Michigan might be in play for two 4* FSU commits/decommits
https://gbmwolverine.com/2020/10/13/michigan-football-favorite-florida-state-decommitment/
The staff have been pushing hard to flip the commitment of 4* CB Omarion Cooper from FSU after their 1-3 start.
“We text everyday,” Cooper said about Michigan. “I text Coach Harbaugh, Coach Zordich and Coach Brown. We still contact each other a lot. (I mainly talk with) Coach Zordich and Coach Brown. They know their schemes well, they know football and they’re just great coaches.” - Omarion Cooper
In related news, Top 100 LB Branden Jennings decommitted from FSU and according to Sam Webb, Michigan might be the favorite to land him now.
“Ole Miss immediately emerged as a school of interest thanks to the presence of Chris Partridge who recruited the talented youngster at Michigan. Not long after that I learned that the Wolverines are in the mix too. As a matter of fact, I heard that the Wolverines quickly became one of the favorites to land the Top247 prospect.” - Sam Webb
EJ Holland thinks Michigan will be in play but the favorite to land him is Miami
“Jennings visited Michigan last fall and had a lot of interest in the Wolverines. With all of this said, Miami may be the team to beat. It’s closer to home, and he has a brother on the team.” - Holland
Miami has been trying to poach Michigan commit Jaydon Hood so it will be interesting to see how things unfold here. Flipping Cooper would be a huge win for our DB class. Jennings situation would be interesting as well. If he goes with Miami, we should be pretty solid with our recruitment with Hood. If Jennings wants in on Michigan, it might push Hood to Miami.
For context purposes, we are still in the battle for 4* Top 100 CB Ceyair Wright and we 3* LB Casey Phinney decommitted a few weeks ago.
October 13th, 2020 at 10:59 AM ^
Go Blue, young men.
October 13th, 2020 at 11:07 AM ^
Getting one of Cooper or Wright (or both!) would be huge and help address concerns I have about the future of that position.
October 13th, 2020 at 11:47 AM ^
To anyone who follows in state football, how is CB Maxwell Hairston doing? He’s committed to Kentucky and Michigan was interested but wanted to observe him in person more. They should have some senior film on him now so curious if he’s done well enough that Michigan may throw out an offer
October 13th, 2020 at 12:02 PM ^
He's doing pretty well. He had like an 80-yard catch-and-run touchdown a week or two ago.
October 13th, 2020 at 3:20 PM ^
In-state recruiting has been a shit show, and now Allen Trieu is saying MSU is a real threat to land Rayshaun Benny.
As if losing Dellinger, Spindler, Payne, Buddin, and the King twins wasn't enough. What an epic fail this would be by the staff.
October 13th, 2020 at 3:46 PM ^
I hope this MSU smoke is just for him to hype up his recruitment a little bit. That would a horrible outcome if he went to MSU. Sheesh.
October 13th, 2020 at 3:56 PM ^
MSU is so far from being relevant it’s funny. I would be shocked any high ranking recruit gives them serious consideration. They are not a few players away, but a program change away.
October 13th, 2020 at 4:18 PM ^
Maizen got his allowance to spend, I see.
October 13th, 2020 at 3:58 PM ^
Shall we count cooper in this class already. 247 article...
Mother of top target: 'U-M showing they need my son'
VIP ByBRICE MARICH 44 minutes ago
Lehigh Acres (Fla.) Senior 2021 four-star cornerback Omarion Cooper is considered one of the top players in the south at his position....
October 13th, 2020 at 11:08 AM ^
Definitely need more corners so Cooper would be a good get. Want to either retain Hood or get Jennings but not lose both.
I think for all schools signing the verbals is going to be a rollercoaster due to lack of visits. Or you will see a lot of kids enter the portal later. With in-state talent being deep this year, hurts that much more that we weren't able to retain more guys. Getting Benny and Edwards would make for a good instate recruiting year but not great.
October 13th, 2020 at 11:55 AM ^
I wonder if we are still going to pursue a few local guys given the lack of visits, like Dillinger, Spindler, and the King brothers.
October 13th, 2020 at 12:03 PM ^
Michigan is still recruiting the King brothers.
October 13th, 2020 at 1:39 PM ^
Rivals reviews of the King brothers have seemingly been positive. Do you share in this positive assessment Magnus?
October 13th, 2020 at 12:31 PM ^
Roster management is going to be a nightmare for these coaching staffs over the next couple years. There are going to be a ton of decommits and transfers near the end of the season due to expanded rosters. Most teams will have, for all intents and purposes, 35 to 45 "freshmen" at the start of spring ball.
I predict huge defections from Power 5 to mid-major programs where otherwise Power 5 prospects are going to see those smaller programs as the best way for them to get on the field sooner.
October 13th, 2020 at 1:38 PM ^
Except for Ohio State. Because nothing bad ever happens to them. Like all their guys who had opted out came back after the Big Ten decided to play a fall schedule.
