Poaching IU commits (updated w/ Miami)

Submitted by ish on

ok, so poaching anyone won't be easy, we have our own coaching instability situation and so forth, but let's ignore that for a second and take a look at whether any of IU's commits is worth taking a snake oil a shot at.  [also, insert comments about how we shouldn't need to poach from IU here.  i know.  but occassionally they produce good players].  i don't know the answer regarding any of the below, so i'm requesting input. here are a few selections:

All ratings are from Rivals

Commit Position H.S. Rating Comment
Zack Shaw LB Coshocton, OH **** Rivals said we didn't offer him, but he committed in April, so there's a chance we would have had he not committed early.  He's Rivals' No. 13 ILB.
Ramon Taylor ATH Highland Park, MI **** An athlete in our backyard.  He projects as a CB.  We didn't offer, so given his location, my guess is we intentionally took a pass.  Worth another look?
Bernard Taylor DT Macomb, MI *** Another guy in our backyard who we didn't offer.  And his offer list isn't terribly impressive - MAC schools and IU.  However, if you looked at TomVH's defensive recruits left on the board post, you'd notice that there weren't many DTs, a position of tremendous need.  If NLOI day pulls near and we haven't made progress with the higher rated DTs on the board, we may just need to make offers.
Cody Latimer WR Dayton, OH *** A 3 star receiver, but on the higher end of the three stars.  After striking out on Watkins (please reconsider, Sammy) and still in need of one more outside WR, Latimer's name could surface.  He's 6'3", 210.  He does not have an impressive offer list, however.
Forissee Hardin S Louisville, KY *** A taller safety at 6'1", Hardin had an offer from Kentucky, but has a brother at IU.  You may have noticed the need for more bodies in the secondary.
Ralston Evans OG Indy, IN *** Evans also doesn't have a great offer sheet, but he's got one from Duke.  Not a shining beacon of football, I know, but David Cutcliffe has an eye for talent.  We need more OLs in this class and after Christian Bryant, there aren't many OGs on the board.  Rivals rates him the No. 31 OG in the country.

as i stated above, i'm not suggesting that we recruit any of these guys, i'm simply highlighting some of the top rated talent in IU's class that could address some of our positions of need and asking whether any of them would potentially be a good fit in our class.  comment away...

[edit] one commenter asked that i examine miami's recruits too.  while i think we stand less of a shot convincing any of them to join our class, they're obviously higher rated.  so, below, another chart?

chart.

Commit Position H.S. Rating Comment
Teddy Bridgewater QB Miami Northwester **** Rivals top-rated dual threat quaterback after Braxton Miller.  Obviously we'd take him, but we never offered, probably because we knew we had no shot.  He never appeared interested in leaving the Southeast, and if he de-commits, my guess is that it would be to LSU.
Anthony Chikillo DE Tampa, FL **** A weakside DE, Chikillo had offers from the entire country, including us.  He appears to be more highly rated by coaches than Rivals, who lists him as the No. 6 weakside DE and No. 205 overall.  Another guy we'd take, obviously, but also another guy that appears to have no interest in coming north.
Marcus Jackson OG Vero Beach, FL *** Rivals No. 13 rated OG, but he has a nice offer list, although we're not on it.  He was also offered by UF, FSU, USC (ntUSC) and Michigan State.  He's 315, but only 6'2", so he might have a bit of a weight problem.  But given our need at the position, he'd be worth taking a look at. 
Albert Louis-Jean CB Brockton, MA **** I don't even know if any of our coaches cover Mass. as it is so rare to find good prospects there.  But Louis-Jean is a pretty highly regarded prospect.  He had offers from PSU and Stanford [insert Harbaugh joke here] and is rated by Rivals as the No. 12 CB prospect.  He's 6'1" so he passes the 5'11" CB test.
Nick Menocal LB Miami Jesuit *** A mid-range 3 star, Menocal had offers from Iowa, N'Western, UVA and Stanford [no more Harbaugh jokes, please].  He's listed as an OLB, though he already weighs 235.  Might be a bit of a tweener.  But given the fact that he looked around at schools far from his home, maybe he could be snake oiled.

BlueGoM

November 28th, 2010 at 5:32 PM ^

Nothing wrong with snake-oil and wizard hats :)

Anyway I hope we at least try to get some of the Defensive guys in that list to come.  We need LB's and I know we have 3 db's committed but we could use at least 2 more considering the razor thin nature of the secondary.

Section 1

November 28th, 2010 at 5:50 PM ^

would be a step up for us.

Of course, Chris Spielman was wrong.  I think Jordan Kovacs had a message for Chris Spielman, that Kovacs sent from the 1-yard line, instead of via Twitter.

[Off topic, but appropriate to Spielman... I had not realized how many fifth-year seniors OSU is graduating this year.  Is it 20-something ?!?  This is not a knock on the Buckeyes; if you can do that, it's great.  It is a mark of the serious talent-pool the Bucks are swimming in.  And it is also and indication of how that program, over more than five years, is in a position to pass out redshirts like they were Halloween candy.  And how far Michigan had to go, starting from the day Rich Rodriguez arrived here, before he had signed a single recruit.]

GBOD79

November 28th, 2010 at 11:24 PM ^

You do not receive dual medical redshirts. You use your normal redshirt and then apply and get a medical redshirt. If he has two medical redshirts he would be a 7th year senior, correct?

jmblue

November 28th, 2010 at 11:48 PM ^

Section 1 is correct.  Under normal circumstances, you get one redshirt (medical or voluntary) during your five years.  If you take a voluntary redshirt, that's it - you don't get another redshirt opportunity.   However, if you've been forced to miss two seasons for medical reasons, you can get a sixth year of eligibility.

