TomVH: Quick Greg Garmon Update

Submitted by TomVH on

I spoke with Pennsylvania RB Greg Garmon tonight and he told me that he's planning on making it out to Ann Arbor in one or two weeks. He has Michigan in his top three with Penn State, and has North Carolina as the leader for now.

He told me that this visit will help him to get to know Michigan better, which is important for his evaluation of the program. It sounds like Michigan has some ground to make up with North Carolina, but nothing that can't be over come.

Hill.FootballR…

April 26th, 2011 at 12:34 AM ^

That is exactly what I was wondering. I talked to a few guys I trust a lot and they both said there is "maybe a 25% chance he would switch, if your an optimistic fan who knows anything can happen with high school recruits." But they disagreed on the fact that one said it would almost depend more on tOSU's "top" recruit at RB and that the sanctions will only have a major affect if they aren't allowed to go to bowl games like USC while the other said that he has heard that he likes Tressel and with him gone he may de-commit immediately.  Tom what do you think?

Rasmus

April 26th, 2011 at 3:52 PM ^

It looks to me like OSU is aiming for a potential resignation after the 2011 regular season -- that is, they want to stretch the process out until then (I'm not sure if they will succeed, but I think that's the strategy), so they can do an ideal coaching search, timed not unlike the 2007 Michigan search.

I suspect most of their class would hold together at that point, with a lot of the other elite programs already close to full up.

 

jcorqian

April 26th, 2011 at 7:52 AM ^

Disagree with this.  Michigan and Ohio State have always been bitter rivals in recruiting, and as the two best programs in the Big Ten (traditionally), many recruits have had interest in both.  This is especially true for players in Michigan and Ohio IMO.  Don't think a recruit switching is out of the realm of possibility at all.

Now going to the other school after already playing at the other?  Think there's only been one since the 40's, and that's that fucker Justin Boren.  May he suffer for eternity.

Space Coyote

April 26th, 2011 at 12:36 AM ^

Initial reaction: Seems to have really good speed and size with potential to add more lower body muscle.  He is explosive in the open field.  Has good agility, though not great, and sees open field well.  Runs too high however, and is too dependent on speed to beat slower defenders, doesn't display much power or use of hands to shed blockers.

In my opinion he is a solid RB prospect and a better safety prospect.  But I'd take him at either if I were a Michigan coach.

BlueDragon

April 26th, 2011 at 12:42 AM ^

This recruit definitely has the customary "slight speed advantage" so that's not anything too special.

He has good balance, which compensates for running too high.  I don't know how I feel about the old-timey filter on the highlights.  That said, I like watching the kid play, especially with a team that can block decently.  Hopefully he won't try the improvised end-around too often in college.

MGoRob

April 26th, 2011 at 12:52 AM ^

A bunch of his runs ended up going 20 yards in the negative before going positive.  Anybody else have McGuffie flashbacks?  The young man will have to unlearn that at the next level.

Space Coyote

April 26th, 2011 at 1:05 AM ^

The next clip they show after that just look at the end zone.  The letters are all backwards.  For some reason they just flipped the same highlight and put it in there twice.

That play itself is nice that he had the vision and speed I guess, but it really won't correlate to the college game so I'm not sure how much it really means in the end besides if he tries to do it in college and gets a 20 yard loss.  I'll assume he will learn better before he would actually reach the field.

Still, good highlight tape.

Skiptoomylou22

April 26th, 2011 at 1:40 AM ^

Having UM and UNC as a Pennsylvania kid shows hes got interest in good acadamia (quotes/background research aside) and I was wondering if PSU is in the same class or is that just the hometown team for him. On a side not as a curious fan, where would the conference rank behind 1.NW 2.UM 3???

justingoblue

April 26th, 2011 at 12:34 PM ^

IU is very good at several specialties (I'm at their School of Public and Environmental Affairs right now, ranked second in the nation) but their liberal arts program isn't on par with M/NU and the other top ones. Obviously engineering gets overshadowed by Purdue, but Kelley is very good, SPEA is about as good as it gets and Jacobs, the music school, is pretty highly regarded too.

Honestly though, if you have a degree from any of the B1G schools and you do fairly well, you'll be fine. All twelve of them are really good in at least one field.

Space Coyote

April 26th, 2011 at 2:54 AM ^

T56) Ohio State

T56) Purdue

T64) Minn.

