UM Football Recruiting - by WM Wolverine

[Hannibal]

We're gonna lose Garnett to Stanford?

[iam416]

This is from the "insider" who, at least IMO, has best insight on Dunn. He's also generally conservative. Keep in mind, he's still an OSU insider so the info is geared toward that audience, but it seems to me to be a pretty fair take:

How I see it on Monday morning........................

1- Brady Hoke and his staff have done a great job with Brionte and they have stayed relentless in recruiting him. Even when they were out of it, they didn't think they were out of it. And that's why they aren't out of it today. Hoke recruits more like Meyer recruits, and the opposite of the past OSU staff who would have walked away from a recruit committed elsewhere, figuring they had no shot. Shariff Floyd was an OSU lock too. To everyone but Urban Meyer.

2- Urban Meyer has had 2 weeks to make an impression on Brionte, and he has certainly done that. Two weekends in a row to Michigan in November would have probably buried any other staff or coach. Not Urban Meyer. He has forced Brionte to at least be in the position of not knowing where he wants to go, as opposed to maybe leaning to Michigan following those 2 unofficials.

3- Luke Fickell kept OSU in the game, and Brionte thinks a lot of him. Had Fickell not kept battling against tough odds this one would probably be over. He kept things manageable until Meyer took over. Luke deserves much credit for being able to clean up the OSU mess he inherited.

4- Is there an edge? To me the edge is Michigan having their official visit left to go. Ohio State has used theirs. I've felt for months the officials will tell the tale. Ohio State's was very good. Michigan gets theirs this week.

5- Not enrolling early takes the pressure off. I think this probably means we will be discussing this into February. Unless Brionte figures it out before then without a shadow of doubt. If he does get it solved before Signing Day, I think he will end it and make a final announcement.

Also, Dunn had some pretty good quotes for OSU (IMO), but the rule is to watch what they do, not listen to what they say in recruiting articles. Dunn is visiting M. That speaks louder than any particular quote -- that I'm sure he was careful with.

[lineygoblue]

All I've been hoping for in the Dunn recruitment is that he would give Hoke the same opportunity on Michigan's campus that he has given to Meyer/Fickell in Columbus. That is apparently going to happen.

My concern (which appears to have happened) is that Meyer was going to get Dunn on campus, lock him in a conference room, surround him with coaches and former players, and put unbelievable pressure on him to re-confirm. It may not have been that dramatic, but it was definitely a full-court press. I'm honestly surprised and somewhat relieved that Dunn hasn't publicly re-committed.

I have a bad gut feeling that he has indeed re-committed privately, but has told Meyer that he wants to take his official to Michigan to satisfy some members of his family who want him to consider Michigan.

He has said in the past that he wanted to end things before Christmas, so he may still be on that timetable with all this. If he's not enrolling early, and chooses Michigan, he's in for a long 2nd semester at his HS.

[iam416]

If he's not enrolling early, and chooses Michigan, he's in for a long 2nd semester at his HS.

That's dramatically -- I mean dramatically -- overplayed. I'd be shocked if it were a consideration for Dunn.

Dunn was alwasy going to visit M.

[hack]

Thanks for the update from that end.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I think I understand the importance of recruiting "talented" players and Dunn, from what everyone else says, is talented. I haven't watched a inch of video on him and I'm not qualified to evaluate talent anyway.

The last thing I'm going to let myself do is get caught up in the hype of assigning some kind of value to either osu or M, Hoke or urban based on where Dunn goes. The last thing I'm going to do is view urban as some sort of recruiting savant if Dunn chooses osu or as an early indicator that if he does, osu has reestablished itself as somehow superior to M in its ability to draw recruits nationally, in the Midwest or in the state of Michigan. That's just nonsense.

Which is exactly what I think of all this ridiculous recruiting hype anyway. Too many variables in the process of putting good teams on the field and winning football games to roll over and assume the submissive dog position if Dunn goes to osu.

[iam416]

One recruit is, in the grand scheme of things, irrelevant. UFM is a very good recruiter. And there's a great synergy on that front b/t UFM and Ohio State. Whether Dunn comes or not doesn't affect that conclusion one bit.

[Pasadena Blue]

UM consistently had top three recruiting classes (at least by rivals assessment) ... so I am at a loss to explain the Gators fans who say he left Florida with the cupboard bare. Moreover we don't see an exodus of Ohio players with UM's arrival.

I think UM developed a case of Saban-itis. I think he saw the writing on the wall and did not want to go head to head with the Sabans and Miles's on a regular basis--- this probably got his ol' heart squirming and made his health deteriorate.

Now he can come to an easier conference with M and PSU down, and no in state competition for a talent-laden state (and unfortunately for the state a Talent-laden state as well).

