Action since last rankings:
8-5-08 Northwestern gains commitment from Brian Smith.
8-8-08 Northwestern gains commitment from Taylor Paxton. Wisconsin gains commitment from Josh Peprah.
8-9-08 Notre Dame gains commitment from EJ Banks
8-11-08 Illinois gains commitment from Kraig Appleton.

New Rankings:

Up: DeQuinta Jones (from 3).

Posted under Recruiting

The Board misses you. You should really visit every once in a while.

New Information:
FL RB Vincent Smith. His decision will be between Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Tennessee. Things still lookin’ good.
OH OL Marcus Hall. Preseason O-line MVP of his league.
SC OL Quinton Washington. A top 10 player in the lowcountry. Whatever the lowcountry is.
PA LB Dan Mason. Fluff.
AL CB Dre Kirkpatrick. It will be a surprise for him to end up anywhere other than Bama, especially with all the time he spends on their campus.
FL CB Angelo Hadley. He has a top/final 5 (Mich, Aub, Fla, UNC, UGa). And fluff is written about him.

Removed:
UT OL Xavier Sua’filo. After expressing early interest in Michigan, there has been no sign that he is still looking at the Wolverines.
WA DT Deandre Coleman. Washington commit.
AZ DE Corey Adams. It seems like he is down to OSU and a couple west coast schools. There hasn’t been any Michigan mention in a while.
PA DE/DT Tyrone Ezell. Pitt commit.
MI DE Justice Akuezue. CMU commit.
CA LB John Michael Davis. Same situation as Xavier Sua’Filo. No mutual interest == removal.
MI S Brock Reynolds. I hear almost nothing about this guy, much less articles about his Michigan interest.
OH CB Tony Graham. Same situation as Brock Reynolds.

Etc.:
The Free Press explores the situation with Michigan’s scholarship numbers for the 2009 class. The ESPN high school football TV schedule is different every time I look, but here is the most updated master list of games. Note that the Pahokee-Olive Branch game is not there. There is no kickers section on the recruiting board, but TX PK Anthony Fera has been offered (info in header). When I pulled guys off the list for lack of mutual interest, top players got a little more benefit of the doubt in staying on the board. Jamaal Berry is now the guy teetering on the edge, since he continues to list Michigan despite being all but committed to the Buckeyes.

Posted under Recruiting

Listed below are statistics of Quarterbacks in the top 100 rushers in a given year. Immediately below each one, there is a snippet on where each one was drafted, or how they did in the NFL. As you can see, the number of times a quarterback rushes the ball has little bearing on where he will be drafted. Rather, it is a matter of which skills you have.

All of these players are back in college this year, but several of them are NFL-bound. Pat White will be a first day pick as a receiver, and Tim Tebow and Dan LeFevour are locks to be eventual NFL draft picks. Grothe will probably also make it to the NFL, along with Jake Locker, Matt Grothe, and maybe Zac Robinson.

None of these players made it to the NFL (yet, as several are still eligible).

I think we all know how Vince Young made out after leaving Texas (3rd overall in 2006). Reggie McNeal was picked as a receiver in the 6th round. Brad Smith went in the 4th round at receiver, and Michael Robinson was a fellow 4th-rounder as a running back.

Rasheed Marshall (who played for Rich Rodriguez at WVU) was a 5th-round pick as a receiver. Josh Cribbs went undrafted, but is still playing in the NFL as a receiver/returner for the Cleveland Browns. Drew Stanton was the 2nd-round pick of the Detroit Lions in 2006, and is expected to challenge for their starting position this year.

Also, for the record, Michael Vick was a number 1 overall draft pick, despite only actually playing college football for 2 years, and being as far from a prototypical NFL quarterback as you can imagine. Offensive style doesn’t dictate where a “system quarterback” will be drafted. Instead, it is skill that is paramount. NFL GMs can tell if a guy has an NFL arm, regardless of whether he’s running the zone-read (Vince Young), a different type of running spread (Tim Tebow), or a passing-oriented offense (Dan LeFevour, among others).

