Monday Recruitin' Balls Too Hard
Today's recruiting roundup covers the latest on Derrick Green and Laquon Treadwell (this has been a recorded message), Cameron Hunt getting a little too hype, and more.
Hello, Brooklyn?
The current front page of The Wolverine teases a Mike Farrell video interview with VA RB Derrick Green, and the headline speaks for itself: "Green says Michigan has the edge". Lo and behold, that's exactly what he said($), confirming what most have presumed since Auburn and Tennessee fired their respective head coaches.
Green does, however, say that he's still open to other schools—and says recruiting is "picking up again," so it sounds like new schools are in contact with him—and his recruitment could stretch to signing day. That's a change from his earlier intentions to enroll early, and one that doesn't favor the Wolverines—Green's only visited Michigan, Auburn, and Tennessee, and would obviously be the favorite if he chose without seeing other schools.
Josh Helmholdt catches up with IL WR Laquon Treadwell, who says he still has Ole Miss out in front, followed by Oklahoma, then Oklahoma State and Michigan ($). Treadwell previously took an official to Ole Miss and will take his to Oklahoma this weekend; he hasn't scheduled any further officials but leaves open the possibility for the other two schools in his top four; he's eliminated any other schools from contention.
As you're probably well aware at this point, former Michigan commit Gareon Conley pledged to Ohio State last weekend during his official visit. The Wolverines will obviously keep pursuing Leon McQuay III, and it looks like they've already identified their backup plan for Conley: OH CB Reon Dawson, and Illinois commit who was offered last week.
[Hit THE JUMP for an update on Cameron Hunt, interest in a new '13 prospect, and more.]
Don't Let Me Get In My Zone
CA OL Cameron Hunt, still a Cal commit for now, was originally scheduled to take an official visit to Michigan this weekend, but that won't happen until January as his team advanced in the state playoffs. Scout's Greg Biggins has the latest on Hunt, who details a rather frightening incident from last weekend's playoff game ($) [emphasis mine]:
Hunt started to cramp in the second half and it got so bad, he had to leave the game and be taken to the hospital.
“I drank a ton of water and ate two banana’s [sic] before the game,” Hunt said. “It was kind of scary but my calf started to cramp and then my whole body cramped up, I couldn’t move. I went to the hospital and they said I had so much adrenaline in the 1st half, that in the 2nd half, my body couldn’t take it. My kidneys released some hormone for my body to stop and it made me cramp up and go in to shock.["]
Hunt was released from the hospital the next morning and says he's fine to play this weekend, so this was thankfully a temporary issue. He says he'll "for sure" visit Michigan in January, and he may not be a Cal commit by that time—he's waiting to hear if the Bears retain their OL coach, a decision that could come down as soon as today. If he's gone, Hunt likely is as well.
Etc.
GBW's Kyle Bogenshutz reports that Michigan is in contact with another 2013 prospect committed to a school undergoing a coaching change, this time CT LB Marquis Little, a Boston College commitment ($). The article contains the likely explanation for why the Wolverines have begun pursuing linebacker recruits again [emphasis mine]:
“Apparently [Coach Mallory] told Marquis you’re our number one guy that we’re looking at and he mentioned that somebody had a knee injury on the team or a recruit and that opened the door for a scholarship,” said Pizzoferrato. “At that moment that he left here on a Tuesday he was going to get back to us later on that night and speak to Marquis’s mom about getting them out to Michigan.”
This is almost certainly not an issue with a current commit—Ben Gedeon and Mike McCray are just fine, thanks—but freshman Kaleb Ringer missed the 2012 season after undergoing knee surgery last August. His status hasn't been updated since the offseason.
As it stands, Little doesn't have an offer but could take a visit; like Hunt, he's waiting to see how many BC coaches are retained before making a decision on his commitment status.
Dawgman.com reports that MD OL Na'Ty Rodgers, one of Michigan's top targets on the offensive line, has a top three of Washington, Maryland, and South Carolina, in no particular order ($).
Tremendous gets an update with 2014 Florida prospects Mason Cole and Artavis Scott. Cole has Michigan and Notre Dame atop his list and would like to make his decision this summer. He and Scott maintain that they would like to attend the same school together.
Tremendous also has a primer on 2014 offensive line prospects.
December 10th, 2012 at 2:03 PM ^
sorta stupid question - has anyone asked conley whether he'd still take an official to UM?
December 10th, 2012 at 2:21 PM ^
As a resident MGoDoctor (Michigan '01), I can't fathom what Cameron Hunt is describing. I don't recall "too much adrenalin" as a diagnosis. Heat stroke seems like the most reasonable explanation (common things being common), although it's an odd time of year for that... unless it was unseasonably hot in southern California this weekend.
It brings up an interesting point... NFL players go through all kinds of physicals and evaluations before being signed by a team. It's interesting that there's not a similar process for college sports.
