All-conference performers in Southeastern Conference play include 2010 WR commit Jeremy Jackson of AA Huron and 2010 RB prospect Nick Hill from Chelsea.

2010 OH TE Greg Gainey has transferred from Trotwood-Madison to Thurgood Marshall. Without the pipeline advantage, and at a position of little need, will he remain a Michigan target? He stays on the board for now, but he’s a candidate for removal.

2010 PA DE Dakota Royer was picked to his All-conference team on offense and defense. Stats? Stats.

56 catches for 1,099 yards (20 yards per grab) and five TDs. 132 tackles, 11 sacks.

He has offers from Penn State, Pitt, Stanford, and Maryland at this point.

Want some fluff on 2010 IL QB Detchauz Wray? It’s your lucky day!

Junior quarterback Detchauz Wray completed 133 of 228 passes (58.3 percent) this season for 2,564 yards and 38 touchdowns while throwing only five turnovers. The 5-foot-11, 180-pound signal caller also rushed for 260 yards and five touchdowns…

Wray’s impressive numbers have gained the attention of several Division I programs. The Flyers’ standout has already received offers from Arizona and Kansas State, Sunkett said. Illinois and Kansas have also shown Wray interest.

Sunkett said East St. Louis’ offense doesn’t call for the quarterback to run often but that Wray has the ability to be a dual threat. However, Wray’s stature may force him to change positions, possibly wide receiver or cornerback, at the next level.

For now, he’ll remain at QB on the board, but he is a definite position-change candidate down the road.

Though Minnesota recently lost their OL coach, the new hire has already hit the road to recruit a few UM prospects:

Meanwhile, new Gophers running game coordinator-offensive line coach Tim Davis, who left No. 1 Alabama last week for Minnesota, spent Monday, his first day with the Gophers, in Phoenix recruiting 6-foot-6, 265-pound Taylor Lewan [2009], a nationally sought offensive lineman. Today, Davis plans to be at Cretin-Derham Hall, which has 6-8, 296-pound junior offensive lineman Seantrel Henderson [2010], who is among the country’s elite prep players.

Lewan is heading to Ann Arbor this weekend for his official visit. Other prospects on the docket include:
NC CB Josh Hunter (North Carolina Commit).
FL S/LB Commit Mike Jones.
FL K Commit Brendan Gibbons.
Speaking of Gibbons, he’s been selected to the Army All-American Bowl. He will be headed there instead of the ESPNU game, to which he was already committed.

From yesterday’s WTKA Recruiting Roundup with Sam Webb:

• Will Campbell enjoyed his Michigan official last weekend. Both parents want Will to go to Michigan, and have mentioned that recruiters have seemed… disingenuous… at some other schools, particularly in regards to treating Will’s mother like an annoyance.
• 2010 OH RB Erick Howard grew up liking Michigan, and the Wolverines would start at an advantage if he is recruited down the road.
• 2009 MI TE Dion Sims has eliminated Michigan. I knew he was never really going to end up here, and I’ve been saying (even when he was still on the table) that he doesn’t seem like a guy who likes football or has the necessary intensity to enjoy it in Rich Rodriguez’s program. It’s sad to lose another instate guy, but c’est la vie.

Another recruiting post sometime late this week or early next week.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Oklahoma	—
2	Florida	—
3	Texas	—
4	Penn State	—
5	Southern Cal	—
6	Alabama	—
7	Texas Tech	—
8	Utah	—
9	Ohio State	—
10	Boise State	—
11	TCU	—
12	Georgia Tech	—
13	Georgia	—
14	Cincinnati	—
15	Oklahoma State	—
16	Missouri	—
17	Michigan State	—
18	Virginia Tech	—
19	Iowa	—
20	Brigham Young	—
21	Pittsburgh	—
22	Oregon	—
23	Boston College	—
24	Northwestern	—
25	Oregon State	1

With no comments on the draft ballot, everything remains as it was. Again, the deltas are inaccurate, so pay them no mind.

Posted under BlogPoll

With Michigan idle during the bowl season, I’ll take a little closer of a look at the rest of the Big Ten. Let’s start today with Iowa v. Northwestern.

Lake the Posts, poster-blog for “hey give us respect, guys!” posting, has yet another issue with not getting what the Cats “deserve.” 8-4 Iowa has been selected to the Outback Bowl over the 9-3 Wildcats, who also hold a head-to-head victory on the season. Well, for once there may be a legitimate gripe here. Let’s take a look at the resumes:

Neither resume is particularly impressive, and they’re fairly hard to differentiate at this point (aside form the head-to-head win). Let’s break it down further.