October 13th, 2020 at 11:10 AM ^
come on you two..... YOU could be the two who finally propel us to victory over THE ohio state penitentiary ..... don't you want to be that guy???
October 13th, 2020 at 11:11 AM ^
"“We text everyday,” Cooper said about Michigan. “I text Coach Harbaugh, Coach Zordich and Coach Brown. We still contact each other a lot. (I mainly talk with) Coach Zordich and Coach Brown. They know their schemes well, they know football and they’re just great coaches.”
I know this may be recruit-speak that he says about the other programs trying to flip him, but it sounds pretty promising.
October 13th, 2020 at 11:12 AM ^
Raid the Noles!
October 13th, 2020 at 11:15 AM ^
look down the board a few threads. there is quite the bru-ha-ha going on about that exact thing.
October 13th, 2020 at 11:14 AM ^
Florida State's schedule - they are FUCKED. I would be shocked if we did not land Cooper at this point. And he would be a HUGE get. Ending with Cooper, Edwards and Benny would be awesome.
Regular Season
DATEOPPONENTRESULTW-L (CONF)HI PASSHI RUSHHI REC
Sat, Sep 12
L16-130-1 (0-1)Blackman 198Travis 39Corbin 55Sat, Sep 26
@
12 Miami
L52-100-2 (0-2)Blackman 120Toafili 64McDonald 58Sat, Oct 3
W41-241-2 (0-2)Travis 210Toafili 99Terry 77Sat, Oct 10
@
5 Notre Dame
L42-261-3 (0-3)Travis 204Travis 96Terry 146
DATEOPPONENTTIMETVTICKETS
Sat, Oct 17
vs
5 North Carolina
Tickets as low as $71 Sat, Oct 24
Tickets as low as $46 Sat, Nov 7
TBDTickets as low as $45 Sat, Nov 14
TBDSat, Nov 21
vs
1 Clemson
TBDTickets as low as $104 Sat, Nov 28
vs
Virginia
TBDTickets as low as $48 Sat, Dec 5
@
Duke
October 13th, 2020 at 11:26 AM ^
Suddenly, the ACC looks a lot stronger than the BIG 12. UNC, ND, Miami and Clemson all should be competitive this year.
October 13th, 2020 at 11:53 AM ^
Agree. This is the strongest the ACC has looked in a while. And the weakest the B12 has looked in forever.
October 13th, 2020 at 12:43 PM ^
I agree the ACC looks good but the rankings got all screwy this year because of major conferences not in them for a month. UNC isn’t a top 5 team, and neither is Notre Dame, IMO. Also, Cincinnati and OK State in the top 10 are other sketchy examples.
October 13th, 2020 at 12:56 PM ^
It’s really impossible to tell which conference is better when teams play no nonconference games.
October 13th, 2020 at 7:14 PM ^
Truth. Style points are in play.
October 13th, 2020 at 1:09 PM ^
I'm curious how good the ACC actually is, whether the rest of the conference has elevated its game or if everyone minus Clemson has all fallen back to the pack and stayed relatively close to one another.
There is not much you could say that would convince me UNC is truly a top-10 team.
October 13th, 2020 at 3:20 PM ^
When the season is done and Clemson has won every game by 25+ points you will know the ACC is the same as it has been recently.
October 13th, 2020 at 3:40 PM ^
That's what I'm thinking. We don't really know how good the ACC is because no one is getting to play anyone (of note) out of conference this year. If they're all just playing really competitive games with one another that doesn't really tell us anything about their level of strength. That could just as easily mean that everyone in the conference outside of Clemson is anywhere from equally mediocre to equally good but not great.
Now if they go into bowl season and put a whuppin' on everyone they play, then okay, sure.
October 14th, 2020 at 12:10 PM ^
Really? Miami and ND look to be force positives. Both look like they do not have what it takes.
I haven't really paid attention to UNC. Clemson looks like Clemson though.
October 13th, 2020 at 11:33 AM ^
Speaking of Benny. When is this “soon” he was talking about?
October 13th, 2020 at 11:44 AM ^
Rivals mentioned around October 24 or 25th
October 13th, 2020 at 12:21 PM ^
I think they beat ESPN3 but not sure about ABC.
October 13th, 2020 at 12:35 PM ^
I think you posted their basketball schedule, this one says UNC is ranked 5th.
/s
October 13th, 2020 at 1:15 PM ^
LOL, I was going to say about same thing.... could be worse if it were the basketball schedule.
October 13th, 2020 at 11:20 AM ^
FSU has a primetime slot with UNC this weekend. If UNC puts up stupid numbers like they did last week FSU could get ran out of the stadium. If Cooper is watching and taking note of FSU's trajectory, maybe a blow out loss to UNC will continue to add to the reasons to leave.
