Get your enjoy on.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uux0EP5a0ps&hl=en]

Posted under Spring Coverage, Video

Ohio Safety Isaiah Bell has pledged to become a Michigan Wolverine. He is so new on the radar that he hadn’t been added to the recruiting board yet, though he was slated to be added in the next update. He is a high school teammate of LB Julius Ferrell and RB Fitzgerald Toussaint.

Bell is a 6-2, 200lb safety who had been on the rise before his commitment to Michigan. As is the case with most Michigan commitments, this means his ranking will not rise that much more, and he will likely peak at 3 stars.

More coming on Bell later tonight or tomorrow.

Posted under Recruiting

Now updated to account for Teric Jones commitment.

I don’t really intend to update the recruiting board every day, but when something big happens (such as a commitment), it’s kind of necessary. Tom Beaver speaks on Grand Haven radio.

OH DB Justin Turner moved to committed. Free Press article.
MI RB Teric Jones moved to committed.

New Information:
MI WR James Jackson wants to do football and track in college. Have him talk to Morgan Trent.
FL WR Andre Debose Track fluff.
OK RB David Oku plans to decide on his birthday (October 10th), if possible.
IL DE Craig Drummond won’t take visits until after his ACT is done with. Top 5 of M, IL, USC, Kstate, and Tennessee.
NC S Devonte Holloman will decide after official visits, and maybe early.

Etc.: Steve Spurrier apparently thinks the new clock rules will help teams that run a no-huddle offense (hey, that’s us!). My boy John Bacon slams him some Carty.

Posted under Recruiting

Detroit Cass Tech RB Teric Jones (rhymes with Eric) has pledged to become a Michigan Wolverine. He joins his high school teammate, DT William Campbell in the 2009 Michigan recruiting class.

Recruiting Story
Jones finished his junior year with Michigan and Michigan State as the two favorites. After a very good performance at the Army All-American combine, he vaulted into the consciousness of several more prominent schools. When more-highly ranked instaters Larry Caper and Edwin Baker committed to MSU, Michigan became Jones’s favorite.

Jones visited Michigan for a spring practice this morning and received his Michigan offer. He committed to Michigan shortly thereafter.

Player Notes
Jones ran a 4.47 40-yard dash at the 2008 Army junior combine, but has been timed as fast as 4.39. He was considered a top-10 prospect at the combine. Compared to his fellow instate backs Larry Caper and Edwin Baker (both committed to Michigan State), Jones lacks the polish of a multi-year varsity starter, but has the measurables to be the best player of the three.

Jones is a 5-10, 190lb runningback who will probably play a versatile role out in the slot as well. Jones’s exposure to this point has been low, as he played behind Indiana freshman-to-be Cortez Smith as a junior. By the time the final rankings come out, I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up a lowish four-star.

Video

Youtube-age of the Cass Tech team hitting.
A not-particularly-impressive run during Jones’s sophomore year.

Thanks to reader a2matt for making sure that I am on top of my game.

Posted under Recruiting

Ahhh, it’s been a while since I’ve had such a headline, and it feels good. Sorry for the delay on the news (I was watching the hockey game at The Arena per Brian’s suggestion), but better late than never, right?

OH DB Justin Turner has pledged to Rich Rodriguez. Turner, a 4-star from Massilon, OH (Washington) is the second member of the 2009 class. Michigan was his early leader, but lost ground during the coaching change. However, after a visit to Ann Arbor with his dad, Turner was comfortable pledging to the Wolverines.

Turner projects as either a safety or corner, measuring at 6-2, 200, and running the 40 in 4.4 seconds. For some video on Turner, we consult our friends at Scouting Ohio:

By the way, thanks to reader Obes. Without him, I probably wouldn’t have gotten to this until tomorrow.

Posted under Recruiting

The Recruiting Board. Lots of stuff this week. As always, if you have any tips, e-mail me or drop them in the comments. I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but Russell Shepard may want to reconsider his commitment. Ryan Perrilloux has returned from suspension, and the Tigers also received a commitment from another QB.

New Information:
MN WR Bryce McNeal plans to decide at the Army All-American game. Lots of information from the Gopher Hole, including a secret top five (which Minnesota and Michigan are both non-secret members of, leading one to believe they are his top 2). Video interview with MichiganVarsity.
PA CB Corey Brown. Video interview with Sam Webb.
PA LB Dorian Bell. Webb interviewed him as well. Random blog post says he’ll verbal to OSU within a month. Credibility? None.
NC OL Xavier Nixon. Fluff from his high school coach.
GA QB Donavan Tate. Baseball fluff.
IN QB Jordan Luallen. Visiting Georgia Tech this weekend (look near the bottom).
IL DE Craig Drummond. He plans to decide before the season, but will not take visits until his academics are sorted out.
TN WR Marlon Brown names a top 15.
AZ DE Corey Adams is committed to the ESPNU All-star game.