Posted under Coaching, Recruiting

Projected Depth Chart

Linebackers
Obi Ezeh was the starter in the middle last year as a redshirt freshman. The outside linebackers, Shawn Crable and Cris Graham are gone, but not necessarily lamented. On the strong side, expect redshirt freshman Marell Evans to work his way into a starting role. On the weakside, redshirt sophomore Jonas Mouton is a good athlete, but has been plagued by injuries during his firs two years at Michigan, and hasn’t been able to master the mental aspect of linebacking. He will battle senior Austin Panter, the former junior college defensive player of the year, for a starting role. 5th-year senior Johnny Thompson and redshirt freshman Brandon Herron provide some depth. Michigan also brought in a big freshman class of LBs, and a couple, such as Kenny Demens or JB Fitzgerald, may be asked to contribute.

Stats

Analysis
Graham’s departure isn’t quite addition by subtraction, but it’s pretty close. A lot of Michigan fans feel the same way about Crable, but I personally believe that he was just misused. Bad football players do not get drafted by the Best Team Ever Until They Lost in the third round. Ezeh should be improved from last year, and he is getting to be a big boy for linebacker. Marell Evans is a good athlete who is known for his work ethic. Johnny Thompson has never done anything to stick out to me, I think he would be a depth player if this team had a linebacking corps that you might expect from Michigan. A couple of the freshmen may be expected to contribute, but the coaching staff would prefer to play the upperclassmen.

Posted under Analysis, Personnel

On the Recruiting Board, would you prefer that I move guys to the positions that I expect they will end up playing in college (DeWayne Peace to DB, Thomas Gordon to S, etc.), or just leave them where they are for now (either where I started them off or where Scout and Rivals rank them).

Also, Paul and I have started to put together the 2010 board. The format will be mostly similar, but if there are any new features or content you would like, or any idea to make it better let us know. Starting early in the game as opposed to half way through allows more time for development and tweaking, so dream big.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Posted under Recruiting

Projected Depth Chart

Defensive Tackles
In the middle, Senior Terrance Taylor and 5th-year Will Johnson are the tackles. There is little depth among the backups, particularly with Marques Slocum leaving the team this summer. Redshirt sophomores Jason Kates and John Ferrara will be the backup tackles. Renaldo Sagesse has reportedly had a good summer and should challenge for playing time as well. Don’t be surprised to see true freshman Mike Martin in the rotation, either.

Stats

Analysis
Taylor is a big run-stopper at defensive tackle, and has been a starter since his sophomore year. Johnson enters his second year as a starter, though I found him entirely uninspiring last year. The backups are far less touted and experienced than the starters across the line, but they will have to get the job done as well. While the starting DLine is probably the strength of the Michigan team, the lack of depth is one of the major weaknesses.

Defensive Ends
One the ends, Michigan returns another pair of starters. Junior Brandon Graham is a terror from the defensive end position, and 5th-year senior Tim Jamison mans the other side. Jamison is a more traditional speed rusher, but Graham has an element of quickness to his game as well. The backups are Ryan VanBergen, Adam Patterson, and Greg Banks. A man-sans-position thus far in his career, senior Andre Criswell will give end a shot this year.

Stats

Analysis
Graham is a very athletic pass rusher on one side, but fans are still waiting for Tim Jamison to live up to his potential. Many are hoping that a good ass-kicking in the weight room under new strength coach Mike Barwis can unlock the thus-far dormant ability. The lack of depth at end is a major weaknesses. Few have gained significant playing time thus far, and there aren’t even that many bodies at the position. Until he showed up to camp ineligible, it was thought that Marcus Witherspoon might become a defensive end. A likely redshirt this year may be the perfect opportunity to switch positions.

