The bottom 25 ranked players Michigan has ever signed
In the modern online recruiting rankings era in 2002.
The 25 lowest ranked players that Michigan ever signed. Interesting names. I did not know Obi Ezeh was a RB originally.
Patrick Omameh as the 6th lowest recruit we've signed is also surprising considering how good he turned out to be.
25. 2005- Chris McLaurin (DE) | 3 star | #697 | 0.8333
24. 2005- Mark Ortmann (OT) | 3 star | #736 | 0.8333
23. 2011- Tamani Carter (CB) | 3 star | #1072 | 0.8316
22. 2011- Desmond Morgan (LB) | 3 star | #1076 | 0.8316
21. 2006- Perry Dorrestein (OT) | 3 star | #884 | 0.8292
20. 2006- Obi Ezeh (RB) | 3 star | #922 | 0.8260
19. 2011- Keith Heitzman (DE) | 3 star | #1255 | 0.8166
18. 2011- Greg Brown (CB | 3 star | #1257 | 0.8166
17. 2011- Matt Wile (K) | 3 star | #1258 | 0.8166
16. 2010- Ray Vinopal (S) | 3 star | #1742 | 0.8118
15. 2010- Conelius Jones (ATH) | 3 star | #1907 | 0.8081
14. 2015- Andrew David (K) | 3 star | #1874 | 0.8069
13. 2014- Brady Pallante (DT) | 3 star | #1717 | 0.8057
12. 2002- David Harris (LB) | 3 star | #707 | 0.8000
11. 2002- Rondell Biggs (DE) | 3 star | #716 | 0.8000
10. 2002- Rueben Riley (OG) | 3 star | #733 | 0.8000
9. 2002- Brian Thompson (LB) | 3 star | #812 | 0.8000
8. 2007- Marell Evans (LB) | 3 star | #1326 | 0.7958
7. 2009- Adrian Witty (CB) | 2 star | #1783 | 0.7789
6. 2008- Patrick Omameh (OG) | 2 star | #1528 | 0.7816
5. 2004- Marques Walton (DT) | 2 star | #1194 | 0.7667
4. 2003- Brandent Englemon (ATH) | 2 star | #1460 | 0.7667
3. 2013- Scott Sypniewski (LS) | 2 star | #2858 | 0.7611
2. 2017- Brad Robbins (P) | 2 star | #3914 | 0.7591
1. 2005- Andre Criswell (RB) | 2 star | #2137 | 0.7000
April 30th, 2020 at 11:26 PM ^
Pretty decent mix of Carr, RR, and Hoke. Some hits in that group.
I'd actually like to see the bottom 25 for each coach since Mo broken out, for comparison.
You’d be troubled to learn that Carr ran the program into the ground with piss poor recruiting.
April 30th, 2020 at 11:36 PM ^
4 West Michigan/GR kids...Harris, Riley, Ezi, Morgan. They all started while on the team.
Along with Omameh and Biggs, they're the standouts on the list.
Indeed - David Harris is one of the best linebackers of the last 20 years.
That suggests that west MI has been underscouted.
100% spot on. IDK why but M seems to ignore or give minimal time to west Michigan.
Schools like Muskegon, East Kentwood, Rockford, GR Christian, GRCC among many others are sending kids to LSU, Wisconsin, OSU.
LSUs left tackle next year will be a Muskegon kid, and he will be NFL after that. Wisconsin will have Mazi Smiths teammate starting on their OL. Don’t even start talking about Cam Martinez who will surely slay us in the near future at OSU.
These are 4* guys. Highly rated and right in our backyard. But, our biggest miss is a solid crop of 3* or even unrated guys that could fill out the depth of our classes and build pipeline. These guys are just as good as the 3*s we pick up from places like the northeast or even Ohio but we give them little or no looks. I guess what I’m saying is that Des Morgan turned into a 4yr starter form his W Michigan low 3* status. We should look harder at our western backyard
April 30th, 2020 at 11:43 PM ^
Probably should remove special teamers, those guys automatically get ranked low. Pretty disappointing list actually. Harris is the only guy who would have started on our team last year.
Ezeh didn't really come in as a RB, he may have been ranked as one but pretty sure they recruited him as a LB.
