Friday Recruiting Is Set To Spring
Solomon has decided, has not announced
Chad Simmons talks to GA DT Aubrey Solomon:
"I feel like I have found out where I am going," Solomon said. "It came to me on Wednesday. I just prayed about it the night before and when I woke up, the answer came to me."
Football and graduation rate are the two things Solomon cited in his decision, and things are holding steady with the expectation it will be Michigan. The Georgia 24/7 guys still think it is Michigan:
Just talking to a few sources in the last 48 hours, I continue to feel like Aubrey Solomon is going to Michigan. Just too much smoke there. Alabama I feel like is 2nd from talking to most down South.
Brandon Brown reports that a source "very close" with the Leesville program says he is "all blue"; Lorenz says confidence remains high on Michigan's end.
Martin visiting this weekend
Michigan's renewed fervor in its pursuit of IA WR Oliver Martin appears to be paying off:
Source: #Michigan getting an official visit from 4-star WR Oliver Martin this weekend. Huge.
— Brandon Justice (@LandOfJustice) January 26, 2017
That report was confirmed by Allen Trieu and a local reporter, who noted that last week's supposed official to OSU basically never existed:
This Oliver Martin visit, unlike to OSU, seems like it's really happening. Michigan source: They're already working on "flights, hotel, etc"
— Matthew Bain (@MatthewBain_) January 26, 2017
Martin returning to Michigan, a school he's already been to, instead of heading to one of his other suitors, speaks volumes about his recruitment. We've flipped our crystal ball back to Michigan in response.
Gay still somewhat up in the air
Sam caught up with MS LB Willie Gay's mother and talked about it on WTKA this morning. A reader paraphrases:
Long story short, it sounds like Willie Gay's favorite school is LSU at the moment. However, to say Mom would be disappointed in that choice is a bit of an understatement. The way Sam puts it makes it sound like basically LSU is not an option in HER opinion. Willie could still choose LSU obviously, but if her opinion has even a small bearing on his decision, then LSU better do something to sway her opinion.
Sam doesn't think Michigan is the favorite here; the most realistic scenario that sees Gay end up in AA is mom nixing LSU and Gay liking Michigan more than Mississippi State.
Sam has a couple of pieces on Scout with more detail:
My feel for this is Mississippi State is Mom's first choice followed by Michigan. I think Willie is leaning to LSU and that she is really against it. I don't know who Willie likes more between Mississippi State and Michigan.
There's a window that Michigan can hit here but it looks like a small one. Lorenz reports that Gay will be a "tough pull" at this point.
Weird guy watch
MA S Ifeatu Melifonwu did make it to campus per Sam, and the odds that he'll get his offer are "really good"; a flip is naturally anticipated.
Other than that, all the various weird names have faded. Michigan look set to swing on their top targets and move on with a 27-29 man class unless they roll a critical hit. Lorenz did mention that Michigan is poking around OH P Brad Robbins, a Nevada commit. Robbins is "strongly considering" a visit the weekend after Signing Day; at that point Michigan will know if they have a scholarship spot or not. Survey says: very probably.
Guys like Dennis Norfleet do come out of the woodwork late. If there's a gentleman like that lurking about he's probably a low-to-mid three star instate kid like MI S Allen Stritzinger, who is also committed to Syracuse.
I may have to redefine Kaiju
2018 FL by way of Australia OL Daniel Faalele is turning heads at IMG because he is an absurd person.
He stands 6-foot-9, weighs 394 pounds and possesses a rare combination of power and speed. He is of Tongan and Samoan ethnicity and was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia. He's 17 years old and wears size 18 shoes.
You may remember Michigan heading out to Australia last year for a satellite camp at which Faalele was the main attraction; Michigan offered a few months ago. That followed a half-dozen teams who did so despite the fact that Faalele has never taken a snap in anger. He's scheduled to do so this fall for IMG, and you should prepare yourself for a torrent of hype:
Wright recalls one memorable play when Faalele was responsible for trapping 6-foot-6, 260-pound defensive end Josh Kaindoh, a five-star recruit bound for Florida State, at the line of scrimmage. Faalele delivered a hit that sent Kaindoh airborne, and although Faalele sheepishly denied trying to do it intentionally, Wright isn't so sure.
