Rumor: Quinten Johnson interested in Maryland
There's a rumor floating around that safety/Viper commit Quinten Johnson is interested in Maryland. With the hiring of Mike Locksley at Maryland, he has a great reputation in the area, and Johnson is from Washington (DC) St. John's. Locksley was his recruiter at Alabama.
I'm not calling a flip. I'm just throwing it out there, because it's something I heard through the grapevine.
December 13th, 2018 at 11:27 AM ^
Don't worry that was for Heptart.
December 13th, 2018 at 2:06 PM ^
Wait.....are you insinuating the indented replies oftentimes confuse people due to the shitty design of them, which cause other to not know if a person is replying to him/her? If not, then I am. Indented replies are so awful. I've been begging for quote replies, but that probably won't ever happen. It just doesn't make sense to me.
December 13th, 2018 at 10:19 AM ^
I don't know if it's just me, but when I type something on my iPad/iPhone it automatically adds an apostrophe when I make some words plural. So if I write: "the Smiths are coming to our party," it is corrected to "the Smith's are coming to our party." Same for: "I am free on Mondays and Fridays this month"--I get "Monday's and Friday's." Seems like a stupid error to make as the default auto-correct on Apple devices, and I wonder if it will result in those apostrophes becoming accepted as correct punctuation in the future.
December 15th, 2018 at 10:09 AM ^
When I'm at work writing an email, I tend to type pretty fast, and if I don't proofread carefully before I hit send, I'm likely to have written "they're" for "there." Or "your" for "you're." Or vice versa. It could be any which way. I don't know what is in my brain that leads me to do this.
But my instinct usually gets it right with apostrophes. I mean apostrophe's.
December 13th, 2018 at 8:51 AM ^
Given Locksley's recruiting history and the staff he is putting together, including recently hiring the the Dematha coach, I wouldn't be shocked to see this flip. They also are probably going to get Nick Cross to flip from FSU.
December 13th, 2018 at 9:05 AM ^
You know, given Locksley's issues at New Mexico - punching an assistant coach, sexual harrassment, just to name a few - I love it when people end with "but he is a good recruiter". Are parents that dumb to not research this guy, as opposed to being impressed by his in-home sales pitch?
Reminds me of my friend who would come home from the bar, and describe the girl he hooked up with: "pretty face, big rack". Translation - she tipped the scales at 200+.
December 13th, 2018 at 9:25 AM ^
maybe the assistant coach had it coming..... sexual harassment, that was once called flirting.... She wasn't fat, she was big boned....
:-)
December 13th, 2018 at 9:58 AM ^
I fell for that after doing the online thing. Chick described her body as “linebacker” type and it turned out she was more NG than LB.
December 13th, 2018 at 10:27 AM ^
I'm also not too sure people in the real world sit around like message board guys judging everyone else for what they've done, never forgiving, convicting without evidence, and just generally trying to invent 100 million reasons to hate everyone but Michigan.
December 13th, 2018 at 10:35 AM ^
Even linebacker type doesn't sound very appealing. I'd look for maybe QB, or CB, type body.
December 13th, 2018 at 10:56 AM ^
Slot receiver.....
December 13th, 2018 at 11:14 AM ^
TE even
December 13th, 2018 at 12:07 PM ^
But how was her pad level?
December 14th, 2018 at 10:45 AM ^
"Low center of gravity" good to describe a RB, not so good for a body type in a singles ad.
December 13th, 2018 at 8:51 AM ^
I get that this type of thing happens everywhere - everyone losss commits during the cycle - but given that we have had 10-win seasons 3 of the past 4 years, and given that we just wrapped up a top 10 season and made a NY6 bowl, with the #1 defense, I really am surprised that our recruiting isn’t at a higher level. I’m not saying that our recruiting is bad or that the sky is falling - this class has a number of great prospects - but it does seem like or recruiting, and in particular our ability to finish late in the cycle is an area for improvement as we progress to hopefully being a top-tier program again.
December 13th, 2018 at 9:29 AM ^
We are still dealing with the same set of problems that we always have, though. Getting a well reputed coach is one thing, but it is still 20 degrees here in January. Certainly the quality of the education is something that can be used to combat that, but at the end of the day Michigan has to rely on its own specific football brand to get kids here. I know OSU recruits with the best of them but they have a 20 year head-start on us at this point.
