Sam Webb Gut Feeling on 4* OT Jalen Mayfield & Further Tidbits
This probably doesn't need to be said, but Sam Webb dropped a "gut feeling" on 4* OT Jalen Mayfield out of Grand Rapids Catholic Central this morning on WTKA The Michigan Insider. Commitment time again is 7PM Eastern this evening.
Originally committed to Minnesota before decommitting after a Michigan offer.
6'5" 255lbs may seem small, but Sam mentions other guys with similar measurables and similar athleticism from past years....
Taylor Lewan
Michael Schofield
Jake Fisher (Oregon OT who Greg Fry originally found and locked a commitment for Michigan before the staff got fired)
Jason Spriggs (Indiana)
All early round draft picks. All pros. All around 255 lbs coming into senior year.
The staff is not worried about his size, and neither should you. There's a reason why he's a 4* OT despite being only 255 lbs. Obviously only time will tell, but the ceiling could be an early round NFL draft pick based off what scouts and others have said. Something to be excited about.
I've been a little non-existent lately with my recruiting updates as I've been focusing on the new addition to our family as well as growing my business. The class is smaller so there should be less 2018 news to follow compared to prior years, but I will do my best to throw out good info when I hear it from Sam.
Have a blessed day.
Yep. Me likey tackles with the build of Mayfield.
Jon Jansen
Newsome was rounding into shape last year before he got hurt. Magnuson was alright (our seniors last year may have been hampered by too much coaching before Drevno got here).
Also, as the run game coordinator and OC he was wearing too many hats. They took one of those off him, and also let him focus on the interior line.
For recruiting we lost that kid late to Stanford for the 2016 class. That hurt, but doesn't appear to be Drevno's fault. This year's OT class looks pretty good.
Really like the idea of him and Ryan Hayes in this class.
MAGNUS - your thoughts on both?
I had Hayes as the #3 player in the state, and Mayfield probably would be #6. Both of them are good prospects, and I think they fit really well with what Frey has developed before. I don't think either one is quite as good as Taylor Lewan (mentioned in the OP), but that's a pretty high bar.
There were talks of Hayes starting out as a TE and then transitioning to tackle if he were to come to Michigan. How is Hayes as a TE prospect?
He's an A.J. Williams type as a tight end - pretty much a blocker, and that's it. I think Hayes could be a decent tackle, so I think he's better than Williams. But he's just not very athletic for a Big Ten tight end.
Me wants:
Daniel Faalele at LT
Jalen Mayfield at RT
Ryan Hayes at TE with a chance to build up into an OT.
should've played OT at Michigan. Wasn't he higher rated as a tackle out of high school? I don't see Mayfield playing TE. I think people are saying that because he's only 255 right now. But by the time he gets to UM he could easily be 265-270. Give him a redshirt year and by his RS Freshman season he'll be 295lbs.
No one is saying Mayfield is playing TE. Hayes currently plays TE and there was talk of him coming in as a blocking TE and moving to OL once he put weight on. Everyone is confident Mayfield is a tackle.
Do you have a link to this in-state ranking on your site?
I've only done a top 5 so far.
http://touch-the-banner.com/preview-2018-state-recruiting-1-5/
Would you change those at all today?
Mayfield was only on my peripheral radar, because his recruitment didn't take off until relatively late. (EDIT: What I mean by that is I was tracking his offers, but I hadn't really watched his film yet.) I would probably move him up to #5 and drop Whittaker if I were re-doing the list today. I think that would be my only change in the top 5.
To avoid confusion, I did a ranking #1-5 and Mayfield would have been #6 if I had finished the next post. But if I were re-doing the rankings now a couple months later, Mayfield would be #5 with Whittaker dropping out of that top group.
Yeah, I don't think anyone should plan on him becoming Taylor Lewan, but I think the possibility is there. As one individual noted below, he has that tenacity and "dawg" (Sam's word) that should give him that drive to succeed and destroy fools. Not to mention you have the whole elite coaching staff thing going for you, so chances are strong that he could meet his full potential.
I looked up Lewan's 247 composite score, and he was around 150 overall at 270 lbs.
plus 1 for "destroy fools".
