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Date Title Body
I will I will

Technically it starts today at 4. Last night was just a holdover in some random hotel.

Yes

I plan on adding some detail and insight to each name on the list when I get back. It was late and I was in a hotel room with horrible wifi so the plain list was all I was going to do.

No

I didn't have an in-depth conversation. I was really just getting a quick yes or no about the BBQ and then would ask a follow up or two depending on the response and the recruit.

I know that's the buzz

I talked to him today and he said that he and his family weren't sure what their plans are. I think he'll be there and I think he'll be Blue when he announces on August 29th.

Lawrence Cager

Big kid. 6-5, 210 lbs. He's another Boykin/Funchess type.



I hope to talk to him today.



http://247sports.com/Player/Lawrence-Cager-25877

Ok

I can get on board with that. I've heard several different totals but it's all up in the air anyway until attrition is final.

July 27th

That's what Mook Reynolds told me yesterday so that's what I'm going with.

It wasn't meant that way

He originally planned on announcing on TV while there so he was basically letting them know that he wasn't doing it. Probably a schedule issue more than anything.

It's not a tease

When recruits come in for visits they always wear a jersey with their high school number on it. Mack wears #1 in high school so when he visited he put that number on. Drake Harris did the same thing.

Combination of things

I'd love to be able to do one on every kid that gets offered. Doing this in a part-time capacity doesn't really allow for that though. I try to reach out to each offered prospect. I'll usually try to email their coach, message them on Facebook, or simply follow them on Twitter, in which case they usually follow back. Then I'll ask them a few questions about their recruitment and go from there.

Obviously the more "likely" they are to choose Michigan, the more interested readers are so I try to identify who those prospects are and get something on the site about them. 

I've always been in the mindset that the more content, the better. I know Michigan won't get every player they offer, but to me all of it is interesting. We will see these kids on TV someday playing big time football so it's cool to hear from them at the beginning of it all. 

Nah

Not a waste of time. I know going in that Michigan won't land most of who they offer, but I still want to make contact with as many as I can and get their input on how their recruitment is going. It comes with the territory.

Not sure

That is probably an area of my coverage I need to improve upon. Once a kid commits, I don't contact them much anymore, even though a lot of times they can have good information. Sometimes I feel like it can be offputting for me to contact a kid and just ask about someone else though. Fine line.

Sam has a gut feel, I have a vibe...

I kid, I kid. Seriously though I feel good about Roseboro. He was in Ann Arbor for a long time on his visit and left very impressed. That shock appears to have worn off a bit, but I'd say Michigan is definitely in his top half.

As recruits

Austin and Diggs are both Maryland natives.

I wasn't familiar with this guy

So I looked him up and ironically enough, dude was a 3-time All-American DB at Oregon in the early 80's. Maybe the staff should work on getting the real Teal'c and not just a younger look-a-like.

Quite Tingly Actually...

I think Michigan could very realistically land both Clark and Wheatley. Pickard has a connection to the coaches and is a solid player in his own right so I think this is just the coaches paying attention where they need to.

I like that idea

I'm not really sure there is a way to do it, or if Brian would want it. It's not really up to me. Plus it would be a lot of work that I probably don't have time for just yet. A few weeks and I'll be wide open.

Partially correct

Part of it is taking what you can get. The other part is I try to write something up with new names and new offers as they surface. That's just part of my approach.

This Lemieux thing was kind of a bummer but I had this article ready on Friday and it wasn't published until today. Granted, if it had been published on Friday and he committed to Oregon on Saturday it still would've been meh, but having it published AFTER he commits somewhere else just  isn't a good look.

As for only posting stuff with the top targets, that's just going to be repetitive dialogue that would be a waste of time to read. Cornell, Hilliard, Harris, Settle, etc. Those guys are the top targets and they know it. They aren't going to come out and say, "Michigan is my leader.", "I'm going to commit to Michigan but not yet." They are just going to keep saying the same things as they always do in interviews, which is fine, but I don't feel like bugging them about information that doesn't provide any substance. It's a waste of my time and theirs. It's hit or miss with the big fish. Cornell recently came out and said that Sparty was probably his leader, but that's the first thing he's said of any real value in quite a long time.

These kids do get hounded and I try not to do that. I check in with them every once and a while and if they don't have anything new to say, then it is what it is. If they choose not to tell me their big news, that's their call too.  

Thanks man.

That kind of addition and decision is above my paygrade, haha. 

It's early but

There is legitimate interest from Francois, Chambers, and Boykin for sure. I don't know much about some of the others yet...workin' on it.

Well

He's actually listed as an athlete on some of the recruiting sites but he's committed to Miami as a RB I believe. As soon as I talk to him I'll ask him what Michigan has offered him as.

True

I wrestled with which score to give. Technically Michigan is in a top 3-7, but I got the feeling that there wasn't much of a shot with him, unless he does visit campus. Either way....either way's fine.

Well

He's not even offered yet so it's hard to say Michigan has a realistic change with him. If he's offered he could definitely become part of this list.

They will

But there isn't one offered yet that's not committed. Coach Nuss will watch about 5 guys throw in person, one being Zach Gentry, and then they will decide who is offered.

Not what the coaches believe.

I was told michigan, OSU, Kentucky battle.

A large part of the equation.

Depending on the school, the kid, the situation...it ends up being the only thing that matters. I've learned about stuff that goes on that honestly I wish I hadn't. It taints what the whole process is all about. The Bag Man article hits the nail on the head. It happens EVERYWHERE. If a fan thinks their school of choice is above it, they are just naive and wrong. 

Kinda blows.

Yeah Michigan is.

Kraemer has heard from Michigan off and on. He hasn't visited AA yet but he wants to and plans on it.

Good stuff.

