It is never too early to start talking about next year's football recruits!

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
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<p>Basketball season is going ok, though Hockey is monumentally disappointing. Although those sports are important, nothing beats college football. Where college athletics are concerned, football is king.</p>

<p>I have been following several recruiting reports and Michigan is currently being considered seriously by approximately one third of the nation's early top 100 Rivals juniors. </p>

<p>As always, Michigan is seems to be getting the attention of many of the nation's top Offensive Linemen. Of the 16 OLmen ranked by Rivals, 8 list Michigan among their favourites, including Cameron Robinson, Smith Braden, Damian Price, K.C. McDermott, Alex Bars, Bentley Spain, Andy Bauer and Jamarco Jones. </p>

<p>We also have the attention of Caleb Henderson, a 6'4", 220 LBS, top 5 pro-style QB out of Virginia.</p>

<p>The nation's top ranked RB, Leonard Fournette (6'1", 225 LBS) also has Michigan high on his list, as do three other top rated RBs, including Elijah Hood, Nathan Starks and Joe Mixon.</p>

<p>Where I think we will need a serious haul is at WR, and we are well positioned here. Jalen Brown and Scott Artavis are two highly rated WRs that are seriously considering Michigan, as are towering WRs Josh Malone (6'5") and Mark Andrews (6'6"). I would not be surprised if the latter were converted to TE in college. </p>

<p>I will break down the defensive prospects later, but they are equally as impressive. If we can land just a handful of those guys, we'd be in great shape.</p>

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<p>What’s the QB situation now? I thought with Wilton Speight committed to back up Shane Morris for a few years, we weren’t looking at more scholarship QBs for the entering class of 2014?</p>

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<p>Haha you need to catch up a little bit Alexandre. Michael Ferns was the first to commit to the 2014 class. He’s a middle linebacker out of Ohio, great person and better football player. Should be a staple on the linebacker corps in Ann Arbor in the future.</p>

<p>Wilton Speight out of Virginia was the next to commit on signing day at the QB spot. He’ll almost for sure be the only QB in the class. The staff has said multiple times that they only plan on taking one QB every year. They love his size, 6’6" 220 with some mobility (4.7 40), and apparently his arm strength is rapidly improving. Hopefully gets a redshirt year and is Morris’ successor down the road.</p>

<p>And yesterday massive DL Bryan Mone out of Utah made himself the third commit of the class. He’s 6’4" 315 as just a junior in HS and is very quick off the ball. Lined up with Pipkins in the middle could make for a very tough defensive interior in a few years.</p>

<p>These are three top 150 type guys we’ve brought in so far, but unfortunately Michigan CB Damon Webb and Michigan DE Lawrence Marshall have already committed to ohio. Marshall might not be a sure thing there as he’s still continuing to take visits, Michigan included in that, but losing those guys early hurts for sure.</p>

<p>This will be a much smaller class than last year, probably around 16 guys just because of how many scholarships are available.</p>

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<p>I knew of Speight and Ferns. Still have room for 15 others. We really need at least 4 OL, 2 WR, 1 RB, 1 other DT, 2 DEs, 3 DBs. The remaining 1-3 spots can go anywhere. </p>

<p>In addition to the offensive players listed above, below are the defensive players that are considering Michigan. As you point out, Mone was a big catch, pun intended. But we also have the top DT in the nation, Andrew Brown and another top DT, Clark Khairi, seriously considering us.</p>

<p>The top player in the nation, #1 DE Da’Shawn Hand, is currently listing Michigan among his top 5 teams. Lorenzo Carter, Malik McDowell and Andrew Williams. </p>

<p>In addition to Michael Ferns, we have two other top LBs considering Michigan seriously; Nyles Morgan and Donte Booker.</p>

<p>The top CB in the nation, Jabrill Peppers, is listing Michigan among his top 5 schools. CB Adoree Jackson and Safeties Quin Blanding, Jamal Adams, Edward Paris, Marshon Lattimore and Montae Nicholson.</p>

<p>So many top prospects. Hopefully, we’ll land a few of them.</p>

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<p>A lot of top prospects are hearing from us right now. With three commits already, however, there’s only room for 13 or maybe 14 more guys if some unusual attrition happens. As happy as I am that we are attracting prospects nationally this cycle, those have a much lower percentage chance of actually hitting and getting them to commit, and not being a clear leader for really any top in-state prospect is very concerning. The number one priority at this point has to be Grand Rapids WR Drake Harris who originally committed to MSU for basketball but has since decided he wants to play football. At this point it would be surprising if he went to the spartans but keeping him away from Meyer is huge as it looks like Michigan and ohio lead, although he did just receive an in school visit from Florida.</p>

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<p>Hahaha well that was fast. Lawrence Marshall has officially decomitted from ohio just 3 days after verbaling to the buckeyes. He was on Michigan’s campus today, definitely a good sign.</p>

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<p>I was aware of Dmon Webb’s commitment. That is indeed a disappointment. Then again, fair is fair. Hoke stole half of the to 10 Ohio prospects last year! I am sure Meyer took it personally. ;)</p>

<p>I did not hear of Lawrence Marshall, he must not be that highly rated (obviously not in Rival’s top 250). The Michigan prospects I really wanted are DE Malik McDowell (at 6’6", 300 LBS, he will probably play DT in college) and WR Drake Harris, although Rivals shows him as being committed to MSU (as a football player, not a basketball player).</p>

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<p>Marshall will be a 4 star in the future on the two main sites and he’s a 4 star right now on 247. He’s definitely a top 5 in-state prospect with offers right now from ohio, Michigan, MSU, and Tennessee. Rivals and Scout haven’t finished their initial scouting of all the top 2014 guys yet. As far as Harris goes, the consensus among insiders is that it would be surprising if he stuck with MSU. Meyer is on him pretty hard and Hoke really values him as both a top in-state guy and someone who could fill a position of need.</p>

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<p>Exciting stuff maizeandblue21. We have several high profile players that list Michigan among their favourites, so we will sign several of them. The way I see it, in addition to the players we have received verbals from so far, Michigan will recruit 1 RB, 3 OLmen, 2 WRs, 3 DLmen, 2 LBs and 3 DBs.</p>

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<p>Jabrill Peppers, arguably the best CB in high school, is currently listing Michigan as his third favourite school. Although he grew up a fan of Michigan football, he is worried that coach Hoke could bolt to the NFL. In his own words:</p>

<p>“I grew up a Michigan fan,” he said. “I always liked the tradition from Mario Manningham to Mike Hart and all of those guys. The only thing that hurts Michigan at the moment is the coaching stability. I heard Coach Hoke has a lot of offers from the NFL on the table. I know I’m not going to go to a college because of a coach but if a head coach leaves they go into a whole new system and there is a new group of guys I would have to get used to and it just makes the process much more difficult.”</p>

<p>Who has been spreading those lies about Hoke. Are those the kinds of lies coaches tell prospects? I suppose once coach Hoke makes it clear that he is not going anywhere, the liars will have been exposed and Peppers will be a Wolverine!</p>

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<p>^^^^I think Sparkeye is the culprit! ;-)</p>

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<p>There is zero chance of Hoke going anywhere. You couldn’t pay him enough to leave and no one is planning to chase him away.</p>

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<p>I know res ipsa. The second any coach speaks to a NFL team, it makes the news. There have been no reports of Hoke talking to any NFL establishment. As you point out, Hoke is never going to leave Michigan.</p>