Friday Recruitin' Sneaks Onto Campus
Give This Kid A Raise
Michigan hosted one of their top targets on the defensive line last week in four-star TN DT Rick Sandidge, and the word from M recruiting gurus is universal: they knocked this one out of the park. While the likes of Jim Harbaugh or Greg Mattison are normally the focus when prospects and their families discuss these visits, Sandidge's mom couldn't stop raving about a support staff member when recapping the visit with Sam Webb:
In most cases the meeting with the headman serves as the crescendo for any school’s campus visit. While that is true typically at Michigan also, it wasn’t the case this time. The visit-show was stolen by a student recruiting assistant named Sam Popper, who served as one of the Sandidge’s tour guides.
"Sam is the best ever,” Sandidge’s mom Keshia said. “He should be the superstar of that school, I promise you. He made our visit absolutely wonderful. I wish there was a Sam at every program that we've been to thus far."
“He was down to our level trying to understand how our dynamics are built as a family. He just kind of became one of us that day and let it all hang out. Usually folks don't do that.”
I haven't ever seen something like this before:
Told y'all Sam joined the family... Love it!!! pic.twitter.com/TG10ejSkHA
— Keshia Sandidge (@Kesandidge) June 16, 2017
Getting mom in your corner is always a plus. Rick himself was also impressed with the trip, per The Wolverine's Brandon Brown:
"I know that Michigan’s defense is amazing," he said. "I know that they run a four-man front which is something that I like. Those are definitely a couple of things that stand out. I also know that they don’t play all of their defensive linemen the whole game and that’s there’s a solid rotation to keep everyone fresh."
247's Steve Lorenz added that Michigan will be a "real factor" going forward in Sandidge's recruitment. Sandidge, Tyler Friday, and Michael Thompson are the top three targets at DT after Alim McNeill omitted Michigan from his top six. (No, I don't want to talk about it.)
[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]
M/ND Battles Extend To Actual News
After four-star NJ OLB Shayne Simon looked like a strong Michigan lean, Notre Dame has gained a lot of steam in his recruitment lately. Yesterday morning, Irish247's Tom Loy dropped some news* that portended very bad things for Michigan's chances:
The 6-3, 215-pounder, a U.S. Army All-American in the class of 2018, has informed Irish247 that he will no longer visit Michigan in June or July. “Nah, I’m not getting out there,” said Simon via text, when asked if he was still visiting Michigan.
Not so fast, my friend. Moments later—though not before I, an idiot, flipped my Crystal Ball pick to ND—Wolverine247's Isaiah Hole dropped a newsbomb of his own:
On the heels of Tom Loy's report that Jersey City (NJ) St. Peter's Prep outside linebacker Shayne Simon won't be visiting Michigan in the foreseeable future, I spoke to someone close to the Michigan side of things who wasn't at all alarmed.
Why?
Simon made a quiet, surprise visit to Ann Arbor this past Sunday on Father's Day.
Steve Wiltfong, whose pick is currently on Notre Dame, says he "could see it go either way" at this point. Simon, who Michigan is recruiting as a VIPER, wants to make a decision before his senior season.
Best Birthday Ever by receiving an offer from The University of Michigan
— Cam McGrone (@McGrone_Strong) June 22, 2017
God is Great #BlueBloods18 #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/hfH8wl3wxe
In other potential Michigan/ND battles, Michigan hosted four-star IN OLB Cameron McGrone yesterday, not long after he'd visited South Bend for the Irish Invasion camp. Based on what he told Wiltfong, the trip couldn't have gone much better:
"Michigan is truly a special place," he said. "Haven't been to a place like it.
"I got real comfortable up there with all the staff and players. Felt like another home."
Michigan is recruiting McGrone as a MIKE. Based on the quote above, I put in a pick for the good guys.
*[Loy later edited the piece, without noting he edited it, to mention Simon's weekend visit:
We're told the 6-3, 215-pounder, a U.S. Army All-American in the class of 2018, visited Michigan this past weekend, following an Irish Invasion trip to Notre Dame earlier this month.
The planned visit to Michigan for July will no longer take place.
That's one way to journalism, I guess.]
Visits Past and Current
Sam Webb caught up with top-100 FL OT Nicholas Petit-Frere for a reaction to his recent visit. It sounds like Michigan made a strong impression; it also sounds like Petit-Frere won't be making a decision any time soon:
"I'm still in football mode now. We're starting up our workouts for Berkeley football and trying to make a run back at the state semifinals. (We’re going to) try to overcome that and get all the way to the state championship and try to find a way to win the first championship at Berkeley. That's my main priority right now. Once we get through that then I might try to go ahead and think about schools, but I really don't know at this point. It's just kind of working out, getting bigger, faster and stronger, the entire team is trying to do that."
He's a prospect worth waiting on.
Meanwhile, Michigan's second weekend of on-campus camps is happening as I type this. I'll save most of that news for next week's roundup after things have wrapped up. Lorenz has a free post listing a few top targets who made their way to campus yesterday; 2019 Belleville prospects Julian Barnett and Devontae Dobbs also made it in today, as did 2019 five-star OH DE Zach Harrison, who's making his second visit to Ann Arbor.
2019 Updates: Top Three For Lacey
According to Tom Loy, four-star 2019 KY DT Jacob Lacey has three schools out in front—Clemson, Michigan, and Notre Dame—with a decision closing in:
Lacey is unsure on a time table for a final decision. He says it could come before his junior season or after a few game day trips this fall. Either way, it’s coming up quickly.
“Yeah,” said Lacey, when asked if he knows where he is going to end up. “I have a few main schools i’m deciding on. They are neck and neck. We are looking at the pros and cons of both schools.”