Every "almost but not quite" is starting to add up. A relative of mine from out west who has very little connection to the area jokingly said this year after the OSU game that it was just another "Miss-again" for the Wolverines. I gave him a death stare, but it made me realize that it is probably becoming harder and harder for the football program to sustain itself as a legit destination for top talent. We have a reputation preceding us for sure but it is becoming the exact opposite one than we want or think we should have.
December 13th, 2018 at 10:49 AM ^
This always kills me when the offseason rolls around and people are all “just win and things get better”. Yeah winning helps but it doesnt help when you cant hide things. Harbs is ripped in the media at every turn, that doesn’t help. Yes it gets cold in michigan, but its also cold in state college, Columbus, and south bend. Those schools still recruit well, especially against michigan. Those schools still get guys from Texas, Florida, California, and the rest of the SEC area. It really shouldn’t be an excuse because these guys still go to schools in the same part of the country.
December 13th, 2018 at 11:05 AM ^
I am not sure what you mean by "hide things." I am not criticizing your post but that was just unclear.
I would say that we recruit at around the same level as Penn State and ND, on balance.
December 13th, 2018 at 3:08 PM ^
I agree with this.
If one were to average the last few classss, we are probably at or even slightly ahead of ND and PSU. And, again averaging the past few seasons, we are probably performing about as well as both of those teams in terms of wins / losses.
I think that the problem that so many of us have is our point of reference. While, since hiring Harbaugh, we are around a top 8-12 team (last year we played with our 3rd strong qb and still won 8 games) we compare ourselves to OSU, and they have consistently been top 2-5. Their results on the field have been better, their recruiting has been insane, and they are solidly in tier 1. We are not. Remove them - or equalize them to their usual really good level, and we are in the playoffs at least once between 2016 and 2018. Thst leads to better recruiting, leads to more wins, leads to better recruiting, leads to better wins . . .
Unfortunately, OSU’s golden age has not only hurt our perception, but it has put a real cap on our success
December 13th, 2018 at 9:54 AM ^
It's very similar to on-field results. They have been really, really good under Harbaugh. But not at top tier level. That's the next step, and an enormous one.
Michigan wins a lot of games, wins big games, but hasn't won the biggest games. Michigan lands a lot of great recruits, lands a couple of elite recruits, but hasn't landed a critical mass of elite recruits.
December 13th, 2018 at 8:54 AM ^
To be honest, I really don't have a problem with this.
i saw an interview with Locksley and it got me excited for Maryland Football, so Quinten wants to help rebuild his local team I get that; plus the program could use it with the year it had.
Cherry on top would be if Larry Johnson heads there too! In that case, they can have all the DMV talent they want; even though UofM won't get as much, OSU won't either and LJ had them owning it.
Plus its not like the last week anyone was talking about how we'd be fine in the defensive backfield because we still had guys like Johnson and Turner. Not when there is a BPONE fuelled psYcho shit storm to brew :)
December 13th, 2018 at 9:11 AM ^
I'd rather deal with one great team than a bunch of teams good enough to beat us if we don't bring our A-game. Is it better to deal with one team littered with 4-5 star players or multiple teams boasting multiple 4-star players?
Also, cherry on top would be Larry Johnson retiring or going to the NFL. He's not coming here and it would be best for us if he's not recruiting within the B1G footprint any more.
December 13th, 2018 at 9:33 AM ^
NO! I would much rather have a strong Big 10 where everyone is 8-5 to 10-3 except Indiana and Rutgers and Michigan is 11-2 or better (occasionally undefeated) than an undefeated Michigan team every year in a shit conference. Football is about beating your rivals and beating them when they are strong. Do you take pride in the Luke Fickell year?
December 13th, 2018 at 1:32 PM ^
Until we're winning at Alabama/OSU levels, I want to play one tough non-conference game, 10 average teams and 1 really good OSU team. It's essentially what Alabama does every year, except their non-conference challenge is usually at a stale NFL stadium.
I'd rather have to apologize for beating crap teams on the way to the CFP than having two losses and going to a non-CFP game...unless that game is the Rose Bowl.
Until they expand the playoff, this will be my stance.
December 13th, 2018 at 9:18 AM ^
Yeah, man, but we need like.... players, at positions. If we lose both Hill and Johnson? Well then the loss of O'Maury Samuels really hurts because it means we will have one less player to throw into a random position he doesn't play because he is person with a full working set of limbs.
I am not in sky is falling mode, but if this class starts to fall apart... eh, issues man. Issues.
December 13th, 2018 at 10:37 AM ^
I agree with you. We lack depth--the kind that allows you to redshirt good players as well as those 2who need more development, and the kind where if one guy is underperforming or is injured, there is a capable backup.
