Derrick Green reportedly down to two

Submitted by MGoVoldemort on
@NeylandNews: Per Brent Hubbs, it's down to UT and Michigan to land highly coveted '13 VA RB 5* Derrick Green, with his mother... http://t.co/cMV6uRV2 Never heard of this guy, and Mike Farrell has usually had the best info when it comes to Derrick Green, and he hasn't reported this yet.

Michiganfootball13

December 17th, 2012 at 10:11 PM ^

According to Tremendous, Green said that him being down to two is not true.  Whether Green is telling the truth or keeping things close as his style, I am going to wait until Green announces to assume anything. 

Indonacious

December 17th, 2012 at 10:22 PM ^

I won't claim in the slightest that I can evaluate film...but there must be something there that leads the recruiting agencies to agree he is a top 5 rb. I realize they can be wrong often but this would be a pretty big miss on their part.

ESPN: 5th RB

Scout: 2nd RB

Rivals: 1st RB

in 2012, (according to rivals)

#1: J. Gray 683 yards

#2: Yeldon 1000 yards

#3 T. Williams 335 yards

#4 m. pender missed season due to injury

#5 T. Gurley 1260 yards


#6 R. Shell 562 yards

At least for that year none of the rivals backs seemed like busts and all contributed positively to their teams, provided they were healthy.

MichiganMan_24_

December 17th, 2012 at 10:30 PM ^

I watched Deveon live for 2 yrs..and i will say that the 1-2 punch of Smith and Green would be enough to wear down a good defense..I love Green and the burst he has..and Smith has balance that leaves tacklers shaking their heads.

robbyt003

December 17th, 2012 at 10:52 PM ^

Out of respect for Tremendous and his blog, don't post word for word what he says.  I didn't reply to you with this in hope that you'll edit it and maybe put a link up.  

edit -  Thanks.  He deserves the views for all of his hard work too.

Perkis-Size Me

December 17th, 2012 at 11:13 PM ^

Hmmm, a smashmouth, pro-style offense which emphasizes running the ball, at a school which is bringing in some of the best offensive linemen in the country, versus a no-huddle spread attack which will emphasize the pass. At a school which hasn't tasted relevance since Peyton Manning was there.



Nothing's over until its over, and the sway parents have counts for something, but I like Michigan's odds.

Don

December 18th, 2012 at 1:23 AM ^

That was in 2001. They were #2 in the country going into the SEC championship game against #21 LSU, and lost. The team they smashed was Michigan in the Citrus Bowl on 1-1-2002.

Tennessee had a 8-5 record in 2002.

BILG

December 17th, 2012 at 11:21 PM ^

I was not blown away by his video either, but I will be damn excited about landing the top rated back in the country.  He also looks like a man already and could probably come in and get snaps right away at a position of need.

Steve Lorenz

December 18th, 2012 at 7:32 AM ^

The only reason I even tried getting a hold of Derrick is because the report seemed weird to begin with; he's said multiple times that his mother is going to move to whatever city he plays football in, so I don't see distance or location as a factor at all. 



I know nobody likes Farrell, but he's definitely in tune to what's going on with Green and I'd listen to what he reports before I'd listen to what looks like a Tennessee fan reporting something like that. 



That's not saying Tennessee isn't a possibility or that he's favoring Michigan instead; he's been quiet for a while and the fact he hasn't chosen is peculiar, but he's maintained that he was going to take his time and not rush a decision, so there's that too. 

Magnus

December 18th, 2012 at 8:01 AM ^

"He's said multiple times that his mother is going to move to whatever city he plays football in, so I don't see distance or location as a factor at all."

No offense, but I don't see the connection between the premise and your conclusion.  If his mother is going to move with him, then it seems like she might have an even stronger opinion on where he goes to school.  After all, if the economy is poor, she doesn't like the weather, etc., then she may suggest a location that is more amenable to her situation.  I'm not saying that Ann Arbor wouldn't fit her profile, but if there are better professional opportunities in Knoxville, if family's closer at Auburn, if it's just too darn cold in Ann Arbor, that could very well have an effect on their decision.

Steve Lorenz

December 18th, 2012 at 9:37 AM ^

The plan has been for him to choose the school he likes and that his mother would follow him to wherever he goes. I think it's more of a "you choose where EDIT: you want to go and I'll come live in that town so I can watch you on Saturdays" type thing. He's alluded a few times to education and that being the major factor his mother has pushed in regards to where he should go, not distance. 



I believe (I may be wrong) that she's self employed and that's part of the reason why it can even work out for her to move where he goes. 

I can understand where it didn't make a ton of sense, but I wrote it in a rush on my way out the door this morning. 

 

Magnus

December 18th, 2012 at 9:10 AM ^

This line of thinking is always hilarious to me, as if Tennessee couldn't say something equally detrimental to Michigan.

Who exactly has Michigan produced in recent years?  *crickets*

You must be thinking of the immortal Carlos Brown, Brandon Minor, Mike Hart...  Chris Perry was a first round pick and then did zilch in the NFL.  You have to go back more than a decade to find a Michigan running back with even a little bit of NFL success, in the form of Anthony Thomas.

Since the time of Anthony Thomas, Tennessee has produced Travis Henry (who had a decent NFL career and lots of kids), Jamal Lewis (a former 2,000 yards rusher), and Arian Foster.

If I'm basing my school choice purely on running backs sent to the NFL recently, my choice is Tennessee.  No questions asked, it's Tennessee.

