Mike Farrell on potential Dior Mathis surprise
"He's saying Oregon's his leader and that's where he wants to go [but] it wouldn't surprise me at all if he just picked Michigan out of the blue."
http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1036023
I think this would be quite surprising. Just passing along the info to share the wealth.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:12 PM ^
I was under the impression (from this board) that we had cooled on his recruitment a long time ago for other (taller) prospects.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:16 PM ^
I recently read that Witty is not going to be eligible to play at UM - in fact, I'm surprised there isn't a thread about the topic on this blog (unless I missed it?).
Anyways, if Witty isn't joining us, then we'll have an additional schollie open, perhaps to go to another defensive back.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:20 PM ^
Some posters covered Witty yesterday, but I still thought there was a chance he would make it. I feel bad for him if that is the case.
I always assumed Mathis was slated for Oregon, and was surprised he did not commit to them shortly after his visit last month.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:21 PM ^
http://mgorecruit.blogspot.com/
Whose blog is that? Mangus', right?
After reading it again, that blog seems a bit uncertain about Witty. The first time I read it, I got the impression it was a sure thing that he would not make it.
Shows the importance of careful reading, I guess.
January 5th, 2010 at 2:48 PM ^
and don't find Magnus' post very informative. Anyone know where there is more information on this Witty thing?
As I said, I have been away for a while and searched the board but didn't find anything. This is some crap news if it's true!
Edit: evidently it wasn't Magnus' post as this was not from his website. I was just going by what Blue Bull had in his post.
January 5th, 2010 at 4:12 PM ^
I was asking whose blog that was. I thought it was Mangus', but now I'm not so sure anymore.
Regardless, there's someone's blog suggesting Witty isn't getting in. Take it for what it's worth I guess.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:57 PM ^
i believe its about 90% he wont make it in
January 5th, 2010 at 2:07 PM ^
Wasn't Witty suppose to be an early enrolee? If thats the case shouldn't he be in the M directory?
January 5th, 2010 at 4:18 PM ^
Athletes can get their names deleted from the general search so people can't stalk them.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:15 PM ^
If Grimes decides to go elsewhere, I'd be in favor of picking Mathis. But I like Grimes more than him right now. But it's hard to turn down an instate kid.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:17 PM ^
I highly doubt DM is in the mood to wait around and see if we can land Grimes. I'd take DM assuming that Witty will not be on scholarship, as I recently read may happen.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:29 PM ^
Rashad gets my vote - I think he's a bit bigger than Dior and the fake 40 time is solid at 4.42.
I just can't tell if the coaches have cooled on him or he's just keeping it quiet.
January 5th, 2010 at 2:01 PM ^
I think Rashad Knight may be being recruited as a S anyway.
January 5th, 2010 at 2:03 PM ^
Knight is definitely being recruited as a safety.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:17 PM ^
Welcome Dior Mathis if you so choose.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:19 PM ^
viable recruit as of now.
He's really tiny(like 5'6"). RR see him more of a slot WR than a CB.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:29 PM ^
"Tiny" and "Slot WR"...words I'm so tired of hearing!
Mathis seems like a strong player, but I remain worried that we're too small for Big Ten play. I used to live on the East Coast where my Big Ten friends and I would routinely laugh about the tiny players in the Big East/ACC and the trouble they'd have in the Big Ten. I sure hope I'm wrong.
January 5th, 2010 at 5:23 PM ^
Wait
Are you saying Rich Rod's not in the Big East anymore
You scoundrel
January 5th, 2010 at 4:45 PM ^
RR has no room for Dior Mathis. He's not coming to Michigan.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:24 PM ^
...but still rated as one of the top performers at the Army All-American practices. Sometimes the immeasurables are more important. (see: Mike Hart)
January 5th, 2010 at 1:30 PM ^
Agree that immeasurable are more important, and Hart is the perfect example.
However, Hart (or any of our Ninjas) will never have to jump to stop a 6' 3" receiver running a fade in the corner of the endzone.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:37 PM ^
zomg he was a 3 star!!!!
January 5th, 2010 at 1:58 PM ^
Can "immeasurables" play pass defense against Michael Floyd?
January 5th, 2010 at 3:14 PM ^
No, but a physical corner who can play press-coverage and has the speed to make up for it can.
January 5th, 2010 at 3:35 PM ^
Floyd is 6'3", Mathis is 5'6."
Really? You find this feasible?
January 5th, 2010 at 4:01 PM ^
I'm just sayin'. As much as people on here don't want to admit, Mathis is a very solid cornerback. He's extremely physical for his size- and he never shies away from getting in receivers faces.
Personally I would have been fine with him coming to Michigan. Whether or not he's "too-short" is a different matter.
January 5th, 2010 at 4:45 PM ^
See: Cissoko, Boubacar.
January 5th, 2010 at 5:13 PM ^
Mathis is a better cornerback - and has a better mentality/drive, than Cissoko.
January 5th, 2010 at 8:21 PM ^
Have you seen him play? Probably not. Cissoko was rated higher than Dior too.
January 6th, 2010 at 12:36 AM ^
Actually had a chance to see both of them play. Saw BooBoo his junior year of high school at least twice, and had a chance to watch Dior at a camp this year.
