Friday 14 January 2011

Michigan targets

A few updates from the prospects Michigan are still after at this point:

- If Michigan gets a WR if this class, it's most likely going to be Devin Lucien, and not Hakeem Flowers; who was a Michigan lean before the coaching change. Lucien was recruited by Hoke at SDSU, and UM will try to get him on campus for a late January visit.

I'm not saying Michigan is completely out for Flowers, but it's not looking great right now. Hopefully he'll get in contact with Brady Hoke and find out where he stands.

- Chris Bryant is the most likely to end up in Michigan's class right now; he's eager to meet Coach Hoke, and might even come up to Ann Arbor this weekend.

- Ohio TE Frank Clark has rescheduled his Michigan official visit to January 21st. In theory the coaching change could help, because Brady Hoke likes to use TE's a lot, so Clark could see the field early at Michigan. The Wolverines are probably trailing his other favorites right now, but a good visit could see us back in contention. Clark's other schools are UNC, MSU and Minnesota.

So far fellow Glenville prospect Cardale Jones has not rearranged his visit to Michigan, instead he's looking at Penn State, LSU and Ohio State. Michigan wants a QB in this class, so maybe they'll make a late push for Jones.

- Raymon Taylor is still classing himself as an Indiana commitment; this seems strange, I thought he made it pretty clear he was decommitted last month. This doesn't really change much for Michigan, he'll still visit campus sometime this month to meet Coach Hoke. I think Michigan has a pretty good chance here.

- Kris Frost STILL hasn't been accepted into Auburn's class, and several recruiting analysts don't think he ever will be. This leaves the door wide open for Brady Hoke and Michigan to snag a really good linebacker.

This obviously isn't going to be top 25 class, but if Hoke can keep the remaining commits on board and then grab 3-4 of the names above, it certainly won't be a disaster.

11 comments:

  1. I would be happy with that class, would probably be around 30 or so. Do you think Hoke will try to look at Cooper or another DT out there.
    Also Benji what do you know about Vance Bedford being the new DC.
    Thanks LOVE the blog

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  2. Thanks Brandon.
    Hoke probably realizes that he's unlikely to pick up a decent DT in this class; so he's moved Will Campbell back to defense, probably figuring he can coach Will the techniques himself. This slightly eases the pain of not landing a DT in this class. Darian Cooper won't be considering Michigan, I don't think any of the past targets will (Jernigan, Johnson etc).

    Vance Bedford is one of a few names being thrown out there for DC. However Vance turned down the Florida DC role to stay with Charlie Strong, so there is clearly a lot of loyalty there. Might be hard to get with away from Louisville.
    Other names in the mix are Teryl Austin and Greg Mattison (Raven's DC).
    Hoke's brother Jon has pretty much removed himself from the search.

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  3. Aren't Austin, Bedford and Mattison the last 3 Florida DC's? Who is their current DC, maybe we can go after him! Mattison would be great if we could get him.

    Thanks for the updates Benji. I'll be checking this site about 20 times a day for the next couple of weeks so keep it up.

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  4. What do you think about guys like Christian Heyward and Mustafa Jalil that were recruited by Hoke at SDSU, any chance we land them now that Hoke is at a big name school?

    Also, any update on Deion Barnes?

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  5. Where do you rank the need for a DT?

    Theres 5 guys on the depth chart (Martin, Campbell, Washington, Ash, Talbott) and only one is a senior. Also, guys like Van Bergen, Wilkins, Paskorz, may be able to slide over from DE.

    In comparison, for 5 OL positions, next years roster has only 3 underclassmen.

    The needs at K, QB, TE, OL are dire. Sure, another DT would be nice, but the screaming needs at these other positions make defense an afterthought, I would think.

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  6. Well if Goudis stays in the class and Forcier sorts his grades out, then that certainly helps at K and QB. Ricardo Miller was being moved to TE before RR left because he's pretty big now, so it'll be interesting to see what Hoke does with him.
    We should land four O-Lineman in this class with Fisher, Miller, Posada and Bryant.

    Haven't heard anything from Deion Barnes lately, which probably means he's dropped UM. Sorry to say.

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  7. Well, even with Forcier, you typically want more than 3 QBs. 3 TE is probably fine, but Miller doesn't seem big enough to be a pro-style TE. He could be used as a receiving tight end, motion receiver, H-back type though. Moore and Koger are also upperclassmen though, so even if you include Miller, thats one guy.

    Your point about Goudis is well taken, but there are some strong rumors that he's going elsewhere.

    I think you need a minimum of 5 OL to avoid some serious deficiencies in 2013. That or recruit some really elite recruits in the 2012 class. OL is one of the tougher positions to plug and play a recruit and the majority get redshirted - even elite guys like Long, Omameh, Lewan.

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  8. The most postion we need is TE and FS. Ricardo seem to be slot not TE. We need a real TE. So, wee most need to land Frank. The possiblity of Tate's come back is 50%. Because of this. we also need to land Cardale. Sees like, he won't go to OSU and PSU. I think we can have him. He knows Michigan need a pro-style QB.

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  9. I believe there are a few commits out there who gave verbals to other school who Michigan can still get..Like Frost, Zettel (he still loves Mich if Hoke goes after him he may change his mind) Arnett who verballed to Tennessee didnt like the fact that RR wasnt showing much interest in him..So if coach Hoke really goes after these guys we may be able to get a switch ..We need to remember just because people dont come in with a name recognition doesnt mean they wont turn into big time players ..So Rivals and ESPN may say our class wasnt top 20 or 30 but you never really know how good a recruiting class is till 3 years down the line

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  10. FWIW...Cardale didn't reschedule because his academics are NOT in order.

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  11. Arnett seems unlikely, he loves the SEC, but Justice Hayes did promise some more recruits so you never know. Zettel seems more likely given Hoke's D-Line past.

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