Sick Day Miscellanea: Recruitin' Bits, Maryland Diagrams
I unwittingly glutened myself this week, so between that, basketball season getting underway, recruiting staying in a holding pattern, and the football team remaining rather uninspiring, there's no full recruiting roundup or FFFF today. Instead, I'm mashing the two together before I head into town for the Detroit game.
Weekend Visitors
Michigan will receive an official visit this weekend from a highly touted prospect not committed to the Wolverines. Yes, this is probably a surprise to you. This may even be a surprise to the coaches. It's probably not going to amount to a whole lot. But, hey, it's happening, and that's nice.
The recruit in question is four-star receiver Auden Tate, currently a Florida State commit, who's following through on his long-held plan to officially visit Ann Arbor after he got a Michigan offer way back in April. Tate grew up a fan of the program and he's kept in touch with QB commit Alex Malzone throughout the recruiting process. It'd be a surprise if Tate flipped his commitment, but heck, it's a surprise he's taking this trip in the first place.
Three-star Oak Park ATH John Kelly will also be in attendance as an unofficial visitor. The other 2015 recruits set to be at the game are current commits: Malzone and Grant Newsome, both of whom have remained steadfast in their pledges throughout this tumultuous season. Malzone may be joined by his Brother Rice teammate and primary target, 2015 WR Grant Perry, though Perry may choose to visit Northwestern instead.
[Hit THE JUMP for commit updates, Iman Marshall's very interesting visit plans, a couple more recruiting nuggets, and Seth's lineup diagrams for the Maryland game.]
Commit Updates
Alex Malzone's senior highlights [HT: Allen Trieu]:
Uh, NOT BAD.
Meanwhile, ESPN updated their Junior 300 for the class of 2016 recruits. OT commit Erik Swenson moved up from #256 to #188, while QB Messiah deWeaver dropped from #115 to #199.
Iman Marshall Plans Ahead
Five-star California prospect Iman Marshall, the nation's top-ranked cornerback, still plans on using one of his five official visits to check out Michigan, though 247's JC Shurburtt reports an interesting twist:
Marshall also plans to visit Notre Dame for the program's banquet weekend and added, interestingly enough, he would visit Michigan officially for the Wolverines "new staff".
Marshall has his first official set to Oklahoma for Bedlam in a couple weeks and will visit Notre Dame—the school he says has kept the closest contact with him—the following weekend. LSU and Florida State were also supposed to receive official visits, but they may be replaced because they haven't recruiting him hard enough; USC and UCLA are firmly in the mix, if not the outright favorites, but he won't use officials to see those schools because of their proximity. Marshall expanded upon his thoughts about Michigan to 247's Tom Loy ($):
“Yeah, that’s a good thing,” said Marshall who would visit Ann Arbor with potential changes looming. “The new coaching staff is going to have to bring in a new system and show what they have to offer. This is about the degree and how the staff would put work in and if they could be successful as they were previously.”
It seems like Michigan would be in the hunt should a change happen in a timely fashion, especially since Marshall's recruitment should extend late into the process, but it's hard to project given the very uncertain nature of it all.
Whether or not Marshall comes through on his plans, Michigan looks to have a decent shot with at least one California corner, recently offered three-star Colin Samuel, who had this to say to Rivals' Adam Gorney ($):
Michigan and UCLA are two schools that Samuel will take a much closer look at as his senior season winds down.
"I've always liked Michigan and they'll definitely be a top contender when it all comes down to decision day," Samuel said.
Oklahoma also came through with a recent offer, so there'll be plenty of competition for Samuel.
Hoops: '16 Five-Star TJ Leaf Commits To Arizona
Maryland Diagrams
Again, no FFFF this week due to time/health/ennui constraints, but Seth came through with the diagrams. Maryland's offense, which is missing several key pieces [click to embiggen]:
Injuries and suspensions abound in the receiving corps, most notably for star Stefon Diggs, who will miss the game due to a lacerated kidney (yikes).
The Terrapin defense is also dealing with absences concentrated in a specific position group—for them, it's at cornerback, where this week they'll start their normal strong safety, Sean Davis:
The rest of the defense is relatively healthy with the exception of standout SAM Matt Robinson, who finally made it through a full game last week after being in and out of the lineup all season with a shoulder injury. He's set to play, but probably not at 100%.
November 20th, 2014 at 3:43 PM ^
One of these days, it's going to come down to those of us who tolerate gluten and the scum who don't. You better make the right choice about whose side you're on.
November 20th, 2014 at 4:04 PM ^
November 20th, 2014 at 4:30 PM ^
Yeast Mode.
November 20th, 2014 at 3:44 PM ^
November 20th, 2014 at 4:03 PM ^
Maybe he just reads all the CC threads on mgoblog and got confused
November 20th, 2014 at 4:08 PM ^
One thing I'm sure of, Hoke will steer recent commits and prospects straight should he be asked to resigned. Hopefully that will help mitigate any transition costs.
