Wednesday Recruitin' Comment Count

Tim

Update 8/11: Linked to video on PA DT Sharrif Floyd, articles on CT LB Khairi Fortt (#2, #3), MI CB Dior Mathis, CA CB Joshua Shaw (#2, #3, #4), FL CB Tony Grimes, CA S Dietrich Riley, WI P Will Hagerup, PA CB Cullen Christian, MI WR Commit Jeremy Jackson, TX RB Commit Stephen Hopkins, MD LB Josh Furman. FL RB Eduardo Clements.

Added NY DE Dominique Easley. Rejected from committing to Florida, Michigan is on his 5-school (plus Florida) list. Added FL DE David Perry, at whom Michigan is taking aim ($, info in header).

Local content on commits Devin Gardner and Austin White, along with 2011 WR DeAnthony Arnett.

Josh Helmholdt discusses recent visitors Talbott(s) and Ifill. Moved Terrence Talbott to offered.

Editorial Opinion: Recruiting Board lives here. Slow week.

20090805__st0806sptfortt~01_GalleryInside The Fortt

On top of taking home MVP honors at the Top Gun camp, CT LB Khairi Fortt has pared his list to a top 6, and Michigan is in, along with Penn State (the presumed leader), Georgia (the stated leader), USC, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Fortt has only planned  officials to Penn State and Georgia, and plans to finish his recruitment by the end of September. He does however, say Michigan will be receiving an official visit ($, info in header). He plans to enroll early at his college destination.

Also, need some tips for recruiting him? Have I got the article for you! Fortt prefers laid back coaches and meeting his position coach in person, but not coaches who bother him on Facebook. As noted above, Michigan must have taken good enough notes to get him to commit to an official visit. No public word on the date yet.

All Your Good-Not-Great Running Back Are Belong to Us

FL RB Eduardo Clements has long had Michigan in a top group along with the Miami Hurricanes and Georgia Bulldogs. Georgia may be sliding out of favor with a commitment from GA RB Kendrun Malcome, but Miami was perceived to be the favorite… until now?

Eduardo Clements, a Rivals250 running back from Miami, named Michigan as his leader after a visit to Miami.

Typically, a visit to School X, then naming a leader immediately thereafter means school X is going to be the on top for a recruit. It’s highly encouraging that Clements visited a school that many thought he was favoring and then proclaimed Michigan as his leader. As Ace points out, there’s a still a long way until Clements makes a decision, but it’s better to be in the driver’s seat than anywhere else.

That brings us to RB recruiting, where Michigan already has commitments from Stephen Hopkins, Austin White, and Tony Drake (if he’s not a slot receiver). With lots of needs on defense, can they justify taking a 3rd/4th RB? With a top recruit like Clements, you take the kids and figure out to work out the numbers later, I guess.

I Shot the Sharrif

Yes, Tuesday Recruitin' now features HORRIBLE PUN HEADERS! [Editor's Note: You have to take the bad with the good. Sorry.] Anyway, Rivals AMP talks to PA DT Sharrif Floyd:

 

Contrary to last week's update, he says he will not officially visit Penn State. HOWEVA, that doesn't imply a lack of interest in PSU, just that they're close enough to not waste one of his five slots. Michigan and Ohio State are two schools he definitely wants to see, at least unofficially. The Wolverines still have a puncher's chance in this one. In this interview it even sounds like he has particular interest in Michigan, which is a major upgrade from last week's pessimism.

Whither the Secondary?

At one point, Michigan was the favorite for MI CB Dior Mathis, but now he's got two other schools on top:

Cass Tech star Dior Mathis deciding between MSU, Oregon

That headline is terrible, because it directly contradicts the body of the article, but Mathis does favor those two schools. He rounds out his top four with Michigan and Miami of Florida, and even says "I know I can go to Michigan anytime I want." Mathis's decision timeframe is flexible, as he wants to fit in as many official visits as possible before schools start filling all their spots.

Recent board addition CA CB Joshua Shaw is hearing plenty from Michigan about a potential official visit this fall. He currently has visits planned to Ohio State and Notre Dame for their games against USC, in addition to a midwest swing last weekend (though maybe that was just to Columbus?). He has now named Ohio State his leader ($, info obvious from header).

FL CB Tony Grimes has mentioned Michigan as a favorite in the past, and now he has set up an official visit to Ann Arbor, though he doesn’t mention a date. Also of (relatively minor) note, he says two of his teammates are interested in Michigan. Keep the names Clarence Murphy and Caleb Vincent in mind, though they won’t be added to the board until we see that Michigan is returning their interest.

At safety, California prospect Dietrich Riley has Michigan in his top group, and it sounds like the Wolverines may be in line for an official visit. Though the article is premium, context clues (written by an author from The Wolverine) indicate there's a pretty good chance Riley plans to visit Ann Arbor.

Puntin'

MI P Mike Sadler, who had been not-so-secretly campaigning for a Michigan offer, never received one, and committed to State last Monday. So why did Michigan, in need of a punter for 2010, never give Sadler that honor? It's because of this guy: bilde

Presented above in excessively large fashion is WI P Will Hagerup, who has plenty of other offers, but is assumed to favor Michigan and Ohio State:

“Michigan is definitely one of the schools I am looking really hard at,” Hagerup said. “(Rodriguez) said that with the combination of academics and what the football team is going to accomplish in the next few years, it’s going to be a good place for me.”

