http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=Midwest_Recruiting
Summary:
-Mathis to announce this week
-Oregon is the favorite (as we know)
-Kurelic's surprise pick is Michigan (no supporting evidence)
-Bill Kurelic does the Midwest Recruiting Blog for ESPN Insider
It would be really surprising if Mathis picked us at this point, but it does feel like there's an underground movement amongst the analysts for Mathis to UM.
I'd like it personally, especially with Witty not qualifying...
It wouldn't be a terrible
Not enough
3" only puts him at about 5'9". Give me 6" and I'd be happy.
TWSS?
TWSS?
That's what she said.
Nevermind.
He was just kidding, Dior
Kurelic has always been a
Kurelic has always been a little slow....
Current Smug rating: "lethal"
That's why they
assigned him to the Midwest. Couldn't keep up with all that speed below Mason-Dixon line.
this guy doesn't know anything
you can put much more stock in what this blog has for recruiting coverage than what bill kurelic says.
with that said, i'd certainly take a mathis commitment.
Predictions mean nothing
Kurelic picked Michigan for Mathis. Now if we could get Mathis to pick Michigan we be all set.
"I tried to but a pencil in the light socket but it was too wide and didn't fit so I used a paperclip."-Terrelle Pryor, Future Rhodes Scholar
No we need Mathis to gets
No we need Mathis to gets picks for Michigan.
The Midwest guy picked a
The Midwest guy picked a Midwest school for Mathis? Complete with no supporting evidence? I have to feel like this is more for the page hits, than having journalistic merit.
Kurelic is a known OSU homer.
Kurelic is a known OSU homer. If he's saying Dior to UM, he might know something (and I know nothing).
Nobody home...
you and kurelic
know the same amount in this instance
Scout disagrees
According to GBW Mathis has made his way into the starting lineup at CB for the Army game but he simply does not hold a candle to Avery or Terrence Talbott and so we will deliberately ignore him and slam the door in his face even if he tries to hop aboard. Which makes complete sense. Because he's short. And Rodriguez obviously can't stand short players. The man is height-crazy! (sarcasm)
Shorties
RR doesn't nesscessarily hate them, he recruited McGuffie and he was what 5'7" ish.
Go Blue!
You're comparing apples to
You're comparing apples to oranges, my friend - McGuffie doesn't have to defend receivers.
Three-quarters of the world is covered by water; the rest is covered by Charles Woodson.
I'm baffled - not every receiver is 6'3
Mathis can cover the slot guys. We needs CBs, and he's Army Game material. I don't see how you can possible deny him, unless you have found a 4-5 better prospects (we haven't).
Greg Robinson might not play
Greg Robinson might not play this way for his entire time at Michigan, but not once last year did we run out a nickel package with a slot corner. A slot corner in the 2009 defense would have been a benchwarmer 100% of the time.
I'm not "denying" him, but I
I'm not "denying" him, but I don't think he's the answer to our problems.
Three-quarters of the world is covered by water; the rest is covered by Charles Woodson.
Thank you for telling us that
Thank you for telling us that Rodriguez doesn't mind recruiting short people, since he brought in Martavious Odoms, Vincent Smith, and Teric Jones, not to mention current commits like Terrence Talbott and Drew Dileo and Courtney Avery.
But McGuffie wasn't 5'7".
Pretty sure
McGuffie was like 5'11". He wasn't a small back. There is a BIG difference between 5'11" and 5'6".
There is also a BIG difference between a RB and a CB.
RR
RR was the coach on the day he verbally committed 7/29/2007. Nice!!
"Hey OSU, stop spelling O-H-I-O and try a 5-letter word...State!"
Kurelic's days are far behind him
Ten+ years ago he was considered hot stuff in the recruiting biz (at least in the midwest) but in this era of Rivals and Scout and MGoBlog and Sam Webb he's become somewhat irrelevant.
he seems comfortable
I posted this thought on another story, but (and this could be totally meaningless, but hey...why not mention?) I often sit in/near the recruit/program seats for Bball games. I've seen Dior on multiple occassions and the guy just seems really comfortable with current players, recruits, staff...even the ushers. His comfort level seems beyond that of other recruits. Maybe that's just because he's local (or Detroit local)? I don't know...I'm just passing along an observation...
He's a 4 star on every site
He's a 4 star on every site and an instate guy. I'd love to have Mathis. He's also from an important school, even though none of the guys we got from Cass have seemed to pan out yet. There will be more coming up the pike. Hopefully he turns blue with Witty not qualifying.
If Dior decides to come
If Dior decides to come to Michigan, I'd welcome him with open arms. He is an elite, explosive athlete and I'd happily take as many of those as we can get our mitts on. So what if he lacks height. Put him in the slot, where Drake has just vacated a spot. I'm sure the coaches can find a way to use his exceptional athleticism.
Read on the Mlive forum that
Read on the Mlive forum that on WTKA this morning, Sam said he no longer had the 'gut feeling' for Grimes/Murphy. Anybody else here this?
If that's true and Witty not coming, adding a corner would make sense.
Yeah, Scout has been backing off
of the silent commit status for these two. UM appears to still lead according to them and TomVH's recent interview, but Scout doesn't seem to consider them silent commits any more.
But even with that, I don't think that opens the door for Mathis.
In this class you still have Cullen, Avery and Talbott as CB's. That's still a pretty good haul. I'd rather them replace Grimes/Murphy with Knight or Parker and a MLB.