Section 1

November 29th, 2010 at 1:22 AM ^

You were more careful about explaining it; I was just being a bit punky because we had strayed a bit off-topic.  But since it has now come up, the explanation for Moeller (and not unprecedented at OSU) is that he missed a year via a medical redshirt when he got whacked on the head in that bar fight in Florida(?).  It was doubtful that he'd ever be cleared to play again.  But he was set to return this year, when, in one of the first couple of games, he ripped a pectoral muscle (ouch!) and was done for the year.  OSU applied for, and got, another (sixth) year of eligibility, which you can do when both years were disrupted due to medical redshirt issues.

I tend to think that they might look more closely at those cases, and in fact I was very surprised that OSU got its determination for Moeller before the current season was over.  thought that those things always got done after the conclusion of all of the games.  But that is indeed the news.  The Bucks love Moeller for some reason.  I'm not sure if it is because he's the scrappy-white-kid prototype, or if it is because they like bar-fighters in Columbus.  They do seem to think that Moeller is a big-time player on defense and can help them, a lot.  He might be like Todd Boeckman; he'll be like 29 by the time he graduates. ;-)

buddha

November 28th, 2010 at 5:40 PM ^

Welp, if this is the menu, I'll have the #13 rated ILB and a side of the Athlete from our own backyard. Hold the toppings, though, I'm trying to lose some of my holiday-weight!

ish

November 28th, 2010 at 5:48 PM ^

certainly a good idea.

but with the exception of a DB from Mass. (who i have info on whatsoever) and a DB from a prep school that probably could not get into Michigan, all of their recruits are from schools that almost never send kids north.  notwithstanding that, you're right that we should take a look, and i'll try to do so.

Tater

November 28th, 2010 at 6:31 PM ^

Usually, no matter who is the coach, Miami gets anyone they offer from Miami NW or Miami Booker T Washington.  There is a lot of peer pressure at both schools to sign with "The U."  Alsdo, the Dade/Broward clique helps a lot in recruiting players from both counties.

Thanks to the media, RR might have to worry about Michigan recruits being poached over doubts concerning his job security.  I am guessing they will put a lot of energy into keeping those they have and those they have worked for a long time. 

Dreisbach1817

November 28th, 2010 at 6:40 PM ^

Come on...
<br>A large portion of the Michigan fan base is screaming for RR to be fired. Whatever rumors being reported are based on internal/alumni speculation. Blaming the media for the potential recruiting backlash to RR's job security is sort of stupid. Can we blame the media for our defense too? How about the turnovers.
<br>The sanctions issue was one thing. This is completely different.
<br>Bridgewater talk was informative though. Didnt mean to attack your entire post. But any "thanks to the media" excuse irks me.
<br>

Irish

November 28th, 2010 at 6:38 PM ^

Of the players you have listed Bridgewater and Chikillo will very likely stay in the south, the later of which has already scheduled a UF visit.

Louis-Jean was very interested in 3 teams when he committed, Miami, BC and ND.  

Some other stuff on IU commits:
Lawrence Central QB Tre Roberson said he remains committed to IU, but wants to see who is hired. Purdue and Iowa State still recruiting him.
Indianapolis Cathedral LB and Indiana commit Kyle Kennedy tells me he loves IU and will let the facts unfold before making any decisions
Indianapolis Arlington OG prospect Ralston Evans says he's staying committed to Indiana for now and is waiting to see what happens next.
Indianapolis (Ind.) Center Grove DB Nick Stoner says he doesn't know what's going to happen regarding his commitment to Indiana.
Bloomington North RB D'Angelo Roberts says he's still committed to Indiana. He'd already been talking to Penn St. and Michigan St. some.

mGrowOld

November 28th, 2010 at 6:51 PM ^

How sad.  When I was in school this post would've been seen no differently than if Kent State had taken out their coach and we were looking to "poach" their recruits. 

I am still struggling with the idea that Indifuckingana has recruits...in football for God's sake....that we wanted but couldn't get cause Lynch was their coach.

tlh908

November 28th, 2010 at 8:02 PM ^

I think we already have 14 recruits for next year and quite a few elite recruits that RR is working on, in a class of 20 or so.  If Michigan didn't already offer these recruits there is probably a reason.  We will be fine without IU recruits.

Dreisbach1817

November 28th, 2010 at 8:31 PM ^

i like where you are going with this.  what other games were at noon in the South -- I assume he's not considering Michigan State, Penn State.  Only other teams I can think of was Va Tech and Tennessee. 

Edit: Scout actually says that he visited both Michigan State and Tennessee.  So... not so good for us.

WolvinLA2

November 28th, 2010 at 10:15 PM ^

For all of you guys bashing Indiana's recruiting, please remember that Jibreel Black was an Indiana commit that ended up signing with us.  He's a major contributer as a true frosh, and was a 3 star to Rivals.

I'm not saying we'd like to trade classes with Indiana, but if we took their top 2 or 3 players I wouldn't complain.

El Jeffe

November 29th, 2010 at 9:45 AM ^

I don't get all the hate for Indiana either. Of course their classes top to bottom won't be up to snuff. But doesn't it make sense that the top end of their class would fill out the middle to bottom of our class nicely? BTW, in addition to Black, mentioned by WolvinLA2, and not that Purdue has been as cellar-dwelling as Indiana, but we snake erled Roy Roundtree from Coach Diabeetus and that has worked out well (drops last Saturday notwithstanding).