November 20th, 2014 at 4:49 PM ^
November 20th, 2014 at 5:07 PM ^
November 20th, 2014 at 8:17 PM ^
scheduling official visits?
November 21st, 2014 at 5:27 AM ^
I think it would be naive of a recruit not to figure out that there will be a new staff in place before NSD. Besides, every rival coach is negative recruiting Michigan with phrases like "you don't know who's going to be there next year."
I find it refreshing that a recruit is addressing the situation.
November 20th, 2014 at 3:56 PM ^
doesn't he know that leaves don't grow in Arizona?
November 20th, 2014 at 4:11 PM ^
Can we please get the star player 'star' off Funchess yet? If you compile a list of most dissappointing players in the last bunch of years, he just may be at the top. NFL body, grade school effort.
November 20th, 2014 at 5:36 PM ^
So you don't think he's a star player? Look, I know he's had some bad games, and some bad plays in others, but he's still the guy opposing defenses worry about the most. Just because he's not as good as you think he should be doesn't mean he's not good.
November 20th, 2014 at 7:22 PM ^
I have said it countless times, the idea that Funchess is a lock to go in the first round of the NFL draft blows my mind until I consider every raiders pick and all the fast flops that go in the first round of the NFL draft.
November 21st, 2014 at 6:12 AM ^
If not, no way the raiders pick him up.
November 20th, 2014 at 4:38 PM ^
WR Funchess, at 6'5, better take advantage of DB Likely, who stands at a whopping 5'7.
November 20th, 2014 at 4:44 PM ^
That would be....
Likely.
November 20th, 2014 at 5:29 PM ^
Are you mad? No way our offense won't exploit this matchup by throwing bubble screens to Darboh.
Wait, you want Funchess to go deep? You must be thinking of UnLikely.
November 20th, 2014 at 4:53 PM ^
Was it soy sauce in something you weren't expecting?
November 20th, 2014 at 4:56 PM ^
November 20th, 2014 at 5:14 PM ^
I'm not sure what to think of Marhall's comments...Is Hackett on the recruiting trail?
November 20th, 2014 at 5:34 PM ^
It's getting very tiring to see these so many top players going to the same set of schools: Duke, Kansas, Arizona, and Kentucky. One of these days soon, I'm hoping Michigan can more easily sign kids like Leaf again. He seemed like a great fit too. Here's hoping that 2016 doesn't go like 2015.
November 21st, 2014 at 2:14 AM ^
It probably takes about 3-4 years for a team to start building up 5 stars after a title game appearance/surprise final four appearance. Takes a little while to be recognized a bit. Give it time.
November 21st, 2014 at 8:36 AM ^
There was a short discussion about this on the MGoBlog Roundtable on WTKA yesterday. Brian alleged that Kentucky must be paying players to be getting so much talent. Sam stated that the recruiting bump from recent success should be apparent in the 2016 class if it is coming at all.
November 21st, 2014 at 3:37 PM ^
I'm not convinced much is gained with 5 star one-and-dones. I'd rather have talented guys that will be in the program 3-4 years, not just from the earn a degree perspective, but solid kids with 4 years of Beilein coaching have a pretty good chance of beating a boat load of freshman McDonalds all-americans in the tournament (who may already be thinking of the NBA payday). It's a better story, too. How much would we love Zack Novak if he was here just one year?
November 20th, 2014 at 5:43 PM ^
Why does Ojemudia have the shrunken circle? Isn't he a junior?
November 20th, 2014 at 6:01 PM ^
His read progression appears to be #1, scramble, see if #1 is open now, run it.
Anyone know who the #1 reciever is? He catches everything thrown at him and constantly has seperation from his defender(s).
November 20th, 2014 at 6:29 PM ^
That has to be Grant Perry, right?
November 21st, 2014 at 12:18 PM ^
Yeah, it's Grant Perry.
November 20th, 2014 at 6:34 PM ^
I avoid gluten as well and found this article interesting...
http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/real-reason-for-toxic-wheat-its-…
I'm certainly not suggesting gluten intolerance isn't for real, I also live it. But the article makes great additional points, as I don't react when in other countries.
November 20th, 2014 at 8:19 PM ^
November 20th, 2014 at 10:22 PM ^
Distilled alcohol is always gluten free. I spent the first few years after being diagnosed with celiac avoiding everything except wine and rum before I discovered that I'm only banned from beer.
November 20th, 2014 at 11:22 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
November 21st, 2014 at 8:50 AM ^
There needs to be more excitement over this youngman. He is a guy that Michigan is most likely to pick up out of this group, and on the same stage was a man amongst boys when he played Cass Tech. I saw him three times this year, and he is very very good.
November 21st, 2014 at 12:22 PM ^
There are a bunch of Baltimore (MD) Gilman players expected to visit, too:
http://touchthebanner.blogspot.com/2014/11/visitors-michigan-vs-marylan…
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