Wednesday Recruitin' Comment Count

Tim

As always, the running log of updates can be found on the Michigan Football Recruiting Board. The technology is acting wonky, so make sure you log in on that page to see the most recent version.

Headlinin'

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AR QB Kiehl Frazier (pictured at right) has an outstanding website on which he claims a Michigan offer. He also reports offers from the likes of Auburn, Florida, Notre Dame, West Virginia, and Texas Tech, to go along with interest from Alabama, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Ohio State. Basically what I'm trying to say is this guy will be a heavily, heavily recruited guy. The site also features a highlight video, in which he looks like a Black Righty Tebow. Michigan is often one of the schools he mentions first among his scholarship offers:

"I have 22 offers," Frazier said. "They are coming from everywhere. LSU, Arkansas, Florida, UCLA, Michigan, Nebraska -- there are just too many to try and name.

He says he wants to play in a pro-style offense to prepare him for the next level, but is open to playing in a spread.

A likely-irrelevant note on FL TE Nick O'Leary. The kid's also a star lacrosse player in high school (and it should come as no surprise that I like this). Of course, it's highly unlikely Michigan lands him for a number of reasons. He has options like Ohio State (where his grandfather, Jack Nicklaus, might have played golf or something) for football and national powers like Maryland and Cornell for lacrosse.

AZ OL Andre Yruretagoyena has received an offer to play in the Under Armour All-American Game, further evidence (on top of his recent USC offer) that his recruitment is blowing up. His former teammates Craig Roh and Taylor Lewan both played in the game two years ago.

"If you watch his highlight tape, he is nasty on the field," Chaparral coach Charlie Ragle said. "He dominates. He can run. He's fast and he's nasty."

Michigan has the advantage of a couple former Firebirds on the roster (and for Craig Roh, excelling as a freshman starter).

OH DT Kevin Williams will make his college decision in the first week of May.

"I leave [Monday] for Wisconsin," Williams said. "I'll be there until Wednesday. I'll watch spring practice. I'm thinking about visiting Illinois later this week. I'll either do that or visit Michigan State on Thursday or Friday."

Williams also plans to attend Nebraska's spring game on April 17. "I'll be there for three days," Williams said. "And I might show up at Michigan one more time."

If he takes the bonus visit to Ann Arbor, Michigan would be considered the team to beat. Otherwise, it's a Nebraska-Michigan battle.

MD DT Darian Cooper has received an offer from Michigan, he tells Tom. He also has a friend with Michigan ties, potentially giving the Wolverines a boost. His junior highlight video:

MI DE Brennen Beyer has long been considered something of a Michigan lean, and Sam Webb gives him double coverage on GBW, talking to his coach:

“He has got a motor that does not quit. He just keeps on coming at you. He has got great arm length. He’s really worked on his explosiveness in the weight room with power cleans and the parallel squat and all the stuff we do in the weight room. Probably his greatest thing is his quickness and his motor.”

...and The Detroit News, where Allen Trieu of Scout.com says he'll be a top-100 prospect in the 2011 class, and Beyer himself says:

"I still like Michigan a lot," Beyer said. "But I'm really looking hard at Michigan and Notre Dame right now."

"I guess just when I feel like I've been to the college I want to go to, and I'm 100 percent sure that it is the right place, I'll commit."

Beyer plans to return to Ann Arbor for Michigan's spring game on April 17th. His remaining visit schedule has yet to be determined.

Despite overtures from Notre Dame, I think Michigan is still considered the favorite. His spring game visit could be a potential commitment time for Beyer.

VA LB Curtis Grant, who holds a Michigan offer, will trim his list to 10 by the beginning of the season, but won't announce his final decision until Signing Day.

Visits

NC LB Kris Frost has declared Michigan has favorite, and said he'd visit for Michigan's spring game, but the latter is no longer the case. He told Tom that he waited too long to buy plane tickets, and can't afford to make it to Ann Arbor on April 17th. He'll instead attend Auburn's spring game, but only as a backup plan. He recently took a "fantastic" visit to the Plains ($, info in header), so the more times he visits, the less he looks like Michigan leads.

Message board posts are always a potentially-risky source for recruiting info, but someone purporting to be a family member of NJ Ath/Slot Miles Shuler says he'll be visiting Ann Arbor for the spring game. He is also a very fast dude.

According to Top Prospect Sports (née Michigan Sports Zone), NY LB Antoine Pozniak will visit Ann Arbor for the Michigan Spring Game. He recently visited LSU, but did not come away with an offer from Les Miles. He was originally a class of 2010 prospect, but will enroll at The Hun School in New Jersey (or Oak Ridge Military Academy in North Carolina, if you ask Rivals) for a postgrad year.

OH DB Charles Perdue (from Youngstown Liberty High School, alma mater of Isaiah Bell, Fitzgerald Toussaint, and Antonio Kinard) plans to make it in for the Michigan spring game. I hadn't heard of Perdue until this news, so I'd be surprised if he's offer-worthy.

