Added:
CA QB Tate Forcier. He refuses to stop mentioning Michigan, so it would be inappropriate to not at least include him on the board.
FL QB Eugene Smith. Ditto.
CA OG Michael Philipp. Michigan is interested and he wants to visit AA.
MD DE Jason Ankrah. Offered:

Jason has offers from Illinois, Oregon, Maryland, Nebraska, Michigan, Pittsburgh, Michigan State, Syracuse and others. Jason said he attended North Carolina, North Carolina State, Syracuse and Penn State Junior Days.

New Information:
IL OL Commit Michael Schofield. Linked to his junior highlight video.
VA QB Commit Kevin Newsome. Can’t play on the post-grad team at Hargrave?

“We have a rule that, even if that young man, Newsome, wanted to come to our school, he would have to play on the high-school team. We don’t jump over our high-school team.”

FL LB Brandon Hawthorne. Decision after officials.
AL CB Dre Kirkpatrick. Fluff.

Removed:
NC QB Everett Proctor. Michigan seemed to be offering him as a draw to Xavier Nixon, who has eliminated Michigan.
PA OL Adam Gress. Final 2 doesn’t include Michigan. And also, he committed to Penn State.
IL OL Chris Watt. Wolverines out of his final 8.
PA DT Levi Brown. Committed to Temple.
MS DT Josh Boyd. Committed to Mississippi State.
AZ DE Devon Kennard. Michigan did not make his final 5 (USC, UCLA, ASU, Cal, Texas).

Analysis:
So, uh, any other DTs? At this point, there doesn’t seem to be a high correlation between guys who have offers and guys that Michigan can realistically land. If the coaches want another tackle in this class, I expect to see some more offers go out soon. If they landed somebody like Chris Bonds, he could conceivably move from end to tackle, but there isn’t exactly a glut of DEs, either.

Posted under Recruiting

As everyone likely knows by now, Michigan commit Kevin Newsome has decided to transfer from Western Branch High School, and will instead enroll at Hargrave Military Academy for his senior football season. Despite still being a high schooler, Newsome will participate on the post-graduate football team.

Most recruiting fans are only familiar with Hargrave Military Academy because of prospects who graduate from high school, but don’t have the grades to qualify for college. Hargrave has a post-graduate program for “5th-year seniors” to improve their grades enough to qualify for college, while still playing football. Newsome doesn’t have this issue because:

1. He is going to Hargrave for his senior year, not after he graduates (the first time).
2. He is a good student (NHS member, class president, etc.)

It seems like he has a good head on his shoulders, so I doubt it’s because he needs to get grade or discipline issues sorted out. I would think it’s something more along the lines of being prepared for college football (and Barwis!).

As for whether this is good for Michigan, I’m not sure. Hargrave seems to be pretty good about keeping college coaches away from already-committed players, but at the same time, they have a good relationship with Virginia Tech’s coaching staff (3 cadets moved on to Virginia Tech just last year). Obviously, since Virginia Tech is one of the main competitor’s for Newsome’s services, that is slightly worrisome. However, Newsome’s former high school coach seems to be putting some pro-VT pressure on Newsome:

“I thought when he picked Michigan, he jumped the gun a little bit, and I was disappointed,” Johnston said. “I told him that.”
“We’re very close, and I’ve told him I’d like to see him stay closer to home,” Johnston said. “I’m not going to push it, but there’s something about playing in your home state.”

It seems like Kevin might be trying to avoid those around him giving him undeserved grief for not picking their favorite school. Without knowing for sure why Newsome is moving to Hargrave, and how well-received Michigan’s coaches are at that school (Rodriguez did get a commitment from a Cadet before moving on to Michigan last year), it is impossible to know whether this move impacts Michigan positively or negatively. Of course, down the road, it will be interesting to see whether this also affects Newsome’s younger brother, Keevon.

And of course, the Free Press takes this as incontovertible evidence that Newsome’s commitment to Michigan will not be honored.

Posted under Recruiting

Since a lot of people have been asking how I am doing, I’ll just start off by saying: considering the circumstances, I’m doing great. I can move around without a ton of pain, which is something most people who fall four stories can’t say (they usually can’t say anything because they die). Here is what an x-ray image of a broken spine looks like:
Pretend like I posted almost the exact same image 3 times. Now you know what my L1-L3 vertebrae look like. I am walking, talking, and (clearly) typing, so thanks to everyone for the kind words you gave earlier. And now for a couple of actually relevant things:

An anonymous commenter asks:

1. why RR would offer Cornelius Jones?

