TVH Weekly: Weekend Visitors, Upcoming Decisions, and More
This Weekly Update is going to be a little tough because so much can change within a matter of days. Here's what's potentially happening in the near future. With Demetrius Hart decommitting to Alabama that leaves Michigan with roughly seven spots to fill.
January 7th Visitors
As of right now most, if not all, of the visitors plan on making it in this weekend. I have received two texts from prospects asking if they should reschedule their visit, though. I'm going to make sure that everyone understands that anything can change at any time. That even goes for the comment I made the other day about current commitments sticking with Michigan. Tony Posada and Dallas Crawford both said they will "most likely" stick with Michigan. That most likely is their way out, so it's not 100%. Dallas is being actively recruited, so that's something to watch. [Ed. He did say he was "solid" on Facebook today, FWIW.]
Anyhow, here's the list of recruits expected to be in this weekend.
- S Sheldon Royster - Royster will be a tough pull for Michigan. Considering Michigan, Rutgers, South Carolina, Miami, and North Carolina.
- ATH Raymon Taylor - Decommitted from Indiana because of a coaching change. He loves Michigan, but ya know, they might have a coaching change.
- WR Devin Lucien - Devin was just offered by Miami today. He really likes Michigan though. He'll be making his announcement on January 30th at his school. He could be making his final decision soon though. Decision is different than announcement. He's said Michigan's standing does not depend on their coach.
- DT Darian Cooper - I spoke with Darian last night, and he said "he thinks" he's still coming this weekend. We'll see if that changes.
- WR Shane Wynn - Glenville product, potentially coming this weekend.
- QB Cardale Jones - Same situation as Wynn. The visit might not happen.
- TE Frank Clark - Same as the two above.
- DE Deion Barnes - This visit looks like it's leaning towards not happening, but I haven't confirmed it yet. I'll still include him here, just not expecting him to be there.
- TE Tanner McEvoy
Army Game Decisions
There are 13 total prospects making their decision public at the Army All American Game on Saturday January 8th. The two that apply to Michigan are LB Kris Frost, and DB Wayne Lyons.
Kris Frost:
Kris has been consistent with his public stance, and who he names in his top group. I have been in very close contact with Kris the entire time, and it's my understanding that he had his final decision made up around 3 weeks or a month ago. Frost is an early enrollee, and has told me he's comfortable with his decision.
Wayne Lyons:
Wayne has kept a lot of his recruitment close to the vest, but the rumor is that it may be between Michigan and Stanford, with potentially Nebraska in there as well. This provides an interesting scenario with Michigan and Stanford's current situation. I don't think anyone can predict the outcome of this one, so we'll have to wait and see what hat Wayne picks up on Saturday.
Chris Bryant
Offensive Line
6'5", 330 lbs.
Chicago, Illinois
I put this on the board a few days ago, but Chris Bryant has decided to hold a press conference to announce his decision on January 21st.
Chris has always been very high on Michigan, and has been out to Ann Arbor a few times. The interesting scenario here is that Bryant is likely down to Michigan, Arizona, and Ohio State (if they offer). Stanford was also a school that Chris was very interested in, and he's aware of the potential coaching changes that could take place at Michigan. All of this could obviously change from now until January 21st, but I think Michigan is in strong position right now.
Extra:
- The silent commits that I've alluded to are still intact. I know of two for now, and potentially a third soon. Some of them could decide to go elsewhere. They're still in place for now.
- If Michigan makes a coaching change, and makes it fast, there could be opportunity for that coach to bring in some of their recruits. Specifically Jim Harbaugh with his current commitments. I've spoken to a few Stanford commitments that are going to wait to see what happens, and make a decision from there. I've spoken to four, and only one has said he will stay with Stanford 100%.
- Early enrollee Greg Brown is in Ann Arbor, and ready to go.
- Again, all of this information could easily change in the next few days, so don't take it as 100%.
January 3rd, 2011 at 1:24 PM ^
Tom bringing the good news, breath once or twice everyone ....then resume CC threads
January 3rd, 2011 at 1:26 PM ^
Thanks, as always, Tom. No surprise that this is a very fluid situation at the moment, only time will tell. I certainly hope a decision is made (and announced), by mid-week, so these visits can still take place.
January 3rd, 2011 at 1:27 PM ^
is apparently the buzz word of the day. See Adam Schefter.
January 3rd, 2011 at 1:28 PM ^
An Island in the storm as always.
ryanfourmayor...good luck.
Edit: quick typing edit ryan.
January 3rd, 2011 at 1:37 PM ^
I got excited when the TomVH diary said it was posted 4 seconds ago and in my lack of judgement decide a 'first' post was needed. I quickly decided to not take the negbomb and edit it to something resonable.
January 3rd, 2011 at 1:26 PM ^
for the first time.