Just to be clear, I'm not trying to be hard on the guy. Sounds like whatever happened was not clearly explained to him by his doctors. But it raises the concern that he might have a health issue that could affect his ability to play. It's probably nothing, but if this isn't a one time incident, it might raise some eyebrows amongst the teams recruiting him.
December 10th, 2012 at 6:39 PM ^
rhabdo to me... His explanation may be a secondhand version of an acute (prerenal) renal failure.
Hard to tell through the narrow tubes of the Internet...
December 11th, 2012 at 11:44 AM ^
Rhabdo sucks. I had it from working out too hard with P90X. My whole lower body was sore and stiff for at least a week. Plus, peeing coca cola colored urine was a bit scary.
December 10th, 2012 at 2:27 PM ^
I had heard that we always wanted to visit other schools.
December 10th, 2012 at 2:23 PM ^
December 10th, 2012 at 2:27 PM ^
Is there one already in an older post? If so...link? I have never seen one and would like to be excited on a Monday.
December 10th, 2012 at 2:35 PM ^
Thanks
December 10th, 2012 at 2:40 PM ^
Google/youtube tend to work well when you are looking for highlights.
December 10th, 2012 at 6:56 PM ^
December 10th, 2012 at 2:38 PM ^
EDIT: too slow
December 10th, 2012 at 2:49 PM ^
Thinking I could've linked Eddie Lacy/TJ Yeldon highlights from this year, too. Basically what we're gonna be seeing in a year or two. Maybe less if Kalis, Miller, and Bryant are as solid at drive blocking as they're billed to be.
December 10th, 2012 at 3:06 PM ^
Bye Quon
December 10th, 2012 at 3:07 PM ^
Has there been any word on the coaching staff pursuing other 2013 RB's other than Green???
I thought there was some talk about the kid who was committed to Northwestern from Ohio.
I think its obvious that we need some more RB's in the stable and I'm a little suprised they're really throwing all their eggs in Derrick Green's basket considering how short we'd be if he goes elsewhere.
December 10th, 2012 at 3:09 PM ^
DeVeon Smith is not a bad player.
December 10th, 2012 at 3:29 PM ^
He really isn't. He's not much different than Green, just slightly shorter, and maybe a little faster, then again maybe not. I will say they like to run a little differently, though. Smith enjoys playing through contact, but you can see he likes to try and make people miss in the secondary, or get in a bad position to make a tackle, while Greens running style is the definition of "Come at me, bro!"
December 10th, 2012 at 11:29 PM ^
December 10th, 2012 at 3:14 PM ^
Godwin Igwebuike is the prospect that is committed to NW. He is also Jake Butt's teammate at Pickerington North.
He visited with Butt for a game, but I can't recall which game it was.
December 10th, 2012 at 3:21 PM ^
I feel like the coaches should take a look at and consider Corey Clement...
December 10th, 2012 at 3:32 PM ^
I feel like the coaches should do SOMETHING. I'm sure the DeVeon is a "good" player and not ready to start the usual war when we start discussions of star ratings but its pretty obvious the staff doesn't have a lot of faith in the non-Fitz options at this point and in truth that shouldn't be much of a surprise since pretty much all of them (Norfleet, Hayes and Rawls) were sort of late add-on types that were not heavily recruited at the RB position.
If for no other reason, we have scholarship slots open and have to try to get as many options as possible in the hopes one of these guys can be a viable back for us.
Like I said, I'm just really surprised after the staff got more or less burned by putting all their eggs in the Brionte Dunn basket last year that they're essentially doing the same thing with Derrick Green this year. Its great that we're "leading" and all but his comments would indicate that the guy is still shopping for other offers.
December 10th, 2012 at 3:38 PM ^
The coaches have a near foolproof backup plan in case we don't land an elite RB prospect, they've recruited 2 of the top OLine classes back to back, and are well on their way to a third.
December 10th, 2012 at 3:54 PM ^
That's where it has to start. If we can't get our OL performance drastically improved, then it hardly matters whether we get Green or not. It's hard to gain positive yards when you have no holes. Contrast that with what Alabama's RBs have so often—no contact until they're four yds past the LOS.
December 10th, 2012 at 4:48 PM ^
December 10th, 2012 at 5:23 PM ^
I'm not that impressed with Lacy, but I think Yeldon is fantastic.
December 10th, 2012 at 5:29 PM ^
I would say something like 75% OL and 25% RB. The percentages might be off a bit, but I'd definitely say it's more on the OL than the runner, but a solid margin. Yeldon and Lacy are good, but they look incredible because they aren't ever touched until they have a full head of steam. If Fitz and Lacy swapped teams this year, their production would too, I bet.
This is why in those years Michigan had incredible offensive lines, our RBs always looked like monsters, only to fail to live up to the hype at the next level (A-Train, Chris Perry, Mike Hart to a lesser extent). It's the same reason why every year a handful of RBs pop up in the NFL who didn't do much in college because they were great backs stuck behind bad lines.
