jacques patrick

Promising Quote Is Promising

Is four-star LB Josh McMillon looking blue? [photo via 247]

It's no secret that Michigan's scholarship availability for the 2015 class is dwindling. Per Sam Webb, that fact is not lost on four-star TN LB Josh McMillon, who's spoken very highly of the Wolverines lately ($):

One of the topics of discussion in recent weeks has been Michigan’s dwindling scholarship availability.  McMillon is well aware that there is only one scholarship left for a linebacker, but he has made it a point to not let it affect his recruitment.

“They said I was number one on their boards, so I feel like if they did take someone it would be my loss rather than theirs,” he stated.

Well, hello there.

McMillon will visit for the BBQ at the Big House on July 27th, and he's also got trips planned to Alabama (July 12th) and Auburn (TBD) before a decision he'll make either in August or September. McMillon spoke in glowing terms about his last visit to Ann Arbor—when he was the first recruit to see the new Schembechler Hall renovations—from both a football and academic standpoint, as well as his close relationship with Chris Singletary.

A potential commitment from McMillon could leave four-star UT OLB Osa Masina, who named Michigan to his top five on Thursday, out of a spot—he doesn't plan to decide until the Army AA Game, per 247's Evan Flood ($). This is what we call a good problem.

Prospects are looking up on the defensive line, as well. Four-star NC SDE Darian Roseboro has Michigan as the only non-ACC/SEC school in his top six thanks to the connection he and his family have made with the coaching staff, especially Roy Manning, per Webb's latest DetNews article:

“I like the coaching staff,” said Roseboro to Scout.com. “They’re all down to earth and I have a real good relationship with them. I also enjoyed being around the players when I visited and I like the environment.”

His connection with Michigan assistant Roy Manning served as the catalyst for his initial interest. During the visit that bond quickly expanded to also include Roseboro’s parents.

“We got along perfect,” Roseboro’s father Johnny said. “(Manning) was like someone I have known for years. We just clicked and I liked that. He didn’t try to be anybody else. They are themselves. What you see is what you get. I like that.

Webb confirms that Roseboro will be in attendance at the BBQ, which gives U-M the chance to make another strong impression before he makes his college choice on August 29th. The whole article is well worth your time; notably, both Roseboro's mother and father made sure to note that distance won't play a factor, which is excellent news for Michigan given the other finalists. There's a very good chance the Wolverines add two highly touted defenders to the 2015 class before football season begins.

Obligatory 2015 Running Backs Update

While Damien Harris, Jacques Patrick, and Ray-Ray McCloud were also in attendance, the 2015 running back creating the most Michigan recruiting buzz at The Opening was Mike Weber, who showed up rocking the Maize and Blue, something both Alex Malzone and Darrin Kirkland were eager to point out. Whether on their own volition or by instruction from the coaches, Michigan's current commits have made Weber their top recruiting priority at the position, per GBW's Josh Newkirk ($):

“I’d probably say Mikey (Weber),” Malzone said, when asked which running back he wanted this years class. “I talk to Mikey a lot. I’ve known him from Cass Tech, Michigan native.

“Mike Weber, we’re getting him to go blue.”

With Malzone and Nussmeier both making Weber their No. 1 priority, Weber has no choice but to choose Michigan, right?

“Alex [Malzone] has just been saying come down there and have a good time with him,” Weber said on conversation with Malzone. “Hopefully that will affect my decision.”

Weber's recruitment has increasingly looked like an in-state battle; according to Newkirk, one-time contender Tennessee has backed off lately in their efforts to land Weber, potentially eliminating one of his top five schools.

Positive news for Michigan State could also be positive news for Michigan in this case. The Spartans pulled a recruiting coup on Friday, landing four-star OH RB LJ Scott in a head-to-head win over Ohio State. The Only Colors is projecting a relatively small class for MSU, and it's quite possible the Spartans are done with running back recruiting for 2015. That'd leave Ohio State, Wisconsin, and possibly Miami (YTM) as Michigan's competition for Weber, and the Wolverines would likely be out in front of that group. We should find out more when he's on campus for the BBQ.

That's good news on its own, and better still since U-M is on the outside looking in for their other top running back targets. Four-star FL RB Jacques Patrick told Scout that while Michigan is staying in regular contact with him, Florida State and Alabama are his top two schools ($). With an announcement already planned for October 27th, it looks unlikely U-M will climb back into contention.

Same goes for four-star FL ATH/RB Ray-Ray McCloud, who told Rivals' Adam Krohn that he'll decide on July 28th, and he already has his mind made up ($):

"I know the school I'm choosing," he said. "It felt right for me every time I went on campus, and the relationships I have with the coaches."

Florida is the overwhelming favorite. McCloud hasn't made it to Michigan's campus and doesn't plan to before his decision, so it's about time to wish him happy trails.