2. Rumor has it that that Jeremy Gallon has grades troubles and thats why some bigger schools passed on him. Any truth to that? Also is there any video of gallon

1. I have yet to figure out whether Jones is even a ’09 or ’10 prospect. There is precious little about him on the internet, and I think this “offer” sounds a little questionable. Where are the Scout and Rivals interviews with the kid (or even a profile on one of the two sites)?

Another thing I question on this topic is why the Free Press is writing about this offer. Michigan has offered tons of kids at this point, and this is the first one that the Freep has taken the time to write (read: plagiarize) and article about. Sounds a little questionable in terms of writer’s motives.

2. I have heard this, but it doesn’t really seem to make a ton of sense. Sure, RR isn’t afraid of recruiting a kid because of possible grades issues, but then, neither are most of the schools in the SEC. There has to be another reason why schools didn’t pursue this kid.

I think it is primarily because he is tiny (reports range from 5-6 to 5-9), and few schools have need for tiny guys like Michigan has need for tiny guys. Another factor is that he will have to change positions, and perhaps take a while to be ready to play. If Michigan was not scrambling to fill all the roster spaces for slotmen, perhaps someone like Gallon would have had to wait until later in the recruiting process for an offer.

As far as Gallon video, this is the best (free) one I’ve been able to find. If any enterprising readers find something else, drop me a line.

I’ve also gotten about 30 versions of this question:

What’s the deal with Tate Forcier?

I have no idea. It certainly seemed like Michigan was going to be done with ’09 quarterbacks with Kevin Newsome and Shavodrick Beaver committed. However, Tate Forcier still came to Ann Arbor for Michigan’s senior camp, and appears to be strongly interested in the Wolverines.

Are Rich Rodriguez and Co. just leading the kid on? Or are they keeping him in mind as an insurance policy of either of the other guys jumps ship? Maybe he just refuses to let them drop him as a prospect. It may be too early to tell at this point, but I think Michigan has its two guys, and Tate will be on the outside looking in, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

Paul:

Whatever happened to the combined recruiting board with MGoBlog?

Brian and I tried to come up with a simple solution that would be easy for both of us to access and maintain, and when nothing came up quickly, the project was sort of shelved/forgotten. In all honesty, I think it might serve a good purpose to maintain separate ones, as it leads to more information getting out overall, about a wide range of prospects. For now, don’t expect to see a combined recruiting board any time soon.

Posted under Mail Bag

While it is not news to anyone who follows the Big Ten that Penn State fans have an… uncomfortable fixation on Michigan, typically this has been restricted to fans. Nittany Lions supporters have a focus on Michigan that seems unwarranted but for the Wolverines’ dominance over PSU in recent years. Now, even those who write in the mainstream media have latched onto the obsession as a crutch for writing their terrible columns (entire relevant section quoted to avoid giving this idiot clickthroughs):

An interesting sidebar to these rankings: How much will they be different if QB Kevin Newsome winds up in a Penn State uniform? He committed to Michigan earlier, but all indications are that Penn State is still recruiting him hard. So much for the gentlemen’s agreement between Big Ten teams about not talking to verbal committments. What years of sportsmanship and living up to one’s word built up, Rich Rodriguez and Michael Shaw tore down.

While I don’t need to point how how dumb the bolded portion of this quote is (nor do I need to point out that Donnie Collins doesn’t know how to spell “gentleman’s” or “commitment”), I will anyway.

Of course, due to a highly-publicized quote from Joe Tiller, suddenly Rich Rodriguez is to blame for Penn State’s recruiting tactics. Umm… what? If he wants to try to hold Penn State up as a bastion of sportsmanship, maybe he shouldn’t do so in reference to an incident where they are doing something he deems to be “unsporting.” If Penn State was as virtuous as Collins intends to imply, they wouldn’t be recruiting Newsome, regardless of what Michigan did last year.

In addition, it’s great to see him trying to slam an 18-year-old kid for picking a school that he liked more than Penn State. If Penn State was worth going to, Shaw would have ended up there. Rich Rodriguez is not some sort of hypnotist. Of course, Shaw wasn’t even the recruit that caused the “controversy” in the first place (that would be Roy Roundtree).

And of course, Collins’s entire argument hinges on the presumption that Rodriguez was the first coach to recruit other schools’ commits, which (actually good) columnist Sam Webb pointed out to be not at all true in an unfortunately-no longer free Detroit News article.

Posted under Coaching, Recruiting

Those who follow Michigan recruiting are likely aware that top quarterback commit Kevin Newsome is an elite track athlete. Newsome was an indoor All-American in the 60m hurdles, and now he is a state champ in outdoor track as well.

