Recruiting

Things Discussed:

  • NCAA no longer regulating NIL: Brave New World? Ha. Maybe for Michigan. Sam has us make our case, which is the same we've been making forever. Craig worries about a Texas A&M situation, Seth & Brian push back hard.
  • How should Michigan do it? Supplement what they're doing now but don't lose *THEIR* guys because of money. Bryce Underwood is the classic example.
  • Schools can't afford to keep paying what they're paying out right now. Michigan included.
  • Warde Manuel: Absolutely wrong guy to show leadership. One thing he's doing is he's the leader of the CFP committee that's coming up with a 14-team disaster that's just the B10 and SEC forcing autobids for $$$.
  • Brian: Anyone who's an administrator at a college is expendable; teachers are not.
  • Sam: Time to get the collectives in on Bryce Underwood.
  • Sam: Trust me, Sabb didn't leave Michigan for money; he woulda had a Benz here too.
  • Seth: I'm bored by Sabb talk; we lost our 3rd safety to starting at Alabama. That doesn't mean there's a problem it means we had the best three safeties in America and football has two starting safeties.
  • Juwan Howard: Probably not getting fired until Warde Manuel is (everyone: so fire Warde!)
  • Who you hiring? Brian: McDermott (Creighton)->Shaka->TJ Otzelberger (ISU)->Mark Pope. Craig: Will Wade (all: !!???!!!)->Otzelberger (good defense!)->Anthony Grant (Dayton, fun offense)->Lamont Paris (SCar)->Mark Byington (JMU). Seth: Nate Oats->Fred Hoiberg->Darian DeVries.
  • Sam: Talk to me about Nate, but Bama has been supporting him well, and then you have Brandon Miller/Darius Miles in proximity to a murder. The other thing—put a hand on a player on the court—seems like nothing.
  • Seth/Brian: Details of the murder are important; the Missouri thing doesn't move the needle.
  • Dusty May? Caught fire with this group, but has only been at FAU, would like to see more of a track record.

[Hit the JUMP for the player, and video and stuff]

[Aaron Bills]

The Profiles: 2022’s Last Take, K Adam Samaha, K James Turner (Tr), S Brandyn Hillman, CB DJ Waller, CB Cameron Calhoun, CB Jyaire Hill, CB Josh Wallace (Tr), HSP/LB Jason Hewlett, LB Hayden Moore, LB Semaj Bridgeman, LB Ernest Hausmann (Tr), OLB Breeon Ishmail, DE Aymeric Koumba, DE Enow Etta, DE Josaiah Stewart (Tr), DT Brooks Bahr, DT Cameron Brandt, DT Trey Pierce, OT Evan Link, OT Myles Hinton (Tr), OT LaDarius Henderson (Tr), OG Nathan Efobi, IOL Amir Herring, OC Drake Nugent (Tr), TE Deakon Tonielli, TE Zack Marshall, TE AJ Barner (Tr), WR Semaj Morgan, WR Fredrick Moore, WR Karmello English, RB Benjamin Hall, RB Cole Cabana, ATH Kendrick Bell, QB Jack Tuttle (Tr)

I'm half a year behind our normal schedule for this series, but I managed to get the last three written up in February. Now it's time to wrap. Because this is coming so late however, I think we need to contextualize some relevant dates for this cycle.

  • 2019-'20 (freshmen in high school): COVID starts in March. 7v7s and spring camps canceled, sophomore summer camp seasons interrupted.
  • 2020-'21 (sophomore): Pandemic. Seasons canceled or delayed. Visits and scouting are off. This is when most players would have normally been scouted so evaluations are lacking. Michigan retains Harbaugh on the cheap but overhauls staff with Hart, Bellamy, Mac, Helow, Linguist, Sherrone promoted to OLs. In May Linguist leaves for Buffalo, Clinkscale hired. Supreme Court issues its opinion on NCAA vs Alston in June.
  • 2021-'22 (junior). NCAA issues its "Interim Policy" on NIL in September, opening the floodgates. By December most large programs are openly using NIL as pay-for-play. Michigan beats Ohio State, loses to Georgia in the Playoff Semis. Courtney Morgan leaves for Washington in December. Nua leaves for USC in early Jan. Mac to Ravens. Harbaugh interviews with Vikings. Gattis leaves for Miami-YTM in February, M hires Minter, Newsome, and Elston; Sherrone and Weiss made co-OCs. Rise of collectives. Harbaugh: "We're transformational not transactional."
  • 2022-'23 (senior). Michigan goes undefeated in regular season, wins B10 again. Class signed in December. M loses to TCU in Semis, Weiss fired. Harbaugh flirts with NFL: "Can't out-happy happy." Helow, Weiss replaced with Partridge & Campbell.

IT IS A B+ CLASS WITH AN 'A' FOR TRANSFERS

This class was more spray than the relatively laser 2022 class. Despite two straight trips to the Playoff, this class was hampered by a new NIL era,the recruiting market's own overreactions, and a lack of available playing time on a roster stacked for a national championship run (it was a success), but also by themselves.

The result was Michigan stocked up on as many high ceilings as they could get their hands on:

image

It moves up to an 'A-' class if you count the transfers, though. I was pretty high on all of them but Tuttle (Wallace joined too late for a writeup), and perhaps too high on Henderson only.