I'll spend a lot of time in next week's update covering Spring Game visitors, but for now, you can check out Tom's constantly-updating diary, running down some of the kids who plan to be in town.

FL DE Anthony Chickillo has a Michigan offer, and hopes to take a visit to Ann Arbor (along with "as many schools as I can" before he makes a decision.

MI LB Terrell Porter apparently excelled at the BadgerSports 7-on-7 at Glick Fieldhouse a few weeks ago ($, info in header, video in article), and now he plans to take an unofficial visit to Michigan ($, info in header).

OH CB Doran Grant will visit Ann Arbor this week ($, info in header). Michigan is in the top 7 for his services ($, info in header).

Job Security And Recruiting

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FL RB Andrew Buie (pictured at right) talked to the Jacksonville Times-Union about what he's looking for in a school, and the answer should sound familiar to Michigan fans by this point:

The main priority for me in looking at a school is the stability of the program. I realize anything can happen, but I really want to go to a program where there won't be a coaching change.

This sentiment is almost certainly aimed at Michigan and Rich Rodriguez. Negative recruiting and a general air of Freepiness around Ann Arbor has given several recruits reason to think that Coach Rod will not be around after the 2010 season.

We all know FL RB Demetrius Hart has heard a lot of this, which has put his recruitment into something of a whirlwind, and MI RB Justice Hayes has told WTKA's Sam Webb that he would have committed to Michigan (audio) by now had the Wolverines had success on the field the past two years, and there was no need to worry about Rich Rodriguez's job security.

So what is there to do? Despite lacking success the past couple years on the field, Michigan has been able to pull in well-regarded recruiting hauls. Winning on the field this season will show that MIchigan is a place that recruits can come if they want to compete for Big Ten and national titles, and remove any doubt that Rich Rodriguez's job is safe, since apparently Dave Brandon saying, "Rich Rodriguez is the coach of the University of Michigan football team. He's our coach, he's my coach, he should be everybody's coach" (audio) is not enough to prove that.

Speaking of Hart, he and his teammate, FL S Ha'Sean Clinton-Dix, recently visited Alabama. Though Clinton-Dix has said it will be nearly impossible for anyone to top Alabama on his list, neither prospect committed to the Tide - yet ($, info in header). Clinton-Dix could decide "at any time."

But before everyone starts getting their hopes up, there is still at least one more thing to consider.

"April 12, Michigan," Hart replied to what his next plans are. So he'll add another chapter with a trip to Ann Arbor, where he already has a good friend and former Dr. Phillips teammate Ricardo Miller on the Wolverines' roster...

Hart actually was very very close to committing to the Wolverines at the end of this past season, but then decided to hold off while he started to take unofficial campus visits. Each school he has seen has had an impact on his considerations. He's been to Florida, Florida State, USF and of course Auburn and Alabama.

If that visit date is accurate, it would mean a week-long visit to Ann Arbor, since the 12th is Monday, and the Spring Game isn't until Saturday (1PM, Michigan Stadium).

Etc.

Bill Kurelic runs down the top 5 prospects in the state of Michigan (Thomas-Arnett-Hayes-Beyer-Miller), and continues to spread the (false) notion that MI RB Onaje Miller had a Michigan offer at the time of his MSU commitment. SC DE Deon Lee is "hearing from" Michigan, as is SC LB Myles Jackson. FL OL Zach DeBell, who holds a Michigan offer, will decide during his senior season. Fluff on PA DE Shawn Oakman. PA LB Ben Kline wants to decide before (or early in) his senior season. Elite Scouting Services runs down the top 100 in Florida. Happy Trails to AZ OL Christian Westerman, who committed to Texas.

Comments

MGOARMY

April 7th, 2010 at 12:01 PM ^

I'm glad D Hart is going to stay for a week, that's plenty of time for ricardo to sway him to be a wolverine. Hopefully after seeing a week of Michigan practices he'll believe RR will be here for the long haul.

Don

April 7th, 2010 at 12:23 PM ^

Brandon has been forthright in stating that RR is the coach now, for 2010, but unless I've missed it, I don't believe he has unequivocally said that RR will be the coach in 2011 and beyond, and that is what recruits are concerned with. In the statements I've read, Brandon has been very careful to avoid making an explicit commitment to RR beyond 2010. Perhaps Brandon may not want to verbally commit to keeping RR beyond 2010, given the troubles of the last two seasons, but unless and until he issues a statement to that effect, a portion of the recruiting targets are going to wonder.

UMMAN83

April 7th, 2010 at 12:38 PM ^

Yes, I believe this is putting some doubt in recruits minds. However, the fact is, the time is now. RR needs to produce this year with still a very young team in many areas. The wrong decision would be to start over again after 3 years. I think Brandon understands this but gotta keep the heat on RR & Staff. Do I think RR will be here in 2011 ... absolutely. I hope recruits significantly factor in other aspects of a choice to attend & graduate from The University of Michigan. It not just about the FB coach. Go Blue!

