Hello: Jeremy Clark Comment Count

Tim

Michigan has accepted a greyshirt commitment from KY S Jeremy Clark. Clark impressed the coaches at camp, but not enough to earn an immediate offer. Should he pick up a number of mid-level scholarship offers, I wouldn't expect this one to stick.

JeremyClark-mug.jpg

GURU RATINGS

Scout Rivals ESPN 24/7 Sports
2*, NR S NR S NR S NR S

Since Jeremy is effectively a member of the 2013 recruiting class (pending a decision from OH S Jarrod Wilson) and also very under-the-radar, this section should be brief. HOWEVA, with Brian unavailable, why not profile a guy who's basically a preferred walk-on at this point?

As you can see, the recruiting sites aren't so high on Clark. Scout is the only site with a ranking for him, and even that is a lowly 2-star. The sites are in accord there, and also on his size: He's a consensus 6-4 (ESPN says 6-2), with two votes for 205 pounds and two votes for 185 pounds. I'll go with 195 then.

Since there's nothing out there on the free webs, a paid article from Scout:

This 6-4, 175-lb. safety was the surprises of the day. He flashed good speed and EXCELLENT ball skills. He is a bit of a sleeper on the national scale because he grew four inches since last fall. Just as impressive was the fact that he soaked up the coaching like a sponge and just seemed to really be relishing the overall experience.  

Of course it's in their best interests to talk kids up as sleepers, so take it as a grain of salt. It's sleeper bluster, but in the parlance of sleeper bluster, height, ball skills and coachability are nice compliments for any system.

JeremyClark-OMGshirtless.jpgClark aso drew "plenty of attention" from Ohio State's staff at their camp ($, info in header), but apparently they didn't see enough to offer him. He is pictured OMG SHIRTLESS at right.

OFFERS

Most of Clark's full scholarship offers came from the MAC. Akron, Ball State, Central Michigan, Ohio, and Toledo were his offers from the Big Ten's JV league. NC State was his only other BCS-level scholarship offer.

STATS

His Rivals profile has junior year stats: 75 tackles, 3 interceptions, and 8 pass breakups. That's not a ringing endorsement of Scout's "ballhawk" characterization, but it's certainly not bad either.

FAKE 40 TIME

Rivals says 4.47. That is very fast. A kid with Clark's size is not an unranked prospect at this point in the recruiting cycle if he's actually that fast. I'm going to have to go with 4 FAKEs out of five.

VIDEO

Junior highlights:

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

This guy is a greyshirt prospect for a reason. At one step ahead of preferred walk-on, it's tough to see him accomplishing much until very late in his career, as is usually the case for these guys. He'll greyshirt the fall of his first year (pay his own way and, if I'm not mistaken, not practice with the team), then join the squad as a redshirt freshman in the spring.

I see him being a special teams contributor as a redshirt junior and senior, and the type of guy who gets a few plays in the secondary, but not much more.

Of course, if he is the level of sleeper that Scout's recap above seems to imply, he could also blow up once he gets into college, and absorb all the coaching (and weight training, etc.) available to him, becoming a contributor by the time he leaves campus.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

As a greyshirt, he doesn't affect much about this class. The needs are still offensive line, defensive tackle, wideout, and - with lesser emphasis - quarterback/running back.

Comments

wlubd

June 24th, 2011 at 11:53 AM ^

Don't worry about the 85 limit, all the 2012 seniors will stop counting after the 2012 season so there will be plenty of room for him at that point. Consider him our second 2013 commit as an early enrollee.

HollywoodHokeHogan

June 24th, 2011 at 11:45 AM ^

there is nothing wrong with this post.  It's objective but not sarcastic or critical.  It doesn't  hit anyone in the knees or any of that other shit people are complaining about. 

Rabbit21

June 24th, 2011 at 11:50 AM ^

This is great news, welcome aboard Jeremy!

Interesting to see what happens with Wilson now, I assume if Wilson doesn't come to Michigan then Clark gets the scholarship.  Nice o see a guy camp and earn an offer.  Hard work pays off.

 

Cigarro Cubano

June 24th, 2011 at 11:53 AM ^

Hello from Jarrod WIlson hopefully over the next 24-48 hours.  Great for Jeremy, happy to have him on board. Go with your heart and were you want to be. As long as he does what he needs to do academically & as par of being a student-athlete, things will fall into place for him.  

