Monday Recruitin' Hits Baseball Season
Note: The slew of commitments pushed this back, but I'm still taking questions via email or Twitter (use the hashtag #mgomailbag) for a recruiting mailbag that—any further recruiting developments pending—should go up tomorrow.
A4 To Your Door/No Sleepers No More
Just another totally normal Harbaugh picture. [Fuller]
Michigan hosted their "Aerial Assault" quarterback camp over the weekend. It featured such football activities as fielding ground balls and dodgeball; reportedly, the quarterbacks also threw an actual football around a little bit. Because Jim Harbaugh was involved, they kept score for the top campers, and M commit Brandon Peters came out on top, per TMI's Brice Marich:
The headliner of the camp was Avon, Indiana junior quarterback and Wolverine commit in Brandon Peters. The 6-4, 209-pound gun slinger showed off his strong arm and his footwork in several drills. He was in the top overall group and performed very well even in dodgeball. He clearly soaked in tutelage from signal callers like Jay Cutler and ultimately earned the crown as the camp’s top performer.
2017 four-star NY QB Jack Coan, the only rising junior offeree in attendance, found the camp as strange and informative as one would expect, per 247's Steve Lorenz ($):
"The camp itself was one of the most unique experiences I've ever had since I started playing football," Coan said. "I didn't go into the camp expecting to play baseball or dodgeball or anything like that, but it worked and it was one of the most rewarding experiences I've had from a camp standpoint. I learned a lot from a lot of great current and former players and coaches. It was really great to work with someone like Jay Cutler and a coach like Coach Harbaugh who has seen the position from every different angle."
Coan also took a campus tour while in Ann Arbor. Michigan seems to be in pretty good shape for him.
2018 Paramus (NJ) Catholic QB Allan Walters also worked with the top group. He showed enough to earn an offer, and he was still having a hard time expressing his excitement when 247's Steve Wiltfong caught up with him:
"I'm so excited I can't express it," Walters said. "I don't know a better offer for a quarterback. Harbaugh and Michigan that's unbelievable. I'm in shock and so excited."
Walters also has early offers from Rutgers and Temple. The ever-strengthening connection between Michigan and Paramus Catholic should help here.
[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]
Needs More '80s Movie Montage Music
Diehard Sport dug up this video of recent QB commit Vicious Vic Viramontes working out. Not including this in his Hello post was an unforgivable oversight, and for that I apologize.
In other commit news, ESPN updated their top 300 list today. Movement for Michigan commits:
- OT Ben Bredeson dropped three spots from #53 to #56 overall
- QB Brandon Peters moved up 29 spots from #181 to #152
- OG Michael Onwenu debuted on the list at #255
- RB Matt Falcon also made his first appearance, coming in at #258
Onwenu and Peters have both seen their rankings rise on multiple sites due to strong spring camp performances.
New Offers
While Michigan is one or two prospects away from being set for 2016 offensive line recruiting, that hasn't stopped them from sending out new offers. The latest went to four-star SD OT Matt Farniok, who tweeted the news himself. He boasts an impressive offer list; Michigan will have to make a strong effort to land him.
Michigan offered 2017 LA CB Tre Swilling, per The Wolverine's Brandon Brown. Swilling has an early LSU offer that could be tough to beat.
I've saved the best for last. (Or did, until Brian stole my 'crootin thunder in today's UV.)
#Michigan offered Maryland CB Sir Patrick Scott http://t.co/5Plee7YtyV pic.twitter.com/OYoC4cJm8O
— ScoutBrianDohn (@BrianDohnScout) June 22, 2015
Let your helmet be your guide, Sir.
Visit Updates
Top-100 2017 TX TE Brock Wright visited campus last weekend, and he told 247's Tom Loy he had a very positive visit experience ($):
"My parents and I really enjoyed our time with Coach Harbaugh," he said. "It was a wonderful visit from that standpoint. I have a feeling he is going to do some amazing things with their program in the coming years. One other thing that really stood out was our lunch with (redshirt freshman) Chase Winovich. We had a great time with him and you can really tell how enthusiastic he is about playing at Michigan and under Coach Harbaugh."
Wright's recruitment could come down to a Michigan-Notre Dame battle; he also stopped by South Ben over the weekend.
Four-star WR Steven Smothers also stopped by Ann Arbor. He'd only go so far as to tell TMI's Josh Newkirk that Michigan is in his top ten ($). As visit reactions go, that's pretty tepid. He's expected to wind up elsewhere.
Four-star CA S CJ Pollard wants to take unofficials to Michigan, Notre Dame, and Oregon before making his decision at The Opening next month, per Rivals' Adam Gorney ($). USC is the prohibitive favorite heading into these visits.
Four-star TX DT Jordan Elliott, a Houston commit, told Sam Webb that he plans to take an official visit to Michigan ($). Intriguingly, Elliott—listed at 6'4", 300 lbs.—also said he prefers playing defensive end to defensive tackle; that could make him a better fit in Michigan's defense than most. Several other top programs are also trying to pry Elliott away from Houston.
