JuJu Smith includes Michigan in top 5 ($ 247Sports.com)
Premium link, but title says it all...additional premium info in the link (including the other 4 finalists)
http://michigan.247sports.com/Article/John-Smith-Talks-Five-Potential-Official-Visits-137504
Says he could "make a decision at the Under Armour All-American game, but added that it could go to National Signing Day."
Bruce Campbell reference.
You beat me to it.
But I was also going to include a pic of Rolf from Ed, Edd, n' Eddy, who likes Da JuJu's (jujubes):
Those things will rot your teeth, man.
Only good things could come from having a player named Juju on the team.
A little more information can be found here at SBNation regarding where some of the official visits are as well as other offers, although this was an article from the weekend (LINK).
"Smith has already set up three official visits -- to Alabama, Michigan, and Notre Dame -- and also has offers from Alabama, Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Colorado, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Tennessee, UCLA, USC, Utah and Wisconsin."
Honestly, it seems like from what I have heard/read that its more of a top 3 than 5 which Michigan is in both.
Realistically, Hand and Mcdowell are the last 2 big name recruits that we have a good/great chance of signing. Would that be a statement that most people could agree on? (And I'm not complaining; just trying to have rational expectations)
those guys are the two where it would be a disappointment if they didn't come because it would be more of a shock. The rest might have some shot of coming here, but a lot of things would have to go right, and we shouldn't be surprised if they don't.
that maybe true but if Juju has us in his top 3 and is visiting it doesn't sound much different than Hand and McDowell
Seems like we have at least an even chance with the other two schools in Juju's top five. I'll take top three with several months to go.
What about Westphal?
That has to set sort of record on here.
Oh dear.
Not even close, though I actually can't tell you what I did to get that.
According to TVH, he thinks JuJu will be a difficult pull from Cali, but thinks we have a good shot with Hand & McDowell. When he says we have a good shot that means we get them more often than not. But, at the same time Smith does say he's really interested in playing offense and the coaches have talked about him playing both sides, so that's a good sign too. Personally my only must have is Hand. If we land Da'Shawn I'm pretty danged happy with this class regardless of how it finishes up.
would wrap the class up for you, but don't sell McDowell short. We need both Malik and DaShawn.
His assumed top 3 are Bama, ND, Mich ... Getting him out of Cali shouldn't be that hard then.
TVH was pretty good here and all but stating Smith will be hard to pull from Cali when he doesn't even have them in his top 5 seems like a pretty bad swing and a miss for old Tom. Are we sure he said hard to pull from Cali?
Some sources have USC & UCLA in his top group.
...until I read the article.
Michigan is clearly in the top 3. He doesn't list any west coast teams...so he's committed to leaving CA. He talks about Michigan more than any other school and listed them first of the teams he named. However, I can't remember if he was speaking to a Michigan recruiting analyst. So that last part might be a product of that.
He also says "a little bit" after 2 or 3 schools...but not Michigan. For example (and these are not the schools) "I'm definitely down to Michigan, looking at Ohio St. a little bit, Notre Dame, Michigan St. a little bit and Wisconsin made the cut."
When you put on the rosey glasses, Michigan and Notre Dame feel like the front runners from that statement.
edit: I can confirm it was NOT written by a Michigan blogger...so all of the talk about Michigan does not seem to come from the fact he was speaking to a "Sam Webb type." And it's 2 southern schools and 3 midwestern schools.
It will be interesting to see how many open spots we still have come the beginning of January or February. Hopefully there will be a few spots open for guys like this who will be announcing late.
Is he visiting for UTL 2.0?
No. The Game.
then he might actually be serious about Michigan.
I like the fact that we are in JuJu's top 5 and he hasn't seen the campus yet. Shows real interest. If I'm not mistaken JuJu will visit during osu week. The atmosphere and The Game could tip scales in our favor.
George Campbell had the fastest 40 tome at The Opening. I hope we can get that guy. He still has braces though, makes me feel super old at 33.
He also had the fastest 40 TIME.
You're a dick to yourself. All caps. Geesh. Give yourself a break buddy.
...At my address
The fact that you are 33 makes me feel old that you feel old.
I'm 34 and I just want to tell 33 year old guy that yes.....you are old.
Is that his short name or is JuJu the real name?
I'm pretty sure his name is John Smith, JuJu is just a nickname.
His real name is Captain Fantastic.
...is the Brown Dirt Cowboy? #eltonjohnd
Steve also tweeted a link to a free article in which Fournette reiterated he'd like to visit.
http://247sports.com/Article/Leonard-Fournette-talks-Alabama-LSU-and-an…
The big news is 2 of the 3 perceived frontrunners (USC and UCLA) have been eliminated. The third frontrunner according to 247s crystal ball is Notre Dame, so maybe now they're in the driver's seat with Michigan and Bama trailing.
Any idea why 2 of the frontrunners were elimnated?
Not sure if they have been eliminated. Rivals had an article couple days again saying he has a top 8 (9 if you consider Wisconsin).
I have a feeling that this article was for his 5 official vists, not his top 5.
This is the important part from the rivals article:
"Right now they're all the same," Smith said. "I have a top eight and I'm going to narrow it down. There's not really a No. 9 but (Wisconsin) is still there."
The local schools - USC, UCLA and even Washington - are by no means trailing the other teams in his recruitment. It's just a matter of Smith preferring to take his official trips to destinations not easily reached.
Heading to the Midwest multiple times and possibly the South if an Ole Miss trip is in the cards seems more reasonable to Smith than taking an official trip down the road to USC or UCLA.
"I would love to stay local," Smith said. "Those schools, I could just walk to. I can come to USC, UCLA any day. Washington is down the street, so flying there isn't a problem. It's that Alabama and those schools are really far."
A lot of analysts are saying Michigan may in fact lead for Smith.
Care to elaborate?
If Michigan doesn't get him, I hope BYU does.
Jujube anyone!?
This isn't a top 5 it's the five schools that are going to get official visits. He said he doesn't need to visit West Coast schools because he lives close and can go to them on his own.