Thanks Tom. I honestly think our recruiting situation is not as dire as people would think (as I wrote in my post yesterday). I think January-Feb will end up placing us with a top 15 class.
January 3rd, 2011 at 1:38 PM ^
How in the world could you possibly say such a thing? I'd like to see the logic behind this one.
January 3rd, 2011 at 2:32 PM ^
I predict that we would hold onto 11 to 13 of the recruits. Plus we could get an enormous boost with Harbaugh. It's a bold prediction for sure. But the downers are always a bit too extreme in my mind.
January 3rd, 2011 at 2:43 PM ^
I don't think I'm being a downer to think that it's verrrrry unlikey for us to jump approx. 20 spots in the rankings. I would love for it to happen, but again I'm not sure there's enough talent still out there that would be willing to give us a look to jump that much.
January 3rd, 2011 at 6:59 PM ^
Thank god we have a defensive need during this situation and not an offensive need. An offensive depth problem would be a disaster in recruiting
January 3rd, 2011 at 1:28 PM ^
tom, what happens if we have no coach this weekend? do these kids still come? and if so, who hosts them, who do they speak to, etc.?
January 3rd, 2011 at 1:50 PM ^
Brandon has stated that we will hear from him the second half of the week - it will before the weekend - and it will include who the new coach is going to be.
From a recruiting standpoint, it will be strange if new coach comes in with respect to the visit, but Singletary will still be there, Brandon will be there, Fred Jackson will likely be there - and the new coach who will also be getting acclimated will be there, but that can often lead to excitement and momentum as well. Minnesota, which is not Michigan has gained numerous committments since Kill was hired a couple weeks ago.
With a new coach in place, there is still time to not only salvage the class but to improve it.
If RR is retained, it will have to be more than "we'll give him one last chance next year" to salvage the class - there will have to be a committment in terms of adding two years to the contract (this happens all the time and buyouts make the extensions meaningless anyhow)
January 3rd, 2011 at 2:00 PM ^
I think whoever the coach is, Fred Jackson is there. He is an amazing RBs coach and any coach would be an idiot to replace him. I see him being at Michigan for a very long time.
January 3rd, 2011 at 2:12 PM ^
but our RBs did squat this year.
January 3rd, 2011 at 2:17 PM ^
Yeah agreed. But I think that has to do with the offense we were running. The last three years haven't been the best for our RBs, for whatever reason. And I don't understand why Smith was used so much toward the end of the season when Fitz was healthy. Either way, there is no denying the success that RBs have had under Jackson (Thomas, Perry, Hart, etc.)
January 3rd, 2011 at 2:32 PM ^
Smith plays the role he plays because RR wants him in there.
January 3rd, 2011 at 2:54 PM ^
I know and I agree with you on your post below. I am not knocking on Smith, but I think that he is not being used correctly in this offense for what his strengths and weaknesses are. I personally think he would be a better slot than RB. But then again I am not the coach, so what do I know?
January 3rd, 2011 at 5:37 PM ^
do they never make it to the next level?
OK, Anthony Thomas and Tyrone Wheatley are the only ones I know of who made significant starts in the NFL.
Michigan on the other hand has many Offensive Linemen successful in the NFL, and that is usually why the running backs were so productive, despite their good and consistent, but not great quality.
Not saying Fred Jackson is a bad coach at all, but not irreplaceable.
January 3rd, 2011 at 7:42 PM ^
Let's not say they don't make it to the next level, because he's had as many RBs in the NFL as about any other RB coach. Mike Hart is currently in the NFL and so is Askew. Chris Perry was a starter for a bit and a back-up for a few years as well.
That's not a bad bunch of guys sent to the league.
January 3rd, 2011 at 5:31 PM ^
Part of RR's scheme had the running backs running parallel to the line of scrimmage until they could find a seam. I can't count the number of times V. Smith ran the ball sideways for no gain.
That could partially explain the productivity issue (or lack thereof).
January 3rd, 2011 at 8:06 PM ^
he will at least be able to show recruits around the place, or at least the parts of it that look the same as '86.
How awkward would it be to show recruits around a new place that you've seen less than they have? "And over here is the new, um, uh, locker room . . . no wait, that's the weight room . . . how the hell do we get to the locker room?"
January 3rd, 2011 at 1:33 PM ^
in a near term post, can you do a quick scan on Stanford recruits and just eyeball which ones would be possibles for and exodus to Ann Arbor?
January 3rd, 2011 at 1:44 PM ^
This certainly won't be a boring January around here, eh?
January 3rd, 2011 at 1:44 PM ^
I know some (specifically Magnus but there were a couple of others) were down on Cardale Jones as a QB in RR's offense. If we were to get JH does that change the opinion of him at all?
