Thursday Recruitin' Asks Who Is Next
As a reminder, recruiting updates are saved for posterity on the 2011 Michigan Football Recruiting Board.
About To Drop?
FL OL Tony Posada may be getting close to a Florida offer ($, info in header). He just needs to lose 10 pounds and the Gators have promised he'll receive one. [Ed: Or that could be a slow-play and Florida isn't going to offer.] Florida was his childhood favorite, so that could dampen his Michigan lean. Posada and MI OL Jake Fisher (pictured at right) are both deciding soon.
If one or both of them pick(s) Michigan, that would be a fine start to Michigan's offensive line haul in the class. The Wolverines are the favorite for both, but Fisher plans to check out Michigan State once more before making a decision, and Posada is searching for that Florida offer.
Much, much more on their ability to play football if they commit.
Tops In State
Scout has released its Top 80 List for the state of Michigan. The Top 10, and other recruits of interest (or who might be at some point):
- 1 LB Lawrence Thomas (MSU Commit)
- 2 WR DeAnthony Arnett
- 3 DE Brennen Beter (Michigan Commit)
- 4 OL/DE Anthony Zettel
- 5 RB Justice Hayes
- 6 OL Jake Fisher
- 7 CB Valdez Showers
- 8 RB Onaje Miller (MSU Commit)
- 9 LB Ed Davis
- 10 CB Delonte Hollowell (Michigan Commit)
- 11 WR Shawn Conway (Michigan Commit)
- 13 RB Thomas Rawls
- 16 LB Taiwan Jones (Michigan State Commit)
- 21 DE Damon Knox
- 22 TE Ben McCord
- 35 TE Nate Dreslinski
- 46 FB Joey Kerridge
- 59 RB DaShawn Bell
- 66 LB Dwight Trammer
- 73 OL Bryan Bell
- 74 OL Willie Beavers
Right now, it appears as though Michigan State has the slight edge in-state, but the Wolverines have a good chance to close out strong.
In the same vein, Sam Webb's weekly Detroit News column runs down a few of the top guys in the state who are uncommitted. The main prospects of interest in that story are OL Jake Fisher and LB Ed Davis, but it sounds like RB Thomas Rawls could pick up a Michigan offer somewhere down the line.
Scott Burnstein of the Oakland Press runs down a couple in-state sleepers who impressed at Michigan's summer camp.
Assume The Position: Tight End
The times, they have changed since I last broke down tight end recruiting. With the number of offers Michigan's coaching staff has out at the position, I think it's pretty clear that they want one in this class (though they could be offering some guys with the intention of moving them to the defensive side of the ball).
The biggest recent news is OH TE Ray Hamilton's commitment to Iowa. Michigan had appeared to be very strong in his recruitment until he joined the Hawkeyes' class of 2011. Though his commitment seems firm, his dad's connection to Rich Rodriguez could help Michigan stay in the picture with a good season.
SC TE Jerrell Adams seems to have a Michigan offer, and the Wolverines are definitely in the picture ($, info in header). He's definitely a possibility for the spot.
NJ TE Taques Franklin has legit Michigan interest, and plans to take an official visit. However, a little birdie tells me that he has some work to do in the classroom to ensure that he will qualify to play at the next level.
NJ TE/QB Tanner McEvoy (maybe intent on being a QB?), NC TE Drew Owens, FL TE Brandon Fulse, and OH TE Austin Traylor and are guys that Michigan tossed an offer to, and haven't seemed to talk about the Wolverines too much since. I'll assume they're pseudo-longshots.
Happy Trails
Happy trails, NY QB Ashton Broyld. Though he's visited Michigan, he's not hearing from the Wolverines.
Happy trails, NJ RB Savon Huggins, who released a Top/Final 10 list without Michigan.
Happy trails to FL LB Kent Turene. For whatever reason, the staff never offered Turene, even as it became clear that Demar Dorsey's former teammate was going to wind up as a big time prospect. With adequate time to evaluate him (and obvious hints that he was interested in Michigan), I'll trust their opinion in not offering him. He's now committed to USC.
As predicted last week, OH S Ron Tanner picked Ohio State on Friday. Check out Rivals's video, in which he puts on a Michigan hat before actually picking the Bucks. OMG PUNK'D.
Etc.
NC QB Marquise Williams is still planning to decide soon ($, info in header). Michigan was already slipping, and the commitment of FL QB Kevin Sousa is another indication that he won't put on the maize and blue cap.
As The Demetrius Turns... FL RB Demetrius Hart still has Michigan and Auburn on top. Those two and Alabama are still the main contenders for his services. He's considering multiple Michigan visits this fall, and there's no reason to believe the Wolverines have slipped.
