Another blue ball for yet another '24 OL (3* IOL, Jake Guarnera)
Wingding just lodged a ball to Michigan for 2024 IOL Jake Guarnera out of Florida. He's definitely got the IOL build (6'3, 290). He's the #31 IOL on the 247 composite and #551 overall. He has plenty of offers, and our main competitors appear to be Florida and North Carolina.
This is nuts! We've already got three OLs in the fold, and are the presumed leaders for Blake Fraizer and Max Anderson out of Texas. Could we get six or more OLs in this single class?
Happy Monday, btw.
April 10th, 2023 at 11:10 AM ^
yeah, fairly crazy. Lots of offers. My thought is they would recruit 5/6 OT's and move a couple OT's that do not have the proper agility to guard.
April 10th, 2023 at 11:25 AM ^
I am reminded of the 2013 six man OL recruiting class.
Dawson
Fox
Kugler
Bosch
Tuley-Tillman
Samuelson
Very highly regarded. How'd that work out?
The 2024 OL class looks great but who knows? I believe we have better OL coaching now than in the the mid-2010's (where have you gone Darrel Funk and Tim Drevno?) On the other hand we now have the portal.
April 10th, 2023 at 11:49 AM ^
I believe two of them had serious injuries before they ever stepped foot on campus, Fox and Bosch. LTT was never fully focused on football. That's 3 of that group. Now, I can't fault that staff for taking them. I believe Dawson and Kugler are the only ones to play a significant role on the team.
Bosch was fine physically. He had other issues, transferred to West Virginia, and did pretty well.
https://wvusports.com/sports/football/roster/kyle-bosch/2531
Dawson did not have a significant role at Michigan. He transferred to Grand Valley:
https://gvsulakers.com/sports/football/roster/david-dawson/6590
Hoke's variable rate of success at some positions (like this one) was crazy. Compare '13 to '12 and '14 (and '15, if you want to count Runyan).
It's always valid to be skeptical about how croots will pan out over time, but I will say, the difference in the program as a whole--and OL development and deployment in particular--in 2023 versus 2013 is... considerable
I was thinking the same thing. Or that wide receiver class that had DPJ, Tarik Black, Nico, that guy from Iowa who kind of underperformed. Seems like whenever we get a class with a lot of guys that play the same position-OLine, WR, Cornerback- they dont pan out. I hope this doesnt happen again
April 10th, 2023 at 11:27 AM ^
Maybe it's another consequence of "scholarship limits don't exist anymore"
And with the transfer portal high schoolers can feel safer taking a risk about going to a crowded school - if they don't win out they can easily transfer down with experience being coached at the highest level.
Sprague LT
Roebuck RT
Anderson and Hamilton G's
Frazier swing guy
Jake G or Waltclaire Flynn at center
April 10th, 2023 at 11:10 AM ^
I believe he's the top center target on the M board.
April 10th, 2023 at 12:18 PM ^
This OP has (inadvertently) created what needs to be the paradigm shift on this board. All crystal balls for UM should henceforth be described as "Blue balls"
Call it whatever you like, as long as we eventually have a happy ending.
April 11th, 2023 at 10:56 AM ^
Amen x pi
I was a little bummed at first because I knew we were in on some highly ranked centers but I'd never doubt this staffs ability to evaluate. If he is there top he is THE top as far as I am concerned.
April 10th, 2023 at 11:11 AM ^
Center in college?
April 10th, 2023 at 11:12 AM ^
I'm confused why recruiting services stopped classifying recruits as centers. Now they just use "IOL". Guarnera is one of the top center recruits in the country, but from a recruiting ranking prospective he looks like a middling 3* lineman. He'd almost certainly be a 4* center if that classification existed
April 10th, 2023 at 11:51 AM ^
I’d guess mostly because it’s incredibly difficult to accurately predict where a player is going to play in college. They leave that up to the schools who recruit them. Michigan may like him at center now, but he also may end up playing guard here as well. Another school may just like him as a guard.
They simply evaluate based on body type. Tackle shaped guys get evaluated as tackles, even though many of them are playing inside in college. Same reason they don’t differentiate between slot WRs and outside WRs. Inline TEs and FLEX TEs. Nickelbacks and corners.
April 10th, 2023 at 12:24 PM ^
Am glad to hear he's a top center prospect, because otherwise it felt like a mobile RR recruit.
It makes more sense to recruit him given this information.
April 10th, 2023 at 11:13 AM ^
Can he play corner?
He isnt likely to end up at OSU.
April 10th, 2023 at 11:22 AM ^
I don't know what that ball means because the center board is kind of a three-way domino deal. Michigan's top center prospect (and everyone else's) is Waltclaire Flynn. If they can't get him they'll get either Guarnera or Kyle Altuner, and whichever doesn't go to Michigan is probably going to end up at PSU, unless Altuner commits to BC instead.
The crystal ball is from Wiltfong--it could mean he's predicting Flynn to Georgia and Guarnera is the next likeliest to go to Michigan. Or it could mean Guarnera told a reporter something.
April 10th, 2023 at 11:51 AM ^
I mean with NIL could be that anyone is a take now if it would normally just be a roster spot issue - Flynn commits you give him some NIL to pay for the degree / first year , unless he really wants that "scholarship" tag
This isn't NCAA Football on PlayStation. You can't just collect 12 linemen in one class. Guys are going to want to go to a class where they're not part of an 8-man group. You're probably going to top out at about 6 guys, because even though Michigan has good OL coaching, some of these kids want to go to a 3-5 man class and have a better chance to play.
April 10th, 2023 at 12:07 PM ^
Jesus, Flynn is a human bowling ball 6'2 305 in HS!
Yeah...I'm hoping it's not Flynn to UGA, because he's my #1 center, too. Altuner would also be higher on my wish list than Guarnera.
Can't have too many great linemen. You just can't. Its the engine that makes everything else go. Or, as we saw in 2013-14, completely fall apart.
Also, given that we may be looking at quite a bit of attrition after this season, whether its via graduation, NFL, or entering the portal, Michigan needs to have plenty of options at its disposal.
I think Michigan has the kind of depth where it can take a swing on more of a " high ceiling project" type of player, take a few years to develop him, and hope he realizes that ceiling by year three or so.
Yeah there are 20 OL on the roster now. That’s about the max you can carry. No one is sticking around to be 5th string. If they take 6 commits, I’d bet 7 guys leave after the season. I think all 5 starters go pro pretty clearly. After that who knows.
There are 16 scholarship OL on the roster now, a normal number for them.
He would be the center in this class
Can never have enough centers
"Could we get six or more OLs in this single class?"
Yes.
"...Another blue ball for yet another '24 OL...This is nuts!..."
In most cases, I can't withstand blue balls, but with this instance, I will survive.
August 29th, 2023 at 4:28 PM ^
TEST
Did someone say blue ball?