OT-ish: 2022 athletes Jaden Mangham, Antonio Gates Jr. to MSU
Birmingham (MI) Groves wide receiver Jaden Mangham and Dearborn (MI) Fordson wide receiver Antonio Gates, Jr. both recently committed to MSU. Michigan had offered Mangham but hadn't really been pushing, and the Wolverines never offered Gates.
Mangham is #7 in the state (#285 overall) and Gates is #8 (#290 overall).
Both of those guys are 3-star prospects in my mind, but that's just part of the weird ratings cycle. If Gates's name were Leon Hobenflogen, he wouldn't be a 4-star. Meanwhile, Michigan has a 6'4", 210 lb. receiver committed (for now) who's just as good as (or better than) them, and he's a 3-star (#395 overall).
I'm not saying 247 is favoring MSU, just that the rankings really suck this year.
Anyway, I just thought it was noteworthy that MSU is keeping a few of these guys home rather than letting WVU, Kentucky, etc. swoop in and land them.
(Also, I'm on the record as saying people overvalue in-state recruits, so I really have no problem with Michigan not recruiting Gates and some of these other in-state guys.)
Thanks for the update. Agreed that Michigan shouldn't be pushing for guys they don't think fit at Michigan. But also frustrating from a "perception" standpoint if MSU lands Tatum and finishes with 5 of the top 10 players in the state. That's momentum that could carry into 2023 and beyond.
I think the perceived "momentum" risk you describe is questionable. (Really, any time momentum is used in a football sentence there's probably something questionable being discussed. As in "Wow, they cut the lead from 17 to 14 with that last-second field. That will provide some momentum as they head into the locker room.")
August 9th, 2021 at 11:01 PM ^
Win games and you don't have to worry about "perception."
Listen, I know the Hobenflogens and they are maniacal about preparing their children for sports. don't sleep on Leon, who absolutely needs to get his narcolepsy under control but otherwise should be a solid prospect.
But seriously, I agree about Gates. I know there's this clip of him beating Johnson 1-on-1, the obvious caveat that most QBs don't have 5 seconds to wait for their WR to run, break, stop, break again and then run. He'll probably be fine at MSU but I don't see that being a big loss. Mangham, for whatever reason, didn't seem to get the same focus from the staff/Clinkscale as I sort of expected with his decommitment.
I do think UM needs to recruit the state for good talent; ND has made some inroads recently that should be troubling for UM because they're getting good players. I do think MSU is following a bit of the old Dantonio model of locking down those kids who maybe go to UK or Cincy in recent years. We'll have to see if that trend continues.
Magnus I can't believe you're speaking ill of the Hobenflogen line, one of the storied families in American history!
August 10th, 2021 at 12:30 AM ^
If Walter Nolan changed his name to Hobenflogen he would drop to three stars across the board immediately.
My neighbor ordered GrubHub tonight. They had McDonalds bags. Kinda the same thing, amirite?
Is Michigan in danger of losing Tayshawn Trent? EJ Holland recently mentioned in one of his podcasts that he may not end up being part of the class (no reason given) and hasn't been as communicative with other commits. Have you heard something similar?
August 9th, 2021 at 10:18 PM ^
It's always seemed that if we lose Trent, it's because we think we can get someone better than him
August 10th, 2021 at 8:17 AM ^
He’s our fifth highest rated commit so I wouldn’t think we would be tossing him to the curb.
August 10th, 2021 at 8:35 AM ^
Trent will not be part of the class and it's because he's not a top 800 player, much less a top 400 one. He's looked bad in camps and Michigan will be revoking his offer. There's talk that Trent doesn't look like a Power 5 player.
Gates is a good prospect but maybe a little overrated because of name. Mangham is a really good prospect and I think he's underrated, he's a really good cover man at his size and is even athletic enough to play some CB.
August 9th, 2021 at 10:00 PM ^
Msu is going to be fine. Mel Tucker can recruit and looks like they could be the better program going forward if Michigan falters again this year
August 10th, 2021 at 11:10 AM ^
They’ve been the better program for a while now. Not because MSU has recently been great, but because Michigan has been nothing special either.
Just depends if Tucker can coach. They have the same d line coach and d backs coach from back when they were top-five team
so who the hell knows
August 10th, 2021 at 3:49 PM ^
Well, no. Certainly not since 2015.
August 10th, 2021 at 5:20 PM ^
Right, both teams haven’t been a threat to win the conference.
