Florida offers MI ATH Valdez Showers
Just wanted to pass along that athlete and Michigan target Valdez Showers now has a Florida offer. That should up his standing recruiting-wise, though hopefully it doesn't come at the expense of his interest in U-M.
The only problem with Showers is that he plays a position(s) where Michigan doesn't need much more help. We have a lot of depth at DB, slot, and RB (although not much experience). If he were the same caliber player but a DT or OL, he'd probably have been offered by now.
Do we really have a lot of depth at DB? It seems like there's still a lot of room in the secondary since Dorsey isn't here and by 2011 Woolfolk wont be back there either. I havent done the research but I'm surprised to hear this as I thought it was mostly young unproven guys or relatively recent position switchers we had back there (except for Woolfolk).
At corner, we have Woolfolk, Rogers, Floyd, Turner, Avery, Christian, Talbott, Brown, and Hollowell (the last two are 2011 commits). That's 7 corners who will still be on the roster when Showers would arrive.
At safety, we have the two Gordons, Kovacs, Vinopal, Marvin Robinson, Hawthorne, Carvin Johnson, Emilien, Teric Jones, Mike Williams, and potentially Furman. All 11 of those guys would still be on campus when Showers would arrive.
Note: There might be some fluidity, such as Jones playing corner, Turner playing safety, etc. But those are the numbers I come up with off the top of my head.
...most of it is unproven. If Showers is a 4- or 5-star guy, we must go after him...hard.
In the NFL draft, some teams always seem to follow the Needs come first philosophy, while others follow the idea of taking the highest ranked player. It seems that teams rebuilding take the highest ranked player more, while teams that are doing well draft for need.
Unfortunately, we won't know for sure whether we're rebuilding still or doing well till after the season starts. So honestly, I feel like we'd have to be DARN sure we want him to further clog the defensive backfield, because there's no way to know if we NEED him.
Currently he is rated the #30 CB by Rivals, a high 3-star (5.7).
Scout has him the #26 CB, also a 3-star (#19 is the last 4-star).
ESPN has him as the #60 ATH, with a 78 rating (3 stars).
FWIW, here's where he's ranked in Michigan:
http://rivals.yahoo.com/footballrecruiting/football/recruiting/rankings…
I wonder exactly how he caught the attention of Florida and Auburn?
he sent them recruiting film
I thought the prevailing opinion was that if we got Valdez, either him or Greg Brown would move to FS - a position where we have position swithcer Cam Gordon, Vlad who may never get past a knee injury, and 2-star Vinopal. All of those guys have the potential to be stars, but none of them are sure things.
Are you suggesting we don't recruit another DB in this class? We know we don't need another big safety for the spur/bandit spots (I agree that position is quite full), but it seems as though we're looking to pick up another CB/FS type guy in this class. If Showers is good enough for Auburn and Florida, not to mention Wisco, Iowa and MSU, I say he's a pretty good option.
Perhaps that's the prevailing opinion, but I haven't got wind of it. If you were to ask me (and you did...sort of), I'd say that Greg Brown is limited to playing corner. I don't think he's a FS. Showers has more versatility.
I think we will continue to recruit defensive backs, but I don't know that we'll mess with many more so-so guys.
First of all - I always want your opinion. Especially if I'm replying to your post.
So let's say Brown is a CB and Showers is a FS. Since we don't have any FS's in this class, and last year we only brought in one (Vinopal), do you think VS would be a good addition to the class, or is there someone else at that spot that you like better and is likely/possible to come here?
Avery Walls is a guy that comes to mind. He's not extremely likely, but there's a chance.
I don't think Showers would be a bad addition to the class. I'd rather have him than one or two of the guys we currently have committed. But seeing as we'll have a small class and we have huge needs on the OL and at LB, I'd be inclined to use that slot for another position rather than DB.
I definitely agree with you that OL and LB should be our biggest priorities (OL first, if we're ranking among those two), but now that Kinard and Dorsey are out, it opens up spots to add one more guy somewhere we may not have taken. Since both of those guys are defenders, it makes sense to add another defender, rather than give Kinard or Dorsey's spot to a RB or a slot or something.
I definitely don't think we take 4 DB's, but taking 3, if one can play FS, is about what I think this class should have.
I don't know if Dorsey/Kinard necessarily give us extra scholarships. That depends on whether walk-ons get them (Kovacs? Leach?). I'm thinking Rodriguez might have oversigned with the expectation that these guys wouldn't qualify.
I agree that we might get an extra player or two, but like I said, we have 18 defensive backs on the roster for 2011. I'd prefer to throw a shitload of offers at linebackers and offensive linemen. As far as I'm concerned, we can't get too many of either position in this class.
There is depth, but they are all unproven. Many of those players will be gone. Also, many of those safeties you list could play the hybrid roles. So, including the hybrids, there are 6 starting positions available and we have 11 people to fill them (maybe some others not included). That screams depth issues to me. And, again, who knows how good any of these kids are since 50% of them haven't even stepped a foot on the UM grounds.
There are 2 cornerback spots and 3 safety spots. That's 5 positions.
Of those players I listed, there will be eighteen (18!) defensive backs still on the roster when Showers would arrive - 7 corners, 11 safeties.
That doesn't scream "depth issues" at defensive back. That screams "We have no linebackers!" and "We have no offensive linemen!"
I tried to edit my previous comment, but I meant to say "Valdez Showers would have been offered earlier," not "by now." He received an offer a couple weeks ago.
Honestly though, I don't get it. Depth or not, if he's a solid athlete that can help our team, the fact that he's a local boy should give him an extra look. I'm not saying that makes him a lock for the offer, but half of Dantonio's recruiting pitch is that Michigan doesn't like kids from Michigan anymore. Locking down a talented player would do wonders to shut Sparty up.
..."do wonders to shut Sparty up." Come on, you know better than that. It doesn't matter if you're bigger, stronger, faster, have the hotter g/f/wife, the better job, the most x, y and z little brother is always going to talk crap. As it is now their crap is only 1% based on reality, should we land the top in state talent it would drop to .75% but don't think that dear little brother is ever going to shut up ;)
being a pretentious asshole has anything to do with it, do you?
Yes, we all know that it's darn hard to find a Spartan that isn't an annoying walking inferiority complex, but when you go around saying that you have a better job, hotter wife, more of this and that... that's not helping anything. That's just you being a douchenozzle.
Nobody CARES about your stuff.
I think what Bigmc was trying to say was that even if Michigan one upped Sparty in every imaginable catagory, MSU fans would still talk sheet.
I don't think he was actually implying that his life was better than anyone else's.
That's what I was going after
very bad joke
I have an interview set up with him shortly here. I'll have it up today, or tomorrow.
Did you happen to mention the negbang as a possible recruiting tool??
With Justin Turner apparently headed for safety (or maybe just bust territory) and Dorsey heading to Louisville, Michigan desperately needs lockdown corners and some speed in the defensive backfield. And preferably a guy who is not 5'8". This guy Showers seems like he would be a great pickup.
a) I wouldn't call Showers a lockdown corner.
b) I might not even call him a corner, period. He looks more like a safety to me.
I feel like there's a bad "oil spill" joke in there somewhere, but I won't go there.
You just did ....
Did anyone else mentally add "with the Florida cheerleaders" to the title? I'm rather disappointed to find that this isn't some new recruiting semi-scandal out of SEC country.