WolvinLA2

December 18th, 2012 at 1:42 PM ^

You can't exclude Perry. He was a Doak Walker winner, first round draft pick, and then had injury issues in the NFL. When the convo is about schools producing NFL talent, Chris Perry needs to be included.

Also, it's not really Michigan's fault they had Mike Hart for four years who just isn't an NFL style back, but he still got drafted and played for the Colts for a few years.

Magnus

December 18th, 2012 at 2:05 PM ^

I am excluding Perry and can, because I'm talking about players who had success in the NFL.  He did not...unless you count 177 career carries for 606 yards and 2 touchdowns as NFL success.

I'm not blaming Michigan for having Hart.  You're kind of missing the point.

The point is that if you're selling recent NFL success to Green (or any other high school back), then Tennessee wins.  You're arguing it for no apparent reason.  This is not my opinion.  This is fact.

WolvinLA2

December 18th, 2012 at 3:18 PM ^

OK, but if you're selling NFL success, you're selling the wrong thing, because no college can make a player do well once they're in the NFL. What you can sell is getting them there, which Michigan can clearly do. Hell, Foster was a good player at UT and didn't get drafted, needed to do it all on his own to make it in the NFL, so he may as well have gone to Ferris St.

Tennessee had big talent in Arian Foster, but couldn't get him drafted. That should not be a selling point for UT.

Magnus

December 18th, 2012 at 3:44 PM ^

Even if you remove Foster, Tennessee still has #5 overall pick Jamal Lewis, #58 overall pick Travis Henry, #59 overall pick Montario Hardesty, #119 overall pick Travis Stephens, and #182 overall pick Cedric Houston.

Michigan has #26 overall pick Chris Perry and #202 overall pick Mike Hart, neither of whom did anything in the NFL.

There's no version of comparing running backs that comes out in favor of Michigan.

As for Arian Foster, the reality is that he's not that great of a running back.  He is putting up decent yardage totals, but his YPC isn't impressive.  His best season was 2010, when he ran for 1,616 yards but averaged just 4.9 yards per carry.  He got all those yards because they fed the ball to him 327 times.  On a YPC basis, Michael Vick, Jamaal Charles, Brandon Jacobs, Chris Ivory, LeSean McCoy, Darren McFadden, and LeGarrette Blount were all superior to him.  This year he is #27 in yards per carry.  This is, of course, tangential to the original point, but Arian Foster is not an otherworldly talent who was overlooked or ruined by Tennessee.  He averaged 4.6 yards per carry at Tennessee, which is actually better than his career average in the NFL (4.5), and he didn't do himself any favors in the run-up to the NFL Draft.

But hey, I guess we can keep grasping at straws to try to convince ourselves that Michigan is unquestionably superior to every other school in every way possible...

M-Wolverine

December 18th, 2012 at 4:06 PM ^

Can we include #38 pick Anthony Thomas in 2001?  How about #8 pick Tshimanga Biakabutuka or #17 Tyrone Wheatley? Where is the imaginary cut off line? #153 Chris Howard? I'd be using him as a recruiting tool example...

Sure Tennessee has had some more high end guys and talent. But going to numbers over quality is silly, because the numbers aren't as bad as you make them, and it doesn't take into account situations like having guys who started for 3 or 4 years.

(Why is the site timing out so much today?)

Magnus

December 18th, 2012 at 4:23 PM ^

1. I had already mentioned Anthony Thomas above, which is why I didn't mention him again.

2. The reason I'm using players from about the last decade or so is that Derrick Green and other class of 2013 running backs probably don't care about the early 1990s, because they weren't even born then.  Green was born after Wheatley was already in the NFL and around the same time that Biakabutuka left school.  So the "imaginary" cutoff line is, like, around the time when today's recruits might have perhaps become aware of football.

WolvinLA2

December 18th, 2012 at 5:12 PM ^

I'm not saying Michigan is unquestionably superior to every other school, just that this isn't an area where Tennessee is noticeably better than Michigan.  When you take out the RR years (since that has no real impact on what Michigan is/was after/before him) every starting RB Michigan has had for the last 20 years has been drafted by the NFL. 

You're making it seem like Tennessee is this great RB school and MIchigan has never had a great running back.  They have Arian Foster recently, but outside of him it's basically a wash. You're pitching this as a selling point for UT, and all I'm saying is that it's really not.   

M-Wolverine

December 18th, 2012 at 10:27 PM ^

1. You mentioned Travis Henry and Jamal Lewis in the previous post, but saw fit to list them again to make your point, but not the Michigan guys, so bullshit.

2. You are listing guys drafted in 2000 and 2001 when Green was maybe 6. I doubt he has fond memories his 1st grade football idols. And Thomas hung around in the League (2007) as long as Henry. So basically your whole argument is "they had Jamal Lewis." Which wasn't the point you were making by listing them in the post I was responding to so you're just covering your ass now.

Magnus

December 19th, 2012 at 6:50 AM ^

1. I'm sorry my posts on MGoBlog aren't always as consistent and thorough as a research paper. Sue me.

2. I remember guys who were drafted and played when I was five or six years old.  I really have no idea when Green started paying attention to football, but logic suggests that he's more likely to remember guys who were drafted/played around that time than, say, Tyrone Wheatley and Tim Biakabutuka.  Maybe I'm wrong and he's really into a bunch of players who played college football before he was born.

This argument is getting dumber and dumber.  Since I've stated numerous times that it's not really an argument worth having since the conclusion is so obvious, I'm done with it.