Four-star TX CB Jared Mayden told Webb and Kyle Bogenschutz that he also plans to take an official visit to Ann Arbor ($).
Four-star GA TE Isaac Nauta, a Florida State commit who's long had Michigan interest, will take official visits that include one to Ann Arbor, per Scout's Corey Bender.
Etc.
A reminder: Khalid Kareem will announce his decision on Wednesday. Michigan is in good shape here.
Michigan made the top ten for four-star TX WDE Levi Onwuzurike.
Happy trails to four-star WI OT Cole Van Lanen and three-star CT LB Koby Quansah, who committed to Wisconsin and Duke, respectively.
and playing dodgeball equate to coaching a QB?
How did you train the Heisman and Pro Bowl candidates that you have coached?
That's some dedicated trolling to be first on a crootin post. Almost like he has nothing better to do with his pathetic life.
Not that I do either, really, but at least I practice that pathos on MGoBlog instead of making a user account called Meh-er or Dan-yawn-io and going on some rival's blog. That's just a bridge too far.
Sir Patrick Scott's uni number color does not match his helmet wing color.
His HS must be a Addidas school.
A kid named "Sir" Patrick Scott is SOOOO damn lucky that he is really good at football. Without such a skill, I'd imagine there would be a locker on the 4th floor by the janitor's room with "Sir" permanently labelled (and a semi-permanent living situation for the child) as "Sir", rather than a locker in the locker room.
Not a "bandit." That was a Rich Rodriguez-style box safety.
He's being recruited as a defensive end and/or Buck linebacker, which is the rush linebacker position currently manned by Ojemudia, Jenkins-Stone, Marshall, etc.
I thought Kareem was more of a jumbo DE/DT type than a DE/LB. He's listed at 6'4" 260. Looks more like a 3-4 DE to me.
I think that height and weight might be a bit exaggerated unless he's hit a growth spurt.
Regardless, I'm just telling you what the coaches have said to him about where they project him. Personally, I don't see him as an outside linebacker, either.
I thought the Kellys were the ones being recruited as Buck/LBs. KK seems more like a true DE in the system they plan to play.
Michigan is recruiting multiple players for the position.
Harbaugh is listed at 6'3" - and known to wear cleats - according to my google, so based on the picture below I would guess Kareem is at least 6'4"
The SDE 5T position would be optimal for Kareem, IMO. We'll see though.
Kareem has one of the most impressive offer lists I've ever seen
Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, Vanderbilt... Michigan! I mean, the combination of academic and football tradition on this list is tough to beat.
| School | Interest | Offer | Recruited By | Visit Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Alabama |
Warm | - | |||
 Michigan |
Warm | - | |||
 South Carolina |
Warm | - | |||
 Arkansas |
Cool |
|
- | ||
 Harvard |
Cool |
|
- | ||
 Illinois |
Cool |
|
- | ||
 Indiana |
Cool |
|
- | ||
 Michigan State |
Cool |
|
- | ||
 Minnesota |
Cool | - | |||
 Mississippi State |
Cool |
|
- | ||
 Missouri |
Cool |
|
- | ||
 Nebraska |
Cool | - | |||
 Northwestern |
Cool | - | |||
 Notre Dame |
Cool | - | |||
 Ohio State |
Cool | - | |||
 Princeton |
Cool |
|
- | ||
 Rutgers |
Cool |
|
- | ||
 Stanford |
Cool |
|
- | ||
 Tennessee |
Cool | - | |||
 Yale |
Cool |
|
- | ||
 Boston College |
None |
|
- | ||
 Bowling Green |
None |
|
- | ||
 California |
None |
|
- | ||
 Cincinnati |
None |
|
- | ||
 Duke |
None |
|
- | ||
 Iowa |
None |
|
- | ||
 Louisville |
None |
|
- | ||
 Maryland |
None |
|
- | ||
 Miami |
None |
|
- | ||
 North Carolina |
None |
|
- | ||
 Oregon |
None |
|
- | ||
 Penn State |
None | - | |||
 Pittsburgh |
None |
|
- | ||
 Purdue |
None |
|
- | ||
 Vanderbilt |
None |
|
- | ||
 Wake Forest |
None |
|
- | ||
 Wisconsin |
None | - |
Not that it's a big deal, but since April (the last ESPN update I know of), Brandon Peters dropped 10 spots and Matt Falcon dropped 15 spots in those ESPN rankings. So those rankings aren't quite as rosy as they might initially look.
I noticed on the Twitter that TomVH posted about Onwenu moving into the top 300 and a couple of folks responded, in essence, by goofing on ESPN's rankings. Tom's reply (~ "we'll re-evaluate after The Opening") seemed to indicate he knows that his employer isn't exactly well-respected when it comes to such things.
ESPN is very lazy with its recruiting. They're always playing from behind. They are the least informed, and they are the last to evaluate players.
