New EspnU 150
January 19th, 2012 at 7:50 AM ^
January 19th, 2012 at 8:02 AM ^
I will never understand ESPN's rationale.... The lack of Pipkins in deplorable.
January 19th, 2012 at 8:07 AM ^
And Kalis.
January 19th, 2012 at 8:29 AM ^
And Magnuson.
January 19th, 2012 at 8:41 AM ^
Magnuson is not a shoo-in for the top 150 players in the country.
January 19th, 2012 at 9:12 AM ^
Yeah right I bet you said the same thing about Dann O'Neil.
January 19th, 2012 at 9:45 AM ^
What is the knock on Magnuson?
I thought it was his size/strength, but I noticed that he is the same size as DJ Humphries who is five star according to ESPN, and ESPN has strength listed as one of Magnuson's strengths.
January 19th, 2012 at 9:56 AM ^
He just has some technical things to work on - stance, footwork, etc. I don't think strength/size are a real concern, since he's 6'6", 280 lbs. as a high school senior.
I'm not saying he deserves to be outside the top 150, but we should at least consider the idea that he's not one of the top 150 players in the nation. The other sites have him around #80, so it's not like he's 5-star material to anyone. To make an analogy to the NFL draft, even if he's the 200th best player in the nation, he's still worthy of an NFL draft pick.
January 19th, 2012 at 10:44 AM ^
What about Pipkins and Kalis?
ESPN is a complete joke.
January 19th, 2012 at 11:17 AM ^
I don't know. I'm not defending them. I'm just defending rationality.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:50 PM ^
What do you have against Magnuson, Magnus?
January 19th, 2012 at 7:58 AM ^
January 19th, 2012 at 9:00 AM ^
That thing the monkey is flinging? Definitely not a dart.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:09 PM ^
Monkeys are actually fairly accurate when throwing darts. Trust me on that...
January 19th, 2012 at 8:09 AM ^
Isn't the under armor AA game their baby? DId they not watch Bolden in that one? Dude was even voted the top D performar on the East team...
And yes, no Pip makes 0 sense.
January 19th, 2012 at 10:50 AM ^
Yes it is, and for that reason, Army game participants are always underrated, whether on purpose or not.
January 19th, 2012 at 8:10 AM ^
yeah espn has the worst rankings around, they had junior ranked at the #18 recruit in the country in 2007, while the rest had him maybe as a top 250 kid. They go way to far to be different
January 19th, 2012 at 9:20 AM ^
Well did they have him ranked as a WR or as an armpunt returner? It makes a difference. If the latter, one could argue that they underrated him.
January 19th, 2012 at 11:21 AM ^
They also gave William Campbell a grade of 79 and ranked him at #22 at his position when everybody else had him as a 5-star.
Surprise, surprise...people who try to predict the future are sometimes right and sometimes wrong. Picking out one example of failure (Junior Hemingway) or success (William Campbell) at accurately predicting the future isn't conclusive either way.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:05 PM ^
You are right on BWC. I wish people would use him less for how great ESPN rankings are. I took a look at the 08 class, they had in their 150, they had many Michigan players in their 150 which didnt pan out. Espn gets some things right and some things wrong. It would be interesting to see how their ratings compared with the other services really pan out.
January 19th, 2012 at 12:17 PM ^
He might have been:
He was recruited by Carr for a pro-style offense. His first year under Rodriguez he got hurt and redshirted.
His 2009 and 2010 seasons were played with what were essentially freshmen/1st year quarterbacks.
His 2011 season saw a new coach, OC and system that he had to adapt too.
All the while he was making spectactular catches that constantly saved our QBs from looking woeful.
January 19th, 2012 at 8:33 AM ^
Espn for some reason doesn't have the big bust at the top like most services do, but anything after 15 just seems like they pick out of a hat.
January 19th, 2012 at 8:36 AM ^
From what I've seen and heard of the sports coverage on the worldwide leader, I'm surprised he isn't #1.
January 19th, 2012 at 8:42 AM ^
When they release the class rankings ahead of the updated player rankings. didn't expect much change
January 19th, 2012 at 8:48 AM ^
January 19th, 2012 at 8:50 AM ^
Richardson probably had one of the poorest performances. That's not to say he should not be ranked in the top 150 based off one game (all-star at that). However, I would not have Richardson placed in the top 3 of Michigan's class. CB's are often the most missed projection coming out of high school into D-1. Kalis, Pipkins, and Bolden should definately be ahead of him, because all three of them are clearly ready to contribute this year and (if healthy) look to be all-conference type players.
January 19th, 2012 at 8:56 AM ^
Other then the fumble on kick off he didn't play terrible in coverage. The td pass was a perfectly placed ball and he had good coverage. Can't stop everything. He had a really good week though and had a lot of practice hype. Just suprised bolden wasnt higher.