Newsome’s Western Branch team won the state title, thanks in part to Newsome’s victory in the 100m hurdle event. If simply reading about Newsome’s track exploits isn’t gratifying enough for you, take the time to indulge yourself in video of his championship performance:

Newsome is in the 5th lane, wearing dark blue with white compression shorts. Note the fact that he’s twice the size of most of the kids he’s running against.

Newsome also gave an interview to Milestat.com, available here. He doesn’t say anything that could be considered directly relevant to football, but it’s always nice to hear from Michigan commits to get an idea of what they are like as people.

Congratulations to Kevin, and we look forward to seeing him in Ann Arbor… though if he plans to enroll early, it does mean he’ll have to forgo track his senior year.

In news on other commits…
Newsome’s QB counterpart was named City Athlete of the Year. Fitzgerald Toussaint has missed most of track season with an injury. Free update on 2008 JT Floyd from Scout’s SC site.

Posted under Recruiting, Video

This edition of the mailbag will cover some of the e-mails people sent while I was gone. This time, it will be the ones related to recruiting.

Tom asks:

In the past week it was announced that Virginia Tech is pulling a scholarship offer from a QB recruit over some legal problems the kid was having. Prior to Newsome declaring his intent to Michigan, he was pretty much considered “in the bag” at VT. So, my question is, how strong a verbal is he to us ?? Can/will we lose him ??

And I have gotten other people asking similar versions of this question, such as this one from penst8grad:

Ignore the email address, lifelong Wolverine fan here. Couldn’t afford the out of state tuition.

Local Penn State homer radio network is reporting that Newsome is having second thoughts and is going to visit schools. They honestly think they have a pretty good shot at him.

Do you know anything about this?

As far as the Penn State angle, I would take anything Nittany Lion homers say with a grain of salt. They have a major Michigan complex, and taking a QB committed to Michigan is something that many Penn State fans would have wet dreams about. It seems like something spoken out of hope rather than reality.

Overall, however, I can’t speak (other than from logic) on this situation. Since I’ve been out of the loop for three weeks, this is the most comprehensive answer I can give at this time. If something has developed since I left, I will certainly update the situation.

Fans were worried when there were rumblings from Virginia that Kevin Newsome might consider reneging on his verbal commitment because he wanted Rich Rodriguez to accept fewer quarterbacks. Many took this to mean that he was opposed to the commitment of Shavodrick Beaver, but since it has become clear that Michigan does not intend to take a third quarterback, the noise has quieted down.

Virginia Tech would have taken Newsome over the QB commit that they already had either way. He is one of the top-rated QBs in the country. He picked Michigan based on factors other than QBs coming in the class with him. Depth chart (VT may be redshirting Tyrod Taylor this year, making Newsome a year further away from getting on the field), education (VT is… a decent but not elite school), and coaching style (Michigan’s spread seems to be tailor-made for Newsome) all played a role.

Kevin Newsome seemed entirely confident in his choice of schools, and has not ever mentioned that he wants to take other visits. Another good sign is the fact that he has been recruiting other players for the 2009 class. It appears as though Newsome is quite solid. Unless something dramatic happens between Newsome and the Michigan coaching staff, expect to see Kevin on campus come January.

Commenter Thruline asks:

What’s up with Iowa? They were able to get quality players much more readily in times past.

Iowa had a few of pretty good recruiting classes around 2002-2005. The reasons this isn’t happening anymore are many:

1. Competition. When Iowa was reeling in top classes, Illinois was a bad program with a bad coach. Notre Dame was being run into the ground by Ty Willingham. While neither Ron Zook nor Charlie Weis is a gret football coach, both are excellent recruiters (and are trying to build better staffs to make up for their inadequacies on the field). Iowa’s good classes came mostly from Chicago’s top players when there was almost nobody to fight against for them. Now, there are two better options for recruits, and Iowa has to pick up the leftovers from the Illini and Irish.
2. Iowa’s case is also a textbook example of poor results on the field leading to worse recruiting returns off it. Iowa won back-to-back-to-back shares of the big ten title in ’02-’04, and this is when they were pulling down all the top guys. These teams succeeded with sleepers, overachievers, and the occasional top prospect. Since the more highly-ranked players have come in, Iowa has wasted their talent by underperforming on the field, and getting in tons of trouble off it. Top recruits simply don’t want to take on the risk of plying their trade in Iowa City.

