TomVH: An Interview with Armani Reeves
At one point in his recruitment Massachusetts DB Armani Reeves and Michigan had parted ways. He then named Notre Dame and Penn State as his top two schools and figured to decide between the two. Today might have changed his plans however as he talked to a few of the Michigan coaches about their future plans and his recruitment. Here's a look at Reeves' film and what he had to say about the conversation with Michigan's coaches.
TOM: Where are you at right now with your recruitment, and what did you talk to Michigan about today?
ARMANI: I talked to Coach Hoke, Mattison, and Mallory. They told me that before they wanted me to commit and I wasn't ready. When the last DB committed that closed the deal to go our separate ways because they already had two corners committed. When they talked to us today they said that they wanted to bring in another high caliber cornerback and they felt I was the guy they want. Not only am I a great athlete, but they think I'm a typical Michigan player. They feel comfortable with me being the guy.
TOM: What was your reaction to that?
ARMANI: I kind of had mixed feelings because I wished I could have avoided the way everything happened, but they've always been one of my favorites. There was happiness and relief in there too. Penn State and Notre Dame are my top two so this shakes things up a little bit. It changes my path. It makes me want to think about everything and how I like the school so much with the academics. My major is there and the campus is great and all the guys there are really cool.
TOM: I imagine this is a lot to process all at once, do you know what you're going to do one way or the other yet?
ARMANI: I kind of have mixed feelings but I can't really say much about it right now. If you give me a couple days I'll have a better sense for it.
TOM: Did they tell you why they are recruiting you again? Did something change?
ARMANI: I wasn't because of anyone going anywhere else, it was more because of the group of guys that they have now. They want another prime time corner. They want to get a top ten guy in there that can hold their own.
TOM: I'm sure you have practice coming up and school starting, do you think you'll be able to visit Ann Arbor again before that starts?
ARMANI: We start practice in a couple weeks. I'm thinking about visiting, but we just got back from vacation yesterday. We're still trying to grasp everything and figure it out. We haven't crossed that bridge yet. We haven't really talked about it yet. If I do decide to continue everything with Michigan then I'll put them in the top three. I would definitely take my officials to the three schools [Notre Dame, Michigan, and Penn State] and then decide.
TOM: Do you think it helped or maybe showed how serious they are with what coaches were talking to you?
ARMANI: It definitely helped to talk to Coach Hoke and Mattison. Coach Mattison broke down the situation as far as continuing with everything. They explained everything to me very thoroughly. I felt very comfortable and they were very up front and honest with me. That helps and I'll get back to them in the next couple days if I want to continue or stick with the schools I have now.
August 3rd, 2011 at 11:45 AM ^
Good lord - a lot of good in this post and a lot of bad...
I spent the first 18 years of my life in Missouri and a couple more after graduation.
Missouri is defined as a midwestern state by the US Government. Just like Michigan. Both states are in the Midwest.
"Mizzou" is a nickname for a college in Missouri, not a name for the state (nor even a nickname for the state - that would be "Missour-ah").
STL is more Midwest than KC - which could also be defined as "Plains".
Southern Missouri / the Ozarks is more Southern than Midwest - but gets a good blend of Central Missouri / Northern Arkansas flavors.
Pipkins is from Saginaw, so he is kinda midwest (I don't really consider Missouri midwest though).
If Richardson can look elsewhere, so can we.
A far as this position debate goes, I think it'll just be one more DT. It appears that Godin and Wormley will both drow into 3-techs so I only think a true NT is necessary in this class. However, I do love O'Brien's tape so I wouldn't mind taking him.
The problem I have with this senario is that it will take some time for guys like Godin and Wormley to get up the weight needed to play 3-tech, and have them get comfortable in their new bodies, so to speak. That also leaves us with a depth chart that consists of Tom Strobel, and then nothing else at SDE (although Black could play there as well). We really need some SDE depth, and a true DT would be able to contribute a bit earlier I think.
You would be correct. A true DT will at least be able to make the normal reads and have the frame to at least provide depth. I really don't see Wormley being a 3 tech ever. O'Brien would be a great 3 tech and Pipkins the ideal one tech.
