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Jake Ryan, a super sleeper, LB out of St Ignatious in Ohio, is on his official visit this weekend. He is a kid who grew 2 inches in height from his junior year to his senior. He is now 6'3" and 220 lbs.
His tape looks good. I am surprised no one has offered in the big ten but UM. Allen Trieu said scout simply missed this kid and he should have been ranked.
you were talking about the guy in 16 candles!
My fault!
Is being recruited by Tressel
The kid looks like he really gets after it. I like it.
I have to say I am impressed. Glennville is not to shabby of a team either, and by the looks of this video he had a very good game.
Is playing in the background in the highlight reel?
Like the kid and agree that he seems like a genuine sleeper.
this kid looks awesome on tape...on the fourth down play, he stopped Christian Bryant (no. 1 jersey) whose probably going to OSU and then stopped Latwan Anderson (no. 2) on the last play. Would be a great pickup
This is baffling to me. He's got awesome measurables (and even before his apparent growth spurt last year, he would've been what, 6'1?), his film is awesome, he plays for one of the most famous high schools in the country in the top division in one of the best states for football talent, he was first team all-Ohio this year (his teammate, OSU commit Scott McVey, was 2nd team)...and he's a 5.5 3-star on Rivals, and isn't ranked by Scout.
I don't know how he slipped through the cracks, but I look at his film, and I see someone I want playing for Michigan. Apparently his secret is leaking out, as other B10 schools are starting to notice him, with UM being the first. Hopefully we can lock him down this weekend.
Sidenote: Others on the first team all-Ohio squad: Jibreel Black, Darryl Baldwin, Jordan Hicks, Trey Depriest, Courtney Avery, Christian Bryant, and Latwan Anderson.
I definitely wouldn't describe his film as "awesome." It's easy for a kid to run through huge holes in the offensive line and crush the quarterback. Linebackers have to do a whole lot more than that.
There is very little of him fighting off blocks, playing in coverage, reading run keys, even running down plays from the backside (with the one notable exception). That's not to say he looks like a player without potential, but unless his highlight film just doesn't show him, like, doing football, he has a lot more to learn as a player.
teams/scouts get scared to pull triggers unless others think someone should be rated highly...people are scared to take football players...
I wonder what folks would have thought about Speilman in today's day and age of recruiting...
I thought R. Vinopal was 1st team as well??
I don't know this for sure but OB said he's in the top division and i know that Ray is in a lower division.... I think OB was only listing off D1 all-staters
Ryan plays in D1, Ray plays in DIII. Many people here in Ohio think that Mooney (where Ray went) can compete with the big boys in D1. Both of these kids are from big time tradition rich football schools
Very nice highlight film against some good competition, and by looks of his film his 40 time is only about two fakes out of five. I am very pleased with the staff's ability to see talent others may have missed.
Brian, he was injured most of his junior year, if that helps explain the lack of offers.
More:
Fun tidbit: Around the 3:38 mark, the portly guy with the baseball cap on backwards on the Glenville sideline - that's Robert Andrews, the Glenville defensive coordinator and former Tressel assistant at Youngstown State. He is more responsible for the OSU/Glenville pipeline than most people realize.
Anyone who drops Nas in their video deserves a scholly.
Seems to have good instincts most of the time, and I saw him wait for a play to develop properly on a couple of occasions, rather than commit too early and get burned. I'll take it!
The best hotels are 2 and 3 star ones, mostly because they have free continental breakfasts with waffles. Point being, this kid can hit and tackle against good competition playing D1 football in Ohio. I will take that.
Now that you mention it, hotel and recruit ratings match up very well. That said, 4 and 5 star hotels rule compared to 2 and three star ones, despite my love of waffles.
This guy looks like a tough mutha. Glad to have some more linebackers.
looks like a player
I'd love to have him in Maize and Blue
He is a DE waiting to happen, which is fine. Is much more explosive than athletic. Has his upper body out in front of his legs often forcing him to dive, reach, and grasp for tackles. Put him in a 3 pt and let him focus on beating the man in front of him and he'll be good. Shows a couple solid pass rush moves even for a high school LB.
If he's a DE, what does a MLB look like? This guy is a MIKE all the way.
"If he's a DE, what does a MLB look like?"
Jay Hopson would also like to know the answer to this.
That's crazy, a friend and I were just talking about Jake the other day and was wondering why no one had picked this kid up. We were watching state playoffs on STO and were very impressed with this kid the whole game every game. He is aggressive and knows how to play against spread and pro-style teams. I didn't know he was on an a visit this weekend. This would be huge if he would come to AA, I personally think it would be a blessing to see him a winged helmet.
We also need to offer that Stever Mehrer(sp). That guy wants to be Maize and Blue and is a beast in person. Anyone seen his video?
