2015 recruiting profiles

Previously: Last year's profiles, S Tyree Kinnel, CB Keith Washington, DE Shelton Johnson, DE Reuben Jones, OL Nolan Ulizio, OL Grant Newsome, OL Jon Runyan Jr., TE Tyrone Wheatley Jr., WR Brian Cole, WR Grant Perry, RB Karan Higdon, QB Zach Gentry.

       
Bloomfield Hills, MI – 6'1", 200
       

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[Eric Upchurch]

Scout 4*, #185 overall
#14 QB
Rivals 4*, NR overall
#11 Pro QB, #1 MI
ESPN 4*, NR overall
#16 Pro QB, #4 MI
24/7 3*, NR overall
#14 Pro QB, #4 MI
Other Suitors Pitt, Wake Forest
YMRMFSPA Brian Griese
Previously On MGoBlog Hello post from Ace. Ace scouts Brother Rice vs De La Salle.
Notes HS teammate of Grant Perry. Twitter.

Film

Senior:

This doubles as a supplementary Grant Perry highlight reel as well. Scouting video from BR vs DLS:

MGoVideo has his team's snaps from the spring game.

Alex Malzone is the other half of the passing combination that led Brother Rice to the state championship and ensconced Grant Perry into the MHSAA record books; he was the more highly touted bit. He hit a ton of camps and popped up to a solid four star on all the sites (24/7 later dropped him to a three star) despite not having any whiz-bang physical traits.

You probably know where this is going already: heady, polished, etc. You are correct. When Ace and Dave scouted Malzone against De La Salle they came back with the video above and impressions beyond the fact that Malzone was zinging highly accurate balls all night:

The film is impressive enough; what it doesn't show is how much Malzone is in command of the offense. He directed an attack that often went no-huddle, made protection and route checks that I could hear all the way from the top rows of the bleachers, and most importantly, made the correct pre-snap reads. Check out the 1:13 mark, when he sees De La Salle lining up to blitz, changes the protection and has his running back shift sides—the RB is in perfect position to pick up a blitzer and Malzone has enough time to fire off a slant to Perry for a first down.

Scouting reports continually hone in on Malzone's consistency, command, and timing.

  • Allen Trieu, Scout:  “…good velocity on his passes, shows excellent timing and is very accurate. … May not have ideal dropback QB height, but is a gamer and a winner.”
  • Jordan Palmer, Elite 11 coach: "That guy is sponge. … he’s not necessarily physically big. He doesn’t throw the ball like this guy. He’s not as fast as that guy. But man, is he consistent."
  • Barton Simmons, 24/7, comparing Malzone to OSU commit Joe Burrow: "a little bit undersized but has outstanding feet in the pocket and a really live arm. He doesn’t have the ceiling of Burrow but he’s the more college ready player right now."
  • ESPN:  "…marginal athlete for the position. …Really shows good command of the scheme. … Throws a tight, snappy ball. Sticks the ball right on target. … gifted rhythm and timing thrower … Release is quick and over the top. Does show a slight draw back where the bottom point of the ball points backwards as he pulls back to deliver. … ball jumps off his hand."
  • Josh Helmholdt, Rivals, after a 7 on 7: "Malzone was in total command … The ball did not seem to come off his hand with as much pop as we're used to seeing, yet he still got it there with plenty of velocity and was pinpoint accurate with his throws."
  • Helmholdt:  "I watched him lead Brother Rice to the state championship and saw his leadership qualities, the intangibles like managing an offense, how he moved the team down the field. … When we saw him at Rivals camps, he was spotting his passes extremely well, throwing guys open instead of just hitting the open guy. Every pass was on the money."
  • Jamie Uyeama, 24/7 and SBN: "When Malzone has a clean pocket and is properly balanced, I don’t know if there are too many other quarterbacks his age that can chuck it like him. … can flat out zip the ball and it’s really pretty. He has the arm strength to fit the ball into tight windows and to make all the deep throws imaginable."

These are the things that allowed Malzone to complete 65% of his passes en route to a state title.

[After THE JUMP: some funk in the delivery and spring concerns.]

Previously: Last year's profiles, S Tyree Kinnel, CB Keith Washington, DE Shelton Johnson, DE Reuben Jones, OL Nolan Ulizio, OL Grant Newsome, OL Jon Runyan Jr., TE Tyrone Wheatley Jr., WR Brian Cole, WR Grant Perry, RB Karan Higdon.

