Friday Recruitin' Is A Ninja
Bruh you gotta take that ring to Mount McDoom
enjoying the fact that this picture's filename is 0_0.jpg [Scout]
4* CA OL Aaron Banks is announcing in a few hours. The recruiting world's expectations: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. This is one invisible four-star recruit. Until yesterday he had got one Crystal Ball, that a year old from the weirdo who puts in a pick for every recruit in the country way early and then forgets about most of them.
One thing we can probably deduce from Banks's visit schedule: it's Michigan or Notre Dame. He took officials to those two schools and Oregon, which just imported a new staff. If Oregon was still in it he'd delay his announcement to catch up with the new guys. Cal and Stanford, the local-ish schools, aren't in it. There was some UCLA chatter after Jim Mora had an in-home, but he hasn't been to Westwood since this summer. Apparently that was the first time Mora had ever met Banks. That would be a weird way to pick up a commit.
FWIW, Lorenz says Banks is take and that he doesn't know what'll happen; Brandon Brown first said Michigan would pass but then backtracked on that; Wiltfong notes that ND has really been putting on a full court press, while Michigan sending Jay Harbaugh to close the deal instead of the head man could be construed as something other than all-out effort.
The most definitive opinion is from Scout's Greg Biggins, who feels pretty strongly that it'll be Michigan since "it's the only school he talks about" to the point where coaches from other schools on official visits mostly hear about Seoul Street's Korean street food, renovations to the IM building, and Stadium Boulevard being closed until spring. We have put a crystal ball for Banks to Michigan mostly because that's the most definitive take out there. Tom Loy, naturally, put one in for Notre Dame. Neither outcome would surprise.
[UPDATE: we've now flipped our CB to ND as Biggins reports that Michigan passed.]
DB cancellations
The perils of naming any visit list ever: CA CB Darnay Holmes and PA S Paris Ford will not be on campus. That's a minor bummer. Sam Webb says that Michigan is focusing on ND commit Elijah Hicks as their fifth DB at this point. As of a few days ago Hicks's imminent flip from ND had been downgraded to "up in the air" after a hard ND push. You'd think that 4-8 and not having a defensive coordinator would make it hard to push.
Brad Hawkins can get up
4* NJ WR Brad Hawkins is a rare prep-and-follow guy for Michigan who actually came through and joined the next recruiting class. I was surprised, and now I'm not.
You know it's a good WR highlight video when the wide open touchdowns are in the second half; that is a man who can go get footballs.
The above and news that Michigan might not have room for one of the four very good WR prospects they're pursuing means we can shelve Hawkins-to-safety talk for the time being. Wiltfong told the ND 247 site that Michigan had removed itself from pursuit of 4* IA WR Oliver Martin because they were more or less full at wide receiver, which is a very good sign for the three names other than Martin currently on the board. 4* CT WR Tarik Black announces in a week and 5* MI WR Donovan Peoples-Jones is an early enrollee whose last visit before a decision is to Michigan this weekend; only 4.5* AL WR Nico Collins looks set to take it to signing day.
Obligatory Najee Harris section
5* CA RB Najee Harris told Bleacher Report that he wanted to take all five officials before deciding, which... uh... probably not since that would mean two visits in addition to Michigan before the 12th. Cal is feasible because it's nearby, and it appears that the Bears did indeed host Harris. They sent him a party bus and everything. USC is maybe less realistic.
Anyway, that Bleacher Report article is yet another in which Harris's quotes about Harbaugh are eyebrow-raising, especially in direct comparison to Nick Saban:
"He's a legend in my area in a way," Harris said. "What Harbaugh did—to go to the NFL and do that, then go to college at Michigan and do that again—that's one of the best coaches."
He acknowledged Harbaugh and Alabama head coach Nick Saban are "extremely" different coaches but noted "they're both good people."
Harris observed Saban operates with a "straight business" approach, while Harbaugh is "juiced" and "full of energy." Most importantly, they share a penchant for developing winners.
That's the third article where the reserved Harris says some effusive things about Harbaugh. Will it be enough? Like Banks, nobody knows. Harris's mom has a twitter account that is very heavy on 'Bama stuff; Sam Webb's gut declared that people inside Schembechler think they lead. But nobody really talks to Harris outside the odd BR or newspaper article, so nobody's got a read.