Top three are Hutchinson, Hayes and Mayfield with gervin fourth who I believe Harbaugh passed on. Mccall was also a pass and not just by Michigan, hence Kentucky. I like all our db recruits better than Gervin. Love Sims and think he is underrated and that is why he is the "spider".
Why do you think we aren't recruiting Gervin?
It's been mentioned a few times that the staff may not be going after him because of his size. They seem to like recruiting bigger corners, which is also the way the NFL is trending.
Sam Webb also specifically mentioned how much he liked Mayfield's on-field tenacity and aggressiveness. That combined with his athleticism, gives him a high upside.
In your post, you try to calm our nerves about his measurables. I don't know about anyone else, but I wasn't worried about his measurables until reading your post. Nice job, asshole!
Thanks!
You're the kind of guy that tells his friend, "hey, you've got a weird looking mole on your back. OK, see you later!" aren't you??? ;-)
No I would be the one to laugh at the mole and not say anything but make sure my friend knew something was wrong with him. If he blew it off, I'd laugh louder. I like to make people feel uncomfortable just before the point of anger.
when he lines these guys up it pisses him off if they don't turn and run, he will make a great tackle one day I am sure with another "good" 50 lbs
I'm not worried about Mayfield's and Haye's respective weights. The most recent two classes brought in several linemen that are college-ready in terms of weight (although it is not all "good" weight, to be sure). These two young men will have plenty of time to put the pounds on before seeing the field.
The kid hasn't even finished his Junior year of High School yet, so i would assume he could easily put on another 20-30 lbs before even hitting a college S&C program.
Shoot, I can probably add that much in two weeks eating tacos and pie.
Him and Hayes will both be over 270 before fall practice starts. Lift weights and nutrition over the summer. Simple.
247 actually has him rated as the 86th recruit in the nation and the #1 recruit in the state. His composite though is 310 in the nation and 6th in the state
Jalen has recently gotten a huge boost in the ratings since his showing at a Midwest camp. Went from like an 83-85 rating score to a near 90. 3 to a 4 star. I assume his weight is holding down his rating a lot. If he committs to us like its looking like is going to happen then we might have a real gem here once he bulks up
Sidenote: I was reading Jalens tweets about a month ago and in one of em he tweeted he was excited about something to do with his Michigan offer. In the replies a Michigan fan actually told him "Please dont come here. We dont want to waste a spot on you".That shit pissed me off
... Sounds like a butthurt Sparty if you ask me.
Even as someone active on Twitter, I will never understand what drives people to say some of the things they say to kids in conversations around recruiting. My only guess is that such people o not care how it makes the school for which they cheer look, they simply do it because it's easy to do from the comfort of mom's basement, like a lot of things on social media.
I would venture to guess a lot of the twitter comments directed to recruits are from other kids.
When a 40 year old man does it, it's especially lame and kinda creepy. When a tenager does it, that's mosty being young & dumb.
Nah it was a Michigan fan. I checked his profile because I too thought he was just like some fan from another team trying to trick recruits and make UM look bad.
He was just a scummy fan. Reminded me of the guy who freaked out on Isaiah Wilsons mom when Wilson chose Georgia over us
Ya I think sometimes they bump up the kids with the college ready size, but the thing is he is allready dominating at these camps with his current size and that is the reason for the bump. Some of the sites don't even look at other camps. He will bump up plenty if he dominates his senior year which we know he will. He definitely got on Harbaughs radar and he is starting to get on everyone elses. Michigan passing on the highest rated o-lineman in the state and making Mayfield and Hayes a take speaks volumes. I am really excited to watch them progress. I also like the fact that they are moving up the ranks and that is way after Michigan offered which shows it is based off of scouting.
"Gut feeling". Really, everyone and his brother knows he is going to Michigan. Hey before sam webb says it I have a gut feeling Ryan Hayes is going to choose Michigan.
Sam's "gut" refers to the info he has from sources on the team, not any actual hunch. He is usually pretty forthright if he isn't sure e.g. I believe he said he was as close to a gut feeling as he could be with Aubrey Soloman committing but I'm not sure he ever went farther than that since there was some doubt up til the end.
is this really a bold prediction?
Gut feel = confirmation from all sides it's a done deal
close to a gut feel = missing confirmation from at least one piece to go full gut feel
it just speaks to the level of confirmation he is able to get, not based on level of confidence