August 3rd, 2011 at 10:19 AM ^
Why can't we take TWO nose tackles this year? Especially when you look at what we have now.
How about this senario Gant to WR, Standifer to safety and Reeves at CB???
I thought we were recruiting Gant at SS. Is Standifer physical enough to be a SS?
From what was being said about Standifer is that he may naot be as suited to playing CB as he is Safety. The question that I now have is does the number 26 jump to 27?? We would seem to have even more room to play with, with backdating scholorships with guys like Pace, Tallbott, M. Williams and so on.
Midwest Best sounds like Diamond, Very surprised if he goes out of Big Ten though.
From what I remember last year was that gant played a lot of TE on offense for southview. He definitely has the hands to play offense I think he is a little to slow to play wide out in college. Also in the past Southview and Whitmer used to scrimmage each other. I don't know if they are this year but I will look into it.
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Tom- If we're considering more secondary options, is Yuri Wright a realistic possibility?
August 2nd, 2011 at 10:42 PM ^
Tom I know you can't speculate on Richardson and whether or no he may be losing his spot if he takes other visits. But I would like to know is do you think the latest changes due to Pace and others that they coaches may have just decided they will have room for a class of 27 now? or do you believe this may mean they have decided to take possibly 1 DT or no more OL's or any of these type of changes to their original plan?
August 2nd, 2011 at 11:07 PM ^
Well those injuries help us get from the 18, or whatever small number we had available, to the 26 we have been hearing. I think we are still only at 23 available.
August 2nd, 2011 at 11:26 PM ^
They gotta feel terrified Throwing toward a future D1 CB like that. Not to mention I think I could have picked off a few of those ducks.
August 2nd, 2011 at 11:44 PM ^
If Armani Reeves is hearing from the coaches again does that mean that Wayne Morgan will be next?
I don't know why everyone is debating what this decision has to do with. Armani said in the interview why they want another corner. That's why, not because of anything that has to do with Standifer or Richardson.
Thats easy...because a lot of people on these boards (not only Michigan) want to speculate on every word said or move made. We're not at Michigan everyday, we dont see what goes on there. I think people put too much of a personal investment on following recruiting.
Just read, make casual observations, and enjoy. The truth is we dont know half as much about the whole process as we would like to think we do.
I know this is completely off topic, but maybe someone else could start a thread about this on behalf of me, since I don't have enough pts to start my own. But I really want Armani Reeves...
Jordan Payton has Michigan in his top 2 according to MaxPreps, and could be on commitment watch sometime soon. His top 2 are Michigan and California, i don't know if this is old news or not, but thought I could share this info with the rest of the mgoblog community.
fact that the staff is still working on elite CB prospects. you can't have enough cover corners, especially with the uncertainty of where the 2011 & 2012 DB commits will eventually play. as for richardson, if he takes vists then we can't really count him as a commit IMO.
Could this be in response to the fact that Royce decided not to take any more visits but Terry Richardson did not? Maybe they aren't as firm with T-Rich and need a high-quality guy to replace him if he bolts before signing day.
August 3rd, 2011 at 10:37 AM ^
Not sure if you're serious.. But read Tom's quote about two posts above yours.
Hokattison(tm) have nailed down several DEs and it is safe to assume at least one moves to 3-tech. If this is the case, maybe they're cooling on taking two more DTs think another high-end DB is a priority. Just a theory.
I still think they take a QB and I have no clue how or who at this point. I think the class finishes off QB, RB, WR, WR, DT, DB. I think a couple currently signed kids won't be in this class come Feb.
August 3rd, 2011 at 12:58 PM ^
That they're banking on Godin moving inside. As of now, they have 3 guys... Godin, Wormley, and Strobel... who are all strongside ends in the same class. One of them has got to move in if he wants to be a significant contributor, and given that Godin is already 270 he seems like the most likely candidate.
August 4th, 2011 at 10:35 AM ^
If T-rich decides to leave take this kid
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