"I stopped and thought, 'Did that really happen?' " Wright said. "Then I got in the huddle and said, 'Daniel, did you aim to do that, or did you just run into him?' Daniel said, 'Coach, what was I supposed to do?' I said, 'You were supposed to hit him.' He goes, 'That's what I did!' "
Michigan's obviously got an in here. Fingers crossed, because I need to see this kid next to Xavier Simpson.
Etc.
GA WR Nico Collins will take an official to Georgia this weekend; things continue to trend away in that recruitment. If Michigan does lock down Martin it's a wash.
Both GA RB Kurt Taylor and NM RB O'Maury Samuels reaffirmed commitments to Michigan. Taylor had said he would visit MSU; Samuels was still considering Arizona. With those two shutting their recruitments down, all of Michigan's commits are solid heading into the final visit weekend.
This isn't a surprise at this point but Sam says Michigan's pursuit of UT DT Jay Tufele is likely fruitless, with USC surging late and Utah though to be in front of the two Big Ten schools.
Michigan picked up MI LB/FB Tyler Plocki as a PWO. Michigan is bringing in a pile of guys this weekend as they continue to focus on their walk-on program. May the Kovacs be with them.
If you'd like to dwell, CA RB Najee Harris explains how close he was to flipping to Michigan.
Michigan offers 2018 OH LB Dallas Gant, cousin of former Wolverine Allen. They'll get a visit, etc.
Matt Wenzel profiles MI WR enrollee Donovan Peoples-Jones.
January 27th, 2017 at 12:51 PM ^
Thanks Seth.
January 27th, 2017 at 12:56 PM ^
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January 30th, 2017 at 1:18 AM ^
January 27th, 2017 at 1:02 PM ^
I never get any answers when I pray. I think I'm doing it wrong.
January 27th, 2017 at 1:09 PM ^
I'm not particularly religious, but I fervently believe prayers get answered.
Sometimes the answer is "yes". Sometimes the answer is "no". Sometimes the answer is "check back later".
January 27th, 2017 at 1:27 PM ^
January 27th, 2017 at 4:50 PM ^
January 27th, 2017 at 8:22 PM ^
January 28th, 2017 at 1:07 AM ^
January 27th, 2017 at 1:40 PM ^
So, you are praying to a magic 8 ball?
January 27th, 2017 at 4:52 PM ^
January 28th, 2017 at 8:48 AM ^
January 28th, 2017 at 1:20 AM ^
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January 27th, 2017 at 2:14 PM ^
the no politics/no religion thing is out the window now?
Interesting.
January 27th, 2017 at 2:29 PM ^
I took Mabel Pines's comment as tongue-in-cheek, and meant to respond in kind. As I wrote it, I thought it was pretty plain that it was not meant as a "religious" comment.
Maybe I should have been clearer, but the flow of a gag matters, man. It MATTERS!!
January 29th, 2017 at 6:43 AM ^
January 27th, 2017 at 1:19 PM ^
God wants you to improve your 40 time first
January 27th, 2017 at 1:22 PM ^
Ask young Pope Lenny to show you how!
January 27th, 2017 at 1:36 PM ^
Wheelchair-Bound 12-Year-Old's Prayers Finally Answered
"No," say God,
January 27th, 2017 at 2:06 PM ^
I'd find a way to double-like that post! Some people seem to just have a direct connection to the big guy upstairs. Apparently, I'm not "some people".
January 27th, 2017 at 12:57 PM ^
Tyler Plocki sounds like a fullback (or H-back) to me.
If Brad can punt like Monte Robbins he's a definite take. Any relation?
January 27th, 2017 at 1:20 PM ^
coach of our women's gymnastics team?
January 27th, 2017 at 1:24 PM ^
According to her bio she has a son named Tyler and they live in Saline, so I would say yes.
http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/w-gym/mtt/bev_plocki_728507.html
January 27th, 2017 at 2:09 PM ^
January 27th, 2017 at 5:26 PM ^
January 27th, 2017 at 2:07 PM ^
Blocky Plocki?
January 27th, 2017 at 11:39 PM ^
Do want. Not sure Nordin can handle all the kicking duties. We saw how that worked out for Kenny Allen, the first half of the season. And Robbins seems to be a better punter, judging by compartative rankings.
http://www.kornbluekicking.com/bradley-robbins/
Surprised to see that most of the kickers/punters are still undecided this late in the process. Undecided
January 27th, 2017 at 12:58 PM ^
From that Najee interview it sounds like the condition of the weight room and the whole "guys look out of shape" negative recruiting spiel that was floating around really hit home. Hopefully the WR renovations Manuel discussed last year will be completed in the next year or two to keep that from happening in the future.
