Top Performers at Miami Camp & Ballz Movement

The Saturday night Miami camp seems to have been lost in the discussion of the Tampa and PA camps.  There is a nice (free) blurb on 247 on the 5 top performers which include two 2017s and a 2016 QB; one assumes the latter is not applicable to UM but hell who knows at this point with how Harbaugh operates.   Lower on the page some movement on crystal ballz (excluding the 1 guy who has crystal balled 150 people to UM the past 72 hrs).

It is interesting that Devin Bush Jr is not one of the 5 named by 247 analyst Bartow.  (Edit - Looks like Bush didn't attend the camp his dad ran - bummer)  Thomas sounds very interesting and UM is the first P5 offer; a positive to be in early.  Merrell is a similar situation. 

2017 WR Clevan Thomas - It was his show. He's one of the best wide receiver prospects in south Florida in 2017. The guy killed it last Sunday at the loaded Miami 7-on-7 including a lethal one-handed touchdown grab underneath the goalpost. The beat continued in front of the eyes of the Michigan staff. Thomas has burst, ball skills and most of all, that dog, that you need to compete. Temple offered first. Michigan offered second.

2017 RB Jordan Merrell - Brilliant spring evaluation by Cincinnati recruiter Eddie Gran to offer and get a commit from this explosive slot. Good luck hanging onto him. Merrell has that south Florida speed. Something you can only find in paradise. His second move is as fast as his first. He can beat DBs deep with his second and third gear. Look for his stock to explode soon.

2016 DE Terrell Lucas - Has over a dozen verbal offers. Michigan added their name to the list along with Syracuse and Minnesota, among others. Lucas is a prep defensive end that will likely transition to a 3-4 outside linebacker in college. He has a good frame. Takes coaching well. He was outstanding at last week's Alabama camp and was equally good in front of Michigan's staff.

2016 QB Kato Nelson - The best among a small group of QBs. Ideal, wise fit to hop on the Akron offer a few weeks ago, a league that's produced many good QBs over the years. He's one of the nation's best 7-on-7 QBs as he's the dealer for mega power, The Florida Fire. Nelson has a smooth release and tremendous accuracy.

2017 LB Tyler Dunning - Cerebral and gets downhill in a hurry. Slippery pass rusher that's already readymade in terms of inside backer size (6-1, 222). The early 2017 four-star Miami commit is a high character person and a physical presence on the field.

It looks like Harbaugh is very much going to take a barbell approach at least in the 2016 class - the normal guys UM recruits in the top 300 on one end and then a lot of guys way out in the boondocks in terms of recruiting services.  It will be interesting to see if this is a 2016 situation or this is how Harbaugh will be rolling consistently.  By 2017 he will have more typical length of relationships with the players in that class so might not have to 'reach' quite so often - but maybe he will want to.

In terms of crystal ball movement a few items:

• Lucas had 3 guys move him to UM, including Ace and Lorenz.  The 3rd guy is the beforementioned dude who has gone on a crystal ball spree.  UM would be his best offer so the vein of undiscovered (hopefuly) gem.
• Little known safety Josh Mettelus has 5 crystal ballz now to UM.   More on him shortly.
• With Austin Mack headed to OSU, a lot of Rutgers types are crystal balling WR Ahmir Mitchell to UM.  I would like to see Lorenz flip from his OSU call there.  The OSU guy from Land-Grant Holy Land has also not flipped him yet.  But momentum seems to be building.
• With MSU landing two top 100 DEs this weekend, the playing time argument for Khalid Kareem is now better at UM and he was trending our way seemingly even before this weekend but a lot more ballz have hit this weekend for him.  He announced Jun 24th I believe.

We see a strategy forming here.  Harbaugh APPEARS to be building specific pipeline schools both in FL and AL.  Maybe it is just coincidence but there are now 3 Pratville (AL) kids who are commits and Mettelus the safety is from the same HS (Flanagan) as Devin Bush Jr.   And that stud 17 WR that is about to explode on south florida?  Also from Flanagan.   That was also the school that hosted the camp. Flanagan is in Pemrbroke Pines, FL which is not far from St Thomas Aquinas which is a NFL factory and Urban has benefited from big time at both FL and now OSU.  The Miami - Ft Laud area has a plethora of NFL athletes, by far and away the most fruitful concentrated area in the country.

So one theory (mine) is this is about establishing a beachhead.  Some of these offers are surely about the kid but also but the long game.  When you get 2-3 kids out of a school in 1 class the 2017s and 2018s in that school notice.  And then other area kids begin to take it seriously than you can go "up north".   We also have begun doing this with Paramus Catholic in NJ (not all Harbaugh, obviously Hoke started that).  Apparently the PA camp was loaded with Paramus kids including their young class of 2018 QB.  So essentially we are building Cass Tech's throughout the country now.

Fun fact per Nick B - in 6 months Harbaugh has doubled the # of commits from the SEC (6) footprint than Hoke had in 4 years.