2011 Early Enrollers: Dee Hart & Greg Brown

Submitted by MGoShoe on

In a special to the Freep (print link) Josh Helmholdt of the Wolverine.com expands on his earlier report that Greg Brown is no longer a soft commit ($) and lists Brown and super-recruit Dee Hart as January early enrollers at Michigan.

Fremont (Ohio) Ross cornerback Greg Brown, who became U-M’s first commitment in the 2011 class back in Sept. 2009, is on track to graduate high school and enroll early. He will take his official visit to U-M next weekend, and start classes in Ann Arbor a month later. "I'm just focusing on finishing my high school education next month and in those following couple weeks, I will be enrolling at Michigan to play ball for the Wolverines. I just can't wait to get in the Big House in front of those 110,000 fans and play some football."

Orlando (Fla.) Dr. Phillips four-star recruit Demetrius Hart is likely to play for U-M next year because of his exceptional talent and play-making ability as a running back. The 5-8, 190-pound Hart is the other commitment scheduled to enroll, and having him in spring ball should hasten his first appearance in the Big House.

We knew this about Frost (thanks, Tom), but Helmholdt goes on to list Michigan recruiting targets Avery Walls and Kris Frost as likely early enrollers.

Several of Michigan’s remaining targets in the 2011 class are also planning early graduations, including four-star Georgia safety Avery Walls and Charlotte, N.C., prospect Kris Frost, who took his official visit to U-M last weekend.

Brown's visit to Syracuse appears to have solidified his commitment to Michigan and the early enroller status for Brown and Hart will give them clear head starts on their development.  With Hart likely to compete for the starting RB assignment and Michigan's desparate need for secondary depth, this certainly qualifies as positive news.

superstringer

November 24th, 2010 at 9:22 AM ^

You don't make your coaching choice based on an incoming recruit's status.  If the recruit doesn't like the new coach, what do we care.  If the assumption is that a new coach is an upgrade, then, losing one recruit doesn't alter the equation.

No one can ever say, a particular recruit is guaranteed to be good.  Everyone thought TP was God's gift to the QB position.  Not so much, right?  How about Bryce Brown, who supposedly was the best running back the year he came out... is he even playing D-I football now?  Etc etc.  You never know.  Can't keep a coach just because he got a particular recruit.

gihurdler1

November 24th, 2010 at 10:00 AM ^

Agreed, but I think a consideration every AD must consider before deciding on a coaching change is how it would affect recruiting in general combined with potential transfers.  You still can't base a coaching decision on that factor in a vacuum, but it is still a valid consideration.

Maize and Blue…

November 24th, 2010 at 10:04 AM ^

O has gone from awful to fabulous with two years of recruiting and three years of tutelage and almost everyone returns.  D's another story and needs some serious work, but when you have very few upperclassman playing you have to wonder why?  What does that say about past recruiting?  We should have some RS seniors, seniors and juniors that have the talent to play.  If not, why?  Oh yeah, it's RR's fault even though he's only had two years of recruiting.

PurpleStuff

November 24th, 2010 at 11:22 AM ^

2009: 11 GP, 66 tackles, 3 TFL, 0 sacks, 2 INT

2010: 10 GP, 102 tackles, 7.5 TFL, 2 sacks, 2 INT

Sorry the defense still sucks (since Mouton is one of only three competent upperclassmen on the entire roster) but Mouton has gotten dramatically better this season.

The coaching staff have done everything they could to replace Ezeh with two walk-ons and finally replaced him with a guy in the middle of his sophomore season who was loads better.  Some guys just aren't able to play football at this level.  Having one of them on your team and no one else on the roster to play MLB doesn't mean you are a bad coach.

3rdGenerationBlue

November 27th, 2010 at 8:01 AM ^

Fair to say Mouton has shown improvement - thanks for answering the question. How about the other guys?  In response to the point about Stevie Brown I'd say Craig Roh playing out of position for most of the year and needing to ask to be switched back to DE is a fair counter point.

blueheron

November 24th, 2010 at 11:13 AM ^

I'd concede that RichRod's '09 recruiting effort on defense already looks miserable and that it will hurt the program for years to come.

- - -

To your main point, save your energy.  No amount of logic and reason is going to convince RichRod's detractors that not having any cornerbacks in the '06 recruiting class can be blamed on anyone else.  Similarly, they'll never admit that *maybe* Lloyd's recruiting slipped a bit near the end.  NO MORE EXCUSES HIM HAVE THREE YEARS ME NOT HEARING ANYTHING ELSE!

NathanFromMCounty

November 24th, 2010 at 5:55 PM ^

better than he's ever going to get credit for (and I'm also apparently alone in thinking Jibreel Black was under-starred as a 3-star when you look at his offer list).