December 10th, 2012 at 3:43 PM ^
I've never been a huge fan of Hayes's abilities, but he was committed to Notre Dame for a while before committing to Michigan. He also had offers from Tennessee and Wisconsin and was a 4-star recruit to all (or at least most) of the sites, so he doesn't really fit in the same category as Norfleet and Rawls. And Hayes committed to Michigan in November after being offered about a year before National Signing Day.
December 10th, 2012 at 7:52 PM ^
From Pickerington North (Same school as Jake Butt)
December 10th, 2012 at 3:18 PM ^
on twitter McCray said he had a surgery today....everything good??
December 10th, 2012 at 3:39 PM ^
He finished out the football season so I would assume a minor surgery but who knows?
Mike J McCray II @BIGPLAYMCCRAY9
Surgery went great. At home about to eat then get ready for the pain to come
December 10th, 2012 at 3:19 PM ^
Too bad about Quon. I am here in Mississippi and don't understand why he would want to go to Ole Miss. Oxford is the epicenter of bad racist things and has been since Bob Dylan wrote a song about it in the 1960's. Maybe someone can show him a video of the riots on campus after the election.
December 10th, 2012 at 3:43 PM ^
And Stillwater and Norman, OK are both such exciting places to go to college.
December 10th, 2012 at 6:20 PM ^
Stillwater is a lot of fun and Norman is just South of OKC. Plus Sooner fans are crazy and the gameday atmosphere in Norman is fantastic(Stillwater can be, but OSU fans tend to have more......subdued expectations).
December 10th, 2012 at 6:43 PM ^
Maybe I'm biased, but compared to Ann Arbor? Come on.
December 10th, 2012 at 8:19 PM ^
Yes, you're biased and that's not a bad thing. I love Ann Arbor, but it's not like it's head and shoulders above other college towns. Everywhere has fun bar districts, there're just more pool tables and country music in Stillwater and Norman.
December 11th, 2012 at 1:35 AM ^
A^2>>>>>>>>Norman! Though, Norman has improved since the early 1990s, though the OU football team was down during those years!
December 10th, 2012 at 3:19 PM ^
I'm puzzled why he's regarded so highly. He doesn't have great speed, he doesn't seem to have particularly quick feet, and he doesn't display any elusiveness at all.
I don't know if the caliber of his opposition is markedly inferior to Green's, but I think Deveon Smith's highlight reel is far more impressive.
December 10th, 2012 at 3:24 PM ^
He looks like a top-notch RB, but I've never been that impressed with him, though (as Magnus pointed out in the other thread) his senior film is better than his junior film.
December 10th, 2012 at 3:46 PM ^
Smith's competition is kinda crappy. The competition in the Richmond area of Virginia is much, much stiffer. I agree that Smith's highlights are more impressive based on his superiority over other players, but those other players aren't as good as the guys Green is playing against.
And as mentioned above, there's a marked different between Green's junior and senior film.
December 10th, 2012 at 7:28 PM ^
December 10th, 2012 at 8:27 PM ^
He doesn't run a 4.31 forty.
December 10th, 2012 at 3:38 PM ^
December 10th, 2012 at 3:45 PM ^
Glad to see we're leading for Green, but it sill seems like he wants to be in the South to me. It's just his southern options are faltering. I wouldn't be surprised either way though. But, after going back and watching some tape on Smith, I'm not that convinced there's a whole lot of difference between the two. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have Green, but I think Smith can fill the same role. I just hope Dawson comes back to UM where he belongs. I don't want to lose two flipped recruits to OSU in one year...especially 2 of our top 3 recruits.
Also good to see another area of need seems to be looking a little clearer. Darboh and Chesson are getting good praise in bowl practice. I think at least one of them needs to establish themselves as a quality starter next year.
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2012/12/wrs_amara_darboh_jehu…
BTW, saw Hankins is entering the draft. They have a ton of young talent on the d-line, but little experience.
December 10th, 2012 at 3:55 PM ^
December 10th, 2012 at 3:58 PM ^
Which is why I don't think they're coming here. Sure, on paper we still have a decent shot at Green, but I don't know why anybody's still talking about Treadwell. Even the perpetually optimistic Sam Webb doesn't have much good to say about our chances with him.
December 10th, 2012 at 8:35 PM ^
Personally, I wrote Treadwell off about 3 months ago. What I don't really understand is why UM has fallen so far in his eyes. He hasn't even been to the Oklahoma schools yet he has them ahead of UM. Is is just the (relative) offensive struggles that UM had this season?
December 10th, 2012 at 9:00 PM ^
December 10th, 2012 at 9:36 PM ^
Sam Webb has been saying for a long time that Treadwell wants to play in a spread offense. Manball ain't that.
December 10th, 2012 at 9:44 PM ^
Just look at how much Oklahoma and Oklahoma State's receivers touch the ball.
Then look at how much Michigan's receivers touch the ball.
Treadwell wants the ball, and Michigan hasn't shown that they can get it to him.
December 10th, 2012 at 6:46 PM ^
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