That would give us stabillity at the LB position.
in these highlights that we'll have to put a picture of him next to the definition in the dictionary
YES! A WHITE LINEBACKER! FINALLY! Look out Penn State...
This kid lays the goddamn lumber.. the hit at 1:02 is absolutely ferocious. We need him in Maize and Blue.
Are always hard nosed good players. Hopefully we have him on campus
And black linebackers aren't?.....Ray Lewis may disagree with you
Plus white people can be athletic too, athletic and hard-nosed are not mutually incompatible.
him saying that black linebackers dont go to work on the field... he made a small point, take it as that.
He definitely plays well within that defensive scheme. I wonder how his skills translate to the scheme GERG has installed @ UM.
So, current offers are all of the MAC variety despite good size, "high motor", etc? Seems like thee Ohio State would've noticed this kid while recruiting his teammate. Hope this doesn't fall under the "too good to be true" rule. By measurables and tape, seems like he would be a great get. Anyone have any thoughts on why the offers have been so slow to come in?
I don't mean that in a snarky way, it's just that this kid is in a high profile program, as you say OSU recruited his teammate, so this doesn't seem like an under the radar thing to me. I can only think that the reasons he has only MAC offers are due to what Tim says above. He's not unnoticed, as Rivals ranked him, I think this is a case maybe of people in the B10 evaluating him and deciding they had other recruiting priorities. That doesn't mean he can't be a good player for us however. He definitely looks to have potential.
He doesn't appear to be great at squaring up runners in the hole, and also doesn't have a lot of tape of stunning lead blockers, it looks like he should be an outside linebacker in a 3-4 defense. That's why him being a borderline MAC/Big Ten player makes sense at this time. Nothing physically says that he has a ton of room to grow (Which leads to some kids who might not play as well as he does getting better ratings), and he's not a Demar-Dorsey "I'm a totally raw player" type. Obviously its a given that he's talented, I don't need a laundry list of what he's done against HS kids, it's just how much potential he has and how versatile he is.
An absence of taking on lead blockers doesn't mean that he's poor at it. You shouldn't jump to conclusions about things that aren't included on a highlight tape.
His technique is poor at staying square and maintaining enough balance to move laterally, but that's something that can be taught.
I didn't make any conclusion about his ability to stun lead blockers, I just said it was absent from this tape. If this is what schools saw then they wouldn't ignore the absence of those types of plays, and would be part of the reason for his lack of offers.
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He would probably be a great player at Stevie Brown's position. It would open up a lot of pressure packages if he's as good at defeating pass blocking in college as he is in high school.
Most schools would require game film before offering a kid like this, not base it off his highlight tape.
Regardless, he would be HORRIBLE at Steve Brown's position. Steve Brown covered slot receivers on pass plays. Jake Ryan wouldn't stand a chance against Big Ten slot receivers. There's no chance in hell that he would play SAM.
but the fact that he doesn't have big time offers while playing for a big time High school say's something.
It's not like this kid plays in obscurity...I don't think he's as good as we think.
there's a reason it's called a highlight video...they dont put the low lights on there
Why don't you sit this one out for a while, stop posting.
This kid looked like he played hard, and it looked like he was a pretty technically-sound tackler. Given our problems with the fundamentals at that position, Ryan would be a good pickup. In fact, I have to admit that I thought I was watching an Iowa linebacker when I watched him (Not great speed, but lots of energy and sound tackling).
would make me delirious with joy. When was the last time we had our LB corps described as "not great athletes, but tough and fundamentally sound?" That would be a whole new world for us lately.
quick to go to the negative...There are no absolutes..but if the coaches see something in a defensive player of need, then more power to them.
And frankly, the more recruits UM takes from good football schools in Ohio, the better it makes me feel. Some previous coach used that strategy fairly well back in the day before blogs and even the internet...
I wonder what folks would have thought about Speilman in today's day and age of recruiting...
Bo kicked Speilman out of his office.
Funny...
I've heard Spielman tell a story on several occasions that he had his meeting with "Coach Schembechler" and was all set to go to Michigan, he even sat his parents down to break the news to them and his dad said, "Like hell you are, you're going to Ohio State and that's final."
I dont think he played most of his Junior year due to injury, which could somewhat explain why he wasnt as talked about among BCS schools
Would Michigan take both Rogers and Ryan?
that Michigan wanted to keep secret from because Michigan is Ryan's last official visit so no other Big 10 teams would not try to stop him from committing to Michigan. He blew up in his senior year which is why he got an offer from Michigan(Michigan is the 1st major program to offer him) alas Patrick Omameah.
Super-sleeper huh? Does that make him a bigger sleeper than Vinopal? =)
I am almost positive that this is John Ryan's brother, the ND DE.
You are correct sir. He is a 2005 grad of St. Ignatious.
I'm pretty sure you're right. I don't understand how he was under the radar?
