Don

April 27th, 2011 at 5:24 PM ^

and he was born long after Blair left ND. We don't know how close he is to his uncle, or how important ND is in the extended Kiel family.

It has nothing to do with Gunner, but holy crap, Blair Kiel has had an awful lot of contact with the police the last few years. He certainly had the bad luck of having Gerry Faust as his head coach for his final three seasons at ND.

neoavatara

April 27th, 2011 at 4:53 PM ^

Kiel would be a great get.  I have no idea what he is looking at right now...but hope Hoke and Co. can keep us in the running. 

Says a lot about them, in any case, that they were able to get two of the top signal callers in the country to visit. 

ryebreadboy

April 27th, 2011 at 5:06 PM ^

I agree with this 100%.  Even if it doesn't work out with Kiel, and Pike doesn't come to his senses once the hammer hits Auburn, Hoke&Co. have got something going.  If they show success on the field this year, next year kids of their caliber will go from visiting to committing.  Afterall, the most important thing is getting them here in the first place.

Please don't let my optimism for the future imply that I do not want Kiel or Pike.  I would rejoice should we get either.

Robbie Moore

April 28th, 2011 at 9:37 AM ^

...once recruited some off the radar QB from California who did great in Ann Arbor and then went on to win three Super Bowls and is a pro football hall of fame lock. For all we know Russell Bellomy will become The Man. Stranger things have happened.

wlubd

April 27th, 2011 at 4:59 PM ^

Kiel is the top-rated QB in the nation according to Scout and 247Sports. He will likely be the top QB (top 3 at worst) when Rivals and ESPN do their rankings. I'm not enough of an analyst to determine if he's better then Morris, but if we have a chance to land Kiel, we take it...

ryebreadboy

April 27th, 2011 at 5:14 PM ^

Do we even have "chances" with Morris?  I mean, I know the kid's from Michigan and grew up a UM fan, but if he's actually top-ranked national talent, it's possible we could lose out on him to Alabama, OSU, Auburn, etc.  I don't want (or really expect) that to happen, but I'd way rather have Kiel now (bird in the hand, and all that).

Obviously I expect that Hoke/Mattison will do their utmost to recruit Morris, and I'm sure he'll be receptive to that (as evidenced by his presence at our spring game).  I'm just saying that everyone acts like he's a Wolverine lock when we all know that kids do some crazy things.  I think assuming that he's "ours" too early might be a very bad thing.

Do we know if Morris is actually all "OMGWOLVERINESYESPLEASE"?

The Name

April 27th, 2011 at 5:18 PM ^

But I think only Michigan fans would worry about taking a 5* QB one year because it might hurt their chances with a potential 5* QB the next year.

I just wonder that once we start winning national championships every year what are all of us Michigan football fans going to worry about?

wlubd

April 27th, 2011 at 5:17 PM ^

Don't know enough about what Morris is looking for, if early playing time is important or not. I only know that he's pretty high on us.

I'd be tempted to say it wouldn't help with Morris if we take a 5* QB this year. But we also thought that with Peke and Auburn w/ Frazier so who knows...

FWIW, I'm not optimistic about Kiel, visit or not. Think we put all our energy in to getting Pike and let Kiel fall by the wayside a bit. That's conjecture on my part but seems to be the case.

 

Salinger

April 28th, 2011 at 8:08 AM ^

necessarily that supports that other than the fact that the people on this board seemed to be really high on Pike when it looked like he might have a chance to go blue.  To me, it just seems like they have changed their tune from Pike to Gunner.  Worse things have happened...

bing24

April 27th, 2011 at 4:54 PM ^

Wow, this is a pleasant surprise. Can't wait to hear what the thought of his visit and hopefully this vaulted UM into his top schools.

What a sweet freakin name for a QB! The only name that had me more excited was Shavodrick Beaver, simply for having an excuse to get a UM jersey with 'Beaver' on back.

ryebreadboy

April 27th, 2011 at 5:09 PM ^

Hopefully they'll show him the athletic facilities thoroughly and the stadium.  The campus is probably a mess what with everyone moving out this week.

tonyum187

April 27th, 2011 at 5:13 PM ^

Here is what Gunner Kiel said about UM on ESPN:

Michigan: "They have a new coaching staff and they are bringing a new offense on the table that's going to feature the passing game a lot. It's going to be a good system and they will be successful."