US Army All-American Bowl Thread

Submitted by Mr. Yost on

U.S. Army All-American Bowl - Saturday, January 5th, 1pm ET, NBC, Alamodome, San Antonio, TX

http://www.usarmyallamericanbowl.com/

Michigan commits

East Team:

  • Jake Butt TE #87
  • Dymonte Thomas DB #14

West Team:

  • Chris Fox OL #73
  • Jourdan Lewis CB #27

Other prospects to watch

East Team:

  • Derrick Green RB #27

 

All-Star Game Primer Thread - http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/high-school-all-american-games-primer

MGoStrength

January 5th, 2013 at 3:25 PM ^

After taking a quick look at the link Magnus put up from previous UM commits at this game from the past 5 years, I'm wondering what's all the fuss about?

 

2012

Kyle Kalis, OL - Lakewood, OH

Royce Jenkins-Stone, LB - Detroit, MI

Erik Magnuson, OL - Carlsbad, CA

Ondre Pipkins, DT - Kansas City, MO

James Ross, LB - Orchard Lake, MI



2011

Blake Countess, CB - Olney, MD

Matt Wile, K - San Diego, CA

2010

Cullen Christian, CB - Pittsburgh, PA

Will Hagerup, P - Whitefish Bay, WI



2009

William Campbell, DT - Detroit, MI

Jeremy Gallon, WR - Apopka, FL

Brendan Gibbons, K - West Palm Beach, FL

Anthony Lalota, DE - Princeton, NJ

Je'Ron Stokes, WR - Pittsburgh, PA

Justin Turner, CB - Massillon, OH



2008

Boubacar Cissoko, CB - Detroit, MI

Sam McGuffie, RB - Houston, TX

Brandon Smith, S - New Brunswick, NJ

 

How many of those guys have actually gone on to be what we would consider quality players ala all-conference types?  It's too early to judge last year's group.  Countess looks like he's got the potential.  Wile, Hagerup, BWC, Gallon, and Gibbons have been solid contribtors, but nothing to get too excited about.  Should we really be excited about any of these guys and expect them to be all-conference types?  Not to say we shouldn't, but just a question if this is all hype or if it's a good indicator of who will be good in college.

Magnus

January 5th, 2013 at 3:32 PM ^

Maybe it's just an unfortunate coincidence, but I feel like Michigan has had an uncharacteristic lack of success with its recent Army Bowl participants.  The players who played for Rich Rodriguez generally didn't do well.  Before that things were pretty good, and the jury's still out on the Hoke recruits who participated.

MGoStrength

January 5th, 2013 at 3:39 PM ^

Gotcha, thanks.  Hopefully Hoke et al. evals will prove better.  What ever happened to Cullen Christian?  He was highly ranked, a top 100 guy, has good size for a corner at 6'0" 187...is he still on the team?  Pardon my ignormance as I just started really following recruiting other than casually last year.

MGoStrength

January 5th, 2013 at 3:37 PM ^

I like 'em, don't get me wrong, but I see them as solid contrubutors versus elite players.  I doubt either have NFL potential for example.  You just don't watch them as think "wow"...I guess kinda the eye test.  But, definately good players that contribute.  This has nothing to do with them as people, just ability fwiw.

MGoStrength

January 5th, 2013 at 3:47 PM ^

I say with the a ton of respect for him for coming back from a dreadful 2010, although it can't be easy to kick for RR.  But, I  have always gotten the sense that Hoke had to handle him with care to keep him from mentally breaking.  Maybe it's like that with all kickers idk.  But, there have been times when it seems as though we don't have a ton of confidence in him by going for it on 4th down when kicking a FG would seem logical, he also rarely kicks anything over 40-45yds which seem automatic in the NFL.  I think we have gained more confidence over the course of the past two years, and he probably has gains confidence in himself as well.  Again, I totally repsect his turnaround, but I just never got the sense he was a great kicker...maybe it's just me.

swan flu

January 5th, 2013 at 3:55 PM ^

I don't put much stock in here say or conjecture. I see Gibbons make high pressure game winning/tieing kicks against Virginia Tech, Michigan State, northwestern as well as 90% of all kicks this year. Robbie Gould has been one of the best kickers in the NfL for the past 6 years while still being very sketchy from beyond 45 yards. If gibbons has another successful year next year ill bet he as on Sundays.