I think Criswell was actually a DL recruit for a MAC school but we swooped in the last minute and offered him a chance to play FB.
I don't know about Harris being the only one to start on last years team. Rueben Riley started three years on some of Carr's best teams.
Is there sarcasm that I'm missing with the "disappointing list" comment? You're surprised that the 25 lowest ranked recruits in recent history would only produce one starter?
Disappointing? Huh?
There are 10 starters on that list, and I didn't even include specialists like Matt Wile and Scott Sypniewski. You say Harris is the only guy who would have started, but not all of those guys were coached by Harbaugh, Warinner, Brown, etc. And you don't think Patrick Omameh - a guy who has carved out a 7+ year NFL career - could have started? If he were on the team as an upperclassman this past year, he probably would have been starting at RT over Stueber and Mayfield, who struggled early.
Rondell Biggs is another guy who could very well have started if he were on the roster, whether it was at DT or over Kwity Paye.
Desmond Morgan, Mark Ortmann, etc. are other guys who might be used differently or better prepared to play with a different coaching staff.
There are 10 starters on that list, and I didn't even include specialists like Matt Wile and Scott Sypniewski.
I'm assuming this is due to the fact that a coaching staff isn't offering a low 3* recruit unless they've seen something on film/in person that the recruiting services have missed, yeah?
Yeah, that's probably the situation. A number of these guys are from the midwest (Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, etc.), so they probably had a chance to see them in person. I don't know the particulars of someone like Brandent Englemon's recruitment, so I can't say how that sprouted.
Some of these guys came along with Rich Rodriguez or Brady Hoke from their staff's previous stomping grounds, too. Matt Wile probably doesn't end up as Michigan's punter/kicker without Hoke being at SDSU.
April 30th, 2020 at 11:47 PM ^
David Harris was the man.
In my younger days, three buddies and I would start a new Madden franchise each fall where we were all on the same team. Over the summer, they would inevitably argue about which team we were going to be. I couldn't have cared less, but did have one non-negotiable request--we immediately traded whatever it took to the Jets for David Harris for me to control on defense.
Non. Negotiable.
April 30th, 2020 at 11:58 PM ^
I thought I read Brad Robbins was a 5 star punter when we signed him? This makes more sense.
5 star on kicking websites.
Interesting. I think all of us would like to see Michigan's defensive recruiting improve especially, but a few of these guys ended up being good players and a select few made an NFL roster.
The unfortunate truth is none of these guys had a very good record against OSU, but nonetheless there are some NFL players on this list who ended up being good players and if the chips had fallen right contributed to a victory.
A lot of people have a hard time understanding both can be true at the same time.
Interesting. I think all of us would like to see Michigan's defensive recruiting improve especially, but a few of these guys ended up being good players and a select few made an NFL roster.
The unfortunate truth is none of these guys had a very good record against OSU, but nonetheless there are some NFL players on this list who ended up being good players and if the chips had fallen right contributed to a victory.
A lot of people have a hard time understanding both can be true at the same time.
To me it is evidence that Coach Carr retired in 2001 as 11 of these recruits are during his tenure. Not a good look.
I think he was still at least a good recruiter during the back end of his career, but he definitely slipped with time. In the late '90s Michigan was right there with the best NFL factories.
Good post, WD.
Patrick Omameh may amount to RichRod's finest moment at Michigan.
David Harris was a great find, too, obviously.
I recognize we're talking about lower-rated recruits, but RichRod's finest moment at Michigan was bringing in Denard Robinson. I could watch replays of his games versus ND all day.
Either this is brilliant sarcasm or stupid ignorance. Not sure which.
The unfortunate truth is none of these guys had a very good record against OSU...
Modern recruiting rankings only go back to 2002, which perfectly coincides with Ohio State's recent run of dominance in the rivalry.
Had there been composite recruiting rankings from, say, 1985-2000, you'd see a ton of lower ranked recruits who were extremely successful against Ohio State.
This list is missing a few people, like Quintin Patilla.
He’s not even ranked at all on 247. I just went through all the classes and made a list with their percentages and hit sort.
There’s some kind of hijinx going on with their database. Mike Jones from 2009 has no record of his existence on their site. They’re also retroactively changing rankings because Chris Bryant of 2011 was a composite 4 star and now he’s a 3.