U-M isn't entirely out of quality options if Weber ends up elsewhere, however. There's always the chance Damien Harris re-commits, though that's not my expectation, and GBW reports that four-star Florida back and current soft Miami commit Dexter Williams will take official visits to Michigan, USC, and possibly Notre Dame ($).

In 2016 running back news, Michigan could be in on another ex-North Carolina commit after previously reeling in 2015 TE Chris Clark after his decommitment from the Tar Heels. The coach of four-star NC RB Antonio Williams told 247's Steve Lorenz that Michigan is "absolutely under consideration" after Williams decommitted from UNC over the weekend ($). Once again, it's Roy Manning making a major impact in that area:

"I know [Williams and Manning] had a great relationship for a long time," [Williams' coach] said. "We had always been led to believe that Michigan was going to make Antonio the first RB offer in their class, but they backed off a bit after he made his commitment to North Carolina. Antonio really likes Michigan a lot and always have. We are going to sit down in the very near future and discuss what his next moves are going to be as far as visits go."

Williams himself said he's looking to talk to Manning "as soon as he can," presumably to set up a visit. If he gets on campus, an offer is likely to follow for the nation's #8-ranked running back on the 247 Composite.

Kirkland, deWeaver Impress At Camps

HT: MGoVideo

While I can't find anything on Alex Malzone that isn't recruiting-related, Darrin Kirkland's performance at The Opening earned positive reviews, impressing Scout's national scouting guru over the course of the three-day event, per Newkirk ($):

“Kirkland stood out early in footwork drills and then showed his change of direction and straight ahead speed in one-on-one drills,” said Scout national recruiting analyst Brian Dohn, on Kirkland’s Tuesday performance. “He moved fast but remained patient. He was able to beat the running back to the point of attack on several drills and used his length well.”

Kirkland also took the opportunity to pitch Michigan to Weber, Harris, Patrick, and Masina. 247's Clint Brewster listed him as one of five Michigan commits or targets who look primed for a ratings bump after The Opening; Weber also made the cut after showing some impressive receiving ability out the backfield.

Meanwhile, 2016 QB commit Messiah deWeaver participated in the Rivals250 Underclassmen Challenge on Saturday, and Josh Helmholdt ranked him as the fourth-best signal-caller in attendance ($):

DeWeaver came to Jacksonville on a run of outstanding off-season performances, and he continued that momentum on Saturday. A year ago, the Ohio native had real loose mechanics and struggled with consistency, but he has developed into one of the more well-rounded quarterbacks in the 2016 class with clean mechanics and good footwork. The recent Michigan commit made some of his best throws during one-on-one play, fitting passes into tight windows and varying his trajectory well.

At the same event, 2016 Orchard Lake St. Mary's four-star Daelin Hayes won positional MVP honors among linebackers ($). He picked up a Notre Dame offer after a standout performance at their camp last month, adding to a list that already includes U-M, OSU, MSU, PSU, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. While this is a Midwest battle in the early going, and Michigan should be in good position to land him, expect more big-time competition to appear—he's looking like one of the top LB prospects in the class regardless of region.

 

Malzone. [photo: MI Prep Zone]

Quarterback

Total Needs: 1
Commits: 1 (Alex Malzone – Bloomfield Hills (MI) Brother Rice)  
Moving Forward: The Wolverines are all set at quarterback for the 2015 cycle.

Running Back

Total Needs: 1-2
Commits: 0
Top Candidates: Damien Harris – Berea  (KY) Madison Southern, Mike Weber – Detroit (MI) Cass Tech
Honorable Mentions: Jacques Patrick – Orlando (FL) Timber Creek, Johnny Frasier – Princeton (NC) Princeton

Moving Forward: With the transfer addition of Ty Isaac the Wolverines will probably be satisfied with just one running back commitment in the class. If both Damien Harris and Mike Weber decide they’d like to be Wolverines, I’m sure the coaches would find a way to let it happen. That being said, neither of them are sure things and Michigan could end up landing neither.  It appears that Weber has now become the top target while Harris may be leaning toward the Buckeyes. Either way, both have said that they will be in attendance for the BBQ at The Big House on July 27 which will be another huge recruiting event.  Jacques Patrick and Johnny Frasier remain longshots at this point, but both are still being recruited by the staff.

Wide Receiver

Total Needs: 1-2
Commits: 0
Top Candidates: Brian Cole – Saginaw (MI) Heritage
Honorable Mentions: George Campbell – Tarpon Springs (FL) East Lake, Auden Tate – Tampa (FL) Wharton

Moving Forward: This position group worries me more than any other on the board. The staff has offered 11 wide receiver prospects. Four of them are committed elsewhere and outside of Brian Cole, the rest don’t seem to be very likely options. Cole is probably going to be an in-state battle between the Wolverines and Spartans and the upcoming season of each school could prove huge in his recruitment. George Campbell was once a Michigan commit but that seems like ancient history at this point. He’s likely to remain somewhere in Florida. Fellow Florida-native Auden Tate holds Michigan in high regard, but pulling skill players out of Florida has always been a tough task. I haven’t had direct communication with Tate so gauging his interest level is difficult. If Tate visits for the BBQ that will be an obvious move in the right direction.

