jalen goss

It's early Signing Day, hooray?

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Anoma foreground. Probably not Cesar Ruiz background. But maybe!

I much prefer the full on early February blitz to this ghostly half-life. Should there be a liveblog? Probably not since there is one scheduled announcement relevant to Michigan, not half-dozen there usually are on Real Signing Day.

That announcement is coming from 5* MD DE Eyabi Anoma, who has been widely expected to go to Alabama for the duration of his recruitment. Brian Dohn popped up this morning to say Michigan is "making a very strong push" and could be the pick, but if that comes off like an attempt to build drama to you, you are wise in the ways of recruiting. The last second flip-flop does happen. I wouldn't get your hopes up. He commits shortly after 2 PM, FWIW.

There have been a couple of events to note. Michigan flipped German DE Julius Welschof from Georgia Tech. He's their third sleeper-ish recruit of the past week and rather indicates where this class is headed: to a spot outside the top ten, in all likelihood. Ace will assemble a hello later today; that's likely to be like the two for MI FB/HB Ben VanSumeren and MO WR Ronnie Bell, light on scouting for a relatively obscure guy.

Welschof does have a fringe four-star ranking from 24/7, excellent size at 6'6" 248, and a camp outing at Michigan. So he's only sleeper-ish.

The other thing to keep an eye on: who signs and who does not. Someone who doesn't sign probably isn't actually a commit. GA LB Otis Reese will wait until February as he decides between Michigan and Georgia. DC QB Kevin Doyle told Nick Baumgardner that he will sign in February with his teammates. Doyle hasn't undertaken any non-Michigan recruiting activity after his commit and came in with full knowledge that Joe Milton was also in the class, so that's probably not the prelude to a departure. I can't imagine Shea Patterson is going to make an impact on a guy two classes behind him.

[UPDATE: also there's this:

Wouldn't expect that would impact his status in the class at all.]

So what's left?

Not much. We'll take Doyle at his word, so Michigan has 18 commitments and Reese in a class that I thought might get up to 22, tops, before Shea Patterson transferred in. The fish still on the hook:

  • LA WR JaMarr Chase. Chase just visited TCU. He has an official to LSU scheduled in January. Both TCU and LSU folks are talking up their chances. Kind of feels like an "everyone hears the good things" kind of recruitment.
  • CA WR Chris Olave. Olave had to cancel his official last weekend but tells Greg Biggins that he plans to reschedule it in January. UCLA, OSU, Utah, and one of USC or Tennesssee appears to be the top five there. There was some optimism in Ann Arbor about Olave prior to last weekend, FWIW. He still seems pretty wide open.
  • FL OL Nicholas Petit-Frere. Petit-Frere appears to be a genuine mystery recruit; since his last Michigan visit nothing of note has really happened. Florida is "in the thick of it"; Loy says ND is "definitely still involved"; etc. Nobody really knows.
  • AZ OL Jarrett Patterson. Patterson took his UCLA trip, and both UCLA and Michigan sources believe UCLA still trails afterwards per Lorenz and the UCLA 24/7 site. (Sort of: Patterson "still might be leaning" to Michigan, per those guys. Very wishy-washy language.)  He is still going to wait for February, it appears, but if Michigan is still ahead in the immediate aftermath of an official to his other finalist that bodes very well. We've put in a CB for Patterson to Michigan.
  • GA OL Jalen Goss. Goss visited Auburn and is taking his recruitment to Signing Day. I don't think Michigan will end up being a major factor for him.
  • NJ DT Tyler Friday. A Brian Dohn CB to OSU put folks on alert but it doesn't appear to be causing a stampede of any variety; the subsequent two picks, one from an OSU guy, are to Michigan. Sam Webb completed another three-part odyessy with a recruit's parent, and those are almost always indicators that the kid in question will end up in a winged helmet. Still looking good there.
  • GA ATH Michael Barrett. Barrett has had no recruiting activity since his visit to Michigan but oddly has not pulled the trigger. Starting to wonder if he has a committable offer at this instant. He's the kind of guy who would probably want to secure a spot and sign early, right?

The most likely outcome is probably Patterson, Friday, and Barrett. Oh, and maybe...