Who?
I know this is using actual recruiting ratings, but Pallante is still at the top (bottom?) if I were to make a list.
I was surprised with how many of the names I recognized. That alone is a testament to how well these recruits overshot their rankings, considering I am no where near an encyclopedia of players names like some here are. I was expecting a list of players I'd never heard of.
Didn't Vinopal find success at West Virginia after he transfered?
Vinopal transferred to Pitt and yes he did pretty well there
Some of those guys played a lot, in college and the NFL.
Cracks me up about David Harris. That’s what you get (recruiting ranking) for being a smallish, but lightning fast LB in the early aughts.
Dude was lights out for a long time.
Harris was listed at 6'1" and 217 lbs. as a true freshman. That's not particularly small.
He was 6'2" and 239-246 for the remainder of his Michigan career.
I want to say that list has 10 or more starters. I could be wrong here, but didn't all of these start:
- Brad Robbins
- Scott Sypniewski (I guess "started" is kind of an odd phrase to use for a long snapper)
- Brandent Englemon
- Patrick Omameh
- Reuben Riley
- David Harris
- Matt Wile
- Obi Ezeh
- Desmond Morgan
- Mark Ortmann
I'm fuzzy on whether Dorrestein or Vinopal ever started. And of those, at least 3 that I can think of (Omameh, Riley, Harris) made it to the NFL.
I recall Dorrestein being a starter near the end of his career.
According to Bentley, Dorrestein started 3 games in '08, 8 games in "09 and 10 games in 2010.
Say what you want about Rich Rod but the dude knew how to coach up low rated offensive linemen.
Wile has been punting in the NFL off and on for the past 3 or 4 seasons
I count at least 3 NFL rostered players on this list - Wile, Harris, Omameh
Honorable mention goes to the Order of St Kovacs
A lot of people forget about Adrian Witty, one of Denard Robinson's high school buddies who didn't qualify.
Witty eventually ended up at Cincinnati and became a team captain. He had some injury issues, but if we're talking about talent level, being a captain/starter at Cincinnati is pretty solid.
Excluding the specialists (P/K/LS), all of the players except 1 (Brady Pallante) were 2011 or earlier recruits.
I'm sure some of this could be attributed to coaching staff/scheme, but I'm curious how much could be attributed to:
- Recruiting services becoming better at evaluating talent
- Technology improvements that allow for more/better talent evaluation (both coaches and recruiting services)
- The de-regionalization (I may have just made that word up) of recruiting. How many kids on this list are from Michigan or immediate border states?
Long snappers and punters shouldn’t count
This doesn't even count the Glasgows, correct?
Trouble with the Sypniewski....
There are actually some pretty good players on that list.
Omameh and David Harris became outstanding players, in fact, Harris is one of the best few Michigan linebackers of the modern era, IMO. Englemon, Riley, Biggs, Vinopal, Ezeh, and Morgan all became starters and a few of those guys had very good careers.
That's 1/3 of the list.
Interesting thread.