Clark: Committed to Power Words.

 

Tight End

Total Needs: 1
Commits: 1 (Chris Clark – Avon (CT) Avon Old Farms)
Top Candidates: Tyrone Wheatley Jr. – Buffalo (NY) Canisius
Honorable Mentions: N/A

Moving Forward: The Wolverines could very well be done at the tight end position. Chris Clark was a somewhat unexpected pleasant surprise, at least timing-wise, and with him in the fold landing another tight end isn’t a must. Tyrone Wheatley Jr. is a legacy offer and told me that he was definitely offered by Michigan as a tight end. That being said, he’s a pretty solid defensive end as well so if he decides he’d like to follow his dad’s footsteps to Ann Arbor, the coaches could give him a look on defense if they felt they were set at tight end. If Wheatley Jr. decides to commit elsewhere, it’s likely that the Wolverines won’t look at another tight end.

Offensive Line

Total Needs: 2-3
Commits: 2 (Jon Runyan Jr. – Philadelphia (PA) St. Joseph’s, Grant Newsome – Trenton (NJ) The Lawrenceville School)
Top Candidates: Patrick Allen – Reistertown (MD) Franklin
Honorable Mentions: Drew Richmond – Memphis (TN) Memphis University School, Connor Williams – Coppell (TX) Coppell

Moving Forward: Solid recent recruiting classes have allowed the staff to build some much needed depth on the offensive line. The coaches have been able to secure verbal commitments from two offensive linemen in the 2015 class already and would take one more if he’s a big-time talent. The staff is currently content with Jon Runyan Jr. and Grant Newsome as the lone linemen commitments. Patrick Allen has a top four in order of Oklahoma, Ohio State, Georgia, and Michigan. I doubt Michigan can pass the other three, but by default he’s probably the most likely to become part of this class right now. Drew Richmond is one of the most coveted linemen in the country who has mentioned he’d like to see Michigan for himself, but with no plans to do so as of right now, he’s probably a pipe dream. Connor Williams compares to Richmond in terms of his Michigan interest and is also a longshot at best for the Wolverines.

Defensive Tackle

Total Needs: 0
Commits: 0

Moving Forward: Michigan does not appear to be taking a defensive tackle in this recruiting cycle. Solid recent recruiting at the position and a limited number of available scholarships in 2015 have allowed for this position to be a non-priority this time around. They’ve offered five prospects but two of them have committed elsewhere and the other three aren’t going to drop for the maize and blue.

Defensive End

Total Needs: 2
Commits: 0
Top Candidates: Keisean Lucier-South – Orange (CA) Lutheran-Orange County, Darian Roseboro – Linconlton (NC) Lincolnton
Honorable Mentions: Kengera Daniel – Raleigh (NC) Millbrook, Jalen Bates –Kaplan (LA) Kaplan

Moving Forward: This position group has two of the more probable future Wolverines in it with Darian Roseboro and Keisean Lucier-South. Roseboro plans to attend the BBQ at the end of July and  Lucier-South already has an official visit planned for the Penn State game. It wouldn’t surprise me if Roseboro pulled the trigger while at the BBQ. Lucier-South has tentative plans to commit on National Signing Day, but I wouldn’t be shocked if the environment during his official visit to Ann Arbor was enough to get him to commit. Kengera Daniel and Jalen Bates both also like Michigan quite a bit but are both a little lower down the board compared to Roseboro and Lucier-South.

Linebacker

Total Needs: 2
Commits: 1 (Darrin Kirkland Jr. – Indianapolis (IN) Lawrence Central)
Top Candidates: Asmar Bilal – Indianapolis (IN) Ben Davis, Tyriq Thompson – Detroit (MI) Detroit Martin Luther King, Joshua McMillon – Memphis (TN) Whitehaven
Honorable Mentions: Osa Masina – Salt Lake City (UT) Brighton

Moving Forward: Linebacker is quickly becoming Michigan’s deepest positional group on defense and the 2015 class could continue to build upon that. Darrin Kirkland Jr. is already in the fold and the staff continues to recruit several prospects who are very high on Michigan. Tyriq Thompson is the son of former Wolverine, Clarence Thompson, so he seems to be a very real possibility. Asmar Bilal is believed to be favoring Notre Dame but Michigan is right there for his services. Perhaps the biggest surprise among this group is Tennessee native Joshua McMillon. At nearly 250 lbs. he is massive for a high school linebacker but he has the athleticism to handle it. Our own Ace recently predicted that McMillon will commit to Michigan on 247’s Crystal Ball, citing Sam Webb’s recent optimism regarding McMillon’s comments about the Wolverines. Plucking McMillon from SEC country with a slew of SEC offers would be a big time get for the Michigan coaching staff. At one point Michigan seemed to be in pretty good shape with Osa Masina but recent developments indicate he might be staying closer to home.