       
Albuquerque, NM – 6'7", 240
       

Scout 4*, #278 overall
#19 QB, #1 NM
Rivals 4*, #105 overall
#4 Pro QB, #1 NM
ESPN 4*, #118 overall
#9 Pro QB, #1 NM
24/7 3*, NR overall
#15 Pro QB, #1 NM
Other Suitors Texas, Bama, Neb, UL, OkieSt, TCU, Tenn
YMRMFSPA Cardale Jones
Previously On MGoBlog Hello post from Ace.
Notes Decommitted from Texas.

Film

Senior:

People don't know what to make of Zach Gentry. Presented with a quarterback pushing 6'8" playing New Mexico football that resembles Godzilla versus Assorted Oompa-Loompas, they are intrigued. When Godzilla roars past the Oompa-Loompas for consecutive 80-yard rushing touchdowns, they start looking around for Morpheus. I mean:

A dual-threat quarterback trapped in the body of a prototypical pocket passer …  one of the more unique quarterback prospects I've ever seen. There's really not a good comparison out there for him because he's such a rare breed, but the comparison he's been given of having Ryan Mallett's size with running ability is as accurate as anything I've heard.

Gentry seems like a glitch in the Matrix. These things don't go together often:

Gentry completed 60 percent of his passes during a 12-game season and threw for 2,978 yards and 26 touchdown passes while rushing for 1,057 yards and 22 scores. An athletic quarterback, Gentry concluded his high school career with 55 passing touchdowns and 47 touchdowns on the ground.

He breaks things, including English: multiple recruiting sites deployed modifiers in front of "unique" in an attempt to grasp what was going on.

As a result, Gentry was hotly pursued by a number of major programs. Texas, obviously, was one. Tennessee was highly interested in making him Tyler Bray 2.0 (this time he's sane!). And yes, the Bama offer was very much legit. 247 reported in May that the Tide's QB recruiting was "primarily focused" on Gentry, and when he dropped to Texas the question there was "where do we go from here" because they didn't really have many other targets. (Bama, being Bama, did okay for itself by snaking five star Blake Barnett away from Notre Dame.) Michigan was interested during Hoke's final year but did not offer after observing him in person.

[After THE JUMP: lots of disagreement dispersed by FINAL JUDGMENT.]

Previously: Last year's profiles, S Tyree Kinnel, CB Keith Washington, DE Shelton Johnson, DE Reuben Jones, OL Nolan Ulizio, OL Grant Newsome, OL Jon Runyan Jr., TE Tyrone Wheatley Jr., WR Brian Cole, WR Grant Perry.

       
Sarasota, FL – 5'10", 190
       

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Scout 3*, NR overall
#84 RB
Rivals 3*, NR overall
#45 RB, #77 FL
ESPN 3*, NR overall
#70 RB, #108 FL
24/7 4*, NR overall
#29 RB, #43 FL
Other Suitors Iowa, Arizona, Ark, Tenn, MD
YMRMFSPA Mike Hart
Previously On MGoBlog Hello post from Ace. Higdon's coach gave us the lowdown on how his flip went down.
Notes Decommitted from both USF and Iowa.

Film

Senior:

Also junior highlights.

Karan Higdon was part of the Mike Weber signing day chaos. With Weber's decision balanced on a molecule-wide knife edge, Higdon's signing day flip from Iowa pushed him over to the dark side, until he went back to the light side, until he went back to the dark side, and so forth and so on. That doesn't have anything to do with him as a prospect, but you can be sure the two guys will be compared to each other by Michigan fans for the duration of their careers.

As far as Hidgon himself goes, he is a compact, darting runner with a smooth jump cut. Running back highlight tape is the most useful of all highlight tapes because it gives you a pretty good sense of what Back X is like when he's running good, and Higdon is somewhat reminiscent of Fitzgerald Toussaint—sophomore Fitzgerald Toussaint, before he was Poor Damn Toussaint and then Pass Blocking Double Agent Toussaint. He also gives off a bit of a Mike Hart aura, though I hesitate to invoke him in comparisons because Hart was sui generis.

But Hart must be mentioned when a 5'10" guy under 200 pounds is so frequently described as a power back. Scout Florida guy Corey Bender:

“Karan Higdon is more your North and South type runner. He's not a home run hitter. He’s well put together."