Krieger Clone #5

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pictured: Michigan's 2020 secondary

Michigan tossed out an offer to MI CB Vincent Gray two days ago, and I am confused about this. Outgoing defensive backs: zero. Incoming defensive backs: four. Gray does fit this class's model of a fleet of interchangeable 6'2" guys with long arms, but surely four of those dudes in one class is sufficient? I don't know.

Gray is a Mizzou soft commit who's taken recent visits to Iowa State and West Virginia. The Mountaineers expected to add him to their class today, but the Michigan offer appears to have successfully gotten him to wait:

By all accounts, Gray was set to sign with the Mountaineers on Wednesday, despite his "commitment" (rumors are he already decommitted) to Missouri. The Wolverines have asked him to wait, though, and he says that he likely will, choosing to visit Ann Arbor in January and then sign with a school later.

The WVU site believes the Michigan offer is a contingent one, FWIW. Given the way the board looks I'd be surprised if there wasn't a spot for him down the road. 

Etc.

Former Michigan commit Leonard Taylor currently forecast to go to... Kentucky. Bad move on the decommit.

Rather thought we'd have a hello post by now

The watched pot in which three potential Ole Miss transfers has failed to come to a boil and boy do I regret this metaphor right now but not as much as the people slowly cooking to death. What?

Anyway: QB Shea Patterson, WR Van Jefferson, and S Deontay Anderson all took in Michigan's comeback win over UCLA. All are expected to end up at Michigan, per Sam Webb and the rest of humanity with an opinion. You should be "amazingly optimistic" about Patterson per Webb; he also has a gut feeling about the other two but "red tape" is going to hold things up a little bit. Anderson will commit to Michigan, per Andrew Vailliencourt, but is waiting to announce until Michigan gets his transcripts and officially admits him. Vailliencourt tracked Anderson down for an interview; he remains optimistic that he and his cohort will be immediately cleared:

Although not officially declared eligible yet for next season, Anderson is highly confident that he will be cleared for next season — as well as both Patterson and Jefferson. The three share a lawyer.

“I’m very optimistic about it,” Anderson said. “We’re still waiting to hear from the NCAA, but they’ve been on our side the last couple weeks about it, so I don’t have any doubt in my mind.”

Jefferson is the only Ole Miss guy who made it up who has not been the subject of a direct assertion he is coming, pending transcripts. He is definitely gone from Ole Miss, per 247 Rebel guy Ben Garrett. And Webb is asserting that you should be optimistic. He's probably in; just not official.

BTW, Garrett is asserting that seven guys are absolutely gone from Oxford with another four on the fence. Greg Little is not one of them. Alas. He's just going to play out his last year and head to the draft posthaste, it appears, and doesn't want to muck around with maybe being eligible or maybe not.

Dual commit Thursday?

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Thursday will be big for headline writers covering M and ND

GA TE Tommy Tremble has set an announce date. Folks who read the header will be unsurprised to find that it is Thursday. Tremble's coming off a visit to UCLA. The Bruins, UGA, Michigan, and Notre Dame are the finalists. Michigan is confident, per Lorenz. Tom Loy says he thinks it's Notre Dame, but it's close. Georgia is just a hat on the table; Tremble's dad was a UGA safety who had a cup of coffee in the NFL. It doesn't seem like UGA has a spot for him.

An enthusiastic gent like Loy thinking it's close is a good sign for Michigan. Meanwhile on the podcast I asked Steve if Michigan might sacrifice a third TE in this class to make room for the Ole Miss transfers. He shot that down, noting that Michigan is going after Tremble very hard. He didn't tip his hand as all in an interview with Rivals.

Also committing Thursday—maybe—is GA ATH Michael Barrett. Per Josh Newkirk, Barrett wants to commit on the 14th, his birthday. Wiltfong has a CB in for Michigan; Barrett is apparently deciding between an ATH offer from Michigan and a QB offer from Georgia Tech. Because he's a GT QB, man:

Michigan's been pursuing Barrett for most of the recruiting cycle—here's an early June post from Lorenz that asserts he's at the top of Michigan's board at RB.  Barrett shouldn't be looked at as a late sleeper Michigan is forced into taking because of misses elsewhere. They've got two backs in the class, they've been after this kid for months. They just like him. He could end up at RB, as a Jaylen Samuels-style H-back, viper, linebacker, or even safety.

Other uncommitted officials

Michigan also hosted two OL over the weekend. Barrett's teammate and GA OL Jalen Goss came up and geared up...