WolvinLA2

April 7th, 2010 at 12:49 PM ^

To be completely honest: If we have one bad recruiting class - so what? Our last 2 classes were both strong, and this class is going to be small either way. As long as we have a good season this fall, the next class will be strong as well. So if all the stability concerns with recruits leaves us with a class outside of the Rivals top 25...big deal. We have a ton of young talent right now, so we don't need too many guys to come in and play for a while. As long as we pick-up a few good OL and a NT, we're in good shape. If we suck again this fall, then we have much bigger problem than recruiting. But if we win, RR will be back to being one of the hottest coaches at one of the biggest name programs in the country. Maybe that's soon enough to finish this class out strong, or maybe it means we wait until 2012 and haul 'em in. Either way, I think we're in good shape.

Magnus

April 7th, 2010 at 1:41 PM ^

Rankings-wise, the class of 2010 wasn't that great. When put in the context of following 2 straight losing seasons, Rodriguez did a good job. But it was a subpar class compared to what Michigan usually gets. Also, as someone else said below, the last two classes haven't produced much in the way of proven talent. Off the top of my head, only Forcier and Roh seem to be surefire solid players. Denard is a question mark since his position is somewhat up in the air, but even if he beats out Forcier for the QB job, that basically negates Forcier's talent. So...we have a quarterback and a defensive end who have proven to be good players. For all we know, everyone else could suck.

WolvinLA2

April 7th, 2010 at 3:50 PM ^

In reply to you and Don - of course they aren't proven yet. Half of them either aren't on campus yet or have been for a couple months (and haven't had a chance to play in a game even if they were superstars) and the other half were true freshman last fall. Roh and Tate were the only ones who shined because they happened to play a position where we didn't have a good option ahead of them. I think you can probably put Will Campbell and Vincent Smith in that group though. Outside of guys who have proven their worth on the field, there have been a number of others who have shown in practice (sure, practice means nothing) that they have plenty of promise for a RS frosh (Cam Gordon, Fitz, Isaiah Bell, Gallon, all of the OL) and it wasn't even that big of a class. I'm not saying we give up on recruiting this fall, but we've done a good job (maybe not compared to M historically, but compared to most of the teams we play) filling needs over the last 2 classes. Had that not been the case, I'd be much more worried about this next class than I currently am.

Don

April 7th, 2010 at 1:03 PM ^

It's more accurate to say that we have a ton of young "talent" that is almost completely unproven right now, a good percentage of which has yet to even see the field in a Michigan uniform. I don't think that we've proven to be beyond the necessity of having standout recruiting classes each year.

imafreak1

April 7th, 2010 at 1:13 PM ^

It is obvious that Michigan has struggled since RR has taken over. It is evident that if such struggles continue, at some point, RR will be fired. RR is already 2 bad seasons deep into losing his job. He's up 2 bad seasons on a coach in a 'stable' program. These are facts that clear for anyone paying attention to see. Nothing Brandon or anyone can say will change reality. Only winning will create a new reality.

burntorange wi…

April 7th, 2010 at 1:21 PM ^

he listed his top 2 schools right now as LSU and Nebraska about a week ago(dont remember seeing anything, just updating u guys) hate to be the bearer of more bad news but arnett is visiting ND today.

PhillipFulmersPants

April 7th, 2010 at 1:30 PM ^

for any recruit committing to a program given the average tenure of a head coach these days. Andy Staples from SI a couple months ago: "For the 120 sitting head coaches in the FBS, the average tenure of the current head coach at his school is 3.9 seasons, while the median is two." http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/andy_staples/01/19/coache… Wildly successful coaches are probably as likely to be iffy long term as coaches who are struggling. Perhaps the only assurance a coach will be around for 3-4 years is for a recruit to come in as the coach gets the nod, and even this is no guaruntee.

aaamichfan

April 7th, 2010 at 2:57 PM ^

-I would love to have Kiehl Frazier on the team, but it's tough for me to imagine a top rated QB looking at our depth chart and saying, "Yeah, that's the right situation for me." -Hopefully there is nasty weather for the Nebraska spring game. -According to the linked article, Deon Lee is from FL, not SC.

ToledoWolverine

April 7th, 2010 at 4:30 PM ^

I hate me some Bill Kurelic. My ESPN Insider membership finally expired, so I don't have to subject myself to his BS anymore. What an M hater. Stick with Bucknuts, Bill, you peckerhead.

mgovictors23

April 7th, 2010 at 4:42 PM ^

The best case scenario would be we sway Hart to be a Wolverine sometime soon and he could sway Hasean Clinton-Dix after. Really, if we end up getting a bad class it won't be too bad because it's going to be a small class anyways. Hopefully this season we show everyone that we are coming back and we finish off the recruiting class strong.

uminks

April 7th, 2010 at 6:05 PM ^

RR has a great season and we win 8 or more games. If so, RR will probably get a contract extension and we should do well recruiting early in 2011. If we go .500 or less, my thoughts would be to give RR at least one more season...though recruiting will suffer as our competition will tell recruits that RR days are numbered. I bet competing coaches are already out there telling kids that RR days are numbered.