Sam McGuffie, Tex. RB, is Michigan’s top prospect and #1 at the position this year. McGuffie’s team, Cy-Fair in metro Houston, will be on ESPN2 October 18th as they take on their rivals of Cy-Falls.

(famed) YouTube clips of Sam:
THE Leap (most famed of them all)
McGuffie Mixtape (someone with the editing abilities of a 6-year-old put rap songs behind almost all of Sam’s clips and didn’t edit to the music. This one contains pretty much all of the best clips)
Another leap (this one shot with a poor-quality camera, and less impressive)
Receiving TD (not in the highlights video, and only reception of his I’ve seen on YouTube)

McGuffie will be in Ann Arbor starting June 9th. His father will be with him as well. It is expected that Texans Troy Woolfolk and Brandon Herron will be in town for their orientation sessions, and they will assist in recruiting him, as well as their high school teammate, rising senior Darryl Stonum. Ryan Mallett will be in town as well (the whole summer?), and is expected to aid in recruiting duties as well.

Posted under Recruiting

This recruiting class is likely to have between 20 and 23 recruits in it (check out the breakdown of the eligibility chart). The list is far from inclusive, but rather consists of the guys about whom there has been the most noise. It is also likely that a couple of sleepers will be uncovered at camp, which takes place June 17-21.

Offense:

QB (1):
possibilities:
Brendon Kay
Zack Stoudt
longshots:
Terrelle Pryor
E.J. Manuel

RB (1 RB, 1 HB/FB):
likely:
Sam McGuffie (RB)
Christian Wilson (HB)
possibilities:
Covaughn Deboskie (RB)
Michael Shaw (RB/HB)
longshots:
Darrell Scott (RB)

OL (2OT, 3OG/OC):
commits:
OT Dan O’Neill
OG Elliot Mealer
OG Kurt Wermers
likely:
OT Zebrie Sanders or
OT Graham Pocic
OG Zach Schlink
longshots:
OT Lucas Nix
OG Vaughn Dotsy

TE (1-2):
commits:
Brandon Moore
possibilities:
Kevin Koger (could be DE)
Tyler Hoover
longshots:
Kavario Middleton

WR (2-3):
likely:
Darryl Stonum
Jon Baldwin
possibilities:
Fred Smith
Jermaine Kearse

Defense:

DE (1-2):
possibilities:
Nick Perry
Kevin Koger (or TE)

DT (1-2):
likely:
Omar Hunter
possibilities:
Mike Martin
longshots:
Garret Goebel

LB (2-3):
possibilities:
Marcus Witherspoon
J.B. Fitzgerald
Steve Filer
Brandon Beachum
longshots:
Jon Major

CB (2):
commits:
Boubacar Cissoko
possibilities:
Robbie Green
Jared Holley
Rahim Moore (UCLA)

S (2):
possibilities:
Spencer Adams
Will Hill
E.J. Woods (UCLA)
longshots:
Robert Blanton

Most of my information comes from scout, and I pay little to no attention to Rivals. Also, I do not follow religiously, so I’m sure I’ve missed out on a couple of guys. If you have any questions, additions, etc., please feel free to leave them in the comments.

Posted under Personnel, Recruiting

Andy Katz has written an interesting article on coaching succession in college. He isn’t talking about football (his focus is on Syracuse basketball), but this is certainly a relevant topic for the imminent retirement of Lloyd Carr.

Linky

Will Michigan follow the suit of Syracuse basketball (and Wisconsin football), or let Lloyd retire before searching for a head coaching candidate? It seems that, although Syracuse and Wisconsin certainly look forward, it’s definitely not a trend in the NCAA.

My take on the matter is that I would like to have a successor named prior to Lloyd’s final season (which is likely to come this year, or almost certainly in 2008). This would ease possible hits to recruiting, because recruits would know there is going to be continuity, and other head coaches (Miles, Meyer, Weis), would not be able to cast doubt on Lloyd’s tenure as head coach. Naming a successor would likely require promoting from within, something I am in favor of, though many in the Wolverine Nation are not.

Internal Candidates
The two prime internal candidates are quite obviously the two coordinators, OC Mike Debord and DC Ron English. Erik Campbell has been associate head coach for a while, but I don’t believe that he is looked at as a legitimate head coaching candidate, or he probably would have been promoted to a coordinator position in his 13 years at Michigan.

Ron English
One knock on English is that he hasn’t proven that he is a great coach, but rather than he is a great motivator and recruiter. However, my opinion on the matter is that those two domains are where the head coach must excel, and let his coordinators and other assistants do the scheming, etc. Another advantage of English is that he has shown to have a slightly more aggressive philosophy than fans are used to seeing from the Maize and Blue. English is a hot commodity, and it is likely that he would last only one or two more years as a Michigan assistant before being hired as a head coach either here or somewhere else.

Mike Debord
Debord, on the other hand, is a less exciting candidate. He gets a lot of (undeserved) flak for being uninspiring in his offense, but he is a brilliant coordinator and game planner, with the sole exception of the Rose Bowl debacle. Debord showed at Central Michigan that he may not be the most successful head coach in the world, but one must take into account the inherent advantages that Michigan holds over a MAC program. Still, a head coach shouldn’t need to have built-in advantages to succeed, and perhaps a better head coach (who could succeed at the lower level), would be able to use these advantages to take the program to all-new heights.

If you disagree with my take on the matter, feel free to debate in the comments.

Posted under Coaching

1 Day, two commits. Hooray! 6-6 Tight End from Trotwood-Madison.

More on both of these guys coming up soon.