MGoStrength

January 5th, 2013 at 4:44 PM ^

You can make stats say whatever you want, here are some.  If you look at his stats from 2010 he made 1/5 field goals overall and then we basically stopped using him.  In 2011 had a huge improvement and made 13/17.  But, he was only 2/5 in field goals from 40-49 yds   This year he was 1/3 between 40-49.  So even though he's had a good past two years he was only 3/8 from 40-49.  I don't think that's great.  If you take a guy like Adam Vinatieri he makes between 10-14 a year over 40 yds.

swan flu

January 5th, 2013 at 6:40 PM ^

Agreed, Brendan Gibbons is not as good as one of the greatest kickers of all time. Is he better than a guy like Billy Cundiff? I would say yes, and Billy Cundiff has started for multiple teams.

Again, I would compare him to a guy like Robbie Gould, where he isn't going to be successful from beyond 45, but he is quite good from inside that range.

And its much harder to manipulate kicking statistics, as kicking a ball is almost literally the same thing every time. 95% from inside 45 yards is an NfL kicker to me.

Agree to disagree I spose.

Wolverine Devotee

January 5th, 2013 at 3:37 PM ^

FWIW, Under Armour All-Americans:

 

2008           Brandon Moore                       TE              2008-2012

2008           Dann O’Neill                           OL              2008

2008           Darryl Stonum                        WR             2008-2011

2009           Isaiah Bell                               DB              2009-2011

2009           Taylor Lewan                          OL              2009-

2009           Craig Roh                                DL              2009-2012

2010           Devin Gardner                         QB              2010-

2012           Joe Bolden                               LB              2012-

2012           Terry Richardson                    CB              2012-

 

Pulled P

January 5th, 2013 at 3:45 PM ^

That OSU offer to Quick guess it wasn't committable. Seeing how he's playing in this game, totally understandable. He's a bust.

EDIT: /s just in case.

YoOoBoMoLloRoHo

January 5th, 2013 at 4:52 PM ^

After sitting at #1 for a long stretch in the spring, our misses with top kids (LaQuon, LM3, Fuller, Isaac) and competitors landing 5 & high 4 stars bumped us to 6 in Rivals rankings.

Frustrating to see ND and OSU at #1 and 3, respectively.

turtleboy

January 5th, 2013 at 5:44 PM ^

It's a little bit of a bummer to see us ranked under 3 teams we lost to this year after being ahead for so long, but just by the Rivals rankings we're very close in the point totals. If, for example, Cameron Hunt were to commit he would push our point total up over 100 points and we'd leapfrog Florida, USC, and Ohio. We're very much in the mix for the top 3 as these classes finish up. 

DH16

January 5th, 2013 at 6:38 PM ^

It is a bummer, but on the bright side: our class is #6 in the nation with a shot to still move up a little. The future is very bright.



And really, the difference between the top classes can't be too large. We'll see these guys on the field, where it counts.

robmorren2

January 5th, 2013 at 6:14 PM ^

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned about OSU & ND's recruiting. It's a shame that we seem to do this every year in recruiting. We get a great early lead, but are unable to lock down the upper echelon talent when they decide at All-American games. Green would obviously help. It was frustrating watching those AA games and seeing our class rank drop slowly with every selection. It was also frustrating to see OSU & ND on so many tables and Michigan only get on one. I guess we just really need to have faith in our coaches' ability to identify talent and develop talent. Guys like Jake Ryan and Funchess give hope.

FreddieMercuryHayes

January 5th, 2013 at 7:21 PM ^

Oh God, can we just please, please, PLEASE, kill this meme with fire right now.  Just because some teams get kids to commit at All-american games and we get them in the spring means nothing.  Would it make you feel better if all our commits in the AA games had committed to us at  the actual AA games?  Does that make them better?  Does that make our class better? 

