael Scarn

February 6th, 2013 at 9:45 AM ^

A kid that will likely (or would have been likely to) end up with some very good offers committed to Michigan basically upon receiving his offer, and all that half of you can do is complain that he might not have the arm strength that some other kid does.  Unreal.

EGD

February 6th, 2013 at 9:50 AM ^

1) While it appears that Cornwell may be the better overall athlete in terms of physical tools, in my observation the mental skills are much more important at the QB position.  Speight may offer advantages over Cornwell in terms of leadership, ability to understand the offense/read opposing defenses, etc.  This is particularly important in a west coast offense, which has a reputation of being a hideously complicated scheme.  So if he is more gifted mentally than Speight, I think that can more than make up for the difference in arm strength.

2) It seems the coaches are pretty confident that DG will get his medical redshirt, and we have Morris coming in.  Perhaps the coaches feel like the player we are recruiting for the 2014 class is probably going to be a backup for most or all of his career, and they want to make sure the player is someone who isn't likely to get frustrated and transfer out if he doesn't win the starting job and then sees M bring in another top-flight QB for 2015?

RadioMuse

February 6th, 2013 at 11:35 AM ^

I think your second option is closer to reality. I think they want a guy who really wants to be at Michigan so he'll be content taking a redshirt year and not seeing "quality" playing time (barring injuries) until 2017 or 2018 (depending on Morris's redshirt). By then any issues that he needs worked out should be pretty much a nullified by strength and conditioning, coaching, practice time and "garbage-time" play.

Most elite players care more about seeing field now than they care about what field that is (as long as it's an AQ D-1 school, obvs).  Mr. Speight has "play for Michigan" at the top of his priority list, and though flawed he's an elite prospect. There's no reason he shouldn't be our man.

I do agree that we should go after a mobile QB / Athlete as a "project"/"change of pace" guy. If he's more of the big-body power-runner we might be able to install a goal-line / short yardage package similar to what Oklahoma ran with Blake Bell the last couple of years. If he's more of a speedster we might be able to use them as a RB or WR and occasionally shift into a Wildcat with a few pass plays for when guys are laughably wide-open.

Jack Daniels

February 6th, 2013 at 9:51 AM ^

Speight is a good pickup, but if the coaches really had a top 3 list, why push for a commitment from someone who they might not have liked as much as Cornwell, just because he could announce a couple months earlier than Cornwell (who wanted to make a spring decision)?

Alumnus93

February 6th, 2013 at 11:57 AM ^

Why?    Because mutual interest is just as important...  otherwise we could be holding an empty bag at the end.  If Cornwell appeared to the coaches as a real risk going to the SEC or wherever, combined with them liking Speight almost as much,   then they'd go with Speight, losing little, but securing the spot.  And in the end, the odds then favor us.    Granted, Cornwell's tape is super impressive... but if he, say, has a little Jeff George in his head, then that becomes self-explanatory.

Amaizeinblue

February 6th, 2013 at 10:01 AM ^

Wow, some of these responses are sickening. This kid has done nothing but speak positively about how badly he wants to be here, rivals has a lot of top schools very interested in him. This reminds me a lot like when Hoke got hired. More than a few people were so mad, he wasn't the "sexy" pick, his record was "mediocre", he wasn't "proven". But guess what, no one wanted to be here more than he did and sometimes that makes you work even harder to reach your dream. In Hoke & staff I trust, welcome home Wilton.

maize-blue

February 6th, 2013 at 10:15 AM ^

I agree. You have to support the guys who want to be here. I don't mind that the coaches practice a somewhat "first come, first serve" recruiting practice. They must have seen something in him they liked and were obviously ok with him jumping on board otherwise it wouldn't have happened.

turd ferguson

February 6th, 2013 at 10:19 AM ^

Most people here are being reasonable, and the group that really thinks we've dropped the ball on this one is hilarious.  Based on what?  I like reading Magnus's stuff and everything, but some people here take him way too seriously.  He's a guy who's not trained in doing this, doesn't attend camps, doesn't have a staff of people working on this, hasn't seen any of these kids play live, didn't just go for a private workout with Speight, and might or might not have any idea what he's talking about.  He's a guy with a website who coaches low-level football.

It's a year before Signing Day.  Very few QBs are sitting on a lot of offers, since QB recruiting is just getting started.  Did Morris have any other power conference offers aside from MSU when he committed to us?  Maybe we shouldn't have accepted his commitment because of that?

WallyWallace

February 6th, 2013 at 10:36 AM ^

isn't 'not a ton of zip on the ball but accurate and moves around well' what was said about Bellomy?

The kid is 16/17 years old so who knows what may become of this, however, arm strength does indeed matter and can be too easily dismissed at  times.

It's easier to teach decision making and reading defenses(what Morris apparently needs) than acquiring needed Division 1 arm strength for a pro style offense. (what Bellomy apparently needs along with some other things perhaps)

Again, it may not be an issue and Speight may have a cannon. If it is an issue though, it's not trivial. We trust you Al! (I think)

Big_H

February 6th, 2013 at 10:40 AM ^

I think he is a great kid with a good head on his shoulders. He also LOVES michigan! My only knock on him is that he isn't very mobile. Man I just want our quarterback to be able to avoid the rush

chitownblue2

February 6th, 2013 at 10:56 AM ^

1. We don't know Borges "took" him.

2. We don't know he was "taken" "before" anyone. Do we know we're taking 1 QB?

3. We don't know anyone else was ours to "take".

You all suck.