January 19th, 2012 at 9:51 AM ^
Richardson was generally terrible on special teams.
But I agree about defense - he had good coverage on that TD pass and he was just a split second late to break it up. He looks fine for defense, but maybe he's not our punt/kick returner of the future.
January 19th, 2012 at 9:11 AM ^
OL and DL. Kids coming out of HS usually have either been physically dominate with questionable technique or undersized for college with excellent technique. You have no way of knowing how the smaller kid will handle the increased weight or if the physically dominant will ever develop technique.
January 19th, 2012 at 9:50 AM ^
I actually think cornerbacks have a fairly high rate of success with respect to recruiting rankings. The skill positions are generally the easiest to project, from what I've gathered. Offensive line is the most questionable position group. There are high school tight ends and 2-star/3-star kids who get picked in the first round of the NFL Draft.
January 19th, 2012 at 9:51 AM ^
I would agree about Richardson not being in the top 3, but I don't think he is particularly overrated or likely to turn out to be a bust.
The only complaint I hear about Richardson is his size, scouts are pretty universal in saying that he has the speed, swivel, skills and mental make up already to be a very good natural corner. He just has a slightly lower ceiling than a lot of corners because of the matchup problems his size will always leave him liable to.
He's basically the opposite of Yuri Wright.
January 19th, 2012 at 9:07 AM ^
This is without excuse! As others have said -- Richards has a long way to go . . .
January 19th, 2012 at 9:15 AM ^
Pretty ridiculous it was on their network and the game had no affect on their standings. Pipkins deserves much better, personally don't think T-rich is playing top 150 at the moment, but Ross and Bolden should prolly be in there
January 19th, 2012 at 9:30 AM ^
are you sure these rankings are new? i don't see any articles publicizing that they changed their rankings.
January 19th, 2012 at 9:52 AM ^
TomVH mentioned that the ESPN 150 would be updated today.
January 19th, 2012 at 10:08 AM ^
Yup they are updated! Tom lunginbill is the biggest joke in the world. Asked y Shutt is higher rank than pipkins said have u seen film? That's just y every other service has pipkins ranked higher than Shutt!
January 19th, 2012 at 12:19 PM ^
Scout has Schutt as a 5-star while Pipkins is only a 4-star.
January 19th, 2012 at 10:15 AM ^
the updated numbers
January 19th, 2012 at 9:37 AM ^
i never pay attention to the ESPN rankings, they are so off base from every other recruiting site..
between scout, rivals, and 247 it is completely flip flopped.
January 19th, 2012 at 10:00 AM ^
I know ESPN is new to the recruiting service game, but the sooner they pull their heads from their asses and watch talent north of Tennessee the better.
January 19th, 2012 at 10:04 AM ^
Historically ESPN has always jumped kids up in the ranking who perform in the UA game because it's on their airwaves.
January 19th, 2012 at 10:11 AM ^
yeah, but bolden's jump is a joke after all the praise they showered him with.
January 19th, 2012 at 10:07 AM ^
And the dartboard is made up of all SEC recruits and UA game participants.
January 19th, 2012 at 10:08 AM ^
Everytime I see ESPN rank Pipkins lower than the other services the BWC situation creeps in to my mind. Prove 'em wrong big fella, prove 'em wrong...
January 19th, 2012 at 10:15 AM ^
ESPN still had him ranked as an Offensive lineman everytime
January 19th, 2012 at 12:18 PM ^
Fair point. I had forgotten about that.
It would be interesting to have known their justification for that. Did they think he didn't have the tools to play DT and that's the reason they rated him on offense? Or were they just toally out to lunch and it was just a case of a broken clock being right twice a day?
January 19th, 2012 at 10:16 AM ^
But really, who's more out of touch, ESPN or Randy Chambers...Shane Morris who?
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1030613-michigan-recruiting-2012-bra…
January 19th, 2012 at 10:43 AM ^
This is why I ignore ESPN rankings....in football at least.
January 19th, 2012 at 10:53 AM ^
why do they hate michigan players. pipkins is #14 on rivals and isnt even in top 100 for espn. kalis is 132 but in the top 30 on all other sites. and diamond is a 5 star on scout and he isnt on here.
January 19th, 2012 at 11:15 AM ^
Clearly, ESPN just hates the University of Michigan, which is why they employ Desmond Howard and Jalen Rose and have a broadcasting contract with the Big Ten.
ESPN might be stupid about their recruiting, but claiming some kind of bias against Michigan is just kind of silly and looks like sour grapes.
By the way, Rivals has Terry Richardson at #224 overall. I'm just sayin'.