2014 Football recruiting commits and needs...

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
1

<p>It is never too early to talk about football recruiting. We already have 5 commits. LB Michael Ferns and DT Bryan Mone are excellent. Mason Cole is a solid OL. QB Wilton Speight gets mixed reviews, but I have a feeling he will be a good one. Our most recent commit is DT Brady Pallante. He is not yet rated, but early reports suggest that he is a good one too.</p>

<p>For those who closely follow football recruiting, what have you heard of those 5 commits? </p>

<p>We probably have 11 more scholarships left in this small class. I would project the following needs to be filled:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>With Speight on board, we will most likely not recruit another QB in this class. Not with Morris already on board.</p></li>
<li><p>We will probably take 2 Wide Receivers in this class. Drake Harris from Grand Rapids seems like a great prospect (top 5 WR). He has good size (6'4", 180 LBS) and speed, and is ours to lose. Jalen Brown (6'2", 190 LBS) would also be a great get, as would Mark Andrews (6'6", 220 LBS), although the latter will likely play TE in college as he lacks the speed, but makes up for it with strength and size.</p></li>
<li><p>As always, Michigan will probably recruit at least 1 RB. With Derek Green and Deveon Smith joining us in the Fall, it is unlikely that the RB is a priority. It is also unlikely that another Green-type RB will commit. Yet the #1 RB in the country, Leonard Fournette has indicated that Michigan is in contention. Honestly, I cannot imagine him leaving SEC country (likely an Alabama, Auburn or LSU lean), especially when he has to contend with Derrick Green at Michigan. However, the prospect of a Green-Fournette 1-2 punch is too good to ignore! Elijah Hood, Joe Mixon and Nathan Starks are also very solid prospects, and landing any of those three is a far more likely scenario than getting Fournette.</p></li>
<li><p>OL is always a priority. However, having recruited 10 four and five star OLimen in 2012 and 2013, it is highly unlikely that we will take on more than 3 in this class. Mason Cole is a very solid four star OT, so that leves us with two more. Obviously, Michigan will appeal to many top prospects, so naming them is pointless, but I really like Braden Smith, Damian Prince and Cameron Robinson. Hopefully we can land one of those three.</p></li>
<li><p>I anticipated 4 DLs in this class, and two DTs have already committed. Bryan Mone is truly excellent, and Brady Pollante is said to be quite good. I think we are done with the DT positon, although some really good DT prospects are still showing interest, such as Andrew Brown. I envision us recruiting two DEs. Da'Shawn Hand, arguably the best player in the country, has listed Michigan as one of his favorites. Malik McDowell from Detroit is another big time prospect.</p></li>
<li><p>We will likely recruit 3 LBs in this class. Michael Ferns is a solid first step. The Booker Donte and Morgan Nyles are good candidates. </p></li>
<li><p>The DB class this year will be small-ish. I expect only 2 recruits. Jabrill Peppers, arguably the best CB in the nation, has shown great interest in Michigan. Adoree' Jackson, another excellent CB, also likes Michigan.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Any thoughts by those of you following the recruiting trail?</p>

2

<p>Slightly off topic but Sam Webb mentioned today that with the injury to Bellomy, they are recruiting a quarterback for this season. Gardner and Morris are the only other quarterbacks on scholarship. Possibly looking at a JV transfer which would be rare for UMich.</p>

3

<p>Drake Harris, top 5 WR, has committed to Michigan. This is a huge get. </p>

<p>[Top</a> 5 WR Drake Harris joins Michigan’s 2014 class after decommitting from MSU | MLive.com](<a href=“http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2013/04/top_5_wr_drake_harris_joins_mi.html]Top”>Top 5 WR Drake Harris joins Michigan's 2014 class after decommitting from MSU - mlive.com)</p>

4

<p>So obviously Harris is a major get. MSU is very butthurt today. Artavis Scott looks to be the next major target at WR. He’s a teammate of Mason Cole and would perfectly complement Drake as more of a slot receiver. Peppers and Da’shawn Hand are the top two recruits in the country and Michigan is in contention for both which is huge. This will be a small class but has the potential to be one of the most talented ever.</p>

5

<p>I agree maizeandblue21. There seems to be many top prospects interested in Michigan. The problem is timing Given the size of this class (16 or so), and with 6 already committed, all prospects are going to have to commit early. I would not be surprised if we had 16 commits come October or November. </p>

<p>The WR pool looking at Michigan is substantial. Drake could be the best of his class, just like Treadwell was last year. Artavis Scott would be a great get, but so would Malachi Dupre, Jalen Brown, Marshon Lattimore, Dominique Booth and Mark Andrews, although given the latter’s size, I would not be surprised if he were recruited at the TE position. Any of those would be a great addition to our pro-style offense. </p>

<p>On Defense, I obviously really like Hand and Peppers, but I also really like Defensive Ends Andrew Brown and Malik McDowell as well as CB Adoree Jackson. </p>

<p>Given the competition for spots, I expect recruits who are taking Michigan seriously to commit quickly. Unfortunately, five star recruits usually like to take their time, so Hand and Peppers, as seriously as they may be taking Michigan, could be locked out if they do not commit sooner than later. I hope we did not offer too many weaker prospects yet.</p>

6

<p>Given Bellomy’s injury, I believe Michigan should recruit another QB this class so that there is some depth next year in case the worst case scenario happens next year: Gardner suffers a year long injury or goes pro. As a side note, I believe Bellomy has unfortunately played his last down for Michigan. He is out this year and odds are he will be stuck behind Gardner, Morris and Speight (and maybe others) for the rest of his career. </p>

<p>Now that we have Harris, there’s really only a 3-4 positions of utter need left in this class. I believe Hoke will take the best players available for the most part, including Hand and Peppers, and this class will end up around 20 after attrition, which always happens. I think we should get another RB because Toussaint is gone after this year and Rawls, Hayes, and Norfleet have not shown they can be featured backs. That leaves only Green and Smith next year.</p>

7

<p>tranandy, there are three high-profile, pro-style QBs that have show interested in Michigan: Drew Barker (from Burlington, KY), Michael O’Connor (from Bradenton, FL) and Chance Stewart (from Sturgis, MI).</p>

<p>I agree that we need another RB. I am sure we will end up with at least one. We are in the running for Fournette, the #1 RB in the country. But with Derrick Green, it is more likely that we will recruit a less highly rated RB. Perhaps Elijah Hood, Joe Mixon or Nathan Starks.</p>

8

<p>The coaches have said they’re only going to take one quarterback in this (and every) class, that doesn’t change because of an injury this year. Especially with small classes both this year and next year, that would probably be a mistake. Even in the unlikely event that Gardner goes down, we’d have three scholarship quarterbacks in Shane, Bellomy, and Wilton Speight. Hoke said it’s possible that they look for a 5th year transfer kid but that’s unlikely and would be unprecedented for Michigan. </p>

<p>And right now, with normal attrition of 3-4 scholarship guys, we’d only have room for 16-17. Recruits and coaches have said that this will be the target range for the class.</p>