ESPN:

…sturdy and durable. Shows above average speed in the second level but not elite … wastes little time getting North and hitting the downhill seam. Shows better than adequate vision to stretch and cut back in the second level. … Shows good feet in the hole to jump-cut and make the first defender miss.  … Hits the hole with authority and runs hard North-South. Does a good job lowering his pads on contact, absorbing the hit and continuing his forward progress. …productive inside runner with the burst to open up the run game outside but we do not see a big-play element at this stage.

"Better than adequate" is ESPN's funny way of saying "good."

Scout's Jamie Newberg:

runs hard and is decisive. He’s not a dancer and you won’t see him going east-west but north-south … has good feet, quick feet. Higdon has a strong lower body and runs with deceptive power. … I also like his vision. Higdon possesses good speed and quickness. He can also make defenders miss. … not an explosive, home run hitter.

Clint Brewster:

Higdon is a between-the-tackles hard nosed running back with excellent vision. He waits patiently on the hole and plants and drives upfield with good toughness. Higdon should fit well in Harbaugh's ground and pound running game, with his tough and rugged style. Higdon shows good lateral movement through the hole and a good quick twitch once he gets out in the open, although he's not a back with long speed.

Tim Drevno pretty much agrees:

"Karan is a power back, a physical runner -- he's got great instinct and football awareness with real good vision. He does a great job of lowering his pads especially when he's entering the goal line area. He is a real smart young man who had a 4.0 in high school."

These all say the same very positive things; like Grant Perry the ensuing rankings are underwhelming largely because of a lack of wow experience in his physical package. Running backs Higdon's size are almost always placed in the meh bin unless they have the game-breaking ability each one of these scouting reports strives to point out he does not.

The exception is 247, which had him a four star. Josh Newberg, who works for the USF 247 site, gives an indication as to why when Higdon was a Bulls commit:

5. Every class seems to come down to a few make-or-break kids… Who are those kids for the Bulls…?

USF has an incredible player committed to them in Karan Higdon. He's a running back that could make an even bigger impact than Marlon Mack has. Higdon is explosive, strong and has the ability to score from anywhere on the field. He also has excellent hands and could even be a slot receiver if he wanted to.

Right now there isn't a more talented player that USF is recruiting.

Steve Lorenz also named him the toughest incoming recruit to keep off the field—a statement that means something when Michigan has lots of options in front of him. 

Though it may be odd for a guy everyone just described as a power back, I wouldn't be surprised to see Higdon get a serious look as a third down back as early as next year. Squat guys with good short-area burst are often the best pass blockers, as they can get to the spot they need to get and then undercut the blitzer they've been tasked with picking up. Vincent Smith and Mike Hart, Michigan's best blitz pickup guys in recent memory, both fit that mold.

Etc.: Awkward:

Even when he was committed to USF, Higdon praised the Iowa program. Now that he's officially committed to the Hawkeyes though, you really can't ask for a better spokesperson.

Higdon watches every game and he always has something good to say, even when Iowa loses. He believes in the program and he believes in what he can do with the Hawkeyes. In fact, he has so much faith in Iowa that he's already creating some lofty goals for himself. … He's clearly all-in with the Hawkeyes, and that's not something you see out of recruits all that often.

Will wear #22. 967 yards and 15 TDs as a junior.

Why Mike Hart? Mostly explained above. Higdon is a compact, shifty gentleman with uncanny power for a player his size. If he never fumbles, always squeezes out two more yards than is reasonable, ruthlessly destroys blitzing linebackers, and recovers Ryan Mallett fumbles for first downs, then he can be Mike Hart.

Fitzgerald Toussaint is also a reasonable comparable. Toussaint was a one-cut zone back with an explosive burst. Higdon sounds less likely to break a long one and more likely to squeeze out an extra yard or two after contact.

Guru Reliability: Moderate. No projection but big spread here from four star to "not even in the top 100 in Florida."

Variance: Low. Projects to HS position, reportedly has excellent vision already, healthy.

Ceiling: Moderate-plus. Not a gamebreaker, quoth everyone. Still could end up a highly efficient Harbaugh back.

General Excitement Level: Moderate-plus. Like Perry, seems like a good bet to be a contributor for an extended period of time. Good late pickup in the situation M found themselves in because he gives a relatively high floor at the position going forward.

Projection: With four backs in front of him, none of whom are seniors, you'd have to think a redshirt is an option. Excellent backs can bust through legions of upperclassmen, though, and it's not like anyone currently on the roster has established much of a claim on the job. If he impresses in fall camp could definitely get a 100 or so carries… and signal that the RB spot is going to experience some attrition.