New Crystal Balls in for a few players committed elsewhere

Submitted by matt1114 on September 16th, 2021 at 8:41 AM

Amorion Walker - 6-4 175lb - Listed as both an ATH and a WR on 247. Committed to ND on 3/10, and holds recent offers from Alabama, LSU, and Michigan. Currently ND's lowest-ranked commit, but seeing as Alabama and LSU have offered, I'm sure he will get a ranking boost. 

https://247sports.com/Player/Amorion-Walker-46101297/ 

 

Mason Graham - 6-4 295lbs - DL - Committed to Boise State on 7/14 and now has 2 247 predictions to us. No other noteworthy offers. 

https://247sports.com/Player/Mason-Graham-46110532/

 

Gentleman Squirrels

September 16th, 2021 at 8:50 AM ^

Walker could be a WR or a safety. He’s one who’s blowing up recently bc of running a 4.4 at bamas camp.

Graham, many people are comparing to Alex VanSumeran in terms of style of play. Though on the bright side he is proving it against really good Cali competition 

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ldevon1

September 16th, 2021 at 9:59 AM ^

I never saw this posted, but I coud be wrong but Damani Dent got a Michigan crystal ball also. I would assume if they get one of Damani Dent, Austin Ausberry or Domani Jackson this kid will play receiver. Personally, I was never a fan of Vansumeren, he looked like he carried bad weight. This kid (Graham) looks like a DT with good weight, and a frame to add more. 

https://247sports.com/Player/Damani-Dent-46115775/

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JMo

September 16th, 2021 at 8:59 AM ^

Mason Graham sounds like a Michigan player built in a former Michigan player parts factory. Here's my scouting report on him based on my limited and fading memory of those parts.

Mason Graham - a Frankenplayer with the short stout but bonecrushing OL skills of Mason Cole, plus the unrequited-until-late linebacker/defensive line 5-star ability of Brandon Graham, mixed with the heady but maybe slightly less athletic cornerback play of Grant Mason, combined with the hardheaded, never-quit, brick shithouse-ness of Chris Graham.

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JMo

September 16th, 2021 at 9:21 AM ^

YES! I was positive I had missed at least one more Graham or one more Mason.  Also, murderbacker himself Ben Mason.

However, let's not focus on my deficits. Let's celebrate my accomplishments. That post above was 350 yards of amazing ground game by me. 

 

EDIT - Skip, Grant Mason is definitely in there. OLSM's own, smart but not-so-athletic, Grant Mason.

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ak47

September 16th, 2021 at 9:35 AM ^

I know covid messed up the recruiting rankings, but  seeing Michigan target guys whose best other offers are places like boise state and memphis doesn't inspire a ton of confidence that the staff is getting their top targets. This class isn't even going to come close to meeting the blue chip ratio.

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ak47

September 16th, 2021 at 10:27 AM ^

I'm talking overall, its not just mason graham, its damani dent, its aaron alexander, Kavonte Henry, CJ stokes, etc.

This class is filled with guys who are three stars and whose offers lists suggests that most coaches also think they are three stars. Recruiting matters, nobody wins consistently at a high level with a team that is majority three stars and nothing about our staff has shown they can be the first to do it. Our team holes are primarily at places we didn't get high level recruits at, like in 2018 when we took a ton of three stars defensive backs with offer sheets to match, or interior dline whose recruiting has been Mazi, Hinton, and nothing. The same thing is happening with interior dline this year as defensive back in 2018 where its a bunch of bodies, unless they somehow actually pull Walter Nolen, which they are almost certainly not doing. And just because this class is filling a few of those glaring holes with guys like Will Johnson, the lack of depth in the class means we are going to have holes at outside wide receiver in two years for example. If you have big miss classes you wind up with lost years. That is what the 2018 class did to last year/this year.

I just don't know why people bury their head in the sand about recruiting. If your goal is to win big ten championships and beat ohio state, a recruiting class that looks like the one Michigan currently has isn't going to do it, its really that simple. Michigan scouts aren't just magically better than the rest of the country at finding exclusively under the radar guys who will perfectly fit the system. I would love to be wrong and any individual kid can obviously out play their rankings, asking half your roster to outplay their rankings isn't going to work out.

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JMo

September 16th, 2021 at 10:45 AM ^

Hey, if you want to write a treatise on Michigan's overall recruiting efforts and their quest to find five stars, that's certainly an opinion. Definitely one that has been oft explored by the "I hate all 3-stars" crowd.

I just think it's weird to call into question Michigan targeting players with mid-major offers, in a post citing only TWO players, one of which is a current NOTRE DAME commit who has offers from ALABAMA and LSU.

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matt1114

September 16th, 2021 at 10:49 AM ^

Kevonte Henry holds offers from Oregon and USC. Even though USC is in freefall they are still a great program. Oregon has been pretty consistent with recruiting over the past few years aswell.

CJ has offers from Penn State and South Carolina. Penn State has done well with RB's, and South Carolina isn't a scrub program.