You go to hell and you die, Georgia
Sometimes crystal balls are silly, like when Rutgers led on Isaiah Wilson's for four months
Georgia was a thorn in Michigan's side last year and they may be again. Unlike last year, location plays in Michigan's favor for 5* NY OL Isaiah Wilson. Alabama is perceived to be the main competition, but with the primary Bama 247 guy flipping his crystal ball to Michigan a couple days ago it appears the only thing standing between Michigan and Wilson is this weekend's official visit to Athens.
Nobody is talking about this outside of the Georgia sites because nobody expects much to come of it. Wilson told Adam Friedman* that his mind was just about made up a few days ago:
“The school I’m thinking of just seems perfect. That’s the best way I can put it. I’ll leave it at that. People can go on an do their guessing. I think I pretty much know where I’m going."
Always some small danger, but I'd be much more worried about Bama for an out-of-region recruit. To Wilson they probably look the same except one has Nick Saban and the other has Bootleg Nick Saban.
*[Yes, the guy who said Wilson was an OSU/Clemson battle earlier this year. This is a direct quote so Friedman's tendency to say CLEMSON EVERYTHING does not interfere.]
Meanwhile Michigan has a road game against Georgia (and Alabama, and apparently the rest of the SEC) for 4.5* GA DT Aubrey Solomon. Solomon just announced that he's going to spend that fifth official on the Bulldogs. Or not, and instead they'll spend it on Auburn. He's already been to Bama and M; his January schedule will take him to USC on the 13th, Georgia or Auburn the following week, and Florida just before Signing Day. Right now it seems like Michigan is where he wants to go, but they've got to dodge a ton of bullets to get to the finish line. UGA 247 reporter Kipp Adams has it about right:
This is an all-out war. Every school should be worried about everyone.
I dunno, man. Auburn—which has not been involved so far—kind of seems like another southern option that might be a compromise between Michigan (where Solomon wants to go) and Somewhere Close (where mom wants him to be). USC does not fit this narrative, admittedly, but I go back to that recent interview where Michigan seemed to be the choice.
I though that about DaShawn Hand, too, so don't take that too seriously.
Reitmaier set to stick with Oregon?
There's a poster on Rivals's board who is clearly connected with TN DT Rutger Reitmaier; he asserts that after Willie Taggart's hire at Oregon Reitmaier looks set to stick with his commitment. Message board rando discounts apply but this guy in particular seems consistent and credible.
I wouldn't write him off just yet, since it seems clear where his parents want him. Reitmaier's dad talked with Sam Webb for a very long piece, which is usually a good sign. In it he's pretty open:
When Coach Harbaugh and Coach Mattison reached out to us and once I started talking to them and doing the research I'm like, ‘oh boy, this is a really good school, and obviously, the program is great.’ But I didn't realize how (great) on the academic side it is. So (what you’re) kind of trying to figure out as a parent is, you want to have him play where he wants to play, but also give some (perspective) to the youth that doesn't have experience.
Michigan probably doesn't have room for all four of the DL currently on the board but they really need at least one NT type, and Reitmaier is in the Glasgow mold. 3.5* MI DE/DT Deron Irving-Bey probably tops out as a three-tech. Getting at least one and preferably two of Solomon, Reitmaier, and 4.5* UT DT Jay Tufele is neck-and-neck with a ready-to-play tackle as the most pressing need remaining in the class.
Etc.
FL LB Jordan Anthony has set a commit date of 12/22 per this Epic Oskee-level video on Hudl. Speaking of!
Lorenz reports that Anthony will visit Ann Arbor on an unofficial this weekend instead of taking an official to Maryland. If so that is game over, man. Anthony's announcement will have zero suspense, which is the way I like my announcements.
MS LB Willie Gay is at one of those State versus State All Star games and sounding like a pretty good Peppers analogue: "Gay is really fluid and speedy from his linebacker position and he's got safety cover ability to go with his heat-seeking run support style." Michigan is still after him hard.
Lorenz also reports Michigan thinks 3.5* OH DE James Hudson's senior film is really good too. He and Stueber are probably the most underrated guys in the class.
4* 2018 MI LB Ovie Oghoufo is a Notre Dame commit but sounds very open about listening to Michigan, as you would expect after Notre Dame went 4-8. 4* 2018 GA LB commit Otis Reese just got a trio of heavy-hitting offers: Bama, Georgia, and Florida. If there's going to be wobble in his recruitment it'll start now. He sounded very committed just a couple weeks ago.