January 5th, 2010 at 9:06 PM ^
The scouting report you just gave is, literally, identical to what people were saying about Boubacar.
Must be the immeasurables that set Dior apart.
January 5th, 2010 at 5:47 PM ^
That was the same tag assigned to BooBoo in his recruiting also. And I thought the reason the coaches cooled on Mathis was his performance at camps this summer?
edit: Indiana blue beat me to it
January 5th, 2010 at 4:37 PM ^
5 of the 8 CBs playing in the pro bowl are 5'10 or 5'11 and more than half of the top 15 Cbs in the NFL are 5'11 or shorter....they don't seem to have any trouble putting up a fight against 6'2 and 6'3 receivers. Also, to say that Mathis is 5'6 is a little ridiculous. Although, even if he is 5'6, don't you think Cullen or Avery or Turner might cover him? Plus, Floyd is an outstanding talent and even if Mathis was 6'5, he still might have trouble covering him. Jump balls in the endzone are not the only thing CBs are required to defend.
January 6th, 2010 at 8:46 AM ^
but all account I have read suggest he IS no taller than 5'6". How many of the top 15 pro CB's are that Height? There is a BIG difference between 5'11" and 5'6", you're talking about 5 inches for pete sake.....That is a huge difference where height is concerned.
Also, your arguement about jump balls is partly true, but any good QB/WR tandum will exploit a height advantage of the magnitude that dior will present.
Consider a team with just an average size WR (6'0), that is a 6 inch height advantage for the WR. You don't think that every time that QB throws to the WR he isn't going to put extra air under it and throw it up for grabs?
Also, the other corner can cover one other WR, but what about the second? Many teams in college football have more than one WR that is over 6 feet tall. What do you do then? Good college QB's will look at that mismatch and exploit it as often as possible.
I am perfectly content with the notion that Mathis is going to Oregon.
January 6th, 2010 at 9:56 AM ^
Exactly. And that's in pure height. If you take into account arm length and vertical jump the disparity between the two increases even more.
January 5th, 2010 at 2:25 PM ^
What, exactly, is immeasurable about the number of fumbles Mike Hart had, his YPC, his amount of broken tackles, or the number of TFLs he avoided?
Also, if he's highly rated, it's not "immeasurables", by definition of being rated based on them.
January 6th, 2010 at 7:22 AM ^
That's why you measure them!
And you have to also make sure you get a good feel for a guy's intangibles.
Then again, last time I touched a guy's intangibles, I got punched in the eye.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:38 PM ^
Bottom line is I hope this is serious and he's at least tinkering with the idea of coming.
I don't know about the rest of you, but it really fucking burns my ass whenever I see a player from "[Hometown], MI" showing up on another team and performing extremely well. See: Ingram, Mark.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:59 PM ^
Mark Ingram was not going to come to Michigan, flat-out. I'm rather glad he chose Alabama instead of following his dad to MSU.
January 5th, 2010 at 2:47 PM ^
ingram was never going to come to michigan... we did offer and he took a visit IIRC. but from the story i heard is that saban helped out him and mom when his dad went to jail. because of that mark looked at him as a father figure and thats why he picked bama.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:53 PM ^
that is not happening
January 5th, 2010 at 1:55 PM ^
Except they're so damn hard to measure.
January 5th, 2010 at 2:12 PM ^
mgorecruit.blogspot.com isn't my blog. I'm not sure whose it is. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but I've never heard of that blog until this thread.
That being said, Rivals reported yesterday that Witty's chances of getting in are slim. He could still sign again in February instead of enrolling "early" in January, but obviously that's not the ideal situation.
January 5th, 2010 at 4:15 PM ^
I was working off the top of my head. I had visited your blog, as well as others, recently, and got them confused. (I did get a little suspicious when the recruiting blog claimed to be by an Englishman, doesn't sound like you.
Moreover, in my haste, I think I misspelled you handle name. So, double sorry. I apparently have no attention to detail so far in 2010.
January 5th, 2010 at 4:29 PM ^
I'm definitely not an Englishman.
I'm part bear and part wolf.
January 5th, 2010 at 4:58 PM ^
Well thats definitely better than half bear half pig half man
January 5th, 2010 at 2:22 PM ^
At the beginning of the article it writes that Dior Mathis "swears" his commitment will shock everyone...
January 5th, 2010 at 2:24 PM ^
Getting a sense of Deja vu from last year....
=)
January 5th, 2010 at 2:30 PM ^
closer than I'd like to admit sometimes. The kid wants to goto UM, IMO. He could have committed when DG did way back when, but he wanted to wait and have his "Big Will" moment. The problem is that the UM bus moved on and pretty soon there was no room left at the inn. So, he was stuck. He might have been set on Oregon and holding out hope for UM...I would say with Witty gone, his chances improve. And if Grimes bails, I'd say he would be welcomed. JMO, though.
January 5th, 2010 at 2:46 PM ^
He would be welcomed regardless of Witty or Grimes. A pipeline school with a highly regarded player, at a position of great need and RR says no thanks, doesn't seem likely.