August 9th, 2021 at 10:12 PM ^
Maugham and Gates might not be can't miss talents but it's hard to feel good about 11/15 commits being 3 stars when the staff hasn't developed too many players in 7 years.
August 10th, 2021 at 12:11 AM ^
Really?
UM draft picks in the Harbaugh era that were a 3* or lower as a recruit in reverse chronological order:
3* - Cam Cheeseman
3* - Ben Mason
3* - Kwity Paye
0* - Jordan Glasgow
3* - Josh Metellus
3* - Jon Runyan, Jr.
3* - Mike Danna
3* - Khaleke Hudson
3* - Josh Uche
3* - Jeremy Clark
3* - Jehu Chesson
0* - Ryan Glasgow
3* - Jake Rudock
3* - Willie Henry
0* - Graham Glasgow
August 10th, 2021 at 1:47 AM ^
Most of those guys did nothing in a Michigan uniform to win key games.
August 10th, 2021 at 11:01 AM ^
"Michigan can't develop talent. If you look at every player who has played under Harbaugh except for the ones who turned into draft picks, it totally proves my point."
-ThadMattasagoblin, probably
August 10th, 2021 at 8:24 AM ^
The moral of the story........ we need more Glasgows
August 9th, 2021 at 10:17 PM ^
Two guys we weren't really recruiting
August 9th, 2021 at 10:23 PM ^
Who is the staff recruiting?
Look at the offers and who is Michigan going to get? Trent is going to decommit according to the Michigan Rivals site & Morris is rehabbing a devastating injury.
Who does Michigan lead for?
August 9th, 2021 at 10:50 PM ^
Well, ND Fan, with Trent's list of MAC offers besides Michigan, I don't know that he's going to decommit as much as the staff is going to slow play him. As far as other receivers, there's the joy of having a head coach with a shitty contract with a small buyout coupled with the fact all the offensive coaches are different. There's no relationships. They've struck out on most of their targets. Who knows what's going to happen.
Why don't you spend your time being ebullient on a ND site instead of trolling here? Thanks for your concern, though. Wait. Not really.
August 9th, 2021 at 10:40 PM ^
Toss in Tay'shawn Trent and they've got a nice little class.
But again...this is ALL about this season on the field and none of these guys are going to help us this year.
Win and it doesn't matter, you'll have momentum to flip higher rated guys late. Go .500 and you're replacing the coach and guys are decommitting.
Everything hinges on this fall.
August 9th, 2021 at 11:37 PM ^
Highly doubt MSU goes back to Trent. They already have three WR commits.
August 10th, 2021 at 12:42 AM ^
Yeah, MSU most likely isn't going to take another WR. The only way they would take a WR is if it was a can't-miss prospect, and the can't-miss WRs are going elsewhere
August 9th, 2021 at 11:32 PM ^
Agree about Gates, but I think Mangham looks every bit of a four star. Good looking prospect.
August 10th, 2021 at 2:11 AM ^
Oh hey, it's something about my team. I can't really disagree too much with what you said. Neither is a huge program-changing recruit, but both are good pickups for MSU.
Gates kind of reminds me of BJ Cunningham in terms of style (just style, definitely not predicting that kind of production). He's not exceptionally tall or fast, but good route runner. He won't be a big play threat, but I think he could be a solid possession receiver. Unfortunately Mangham's highlights didn't really show him in coverage much, but it looked like he had pretty good speed.
I think the main reason for optimism is that these are guys Dantonio probably wouldn't have pulled, especially Mangham. So I think Tucker coming in and getting them (along with Houser/AVS) coming off a 2-5 season is a positive sign. It's also good to see the new staff making some in-state connections. The program still has a looong way to go and there's still a lot we need to see, but this class is at least a sign that we might not be in a complete tailspin anymore.
August 10th, 2021 at 3:43 AM ^
Posts about future opponents are not OT.
August 10th, 2021 at 8:23 AM ^
That's fine.... neither of them can play DT
August 10th, 2021 at 10:23 AM ^
Don’t care what MSU is doing. Win the games your supposed to and recruiting will right itself. Lose these games and get your butt kicked on the refuting trail. It’s really that simple.
August 10th, 2021 at 12:19 PM ^
Recruiting/talent has not been our problem. For example, last year's team had an NFL offensive line, and Michigan was the 95th rated team in the NCAA in rushing. How does that happen? So, what did Harbaugh do? Fired the defensive coaches.