Sam Grant visiting this weekend
Per our boy TomVH, the Ohio Tight End will be on campus this weekend. Second visit he has made in the last couple of months. If I had to bet who would be our next commit, it would be him. Legit need at TE, especially since it looks like AJ Williams will likely play OT at the next level.
January 11th, 2012 at 1:27 PM ^
Isnt' Sam Grant the name of the paleontologist from Jurassic Park?
January 11th, 2012 at 1:31 PM ^
That's Alan Grant . . . played by Sam Neill.
January 11th, 2012 at 1:34 PM ^
Ahhh, so the other safety from Ohio we have coming in is the paleontologist, sweet!
I know its Gant by the way.
January 11th, 2012 at 1:36 PM ^
Not to mention Jake Ryan works for the CIA...
January 11th, 2012 at 1:44 PM ^
Isn't that Jack Ryan?
January 11th, 2012 at 1:46 PM ^
I think he was a cop in Speed
January 11th, 2012 at 1:50 PM ^
What the hell is going on here?!?
And I think it's Jack Traven..
January 11th, 2012 at 2:52 PM ^
Shoot the hostage.
January 11th, 2012 at 1:50 PM ^
Jake Ryan is the idiot that gave up banging Caroline for Molly Ringwald
January 11th, 2012 at 2:04 PM ^
It was on Monday Night and I watched it with the wife rather than the BCS game which was being boycotted.
He says he could violate the blonde "10 different ways" but would rather call Molly Ringwold.
Pretty sure Jake Ryan (circa 16 candles) was a robot.
January 11th, 2012 at 1:46 PM ^
Nerd alert...somebody's got an entire set of McDonalds collectible Jurassic Park cups stashed away in their mother's garage.
January 11th, 2012 at 1:50 PM ^
Negative, they are in a storage unit somewhere waiting for Barry from Storage Wars to come find and try to make money off of.
January 11th, 2012 at 2:32 PM ^
I think it's more likely Moe from Storage Wars Texas will get them!
January 11th, 2012 at 2:14 PM ^
F*** you. And the dilophosaurus you rode in on.
January 11th, 2012 at 1:30 PM ^
Nobody important is saying that A.J. Williams is going to play tackle at the next level.
There is a GAPING hole at tight end, and the replacements are either old and invisible (Brandon Moore), young and invisible (Ricardo Miller), or wispy thin (Devin Funchess).
Furthermore, Williams wants to play tight end, and the coaches are telling him that he's going to play tight end. That's more important than what a bunch of random MGoBlog posters think.
January 11th, 2012 at 1:37 PM ^
you're right, but I think the point is that the first day he steps on campus he will be about as large as our TEs ever get, most players gain wait in college, perhaps he'll go the other way, but its hard to see him playing TE at 280 or 290 pounds.
January 11th, 2012 at 1:54 PM ^
Or he'll just turn some fat into muscle and settle around 265-270, which is only slightly larger than Koger is.
January 11th, 2012 at 1:38 PM ^
That's more important than what a bunch of random MGoBlog posters think.Wait... what?
January 11th, 2012 at 1:56 PM ^
F*** TomVH.
I'm where you find breaking news.
January 11th, 2012 at 2:08 PM ^
Ease up there... let's stick to "holding." Unless you feel like buying the man dinner...
January 11th, 2012 at 3:22 PM ^
Too far. You take that back now!
January 11th, 2012 at 1:40 PM ^
I thought we were also getting a visit on the 20th from JP Holtz, the TE from PA?
January 11th, 2012 at 1:43 PM ^
Walk-ons or position switches (i.e. DL with Z in their name)
Between true freshman, walk-ons, position-switches, or lackluster returning depth there's going to plenty of opportunity for somebody.
January 11th, 2012 at 1:43 PM ^
January 11th, 2012 at 1:56 PM ^
WR to S to LB
January 11th, 2012 at 2:03 PM ^
The difference is that Cam Gordon was obviously not a wide receiver because he's super slow. The coaches were like, "Yeah, whatever, fine, okay, we'll give you a chance to play wideout. We just need athletes." Gordon wasn't offered until November, partly because he wanted to play wide receiver and the coaches didn't see it that way. They let him screw around at WR for one season before forcing him to realize that he couldn't cut it there.
A.J. Williams was offered last February, told he was going to be a TE, and the coaches have maintained that throughout his recruitment. He was already huge and they recruited him as a TE.
January 11th, 2012 at 1:33 PM ^
So if AJ Williams projects to an OT then why are we still pursuing Garnett? I know JG would be the second or third best OL in the class depending on where you rank EM, but this just seems like overkill with OL. #'s at OL are still down but you dont do it all in one year . . . you are almost guarenteeing a transfer of one of them. Is this not what RR was condemed for with doing the same with WR??