...and still kept everyone in the dark. Nobody's talked to him since. Or before, really. He's a ninja.

What we do know: at 6'7", 275, Goss is in the Frey mold as a big, rangy, athletic tackle. He decommitted from Florida in June. (Prescient.) Since he's been to Auburn multiple times and just set a late January official to Miami.  Just based on his visit itinerary—nothing outside of the South except Michigan—this one seems like an uphill battle. If Barrett does commit his pull might be Michigan's best shot with him.

ASU decommit and CA OL Jarrett Patterson is a more likely bet. He's more or less down to UCLA and Michigan. Brandon Huffman caught up with him after his visit, which he said the usual positive things about when not implying that Arizona State players live in a cloud castle with bouncers:

"What stood out most was the football players even spend time with regular students," said Patterson. "Everyone is interconnected and the players are all laid back guys."

UCLA is this weekend and Patterson will decide between the two schools in January. Patterson sounds like a late riser and possibly a candidate to play early:

Sun Devil Source’s Chris Karpman called Patterson “one of the polished performers at this stage of development,” and added, “the coaching that Patterson is getting at the high school level leaps off the film and is going to make for an easier transition to college football than the vast majority of his peers.”

I'd imagine Michigan would take both him and Petit-Frere.

""They're going to need a bigger boat" –Ace Anbender" –Brian Cook

I promised Ace that I would Michael Scott him about this development, the biggest Happy Trails of all time.

The impossible dream has died and committed to Minnesota, where he will team up with Vic Viramontes as PJ Fleck tries to assemble a team comprised entirely of weird MGoBlog recruiting obsessions. No doubt he's trying to arrange a LEVITICUS PAYNE transfer as we speak.

Etc.

Name alert: 2021(!) instate OL Rocco Spindler. You may remember Marc Spindler from his Lions days; that's his dad.

Baumgardner talks to MI OL commit Jalen Mayfield.

FL QB commit Joe Milton dropped almost 100 spots in the latest Rivals revamp; he now sits 189th. Can't argue with that given his stats. Happy trails to CA S Bryan Addison, who picked UCLA. At least now when someone picks UCLA over Michigan it makes some level of sense. Losing guys to Jim Freakin' Mora was a drag.

Michigan will practice at Berkeley Prep in preparation for the Outback Bowl. Berkeley Prep is the home of former Michigan kicker Garrett Rivas... and five star FL OL Nicholas Petit-Frere.

MSU Visitors: 2018 Prospects

The Michigan State game represents the first of two huge recruiting weekends for the football program, which loaded up on visitors for the two rivalry games. Using the visitor lists from 247, TMI, and The Wolverine, let's start with the 2018 prospects who will be on campus.

OFFICIAL VISITORS

  • The most notable official visitor is three-star FL WR Shocky Jacques-Louis, a Tennessee commit who had Michigan in his top group before dropping for the Vols. With UT off to a rough start and the Wolverines looking for a wideout in the class, Jacques-Louis could be on flip watch.
  • Four-star GA CB Chris Smith looks like a tough pull; he's been a Georgia commit since May. That said, this will be the second time he's been to Ann Arbor, and he told Rivals's Chad Simmons he's been in frequent contact with the coaching staff.
  • As Steve Lorenz notes, Michigan is a longshot for all three California prospects taking official visits this weekend. Five-star WR Amon-Ra St. Brown and four-star defensive backs Julius Irvin and Bryan Addison will all take their trips without any family in tow, which tends to be a bad sign for out-of-region prospects.
  • Four commits will take their officials: German and Gemon Green, Cam McGrone, and newest pledge Kevin Doyle.

UNOFFICIAL VISITORS

  • Four-star Oak Park OG Marquan McCall, a Kentucky commit, will be in attendance. Michigan didn't push for McCall before his initial commitment, but it's possible they'll try to make a move now that Emil Ekiyor is a serious threat to leave the class.
  • Commits Aiden Hutchinson, Jalen Mayfield, and Christian Turner are expected to take unofficials this weekend, likely to help serve as recruiters themselves.

I wouldn't expect too much immediate movement among 2018 prospects after this weekend unless M makes a big spash with Jacques-Louis. There's plenty of intrigue among the underclassman visitors, though, so make sure to hit...

[THE JUMP]