MGoFish: "Michigan likely to land RB Kareem Walker"

Submitted by Jim Harbaugh on

MGoFish had posted this update tonight from his OSU source:

“I’m 99.999% sure he is out for OSU”, the source said about Walker. It turns out this last visit and some other things have rubbed the Buckeye coaching staff the wrong way and that’s why they’re going all in on Wisconsin running back commit Antonio Williams (who the source believes will flip and join the OSU class in the not-so-distant future)."

"I’d be willing to bet (money) that he suits up in Maize & Blue for his first collegiate game.”

Obviously this isnt a lock, but good sign moving forward in his recruitment.

http://mgofish.com/ohio-state-source-michigan-is-the-favorite-to-land-k…

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San Diego Mick

October 13th, 2015 at 1:55 AM ^

He looks good but I wasn't crazy impressed, I was surprised he was # 1 after watching too. I'm sure he's good but we have some nice RB's already in the fold, I'd rather recruit other positions right now.

I was also not overly impressed with Corley's film, he looked good but we have WR's committed and there are some special ones we're in on in 2017, again, we need to recruit other positions and we're running out of space.

But if Harbaugh wants them then who am I to argue.

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Ryanonymous

October 13th, 2015 at 7:17 AM ^

Walker has more speed, more shake, more vision, and is less of a bowling ball type than Green was in his high school film.
Walker has good speed but I like his quickness and vision.
He also has said he wants to be part of a stable of backs to stay fresh for a chance to play in the league.
We run by committee and he likes it. OSU has had Zeke taking most of the carries and there isn't much distribution to other backs as of yet.
I think seeing Higdon and Johnson gives Kareem a good idea of how he'd fit into this offense.

Joined: 05/02/2011

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Zarniwoop

October 13th, 2015 at 8:21 AM ^

Walker is tremendous moving through trash at the line of scrimmage and seeing tiny lanes before they happen. However, I didn't see him put his head down and really finish a run. That's my only concern because he looks like a kid destined for Alabama B.H.(before Harbaugh).

Joined: 09/10/2013

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teldar

October 13th, 2015 at 10:04 AM ^

I also just watched some of his highlights and it looks like he's dancing to the end when sometimes, if he just put his shoulder down and went for it, he would end up with more yards. And he looks a little light, even if he is 6'2". Then I thought that's what position coaching and S&C coaches are for. 

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MinWhisky

October 13th, 2015 at 8:39 AM ^

In my mind, OSU, Wisconsin, and MSU are almost always able to field premier RBs.  MSU, in particular, seems to be able pull one out of nowhere.  Is this success based more on signing RBs out of high school who have the most potntial for college ball, coaching, competition once they're on campus, or some other factor?

It just seems to me that those three schools (and maybe Nebraska) are able to identify and get their team's best RB onto the field whereas UofM (except for Mike Hart) has struggled to do so(e.g. Thomas Rawls, Mike Cox, etc). 

I'm sensing that ability is in the process of changing with Harbaugh and his staff, given what I see from the RBs this year.  I know the OL play is much better, but I don't think that's the key factor.  Am I wrong?

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BayWolves

October 13th, 2015 at 9:32 AM ^

We can now easily get talented backs on the field. I think talent wasn't recognized for what it was in recent years because of horrible o-line play. Now we can see the talent more and the coaches are outstanding at developing it, again because we have good o line play, hard to assess talent when it never gets out of the backfield.



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Alton

October 13th, 2015 at 10:42 AM ^

Remember that Michigan had the same position coach there from 1992 through 2014--an amazing 23 consecutive seasons.  Serious question:  is that an NCAA record for a (non-head coach & non-coordinator) position coach? 

It struck me that RB scouting & development might have stagnated a bit toward the end of that time period.

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LSAClassOf2000

October 13th, 2015 at 8:43 AM ^

All I can say is that when I did a survey of about 50 years worth of rosters a few seasons ago, we had only pulled in maybe a few dozen kids from New Jersey in that whole space of time. It seems like we could double in a decade now, if things continue to go this week on the Atlantic seaboard for Michigan. Is this where we thank Rutgers? Actually, no - never thank Rutgers.

Joined: 01/07/2011

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oingoboingo

October 13th, 2015 at 9:45 AM ^

Walker has said previously he wants somewhere in the vicinity of 15-20 touches per game in his freshmen season. I think where OSU maybe has an edge on this is that it is assumed Elliot is gone after this season and there is no seasoned back up at that position for the Buckeyes, yet. With Michigan still dishing out carries between Smith, Johnson, Isaac, Green, Higdon, I can see this being a deterrent to him actually arriving in Ann Arbor. 

I believe he also wants to enroll early. He may not wind up in Columbus but I guess I'll be surprised if he winds up in Ann Arbor.

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Space Coyote

October 13th, 2015 at 9:53 AM ^

Is that they are fairly confident he isn't going to stay with OSU. But Kareem has taken a lot of visits and will take more; I don't think Michigan is anything close to a done deal.

Joined: 06/18/2009

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Bones032

October 13th, 2015 at 10:02 AM ^

I hate to be that guy but.....

Weren't we all kind of saying bad things over the summer, when we kept taking 2 and 3 star under the radar recruits? And I bet we all were thinking about something like this stuff now. 

It was great to have players ready to commit at the camps in the summer, but we all kind of thought there would be a lot of 4 and 5 stars who might want to commit down the road. So I never want to be a downer when a kid commits, but each time an under the radar guy jumped on, in my head I was thinking, thats another top 250ish guy who won't have a spot now.

As others have said, seems like we are in good shape with like 10-12 good recruits right now, but only have like 4 or so spots. I wonder if in the future we will hold off on some of the under the radar guys in the summer. Under the radar guys are fine if its in Jan. and Feb. and you are trying to fill a class, taking them in the summer seemed crazy.

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Michology 101

October 13th, 2015 at 11:19 AM ^

I've been thinking the same thing. I believe Jim wasn't for sure how well this season would go and how many big time recruits would be truly interested in coming to Michigan. Therefore he went on and took a lot of under the radar talent as a sure safety net. Though now we see the rebuild is happening rather quick and big time recruits are taking notice. The coaching staff may very well hold off on accepting so many under the radar guys in the next recruiting class, at least not so early.

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Hotroute06

October 13th, 2015 at 11:48 AM ^

Im not so sure thats the case regarding under the radar recruits.  I think this coaching staff is simply the best at evaluating elite NFL level talent out of high school and star ratings arent something they worry about.  That being said im glad im not the only one who thinks Walker seems overrated.  It looks like he goes down to easy and isnt that strong of a runner.  Personally im much more excited about Kingston Davis and Higdons future at Michigan.  

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