Montae Nicholson to MSU
Per everywhere
http://www.mlive.com/spartans/index.ssf/2013/12/michigan_state_football…
Good pickup for MSU
December 19th, 2013 at 5:16 PM ^
Per front page too. But yeah, solid for them.
December 19th, 2013 at 5:18 PM ^
Michigan blog. Already in UV. Etc.
December 19th, 2013 at 5:18 PM ^
why did we say no again?
December 19th, 2013 at 5:33 PM ^
Full at DB
December 19th, 2013 at 6:02 PM ^
we were still recruiting Latimore and Smith when we dropped him. Also why did we need a small, slow 4th LB more than an athletic safety?
December 19th, 2013 at 6:24 PM ^
Should we just ignore information that he was given by the coaches?
December 19th, 2013 at 7:00 PM ^
December 19th, 2013 at 5:19 PM ^
I was a little bit disappointed that Michigan stopped recruiting him, because I thought the Wolverines had a chance. I still think Jarrod Wilson is going to be good down the road, but I'm not really high on anyone else except Dymonte Thomas. I would not be surprised to see Nicholson tear up in East Lansing.
December 19th, 2013 at 5:25 PM ^
I fully expect him to tear up after going 0-4 against Michigan.
December 19th, 2013 at 5:27 PM ^
I feel like I've heard good things about Delano Hill. What is your issue with him specifically?
December 19th, 2013 at 5:32 PM ^
December 19th, 2013 at 5:37 PM ^
As was Thomas Gordon. He turned out just fine.
December 19th, 2013 at 5:38 PM ^
December 19th, 2013 at 5:59 PM ^
Here's what I saw out of him coming out of high school:
http://touchthebanner.blogspot.com/2012/12/delano-hill-wolverine.html
And in basically a full season of playing on coverage units, he has 1 tackle. That's not a death knell in itself, but I just don't see him as a playmaker.
December 19th, 2013 at 10:50 PM ^
why dont you know this information already, analyzed it and told us if 1 tackle is really bad, bad or acceptable?
December 20th, 2013 at 7:53 AM ^
I'm a slacker.
December 19th, 2013 at 11:08 PM ^
Check out the youtube link. Type in #6 Montae Nicholson s,cb,wr. Click on the top option.
Here's a sample of the film that scholarship offering schools (like FSU, Miami Fla, OSU, Penn St., Oregon, and other bowling teams) saw.
Spoiler alert - he has more than one tackle.
And if you care to watch, MSU told him he can play both Safety and WR. May want to save him from playing K/P return, but he's clearly solid there too.
This is a bigtime pick up.
Edit: Dangit. Thought I you were talking about Nicholson.
Point remains. He's a big time player.
December 20th, 2013 at 9:03 AM ^
Nicholson is ranked #193 in the 247 Composite
You could add Michigan to the list of schools that offered him. It's a nice list, but who knows how many of those offers were still out there for him? The 247 crystal ball picks were 53% MSU, 27% Pitt, 17% PSU, 3% Mich.
December 20th, 2013 at 9:15 AM ^
And most people thought he'd go there I think until very recently (I'm guessing you'll see a lot of people switched their crystal ball very recently). I assume with FSU being in the top 3 that they still had an offer on the table as well.
Recruiting in general is strange though. Just because the offer isn't on the table doesn't always mean that that player wouldn't have had that offer still under different circumstances. I think he was a Michigan caliber player and likely would have retained an offer if there were more available slots. There are certainly cases where there are "non-commitable offers", which makes this whole thing called recruiting from an outside perspective more difficult to judge, but as far as Nicholson, I don't think that was the case.
December 20th, 2013 at 11:15 AM ^
I suspect many of the better programs that offered looked at Nicholson the same way Michigan did. He was a good prospect, but not a priority and not someone to hold a spot for.
December 20th, 2013 at 10:24 AM ^
So next season aren't we officially down the road?
December 20th, 2013 at 11:35 AM ^
Maybe, kinda, sorta. I really wish he could have redshirted in 2012. I don't like young safeties. He was decent this year and should be even better next year and the year after that.
December 21st, 2013 at 11:20 AM ^
I think in a year Michigan doesn't have Peppers as well as a glut of young DBs things are a little different with a Parker Westphal or Montae Nicholson. I know more about Parker because of Todd Howard. Basically the Michigan coaches felt he was on the same level with Brandon Watson and wanted him to make an early decision, which he wasn't ready to do and Watson was. The rankings don't show that; their play might.
