2014 QB Recruiting, Brief Update (ESPN Insider)

Submitted by Bodogblog on

Magnus had an excellent primer on the presumed QB targets for Michigan in 2014 earlier today, http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/scouting-report-2014-quarterbacks

ESPN had their own report this afternoon, an update from the private workout Wilton Speight had with Jeff Hecklinski on Friday.  To that end, the workout apparently went well.  But the most interesting piece of info. is the reported "top 3" on the Michigan coach's preferred list.  According to Speight, it's between him, David Cornwell, and Michael O'Connor.

"He told my coach that the Michigan coaches have talked and I'm one of the top three (junior) quarterbacks in their eyes in the country," Speight said. The other two, Hecklinski said, are Michael O'Connor from Bradenton (Fla.) IMG and David Cornwell from Norman (Okla.) North. All three could soon garner scholarship offers.

It doesn't look like this year's NSD will have much drama re. the 2013 class (excl. any Poggi news), but we may have an idea of who gets the QB offers for 2014.  Speight's coach was told to wait for a phone call on Wed. morning.

http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/collegesMichigan/post?id=9900

 

Doctor Wolverine

February 3rd, 2013 at 9:50 PM ^

I know this was touched on a little on the other QB thread, but I am surprised at the lack of big-time offers for most of these recruits. Are we targeting under-the-radar guys, or are most of the major football schools waiting to send out QB offers?

Bodogblog

February 3rd, 2013 at 10:02 PM ^

As I remember it, last year on Signing Day was when the Michigan coaches sent out a bulk of offers to 2013 kids.  And I thought that was fairly early relative to what a lot of schools had done.  I assume a lot of time right now is still devoted to getting the final pushes in for 2013 kids, and the later in the month we'll see flurries of offers from most of the top schools to their preferred guys.

Brandon Brown

February 3rd, 2013 at 10:16 PM ^

I have talked with all 3 kids (Cornwell, Speight, O'Connor) and they all are waiting for a phone call on Wednesday.  At first the coaches wanted one of them to commit on the spot if offered but Speight told me that they have pulled back from that desire.

Brandon Brown

February 5th, 2013 at 12:04 AM ^

I have a Michigan football/recruiting site, www.themblock.com that I have been running for almost a year now and have built a pretty good rapport with hundreds of recruits.  Speight and Cornwell text me pretty often to update me on what's going on.  I've talked with O'Connor but he isn't as forthcoming with his info, I have to seek it out with him.

Bodogblog

February 3rd, 2013 at 10:27 PM ^

The M Block, I've checked out your site recently and enjoyed the content.  You're starting to get around (in a non-whorish sense).

What is your background, if you don't mind me asking? 

And re. this topic, do you see any of the three likely to commit immediately if offered, or will Michigan be competing with several other schools?

NYC Fan

February 3rd, 2013 at 10:51 PM ^

Inform me on how Aquaman and TomVH got started and what it led to.  Don't knock the guy for doing the same thing that others have done.  Looking at his site he has clearly spent some time doing his homework on recruiting.  Don't be so quick to write him off.

Magnus

February 4th, 2013 at 9:26 AM ^

I don't think you need to be "followed" by kids on Twitter to be proficient at your job.  Maybe you need to follow THEM, but the "followback" thing is kind of annoying and immature, in my opinion.

Daniel

February 4th, 2013 at 11:56 AM ^

You can't send someone a DM (direct message) unless they follow you. So when he requests a followback from a recruit or a parent, it's so he can ask them questions that aren't public. Teenagers aren't necessarily using facebook or publicizing their emails anymore, so a twitter DM is the best way to contact a student using their own self-publicized contact info.

I can see how you would see it as fame-whorish to ask high-school students to follow you if you were merely attempting to bolster your follower counts. But in this case it arguably does help him to be proficient at his job.

Brandon Brown

February 5th, 2013 at 12:16 AM ^

I have gotten this response before, it really doesn't bother me.  Twitter was created to connect as many people as possible in realtime.  The entire point of social media is to spread the word, connect people together, and find others who share your interest, at least that's what I use it for.  I ask for recruits to follow back so I can communicate with them and let them know that I have written something about them or need to get information directly from them instead of someone else.  If that bothers you I apologize but I really don't see how it possibly could.

Brandon Brown

February 5th, 2013 at 12:08 AM ^

I don't mind, I am a teacher and I coach basketball and football as well.  I was offered a "film breakdown" position on mgorecruit.com back with Benji if any of you are familiar and just about three days later he decided to shut it down.  I decided to branch off on my own and www.themblock.com was born.  I really enjoy doing it to stay connected to Michigan football because I moved to South Carolina 5 years ago.

About the 3 QB's, I think if all three were offered at the same time, Speight would be the first to commit.  Cornwell has straight up told me he would NOT commit on the spot.  O'Connor said he still likes a few other schools and would have to take his time, and Speight said "No comment" and that he'd have to discuss the offer with his parents and his coach.  Just from speaking with all 3 of them I get a gut feeling Speight would be the first to commit.

dRich

February 4th, 2013 at 12:26 PM ^

Didn't you start out over on MgoRecruit? With That English cat Benji?
If your the same dude.... Everyone needs to start following you. Always Great content! I enjoyed the short stint we had over @ MGo.

randyfloyd

February 3rd, 2013 at 10:54 PM ^

Week on Rivals. It will be interesting to see which of these three gets the offer. The thing I worry about, with the coaches going this route, is if the guy they offer commits elsewhere does it piss the other two off enough to cross us off their list?

BrownJuggernaut

February 4th, 2013 at 7:51 AM ^

Picking one guy to offer seems like a bad idea. If the staff believes they would be happy with any of these three, they should offer all of them. If they don't get a taker, they need to evaluate more guys. I don't think it makes sense to focus on just one guy.

EDIT: The threat of another guy committing will encourage the others to come up and see Ann Arbor sooner.