This is of course excluding the usually stuff about Glenville recruits and UM.
January 3rd, 2011 at 2:47 PM ^
I do like Jones better if he's playing in an offense like Jim Harbaugh's. He's just not a good fit for Rodriguez's offense.
January 3rd, 2011 at 1:47 PM ^
Thanks as always Tom. You bring good news in the wake of this bad weekend. Between the horrible loss on Saturday and losing Dee (which came as little surprise) I have confidence in landing Frost and still having a decent recruiting class for 2011.
January 3rd, 2011 at 5:32 PM ^
...with recruiting overall, me thinks.
January 3rd, 2011 at 1:51 PM ^
No news on his upcoming decision? I haven't heard anything about what he is going to do yet.
But serioiusly, thank you Tom. I could use any topic not related to CC right now. Glad to hear the core of our recruiting class and targets are waiting the "evaluation" out with us. Sounds like they are handling it much better than our fanbase is as well.
January 3rd, 2011 at 1:52 PM ^
January 3rd, 2011 at 2:09 PM ^
Jones went to Glenville. He'll come here over Ginn Sr's dead body.
January 3rd, 2011 at 7:45 PM ^
If he had an OSU offer, I'd agree with you. But if UM is his best offer and he thinks it's the best fit for him, Ginn will encourage him to come. He's not going to push M when a kid can go anywhere, but he's also not going to prohibit a kid from coming here if it truly is the best fit.
January 3rd, 2011 at 1:54 PM ^
Sorry, Tom. No time to read this with all the "CC" threads going at once. Maybe I'll get to your Diary entry later.
Obviously joking. Thanks as always for the update!
January 3rd, 2011 at 1:58 PM ^
I've got to believe that Harbaugh/Fitzgerald/Miles would significantly improve our current class. Fresh blood. Excitement. Stability. Direction. Hope.
January 3rd, 2011 at 2:03 PM ^
No offense but please no Miles. I would much rather have Hoke than the sleazy Miles as our coach.
January 3rd, 2011 at 2:11 PM ^
I would rather have Ron English than Miles. I would rather have Bill Lynch than Miles. I would rather have Greg Robinson than Miles. We're on probation and we can't afford to take anyone who runs a sketchy program. Miles isn't much of a game coach either.
January 3rd, 2011 at 2:18 PM ^
That and he eats grass (if I weren't lazy I would embed the video). How would he be able to eat the grass at the Big House?
January 3rd, 2011 at 3:01 PM ^
Good stuff, thanks for getting my back for me.
January 3rd, 2011 at 3:04 PM ^
I'm not sure if you're a RR fan or not, but there's a clip of him on youtube eating grass when he was at glenville state FWIW.
January 3rd, 2011 at 3:15 PM ^
If you don't link it then it never happened . . .
January 3rd, 2011 at 1:59 PM ^
Harbaugh has two QB commits in his current incoming class, Evan Crower and Kevin Hogan. They’re both three-star guys, but presumably Harbaugh thinks they can play his system. Might either of them follow him to Michigan?
With both Forcier and Robinson as known transfer risks, the QB need in this class is suddenly more acute.
January 3rd, 2011 at 2:49 PM ^
I saw Kevin Hogan play in an all-star game a few days ago. His mechanics are very sloppy, but he threw a couple really nice deep balls.
January 3rd, 2011 at 7:48 PM ^
Hogan is probably the one we have the best chance with, since Crower is from California and might not want to be far from home. We know that's not a problem with Hogan.
January 3rd, 2011 at 4:28 PM ^
someone shed some light who is in the know to current players, what is the possibility (% wise) that DRob would transfer??? this is my biggest concern!!! Holy Crap could this really happen??? Go Blue
January 3rd, 2011 at 2:32 PM ^
In the Gator Bowl Smith just looked really small to me what about everyone else is he just to small to play RB in the big ten?
January 3rd, 2011 at 2:38 PM ^
the way he is often depoloyed. His real downfall to me is that he is not fast enough or shifty enough when actually given a hole. He is a good receiver and surprisingly good blocker, but a guy his size needs the extra gear and moves that Smith does not have -- at least post knee injury.
He often gets the ball on plays that are doomed from the beginning, and he cannot move a pile or get yards after contact, and that is why many of us wanted to see mor Hopkins.
I think RR makes some curious personnel decisions, and none more questionable that Smith.
This is not intended to be a rag on Smith. I think he can be an effective role player, and certainly I think he will get better with another offseason of rehab.
January 3rd, 2011 at 7:56 PM ^
Denard will still land on his feet regardless. He's too talented not to.
The guy you've got to worry about is Smith. If there is a coaching change, I'm not sure he has a future here.
January 3rd, 2011 at 2:50 PM ^
Too small, too slow, too easy to bring down...
All of the above.
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