Noahdb

June 24th, 2011 at 12:02 PM ^

FWIW, Tom O'Brien has had a pretty successful career based largely on his ability to find guys like this. He's got lots of ties to the Ohio area (especially around the Cincinatti area). That offer from NC State ought to count for a bit more.

I'm not saying this guy is the stud of the class. The odds for any SINGLE recruit are that they won't make much noise. There are 85 players on a team and only a few stars, even on the best teams. Most of the players don't start. 

He's tall, obviously a good athlete, obviously very coachable, and he did run that 4.4 at a camp. It's not like that is a self-reported time. I think this is someone capable of contributing in a few years. The fact that they were willing to take him NOW (versus the last day of the signing period) means that the coaches liked him as well.

chitownblue2

June 24th, 2011 at 12:03 PM ^

The Grey shirt honestly makes me nervous. Oversigning.com and the NLOI program are both unabashedly against it, and the President of Florida, the leader on fighting oversigning in the SEC, calls the practice "morally repugnant".

me

June 24th, 2011 at 12:15 PM ^

gets trashed over it is that the full ride for a kid becomes a grey shirt offer after he has already accepted what he believes is a normal offer and just before he enrolls so the school can fit under the limit.

I don't think it's as big of deal when the grey shirt offer is made up front and the kid knows what he is accepting.

chitownblue2

June 24th, 2011 at 12:17 PM ^

Greyshirts are like the Wild West - completely unregulated. I think the NCAA needs to decide in general (this relates to greyshirts and over-signing) if their policy is to protect the student athlete or not. If the practice opens rooms for abuse it shouldn't exist, period.

me

June 24th, 2011 at 12:23 PM ^

grey shirts are subject to abuse. Was more just commenting that the way this one has been handled seems more than above board and in no way shady or abusive. If they got rid of grey shirts all together, it wouldn't cause me any heartburn whatsoever

me

June 24th, 2011 at 12:27 PM ^

You can say that about every single commit in this class. There are no written offers out yet and even then written offers can be yanked.

And we do know how this was handled. UM offered him a grey shirt opportunity and he took it. They explained to him that they did not have room in this class for him right now but may if Wilson goes elsewhere but they still wanted him and this is the way they could do it.

DustomaticGXC

June 24th, 2011 at 5:52 PM ^

between telling a kid who wants to come to Michigan that there is no room, so a greyshirt is the best the coaching staff can do (and I find it very, very hard to believe that this coaching staff didn't explain, in detail, what exactly can happen with him in the future), and telling a kid he has a full offer, bringing him to campus, moving him into a dorm, letting him practice, then before the season starts telling him there is suddenly no room and offering him a grayshirt.

 

It comes down to integrity.  Saban, Nutt, etc. are completely willing to abuse the system.  Hoke has shown no signs of this willingness as of yet, so he still deserves the benefit of the doubt in my opinion.

Geaux_Blue

June 24th, 2011 at 12:16 PM ^

if greyshirts were only allowed if the possible scholarship number the following year was decreased one, meaning even if a kid from the class was kicked off, they still couldn't add, fine. but i see no problem in its use of one a class every 3-4 years. greyshirts have gotten a bad wrap because they're used to let a kid be better than someone else who will be removed on their own dime. if it's simply used because a team truly wants someone but is unwilling to make room... no problem. remember, what if UM said "holy crap, this kid is amazing, we gotta make room" and decided to find a way to force a kid off who has committed. that's the other side of it.

chitownblue2

June 24th, 2011 at 12:28 PM ^

I won't put words in their mouth.

Oversigning.com (emphasis mine):

Our position is that we are against coaches telling a handful of recruits that they MIGHT have to grayshirt if the numbers don't work out and we are against coaches oversigning knowing they have a handful of players they can push back if they need to via the grayshirt.  Grayshirt offers should only come after a school has filled all of their available openings, it should be petitioned for with transparency at the conference or NCAA level, and there should be something in writing that guarantees the recruit that they will have spot in the following class.  Grayshirt offers, if any, should be the last offers given out because all of the current openings in the class are taken.  It is unethical to go around giving out offers that come with a grayshirt clause.  NLI doesn't support the grayshirt practice and recruits that are being told by a football coach that they MIGHT have to take a greyshirt should be very cautious when considering that kind of offer.  Hopefully we will see some reform here and the grayshirt process with either go away or become heavily regulated.  We would hate to throw the baby out with the bath water just because you have a handful of coaches out there offering kids conditional grayshirt offers simply to keep them away from other schools.