MI CB Ambry Thomas commit process details. Similar article on AL S commit J'Marick Woods.
December 9th, 2016 at 12:36 PM ^
It's great to see that Brad worked really hard this past year and it is clearly paying off. I'm excited for him to get on the field. The kid can ball out.
December 9th, 2016 at 2:50 PM ^
When Darryl Stonum (against ND) did the slight hesitation to make a guy miss and then turned on the jets, it was terrific but looked human. Did they speed up the tape on this one? Hawkins seemed to stop and then was suddenly at full speed coming out of the scrum. At the risk of Fred Jacksoning, it looked like the DeVeon Smith-BYU or perhaps the Sam McGuffie mixtape, only faster.
December 9th, 2016 at 2:57 PM ^
Never trust your eyes when it comes to PrepForce mixtapes. They speed things up, slow them down, freeze-frame things that don't need to be freeze-framed, etc. I hate their videos.
December 9th, 2016 at 12:39 PM ^
Sounds as though Oliver Martin's waiting game cost him a spot at UM and now he is relegated to 4-8 ND and the Purple Faced Leprechaun? Sucks for him, especially since he will likely have a new Coach and OC after 1 year.
As for Aaron Banks and Elijah Hicks...let Oliver Martin's life's lesson be your gain. Time to step up and make the right call while there's still time.
December 9th, 2016 at 12:55 PM ^
December 9th, 2016 at 2:38 PM ^
How's this for Ballz? Having little to no knowledge of the situation, I'm going to go ahead and say Harris flips to Michigan. Sounds like a serious, smart kid and I have the feeling a dude from NoCal is going to find Ann Arbor and U of M much more to his liking than fucking Tuscaloosa.
December 9th, 2016 at 5:33 PM ^
December 9th, 2016 at 12:40 PM ^
Brian, I only count 2 references of Notre Dame going 4-8. I'd like to see 4-8 mentions of that per post. Thanks.
December 9th, 2016 at 2:11 PM ^
Wow. Not a lot of people are talking about the fact that Notre Dame went 4-8. Thank you for bringing up that Notre Dame went 4-8. I really do think it is important to note that Notre Dame went 4-8. Thanks
December 9th, 2016 at 2:13 PM ^
December 9th, 2016 at 4:46 PM ^
While driving, did you show Clausen what 10-2 looks like?
December 9th, 2016 at 2:22 PM ^
At least they weren't 3-9.
December 9th, 2016 at 12:44 PM ^
December 9th, 2016 at 12:55 PM ^
December 9th, 2016 at 1:20 PM ^
Prep school is basically one extra year of high school. A lot of basketball players use prep school to mature/improve for a year before heading to college at 19 or 20 years old.
December 10th, 2016 at 3:14 AM ^
Prep school is different from JUCO ?
December 9th, 2016 at 12:46 PM ^
Bit surprised on the Rutger Reitmaier update but if he sticks with the Ducks, I pray we land Solomon and/or Tufele!
December 9th, 2016 at 12:47 PM ^
Please Brian, for the love of all things Bo, kill the autoplay ad at the top of the page. The music in recruit videos is weird enough, but when it's competing with a UPS ad, it's enough to bring on auditory hallucinations.
December 9th, 2016 at 1:17 PM ^
Use it.
December 9th, 2016 at 1:49 PM ^
I can't afford to give Brian money through the Beveled Guilt button, so I'd like him to get my ad revenue. Just not if he's going to run these awful autoplay ads.
December 9th, 2016 at 2:23 PM ^
And I understand someone negging me for presumably the same reason. I like mgoblog and Brian and Ace and want to support them, too.
But banner ads, embedded auto play videos, etc. all suck. Not just because of the annoyance factor (it's not like this site is anywhere near RCMB in terms of instrusive ads), but because of security issues. Ads are increasingly becoming a vector for malware delivery. I'll continue to use an adblocker and let the content creators figure out better ways to generate revenue.
December 10th, 2016 at 9:11 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
December 10th, 2016 at 2:18 PM ^
Well, I might not agree with your opinion, but I at least appreciate you being a gentleman about it.
December 9th, 2016 at 12:48 PM ^
The news about Rutger is a bummer. I was really hoping he'd join the class and was starting to think a flip to the good guys was inevitable. It sounds like getting 2/3 of Reitmaier (seems set to stick with Oregon), Solomon (all out war, as stated above), and Tufele (OSU/M battle) is going to be more difficult than it seemed just a couple of weeks ago.