January 27th, 2017 at 1:01 PM ^
I don't know what Michigan's weight room looks like compared to Alabama, but I guess the athlete is higher at Michigan. Can't argue with these results. I feel like if Harris was a 2018 kid, seeing 10+ Michigan players get drafted this upcoming year it would have helped.
January 27th, 2017 at 1:10 PM ^
The thing that really struck me from that article is the relationship he developed with Tua. It sounds like that was the real deciding factor. He would have been told about any pending weight room renovations. (Or was that wide receiver renovations?)
January 28th, 2017 at 7:12 PM ^
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January 27th, 2017 at 2:30 PM ^
January 28th, 2017 at 2:14 AM ^
you can google both of the weight rooms. Night and day between the two. Michigan really needs a new facility.
January 27th, 2017 at 1:07 PM ^
Who was spouting these rumors that Michigan players were out of shape? People will buy anything I guess.
January 27th, 2017 at 1:22 PM ^
That's my guess.
January 27th, 2017 at 1:02 PM ^
Hard to call Martin and Nico a wash. Nico is a big miss. A guy Michigan clearly wanted bad and had a huge lead for/visited 4-5 times.
January 27th, 2017 at 1:05 PM ^
You're thinking about it incorrectly. Martin + Black and Nico is a wash. It would have been a big miss if the Black revelation hadn't occurred.
January 27th, 2017 at 1:21 PM ^
But...Hawkins was the reason they cooled on Martin. Michigan thought they had DJP, Nico, Black, and Hawkins. They wanted 4 based on room. Now they have room, they want 5. It's clear they wanted several big wrs in this class.
Martin is not playing the X anytime soon. Nico has a shot to start as freshman. Maybe Black can play the X, but I don't think he can play it was a freshman.
I think Nico has a better chance at being drafted as a WR then a 4* bust.
It's big miss simply based on time and effort they spent on this kid. The kid freaking came up from AL like 4 times. Michigan wants him bad, it's not a we are playing with house money (DJP, Black, martin, hawkins).
January 27th, 2017 at 1:11 PM ^
I'd rather have Martin honestly. They're both premier talents but with all the outside guys we have, getting a beast in the slot is huge, especially if we're going to start utilizing more of a spread offense as Harbaugh said.
January 27th, 2017 at 1:20 PM ^
This. If we had a ton of inside guys already and lacked outside guys, then missing on Collins would be magnified. But there is such a bigger need for Oliver.
And honestly, all things being equal - i simply like Oliver Martin better.
January 27th, 2017 at 1:36 PM ^
We have plenty of slots: Perry, McDoom and Johnson. With Chesson and Darboh graduating we have just Crawford as a proven outside WR. That's why the recruiting focus was on 3 outside WRs: Collins, Black and DPJ. They only looked at Martin when they thought they might take a 4th receiver.
Then Hawkins entered the picture and they started to think of him as the 4th receiver and cooled on Martin.
January 27th, 2017 at 1:44 PM ^
You see Crawford as an outside guy? I thought he played the inside pretty well in the bowl game. Figured they just keep him there if Perry is done.
He probably could play several wr spots...
What I don't know is what the plan is with McDoom. Kick returns probably, but hopefully more than jet sweeps. I guess maybe they could go Crawford outside, McDoom inside, and Freshman outside. Or sub/switch Crawford and McDoom on the inside.
January 27th, 2017 at 2:15 PM ^
January 27th, 2017 at 4:57 PM ^
Ideally in the slot, but I could him see him outside too. At this point, it's too hard to tell where he'll be most needed. He saw the field more than most true freshman WRs have here over the years. Only a handful have gotten many targets, so I don't consider his role last season to be indicative of what to expect in the future.
I fully expect Crawford to be the #1 outside WR to start the season. It will be interesting to see where the freshmen fall on the depth chart. We've never had that kind of talent coming in with so little experience already on the roster.
January 27th, 2017 at 6:24 PM ^
Martin just seems grittier though, he's a real hard worker, and has high football IQ. I'm not so sure Nico has these qualities.
January 27th, 2017 at 9:10 PM ^
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