OH WR AJ Jordan plans to trim his list soon ($, info in header). Jordan is probably the hottest prospect on Michigan's board at wide receiver, as most expect him to end up donning the winged helmet. AJ should commit before the season starts, and could join his former teammates (Roy Roundtree et al) in Ann Arbor.
MI WR Willie Snead hasn't been hearing much from Michigan, but is getting attention from... Florida? I wonder if things will pick up with the local schools. If not, he'll slip right of the ol' recruiting board.
Though some Michigan fans have been expecting an early decision from MI OL Anthony Zettel, he tells ESPN that's not going to happen. He's considering a couple official visits, mainly to check out Penn State and Iowa (and maybe UCLA), schools on his favorites list that he hasn't had a chance to see. The Wolverines and Spartans still have a healthy lead on the rest of the field. Zettel seems like one of the many prospects that Michigan should land as long as they start the season strong.
Shoutout to MGoUser JC3 who brought this to my attention: IL OL Chris Bryant recently received a Big Ten offer ($, info in header), and Tom confirmed via Twitter that it was from the Wolverines . He'd been openly campaigning for such an offer, so does that mean he might join Michigan's class? He won't decide for a while, but the Wolverines are probably near the top of his list.
Though this local fluff on VA LB Curtis Grant (pictured at right) doesn't mention Michigan, it does say he's planning to take his time making a decision - and he has interest across the country.
In came Grant, a freshman who had played sparingly up to that point in the season for Richmond-based Hermitage. On the conversion attempt, Highland Springs' quarterback rolled to his right and stopped before attempting to catch Hermitage's defense by surprise with a pass back across the field. Grant batted the pass down to negate the threat.
"I was like 'Wow, the first play we send him in and he makes an impact play'" Kane said. "From then on, he was not afraid of competition. He just went out there and played. That was pretty special for a kid of that age — a ninth-grader coming into a playoff game to replace a senior."
Yay fun anecdote. VolNation doesn't mention a Michigan visit, but I think he's planning to take one in August.
PA CB Kyshoen Jarrett has released a top/final 9, with Michigan, Illinois, MSU, UConn, Penn State, Pitt, Stanford, Virginia, and Wisconsin. He plans to trim again in about a month, and take a few official visits before coming to a decision.
TomVH's weekly update has all the latest news on AZ OL Cyrus Hobbi, FL OL Tony Posada, GA S Avery Walls, and a couple more prospects. Check it out for the news. Speaking of Walls, he comes in for some local fluff. He genuinely enjoyed his Ann Arbor visit, and the coaches will be all over this top safety.
sanctimonious shit Brian, tell him hello for me.
would be a terrible joke of putting the Michigan hat on at his OSU commitment.
But I watched his commitment video and the execution of the joke was actually pretty good and I can't help but like him. I look forward to his contribution to the OSU/U-M rivalry over the next four-five years.
Too bad he picked the wrong school.
Yea, he is truly a comedic genius...
I just imagine there isn't a whole lot of humor at most commitment press conferences, and I thought he pulled it off relatively well.
If you didn't find it funny, fair enough - I'm easily entertained.
I also think that a high school student who already has a grasp on the importance of the OSU/U-M rivalry is bound to be good for the rivalry in the long run.
I would agree if the 'selecting the wrong hat' ploy by a recruit wasn't so over-used. I guess you could say that hat trick is old hat.
Though he picked the wrong hat at the end, and kind of came off as a dick for that, the beginning of the video really moved me. The kid was speaking (not reading from a paper, speaking) for a while about his family and his influences. He was talking about the importance of his sister and father in his life, and his voice seemed emotional and a little shaky.
Though he will be a hated rival soon, he actually seems like a good kid. They'll surely change that fact, but for now, he's alright. Just wish he would've followed through on the academic part of his message instead of picking the bottom of the totem pole in that category.
Hold on there, tiger. The only one who's being dick-ish here is (presumably) an adult who's calling a 16- or 17-year-old a dick for putting on the wrong hat in an attempt at a joke.
There are times where you should let your human decency overrule your fanaticism. This is one of those times.
...at the Freep (print link) reports that Fisher and Posada both appear to be heavy Michigan leans and will likely commit within the next few weeks.
Fisher:
...Fisher earned his offer from Michigan by attending two of the school's camps in June. He also received offers at Cincinnati's and Michigan State’s camps. His other offers are from...Central Michigan, Toledo and Western Michigan.
Fisher said earlier this week that he is close to making his decision — and has one team in mind that he is leaning toward — but will make a visit to Michigan State next week to see if the Spartans can change his mind.
Posada:
Posada earned his first offer of the process from Michigan in February. More than 20 other schools have since joined the Wolverines, but the Tampa native named Michigan his leader following a June unofficial visit to Ann Arbor. Last week, Posada stated that he is leaning heavily toward one school — presumed to be Michigan — and planned to have his decision announced within the next few weeks.
