Wednesday Recruitin' Is Signing Most Of The Class
It's early Signing Day, hooray?
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:
Kansas City (Mo.) Park Hill WR Ronnie Bell will not be announced today. I'm told he can't sign another NLI this year (he already signed one to Missouri State for bball). He told our @BriceMarich he's signing a financial aid agreement now, then a NLI in February.
— Sam Webb (@SamWebb77) December 20, 2017
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
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.
December 20th, 2017 at 12:23 PM ^
December 20th, 2017 at 12:26 PM ^
December 20th, 2017 at 12:34 PM ^
December 20th, 2017 at 12:39 PM ^
December 20th, 2017 at 12:47 PM ^
Who's on first?
Kidding. The above poster wasn't actually funning you. Go up to the "My Account" tab on the left sidebar. Click that and then click on "Edit." You can change your username there.
December 20th, 2017 at 12:51 PM ^
December 20th, 2017 at 1:03 PM ^
December 20th, 2017 at 1:16 PM ^
Hey +1 for the Thundercats. "Sword of Omens, give me sight beyond sight..."
Also, this:
December 20th, 2017 at 2:33 PM ^
Cheetara remains the best....although I did enjoy me some nunchuk fury of Panthro.
December 20th, 2017 at 3:07 PM ^
December 20th, 2017 at 12:43 PM ^
Good luck fixing the username! (And don't let the digs get to you. A lot of cranks in this community.)
December 20th, 2017 at 12:49 PM ^
You've got an awesome username, CF. 2nd best on the whole site!
December 20th, 2017 at 6:34 PM ^
December 20th, 2017 at 12:25 PM ^
Is it possible it's a contingency for losing Reese or possibly missing on the WRs left on the board? Maybe Faustin could be a viper or one of them could switch to WR?
December 20th, 2017 at 1:36 PM ^
Jim is listening to his dad, "You need more DBs!"
Attack each day last week - Min 32:00
December 20th, 2017 at 12:26 PM ^
We have 3 SDE's in this class and no WDE's. Do any of them have the ability to switch to the other side?
December 20th, 2017 at 12:29 PM ^
I'd prefer if one of them was a candidate to move inside. Hutchinson is listed at 260 lbs. on 247; that puts him at least 25 lbs. from functional 3T weight. Upshaw and the German guy are smaller.
December 20th, 2017 at 1:20 PM ^
December 20th, 2017 at 12:30 PM ^
I wouldn't put too much stock in those listings. Upshaw is pretty thin. He's probably a WDE. Plus we are in pretty good shapr at WDE with Luigi and Paye and whatever Uche is.
December 20th, 2017 at 7:57 PM ^
December 20th, 2017 at 11:42 PM ^
or strongside defensive end is usually bigger and stands up better to the run since he's lining up on the strongside of the formation (i.e. on the side with the TE). He faces more doubles, he faces more bodies coming at him on the run so usually needs to be beefier to stand up to that.
The weakside end can be a little lighter and quicker as more of a speed rusher trying beat a tackle one-on-one.
December 20th, 2017 at 12:27 PM ^
So, staff is hoping for Petit-Frere and Patterson is the plan B?
December 20th, 2017 at 12:29 PM ^
I think they need to take both if possible. The lack of offensive tackles on this team is a black hole. We need bodies and more bullets in the chamber so guys actually pan out.
December 20th, 2017 at 12:32 PM ^
Okay, but we already have Hudson, Stueber, Filiaga, and Honigford from the 2017 class and just signed Hayes and Mayfield.
December 20th, 2017 at 1:11 PM ^
Filiaga must be a guard since there isn't one in this class nor are they recruiting any at this point.
December 20th, 2017 at 1:32 PM ^
Yeah, probably. We still have a lot of young OTs though. I could certainly understand if the staff only wants one more.
December 21st, 2017 at 12:56 AM ^
Filiaga and Steuber or Honigford are guards given how content we seem to let this class go without an interior OL.
December 20th, 2017 at 12:39 PM ^
This ongoing issue where everyone says we have to sign more olineman is flat wrong. We have a lot of olineman. They are very young. What we need and what everyone is actually looking for is an experienced tackle. Currently on the roster that are: true, in coming or redshirt frosh.
Stueber, Hayes, Mayfield, Hudson, Filiaga, Honigford, Spanellis possible Patterson or Petit
How many olineman do you want in a 85 man roster?
December 20th, 2017 at 12:47 PM ^
Yeah, it's nice to sign instant-impact guys but that is very uncommon on the offensive line, and the real needs are probably 2-3 seasons down the road.
December 20th, 2017 at 2:03 PM ^
Well, according to the Book of Cook, you want a full line worth of guys every class, so at least 20, I guess? Yes that is 23.5% of your scholarships, but that's why versatile players & PWO are so important.