I would expect that Iowa will continue to get middle of the pack recruiting classes in the Big Ten, but they will have to start performing better in order to regain footing among the elite recruiting teams in the country.

And frequent e-mailer RJ wonders:

I was wondering how you determine a player’s ceiling

(In asking this question, RJ is referring to my posts about the ceilings and floors of the past two Michigan recruiting classes (2007) (2008)). Of course, like almost everything in recruiting, determining a player’s ceiling (maximum potential) is entirely subjective, as is determining the floor (minimum potential), though the floor is a little easier to determine based on polish and high school performance.

The ceiling is essentially based on a player’s untapped potential. Measurables are a pretty good indicator of possible ceiling levels. If a player runs a 4.4 forty, but had the same high school production as a player with a 4.7 forty, they have the same floor, but the faster player probably has the higher ceiling. A quarterback with a very strong arm but bad mechanics has a higher ceiling but lower floor than one with good mechanics and questionable arm strength.

In the end, it’s pretty much all guesswork, putting together all the limited clues we have about how a player might perform in college, and trying to determine actual college production.

Thanks for the good questions, everyone, and don’t hesitate to ask more.

Posted under Mail Bag, Recruiting

RJ furnishes us with a link, summarizes by giving us this snippet of information:

Sam Webb said this morning that the days of Michigan recruiting players that only play qb. Brandon McGee and a few other dual threats who play other positions are what they are looking for. Tate Forcier and all the other qbs can be pretty much taken off.

I removed all QBs except two categories when Shavodrick Beaver committed to Michigan:

• Guys who could play another position and learn QB for emergency situations.
• Tate Forcier.

It now sounds like Forcier can be removed from that list. However, I think the scope of RJ’s message is a little overextended. For 2009, Michigan is probably done recruiting QBs (unless they are multiple-position guys), but in the future, if there’s a Tate Forcier-type guy, they would take him. So, for this year, it means Forcier is off the board.

Posted under Recruiting

In case you were worried about Kevin Newsome’s speed, check out this video of his 4×100 team winning the large school division at the Penn Relays.

Newsome is the anchor leg in lane 2(? second from nearest at the finish line, the guy who wins). He brings his team the victory.

Also, according to Sam Webb on today’s edition of the Michigan Insider on WTKA, there may be other good QB news this week. Tate Forcier or Shavodrick Beaver may announce for Michigan this week.

Thanks to frequent commenter RJ for the tip.

Posted under Recruiting, Video

The Board.

New Information:
AZ DE Craig Roh will visit Michigan this summer.
VA QB Kevin Newsome participated (well) in the Penn Relays.
PA OT Eric Shrive. He has a Nebraska offer, and now one of his teammates will be a Husker.
Article on various prospects including Morgan Newton, Stephon Gilmore, and Quinton Washington.

Not a lot of action this week. Players that I haven’t seen anything about lately (in terms of link to Michigan) may on the cusp of getting dropped (a couple of the quarterbacks, maybe a running back or two, probably safety).

Posted under Recruiting

The Board. With the Newsome thing, it will be interesting to see which other QBs continue to be interested in Michigan. One formatting note: committed players are now tacked to the top of their respective positions on the board.

Moved to Committed:
VA QB Kevin Newsome. WOOOOOOOOOOO! Conquering Heroes dug up some factoids on Newsome.

Added:
OK CB Gabe Lynn. He has an offer and is friends with RB prospect David Oku. He is one of the top cover CBs in the nation.
SC DE Sam Montgomery. He reportedly has been offered by UM. A four-star prospect at a position of major need.
GA S Darren Myles. He has a Michigan offer.

New Information:
TX QBs Shavodrick Beaver and Kolby Gray attend an Elite 11 combine.
NC DB Devonte Holloman. Michigan and Clemson are his current top 2.
OH OL Marcus Hall. Top 6: OSU, USC, Ill, Mich, Fla, FlaSt. Currently plans to decide after taking 5 officials.
SC OL Quinton Washington. He is strong. but he may end up staying in South Carolina. Recruiting fluff.

Removed:
PA RB Jordan Hall. Michigan may have wanted him a bit for the slot position, but it is clear they had higher priorities there. His offer may have just been an attempt to get Terrelle Pryor to think harder about attending Michigan.
MS DB David Conner. His listed height and weight have been falling ever since the initial evaluations came out, and it also appears that he won’t leave the SEC.

Etc:
For those of you who doubted my reasoning for having a big spring game (I’m lookin’ at you, Charles), SI’s Andy Staples agrees with me. 2-part interview with Lloyd in the Free Press.

Posted under Recruiting