As Tim states, a Florida offer could certainly perturbate Posada's lean.
Anyone know how highly ranked Posada is, or is it just too early for an accurate ranking? Because I saw this blurb when it came out, and it makes it seem like he is ranked super high...but when I did some searching on him, I didn't seem him on the top of any lists. Would he be a big haul (figuratively, not literally), or just a real good one?
...but Posada seems like the kind of guy whose ranking will grow as the year goes on. He's a 3*, #75 OT for Scout and not ranked by Rivals. His teammate at Tampa Plant HS is James Wilder, Jr, son of former Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back James Wilder. Wilder the Younger is a 5* for both services and the #3 overall recruit in the country for Rivals. Posada will get tons of looks as the season progresses because of the attention that Wilder will receive.
Florida is hot on Wilder's trail and has shown increased interest in Posada as well as their teammate, 4*/3* QB Phillip Ely. This UF junior camp report provides some good background.
The fact that Michigan was the first to offer Posada has to work in our favor, but any increased UF interest will be troublesome. Posada did have this to say to TomVH after his late June U-M Camp visit:
The trip was wonderful. It was a thousand times better than what I expected. This puts Michigan in the lead, for sure.
How long that feeling will last is anyone's guess.
Love reading your weekly recruiting posts
I know the "I" and "O" keys are near each other on the keyboard but Tim writes the "Thursday Recruitin" posts, TomVH does his own thing. It's kind of like Superman and Batman.
edit: was not the one that negged you for it
I meant to say Tim and yeah both do wonderful work.
Although his named is spelled quite differently, WolvinLA2 is kind of like Spiderman. FYI.
I'm guessing with Posada, Zettel, and Fisher. We would be done on the offensive line for 2011. Any thoughts on that? Maybe one more?
I think we want 4-5 total since I believe we only have 11 non-senior OL on scholarship so we'd take 1-2 more if possible.
Also, Zettel is beginning to look like more of a DE prospect than an OL. Last I saw, I think his weight is down from the original reports and he has stated his desire to play on D. I would like Hobbi, Bryant, Posada, and Fisher to go along with the Miller commitment. Then add Zettel as DE and say give it a shot, but if he projects better at OL, move him.
Well, it's looking more and more like Zettel wants to play DE (and is pretty good at it since Rivals has him at the #3 SDE in the USA) so even if he commits we might need to add a couple more OL.
We'll probably take 5 or 6 offensive linemen, depending on whether you would consider Zettel an offensive lineman or not. We've got our center (Jack Miller) and I think we'd take a couple guards and a couple tackles. I wouldn't even be opposed to three tackles, since Dorrestein graduates this year and Huyge's done after 2011.
Tom, I saw the we are also in Dallas Crawford's top 2 along with Miami
I know the "I" and "O" keys are near each other on the keyboard but Tim writes the "Thursday Recruitin" posts, TomVH does his own thing. It's kind of like Superman and Batman.
edit: I was the one that negged you for it.
My bad, I'm new here and rightfully deserve the negging. I shall learn from my mistakes
I was just joking - I copied/pasted/edited Huntington Wolverine's response to the same mistake that he had posted about ten minutes prior to my response (except he did not neg the Tim/Tom confusion).
But, as you can see from the negative points I'm racking up elsewhere on this thread, my sense of humor must be a little lacking today.
I thought it was funny.
...then +1'd you because this was pretty dickish but also pretty funny.
lineman in the State of Michigan (Beyer, Zettel, & Fisher), does that mean we're now the #1 program in the state again since we BUILD IN THE TRENCHES and are obviously recruiting the state HARD according to a traditional Big Ten power football strategy?
/s
Great work Tim.
I would like to see a couple of LBs sign on sooner rather than later. While more OL help is always nice, I would like for the next few commits (other than the top guys listed above) to be legit LBs, not converts.
The Top 10, and other recruits of interest (or who might be at some point):...
- 73 OL Bryan Bell
- 74 OL Willie Beavers
Is the interest in Willie Beavers due to his football skills, or just his fantastic name?
either / or?
We must land Willie Beavers.
a funny joke would have been to put crazy glue in ron tanner's michigan hat.
I'm really excited about our offensive line recruiting. I haven't heard much on Miller (aside from he's a "mauler"), but apparently Fisher has a terrific ceiling and could be a great player. Posada plays for a well-known team in Florida, and though he's not ranked he's a solid player.
Plus.. a good start to our season could see Zettel joining the ranks with Bryant later. They may not all be 4 stars, but thats a very solid class.
Thanks Tim.
I didn't see this mentioned here: Miles Shuler apparently has a Michiganless top 10.
Tony,
Come on down.
Florida just had a OT commit today.
http://recruiting.scout.com/a.z?s=73&p=8&c=1&nid=4582434 -players profile
Im guessing Tony will be announcing for Michigan.
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