DeSoto, TX – 6'2" 178
		24/7	3*, #478 overall #38 CB, #69 TX
		Rivals	4*, NR overall #39 CB, #48 TX
		ESPN	4*, NR overall #46 CB, #63 TX
		Composite	3*, #382 overall #35 CB, #52 TX
		Other Suitors	Texas, TCU, OU, OkState
		YMRMFSPA	Channing Stribling
Previously On MGoBlog	Hello post from Ace.
Notes	Twitter. Twin brother is also in the class. He wears 9, German wears 10.
Film
Junior: Senior:

Hey look it's the other literal twin who is also a 6'2" defensive back along with his other metaphorical twins. Gemon Green was the highly-touted guy who Michigan offered first amongst Green twins; he also picked up real offers from Texas and TCU. Despite that and an Opening finals appearance, his amount of tout is middling. He's a 3.5*, by site nomenclature, just inside the top 400 on the composite.

Michigan's heavy pursuit is thus reminiscent of their preference for Devin Bush over the rest of his linebacker class, and there's a fair amount of supporting evidence for that preference. It mostly comes in the form of local analyst takes from the Texas folks at 24/7. These guys not only hit camps but a large number of the high profile high school games across the state. DeSoto, the state champs in 2016, played in a bunch of those. Then Green hit four major regional camps as a rising senior.

Green was already high on EJ Holland's radar after DeSoto's high school season…

DeSoto captured its first state title over the weekend.

The Eagles made a number of key plays in the fourth quarter on defense. Rising 2018 cornerback Gemon Green was matched up with LSU pledge Caden Sterns throughout its clash with Cibolo Steele and won a late 1-on-1 battle as he notched the game-sealing pass deflection on a fade route.

“It feels great,” Green said. “I’ve never done anything like this before. We’re in a 2018 group chat, and I knew I was going to guard him all game. I was able to make a great play at the end. It feels amazing.”

Don't test 2018 DeSoto CB Gemon Green. Great play vs. LSU commit Caden Sterns. pic.twitter.com/WBywl2JPIS

— "EJ Holland" (@EJHolland247) December 18, 2016

…had to make an extra defensive back spot for Green. There is no way we could leave this guy off the list. Green shut down receivers all season and had his best performance in DeSoto's state title victory.

…and the camps only increased his fervor, and that of his colleagues. UA Dallas:

Green frustrated wide receivers all day with his height, length and athleticism. A true cover corner, Green has a knack for making plays on the ball. … makes up ground in a hurry and plays the ball well.

A 7 on 7 around the same time:

…in peak shape physically entering his senior year … was shutting down his side of the field completely, made a number of plays on jump balls, and walked away with a clutch interception. If you are looking for a corner who is long and athletic with great ball skills, then this is the guy.

Something called "Quick Twitch Dallas":

…prototypical tall cornerback that schools are really honing in on. The three-star prospect is still a bit underrated but is starting to see some major offers come his way. He certainly has the length, height and cover skills and if he can improve his technique and hips, there is no reason why he shouldn’t shoot up the rankings this spring.

He was the DB MVP at the local Opening regional and "very much in the running for Alpha Dog" until he tweaked something towards the tail end of the camp; afterwards Holland's 24/7 colleague Mike Howe asserted that he was Texas offer-worthy thanks to his "natural cover skills" and ability to make a play on any ball that came his way. And he was the Alpha Dog(!) at the second 7 on 7 he participated in:

…played lock down defense on the edge and made highlight reel plays when he was thrown at. The best play of the day saw Green make an incredible one-handed interception off of a pass from Oklahoma commit Tanner Mordecai.

The locals named him to their All Camp team after all that because his "potential is through the roof" and had a roundtable afterwards. All three guys brought up Green as the most impressive—or at least near the top—and stuff like camps and 7 on 7 are actually fairly good indicators for CBs. Holland continued to bang the drum; Howe said he was "long but not a high-cut kid who's going to struggle to sink his hips" and as a result he "looked loose and fluid"; Mike Roach was a converted skeptic who said he's "proven he's in the elite group of DBs and probably the best player in the [Dallas-Fort Worth] area."

National analysts were more reserved, but they spent a lot less time talking about Green. ESPN again failed to provide a full scout, providing only an underclass evaluation:

Long, athletic and has excellent ability to use his size to play the ball. ... Areas of Improvement: Strength, run support and footwork coming out of transition on intermediate to deep routes. ... excellent speed and the ability to defend high point balls. Further development to control his feet due to his length and his strength in the press will help him to realize his enormous upside.

That got him a four star ranking but he barely cracked the top 50 cornerbacks. This is a guy with Michigan and Texas offers at one of the big powerhouse schools in one of the most prolific talent-producing states who went to the Opening and he still can't get a full evaluation from ESPN. WTF.

The only national take from Rivals after an introductory "here is this person" article, meanwhile:

With Gemon there’s a lot of versatility. He can play corner but could really excel at safety as well. He’s a hard-nosed kid and can really cover so he’s got a lot of potential.

To be fair that guy did talk about Green in the other half of that useful video embedded in his brother's profile:

That's still not much, but "had a rough game against Charleston Rambo" is at least a reason to not rank him that high. The local Rivals site didn't say much in their scouting post except that they appear to be the size they claim; the post also appears to echo Krueger's comment above:

…needs to refine his technique as a cornerback and eliminate the mental mistakes in coverage. Because he is so athletic, he's been known to overreact and overcommit to well-run routes which gets him into trouble on double moves and in camp settings. It's not as big of a detriment in an actual game but he's been known to be a bit too aggressive.