Added:
GA WR Braxton Lane. He has been offered by Michigan. He is a blazer (4.31) who seems perfect for the slot. He also likes teh baseballz.
OH RB Fitzgerald Toussaint. He has apparently earned an offer. A high school teammate of linebacker prospect Julius Ferrell, Youngstown Liberty has another player who may be added in the next update. Will the school be this year’s version of the Trotwood trio?
MN CB Varmah Sonie. Friend of WR Bryce McNeal.

Removed:
OH LB Zach Boren. It appears that Michigan’s bridges have been burned with the Borens. Prior to Justin’s sudden departure, the Bucks had all but conceded him to Michigan. He will attend the school that Justin transfers to.

Etc.: Sam Webb talks about the past weekend’s Akron 7-on-7 in the Detroit News. Prospects Todd Thomas and Jordan Hall on Pennsylvania all-state basketball teams. Saline spring game information. Have fun not going, losers.

Posted under Recruiting

Current Texas backup QB Sherrod Harris may be considering a transfer, according to several sources, including the Dallas Morning News. Harris is a true sophomore who would have to sit one year, and be eligible to play in 2009 and 2010. A likely target would be Michigan, with an offense that fits his skills and a dearth of quarterbacks.

Harris is an exception student-athlete, who graduated with a high school GPA of 3.96. He was a run-pass threat in high school, described as similar to Antonio Bass (slightly more developed as a passer, with slightly less athleticism). At Texas, he has been limited due to injury and depth chart, and has yet to attempt a pass (despite playing in two games in fall 2007).

Harris is not allowed to contact school of interest until he receives his release. Texas coach Mack Brown stated that if any player approaches him regarding transfer, a release will be granted.

Posted under Personnel

First and foremost, I am glad the Athletic Department has gone back to using yellow student shirts after the (horrible) year of blue in 2005. The yellow looks infinitely better, as documented by the Hoover Street Rag (also an interesting post on other points, and I generally agree with it). However, the new issue I raise is the task of actually getting students to wear them.

The TShirt Option
The first mistake the administration makes in this respect is allowing the purchase of a shirt to be optional with a student ticket purchase. By simply bundling the shirt with the tickets – no option – the department would guarantee that everyone in the student section at least has access to one maize shirt. At the very least the option to buy the shirt on the ticket order form could be checked by default – I would much rather have students accidentally buy the shirt than accidentally not buy it (which I did in both 2004 and 2005 – I didn’t bother buying the terrible blue thing in 2005 after I mistakenly didn’t order it originally).

Maize Outs
Another area in which the athletic department fails is marking a select few student tickets (last year, it was two games) with the “Maize Out” distinction. In the student section, every game should be a maize out. IF the department would like to mark tickets in other sections, by all means go ahead (I don’t know if they currently do, but by the results of past maize outs, I would assume not). Telling students that a couple games will be maize outs gives the impression that other trips to the Big House have no unofficial dress code, when in fact they should.

The Greek Community
Aside from arriving any time after 7:00 in the first quarter, and leaving in the mid-third the Greek Community at Michigan also serves as a detriment to student section glory. I’m not talking about the seemingly endless supply of Mike Hart and Tom Brady (who they hadn’t even heard of before Super Bowl 38) jerseys available at AEPi and Pike fraternity houses, but rather the “Show Your Letters” shirts that are always worn in the fall by Greeks. Most (all?) chapters require their members to wear these shirts on football Saturdays, and they are always blue (or in some cases, pink for sororities). The athletic department should reach out to the Interfraternal Council and the Panhellenic organization to work toward having shirts that accomplish the missions of both the Greeks (advertising) and the AD (uniform yellowness).

Maize Jerseys
Finally, I know it is not a popular idea among many Michigan fans (particularly the traditionalists), but a maize jersey for the football team (for example, during a maize out night game, novl idea, I know) would go a long way toward assisting in a maized out student section with regularity. Those same people who insist on wearing their OMG TOM BRADY jersey to the game would have an OMG SAM MCGUFFIE option that would not hinder the chromatic continuity of the student section.

Posted under Analysis

I don’t intend for this blog to become a link factory, but I think this is an important read.

It sounds like Boren has huge issues with the new coaching staff.

Posted under Personnel

So what does the grand exit of Justin Boren mean to the team? Well, the best offensive lineman is now gone, and one of the two starters who was returning from a talented-but-underachieving 2007 group. Jake Long and Adam Kraus graduated, and Alex Mitchell left the program (he would likely have not made it through spring conditioning, and may have seen the writing on the wall). Now, only Steve Schilling is back for Michigan’s o-line. The reason I only planned for pre-spring and post-spring depth charts (until fall camp, of course), is because of the unpredictability of events like this. A lot of freshmen will likely have to play in the fall.

Unless Rich Rodriguez is able to work some magic and bring Boren back to the team, the unit will be very shaky in 2008. However, given the language Rodriguez used when speaking about Boren (or avoiding speaking about him), it is unlikely that we will see Justin back. This also means that his younger brother Zach is probably out of the picture for the 2009 recruiting class. Boren’s departure will also affect the 209 recruiting class by forcing Rodriguez to take a second very large class of offensive linemen. If they can get production out of the younger players, there will be a very experienced line in the 2010 and 2011 seasons.

Posted under Personnel, Recruiting