T72) Iowa

T75) Indiana

T79) Michigan State

T104) Nebraska

All and all, pretty impressive that 11/12 schools are in the top 100

To compare: number of top 50 by conference

ACC: 7/12

Big 12: 1/10

Big Ten: 5/12

Big East: 2/16

PAC12: 5/12

SEC: 1/12

Wolvercane

April 26th, 2011 at 4:33 AM ^

9) Duke

25) Virginia

25) Wake Forest

30) UNC

31) Boston College

35) Georgia Tech

47) Miami

So Maryland (56) just misses the cut. The ACC also has Clemson (64) and Virginia Tech (69) are also in the top 100. Only FSU (104) and NC State (111) are outside the top 100. This is only of the reasons I love the B1G 10 - ACC Challenge. Since (IMHO) it matches the two best academic and basketball conferences against each other. 

But what I love more then this, is that the SEC only has one team in the top 50, Vanderbilt, which is arguably the only "clean" school in the SEC. 

And that ends my little off-topic rant. 

P.S. I blame you for making me due this. 

Ponypie

April 26th, 2011 at 9:15 AM ^

These are rankings that are skewed toward undergraduate programs, and done by what many consider to be an inferior publication using inferior methodologies. By comparison, Michigan is generally ranked as somewhere between 15th and 25th in the world by the more sophisticated organizations (e.g. QS World University Rankings, which even U.S. News uses for its top 400). These generally put UM pretty far above the rest of the Big Whatever, with Northwestern usually being next, followed by Wisconsin:

http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-ran…

Some services are a bit different, but all have Michigan looking in the rear view mirror at schools like Penn State, Indiana, etc., which don't ever show up.

719Yoop

April 26th, 2011 at 2:58 AM ^

FWIW. Yuri Wright a Michigan target from New Jersey made a jump in the rankings on scout, he is now the #6 overall corner in the class of 2012. Sorry if this has already been mentioned. 

Gary_B

April 26th, 2011 at 9:09 AM ^

If Mahone can get his grades in order, I think he would be a good get. He is going to end up being the best RB in Ohio by the time signing day comes around anyway. Warren Ball is completely overated. I watched him get shut down by great and mediocre teams, and most of his production was against sub-par competition. Bri'onte Dunn and Mahone seem pretty comparable with Dunn being slightly larger but Mahone being slightly faster. Either way, there is some good talent out there that we are in position to have a chance at a commitment.

Mdjohnny5

April 26th, 2011 at 9:25 AM ^

Where have you heard about Mahone having grade problems?  I heard the reason he hasn't been offered is due to fred jackson not being enamored with the camp he had at UM last year.  Our staff seems to think he may be better suited at LB.  He has northwestern, vandy and BC offers - don't think grades are the problem. 

 

I trust the staff, but looking at Mahone's film I think this kid should have been offered yesterday.  Not to mention we aren't in on too many other RBs very strongly (outside of top group for Garmon).

ken725

April 26th, 2011 at 1:38 PM ^

I haven't hear about grade issues either.  It seems like Mahone is really interested in psu and msu.  I personally want him to get an offer, I think he will be rated higher once they re-do the rankings.

Gary_B

April 26th, 2011 at 7:26 PM ^

I should clarify that his 2.5 GPA is somewhat low for UM standards and could raise the typical question of whether or not he can handle the college load. I was not trying to imply any NCAA qualification issues or issues with test scores. I still stick by my statement that I believe he will be the best RB in Ohio (class of 2012) by the end of this year.

ChiefLB

April 26th, 2011 at 9:39 AM ^

I am so relieved to receive an update on our RB recruiting.  Personally I'm hoping we can land either I'Tavius Mathers or Donovan Roberts.  I see a previous posting stating that Roberts may be deciding this weekend -- man, I hope we have a shot at him!

Magnus

April 26th, 2011 at 10:11 AM ^

We don't need a running back.  We have 8.  One more would be 9. 

It would be great if we got a STAR running back, but otherwise, there's no reason to have 9/85 scholarships devoted to a position that only sees 2 or 3 kids play in a given game.  Do we really need 6 scholarship running backs sitting on the bench?

ChiefLB

April 26th, 2011 at 11:32 AM ^

As a followup to Magnus comment -- agreed, what we need is a star rb.

Not just another rb to join our stable of serviceable but not amazing rbs... rather I'm talking about a T Wheatley - Tshimanga - Chris Perry - Brandon Minor couldabeen if he hadn't always been hurt running back!