IL CB Anthony Standifer Visit
He plans on visiting tomorrow with his dad and some other family members. The DB spots are going fast and he may be feeling a little pressure to get on campus sooner than expected. Love his length at corner, very athletic.
I'm sure Tom will have all the details soon!
Going faster than you think we got a verbal from Allen Gant today , I think he Was offered as a safety even tho Rivals has him listed as a WR.
Bringing his family. Knows that there's only 1 DB spot left with Morgan in the fold.
Sounds like a potential commitment watch. No Tom speculation here. But it adds up.
I think Tim nailed it when he said they'd take a 5th DB if he's truly elite. I'd have trouble turning away an Armani Reeves or Yuri Wright (although he's less likely)
Respectfully disagree. I usually agree with your assessments, but we simply don't have the room to take on 5 DBs.
We've taken on more LBs based on talent and likely will take on more DEs based on talent. I just don't think we can continue to add more players at DB. Remember when the coaches only wanted 3? Now we'll likely get 4. Had Reeves been a sure thing, I would say maybe (Yuri- maybe). But we simply don't have the numbers. We need space to take on 3-4 more DL, 3 OL, 1-2 WR, QB, RB. That's going to be at least 24ish if Morgan and Standifer come.
Listen, I like adding talent. Love it. But we don't have the room.
So, let's say Kiel goes elsewhere. Would you really prefer to have a QB who probably wouldn't be as good as Morris or Gardner over a DB like Reeves?
I think we're taking a QB. If we want the option of RSing Morris, we need a QB now. Otherwise it will only be DG and Bellmony.
this is a judgement call that is being made in Schembechler hall. It could go either way.
I agree with you to a point. If the stars mean anything then let's just say there is no way we are taking a 2 star QB when a walkon could provide the same ability. The fact that they took Bellomy says they are aware of the need. There is some talent on the roster that could be repositioned in a crunch. To do that would call for someone the staff thinks is 5 star talent (not what the recruitniks consider 5 star - but the staff does.)
The early commits to date make me think this staff knows what a good football player is. Whether they know how to fashion good players into a team is to be determined. You can't do one without the other. But the former is not always in the stars.
Sometimes you can't take the better player. You need to make sure that you have enough depth. Do we need a 15th DB or a 4th QB? If we don't take a QB in 2013 we'll have just 3. Remeber a few years back, the Eagles were down to their 3rd QB for half the season. If that happens during the 2013 season who will back up Morris?
(the legitimate kind, not the OSU kind). They're going fast so get 'em while they're hot. The Maize and Blue would love to have you.
It really feels like the dong punches of the last three years are finally out of style..
went further south.
Uh oh. The only thing worse than a dong punch is getting kneecapped. This is not good news.
I forget if it was rivals or scout , but they mentioned two more verbals inc also
Morgan, Standifer, and Magnuson, oh my!
If Standifer is rated by the services as a three star, why does he have such a good offer list? Normally, when ND offers a kid, he gets automatically moved up, at least to 4 star. ;-) Is this one of those things where the ratings services just dropped the ball, given that some good schools seem to like the guy ? Should we expect his ratings to move up in the future, possibly?
Late to the party. Had only MAC-level offers when we offered then he exploded. Nice to be one of the first to the party...
So are you saying that he moved up in the world after getting rated as a three star? Just seems odd for some good programs to be slugging it out for a three star, especially at it means that we would not have room for Reeves. I haven't seen film on the kid, so I don't want to knock him or anything, I am just not up on why he is being recruited heavily by us and others at this point.
BTW - I am happy with our other three star for the day, Gant. The idea that he skipped camps and combines as he knew that he was only interested in two schools makes a certain amount of sense to me. Plus, his dad was a high character guy while at Michigan. I'm thinking Gant will outperform the expectations and ratings. We need a hitter in the secondary, and I am thinking he will be one.