 

Unfortunately those guys are freshman and incoming freshmen and youth is apparently now an "excuse" when they start en masse.

thesauce2424

November 24th, 2010 at 10:07 AM ^

The problem with your argument is that we could lose some of the recruits we already have and lose out on some of the top targets that we pursuing. Now, one recruit a class does not make, but how about two or three and missing on some targets? We desperately need defensive talent. Would frost, walls, lyons, countess, myriad other targets.. want to come here and go  through another coaching change? I don't know.

As far as a "particular" recruit not being a guaranteed star: I don't think Hart is an absolute can't miss, but UM is surely hedging its bet with the #1 all purpose back and the #3 all purpose back(hayes). Would a coaching change get them to change their minds? I don't know. That's the frustrating part. We don't know what a coaching change will do as far as recruiting. But, you can't say that the recruiting landscape should not be a part of the equation-because it is.

I'm not saying that the status of a committed recruit should direct the decision behind keeping or firing a coach. It should, along with the rest of the class, be taken into consideration when evaluating the direction/future of this team. Is a coach looking at the teams deficiencies and trying to remedy them by getting talent in those positions? This is a question that is probably being considered, as it should be.

Section 1

November 24th, 2010 at 11:13 AM ^

So we won't judge a Head Coach based on the response of a couple of players. 

Like Mallett, Clemons or Boren. 

I'd actually agree with that.  Particularly insofar as Clemons is the only guy who even attributed his departure to an honest disagreement with a cocaching scheme.  Mallett and Boren were likely far more psychosocial, way beyond the personage of the Head Coach.

WolverineBlue

November 24th, 2010 at 4:46 PM ^

A coaching change can also result in some potential new recruits (remember Roy Roundtree?) to offset potential losses. Personally, I hope RR is back, so I'm not using this as an argument to replace him, but in the extreme hypothetical, isn't it possible that some of Stanford's top ten incoming class are more committed to Harbaugh than to a Stanford team with a new staff?

Again, I am not advocating the change or suggesting that Harbaugh would be the guaranteed replacement, but the decision to change coaches should not be driven by the fear of losing current commitments.

3rdGenerationBlue

November 24th, 2010 at 11:05 AM ^

Two things aren't certain:

  1. RR will be replaced
  2. If he is replaced that Dee Hart would bolt

Steve Schilling said at a press conference recently that he didn't come to Michigan to play for a particular coach. Hopefully most guys feel that way. Michigan and a handful of other schools have a built in advantage of having a complete package (academics, winning tradition, history of sending players to the pros, top notch facilities, and passionate fan base). I give credit to most of the recruits for seeing the big picture and I trust that Dave Brandon would have conversations with key recruits and their families IF a coaching change were to take place.

NateVolk

November 24th, 2010 at 11:18 AM ^

Hart already commented on that subject when he committed and said he was choosing Michigan because of it's business program. 

A coaching change to the candidate who everyone agrees is the only possible replacement might actually help in recruiting a better class. No one knows for sure.

icefins26

November 24th, 2010 at 8:44 AM ^

Walls will be making his decision very soon -- not to be "that guy" who creeps on Facebook but he said last night that he is defriending everyone as he moves toward his choice (something along those lines).

Wolverine0056

November 24th, 2010 at 8:46 AM ^

Glad to see that Greg Brown is solid commit to UM now. We need the depth badly. I am also excited that Dee is an EE so that he can possibly contribute right away next year. His athletic ability is up there with the best.

Hopefully Walls and Frost commit to UM, having them as EE would be nice too.

Greenwood_Slumdog

November 24th, 2010 at 8:52 AM ^

Avery and Kris are also welcome to enroll early, I'll even pay for their first meal at Blimpy Burger.

Has there been any word on if Byron Moore would qualify as a potential early enrollee?

NathanFromMCounty

November 24th, 2010 at 6:02 PM ^

...at least the part I could see for free (darned paywall) was really, really positive on guy talking about instinctive knowledge of coverage/finding the ball with excellent footwork, etc.  And remember, ESPN's evaluation of William Campbell was the only one that matched his performance so...

 

WolvinLA2

November 24th, 2010 at 12:28 PM ^

What about Greg Brown moving to FS and now redshirting?  Admittedly, this is purely an "if we don't get Avery Walls" scenario, but in the event we don't get a true FS in this class, I'd like to see Greg Brown move to FS and compete with Vinopal right away.  He'll have all spring to pick up the mental aspect of it, and all winter, spring and summer to add the bulk (most of the updated sites have him at 5'11" and 185, so another 5-10 lbs on that by August is doable and sufficient). 

With all the other young corners we have, Brown will be behind a lot of people.  If he moved to FS he'd have a good chance to contribute and his scholarship would be put to better use, IMO.