I never had a "gut feeling"
I never had a "gut feeling" about Murphy. I think they're headed for different schools. Hopefully at least Grimes comes to Michigan.
I will be stunned if Dior
I will be stunned if Dior doesn't commit to Oregon.
Then again, earlier this week at the AA game Dior said he would make a "stunning" announcement on Saturday.
So, I'm ready for stunnage.
Kurelic's value
While I would agree that Kurelic appears to generally be about 2 months behind the information stream when it comes to recruiting, there's a different feel on this one.
I haven't been able to find a single other blog entry where he makes a similar gut prediction that is contrary to the prevailing theory.
He's probably taking Mathis's "I'll shock everybody with my selection statement" a little too seriously, but you never know.
And Mathis is still ranked considerably higher on both Rivals and Scout than Avery or Talbott. We'd all prefer all of our CB's were 6'3" with the wingspan of a condor and ran a 4.1, but sometimes you have to settle for the best cover guy in the state of Michigan this year...
I don't think we're getting him, but Farrell (yes, consider the source) and Kurelic (yes, consider the source) have both made statements that indicate they believe he's not a lock for Oregon.
It'll be interesting to see where he goes. It's probably 90% Oregon, but I'll be pumped if he makes the right choice.
I mean, it probably wouldn't
I mean, it probably wouldn't be a bad pick up. Bring him in at corner, and if he doesn't work out there then move him to slot since we aren't getting Drake and all. I'd be alright if Mathis is the replacement for Drake.
There might be something to
There might be something to this opinion regarding Mathis and the slot WR position, now that Drake is out of the picture.
I don't have any background detail, but perhaps that's the "stunning" angle on his announcement.
I dunno, we watched a 5'8" corner get torched the first 1/3 of the season last year, why go through that with a guy 2 inches shorter?
"jg2112;" thought you were a
"jg2112;" thought you were a big proponent of Cissoko last year, citing and/or defending his lack of play due to possible lingering injuries and preaching patience as we was a true soph? Maybe my memory serves me wrong.
Well, we watched some 6'2"
Well, we watched some 6'2" LBs get torched all season but I don't think that means we give up on all normal height LBs.
Yes, Dior is a short CB. That doesn't mean he will perform just like all other short CBs. There are plenty that have succeeded.
You are saying short....
You are saying short like it is one height. Yes, some short corners have succeeded. Can you tell me how many 5'6" corners have succeeded?
He would give up at least 9" (in height for all you TWSS guys out there) to a guy like M Floyd. I don't care how good a guys cover skills are, when you give up that kind of height to a WR you are going to come out on the losing end more often than not.
Most teams second WR's over 6' as well, so he would even give up 6" to them.
Short is one thing, 5'6" is another.
If their thought is to bring him in as a slot, I am fine with that given the Drake thing. But even Cissoko, who was described almost exactly as Dior has been his senior year and was a 5*, had more height than him. We all saw how he got abused by taller receivers this year.
I am not saying there is no hope for short DB's but 5'6" is a problem at CB IMHE.
I agree 100%.
And, like I
I agree 100%.
And, like I said in the previous Mathis post - the height gap grows even larger when you factor things like wingspan and vertical into the mix.
Three-quarters of the world is covered by water; the rest is covered by Charles Woodson.
i think that's right. part
i think that's right. part of the reason he was never high on us is that we were supposedly recruiting him as a slot, not a cb. at this point it looks like we'd be lucky to have him as either. also, bill kurelic is an idiot.
The difference is with that "stunning" announcement
is that he's not The Otter.
I just read earlier today on
I just read earlier today on Rivals (Farrell) that Michigan State is making a late charge for Mathis, right behind Oregon.
Parker
Sounds like Parker is going to be the big catch from all the talk. I will take both!
GMW
Why all these comments about
Why all these comments about Mathis being 5'6"? He's short, but he's not THAT short.
was wondering the same thing
I realize there's some gamesmanship in reporting, but ESPN lists Avery, Talbott, and Mathis all as 5'9".
There are people
who saw him in person and said that he's closer to 5'6" than 5'9"(his listed height obviously). Boo-Boo is short for a CB but Boo-Boo is much taller than him.
Dior is headed to Eugene, but
Dior is headed to Eugene, but even if he decides he wants to play close home, he'll go to MSU. I would love to have Dior but with the commitments of Avery and Talbott, we just arent able to take him this year.
I routinely +1 myself in memory of em0, may he RIP
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How tall was
How tall was Donavon Warren, I was thinking 6'2" but if he was shorter(Warren) I think he'd had been just as good. Mathis probably has some 'hops' if he's that short and plays DB so we'll see. He'll probably end up in EL.
Go Blue!
I would prefer Knight over
I would prefer Knight over Mathis
BUT, i am willing to accept him into this class with Drake not qualifying
I'm sure we will find somewhere to use Dior
hopefully the surprising announcement is for Michigan!
I'm wondering if the coaches
I'm wondering if the coaches will say, "Come to Michigan, and we'll give you a shot to play offense or defense." It sounds like Drake is gone, so they could use help at either position.
Not that I expect Mathis to choose Michigan, but it's a thought...
Nope. He has no UM
Nope. He has no UM scholarship offer on the table.
It wouldn't be a terrible pickup, I just wish he were about three inches taller and 20 pounds heavier.