Today's Steve Wiltfong crystal ball picks

Submitted by AnthonyThomas on

It is late and I figured there are others roaming the board when they should be sleeping/working.

This is not your typical crystal ball thread. Steve Lorenz recently pointed out that Steve Wiltfong (lead writer at 247) is a ballz picker (lol) whose predictions fans should pay attention to. He has many connections in the recruiting circuit, and he also has reason due to employment to only make predictions when he has legit info. He is also the most accurate active predictor on 247's site from what I can gather. 

Today he put in crystal ball picks to Michigan for both Chase Allen (3* TE from Missouri) and Donald Stewart (3* WR from New Jersey, who is Rashan Gary's teammate). Allen visits Ann Arbor on January 15, and Stewart visits on January 22.

 

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Pit2047

January 11th, 2016 at 3:36 AM ^

Because Chesson and Darboh are graduating next year and the 2013 WR class is a bust. Also while I still have faith in Ways and Harris, neither has exactly WOW'd anyone so far and Canteen has moved to corner which accounts for the 2014 class and the 2015 class consists of Perry (a good slot but just a slot) and Cole who is now a safety. That leaves 3 WR's on the roster for 2017 (not including this class which has a couple guys that could play defense or RB) and only one has even halfway decently proved himself a contributor at this point. As far as I'm concerned we need as many WR's as we can get.

Joined: 06/12/2013

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mgobleu

January 11th, 2016 at 9:33 AM ^

Meh. No big deal. We get Asiasi and it's all tight ends, all the time. P.s. we're short on LB's so we're moving all our RB's across the line. Since they've been having trouble finding the holes on offense, stands to reason that they'd be good at plugging them on defense. That then leaves us with room to run 2 FB's so we can run the jumbo-est of jumbo sets, aka, MANBALL.

Joined: 07/02/2008

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Ball Hawk

January 11th, 2016 at 12:53 AM ^

Seems like everytime we narrow down the kids that are most likely to commit, the staff throws out other offers. We needed kids to decommit just to fit the kids that we know of.

Joined: 11/28/2011

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Don

January 11th, 2016 at 12:56 AM ^

We've already got commits from Crawford, Johnson, Mitchell, and Hawkins, and given our needs at other positions, it seems like overkill to get a fifth receiver. The only obvious reason to me would be that the coaches are thinking one or more of these guys (aside from Mitchell) is not going to end up in the class.

Joined: 06/30/2008

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goblue224

January 11th, 2016 at 8:57 AM ^

 idea seems to be that most of the guys will have the skill/ability to play multiple positions. Add in that our last few WR's classes have really not developed like expected. After next year our primary WR's, besides the 2016 class, will be Harris, Ways, and Dukes. None of those guys have really shown anything on the field so far.

Joined: 09/28/2014

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WolverineMaize93

January 11th, 2016 at 12:58 AM ^

But what about Pie Young? We're the favorite to land him and he's a kid the staff really wants. He's a receiver but he could also play special teams and H-back. I just don't see how we're gonna have room for all these other kids. Several players in the class right now won't end up here. We still gotta leave room for Jones, Young, Murphy, and possibly Fuller and Gary. Plus another TE. Gonna be very interesting.

Joined: 11/11/2013

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Go Blue in MN

January 11th, 2016 at 1:38 PM ^

Wanting to pursuade other recruits is generally not a good strategy for preferring one player over another.  Sure, if that's what it took to land Gary, I could be pursuaded that this is an exception, but there's about a 99% chance that where Stewart goes will not change what Gary chooses.

Joined: 09/28/2013

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WolverineMaize93

January 11th, 2016 at 1:01 AM ^

Also why bring Asias in for a visit if we're in such good position for Allen? What if we hit a home run with Asiasi? Do we just say goodbye to Allen...

Joined: 11/11/2013

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ken725

January 11th, 2016 at 1:47 AM ^

We haven't recruited Allen for a that long, but the same goes with almost every other team that has offered him.

According to 247sports his first offer was Nov 19, Michigan offered him on Dec 14th. Earliest mention I see is him taking an unofficial to Nebraska in Sep. and even they were late (Jan 2) to extend an offer to him.

Joined: 10/26/2008

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GoBlueNorth

January 11th, 2016 at 1:09 AM ^

He's been projecting to USC for a long time now. My concern is also that he has officials planned to both Alabama and Michigan on January 22. If he is in fact taking both, that's not much time on campus. Unless he's not taking the Bama visit?

Joined: 06/03/2011

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