Apologies for the lateness and relative brevity; I spent all day dealing with Comcast, whose technician decided it was necessary to shut off my internet while changing out cable boxes, then left for an hour when he realized he had the wrong box—without turning the internet back on. Good times.

I Was Like "Hmmmm" (Whoosh) And I Was Like "BOOM" (Cackles)

The Washington Post series with Da'Shawn Hand has been a great follow for moments like the one featured below, in which Hand picks up some poor running back and just body-slams him into the turf. The header is my best effort at a verbatim quote from Hand when he's interviewed about the play. Yeah, it's impressive:

GIF'd, because this is what I do:

Apologies for the quality; working out the kinks with my screengrab software.

As for recruiting-related info, Hand talked before his visit for UTL II about how his main priority was finding a place where he's comfortable. Steve Lorenz caught up with Hand after the visit, and yes, it sounds like he's pretty comfortable here ($):

Coaches: "That comfort level has been there for a long time. I watched some film with Coach Mattison, but in a lot of ways this visit was the same with the coaches, which is great because I like that coaching staff."

Hand's comfort level with the coaches and the commits is going to be tough to top by Florida and Alabama; his Florida visit will be his first time in Gainesville, and he's been in Ann Arbor more times than he's been to Tuscaloosa and seems to have a better rapport with Michigan's coaching staff.

Meanwhile, Dr. Mark Rosentraub, aka Professor Needs A Raise, is mentioned by name as being "the man". Seriously, get that man a raise.

Hand brought two friends with him: 2015 five-star DT Tim Settle and 2015 four-star OT Matthew Burrell. According to Hand's former coach and current mentor, John Harris, the visit went very well for both junior prospects, per Lorenz ($):

"They both knew this visit was mostly about Da'Shawn," he said. "The coaches sat both of them down and told them they passed the eye test. They said they just want to make sure they have the numbers to back up a potential offer for either player. Michigan has always been honest with Da'Shawn, so it makes it easier for the kids to believe what they're saying. They have learned a lot about recruiting already even though they're pretty young. I think they were too busy enjoying themselves to worry about an offer at this point."

That's an important point, as Michigan hasn't offered either prospect; in Burrell's case because of the numbers crunch at tackle, while with Settle there are rumors of potential grade issues on top of the limited scholarship availability. Despite leaving without an offer, Settle spoke very highly of Michigan in the aftermath of his visit to Sam Webb, and Webb also got a very intriguing quote from Wilton Speight, who spent much of the game chatting up his fellow Virginians ($):

“I really felt that like we made tremendous progress on Tim Settle,” said Speight.  “He actually said after the game, ‘I didn’t even have Michigan on my list.  I had no idea about any of this up here. Da'Shawn just wanted me to come.  Now this is my top school.’  It just made a huge impression on him.”

Settle, who seems to take after his friend Hand in terms of playing his cards close to the vest, wouldn't name any leaders when asked about that by Webb. One would still have to think that Michigan would be among his top schools if they come through with an offer; the same goes for Burrell. Rivals analyst Mike Farrell said much the same in his "Mind of Mike" column, and also gave Michigan a 75% chance of signing Hand ($). Notably, Florida—not Alabama—is the school he gives a 20% chance of pulling the upset.

[Hit THE JUMP for updates/scouting on Noah Furbush, Ian Bunting, Erik Swenson, and Tim Settle.]

Needs Improvement: Use Of Left Arm

Tim Sullivan witnessed Noah Furbush's nine-tackle, four-TFL, three-sack performance in person last weekend; what the stat-line didn't tell you is that Furbush is playing the whole season with a cast on his left arm due to a broken wrist suffered last basketball season. That makes Sullivan's evaluation of his play all the more impressive ($):

The most impressive part of Furbush's game was his ability to use strength and hand technique (with only one hand available thanks to the cast) to defeat blocks. He shed them as well as you'd expect a defensive end to do so, even though he's a linebacker. He was also able to turn and run pretty well for his size, even though he's probably not going to be a coverage player primarily in college.

Tim likes Furbush as a SAM prospect, and if he's able to hold up in coverage I agree; moving him down to DE takes away the advantage he has of being an oversized edge-rusher who'd often be taking on tight ends—he'd go from potential mismatch to just another normal-sized WDE, and Michigan is pretty stacked at that position anyway.

Scout's Beth Long caught up with Hinsdale Central coach Rich Tarka to discuss Ian Bunting's transition from oversized receiver to (still enormous) tight end; she gets a quote that tantalizes from both a football and Pattern™ perspective ($):

“I think he has a tremendous upside, he has huge potential, he hasn’t even started to reach it,” Tarka said. “He was a great receiver, and I think he was the second fastest kid on the team last year at 6-foot-6, so just athletically tremendous potential.”

That’s not it though, Bunting is special off the field too.

“But he has a lot of character too, he has perspective, he is going to be a student first and he is going to put all he can into the football program too,” Tarka said. “There is a lot of balance with Ian and he is just a good kid to be around.”

We'll see how Bunting develops as a blocker—there was no mention of that aspect in the article—because if he's viable in that regard, he's going to be the matchup nightmare that we're hoping Devin Funchess becomes if/when he rounds out his game.

Josh Helmholdt included an evaluation of 2016 IL OT Erik Swenson—a Michigan lock who'd probably have committed already if his parents didn't encourage him to take his time—in his weekly Around The Midwest column, and it sounds like he's progressing very nicely ($):

Swenson's freshman film was eye-opening, and we're seeing improvements in early-season sophomore film. The main area of improvement has been in his discipline -- he's not lunging or over-committing -- and he is much more patient. At 6-foot-5 and 289 pounds, he has an ideal left tackle frame and is nimble for a big, young kid. What I want to see him develop during the course of this season is a nasty streak -- finishing plays with extreme prejudice and using his size and athleticism to overwhelm defensive linemen. If he can flip that switch, the sky's the limit for Swenson.

Rivals already named Swenson one of the ten prospects to watch for the 2016 class; with his frame and skill-set, he could be on track for five-star status. Pretty nice to have that kid as a near-certainty to end up in the class, to say the least.

Head on over to The M Block for a full evaluation of Tim Settle's sophomore film.