That take did come after the whizbang camp season described above. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

FWIW, that "here is this guy" post contains the most extensive scouting-type substance Rivals did for Green:

…great size … You might think that Green would lose some quickness through his hips with that height, but check out the highlights below. He can still flip his hips to stay with the quick receivers. He can also get on the hip and stay with the fast receivers on long routes. But what is really impressive, beyond the coverage skills, is how Green will come off and hit you.

So you have to weigh the opinions of the local guys—which were vociferous, in-depth, and at-length—and Michigan versus some vague and incomplete takes from the national folks. Given the, er, state of the industry, I don't know how much weight I'd put on the actual rankings here. Lorenz laid out the case that this Green is one of the class's most underrated prospects…

I think Gemon Green is a four-star prospect. … I'm starting to feel the same way about Green that I did about Chris Evans in 2016 (named most likely to outdo his recruiting ranking) and Andrew Stueber in 2017 as far as being a guy who the Michigan staff absolutely loves, is named a top performer in almost every event he participates in and remains underranked almost across the board. At a legit 6'2", he is a lengthy, athletic prospect who can match up with any type of receiver on the outside. … Gemon is my really early pick to be the guy who outdoes his ranking unless the industry catches on.

…and given the shape of this post that's a convincing case. Holland also repeatedly cried out "underrated" to the rankings gods, to no avail. The one caveat is that Green did get to the Opening and must not have blown anyone away there; he should be well-scouted. "Should" does seem to be the operative word. None of the scouting in this post actually comes from the Opening. (FFS.)

FWIW, your author resorted to watching and having an opinion on highlight tape here: it's good tape. When a run pops up it's there because Green is standing up a running back without help. He makes multiple plays on slants, mirrors double moves, and provides really small windows for opposition success. The Rivals video has a couple less flattering plays but there's a big difference between Gemon's film and his brother's.

At Michigan Green is likely to be a cornerback, but he says that the coaches are talking about him as a potential safety, too:

“They’re saying I can play both cornerback and safety,” he revealed. “I’m long, but I’m also very fast. I don’t care which one I play, but I have played a little more corner than safety.”

This is in line with the rest of the class and is a Don Brown trademark; he wants safeties who can cover man-to-man because they're going to be doing it a ton. Michigan seems to have told everyone in this class they're a defensive back of some variety and will let the sorting happen after enrollment.

Green could emerge quickly. Though he did not enroll early, playing at a powerhouse in Texas's largest classification means the transition shock should be less severe for him than it is for most. He's spent large portions of his high school career going up against future D-1 opponents, including some teammates. Even if he doesn't there's no shame in getting stuck behind Michigan's cornerback depth chart, knock on wood. It seems clear that the folks who looked at Green the hardest liked him the most, and that's a good sign.

Etc.: Has a twin!

Why Jeremy Clark? Ha! Try again!

Er… why Channing Stribling? Stribling is the only non-Clark corner in recent Michigan history to get listed at 6'2"+ and actually play, although IIRC he was more of a six-foot-one guy when the NFL came calling. The other jumbo corners in Seth's database that stretches back to Tommy Hendricks: Reon Dawson, Keith Washington, JT Turner. This is why Clark keeps coming up.

Anyway, Stribling, like Green, had very middling recruiting rankings and saw his numbers barely budge despite a standout senior season that indicated he'd separated from his industry-determined flight path. At Michigan he was almost always in the right spot but had been terribly cursed to watch balls go just over and sometimes through his outstretched hands. His combination of size and agility made up for a lack of NFL-attention-grabbing speed and made him an excellent college corner. Green has a similar profile.

Also: Jeremy Clark?

Guru Reliability: Moderate? On the one hand they're all pretty much in the same range, but the boatload of praise from the guys who paid the most attention didn't seem to impact 24/7's ranking and nobody else really put much effort in. This is a guy who should be an easy "exacting" since he was healthy, at a massive high school, camp-friendly, and projects to the same college position he played in high school, but FFS he doesn't even have a full ESPN evaluation.

Variance: Moderate. Green should be good; his height does make it difficult for him to pull off a Jourdan Lewis impression and could limit him to designated guy who lines up with inside leverage and defends fades. But even if that's his fate he's probably going to be really good at that.

Ceiling: High. Green doesn't test off the charts but has proven himself against a bunch of high-major players over the course of his high school career, and remains 6'2".

General Excitement Level: High-minus. The rankings don't match the scout and while I'm more convinced by the people who actually, you know, talked about Green than the ones who didn't, a consensus meh-ish ranking does carry weight. But if Don Brown and Mike Zordich wanted this guy in a Devin Bush kind of way, let's go.

Projection: It's likely that one CB does get his feet wet this year as Michigan hedges against both starters heading for the draft. That's probably going to be Myles Sims, who is the most touted incoming DB and arrived early, but if Green comes in and plays like the locals think he can he's got a shot. A redshirt seems to make the most sense since Michigan has a full two-deep at corner.

In 2019 Michigan is going to have between one and three of Ambry Thomas, David Long, and Lavert Hill. If it's three, high-five yourself and stick this DB class in the cooler for another year. If it's one, there will be 1.5 starting slots open and just Benjamin St Juste and 2019 true freshmen competing with this class. Green and Sims are the most likely prospects to emerge into major roles in that situation.