I'll have a quick write up about Jones tonight. We talked on Saturday when he was offered, but there were some basketball games going on this weekend or something.

Actually noted.

It's been hard for me to care much about covering recruiting with basketball being front and center right now, but I figured I could sneak this in today on the off day.

Yeah, sort of

I usually do the Names to Watch as a forum for early interest types of recruits, a more formal "Michigan Offers Player X" when an offer actually goes out, and then some type of interview if a commit happens. Obviously need commitments for these type of articles to happen.

I agree to some extent but...

I can't imagine being in the position these KIDS are in. They are treated like kings during every visit they take, they are shown the top of the top of the top of the line facilities, given loads of gear, presented with opportunities I can't imagine, girls flock to them on every campus either naturally or as part of the visit, there are impermissable things going on in some cases...it's got to be insane. Lord knows I've made some pretty impulsive decisions with a lot less involved.

I would love to see a kid pick somewhere and stick to it, but there are so many variables that make that extremely difficult to do. And Chris is right, he gets to make this decision one time, so it needs to be right for him right now and for his future. The "verbal" isn't actually the decision so while it would be cool if kids just verbally pledged one time and stuck with it, I can't say I could do it even at my age now.

Hard to say

I think he genuinely loved his visit at UNC and committed earnestly, but then after a few days and recognizing the other opportunities out there he realized he may have acted on impulse a little bit. This is all my own opinion by the way.

He did tell me that he loved UNC and loved the way they used Ebron in the offense which makes a lot of sense, but now he just wants to check out some of these other high profile programs.

He hasn't said to me that he's wavering, but I wouldn't be surprised if he decides to reopen up his recruitment based on our conversations before he committed.

Yes!

Butch Jones was born and raised in Michigan and played and graduated from Ferris. He also coached at Ferris State and CMU from 1995-2009 with a 1 year stint at WVU in 05-06 so he is very rooted in Michigan.

I know he's only been at Tennessee for a couple of seasons but that explains it at least in recent years.

Assocaiate Head Coach/D Line coach also coached at CMU and other midwest universities.

Offensive Coordinator and QB coach Bajakian was a GA at Michigan and also an assistant at CMU.

The list goes on and on. Basically Tennessee's entire staff had stints at some school in Michigan during their coaching careers. Pretty interesting actually to look it all up.

http://www.utsports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/tenn-m-footbl-coaches.html

 

I asked him about that

He said right now that's his only film. He actually said he can't believe the leap of faith Michigan, MSU, and Tennessee have taken in him to play LB because there's not much out there on him. He told me he is falling in love with the LB position and knows for sure that he will there in college so his final 2 years of high school should do a great deal in showcasing his skills at that position.

Things look promising

I spoke with Garrett last night and while he wasn't willing to give me an outright confirmation that he'll be Blue, he did say that it was awesome that the fanbase was already buzzing about him potentially becoming a Wolverine.

He's a great kid off the field and has a loaded offer list and is yet another talented prospect from a state that produces a lot of them in Virginia.

Thanks.

I've been told I'm quite humorous.

Nice.

Honestly if kids are unofficially visiting they probably all like Michigan in the Top 5 range. I plan on talking with them after the visit is over and I'll have more insight at that time.

Hmm

Just went off of what 247 has listed for him.

Really?

I wrote this Sunday. I didn't hear of the Gibson attention until after this was written.

Some obvious additions

I actually wrote this up last Sunday and there are a couple new developments that need to be noted. Everyone seems to know that Josh Rosen is visiting even though it wasn't supposed to leak.

Also, Torrance Gibson has been aggressively targeted and told me that he may visit next week.

Man...

This is the one thing that blows about covering recruiting. It's about the kids, not the reporters.

Feels that way

He told me that Michigan was third for him right now, but that's probably because Stanford hasn't offered. It's a pretty big deal that he's visiting Michigan close to his announcement date but he's still going to be very tough to drag out of California.

Not necessarily.

He's a mid-level 3-star prospect on the 247Composite. That doesn't scream overhyped to me. I think he was head and shoulders above everyone when he was younger and now the field has leveled, but I think he's accurately rated and ranked.

Thanks Man

These are meant to be fillers. I'm not sure why people are bummed by them. It's not meant to be a downer, just simply a recruit on the radar of the coaches that we now know about.

No

But that is a good idea. I'll look into it.

I would agree

The majority of out-of-staters would probably fall in the group but I'd put guys like Keisean Lucier-South and Kyle Kearns higher.

My guess..

I believe he is best suited to play the WILL, but even Josh himself wasn't 100% sure where the coaches foresee him playing. He runs well and is a little light right now at 212 lbs. Compare him to Michael Ferns who came in at 240+ at the MIKE spot.

He's got some time to grow still, but I think he's probably a WILL.

This.

There will be an extremely low number of "Names To Watch" profiles that would receive a 0. The whole idea behind those types of recruits is that Michigan is showing interest in some capacity, thus an offer is always a possibility. In fact, I may have only had contact with 5 or less players in doing this that I thought in my head, "There's no way that kid gets offered." Most of them will have had contact with the staff to some degree so the interest is usually mutual on some level.

 

For 2015 I'd say this could be an example board:

0 - Not interested

1 - If he visits, let's talk

2 - Probably Top 15

3 - Probably Top 5

4 - Probably Top 2/3

5 - True Blue Lock

0 - Josh Rosen

1 - David Sills

2 - Christian Kirk

3 - Mike Weber

4 - Damien Harris

5 -

And you are correct, I don't think there is a "True Blue Lock" at this point. Tyrone Wheatley Jr. and Tyriq Thompson would be the only two even sniffing that level, and I'd still call them a "4".

Also

I think the reasons I listed are actual reasons a kid may not be offered, where personal attacks for various reasons are unwarranted.

Well

I guess we'll just agree to disagree.