UM Football Recruiting - by WM Wolverine

[lineygoblue]

What happens in A2 .. stays in A2 ...

[Optimus Prime]

MGoBlog excerpts, most importantly Meyer offered but Smith spurned his fellow native Ohioan which is pleasing.

not a burner, but I think his speed is better than advertised.

This sentiment is echoed by Mark Porter as Bucknuts ranked Smith as the #5 2013 prospect in Ohio:

“He is a well built back. He can run well between the tackles. He can take a lot of punishment. He would be your traditional Big Ten back who can play in bad weather and grind out yardage. He would be a good fit in Ohio State’s new offense. As a junior, he was much quicker than he showed the year before. He has some spring to his step. He is very powerful and thickly built.”

[lineygoblue]

Sounds like the kind of back that can break a tackle and gain that extra 2-3 yards when its important. I like all the kids we have now, but unfortunately, we have too many RB's who are like a ping-pong ball. They hit a defender and bounce back 3 yards, where they are flattened. A good scat-back can be a great weapon in certain situations, but is probably not a good idea for an every-down back.

[SeattleLionsFan]

IF he can continue to exhibit the balance in college that he does at the HS level, I'm very excited about him.

I am afraid he is too slow to hit the hole quick enough in the B1G. I'm also relatively concerned that he had two brothers in Div 1 who washed out and transferred.

[Da Geezer]

On almost all of the film of Smith, he gets run down from behind and either stiff-arms the DB or just runs through the tackle. That won't be so easily done in the B1G. That said, he reminds me more of Mike Hart than Ron Dayne. I think Talent indicated that Smith will not have as good an offensive line this year, so maybe we will see how good his vision is. The holes he is running through on tape are 15' wide.

[lineygoblue]

I'm also relatively concerned that he had two brothers in Div 1 who washed out and transferred.

That is definitely a concern. I wasn't aware of that. We don't need any more "forcier's" on the team. You also mentioned how slow he hits the hole. IMO, that was the reason that Kevin Grady never panned out at Michigan. In HS, he seemed to hit the hole very quickly, and then generated a speed burst once he got into the second level. That seemed to go away when he got into college ball. I hope that's not the case with Smith.

That said, he reminds me more of Mike Hart than Ron Dayne.

I loved Mike Hart, and he had the speed burst to get to the hole quickly, but no weight to break the tackle. He THOUGHT he was big enough to break tackles at 170 lbs, but he quickly found out that a 240 lb linebacker can stop a 170 RB fairly easily. No pun intended, but I loved Mike Hart's HEART. He gave everything he could on every carry, but his diminutive stature eventually caught up with him and caused him some untimely injuries.

[SeattleLionsFan]

Ftr, I don't think he hits the hole slow in his film. I'm always a little Leery about guys who aren't speed guys at a lower level. You see it much more in the NFL, guys who are a step slow just are too slow to make the change. (see Hart, mike.)

[WM Wolverine]

He's somewhere between Mike Hart and Fitzgerald Toussaint...

Quickness, speed and explosiveness are 'average' for a B10 back but makes up for it with his vision, balance and shedding tacklers are really good. He's not a home-run hitter who will run for 40+ yard gains but a guy who can get 4+ yards on most of his runs and fight for extra yardage.

[WM Wolverine]

Grady played on a dominant East Grand Rapids team who had an OL get him holes and ran over LB'ers, safeties. He couldn't ever get up to speed or find a hole at M.

[Chuck Mallory]

I'll take him! I'm glad he's a Wolverine!

[Da Geezer]

Any notable visitors coming in this weekend (Mar 23-5)?

[lineygoblue]

None that I am aware of, Geezer. Maybe WM has additional information on that.

[Rob F]

Any notable visitors coming in this weekend (Mar 23-5)?

I think I read somewhere that Hoke expects about a half-dozen visitors this weekend (including 2 verbal commits from the 2013 class, TE Jake Butts and WR Jaron Dukes). I don't remember names other than a potential 2014 WR recruit by the last name of Webb, but I believe one of the other visitors this weekend is a 2015 QB recruit (I'm thinking his last name is Campbell---help me out here, WM?)---believe it or not, if he potentially might be in the 2015 class, that means he's a HS freshman right now--WOW!

Even with having these visitors in AA, it will be a relatively "quiet" weekend of recruiting, since 2 are already verbal commits, and supposedly none of the other visitors are so-called "committable" offers.

[Paul L]

Read elsewhere that M is in great shape (possible silent commit from one) with Isaac, Treadwell, and Levenberry.

Just hearsay, though

[WM Wolverine]

M is in very strong position with Levenberry, strong position with Isaac and only good position with Treadwell (he's going to take a lot of visits this summer)...

Jayru Campbell is the QB for Cass Tech (which won state champs); going to be a sophomore this year ('15). Only 6'2" right now, so hopefully he fills up and out...

Visitors for this weekend... '14 Damon Webb WR will be here & Jayru Campbell QB, couple commits listed above (Butts & Dukes)...

Most recruits are likely waiting to make the visit for the spring game/practice on April 14th. It'll be a major recruiting weekend with a lot of commits and M's top targets invited.