Do I have this right?
December 20th, 2017 at 8:00 PM ^
December 21st, 2017 at 12:35 AM ^
but because of attrition that'll usually translate to about 17-18 on scholly at any given time, which is the number you want to target (and that attrition is the reason you want 5 per class, on average).
December 20th, 2017 at 12:48 PM ^
December 20th, 2017 at 1:45 PM ^
This certainly makes sense as a general guide, but rosters probably aren't going to neatly sort themselves out like this very often. And I think depth charts get especially complicated when it comes to OL. You have a starting LG and a starting RG, and then your third-best guard is probably the backup to both. Your #2 center might be a starting OG. Your starting RT might be the backup LT, or maybe it's a bench player, or maybe it's another starting interior lineman. So what does the 3-deep even really look like? Realistically, if you can find eight or nine OL who can play, then you're probably in pretty good shape depth-wise.
Obviously you'll always want some developmental guys for the future, but how many seems to be a function of who you have already. If you've got a whole bunch of upperclassmen starting or coming in as the first guy off the bench, then you probably want to take a lot of new prospects and get them ready for when your line turns over. But if you hit on a few freshmen (like, say, Ruiz, Onwenu, and Spanellis), then maybe you want to space the new OL recruits out a bit and put those resources into a different position group. If you have a hole somewhere (like M has at OT), I can see why you'd want to bring in a whole bunch of guys to audition for those spots--but then you could be stuck with the two guys who win the spot, their primary backup, and several other guys doing nothing for 2-3 years while you could be developing the next wave.
Interesting exercise, I think.
December 20th, 2017 at 2:40 PM ^
Not practical. Jim will always have more than 3 scholarship QB's and you can't have only 6 scholarship WR or 3 scholarship RB.
With that said if you add Petit and Patterson you are at 16 scholarship OL for next year.
Are you satisfied with OL recruiting then?
December 20th, 2017 at 8:05 PM ^
December 20th, 2017 at 5:05 PM ^
clones of randall mcdaniel, hutchinson, molk, anthony munoz, jake long, and jon jansen. Maybe Skrep.
2 of each clone, and I think we should be good.
December 21st, 2017 at 12:44 AM ^
on an 85 man roster. Given that there are 22 starting positions plus some specialists, that's still about 20% of starters that are OL. So if you allocate 20% of your schollies to OL, that's 17.
That means you want to average about 5 per class to account for attrition. We do need more OL in this class. It's a smaller class so 4 might be enough but 5 is still ideal. Taking too few OL in 2014, 2015 and 2016 is a major reason that our OL was bad this year. Need to keep fairly close to 5 per year so you don't have a crater sized hole like we did last year and in 2013.
You need to have 16-18 to ensure that your best 5 are really good, that you have at least 1-2 good ones as backups, and that you have enough young guys learning such that they'll be really good as upperclassmen starters.
December 20th, 2017 at 12:55 PM ^
and I think there is a good chance both end up in this class.
December 20th, 2017 at 1:28 PM ^
I may have believed this if it came from a top 10 Kevin but the 13th? Idk...
December 20th, 2017 at 12:30 PM ^
December 20th, 2017 at 12:43 PM ^
Need more tackles. For the love of god, please give us NPF!
December 20th, 2017 at 2:11 PM ^
December 21st, 2017 at 12:45 AM ^
people thinking 2018 OTs are going to solve our current problems are terribly mistaken. 2018 OL are for 2020 and beyond.
We took 3-5 OTs in 2017 (depending on the status of Filiaga and Hall) and already have two promising guys signed for 2018. Out of Steuber, Hudson, Honigford, Hayes and Mayfield (and maybe Hall and Filiaga), our OT situation for 2019-2021 looks pretty good.
Interior linemen in those classes combined? Just Ruiz and possibly Filiaga so far. That's it, despite needing three starters as opposed to two OTs. Our interior OL siutation for 2020-2021 looks dire (unless some of the aforementioned OTs move inside). All the current starters/rotation guys will be gone, except Ruiz (if he sticks around for a fourth year). Unless we add some for this class, we'll be relying on a 2019 guy or two and that isn't ideal as evidenced by the past like 6-7 years.
December 20th, 2017 at 12:39 PM ^
Popped in just to say: CLONE BONE!
December 20th, 2017 at 12:31 PM ^
December 20th, 2017 at 2:13 PM ^
Listen, just read between the lines:
That's how Urbz let's his people know they've been outbid. What, he's just gonna announce "We've made our last, best offer, but it would destabilize our salary structure to go as high as Clemson or Florida went." Yeah, not gonna happen.
But what I find most interesting is it was an OHIO native commit who flipped to Clemson today.
Losing our grip there, Urbie?
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