Harbaugh Won Over Mama Solomon and Other Recruiting Tidbits

Submitted by CorkyCole on

Been listening to various WTKA podcasts from both The Michigan Insider with Sam Webb and Inside The Huddle with Michael Spath from earlier this morning, and our favorite Steve Lorenz aka Mr. Tremendous called in for his Recruiting 411 today with Mr. Spath. I saw a post on 247's site today about Aubrey Solomon that had probably the most upvotes of any recruiting post I've ever seen, so I knew Steve had heard something good. (Note for clarification: I peruse through their board topics frequently on 247 even though I'm not a subscriber as some are not paywalled and are still good reads, so this stood out to me).

4/5* DT AUBREY SOLOMON

Per the usual, Steve was very candid andgave out some good quotes on what went down.

Important quotes to note...

"Aubrey and his mom were both blown away. Rashan Gary's mom, Jennifer Coney, was up there as well and the two moms hit it off." Jennifer Coney, if you don't recall, was just as important in Rashan Gary's recruitment as it sound like Aubrey Solomon's mom will be.

Rashan Gary was also Aubrey Solomon's visit host, and Rashan's enthusiasm for Michigan seemed to have stimulated Aubrey's Michigan sensors a bit more.  Later on in the podcast Steve noted that he is "close" on putting in his Crystal Ball for Aubrey Solomon to Michigan.

While Aubrey always loved Michigan, it has been revealed pretty vividly that getting Mom on board was the only way he had a chance of re-committing.  Even Michigan insiders thought Michigan had a close to "0" chance to get him until this official visit came to fruition with Mom. Things have clearly steered in Michigan's direction once again. Moms love Harbaugh apparently.

For those who don't know, Aubrey Solomon is a near 5* 247 composite DT, and is one of if not the biggest players on Michigan's board (figuratively and almost literally...)

3* OT MEKHI BECTON

....The "literally" part as far as biggest players on Michigan's board goes would be OT Mekhi Becton, who I think Sam Webb stated as "6'9" and some change and 365 pounds." Huge dude. 3* to Scout at least (not sure about the Composite, but that may be a consensus). Steve Lorenz noted that he will probably put in a Crystal Ball to Bekton now, and Sam Webb stated that he is definitely a take NOW for Michigan despite the lower ratings - Michigan has him very high on their board.  Apparently he will be making a Signing Day decision, so some of the other important O-line recruits such as Alex Leatherwood (5* OT) and Cesar Ruiz (4* C) will have made their decisions already. I was surprised to hear how high he was on their board, but apparently if there's still a spot on Signing Day that they will take him if he wants in.

4* WR NICO COLLINS

Not a lot on Nico Collins, who also officially visited this past weekend. Steve reiterated though that he will not be moving his Crystal Ball from Michigan, and this only further solidified his position. I couldn't tell if Steve or anyone else from 247 had actually spoken with him yet as Sam stated that he just left Ann Arbor this morning, so some of this may have just been assumptions. That being said, he is almost the lockiest of locks for those left on Michigan's board.

4* OT AARON BANKS

Another official visitor was 4* OT Aaron Banks. Looks like this was more of a "free visit" type of deal, and I think it was clear on both sides that for right now Aaron Banks is not the highest of priorities (according to Sam Webb and Steve Lorenz). Steve made it sound like maybe Harbaugh wanted to size up both Aaron Banks and Mekhi Becton to see who he liked the most from a physical in person standpoint by having them both on the same weekend? I don't know, that's more of my random Harbaughian opinion because that seems so Harbaugh like. Steve made a comment sort of similar to that, at least in that Becton was clearly the one current take of the two prospects.

I apologize for all the characters in this forum post, but then again I'm not. Either way, hopefully you read these words with a Harbaughesque smile. 

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Nico Collins
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PopeLando

November 7th, 2016 at 6:43 PM ^

Rutgers is Alderaan: they have no weapons, you can't possibly--- Columbus is a Mon Calamari Cruiser. They may get blown up, but at least they're a dangerous warship intent on your destruction. East Lansing is Dantooine. Too remote for an effective demonstration, but Grand Moff Tarkin doesn't think twice about scheduling its destruction. And scouts say there was a rebel base there, but estimate it has been deserted for some time.

Joined: 08/01/2015

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ken725

November 7th, 2016 at 6:44 PM ^

That might have helped some, but I truly think having his mom finally meet the coaches and support staff is the biggest factor here. 

It was reported that after the whole thank you letter incident, the other contenders started to negatively recruit against Michigan. They basically painted the coaches and the support staff in a negative way which was easy to do since she didn't come with him on the initial visit.

Joined: 10/26/2008

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DairyQueen

November 7th, 2016 at 10:33 PM ^

Yea and if I recall correctly he wasn't just the #1 TE in the country but like a Top-20 recruit overall in the nation regardless of position. And from watching his tape, he was going to be an instant started anywhere he chose to go. We're still sitting pretty with Asiasi, who, to me, is a more versatile athlete. Wouldnt be surprised to see him line up at a few different spots, like carrying and blocking FB, or even some weird motion screens/hand-offs for short yards. His agility for his size really can't be understated, and has great size/power. Nauta was really just the textbook prototype at tight-end, like create-a-player mode, his height, size, speed, and strength was all already there as a HS senior. But he doesn't seem as versatile on tape (which isn't a knock on him or a negative if you only need/want a pretty much ideal tight-end). But, as you can see, he'a already doing great work at Georgia. But I do like Asiasi and know that Harbaugh will come up with some great plays and packages utilizing his versatility! He's already made a great contribution to this years potent offense, and luckily we'll be seeing a lot more from him for years to come!

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