Lorenzetti - Geogia, Penn State

Loveland - Alabama, Auburn, LSU

Micah - Auburn, Penn State, South Carolina

Klein - FSU, Georgia, Ole Miss

Myles Pollard - Auburn, Oklahoma, Alabama, Florida, FSU, Oregon

Denegal - Auburn, Georgia

Trent - Louisville, PSU

 

 

I'll give you Alexander and Jones, but each of our other 3 star commits holds offers from great programs. 

In terms of team talent according to 247, OSU has the number 3 team, but is NOT playing like that. LSU has the number 5, and is unranked. USC is number 10, unranked. Texas is 11, unranked. Miami, 13 and is barely ranked. 

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JonathanE

September 16th, 2021 at 5:31 PM ^

Recruiting matters, nobody wins consistently at a high level with a team that is majority three stars and nothing about our staff has shown they can be the first to do it. 

 

Now you are going to make me have to go to church and say a whole bunch of Hail Mary's for this but do a little internet search of a guy named Mark Dantonio. Instead of worrying about recruiting rankings, he trusted his staff and the bones which Tressel threw him and won a couple of games here and there with guys like Kirk Cousins [3 star], Jack Conklin [walk-on, no offers at all] , Shilique Calhoun [3 star] , Darqueze Dennard [3 star], Trae Waynes [3 star], Le’Veon Bell [3 star] and Jeremy Langford [3 star]. 

I think the coaching staff knows how a recruit fits better than a subscription service. 

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MadGatter

September 16th, 2021 at 9:46 AM ^

Boo. This class will likely end up with 2 five stars and could completely address our biggest problem position on the team the last few years, Dtackle (with Kenneth Grant, Deone Walker and Graham), and corner (with Will Johnson, Myles Pollard and Cody Jones). We could even get another 5 star db if Domani flips (which has a decent chance of happening.

Getting some good guys in those positions of need is super important and makes up for defiencies in other groups

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Gree4

September 16th, 2021 at 9:48 AM ^

To look at this from a different angle, you are seeing guys from California and Louisiana taking interest in UM. I know everybody wants Ohio/Midwest, but opening pipelines to talented regions needs to happen. Getting on a Cali coaches good side, could lead to a top QB recruit....you never know. 

Also, you look at the Defense we run and depth is huge. While I agree you want blue chips, you also need depth. Only a few schools have the luxury of top recruits sitting on the sideline. 

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JMo

September 16th, 2021 at 10:49 AM ^

Hey, but what do I know? 

Well, you're a poster on the internet. So, at bare minimum you know at least as much, but likely more than the coaches. If you think its the best defensive class Harbaugh has ever signed, then you don't know as much as the recruiting services. They don't agree. And, lets face it, you probably don't know as much as other people on the internet. That's just something you have to live with.

Consider yourself a self-actualized man. You're welcome. 

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ldevon1

September 16th, 2021 at 12:25 PM ^

Well, I said "could be" and I believe the recruiting services would agree if they get all the guys they have a legit chance for. 

Will Johnson

Myles Pollard

Kody Jones 

Domani Jackson (real possibility)

Austin Ausberry (possibility)

Amorion Walker (real possibility) 

When have we had a defensive back class like this?

Crystal balls for Kenneth Grant, Josh Josephs, to go along with Mario Eugenio, Micah Pollard, and Mason Graham. Yeah, I'll stand by my statement. 

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AZBlue

September 16th, 2021 at 10:48 AM ^

I realize you gotta be you so I understand the tone but look a little deeper here..

M is in decent-to-good shape with several 4-star level DT/NT players currently -  Grant, Walker, Nolan (?) etc. but are suddenly going all out for the no-name low 3 star from CA?  That doesn’t reek of desperation to me.  CA didn’t play football last fall and half assed a Spring season (for some) so the scouting was even weaker than “normal” Covid limitations. This kid plays like 5 varsity sports iirc so doesn’t do a lot of camps, and per Sam Webb etc. the big offers will be coming for this kid as tape gets out.  M has done a great job recently identifying kids before they blew-up from CA — less so landing them..see X Worthy, CJ Stroud, Chris Olave etc.

As for the possible ND flip, bigger offers are coming in for him already and I remember personally being disappointed M went after Crippen last class after ND “dropped” him but he was OC #2 last week as a Frosh and performed well.   Maybe I will trust the coaches more going forward.  (I think ND slow played Zinter as well, which is like…wow!)

 

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KTisClutch

September 16th, 2021 at 1:51 PM ^

I agree with the overall sentiment, but considering COVID and the season we had last year, I think it's as good as we could have hoped for. If on the field continues to trend up, we're looking at adding a few more high 4 star types or even potentially another 5*. 

 

Then add in the whole COVID scouting hole (guys like Klein, the Pollards and Loveland have very good offer lists) and I'm not panicking. Right now if the play continues to be good on the field the recruiting will follow imo. 

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King Tot

September 16th, 2021 at 3:33 PM ^

This is a bad take. You openly admit that rankings are messed up but then add a concern troll over blue chip ratio. Yes. There are some lower ranked guys in this class but most of them are guys the staff recruited as priority targets. The only concern positions are S and ILB as we have whiffed on our primary targets and trying to find new targets (Dent). Aaron Alexander could be filed here too but the coaching staff saw him live twice beforehand so like much of recruiting we have to trust the coaches.

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