Lacey visits Stanford on Thursday and Michigan on July 29. After that, his summer visits will be complete. He recently visited Notre Dame, Clemson, Vanderbilt, Louisville and Tennessee.
Lacey has been to South Bend five times now, so they may have an edge, but Michigan will get at least one more shot next month, and we're very far away from Signing Day 2019. Oh, and Notre Dame went 4-8 last season, in case you forgot.
Four-star FL OT William Putnam added a Michigan offer on Tuesday. He told TMI's Evan Petzold that the Wolverines have his interest:
"I'm very interested in Michigan," he stated. "Michigan is a great team with a great tradition. Michigan is a school I definitely want to visit. The offer caught me by surprise, so I have not yet planned a visit. However, Michigan is a school I want to visit and build a relationship with."
Michigan also sent out an offer to top-50 AL OG Clay Webb, who told TMI's Brice Marich he's looking into a summer visit, but Webb is a highly touted lineman from Alabama with an Alabama offer, so this is probably the last time he gets mentioned here.
Let's Check In On MSU
Ohio cornerback Arquon Bush, the #604 overall player on the composite, on his recent commitment:
“My recruitment came down to Cincinnati and Michigan State. I really don’t know, it was just like I woke up this morning and was thinking hard about it. Then got on the phone with my mom, at first we talked and we got on a 3-way with my coach to. We all decided that Cincinnati would be a perfect fit for me.”
With the head-to-head win, Luke Fickell's Bearcats are now only ten spots behind the Spartans on the composite team rankings.
Etc.
MLive's Matt Wenzel profiles Jalen Mayfield.
Isaiah Hole and Barton Simmons both posted lengthy updates on German DE Julius Welschof, who impressed M's coaches at last week's camp.
Brandon Justice, who's moved from Land of Ten to Wolverine247, says Michigan is the "clear early leader" for four-star 2019 IMG ILB Charles Thomas. He'll be on campus this weekend.
Michigan offered 2019 Alabama commit Pierce Quick a few weeks ago. Let's see how that's gonna go:
"I’m 100% solid to Alabama," he said. "Schools kind of stopped recruiting me because I’m an in-state kid committed to Alabama so they can connect the dots.
Okay then.
I think Sandidge is out of NC, not TN.
that's called team spirit. I think it can also be called stalking.
Sparty should start recruiting Alabama kids comitted to Alabama.
They'll have the exact same success rate they have now with Top-600 kids, but it will look a whole lot better for them when they are turned down.
Even though a prospect may decide on a different school, there is something to be said for just having that MSU hat on the table next to top programs like Cincinnati, Bowling Green, or Illinois State.
I usually don't root against us to get the recruits we target, but dear God, it would be awesome if Nicholas Petit-Frere picked MSU. I mean, his name actually means Nicholas "Little Brother"! :-DDDD
we can bask in the irony of Nicholas "Little Brother" picking Big Brother and beating Little Brother.
It might sound good but i don't think we want to be playing against him.
He if sucks we do...if he's good, we don't.
Well I cannot argue with that logic.
I love the MSU check in. Kids can be so Fickell.
Dantoni had moderate success at Cincinatti recruiting second tier Ohio players after a stint as the OSU DC, goes on to MSU to have success recruiting second tier Ohio players (and beefing them us with steriods), things blow up, and he's now losing second (third, even?) tier Ohio recruits to a former OSU DC having similarly moderate success recruiting second tier Ohio players.
Love it.
This post reminds me of the paragraph explaining doublethink in 1984. I love it almost as much as I love that paragraph.
Damn you Notre Dame. You went 4-8 but decided you are still going to be a pain in the ass on the recruiting trail.
recruiting season. Have they hire a new recruiting coordinator? What is going on?
Schools like ND, USC, TX and so on can survive a few bad years on the field because of their tradition and their blue blood reputation.
Michigan is in this list too.
Let's be honest with ourselves, Mcihigan continued to recruit much better than it really should have when we were down in the RR/Hoke era.
If we were Purdue, we would have fallen off a cliff after that era.
I'm Catholic.
I loathe Notre Dame.
Notre Dame is going to have another rough season, so lets see what there class looks like on nsd.
With the caveat that there are catholic school recruits, or long time ND fan recruits, etc, outside of that I cannot see how any kid would choose them over us. I don't think that's a homer statement.
This is why I would stop playing ND in football. I would make them totally irrelevant in recruiting in the midwest. And all you are doing is giving ND free publicity by playing them. Let them go play Duke instead.
Well done Sam Popper
Is he not the Chosen One, foretold by the Prophecy to bring balance to the defensive line?
It would be very far out, but a commit from Charles Thomas this weekend would be awesome. He could go back to school with Cain and be the bug in his ear. Glad we got the Belleville boys on campus.
A commit from Noah Cain would also be quite nice.
We must get Petit-Frere to troll Sparty hard, if for no other reason.
Top of my wish list for the rest of the class.
Don't overllook Thompson who I feel is a touch better than both.
It seems like a number of recruits say that their Michigan offer "caught them by surprise" or was unexpected. Is there any sense that UM tends to send out offers with less build-up or prior contact than other schools? Any other reason that we would get that response?
should never have watched the highlight video...damn.
But the first few minutes of his HUDL "highlight" reel contain no highlights that I could discern. The contrast with Lacey's reel is stark.
My two cents: He seems quick off the ball and has the ability to move laterally and change direction well. Kind of like Wormley. The size seems to be there for versatility across the line, which Mattison always likes.
Tom loy seems to be wishing things.
I laughed out loud. Would love to see this added as a regular section to these roundups.
Kinda hard to truly get excited about 2019 kids because of the crootin that will surely unfold. But in a slow offseason, I'm grateful for any and all recruiting roundups.
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