Northwestern gets the non-conference nod, though it’s slightly skewed because they didn’t lose a non-conference game, whereas Iowa lost to the only legit opponent either team played. Northwestern’s crappy non-con schedule gets a bump of one spot at each position. If you were to sort just by quality of opposition, ignoring win/loss record, Iowa’s slate would take Northwestern’s behind the woodshed.

Overall, the resumes are very similar, but Iowa’s seems to be better on the whole, despite the head-to-head loss and the slightly worse record. The common opponents occupy a high slot on Northwestern’s resume, and their wins were eith
er comparable or not as impressive. In loss, Iowa was competitive in every game they played (and let’s not even get into how they should have beaten both Michigan State and Pitt), whereas Northwestern was either getting blown out by good teams, or losing to Indiana, of all teams.

Posted under Football

Lots of recruiting stuff came out over the past few days, so expect another update coming soon.

Recruiting Boards:
2009 Class & 2010 Class.

In case you thought he didn’t recruit, The Freep’s Mark Snyder confirms that Rich Rodriguez has indeed been on the road:

Nonetheless, Michigan’s football coach has been covering the country as part of his recruiting plan. He said he started in Detroit, was in Chicago on Wednesday and will hit California, Texas, Florida and Ohio this month before he’s off the road.

You can guess who he’s visiting in each place. Snyder also reports that Rodriguez expects 8 early-enrolling recruits from the class of ’09. Those would be Tate Forcier, Shavodrick Beaver, Vincent Smith, William Campbell if he re-commits, Anthony LaLota, Brandin Hawthorne, Mike Jones, and Vlad Emilien.

Added to the 2009 Board: LA DE Bennie Logan, who has been offered (info in header).
Added to the 2010 Board: NE DB Darius Evans. He grew up in Ohio and likes the Big Ten (info in header).

There’s been something of a minor inter-freakout among the Michigan fanbase over a comment posted by DandyDon.com about 2009 MI DT William Campbell.

As for William Campbell, I list him at 60-40 because he has told an LSU commitment more than once that he was going to sign with LSU.

Not to besmirch the honor of Dandy Don, but regardless of his source, I don’t think the information is correct. All reports on Campbell’s LSU visit have indicated he was less-than-enthused, and barring a sea-change in his sentiments, I think Michigan is still the leader, especially after he stormed the court following the hoops upset over Duke. Also storming the court after the upset over the Blue Devils? 2010 DE William Gholston, pictured below in the lovely purple T-Shirt, along with Brandon Graham in the black jacket.

2009 SC OL Quinton Washington. He’s receiving his in-home visits, including one from his Michigan recruiter. He’ll go on a couple visits of his own following his participation in the Shrine bowl.

Still (somewhat surprisingly, given the lack of information about him relating to Michigan) considering the Wolverines is 2009 GA CB Darren Myles. Michigan appears to be in his de facto top 6, along with Alabama, LSU, West Virginia, Purdue, and Georgia Tech.

2009 FL CB Jayron Hosley plans to take an official to Ann Arbor the weekend of January 16.

2009 MD LB Jelani Jenkins is a finalist for the high school edition of the Butkus Award. Other notable finalists: MSU Commit Chris Norman, OSU commit Dorian Bell, AL LB Tana Patrick.

Though I thought he was planning to make a commitment a couple weeks back, 2009 MD RB Tavon Austin now says he’ll wait until signing day. West Virginia is his current leader, followed by Maryland, UNC, and Michigan.

2010 OH OL Matt James. He has now been offered by Notre Dame (info in header). They seemed to be right in the thick of things before they offered, I’d now assume they are an early leader.

Posted under Football, Recruiting

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Oklahoma	—
2	Florida	—
3	Texas	—
4	Penn State	—
5	Southern Cal	—
6	Alabama	—
7	Texas Tech	—
8	Utah	—
9	Ohio State	—
10	Boise State	—
11	TCU	—
12	Georgia Tech	—
13	Georgia	—
14	Cincinnati	—
15	Oklahoma State	—
16	Missouri	—
17	Michigan State	—
18	Virginia Tech	—
19	Iowa	—
20	Brigham Young	—
21	Pittsburgh	—
22	Oregon	—
23	Boston College	—
24	Northwestern	—
25	Oregon State	1

Update: Deltas “fixed,” by which I mean they are now wrong, because they are deltas from what I originally submitted this morning.

Posted under BlogPoll

Posted under Football, Recruiting

Action since last rankings:
11-25-08 Iowa loses commitment from Justin Lattimore.
11-29-08 Illinois gains commitment from Kraig Appleton.
12-2-08 Northwestern gains commitment from Jeff Budzein.
12-4-08 Purdue gains commitment from Cody Davis.
12-5-08 Purdue gains commitment from Xavier Reese.
12-6-08 Wisconsin gains commitment from Darius Thomas.