Lewis is loosely tied to Florida at them moment. [247]

 

Defensive Back

Total Needs: 2-3
Commits: 2 (Tyree Kinnel – Dayton (OH) Wayne, Garrett Taylor – Richmond (VA) St. Christopher’s School)
Top Candidates: Mook Reynolds – Greensboro (NC) Northern Guilford, Marcus Lewis – Washington (DC) Gonzaga
Honorable Mentions: Iman Marshall – Long Beach (CA) Long Beach Poly, John Reid – Philadelphia (PA) St. Joseph’s

Moving Forward: With two very solid commitments already in the fold in the secondary, Michigan can afford to be picky with any additional targets. All four of the potential future members of the class are highly coveted and two of them are actually committed elsewhere right now. Mook Reynolds is currently committed to Virginia Tech but will check out Michigan for the BBQ, while Marcus Lewis is currently considered a Gator. Lewis also plans to check out Michigan in the near future, possibly for the BBQ as well. There isn’t a lot of news out there on John Reid and I haven’t had much contact with him but he’s still on the radar and Garrett Taylor told me that he’s been recruiting him. Iman Marshall’s father told me that they are quite interested in Michigan and hope to check out Ann Arbor if it can be worked out. He’s another highly touted prospect from California that seems to be genuinely interested in Michigan, but probably won’t leave the west coast.

Special Teams

Total Needs: 1
Commits: 1 (Andrew David – Massillon (OH) Washington)

Moving Forward: Michigan identified the need for a kicker, offered Andrew David, and he committed. There isn’t a need for any other special teamers in the 2015 cycle.

I’m going to predict that the 2015 class will be right around 16 members when it’s all said and done. As of right now there are only 4 remaining scholarships available but with inevitable attrition that number should go up to around 8 or so bringing the total to 16 for the class.

The California Of The Midwest

OBVIOUS BUCKEYE PHOTOSHOPPED PROPAGANDA 5/5 FAKES

Between last weekend's Sound Mind Sound Body camp and the ongoing U-M technique camp, Michigan's had the opportunity to see many of their top recruits in person over the last few days. Among those prospects were two 2016 California quarterbacks, five-star dual-threat Malik Henry—who wowed at SMSB before making his way to campus on Sunday—and four-star pro-style QB KJ Costello, who also made it into town on Sunday. A beautiful spring weekend in Ann Arbor made Costello feel right at home:

Michigan is unreal... The weather feels like Cali

— kj costello (@kj_costello) June 15, 2014

NOBODY SAY A DAMN WORD.

SMSB: Malzone, Kirkland Stand Out

Michigan's two participating commits didn't disappoint in front of their future coaches at SMSB, as both Alex Malzone and Darrin Kirkland turned in outstanding performances. After not having his best showing on Thursday, Malzone came back with a standout showing on Friday that impressed GBW's Josh Newkirk ($):

Malzone came to work on day two. Maybe, just maybe, having his future coach Doug Nussmeier in attendance was an added incentive as well. The future Wolverine looked sharp in drills and listened closely whenever Nussmeier addressed him. In the one-on-one portion of the camp, Malzone excelled. He showcased his arm – like always – and made nice precise throws. He doesn’t seem to mind the added attention of being Michigan’s quarterback of the future, even when everyone is watching. An overall great performance by the four-star prospect.

247's Clint Brewster concurred, saying Malzone showed he could "make all the throws" with excellent accuracy and solid velocity. He sounded even more impressed with Kirkland, praising his coverage and blitzing ability after giving rave reviews of his play against the run ($):

Kirkland Jr. immediately stood out among the defensive players at the camp because of how well put together he is. Kirkland has an NFL linebacker type of body with a thick muscled frame. You can easily point him out among the linebackers there. Kirkland was able to overpower running backs in one-on-one coverage and he doesn’t wait to attack. He plays with good body-lean and pad level to get underneath ball carriers and gain leverage. Kirkland isn’t going to Wow you with his athleticism or quickness but he plays so hard. He closes on ball carriers and takes the right angles because it seems like he wants to make the tackle more than the next guy. His intensity and technique is really what stood out to me.

Kirkland continues to sound like a prototype MIKE; it's gonna be fun seeing Brian try to come up with a YMRMFSPA for his recruiting profile that isn't David Harris.

[Hit THE JUMP for a couple happy trails, updates on a pair of 2015 running backs, where Michigan stands after offering Dele' Harding, a few camp offers, and more.]