Friday Recruitin' Accelerates Timetable
Today's recruiting roundup updates the status of Laquon Treadwell and Ty Isaac, discusses a couple upcoming visits, and more.
Treadwell Not Visiting This Weekend, Moves Up Timetable
Any disappointment Michigan fans felt when IL WR Laquon Treadwell changed his plans to visit this weekend should be dispelled with the news that he's "anxious to make a decision" according to an interview with Sam Webb ($, info in header). Treadwell had previously planned on taking all five official visits and making a commitment after his football season, but now there's no concrete timeline and "a decision is going to come faster now." Given Treadwell's repeated visits to Ann Arbor (he's still planning on taking another one soon), frequent contact with current commits, and Michigan's status as his presumed leader, this is a great sign, especially since Treadwell says that the coaches are holding the last open receiver spot for him—this isn't a chance spurred by pressure to commit from Michigan's end.
Webb also caught up with IL RB Ty Isaac's mom after the family took a trip to USC last weekend, and while Ty hasn't stated this outright, his mother thinks he's down to Michigan and USC ($). Insider chatter surrounding Isaac makes it sound like this could be an extremely close battle. Commence unwarranted freakout despite #1 class.
MA DT Maurice Hurst Jr. is still planning to visit Michigan and Michigan State soon, but his previous plans to make a commitment in the near future may be out the window due to the number of schools showing interest ($, info in header). Hurst isn't the only four-star DT making plans to see Ann Arbor, as IL DT Josh Augusta plans to either take an unofficial this summer or an official in the fall ($, info in header).
Quickly: Kyle Bosch is set to enroll early ($), which is always good news. Coach Dan Ferrigno stopped in to see CA WR Sebastian LaRue last weekend ($, info in header). MI DT Kenton Gibbs committed to Illinois. Gibbs is a Cass Tech product who many presumed would eventually garner an offer, but thus far one hasn't materialized. VA DE Wyatt Teller named a top two of Virginia and Virginia Tech ($), with Michigan on the outside looking in.
Michigan Offers Five-Star Who Will Never Come But It's Fun to Dream, Right?
At first glance, seeing Michigan offer a 2014 five-star prospect and immediately shooting into his top three would be cause for celebration. Unfortunately, said five-star is AL ATH Bo Scarbrough, who happens to hail from Tuscaloosa, home of the Crimson Tide. Yes, Alabama is also in his top three ($). If Michigan can pull Scarbrough, being recruited as a receiver, from the heart of 'Bama country, I'll be pleasantly shocked.
Sam Webb's latest DetNews offering profiles two-sport MI ATH Drake Harris, who at 6'3", 175 pounds with exceptional athleticism could play wide receiver or shooting guard (or both) at the high-major level. Harris vehemently denies the rumors that Michigan State is an early leader, saying that all interested schools—including Michigan, which has extended a football offer—are on even ground at this point. Scout football analyst Allen Trieu and basketball analyst Brian Snow both agree that his ceiling is higher in football. Here's Trieu's evaluation on Harris on the gridiron:
"Drake has a very high ceiling in football," said Allen Trieu, Scout.com midwest regional football recruiting manager. "He has the height and the frame to go along great athleticism and ball skills. Plus, when I saw him in person he was faster than I expected him to be. He's certainly a high level BCS prospect. His athleticism serves him well in both sports, but if you look at it from the perspective of supply and demand, there are more 6-3 guards out there than 6-3 wide receivers who can jump out of the gym.
Harris compares his style of play to Larry Fitzgerald, and yes I would like some of that. We'll see if this becomes a battle between the two in-state programs.
Quickly: DC CB Jalen Tabor has an early top three($) of Alabama, Tennessee, and Maryland. OH WR Thaddeus Snodgrass plans to camp at Michigan this summer ($). Look, it's Brian's favorite recruit. If you haven't had enough of me yet, I appeared on the Michigan Man Podcast to talk 2013 and 2014 recruiting.
Thaddeus Snodgrass!!! 2014 name of the year.
But our receivers come in pairs of cool names. Who's the other one gonna be?
