Benjamin St-Juste invited to the opening
https://twitter.com/BenjWolfpack24/status/732580602508087297
At work so will need an assist on the embed. Outstanding job again by Harbaugh discovering unknown talent.
Excuse my ignorance but what is an extra pivot and how is it beneficial?
It means that not only can he swing his legs backward, forward, and to both sides, but he can also retract his leg into his abdomen.
Is that 4 guys already committed who have invites? And that doesn't include McCaffrey, who you'd have to imagine will get an invite (if he wants one). Having good representation at these camps is big for recruiting. Hopefully JKP commits before the camp.
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McCaffrey won't get one unless he goes to a NFTC and I think those are just about over. Also, I think I read today that Matt Dotson (TE from Moeller) is deciding at the opening. That one could very well go Michigan's way.
Nearly all of the recent CB's have been to Sparty
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when does he earn a 4th and 5th star?
Congrats to him. Can't wait to see the rating bump he gets.
He seems to be pegged for a huge recruiting bump once all the sites update their rankings on him.
has some good skills and is starting to get noticed now. I love his size for a corner. Great job by the staff finding this gem. I think he will get a 4th star by the time he is signing with us.
I fully admit to being suspect about St Juste as a player.
Obviously has great size for a CB or cover safety, but now he's shown out as a plus athlete. The high SPARQ score, including a sub 4 shuttle and now a 4.5 40 speaks volumes.
During these camps he's shown good coverage skills. Only questions left are how he tackles and how he reads plays. Smart kid, so I'm guessing the latter will not be an issue after some time in Ann Arbor.
I wrote a month ago that I hoped he would attend some camps. He not only attended, but delivered big time.
Will never play a down at Michigan.
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This is a lesson worth remembering for virtually all of us.
To be fair, I already knew that I didn't know shit about football or the people who play it in comparison to the coaching staff.
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Last year I think there were about 160.
Every player invited to An Opening has won at least one or three Heismens trophies? Look it up.
If you saw through the BS rankings of an underrated Michigan commit and ESPECIALLY if you see through the BS rankings of EVERY underrated Michigan commit (which is all of them) then now's the time for you to take a victory lap.
And Once he gets that 4th star he so richly deserves because HARBAUGH is never wrong we can all celebrate again and more fully this time. [I don't know about the rest of you but I only 100% celebrated during his HELLO post and now I'm ready to go 110%]
The national championships are coming and our position - pundits are wrong whenever they fail to praise Michigan players and correct only when they cut the BS SEC-Ohio State-NBC cabal's bias and give our recruits their goddamn camp offers and stars that they deserve - is about to be proven correct again.
It's never too early to celebrate victory or rewrite history.
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Even more than I expected actually.
Please expand on what this means? What is the Opening (I know it's a camp, but aren't there tons of camps?)? I'm trying to understand how excited about this I should be...
'The Opening' is Nike's invitation only event for high school football held each year out in Oregon. Basically, kids go to regional camps which are held accross the country and compete in various drills and testing. The SPARQ score is basically a mini-NFL combine test (think 40yrd dash, shuttle, distance throw of a medicine ball). It's basically a test to determine the overall 'athleticness' of a kid. A combination of this score and how well a player performs at the regional camps seem to be what is used for players to get an invite to the Opening.
There are ~160 players invited each year with most being seniors in High School (although some top, top talent like Rashan Gary have been invited their Junior year).
Most Invitee's tend to go becuase Nike provides a ridiculous amount of free appareal for the players and it's generally seen as the most elite camp each year. In fact, the past couple of years the event has been shown on various ESPN channels.
Not only has St-Juste been invited to attend, but at the regional Nike camp he attended - he posted a world class shuttle time of under 4 seconds. In fact - his time would have been tied for 2nd place in this years NFL combine. At 6'3", St-Juste's time is even more ridulous as the shuttle tends to favor shorter, agile, players.
In summary - this is all very, very good news.
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Look at past high scoring SPARQ players and you'll see a lot of names you recognize. It's a great data point to consider beside offers and rankings.
Still, this isn't really "news" in that St-Juste is still who he is - the same guy Harbaugh offered a while back. It may warrant revising your expectations for him, if you are so inclined. In this case "him" may refer to either St. Juste or Harbaugh, but if you need more convincing that Harbaugh knows what he is doing I'm not sure what to say to you.
I would imagine that upon being recruited Harbaugh's & (staff) message is 'Improve' in All areas. Academically, socially and athletically as you prepare for competition as a member of Michigan's football team. I mention that to say that I actually do not think that BSJ is the 'same guy Harbaugh offered a while back'?
I would contend that BSJ has worked his tale end off and is improving at a rate that is opening up eyes. He may have had 'this' level in him already, Harbaugh and staff see that and offer. Yet he has some things to prove to himself, to the low opinions of his abilities and to his future coach. Maybe a little symantics but non the less he is for sure 'improving'.
Go BSJ! Go Blue!
You make a valid argument that he could have improved his abilities - but isn't that the expectation?
Anyway, it's not clear that BSJ improved. Was it him or the information on him?
It's not clear BSJ cares about (or is even aware) of "low opinions" on places like mgoblog.
Not saying you are wrong, just that the argument is entirely speculative.
I believe our argument would be speculative from both sides of our 'perspective' coins. To your point of BSJ knowing/not knowing about 'opinions' of his ability/potential - I would say at the very least he is aware of the major recruiting sites?
Regarding his improvement - Motivation is a powerful advantage for an athlete with a high variant ceiling! I believe Harbaugh and staff noticed that high ceiling. That they also noticed that BSJ was relatively under the radar (IMO).
Thank you for engaging in the conversation (even if it is speculative)
Go Blue!
Only quibble is that I think a player's ranking also has a lot to do with getting an invitation. A 5* is going to get in even without a good camp performance. A 3* RB has been left out even with back to back position MVPs and SPARQ titles.