So I don't trust them at all, but they are the "worldwide leader" so whatever they say is going to carry some weight.
Which is to say, it's what the casual Dunning-Kruger idiot thinks is the resource experts use to get informed, and markets itself to just that demographic. So it does have weight, but only in terms of reach.
If dodgeball with a bunch of QBs isn't an awesome, outside the box way to get kids to remember your camp, I don't know what it is. That's a great way to get the competition flowing
i would love to see video of harbaugh playing dodgeball with a bunch of 17-year-olds. the look on his face would, i imagine, inspire pure terror in the hearts of his recruits.
Wonder if he threw any wrenches at them. If you can duck a wrench you can duck a ball.
Perfect name for a character in a Western. "The bandit dropped his hand toward his six-gun, but sheriff South Ben warned him "Keep reaching-and you die here on this street." The robber raised his hands, knowing he had no chance against Ben. If sheriff Weis was still on the job, things would have been different...". Good recruiting news, thanks Ace.
Miss Shewalka?
And the taco truck down the road - El Cart.
Yeah AB, I was going to ask who that South Ben character was too, and wondered if how good his brothers North, East and West are in case he goes in another direction or his recruiting goes south... but you posted right after Jeepin Ben and it seems like it should've Ben up to him to comment on all this..
Speaking of brothers & since we also have the Wangler, Glasgow & Bredeson brothers I wonder if that recruit Smothers has a brother? If so I hope he's not just any old Tom, Dick or <strike>Harry</strike>
Hmm, obviously I don't know how to do the strikethrough. The sticky posts are gone too.
Is Fun. The game of dodgeball brings in another quarterback prospect. Fantastic.
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What leads to think that he wants to get recruited or he is of the right age?
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That's a shame, oxblue. Thanks for sharing your experience. I hope the kids you were with still got to have some fun.
First of all, Tim Drevno is the offensive coordinator.
Secondly, I have a pretty strong feeling that Jedd Fisch will spend more time preparing for each Saturday's game than for a mid-June camp.
No offense to you or your son, but this is not really an "equal opportunity" event for football players of all shapes, sizes, and skill levels. The coaches are holding these camps mainly for the upper echelon players. It's a not a meet-and-greet for fans, but a place for the coaches to size up players, make connections, and coach them up, potentially for the long-term.
If your son is not a high-level prospect, he shouldn't be spending this kind of money on big-school camps. Again, I mean no offense to you. But the average player is going to have a more involved experience at a D-II or D-III school.
While everything you said is true, I would prefer that Michigan only offer a top-level experience, even if that means limiting the size of the camp.
That said, this camp is not a reflection of Fisch (or Drevno's) play-calling or organizational skills, as I seriously doubt either had much of a hand in the logistics and neither was calling plays. Harbaugh obviously put his stamp on the day and focused on the top talent. I can't argue with that approach, but, like I said, it would be nice if they would limit the size.
It would be nice, but they didn't/don't limit the size of these things. There were 300 prospects there. Even with 10 NFL guys there, you're talking about a 30:1 ratio.
I'm not commenting on what the coaches should or shouldn't be doing with who they let into their camps. All I'm saying is that these big schools do these things, so people shouldn't be caught unaware.
"I'm well aware of who the offensive coordinator is."
Then you should be well aware that Jedd Fisch won't be calling the plays on Saturdays.
You seem really bitter about the whole experience, and I was trying to advise you that these are the things that happen at these big camps. But hey, if you want to have an argument about Drevno/Fisch and ignore the advice part, then...well...like I said, the bitterness is apparent. I just hope you don't waste hundreds of dollars next year at another big-time camp when you might be able to go to Hillsdale or GVSU instead.
Sad to hear that, goes against Harbaugh's mantra of loving to teach the game of football and the idea they work to optimize practice time. Hope this was just a case of the first time running a QB camp like this and being disorganized with so many guest QBs.
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Meh, even as the #1 guard, he's #63 overall on 247 Sports. Guards are not particularly highly thought of, and the reason Onwenu is ranked there is because he doesn't have the position flexibility to play tackle. A lot of failed tackles play guard.
I have questions about Onwenu, so it doesn't surprise me at all that he's almost 200 spots lower on ESPN than 247 Sports. But there are always going to be players who are thought of highly on one site and not on another. I think Ondre Pipkins was a 5-star on one site and a 3-star on another (or got a late bump from 3-star status to 4-star status). Three-plus years later, it seems that 3-star status was more warranted. When you're evaluating 2,000 players or more, the recruiting sites can't always be in lock-step.
I'm not sure Pipkins is a fair example, he had a couple serious injuries so we never really had - or will have - the chance to see what his potential was.
I wasn't much of a fan of what I saw from him before he got hurt. He just wasn't much of a playmaker. I do not believe he was a 5-star talent.
Viramontes' video is crazy. He is just an athlete. He could play many different spots at Michigan.
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