The whole "unwarranted freakout" chatter amongst supposed recruiting reporters is a bit hypocritical if you ask me.
You are the ones who drive the hype for players, you chat on twitter about players, dissecting how great the rankings are or how great of a "sleeper" Michigan got. And then, if an Isaac doesn't choose Michigan and fans show dissapointment by showing their displeasure about missing out on UM's top RB target the last two years, you guys say "fans need to relax about this..."
In my mind, you can't be the one selling candy and then preach about responsibility and health when the kid doesn't get to eat it. Recruiting reporters like to think that they are the "rational" ones who can give some perspective. But that's a farce if you ask me. The recruiting business is about hype and hope about landing those players. So if Michigan loses out on their potential #1 target (or, at the least, top 3), then you should say "Michigan fans are dissapointed and that's ok, since i've been hyping him to you for the last 12 months."
I'm not giving my hopes up at all for Isaac. But the predictable response amongst recruiting insiders if it goes poorly is a bit hypocritical.
I agree to some extent, but I don't think it's inconsistent to believe/say that:
(1) Player X would be great at Michigan, so we should pay attention to his recruitment.
(2) In general, higher-rated recruits are better players.
(3) Michigan will be fine if Player X doesn't come, so no need to freak out.
I think a lot of people overreact to individual players committing elsewhere because they don't think carefully enough about the likelihood that we'll fill that place in the class with another very good player. Plus, it's a good sign that we're in the final group of some elite guys who don't choose Michigan, because if the coaches only pursued Michigan locks, our recruiting classes would be much weaker than they are.
I don't dispute what you're saying.
As we all know, recruiting is a guessing game, otherwise luke kuechly wouldn't have gone to BC most likely.
My frustertation is directed at the source of those who claim that "Michigan fans are overeacting." The truth is, a recruitniks' job is for fans to "overreact" to recruiting. That's their job. So when they then tell fans to "settle down" when we miss out on a player, they are trying to appear above the very chaos that they themselves created. And it happens all the time.
That's fair. The way that the message is conveyed is probably important. "We'll be okay with or without him" comes off better than "Ugh, you guys freak out and can't handle yourselves with this."
writing about recruiting, passing along information from twitter and other sources, judging the potential worth (or ratings) of future players and encouraging fan freakouts? How does that work again? It is up to the reader to react to information, speculation, and writing about these guys. Your comparison is silly, as is your implication that Ace's writing is encouraging irrational fan behavior. Dumb post.
People are freaking about someone freaking out over being told not to freak-out. Head asplode!
I am dissapointed and frustertated at your inability to understand the point of Ace's whimsical chiding of M fans.
Seriously. At first I thought the post was a joke, then I kept reading it, and saw other posts replying in agreement.
It was a joke, people. Ace doesn't really want you to freak out. And yes, ryebreadperson, if we miss out on Ty Isaac, it's possible our class drops from #1 to #3. Freak out about that. But don't actually freak out, because that's still awesome.
nice word choice: frustertated
Josh Augusta is very impressive on film. It's his highlights so they are going to look good, but he shows good technique using his hands and disengaging from blocks. I'm not sure if he is more of a 3 tech DT or a 5 tech SDE.
Didn't he already visit once? Or do I need to put down the crack pipe?
Those two sentences are not necessarily mutually inclusive.
Exclusive
Mutually inclusive: Any two events in which one cannot happen without the other.
I said they were NOT necessarily inclusive, so could be independent. I stick by my original statement.
Bygones.
I just noticed that 247 lists Alquadin Muhammad (#3 SDE, #38 overall) as "warm" only to Michigan and Rutgers. Does anyone know if that's right? I hardly hear anything about him.
247 is a little higher on Muhammad than the other services, but everyone likes him and his offer list is stellar.
If theres no/few media sources reporting a player's interests directly, 247 usually just takes a guess at it. So this information should be encouraging, but by no means relaible.
I grew up in L.A., and I have to say that if I were a great high school RB, the lure of going to USC and Tailback U would be very strong. I wouldn't blame Ty at all if he goes there, but am hoping like hell he goes Blue.
