TomVH: Daren Kitchen Has an Offer
Louisiana DB Daren Kitchen just told me that Fred Jackson, his recruiter, extended him a verbal offer. Rich Rodriguez is on vacation, so the written offer won't be in the mail until he gets back. Kitchen has been long saying that he wanted an offer from Michigan, and would commit once he gets one.
That is the same feeling he has today. He said, "I'll probably just commit right away, because that's the one I've been waiting for." Kitchen is a 3 star according to Rivals, and stands at 6-foot-1, and 172-pounds. He holds offers from Kansas, Memphis, Nebraska, and Stanford, as well.
I'm not sure the exact date of when RR gets back from vacation, but it will be soon. Look for his commitment to drop shortly after. I like Kitchen, I think he's a good addition to the class. He will be the third defensive back already, so we'll see how that plays out for the other recruits we're after, like Kyshoen Jarrett.
I can't find his highlight tape on YouTube, but you can go to his profile on one of the recruiting sites to watch it. I'm just trying to fill up the two hundred word minimum now, I don't really have anything else to say about him.
Not much video of him out there, but looks like a decent player.
Hopefully we will have added him and a couple OL players after next week.
to get more hardworking LA players to A2. Now when is Dyson Blades' commit date set for?
Does anyone know why I can't find Dyson Blades' rivals page? In fact, I can't find any info on him.
even this version:
Hooray for DBs! Not much of an offer list, but Nebraska stands out. Being 6'1" can't hurt in coverage either.
You can only assume that Pelini maintains some contacts within the state...his ability to assess defensive talent is certainly known.
Nebraska stands out in the field.
Get it?! Because they're so agrarian, they're likely to be standing out in a field! Probably a cornfield! Get it?!
Thanks for the info Tom, great as always. Just had a quick question, I've noticed Michigan is still in the mix for many "highly rated" prospects at this point. With the small class size is there any worry some of these players could be left out of the mix by lower rated players committing early in the season?
Thanks for letting us know we are trying to cook something up with Kitchen. Hopefully he is one of the ingredients to the defense RR is looking for.
Give'em Hell Kitchen!
I'm guessing they would take one more DB hopefully between Walls and Showers, whoever wants to go first.
Also, this is just a verbal offer at this point, not finalized.
I don't know if it's accurate, but rivals says that Showers has a Michigan offer. Presumably, they're still pursuing him (?)
Surprised that we're passing over a highly recruited and ranked in-state kid for a low ranked out of state kid, especially since Valdez really likes Michigan.
Ever think maybe RR and the staff like him more?
Does he have Mickey Johnson's number?? Wouldn't hurt to get a 4 star DL to come North as well.
How many DB's do they take? Holowell, Brown, Kitchen
Walls will have a spot regardless who gives their verbal I imagine. Probably Crawford as well.
Where does that leave Showers and a couple PA kids?
I'm excited about this class - looks like OL, CB, DE depth will be taken care of.
Onto the LB's!!!
Well, however many DBs Michigan planned on taking in the 2011 class, that number was increased by one due to the Demar Dorsey situation.
And the Conelius Jones situation doesn't hurt either
Or doesn't help, depending on your perspective I suppose.
i like this kid, i see him being a stud sleeper, i see him playing saftey..i still think we will get one more db in this class either showers or walls... i also heard if we load up on dbs this yr Greg Brown will back out and look into FSU??? has anyone else heard this??
I quite literally spent the last ten minutes scouring the internet, and have not found a shred of evidence to support your Greg Brown claim.
Don't trust anyone...who types.... like this.
if you can't trust THE KNOWLEDGE?
sorry for wasting your time, but i have wasted my own time looking for that too, i do know i read that months ago though. I didnt know if it was accurate or not thats why i ASKED the question!
He was a stud sleeper.
I also knew a guy who was a ridiculous athlete who dominated his first two years in high school, but his parents made him live in Europe for his last two years of high school.
He was an underrated prep football player. Then he took his shirt off...
at times like these i wish we had a Magnus Signal like the bat signal we have for TomVH.
i am very curious to hear Magnus's review of Kitchen's game and potential. I appreciate his insights as they are grounded and not optimistic just for the sake of optimism...
He'll be OK, productive by RS Junior year, and may switch positions. RR likes midgets at CB.
I haven't seen a ton of film on him, but I'm not impressed with what there is. Maybe the creator of his highlight film is sandbagging or something, but he makes some fundamental errors, he doesn't seem particularly fast or sudden, and his hitting isn't anything stellar, either. And from what I can determine, his high school is pretty small and likely doesn't have great competition...
Meh. He'd be low on my list of potential corners. I hope the coaches keep pushing for Valdez Showers and Avery Walls, among others.
Come on Mag, I thought you'd be thrilled we offered a CB who wasn't 5'7".
Yeah, well their cornerback recruiting/production has been so stellar in the past two seasons, I guess I should just trust the coaches...
(sarcasm alert)
Wicked harsh, bro.
but free highlights are available at his ESPN profile.
with a last name like that, the t-shirt possibilities are endless.
I would like to see Kitchen and Showers in the backfield. It'd be like a family feud category "Places your wife won't have sex with you".
Nice. Now let's start bringing in the LBs and Olinemen.
I trust Tom VH's judgement but that video didn't show me anything. I wouldn't really consider that a highlight tape. Maybe that means they just won't throw his way...hopefully. I like the fact that he's a bigger corner though.
I grew up in G.R. watching players like David Harris, Ruben Riley, the Grady brothers, and Obi play during my High School life, I lived in LA. the past two years, I seen Kitchen play in person a couple times(his games were played around the corner from my house) and this kid looks really good. Kevin Grady is the best high school player I seen in person and Kitchen is second on my list. He runs good, and makes everything look easy, even on the offensive side of the ball at wideout
now lets hope that they have very different college careers.
I said the samething to myself after i wrote that. Hopefully he will!
He's not as highly rated by rivals as some of our other targets, but if the coaches now decide he's worth an offer, he must be worth a commitment. Louisiana is becoming a fertile recruiting ground for us.
I remember last year at this time Carvin Johnson was a no-name recruit, and he later became a guy we were all excited about. Hopefully Kitchen is like that as well (although since he already has a Nebraska offer, that says a lot).
EDIT: Just for a little extra perspective on his rankings: Rivals has him as the #45 CB in the country, and the #41 CB is an Oklahoma commit. Rivals has him as the #27 player in Louisiana, and the #23 guy is an LSU commit. So he's very comparable to commits at at least 2 major recruiting programs.
Rivals fears you.
Sign him up.
I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed, but it seems like a decent numbers of our targets also have offers from Stanford. Without delving into any RR-must-go or hire-Harbaugh talk, it just seems to be an interesting coincidence if nothing else.
I too have noticed that Stanford has been in on many of our prospective recruits over the past two years and perhaps it is a coincidence, but I feel it is more likely a combination of:
1) Harbaugh is a really good recruiter. As it is difficult (as yet) for him to compete for the elite Left Coast players he mines areas that the rest of the Pac 12 rarely venture into; ie, Ohio, PA, and LA. Much like RR and his staff, JH seems to have an efficient network that finds athletes with potential that others have missed. Last year he discovered Courtney Avery and got an early commitment long before he was on anyone's radar, and it seems like whenever a sleeper emerges the kid already has a Stanford offer. Great recruiter.
2) Two great academic schools so prospects who are actually interested in being students often have us, Stanford, Northwestern, Duke and the like on their lists.
Stay out of the way of Kitchen.
GERG can throw everything and the Kitchen (sink) at OSU
You can never have too many DBs.
Comments