Posted under Recruiting

Indiana Offensive Lineman Kurt Wermers is expected to announce his commitment to Michigan this week. He will be the third OL commit for the Wolverines. At 6-5 and 260, he is projected to be a big guard. With Dan O’Neill at tackle, and Elliot Mealer (and now Wermers) at guard, Michigan will most likely take one more tackle in this class and be done with O-Line recruiting.

This marks a departure from the standard UM method of OL recruiting. In the past, they typically have grabbed the majority of OL commitments (if not all) after camp. I’m not sure there’s really anything to read into the difference this year, but it is certainly there.

Posted under Recruiting

There are courtesy of Scout Message Board user SuperStudSteve (ironically, an OSU fan who isn’t even named Steve).

White and Blue Away:

White on White Away:

Yellow on Blue Home:

Yellow on Yellow Home:

The away ones are Adrian Arrington from the Penn State game last year, and the home mockups are Marshawn Lynch with Mike Hart’s head (note the Cal logo on the V-neck).

My Opinion:

White on Blue looks alright, though I’m not sure it’s an improvement over the yellow pants. Personally, I think all away jerseys are getting a little played out (Texas does it best), and am not interested in seeing them (I know we had them in the 70s or 80s).
As far as the home Jerseys, I think the all yellow looks like crap. The yellow-on-blue, on the other hand, I wouldn’t mind seeing a maximum of once a year for a special occasion. The majority of fans who are opposed think the “tradition” of the home jerseys shouldn’t be tampered with. However, like Brian feels toward night games, I don’t think a special occasion-type uniform would bring a certain energy to the team (think: maize out), and couldn’t hurt in marketing the program a bit (it would be a big enough deal to get play on random ESPN talk show #s 1-6).

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Posted under Misc.

Long time no post (arrgh boring offseason), so here’s a little bit of info on a couple of recent Michigan graduates.

Jerome Jackson (looks good)
Alan Branch

I’ll be out of town this week, so unless Paul posts something, don’t expect a ton of content. When I come back around, I plan to do more editorializing-type stuff, rather than just posting straight news, so look forward to it.

Posted under Personnel

One of those annoying photo albums that they do.

If you hate clicking through those bastards, here is a spoiler for you:

25) Erik Ainge QB Tennessee
24) Vince Hall LB Virginia Tech
23) Dan Connor LB Penn State
22) Shawn Crable LB Michigan
21) Adarius Bowman WR Oklahoma State
20) James Laurinaitis LB Ohio State*
19) James Davis RB Clemson
18) Vernon Gholston DE Ohio State*
17) Sam Baker OT Southern California
16) Keith Rivers LB Southern California
15) Steve Slaton RB West Virginia*
14) Keenan Burton WR Kentucky
13) Derrick Harvey DT Florida*
12) Desean Jackson WR California*
11) Tyson Jackson DE Louisiana State
10) Gosder Cherilus OT Boston College
9) Limas Sweed WR Texas
8) Chris Long DE Virginia
7) Philip Merling DL Clemson
6) Chad Henne QB Michigan
5) Aqib Talib CB Kansas
4) Brian Brohm QB Lousiville
3) Talais Campbell DE Miami*
2) Jake Long OT Michigan
1) Darren McFadden RB Arkansas

You can’t really complain about Humanity Advanced being the number one guy off the board. Asterisks denote underclassmen (will still have eligibility after ’07). Long is the first OT off the board (obviously), Henne the second QB, Crable the third LB. After a good draft year like this one, three preseason projections as first-rounders isn’t bad at all. Obviously these lists are projections and aren’t OMG Mel Kiper Brady Quinn Official. Laurinaitis picture linked because it’s against Michigan.

The only really questionable prospects I saw were Merling, Burton, and Bowman, who I have never heard of, despite being an avid follower of college football. I hadn’t heard of the OT from BC either, but offensive linemen get no exposure until the draft rolls around, and BC gets no exposure because they generally suck.

Posted under Personnel

Didn’t have a whole lot of nice things to say about Michigan, though the interview he gave was a fluff piece for the Stanford Scout site, so I guess that’s to be expected.

The Eligibility Chart and Depth Chart have been updated accordingly.

At this point, I will refrain from commenting on pot-gate.

Posted under Personnel

School-record 7 draftees, though it certainly didn’t feel like a great draft, mostly because a couple should-be first rounders (Branch, Harris) slid into the second, and Hall was taken as the second CB off the board.

Wolverines taken in the NFL Draft:
Leon Hall 18 Cincinnati Bengals
Alan Branch 33 Arizona Cardinals
Lamarr Woodley 46 Pittsburgh Steelers
David Harris 47 New York Jets
Steve Breaston 147 Arizona Cardinals
Prescott Burgess 207 Baltimore Ravens
Tyler Ecker 216 Washington Redskins

The Surprise is obviously Tyler Ecker, who most people didn’t see getting drafted at all. Breaston and Burgess will spend their early years on special teams, while the top 4 will likely be early contributors in some regular capacity.

Undrafted Free Agents:
Rondell Biggs Carolina Panthers
Mark Bihl San Diego Chargers
Jerome Jackson Cleveland Browns
Rueben Riley Carolina Panthers
Garrett Rivas Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Matt Gutierrez New England Patriots

Obviously Gutierrez didn’t spend his final year of eligibility with Michigan, but once a Wolverine, always a Wolverine.

UPDATE: J-Jack to the Browns
TUESDAY UPDATE: Rivas to Tampa Bay

Posted under Personnel