He was a sleeper and unranked I believe when we offered and has been given kind of the generic three-star kids get when their offer sheet doesn't justify being unranked. Rankings change throughout the year and my guess is if Standifer were to move, it would be up the rankings as opposed to down.
ND has offered 3-star players in the past. Outside of Michigan and ND his offer list (Iowa, Arizona, Syracuse, etc.) is pretty marginal and doesn't indicate a 3-star is obviously out of whack. None of the recruiting services are that high on him either. Maybe that will change though...
ND already has two top ten CBs on board, so it is interesting that they would offer. I think more highly than you do of Iowa (from the sound of it). They seem to have a good eye for moldable talent, so I am glad that they offered him. Also, Arizona has been steadily moving up in the world, and Stoops does know defense, so that is another good sign. I just was wondering why such interest, especially on our end, where it would appear that we would have to give up on Reeves in order to take Standifer. Maybe we have reason to think Reeves is a PSU guy, and it is time to look elsewhere ?
I think pretty highly of Iowa, especially in regard to DB evaluation - I think where we differ might be about how we view a 3 star recruit in general. It's no smear or injustice in my book. If too many recruits are ranked with 4 stars it starts to lose meaning.
My guess is that Michigan coaches aren't in a position where they feel they can confidently say Player A will be better than Player B, even if A is a 4 star and B is not. They just find players they like and it's first come first serve. They might choose A over B, if given a choice, but thats not how recruiting works in most cases.
When it comes to linebackers and defensive linemen, I would trust Iowa more than most teams.
But cornerback hasn't been a particularly strong unit at Iowa. That might be partly because they play a lot of Cover 2 and don't need super-awesome-athletic corners, but it is what it is.
Spivey was a 2 star turned into a high NFL draft pick. Sash was a 3 star and ended up turning pro early after being extremely productive. Shaun Prater was a 3 star and is on the preseason all conference 1st team.
Thats who I was thinking of specifically, but more generally they just seem to churn out quality players while very rarely landing 4-star recruits. I respect their defensive recruiting and player development in general.
Michigan has 7 DBs in the NFL, Iowa has 6. That's pretty darn respectable on their part, especially when you factor in that a guy like Woodson is not a recent player. Good enough that if I see them give an offer to a guy, it catches my eye . . . .
They've had a DB drafted in each of the past 4 NFL drafts, including two first-day (before the first round got its own day) picks at CB.
If I remeber correctly, didn't Bob Sanders come from Iowa? He plays safety and isn't that where Standifer will most likey end up playing?
No doubt ND and UM have both offered and signed plenty of 3-star players in the past, but in a year where both ND and UM have the luxury of being quite selective with who they take, it stands to reason that Scout/Rivals are the ones who are off target. He doesn't come from a football powerhouse, he hasn't been to many (any?) combines that I've heard of, and he started to get noticed later than most of the big 2012 recruits. This is all a recipe for a guy the services are under-ranking.
That doesn't mean he'll be a 4 star for sure, especially if he commits early since he probably won't get more offers, but it does call into question the accuracy of his rating. Guru Reliability: Low.
Also - I noticed that the two Syracuse coaches who are recruiting him are Tyrone Wheatley and Scott Shaffer.
I was also thinking that it may be a combination of low publicity/guru ineptitude. Funny that you mention that about Wheatley. I've seen his name mentioned with at least one or two of our other prospects that the Cuse is wanting. Wayne Morgan maybe?
I don't know if it's guru ineptitude as much as guru limilation. The first guys who are ranked highly are usually the guys in highly scouted areas, from high schools who traditionally produce big recruits, high schools who have had big recruits the last year or two (so the scouts saw the younger guys already) or guys who have shown up big at combines as underclassmen and have gotten the scout's attention. As far as I know, Standifer doesn't fall into any of the categories, so the scouts haven't had much of a reason to check him out in person or do much research on him before the first set of rankings were released.
That all might change over the course of the year, so early rankings mean little.
Its possible he'll be a 4-star, but if he's on the verge of committing, I really don't care what he's ranked. If the coaches like him, and he's committed to coming, then I don't think outside opinions particularly matter.