New Rankings:

Posted under Football, Recruiting

At the annual football bust, according to every media outlet with a UM beat writer, Sam McGuffie, Carson Butler, and Avery Horn were not present. Butler’s (as-yet-still-unofficial) departure from the team may be the worst-kept secret in America, and Horn wasn’t expected to ever contribute.

McGuffie, on the other hand, had a transfer rumor circulating a few weeks back, and until now, it had appeared that everything was back on track for him to remain in Ann Arbor. Of course, his absence from one event is not a sure sign either way that he is on his way out, but certainly something to keep in mind.

Eligibility Chart as yet not updated, but certainly on notice for official word on any of these guys.

Posted under Football, Personnel

The Boards: 2009 & 2010

2009 MI WR Cameron Gordon has received his offer (Sam Webb audio). I personally would like to see him end up in Ann Arbor, though Iowa should provide tough competition.

2009 NC OL Travis Bond has been added to the North Carolina squad for the Shrine Bowl.

How’s this for a non-update from 2009 FL DB Angelo Hadley? His top 4 remains unchanged, and he will visit Michigan in January.

As has been the case for some time now, Hadley, whom Rivals.com rates as a three-star prospect, is still considering four schools: Florida, Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina… Hadley has taken an official visit to UNC and will trip to Michigan in January.

Among his favorites, Florida has not offered, and he can’t set up an official until they do.

Class of 2009 visitors this weekend, courtesy of the Free Press and Sam Webb (audio):
December 6th:
Thomas Gordon
Teric Jones
Isaiah Bell
Fitzgerald Toussaint
Justin Turner
MI DT William Campbell
FL (via a JC in Mississippi) DE Pernell McPhee. The former Pahokee Blue Devil is a Mississippi State commit.
GA WR Jamal Patterson (Stanford commit).
PA WR Je’Ron Stokes (Tennessee commit). Canceled per Webb.

A bevy of information from the Chicago Sun-Times on 2010 prospects:

Loyola defensive end Chance Carter is giving up basketball to concentrate on football… To live up to his enormous potential, he must dedicate himself to football.

C.J. Fiedorowicz of Johnsburgh, a 6-7, 240-pounder with 4.5 speed, is a high-bred tight end in high school. That will be his position in college.

Christian Lombard of Fremd, at 6-6 and 285-pounds, is one of the best offensive linemen in the country. Colleges came in to evaluate him in the fall and bragged about him. He has great feet, is fundamentally sound, very mobile and makes few mistakes. He was offered by Iowa as a freshman. At last count, he had 29 offers.

Michigan is among those offers. He is one of the top OL targets in the 2010 class.

2010 OH LB Scott McVey seems to be blowing up a bit:

McVey certainly was among the best players on display during Ohio’s showcase weekend of six state finals. His was the grand finale.

McVey was in on six sacks – four of them solo sacks – and hounded Elder quarterback Mark Miller on numerous other plays. He was credited with eight total tackles, but the numbers do not begin to tell the story of the 6-1, 220-pounder from South Euclid who spends his spring running over hurdles instead of through linemen.

His stock is on the rise. Might he be able to garner an offer soon? He now has one from the Buckeyes (info in header).

Removed:
2009 GA LB Devekeyan Lattimore. He has a final 3 sans Michigan (info in header).
2009 GA S/QB Donavan Tate. Commits to North Carolina.

Posted under Football

A few quick thoughts on last night’s game:

• Man, Anthony Wright just sucks. I’ve thought that all along, but I decided to try to trust those who know a little more basketball than I do. Unless Wright goes on a ridiculous tear sometime soon, I shall not be dissuaded.
• Early in the second half, I thought Maryland was making a run, and as long as Michigan kept it close during said run, the Wolverines would be able to pull away at the end. I was wrong. This team isn’t deep enough right now to win games like that against quality competition.
• Speaking of depth, with Laval Lucas-Perry, Michigan probably win this game. That’s definitely something to look forward to in a couple weeks. Michigan really needed another person who could test the defense of the Terps.
• Manny Harris tends to force things too often, leading to turnovers. If something isn’t there, he needs to calm down a bit and let the play develop.
• The full-court press didn’t cause any turnovers (that I can remember off the top of my head, at least), but man, did it give us hell. There were a lot of times I was surprised we managed to break half-court.
• If we had gotten a few more rebounds, the Wolverines could have won this game. Zack Gibson let so many go straight through his hands.
• I’m certainly watching the game through maize-colored lenses here, but it certainly seemed like the officiating was bad in general and… slanted… in particular. A big part of that may be the home-court advantage in college basketball, but it seemed like we got very few calls, and Maryland got a lot of really close thigns called their way.

Posted under Football