To read the whole thing:

http://oversigning.com/testing/index.php/tag/grayshirt/

M-Wolverine

June 24th, 2011 at 1:40 PM ^

So you're supposed to tell the kid "if you decide not to commit to anyone else, after our whole class is full, then we MAY offer you a greyshirt"? What kid would ever wait to take a greyshirt and not take another offer, if they can't even hand them out until the class is done? It would never happen. The grey shirt IS the hold for future scholarship offer, giving an opportunity for a kid to play at his school of choice. If it can't be offered till after the class is full, you're asking the kid to instead of making an informed decision, and choose between getting a scholarship at a 2nd choice institution vs. waiting to get one at his school of choice, to wait till the class is full, see if there's a scholarship, see if a grey shirt offer comes, and don't commit to anyone else as everyone else's class fills up. Or you're asking them to commit somewhere else, but be ready to decommit from them after we're full, screwing up that school's class. 

You're not telling a kid he MIGHT have to take a greyshirt offer (as is said there). You're telling him he DOES have to take a greyshirt offer if he wants to commit here...and if he doesn't need to do it, and the scholarship is available immediately, bonus.

chitownblue2

June 24th, 2011 at 2:45 PM ^

Well, no kid would take the greyshirt, that's sort of the entire point. Kids have offers pulled all the time - we've done it. A greyshirt has an entire calendar year extra year to have their offer pulled. If that happens, they wasted a year of their life. It does happen - on the regular.

The entire point is that the practice is terrible for the kid - he's sacrificing a year of his life with no guarantee of anything. There is no LOI for him to sign, no nothing.

M-Wolverine

June 26th, 2011 at 11:27 AM ^

Making a grey shirt rule that no one will take advantage of, instead of just outlawing the practice.  That's kind of a roundabout way to go about things.

And do you have any examples of offers we've pulled....after the kid has committed? It's one thing to offer and then say, sorry, you didn't accept fast enough, and another to get a commitment and say we're not honoring it. 

chitownblue2

June 27th, 2011 at 12:09 AM ^

Not under Hoke. I can name at least four players that committed to RR who were then given the cold shoulder for months.

As per over signing.com, he doesn't propose that as a rule, he is voicing his opinion on how coaches should approach it given the lack of a rule.

wlubd

June 24th, 2011 at 12:04 PM ^

Should he pick up a number of mid-level scholarship offers, I wouldn't expect this one to stick.

This is the part that really ticks me off. How can you make that assessment Tim? He has a few BCS offers already with at least a couple more on the way it sounds like. And yet he was willing to accept a greyshirt to come to Michigan a day after being offered. Sounds to me like a kid who really wants to be here, so much that he`d pay his way for part of it. I get the same impression from what Tom said yesterday.

JohnnyBlue

June 24th, 2011 at 12:09 PM ^

exactly kids aren't dumb and if anything he would over estimate his ability.   This guy has a bit of buzz around him since that camp, he had of heard fomr several big programs, some who may be moving a bit slower but he has got to know that if he camps well he will get an 2012 offer from atleast a MSU or Wisconsin type school, If he thinks this and i'm sure he does but decided that he wants to go to Michigan instead and it sounds like that is his dream.

Belisarius

June 24th, 2011 at 12:12 PM ^

I agree. this was the first surprise here. His stock is clearly on the rise. He had options, and if he wanted a better situation, he could have waited for it. One semester isn't that horrible a burden, and if it was, that burden is still dependant on wilson committing for us. This kid also had no obligation to pull the trigger so quickly. I just don't understand the logic or the purpose behind this passge.

wlubd

June 24th, 2011 at 12:29 PM ^

Fine, but that's entirely conjecture on your part which is what I'm getting at. You're entitled to your opinion, and only time will tell if you're right or not but it probably doesn't need to be included in the Hello post (let alone in the first paragraph).

I don't think he goes elsewhere because what's the rush to commit? He wouldn't have to sign an NLI, he wouldn't be on scholarship until 2013, so I can't see the staff pressuring him to commit right away. He has literally until Signing Day to contact more schools, go to more camps, play his senior season, take visits, etc. And yet he committed here knowing he'd have to pay for a semester. Doesn't exactly sound like someone holding a spot waiting for other offers to come along.