Jesus, we have a top-5ish class depending on which site, and it's ridiculously close how the top classes are.  As mentioned above, if we added Cameron Hunt, who is a 'generic' four star, and Green, and we jump all the way to number 3 (above Ohio).  Of course this is provided all else stays the same, and it probably won't (but we could end up being helped anyways).  Thisis just looking at Rivals, which very much emphasises the very top (only measures the top 20) and gives extrodinary bonuses to their Rivals 250, with an even heavier emphasis on the top-of-the-top.  On Scout we're still number 1 because they take class size into account.  So is the number 100 prospect 50 points (i.e. the difference between #6 and #4 on the rankings) a better prospect than a 'generic' 4 star?  I dunno, we could have that debate, but that's what Rival's rankings measure. 

The point is that we have a fantastic class, and the coaches pretty much got it all before the season started.  The upper echelon on the recruiting rankings are all so close, the differences in field success will come down to coaching, and getting these types of classes year after year.  Considering we now have two consecutive classes of this caliber, I would say we're well on our way to being very good.  Of course I would love to see Ohio and ND fall of a cliff, but that's a pretty unrealistic hope unless they hire the completely wrong coach.

robmorren2

January 5th, 2013 at 8:12 PM ^

I didn't say we had a bad class. I'm just saying it sucks to be passed by your Rivals in ANYTHING. When Michigan is ahead of OSU/ND everyone is talking about rankings. When OSU/ND pass UM, then it is MGoTerrorism to be upset about falling in the rankings. Why am I not allowed to be discouraged when our rivals pick up multiple top end recruits during the AA games, and we're only on one table and missed that one. Of course our class would be better if we had Green and Hunt, but it would have been better with LM3 too. OSU/ND did pick up key verbals, and we have key targets. The truth is that our rivals got a leg up on us this weekend and ut sucks. Is it not ok to be slightly upset about that?

Decatur Jack

January 5th, 2013 at 9:37 PM ^

OSU and ND do not have better classes than M. Rivals.com is not the end-all be-all when it comes to recruiting rankings. We currently have the #1 class according to Scout.

I have no idea why you're so depressed. The 2013 class is full of guys that were Hoke's staff's first choice. Jeez.

If Shane Morris decommits and goes to OSU, then we can panic.

YoOoBoMoLloRoHo

January 5th, 2013 at 10:25 PM ^

simply that it's frustrating to see ND and OSU get more recognition (based on Rivals as affiliated with the Army game) at this point.

If we hit on just a couple of our top targets and/or they miss, then we likely keep #1 or 2. It's close.

After losing to both on the field by small margins, winning the mythical recruiting title would steal a little thunder from them.

robmorren2

January 5th, 2013 at 11:05 PM ^

I'm not depressed about Michigan's class. It just sucks to see ND get a recruiting boost for being in a NC (which I don't think they belong in), and it sucks to see OSU get a recruiting bump despite their violations (just bcus they hire a new dirtball coach to replace the old one).

robmorren2

January 6th, 2013 at 10:58 AM ^

So I should be happy that Michigan was only in the running on one decision all weekend and missed on that one? People keep trying to combine being upset about missing out on elite prospects at AA games with not liking our current class. I think we have a great class. However, I'm upset that other schools got huge additions this weekend and we got none. Why is that a bad thing? It's Michigan, and I'm not 100% happy unless we're #1. I might be 95% happy. Either way, seeing ND get a 5 star safety and OSU get the #30 player in the country is a downer for me. If we had the #1 class I wouldn't care about hat selections.

The Truth Hurts

January 5th, 2013 at 6:54 PM ^

Well next year, instead of getting our committments early, we will tell them to hold out until the all star games so they can pick our hats on national tv.    wishing green realizes that he can play early and often at michigan instead of the other schools.   don't understand why kids go to schools who already have a load of 5 star talent from previous classes playing the same position as they play and get mad when they don't get playing time.