Part of recruiting so far out in advance is they strategically don't wait around for guys unless they're major difference makers.
The biggest thing Todd stressed was how great of a kid Parker is. He seems like a great fit for Northwestern and considering their problems at DB the last few years it's a great pickup for them. It's too bad he couldn't fit in this class, but that's what you get with a non-oversigning program that has most of its 2015 recruiting done at this point.
December 19th, 2013 at 5:31 PM ^
December 19th, 2013 at 7:08 PM ^
I think Nicholson's got a little more range than Smith, which is what makes it even more disappointing. Smith was essentially a tweener his entire career (even at Temple). Nicholson can be a true deep cover guy.
December 19th, 2013 at 7:19 PM ^
Agreed. Smith was bound for a linebacker position all along, but for Rodriguez, he was supposed to be a S/LB hybrid. Nicholson could be an actual safety, in my opinion, not a hybrid type of player.
December 19th, 2013 at 5:39 PM ^
December 19th, 2013 at 5:48 PM ^
Their football team hasn't seen such success since 1988 (IIRC), their head coach and defensive coordinator are mentioned with regard to vacant HC positions, and the MBB team is ranked 5th in the country.
Of course, history tells us this will not last forever.
December 19th, 2013 at 6:43 PM ^
Not many people want a guy who is old, can't recruit and bases his system off playing older players (I.e. Long to set up).
I can't believe how much traction that Yahoo story has gotten with you guys.
December 19th, 2013 at 11:06 PM ^
Not be a Dantonio apologist but Bo had a heart attack during his first season and coached successfully for 20 more years. Dantonio is only 57 so he probably has 8 more seasons left in him.
December 20th, 2013 at 7:47 AM ^
I think his point is Dantonio takes a few years to get his system up, and at UT waiting 3 years means death. At MSU he lucked into his 2-4th years coinciding with the Rich Rod period, and those wins gave him the stability he needed to basically build another Wisconsin.
December 19th, 2013 at 5:49 PM ^
I have a feeling he'll get coached up pretty well in EL. Waiting for Hand and McDowell might come back to bite us in the arse, I hope not though.
December 19th, 2013 at 7:06 PM ^
That makes no sense.
December 19th, 2013 at 7:09 PM ^
Steve Lorenz already shot this down, as well
@justcoverblog @ChrisVannini Nope. They have pursued other safety targets since then. Not related to that at all.
— Steve Lorenz (@TremendousUM) December 19, 2013
December 19th, 2013 at 11:00 PM ^
I feel better about that now, still a nice get for MSU, they're not gonna go away anytime soon, with a hopefully improved U-M program moving forward with OSU and MSU and PSU (when they get back to their usual status), it's gonna be a tough division to win year in and year out.
December 20th, 2013 at 3:05 PM ^
Yet, they are losing their core of the D... lets see if they recover from losing Bullough, Denard, Lewis, among others.... odds are that they will take a big hit.
December 20th, 2013 at 10:02 PM ^
I really don't think they will. As long as they have the same coaching staff, they're just going to reload on defense. They might not have a First Team All-American ready to step in for Dennard, but there are going to be underclassmen from this year who improve to become stars. We said the same thing about MSU a couple years ago, and they've just plugged new guys in there.
December 19th, 2013 at 6:00 PM ^
So I guess that makes them the real "Michigan" team... Good for them.
He is a solid pickup for the Spartans though.
December 19th, 2013 at 11:26 PM ^
All of your best players are from Ohio. What's your point?
December 19th, 2013 at 6:03 PM ^
December 19th, 2013 at 6:04 PM ^
December 19th, 2013 at 7:02 PM ^
one thing to miss out on a guy like that who I feel has good potential. Another thing to let him go to a rival and get 4 reminders of that decision. I feel like Good Coach Matttison has a plan and so I will trust in that.
December 20th, 2013 at 8:30 AM ^
December 19th, 2013 at 7:13 PM ^
I just know it
December 19th, 2013 at 7:25 PM ^
How many more Bulloughs are there?
December 19th, 2013 at 8:27 PM ^
and that's just in the class of 2015
December 19th, 2013 at 10:13 PM ^
You shut your filthy whore mouth.
December 19th, 2013 at 11:16 PM ^
on a policy for Bullough balls.
Gotta keep them gems insured.
December 19th, 2013 at 8:32 PM ^
December 19th, 2013 at 10:01 PM ^
Jabrill will be the bane of theirs.