This was really hard to grade though because there are so many projects. A positional rundown, with transfers in parentheticals:

  • QB: F (C). Bell moved to WR immediately, Tuttle a 6th year career backup. Would have been nice to have a JJ successor in the wings, or just another competitor.
  • RB: A-. No superstars but both guys expected to be major contributors.
  • WR: B+. Smallish except for Bell, but all expected to play above their rankings.
  • TE: B- (A). Far be it from me to question Michigan TE recruiting but Loveland sets a new bar. I claim the title of blog chief of saw it coming with Barner.
  • OL: C+ (A). Two high floors (Link, Herring) and a ceiling (Efobi) is a small class for the 2x Joe Moore winners. I thought the transfers were outstanding.
  • DT: B. I really like Pierce. Even if you file Brandt and Bahr here, I wanted another pure DT because OMG and KG aren't gonna be here 4 years.
  • Edge: B+ (B+). Etta should get more talk, the rest are DE/DTs (Brandt) or high-upside projects. I thought Stewart was Mike Danna.
  • LB: B (A+). Everyone loves Hewlett's ceiling but Hayden Moore seems like a find. Bridgman, eh. Hausmann's gonna be a star.
  • S: C+. Brandyn Hillman was a good pull, but needed more than one high-upside positional convert.
  • CB: A- (B). Jyaire Hill is a future 1st rounder, DJ Waller is a wild card, Calhoun didn't stick around; I thought he was more of a floor than a catch. Trying to grade Wallace on what I thought when he committed; he'd be an A from what we know today.
  • SP: B+. Samaha was born to go to Michigan, but the history of #1 Kornblue Ks is encouraging.

[After THE JUMP: A lot of upside, a few whiffs].

[Patrick Barron]

[Scheduling note. Hi. My kid was hospitalized last summer before I could get the 2023 recruiting profiles done, so I'm planning to finish the 2023 class before starting on the 2024s. Plan is to wrap up with Cabana and Kendrick Bell, spend a bit more time pouring over potential 2024 starter Jack Tuttle's college career, then do a class wrap that's only somewhat patting myself on the back for Semaj Morgan (who got a 4th star on Rivals so he's not eligible to be class sleeper). Figure you guys wanted this instead of basketball, which just lost Olivier Nkamhoua for the season.]

--------------------

Previously: Last year’s profiles, K Adam Samaha, K James Turner (Tr), S Brandyn Hillman, CB DJ Waller, CB Cameron Calhoun, CB Jyaire Hill, HSP/LB Jason Hewlett, LB Hayden Moore, LB Semaj Bridgeman, LB Ernest Hausmann (Tr), OLB Breeon Ishmail, DE Aymeric Koumba, DE Enow Etta, DE Josaiah Stewart (Tr), DT Brooks Bahr, DT Cameron Brandt, DT Trey Pierce, OT Evan Link, OT Myles Hinton (Tr), OT LaDarius Henderson (Tr), OG Nathan Efobi, IOL Amir Herring, OC Drake Nugent (Tr), TE Deakon Tonielli, TE Zack Marshall, TE AJ Barner (Tr), WR Semaj Morgan, WR Fredrick Moore, WR Karmello English, RB Benjamin Hall

 
Dexter (Dexter), MI – 6'0''/180 200!
 
image
Rankings
247 4.10*

6'0/180
4*, 90, NR Ovr

#21 RB, #3 MI
On3 4.46*

5'11/175
4*, 93, #154 Ovr

#7 RB, #3 MI
Rivals 4.17*

6'0/180
4*, 5.8, #215 Ovr

#5 APB, #2 MI
ESPN 4.55*

5'11/180
4*, 84, #116 Ovr

#6 RB, #2 MI
Composites
247 0.9314, #172 Ovr, #10 RB, #2 MI
On3 92.06, #202 Ovr, #14 RB, #2 MI
MGo 4.28*, #221/803 Ovr, #20/61 RBs
YMRMFSPA
Donovan Edwards
 
Other Suitors: MSU, Miami (YTM), WVU, Louisville
Previously on MGoBlog: Hello by Alex Drain
Notes: NIL. EE.
Film
Senior Highlights:

Hudl. FB Junkies Sr Highlights. Jr Highlights. Rising Stars. Drills. On3 Breakdown.

So hi, welcome back to the 2023 preseason! In Cabana's case not a lot has changed in the intervening six months. After a senior year of 2,434 all-purpose yards (1,518 rushing, 472 receiving, 444 returning) and 36 TDs (27/6/3), a lot of people figured he'd carve out a role immediately. But between the injury, running back depth, and Semaj Morgan's emergence in the return game that didn't happen. He spent spring and most of the season injured, coming away with two carries for six yards against Bowling Green while taking a redshirt. The second carry was blown up so here's Cabana's one relevant run of 2023:

So let's go back to the recruiting profile! Cabana grew up a Spartan, and their top priority as of the 2021 M-MSU game. Mike Hart jumped into the race in late 2021 and had a pledge by February [insert little brother comment]. Cabana's ranking starting to shoot up in April, and by fall he was Michigan's highest-rated recruit. Miami (YTM) offered but Cabana didn't even post it, instead taking it upon himself to recruit others to Michigan.

[After THE JUMP: Donovan Edwards, downshifted.]

MOAR linemen.

They don't hate us, Jim; they hate you.

Happy Fax Day.

akuote

Taco watch: We have the ingredients to make tacos.

Can I join you guys?

it's not good! 

rounding out the DT room in 2024

If they're 18 in 2024 that means they were born in 2006.

spoooooky