Also--we need to be able to rotate fresh bodies in to keep players rested and less injured.
But--some of the recruits aren't working out and we are suffering from some thinning of the herd.
December 13th, 2018 at 3:56 PM ^
As I see it, there are two problems with where we currently are as a program. The first has been discussed to death - we lack the level of elite talent to match up with teams like OSU and Bama. For all the "starzzz don't matter" examples out there, it says something about something that Bama, OSU, Clemson and Georgia recruit at the level that they do and have been consistently better than the rest. We are a solid team, but when we go up against teams like OSU, the difference in raw talent and athleticism become apparent. We get excited about players like Black, DPJ and Collins, but OSU had a roster littered with that level of athleticism.
The second point, which is the one that you are making, often gets overlooked, but it is almost as important as the first - because of our lack of depth:
(1) We can't redshirt players as often.
Imagine how much further along our receivers would be if most of them had redshirted their first season and had a full year to work on S&C and technique. Yes, they still work on those things, but when they are forced into action, they also have to spend a lot of their time preparing for the upcoming game. Players who know that they are going to redshirt have completely different in-season regimen than those that might play.
(2) We are forced to play guys who really shouldn't be on the field if we are going to be successful. Think about OSU absolutely destroying Brandon Watson this year. He had to stick with him because he was our best option. If he had a bit more depth, we could have pulled him for someone who matched up better. The same is true for a number of DL spots - we had some injuries and because we lacked depth, those injuries hit us harded than they would have hit OSU.
December 13th, 2018 at 10:44 AM ^
Let Maryland get good at someone else's expense. I'm tired of it always being M that pays for this kind of shit.
December 13th, 2018 at 8:58 AM ^
Ironically - If he is dumb enough to decommit from us to go play for Locksley at Maryland - he probably belongs at Michigan State.
Here's hoping the kid has some smarts and stays with the first and right choice.
December 13th, 2018 at 10:29 AM ^
Spoken like a true homer message board guy.
Beautiful.
December 13th, 2018 at 9:07 AM ^
Dong punch to start the morning? I think yes
December 13th, 2018 at 9:16 AM ^
Who needs safeties anyway?
December 13th, 2018 at 9:16 AM ^
Send his parents some Locksley search results stat!
I do think he'll recruit well there. It won't be enough to get them higher than 3/4 in the division in his best years.
December 13th, 2018 at 9:37 AM ^
Probably not what you meant:
December 13th, 2018 at 9:34 AM ^
I have to believe the reasons would be proximity to home and playing time. He won't win a damn thing at Maryland.
December 13th, 2018 at 9:45 AM ^
Um, you do know Maryland hired Butch Jones, too, right?
If nothing else, Maryland players will be winners at life.
December 13th, 2018 at 10:31 AM ^
Yea, I mean, he could be on a team that routinely tanks big games and ends up in some second-tier shlub bowl but has a legion of delusional message board guys who will tweet him for four years...
December 13th, 2018 at 10:28 AM ^
I’d like him to stick I think he’s underrated and will give a Khaleke level of play.
December 13th, 2018 at 10:35 AM ^
It’d be nice to have someone from my former HS on Michigan. We had that QB commit for a little bit. Doyle, I think?
December 13th, 2018 at 10:50 AM ^
Yeah, Kevin Doyle. He redshirted at Arizona this year.
December 13th, 2018 at 11:58 AM ^
I'm curious how Kevin Doyle will compare to Joe Milton the next few years.
December 13th, 2018 at 11:04 AM ^
Didn't he just tweet out that he's signing with Michigan on Dec.19th?
December 13th, 2018 at 11:20 AM ^
No, but at the same time his twitter doesn't give any indication that he is doing anything other than signing with Michigan.
December 13th, 2018 at 11:37 AM ^
I don't think so, but George Johnson III did.
December 13th, 2018 at 11:56 AM ^
M could have up to 3 Johnsons in this recruiting class!
December 13th, 2018 at 12:09 PM ^
George Johnson III is who I was thinking of.
Thanks
December 13th, 2018 at 3:01 PM ^
Michigan University
December 13th, 2018 at 12:18 PM ^
Well....I'll or I will say one thing.Im going to the Peach Bowl.Atlanta has a huge Mich fan base down here and I'm or I am EXCITED!..We have a chance at a 11-2 record and a major NY Bowl win.. against can SEC rival now ... THAT is a great year... remember the R R era