Standifer sounds like a good player to me, and I'll be happy to (potentially) add him to the class. My point was just to say that ND & UM offers don't automatically make a 4-star, especially for a fairly local kid. But yeah, he could be under the radar for out-of-area schools, but frankly I've heard that excuse for so many players that its hard to take seriously. (Not saying it's not true in this case, just that I'm sceptical.) These days football talent doesn't hide too often unless you're talking about areas well outside of common football recruiting grounds (and I don't think greater-Chicago counts).
I didn't realize Wheatley was at Syracuse now - interesting!
Greater-Chicago might not be under the radar, but it's not really a hot-bed either. Last year, Chicagoland produced four 4-star recruits, and they all went to Big Ten + ND schools. This doesn't exactly bring the coaches from far away elite schools and national scouts to comb every high school for talent.
Additionally, this high school is not exactly one that pumps out talent, so it's likely that his coach doesn't have a relationship with many D1 coaches and isn't familiar with the process of repping his kids to college programs. These are exactly the type of kids who take longer to get their names out and usually start the process down on the rankings.
Any news on Reeves possibly moving up his date? If not it is starting to look like we will be full at DB! I like Reeves a lot but can't even begin to complain if we get Richardson,Gant, Standifer and Morgan.
What does everyone here think?
This is great with Richardson and Gant already committed and it looking really good Morgan in a few days. Any chance we take 5 DB's if both Standifer and Reeves want to commit? Or are we only going to take the first to commit. Great problem to have either way.
5 seems excessive. We took 5 last year, and have 5 left from the 2010 class. That's a lot of DBs we'd be looking at in 3 classes. Now if Reeves ended up as the odd one out then I could see the staff taking him but I think 4 would reasonably have to be the limit for DBs. Too many other areas of need where we can land talented players.
Armani Reeves has said Michigan and PSU are in his Top 2 and Wayne Morgan, well, let's just wait until June 2nd shall we? :) Reason they may be able to take both is that Gant could very well end up playing SS or OLB, depending on how he develops...imo. Either way, what a great problem to have!
This is where Tom usually adds a 1-2 sentence preview that gets the board rockin.
but based on his film i was suprised we offered him without him camping in AA. Also Gant could end up at OLB a position that is for sure filled. I dont know how the recruiting game works but i think we should have waited for reeves decision before offering...i m sure thats not how it works lol
I love this kids film, I want this kid the most out of every DB we offered this year, he's tall, hes fast, and looks physical. Hope he goes Blue!!
Since you seem to know more about him, can you fill some of us in? I have been on the Reeves bandwagon (and its a crowded one). What makes Standifer more appealing to you?
Edit: This is from 247 sports (not behind paywall, hope it's ok), indicating that some of our boarders are not the only people high on Standifer
Standifer sees two more
Crete (Ill.) Monee cornerback Anthony Standifer told 247Sports on Tuesday night that Kansas and Wyoming each extended an offer.
Standifer previously held scholarships from Boise State, Cincinnati, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue and Syracuse. Miami and Oregon are two other programs showing strong interest in the 6-foot-1, 180-pound Standifer, who has landed all nine of his BCS offers in the last month.
The top defensive back prospect in the state of Illinois, Standifer had 44 tackles, nine interceptions and one forced fumble as a junior. He plans to camp at Boise State June 15-18.
He confirmed this with me via text. He's busy right now, but I'll be talking with him in about an hour.
you werent able to interview him tonight?
I love this kids film and believe he could be the best DB out of all of our 2012 committs He has great size for a corner and good speed. He is also a ball hawk i think his film was amazing I'm hoping he commits soon and i hope he stays at corner and doesn't get switched to safety. I think he could be a beast of a corner. Also i am really high on Morgan and after seeing that film i am even happier. You have to love tough nosed DB's who aren't afraid to get up in a WR's face. Here's to no more corners giving 10 yard cushions.