Hagerup plans to decide in September, and if his choice is not Michigan, Rich Rodriguez may hit panic mode for a 2010 punter. For now, Hagerup is the #1 and only priority, but Sadler or another option could come back into the picture.

Etc.:

Michigan maintains its lead for PA CB Cullen Christian ($, info in header). MI WR commit Jeremy Jackson is changing HS positions. BUT TO WHAT, JEREMY? [Editor's note: just about has to be TE, no?] (HT: mgoboard member hailtothevictors08). TX RB commit Stephen Hopkins may be the best player in the north DFW area. Josh Furman's official visit will be for the ND game. Talbotts and Brandon Ifill enjoy respective visits, Talbott the CB has now been offered.

Comments

West Texas Blue

August 12th, 2009 at 10:58 AM ^

We've yet to land a blue chip RB under Rod, so I'm hoping that we land Clements. He's too good to turn down. He also has pretty good hands for a RB, much like Austin White. Good fit for our offense.

Bleedin9Blue

August 12th, 2009 at 11:09 AM ^

I keep hearing about how Hopkins is quite a steal and that Texas and Oklahoma were going to offer him in short order. The article that you linked is just more fuel for that fire, hopefully he does become that RB that everyone in the B12 had offered earlier. As I said in the board post about it, I'm glad that Jeremy Jackson is moving to TE, I think that he'll be able to keep a lot of his speed but be bigger. And, since he's the son of a RB coach, I bet that he knows how to block very very well which I think is quite important for a good TE to do. I don't know a lot about Clements, what kind of RB is he? At 5'10" I don't know how much more weight he can put on and keep his speed. Anyone got a good comparison for who he might be like?

Irish

August 12th, 2009 at 1:29 PM ^

Texas and Oklahoma were going to offer? Texas does not really continue to send out offers through the year like other schools do. RB is not really a need for them especially with a good one already committed in Shead and within Sestrunk's top group. Oklahoma had no reason to offer any new RBs either with again 2 good ones that committed not that long after hopkins committed. Maybe I am missing something.

Bleedin9Blue

August 12th, 2009 at 3:45 PM ^

Well, I looked around the interwebs to find a link for what I was basing this on. I couldn't find it. So, I thought maybe I was thinking of Tony Drake but I couldn't find a link confirming my memory either. Maybe I'm just misremembering something. If so, oops. If not... well I don't think it really matters; he'll be whatever he turns out to be regardless of if he had a sheet of paper from Texas or Oklahoma saying he could go there.

Rush N Attack

August 12th, 2009 at 11:22 AM ^

I watched replays of the Booker T. vs Miami Northwestern, and St. Aquinas vs Deerfield Beach games (on one of those Fox Sports regional channels). If it comes down to it, I'm quite sure RR will find a way to squeeze Eduardo Clements into this class.

bleednblue

August 12th, 2009 at 12:21 PM ^

and follow high school football pretty closely. Clements is currently regarded as one of the top 3 running backs in the state in most circles and publications down here. He would be a huuuuge get. Put it like this, Marvin Robinson is not ranked as highly amongst FL safteys as Clemenets is amongst RBs. The major recruiting sites might not agree, but I would rather hear what the people who are closer to the situation/player think, personally. Same with Grimes, he's a very highly respected player here as well. It would be great to see RR snag both of these guys.

Rush N Attack

August 12th, 2009 at 2:08 PM ^

the announcers during the Aquinas game noted that Duron Carter was a huge Michigan fan growing up, which I thought was kind of sweet. (I think a poster here has already pointed this out). And the amount of D1 talent on display in those two games was sick.

casmooth

August 12th, 2009 at 11:23 AM ^

This kid's comments are rubbing me the wrong way. Doesn't sounds like the type of kid I want wearing maize and blue. " know I can go to Michigan anytime I want." He seems kind of full of himself and not very humble. What are your thoughts? I know he's a teenager and all...

TIMMMAAY

August 12th, 2009 at 11:49 AM ^

W/ the new absorbing of VB by MGoBlog, I think the new tagline should be: MGoBlog; All your blog are belong to us. or, All your interwebs are belong to us

SonoAzzurro

August 12th, 2009 at 11:57 AM ^

Do we drop one of the current RB commits, or will Austin White move to safety? If I'm not mistaken, he performed really well at that position at one camp down in Ohio few months ago. Recruiting will be interesting to follow all the way to signing day it appears.

mgovictors23

August 12th, 2009 at 12:37 PM ^

It would be awesome to get Clements because he would be our best running back in the class. If we do get him we would probally move Drake to slot receiver which I don't mind. I also hear that Hopkins looks like a steal so we could potentially have a very good class of running backs.

Tater

August 12th, 2009 at 1:11 PM ^

WTF could Randy Shannon have possibly done to make someone from Booker T Washington lower Miami on his list? Down here, the belief is that Miami is still a team with one big clique on it which indludes mostly the Booker T and Northwestern players. Miami's reputation down here is that they pretty much have a fence around both of those schools, that they lead a South Florida clique, and that the clique pretty much runs the team. The clique supposedly "freezes out" players from other areas often. Shannon would have to monumentally screw up a visit to make a player from Booker T change his "lean." Whatever he did, though, I hope it works out in Michigan's favor.

Irish

August 12th, 2009 at 1:34 PM ^

Shaw originally planned to visit ND and OSU in the same few days but later said that he could only do one of the two and ended up going to OSU since he had already visited ND previously. I never saw anything about him taking a tour of the midwest, or ever mentioning anything on visiting PSU or UM.