He looks great. I'll bet he could be a nice rotational DE and a special teams demon like his brother is at ND.
This guy is a middle linebacker. If they wanted an undersized DE in this class, they would have stayed on Murphy.
wow, I don't know why everyone is so quick to bill him as a DE. He certainly looked like he had adequate quickness for MIKE in the highlight video, and if we can keep him there why wouldn't we? When our linebackers have been performing so poorly.
While there weren't a whole lot of them, he still made a few nice open field tackles in the video.
Ryan was a starter on the Dline, rotated a lot but still a starter
I don't know how many of you know who Tom S. is, but he has been going absolutely nuts about this guy. As a guy who scouts Ohio, he knows good players, and he says this guy would be a HUGE steal if Michigan can pick him up.
Who is RR going to steal him from? Ball State? EMU? Is there other BCS schools involved with him?
I suppose steal wasn't the best word there, but is "get" better for you sir?
I was just confused
Dion Lewis (RB, Pitt) only had offeres from Tulane and MIami (OH) before getting pick up by Pitt. Dude is a stud. I'm not trying to Jake Ryan will necessarily pan out like Lewis but, kids with talent get missed all the time. Who knows why...
would Ryan play? It would be great if he played MLB. The position seems very thin right now.
He looks like a middle linebacker to me. He's got some things to clean up if he wants to play linebacker at the next level, but you could say that about anyone. I don't really picture the coaches recruiting a 6'2", 220 lb. linebacker to play DE. If they wanted a DE, they'd recruit a DE. Besides that, the DE position for Michigan requires a guy who can play the 5-technique, which involves taking on a tackle and sometimes a tight end. This guy would have to add 40 lbs. before he'd be able to play the 5-technique, and that's asking a lot.
Anyway, until I hear differently from a reputable source, I'm going to say they're recruiting him as a MIKE.
This 6'4, 238 lb. guy played DE for Michigan last year
http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/roh_craig00.html
Weird.
Wow this has been a very very informative thread, wish they could all be this good.
(Only the chorus 16 seconds in applys)
I don't think that music is nearly dramatic enough.
I was looking at Rival's Ohio state rankings. Jake Ryan seems to be right in our wheelhouse at 45.
#41 Terrence Talbott
#46 Courtney Avery
#47 Antonio Kinard
#48 DJ Williamson
Granted this is lower on the rankings than I'd like to see a 5th of our recruiting class, but I wouldn't call this guy a MAC talent.
ohio high school football has 6 divisions, vinopal is in division 3, and i think avery is in division 2 (in response to stewart52, it didnt post as a reply)
He seems like a good talent and I'd love to have him in this class. Probable RS and then compete with JB Fitzgerald for starter nest year.
From watching his video I would love to land this guy it just seems like he is making plays all over the field and he also plays with an attitude that Michigan needs if they want to build a great defense. I can see him being a beast linebacker for us if he ends up committing. GO BLUE!
the sentiments on this board, this kid would be a great addition. 3 stars or not its at a position of dire dire need and i love me some defense. bring him in.
When i seen his video I cant help to think he plays like zack follett and to me this kid is a Mike linebacker or a DEATHBACKER
and Devin Gardner played St Ignatious this year. St. Ignatious won 49-20. It would be interesting to view the game tape.
I hope the kid gets a U-M offer. It is good to see we are still heavily recruiting the state of Ohio.
This being a highlight film, I try to keep myself calm. The one thing that I observed is that he seems to play with serious tenacity. Michigan could use a lot of that at Mike.
is the rivals offer list accurate!? ball state, bg, central, eastern and toledo.
if it is, he shouldn't be too hard to get...which worries me.
right here. Take the hint.
he will provide depth at a position that needs it.
This kid is as good as any 4 star I have seen this year. Come on home kid we will gladly take ya!!!!!!!
6-3 220? NICCCEEE we need to build the defense back up with big guys again...
You can see him holding his hand in such a way that it looks tender right around around the 2:08-2:11 mark of the highlight video.
Maybe he'll turn out like another skinny white kid from Ohio that played at the MAC level. Played at Kent St. What was his name again?... Oh Jack Lambert.
Kid needs to add weight and play lower. As long as he has anger issues and plays with "hate" in his heart he'll be okay.
He looks like a young Zack Follet waiting to happen.
Glad to read this discussion now that he's supposedly committed. I can only judge by the highlight film, but looks good to me. And my big concern was all the focus on DBs, which of course we need, and despairing that I didn't see much room left for LBs and Dline, which we need as well. As for why he went unnoticed-- I agree the junior year injury probably left him off the radar when the biggies were setting their sights. Maybe they already had too many hyped 4-5-stars in his position-- whatever position they'd have considered him in-- locked up already and didn't have any need to keep looking. Hope so. Also interesting that we got a couple last-minute LBs when we don't even have a linebackers coach.