DennisFranklinRules

June 24th, 2011 at 12:12 PM ^

I grew 6" between jr and sr year in high school, practiced at a whole different level, worked out differently -- and went from 8th man to starter and all conference...

Point his that Jeremy is just a kid -- not all of these guys are full developed athletes at 16 -- its very possible that he's much better as a senior

 

justthinking

June 24th, 2011 at 12:22 PM ^

I dreamed as a kid of putting on the winged helmet and playing for Michigan - but that offer and day never came for me. Congratulations Jeremy on impressing the coaches enough to get an offer that very few young men will ever receive!!!

I'm looking forward to your contributions to this team, and will continue to cheer all of you young men on - every time you take the field to represent this great university.

You made a great decision by accepting the offer - continue to work hard both on and off the field and you will be successful in all that you do.

Good Luck & Go Blue!

 

 

Profwoot

June 24th, 2011 at 12:33 PM ^

Does anyone really think this kid won't have at least a 3-star rating from all the recruiting sites in a few months? Tim's post isn't just bad because of its pessimistic prognostication and incorrect characterizations; it's bad because he took a solitary, out-of-date rating and extrapolated it into a complete dismissal of a player's entire career!

The coaches love this kid, he's obviously a late bloomer, and he's getting interest from a bunch of new schools right now. A little bit of thought would have gone a long way here. This post needs to be redrafted.

Bodogblog

June 24th, 2011 at 12:38 PM ^

I fell in love with Michigan by watching them on TV, then did the same when I became familiar with the AA area.  It's a special place to be, and I look forward to seeing your success on Saturdays in the Fall.  I'll be the guy screaming in the NE end zone

D.C. Dave

June 24th, 2011 at 12:42 PM ^

Writing a prediction on Jeremy Clark is just about impossible after he just grew four inches and the recruiting sites have really had very little to look at, so it's premature to say he is a 2-star player because he is a late grower. The coaches are looking at speed, how his frame might fill out, fluidity and coachability. He's not even going to see the field in Ann Arbor for at least two years, because if he comes he surely will redshirt.

This blog sets up well to offer reviews on physically mature kids because the blog relies heavily -- perhaps too heavily -- on recruiting service rankings for all of the players who commit. That's understandable in a sense: It is, on a broad statistical scale, predictive of success in college. Nothing wrong with using those rankings as a guide.

But there are holes in the reliability of the rankings, and a major one pertains to players who are maturing late physically. And that's why we always see kids on BCS teams who turn out to be stars after being lightly recruited, and why we see NFL players coming from places like Bloomsburg University (Jahri Evans, overlooked by the big schools, Pro Bowl offensive lineman). The statistical norms make it easy to miss the anecdotal exceptions, but those exceptions exist across all levels of football.

It's not that the rankings won't ever mean anything on Jeremy Clark, it's that it's simply too soon for them to mean anything because he is growing a lot as a junior in high school.

It's the coaches' jobs to evaluate what these players can be, not what they are right now, and I have to think a guy like Greg Mattison knows what he's looking at when he sees a maturing  6-foot-4 safety with great speed, a strong work ethic and a desire to be coached. I'll take a guy like this over a Ray Vinopal who, no matter how coachable he is, was not gettng any bigger. It's pretty obvious Jeremy Clark is a dynamic athlete who probably has no idea at this point how good he can be.

How anyone can look at this commitment and predict so emphatically what Clark will contribute as a junior and senior at Michigan -- four or five years from now -- is beyond me. Honestly, I don't pay much attention to those predictions, which are one person's opinion and not based on a comprehensive evaluation like the one the coaches have done.  I'll trust that coaches with decades of player evaluations to their credit have some idea what they're looking at.

I hope Jeremy sticks with Michigan and proves his upside.

Geaux_Blue

June 24th, 2011 at 12:54 PM ^

but doesn't this blog mock posts on news pieces/other blogs that are edited without any editorial admission of the ideas/thoughts removed? some key changes made.

Geaux_Blue

June 24th, 2011 at 1:42 PM ^

 

you didn't remove the line "it's tough to see him accomplishing much until very late in his career (if at all)" and it was, instead, made up by myself in the first response to the post?

i'm not even getting into a pissing contest at this point. it just seems things have been changed to convey the tone the post should have had from the beginning. unless i'm seeing things.