Going to just 2002 is lazy. I've made my roster database free online.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kXyhlMo2Yzfgv9QGhnyeJp65DL9mUxF…
Not counting special teams, whose rankings on the sites are useless, walk-ons who had rankings, or transfers, here's the bottom 25 since 1990:
| Name | Pos | Class | Starts | GP | Last Yr | NFL | STARs | Riv | SC | ES | 247* | 247c | Career Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andre Criswell | SDE | 2005 | 0 | 35 | 2008 | Not Drafted | 1.97 | 1.9 | 2 | n/a | n/a | 2 | Degree and a Handshake |
| Emmanuel Casseus | WLB | 2000 | 0 | 36 | 2002 | Not Drafted | 2.1 | 2.1 | n/a | n/a | n/a | - | Played out eligibility |
| Adrian Witty | CB | 2009 | 0 | 2009 | Not Drafted | 2.32 | 2.9 | 2 | 1.5 | n/a | 2.89 | Behaviorial: DNQ | |
| Brandent Englemon | FS | 2003 | 27 | 47 | 2007 | Not Drafted | 2.49 | 2.8 | 2 | n/a | n/a | 2.67 | Played out eligibility |
| Tim Bracken | RB | 2000 | 0 | 21 | 2004 | Not Drafted | 2.49 | 1.9 | 3.43 | n/a | 2.15 | - | Played out eligibility |
| Roy Manning | WLB | 2000 | 10 | 37 | 2004 | UDFA+ | 2.82 | 1.5 | 3.55 | 3.42 | n/a | - | Played out eligibility |
| Patrick Omameh | OG | 2008 | 42 | 46 | 2012 | UDFA+ | 2.84 | 2.3 | 3.42 | 2.84 | n/a | 2.82 | Played out eligibility |
| Sean Sanderson | FB | 2001 | 1 | 10 | 2002 | Not Drafted | 2.87 | 2 | 3.51 | 3.11 | n/a | - | Gave up football |
| Paul Sarantos | DT | 2002 | 0 | 2 | 2005 | Not Drafted | 2.9 | 3.16 | 3.47 | n/a | 2.06 | - | Played out eligibility |
| Phillip Brackins | TE | 1999 | 1 | 26 | 2002 | Not Drafted | 2.9 | 2.9 | n/a | n/a | n/a | - | Degree and a Handshake |
| Ray Vinopal | FS | 2010 | 6 | 12 | 2010 | Not Drafted | 3 | 3.2 | 3.27 | 2.4 | n/a | 3.12 | Transfer: Coach |
| Marell Evans | WLB | 2007 | 1 | 14 | 2011 | Not Drafted | 3.01 | 2.6 | 3.49 | 2.98 | n/a | 2.96 | Played out eligibility |
| Brady Pallante | DT | 2014 | 0 | 7 | 2015 | Not Drafted | 3.05 | 2.9 | 3.5 | 3.07 | 2.7 | 3.06 | Gave up football |
| Conelius Jones | QB | 2010 | 0 | 2010 | Not Drafted | 3.09 | 3.34 | 3.45 | 3.51 | 2 | 3.14 | Behaviorial: DNQ | |
| Dominick Giudice | SDE | 2021 | 0 | 2025 | 3.09 | 3.2 | n/a | n/a | 3.03 | 3.05 | commit | ||
| Mark Huyge | OT | 2007 | 29 | 39 | 2011 | Not Drafted | 3.12 | 3.54 | 2.91 | 2.67 | n/a | 3.34 | Played out eligibility |
| Quintin Woods | SDE | 2006 | 0 | 2006 | Not Drafted | 3.14 | 3.62 | 2.25 | n/a | n/a | 3.56 | Behaviorial: DNQ | |
| Renaldo Sagesse | DT | 2007 | 0 | 35 | 2010 | Not Drafted | 3.19 | 3.79 | 2 | n/a | n/a | 3.78 | Played out eligibility |
| Keith Heitzman | TE | 2011 | 7 | 36 | 2014 | Not Drafted | 3.2 | 3.5 | 3.23 | 3.26 | 3 | 3 | Degree and a Transfer |
| Ronnie Bell | WR | 2018 | 10 | 26 | On Team | 2022 | 3.23 | 2.95 | n/a | 3.24 | 3.39 | 3.35 | On Team |
| John Ferrara | OG | 2006 | 6 | 42 | 2010 | Not Drafted | 3.24 | 3.52 | 3.63 | 2.56 | n/a | - | Played out eligibility |
| Obi Ezeh | MLB | 2006 | 37 | 49 | 2010 | Not Drafted | 3.25 | 3.61 | 3.4 | 2.71 | n/a | 3.26 | Played out eligibility |
| Mark Ortmann | OT | 2005 | 25 | 36 | 2009 | Not Drafted | 3.25 | 3.66 | 2.75 | n/a | n/a | 3.33 | Played out eligibility |
| Marques Walton | DT | 2004 | 0 | 3 | 2006 | Not Drafted | 3.26 | 2.6 | 3.36 | 4.42 | n/a | 2.67 | Transfer: playing time |
Yes, Roy Manning was a one-star to Rivals back when they were just doing 1 to 5 stars instead of using the old National Recruiting Advisor 6.1 system. Though I should probably just throw that result out.
David Harris...WTF. Talk about a diamond in the weeds.