October 13th, 2020 at 12:54 PM ^
I hear what you are saying, but if getting your defense torched on national TV was a factor, our last two games would be just as big a problem for our recruiting. Thank goodness a decision on what University to attend is bigger than that (which does help us).
October 13th, 2020 at 2:17 PM ^
More so that FSU has been circling the drain for the last 3 seasons, changed coaches twice, and the new guy doesn't look significantly better than the last guy. They have continually been a bad football team and more evidence of that coming from a national spotlight blowout at the hands of UNC of all programs may inflict more damage on FSU's reputation than what would otherwise be consistent 9-3 type seasons with losses to Clemson over and over again.
October 13th, 2020 at 11:46 AM ^
I think the Hood danger has mostly passed FYI.
October 13th, 2020 at 11:59 AM ^
Good to know! If we could land Hood and Jennings together, it would certainly offset losing Phinney and Osman Savage.
October 13th, 2020 at 12:10 PM ^
IMO, Michigan doesn't need to offset losing Phinney.
October 13th, 2020 at 12:49 PM ^
I don't think Jennings long term position is ILB. he projects to more of a SAM/WDE. Where Hood seems to be a MIKE all the way.
October 13th, 2020 at 1:23 PM ^
Agreed on Jennings. He would be a lumbering middle linebacker when Michigan seems to want speed, speed, and more speed at the position.
October 13th, 2020 at 11:55 AM ^
Recruiting's like being in a candy store. Even though you can't get everything, it's hard not to be thinking, "I want this, and I want that, and that, and that."
October 13th, 2020 at 11:57 AM ^
Unless you are Alabama, OSU, or Georgia, who bought the candy store.
October 13th, 2020 at 2:30 PM ^
Why anyone would go to FSU is beyond me. It wasn't really until 2019 that they started falling out of the top 10 in the class rankings and it wasn't really until 2021 that they starting falling outside of the top 25 in the class rankings. They put up 5-7 win seasons for several years in a row and are now off to a 1-3 start. Somehow after 7-6 and 5-7 seasons they landed top 10 recruiting classes. One of those was Fisher's however, and I've always thought he was dirty recruiter due to his recruiting rankings always being high at both FSU and TAMU despite some poor seasons on the field.
October 13th, 2020 at 3:44 PM ^
I'm really curious what FSU's issue is, because at this point its clear that its pretty deep-seated. It shouldn't be a lack of talent. They're probably the second most-talented team in the ACC in terms of who they haul in on a yearly basis, maybe third behind ND, but still good enough to where they should be able to beat most everyone they play.
Have they just whiffed hard on two straight coaching hires? Is there a hugely problematic culture issue in Tallahassee? Poor development? Probably some combo of all of the above, but it wasn't that long ago that FSU was the premiere power in the ACC and Clemson was a clear second fiddle.
At this point I don't think you can blame Jimbo Fisher anymore for whatever you think he did.
October 13th, 2020 at 4:23 PM ^
It's not too dissimilar from what we all experienced years ago. Jimbo left a top program that had some general issues but the top athletes they had were capable of papering over them to get the team to 9+ wins. The new guy they hire comes from a less competitive conference and doesn't address those holes and generally struggles to implement a system and culture that can succeed in major conference football. They then move onto another coach from the G5 and that guy has to fill the holes that the 2nd guy left behind AND address the underlying issues that plague the program. He does start out with some very good athletes, but not enough at certain positions and none that were coached well enough win big games.
Sounds pretty familiar, albeit not an exact facsimile.
Carr was very good but by the end didn't address structural weaknesses in Michigan's operations (lack of speed, old school offense and defense). He leaves and RR, who did well at WVU (the Big East was the worst AQ conference and the schedule was pretty weak year in and year out) comes in but cannot fix those issues. He kind of sort of fixes the offense over time but the defense crumbles and the program is almost unrecognizable after 3 seasons. Then they hire Hoke, who was capable of winning in the G5, who fixes a lot of the culture issues but isn't a great coach generally and has to survive off the likes of Denard and Gardner until it crumbles again.
Not saying Taggart is RR or Norvell is Hoke, but FSU has had the same problems Michigan had 7-8 years ago. Talent at certain spots, not great coaching, and general culture issues that can't be papered over by highly rated classes that don't produce wins.
October 13th, 2020 at 4:59 PM ^
Omarion would be a great addition to the class at this point in the cycle. Although he is probably rated on the lower-end of the 4 star scale, he has some pretty solid offers in hand including Florida, Louisville, Miami, Miss. St., UNC, Penn St. and Tennessee. Virgina Tech as well, which has a knack for identifying high-level, underrated talent at the DB positions. Offer sheets generally will tell you just as much about a prospects potential as star rating, and his says high-level P5 contributor if not elite prospect.
Would be a great pick up if we can land him!