Ugh, as someone who lives in LA currently, I can't stand USC so much. Everything about that school and program is corrupt. Maybe they're tailback U, but one of their tailback Heisman winners had his taken away and another one maybe murdered his wife and is now in prison for something else. Their coach is a toolbag, and the level of douche on and around that campus is off the charts.
I recently heard USC referred to as "The last bastion of the incompetent rich." Nail on the head.
I feel you. I live in Shanghai, basically all the sports fans here are either Michigan or Ohio, and they love to rub it in when they beat us. I had a nice laugh at their expense last year though. Theyre all douches about it too. The only talk about ohio state (with a little bit of cleveland mixed in too, i was so happy when LeBron left). Anyways, Ohio fans are douches in Shanghai, which shouldn't come as a surprise.
I think Michigan has a pretty good list of running backs too, as far as I can remember. They might not have all become great in the NFL, but they excel at Michigan.
is a pretty big deal. He's putting himself in a position to see the field immediately for the 2013 season. He'll have 8 full months of strength and conditioning with the team before the season rolls around. That's huge.... its almost like a redshirt
Exactly. He's almost a Kyle Kalis type who might not need a redshirt to begin with, but getting on campus in January likely means he won't need to redshirt his first year. And if Lewan goes pro after this year, Bosch being available in 2013 might be big, depending on how Lewan's vacancy is handled.
I could see a 2013 line looking like this:
Schofield - Kalis - Miller - Bryant - Bosch
Maybe with Bosch and Kalis switched, or possibly Bosch at Bryant's spot and Magnuson or Braden at RT. Either way, our depth will be much better.
Even with him enrolling early, I really hope we aren't desperate enough to start a true freshman.
That doesn't necessarily make us desperate. Many teams that bring in top-50 OL have them play or start as true frosh, especially if they early enroll.
But the reality is, outside of Schofield and Bryant, he'd only be one year younger than the other OLs on the roster, and only two younger than Bryant (I'm not including Miller since I don't think Bosch will be a C).
It seems silly to say starting a stud true frosh makes us desperate when our other option is start 2-3 RS frosh instead.
I understand that the best guy should play, but a true freshman, in a perfect world, should not be your best option to start on the OLine. But with our lack of quality O Line recruits prior to this past year, I guess I shouldn't be to surprised to see true frosh on the line.
Don't be surprised if it happens earlier than Bosch. I'd bet a dollar Kalis is starting by Big Ten play this fall.
Make it a $1.20 (to cover paypal fees) and you've got a deal!
E-shake on it.
I don't disagree with you, but my post wasn't meant to be "I think Lewan is gone, so..." as much as "In the event Lewan leaves early, we can..." If Lewan stays for his senior year, then Bosch enrolling early is less important. However, that possibility exists, so it's nice to have a contingency plan.
I just have to think Michigan wins that battle. USC is a great school as well, but looking exclusively at the two different coaching staffs, I feel we bring a better product to the table. Playing in SoCal wouldn't suck, though. (@Wolverine1987). We've got a pretty good tradition at tailback too! With a more pro-style offense, the tailback will be relied on more heavily after Denard graduates (I almost couldn't bring myself to type those last two words).
Great news about Treadwell, also.
@ Dreisbach1817... Good points... Some people follow recruiting, some people don't. Personally, I find it extremely exciting to follow Michigan recruiting now... My interest waned over the past few years, but is back in full force. I think it just fills in the months before 'real' football starts...
Ace, you'll be shocked, like, LEMON BET shocked?
I just miss recruiting prognostication without citrus-consuming consequences...
While elite players matter, we saw last season that great coaching can mold good players into a pretty great team. I hope all these guys we really want go blue, but with the OL we have picked up the last two years I have little doubt we will have a RB who puts up big yards and WRs who have the time to get open in the coming years.
If Issac lived in California or another western state I would feel less confident about this. He seems like a more humble guy who doesn't like the spotlight. I don't see him leaving the midwest.
...the numbers on the helmets. Never have, never will.
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