UM is no dummy. My health would improve too if I had fewer challenges to being successful. On the other hand Saban and others will still be waiting come BcS championship game time, so UM will be able to continue the time-honored Ohio tradition of getting banged by the SEC (I choose not to count last years victory with players who should have been deemed ineligible immediately). But every so often, the SEC powers will beat each other up, and UM will get to go against a beatable foe from the Big12/Pac12 ... then UM's master plan will be complete.

[iam416]

WM:

When you do your 2013 thread, -- early 247 top 250. I'm no fan of 247, but it's a starting point.

http://247sports.com/Recruit/Top-247/2013

[WM Wolverine]

Like your input on on any of these recruits from Ohio:

Daveon Smith RB ? (he's M's to lose supposedly, no idea of who he is till a day or two ago), Kevin Gladney WR, Taco Charlton TE/WDE, Jake Butt SDE, Ben Gedeon LB & Cam Burrows (Ohio lock?)...

[iam416]

DeVeon Smith: He's a really hard runner with some good speed. His problem is that he plays against, IMO, crap competition (same league as Liberty). My personal opinion is that his ceiling is Touissant. As far as OSU goes, they're going to push really hard for Derrick Green and Ty Isaac, so not much interest – and it's mutual, as far as I know. Michigan should have this in the bag.

Kevin Gladney: He has great size and very good speed. His team is an Akron city school, so the competition isn't that great – though he did play some good non-conference teams (and did well). I'm not sure where OSU stands on Gladney. I think that if they offered, it would be over.

Taco Charlton: I only saw him play against St. Ignatius in the D-1 title game. He didn't have a huge prescence – and Iggy threw the ball a lot. I still think he's a pretty solid player, though he's not the same level as some of the other Des in this year's class. I'm not sure what would happen if OSU offered – he likes them, but he likes other schools as well.

Jake Butt: I like him more than Charlton (though, most disagree). He's athletic, big, strong. I think he's going to be a really solid player.

Ben Gedeon: He's a player. I think he's going to a really good LB. Really athletic and has some good speed. Of the players on this list OSU hasn't offered, he's the one I really hope they get around to recruiting hard.

Burrows: I think he's an OSU lock. I thought that before UFM was hired.

All in all, if M gets Thomas and Gedeon, that's a nice haul. Throw in Charlton and/or Butt and that's very solid group.

From OSU's perspective, Burrows, Jalin Marshall and Price are huge, but I also want Peterson and Lisle and I'm really warming to McCray. Malik Zaire, too. That said, it's a brave new world with UFM.

This was my summary of Ohio from a couple weeks ago (I undersold Gedeon...he's top 10...maybe top 5, IMO):

Jalin Marshall (QB/ATH) and Cameron Burrows (DB). I'm not sure who will get #1, but these two are the top 2 by a good margin. Marshall has been repeatedly compared to a Percy Harvin type player. He's a QB, but his high school basically runs the option all day long, so he's more of an ATH. Burrows is the best DB in the state. His team, btw, has gads of talent on the defense.

For the rest, I'll go by position.

Lineman: Price, Lovell Peterson (OL), Evan Lisle (OL). Some people would put Jake Butt into this group. Matter of opinion. Taco Charlton (DE) may also be up there.

LB/RBs: Very thin year for RBs. Some people really like Mike McCray (LB) (from Burrows school). Courtney Love and Ben Gedeon are in the conversation, too.

ATH/DB/WR: Dymonte Thomas (probably top 5 in the state and some would say #3). Caleb Day (ATH), Shelton Gibson (WR), Malik Zaire (QB/ATH), and Ross Douglas (RB/DB/ATH).

[Chuck Mallory]

Rivals has a piece from ITF: Kalis raving about his trip to AA this past weekend, still loves it. He's recruiting Dunn hard himself. Garnett loved his visit to Nd this weekend also. On the fence with UM, ND, Stanford.

Personally, I can see why a kid would want to play for ND's program and school but I can't see why they would want to play for that jackass Kelly after the way he acted earlier in the year.

They also have a good piece on needs for '13

[WM Wolverine]

Charlton very interested in M, there are in a good position... Gedeon LB has shown more than casual interest in M, M stands in a good position if Ohio doesn't get involved...

Like everyone else, M is going hard after Ty Isaac, Domers are optimistic about their chances but they are optimistic about most everyone.

[SeattleLionsFan]

I get being a fan but I don't get how ND keeps pulling in these amazing classes of recruits. Honestly, when was the last time they were truly nationally relevant?

They have finished in the top ten in one poll (2005 AP poll, but not the coaches poll) since 1993. They have finished a season ranked only 7 times in those 18 years and yet they still get great recruiting classes. Why????

[Pasadena Blue]

how many schollies will we likely have for 2013 (I realize there's a lot of uncertainty around this)