Posted under Analysis, Personnel

Projected Depth Chart

Offensive Line
We’ve all heard the facts: four starters are gone, including the NFL’s number one overall pick, a multi-year starter next to him, a Michigan legacy who transferred to Ohio State, and a guy who was never in good enough shape. The lone returning starter is Stephen Schilling at right tackle. The redshirt sophomore started every game last year, and accounts for 13 of the entire squad’s 16 career starts. The other positions are mostly up for grabs, but redshirt junior Mark Ortmann will probably man the other tackle spot. On the inside, redshirt junior Cory Zirbel, redshirt sophomore David Moosman, redshirt junior Tim McAvoy, and redshirt freshman David Molk will compete for the final three spots. Moosman has the upper hand at center, with Zirbel likely at one of the guard spots. Several other players will provide depth, including 6 freshmen.

Analysis
This may be the hardest-hit unit on the team aside from quarterback. Schillling is probably the best athlete on the offensive line, and Molk has tons of potential on the inside, likely as a future center. Ortmann is a classical big left tackle, and it remains to be seen if he has the athleticism for the spread system. The same could be said for most of the players along the interior as well, who were recruited to Michigan’s old power run game. If the offensive line has time to gel, it shouldn’t be a catastrophe, but until we see them accomplish something on the field, they remain the biggest question mark.

Posted under Analysis, Personnel

New Information:
FL TE Orson Charles. He loved his Miami visit, and Georgia appears to be the only other school under serious consideration. He is teetering dangerously close to removal.
PA WR Todd Thomas. Pitt leads. He is also fairly close to removal.
MD DE Jason Ankrah. One local media video piece. Two local media video pieces.
GA LB Devekeyan Lattimore. Knows where he is taking all official visits (Michigan is one).
OK CB Gabe Lynn. Still no favorite.

Etc.:
Want to see Pahokee play in person (and likely Vincent Smith and Brandin Hawthorne commit)? There are tickets available. Bastrop (DE commit DeQuinta Jones, WR target Rueben Randle) will have a game on the ESPN family of networks. Much annoyance to the abundance of articles talking exactly how many games are going to be on ESPN without saying which games. In case you’re curious, Western Branch is figuring what to do without Newsome. According to Sam Webb, Michigan may not be out of it for Oku. I’ll leave him off the board for now.

Posted under Recruiting

Practice notes from MGoBlue, including KC Lopata nailing a 56-yard field goal in scrimmage.

Grady pleads guilty to DUI.

The position previews are coming along nicely, and when they’re all done, we can start worrying about Utah.

Posted under Misc.

Action since last rankings:
7-25-08 Indiana gains commitment from Colin Rodkey
8-3-08 Iowa gains commitment from Keenan Davis. Michigan State gains commitment from Dan France.
8-5-08 Northwestern gains commitment from Brian Smith.
8-7-08 Illinois gains commitment from Bud Golden.
I also finally bit the bullet and moved to Rivals’s (superior?) rankings. Next week I’ll put all the commits back in star order.

New Rankings:

Down: Simon, Fellows (from 5), Carter (from 4). Up: Fields, Clarke, McDougald (from 3).

Down: Newsome (from 5), Jones (from 4). Up: Gallon, Schofield, Toussaint (from 3)

Down: Watt (from 5), Calabrese (from 4), Golic (from 3) Up: Fox, Martin (from 3), Tausch (from 1).

Up: Barrent, Maxwell, Spencer, Treadwell (from 3), Klatt, Reynolds, Fowler, Hoebing (from 1).

Down: Shrive (from 5), Arcidiacono (from 4), Drake, Dukes (from 3) Up: Kuntz, Figueroa (from 1).

Down: Carter (from 4), Hull (from 3). Up: Thrash, Fuller (from 1)

Up: Harris (from 3), Borland, Frederick (from 1). Down:

Up: Lipscomb (from 3) Stephens, Keise (from 2), Michel, Orseske, Rengel (from 1). Down: Alipate (from 4).

Up: Barnett, Carr, Zachery (from 2), Ewald (from 1). Down: Kiel (from 3). Not on rivals commit list: Keyt.

Up: Rogers (from 2), Clark (from 1).

Up: Trumpy, Battle, Moulton (from 1)

Down: Henry (from 3), Cooke (from 4). Up: Aristide, Bush (from 1).

Posted under Recruiting