January 11th, 2012 at 1:39 PM ^
except a couple of them might get immediate playing time while others will take a while to develop which is typical for OL. some OL just never pan out or become career backups its not a gaurenteed success posistion so if we do get transfers it won't be for a few years and Williams could just as easily become a blocking tightend. Hoke isn't going to take more players then he thinks he can use
January 11th, 2012 at 1:43 PM ^
AJ Williams wants to play tight end and has been assured by Borges and Ferrigno that is the position he is being recruited to play at Michigan.
The moment that anyone from Michigan suggests that he will be moving to tackle, Williams would likely re-open his recruitment and head to Arkansas, or, worse yet, Ohio State.
January 11th, 2012 at 1:32 PM ^
What are the toughts on Grant? Serviceable? Sleeper? Blocker that is ok receiver?
January 11th, 2012 at 1:39 PM ^
I think you have to assume he's better than that, offers (with visits) from Michigan, Okla and Arkansas, and Okla still wants him even though they have 2 or 3 other TEs coming in, notwithstanding his low recruiting rankings, guy seems legit.
January 11th, 2012 at 1:53 PM ^
His junior highlights seem to say good blocker and decent receiver. His offer list (as noted in another comment) is much stronger than his star rating. Oklahoma and Arkansas are top TE recruiters and both want this guy. Bottom line he has the size and polish to fill a very big hole in our depth chart next year. AJ will be the road grader and this guy may see a lot of PT if Moore does not improve.
http://www.scoutingohio.com/index.php/view-profile.html?task=userProfile&user=6771
January 11th, 2012 at 2:39 PM ^
A lot of pancakes in there - granted playing against H.S. guys. But, his size will be an asset next year if we can land him.
January 11th, 2012 at 1:35 PM ^
having Kallis on our team doesn't hurt our chances
January 11th, 2012 at 1:44 PM ^
Kalis on the team is definitely a good thing, especially when he is doing this in the near future with a winged helmet on!
January 11th, 2012 at 1:39 PM ^
At 280 and most of it looking to be good weight, how does he get into a college weight program and not get to 290-300lbs? As a run-blocking TE he for sure fits but does he maintain or even have the abilty to be a pass catcher? Just sayin!
January 11th, 2012 at 1:57 PM ^
He is 280, and yes, as he ages from 18-22 and goes through S&C, a guy his size would be expected to put on 10-25 pounds of muscle, bring him to 290-305. But, college S&C doesn't just ADD muscle, it can result in a significant LOSS of fat. Have you seen a picture of him recently? Ton of muscle, sure, but he can EASILY lose 30 pounds of "bad weight." So, assuming the addition of 10-25 pounds of muscle and a LOSS of 20-30 pounds of fat, he can be expected to get to between 260 and 285. I would agree that 285 is probably too heavy for a pass-catching TE, but 260 for a guy his height is not.
Note: Jason Witten is 6-6, 265, and is a pass-catching TE.
January 11th, 2012 at 2:19 PM ^
He is 6-4, 260. A full 2 inches shorter and weighs basically the same. He is a pretty good pass catching TE as well.
January 11th, 2012 at 2:29 PM ^
6'6" 260. I think he did ok with the Saints this year.
January 11th, 2012 at 4:38 PM ^
The Gronk, 6'6", 265.
January 11th, 2012 at 5:20 PM ^
They're are numerous TEs in the NFL well above 250lb. It will come down to whether he can run patterns (w/o a sun dial) and catch the ball. If not, then he's an OT or an OT masquerading as TE.
January 12th, 2012 at 8:19 AM ^
I would venture a guess that most NFL tight ends are over 250.
January 11th, 2012 at 1:42 PM ^
Brancing off the comments about WIlliams I can see him finding his way onto the field as a freshman as a blocking tight end in short yardage. I think he'll help us out more at this point anyway. Grant has offers from Oklahoma and Arkansas and appears to be well rounded.
January 11th, 2012 at 1:44 PM ^
I am sure that's how Ohio will call this.
That said, I think this guy is a true sleeper. He's been getting a slew of nice offers the past few months, so I like that.
January 11th, 2012 at 1:55 PM ^
According to whom, rumor control on mgoblog? What link says the coaches are considering A J Williamas as a tackle? What evidence, aside from sheer ungrounded speculation?
January 11th, 2012 at 3:26 PM ^
Hey why does Andrew get to get up? If he gets up, we'll all get up, it'll be anarchy!!! It's out of my hands...
January 11th, 2012 at 10:22 PM ^
Give me that screw or I will shake it out of ya.
January 11th, 2012 at 1:57 PM ^
Does anyone have an idea when updated rankings come out prior to SIgning Day? Curious to see how our recruits fare in the final ones. Obviously everyone was very high on Pipkins in the AAA game and potentially can get to that 5 star level? But do we see the likes of Magnusson and maybe T Rich dropping a bit?