December 9th, 2016 at 1:52 PM ^
Seems like a natural fit.
December 9th, 2016 at 2:12 PM ^
He's pretty good at football.
December 9th, 2016 at 2:41 PM ^
extremely underrated comment
December 9th, 2016 at 1:57 PM ^
You know what I like best about Reitmeier? That his parents (well Dad) are so high on Michigan and its coach, its facilities, its academics - yet he wants to stick with a commitment he made!
In this era of rampant decommits that really speaks volumes about the young man!
I think it helps that our coach went on twitter and called himself the Ducks new #1 fan after they hired Taggart. I feel though, that if JH or Brown really want him, they can full court press him to flip - the situation is still pretty unsettled up there in Ore.
Haven't watched a second of tape on him, but I'm impressed with the kid.
December 9th, 2016 at 12:53 PM ^
I see him listed as the seventh-ranked guard in the country on one site, but also see him listed at 6'7" (!!) and around 340-350 and as a tackle elsewhere. Is that the reason there might be some hesitation on whether or not he's a "take" for Michigan? It would seem their need for space at tackle would block him considering better options on the board, but if he's a guard he would almost have to be a take, no?
December 9th, 2016 at 12:59 PM ^
Lot of folks think if he commits here he would be used as a guard... I don't recall ever seeing a 6'7 guard before, but Bredeson did very well this year and is around 6'4/5 I believe.
December 9th, 2016 at 1:15 PM ^
Braden played G all year last season at 6'6"/6"7"
December 9th, 2016 at 1:20 PM ^
Braden played guard for most of his time here, as we all know, and he's 6'6" or possibly 6'7". Of course his height probably played into his deficiencies (lunging/leaning etc) but he had some very good stretches. Then started playing tackle and sorta made it clear that tackle is probably his natural position. So maybe that's actually good evidence against guards that tall...
December 9th, 2016 at 1:30 PM ^
Guys who are listed at 6'7" as recruits are usually 6'6", but an inch here or there doesn't make a ton of difference. Personally, I think Banks plays like a guard, but he could probably be a right tackle, too. He's not a blind-side type of guy, though.
December 9th, 2016 at 1:59 PM ^
Any insight on why the staff would choose to pass on such a highly rated OL Magnus?
I mean if indeed it is M that is passing
December 9th, 2016 at 2:03 PM ^
I think they feel good about their other choices, and it's easier to move from OT to OG than it is to move from OG to OT. Filiaga, Hall, Honigford, etc. can all play inside, too.
December 9th, 2016 at 1:31 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
December 9th, 2016 at 1:56 PM ^
Banks and Onwenu as guards. Holy steamroller, Batman!!!
Edit: Ugh...no Banks?! Ugh...
December 9th, 2016 at 1:00 PM ^
Not to go all STARZZ on everyone, but it does seem like we need to pull in at least a couple of the 5* this year. We're going to be young(ish) next year and we need to bring up our talent level to really compete with the big boys around the country. 2-3 of DPJ, Harris, Wilson, Holmes, and Solomon is part of that. We also need to beef up our top 100 with the likes of Tufele, Ruiz, Filiaga, and Collins. Out of those 9 we could really use 5-6. LET'S DO THIS.
December 9th, 2016 at 1:04 PM ^
December 9th, 2016 at 7:39 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
December 9th, 2016 at 1:04 PM ^
December 9th, 2016 at 1:05 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
December 9th, 2016 at 1:13 PM ^
What?! Michigan PASSED on Banks??
Does that mean Leatherwood/Wilson are locks? Not sure how you pass on a guy like that..
December 9th, 2016 at 2:06 PM ^
Total numbers may shift between OL and DL at this point. Taking one fewer OL would mean we can take more DL.
December 9th, 2016 at 2:11 PM ^
There were always questions on how much the staff liked Banks. Looks like it's all in for Wilson/Filigia with Becton as a last minute option. I consider Leatherwood a major long shot.
December 9th, 2016 at 1:14 PM ^
December 9th, 2016 at 1:57 PM ^
December 9th, 2016 at 1:15 PM ^
Like what time will that be ??
December 9th, 2016 at 1:21 PM ^
3:00 pm ET, according to one Sam Webb.
December 9th, 2016 at 1:16 PM ^
So are .5 of a * an official thing now? I'm not sure I saw a META thread on that but it seems to be popping up more and more.
Comments