UM Football Recruiting - by WM Wolverine

[WM Wolverine]

Class of '17 Recruiting Board

Offense
QB: Dylan McCaffrey
RB: Kurt Taylor, AJ Dillon & O'Maury Samuels
WR: Donovan Peoples-Jones, Nico Collins, Tarik Black, & Kennedy Snell
TE: Carter Dunaway, Matt Dotson, & Major Tennison
OT: JaRaymond Hall, Isaiah Wilson, & Henry Bainvalu
OG: Cesar Ruiz & Tedarrell Slaton
ATH: Markquese Bell

Defense
DT: Phillip Paea, Deron Irving-Bey & Corey Bolds
DE: Corey Malone-Hatcher & Luiji Vilain
LB: Joshua Ross, Chase Lasater, Ben Mason, Jordan Anthony & Drew Singleton
CB: Benjamin St-Juste & Ambry Thomas
S: J'Marick Woods, AJ Harris, & Jaylen Kelly-Powell

I'd make the same clarifications as last time, M is chasing a few plan A DT's and those on the board are actually Plan B types. M will take a 5th DB in this class, most likely a true CB. Again, right now they are chasing plan A types at CB and would fall-back on someone like Donovan Johnson.

[jaadam4]

I like Vilain's "committed" endorsement. It's a refreshing change from the last commit. "Well...uhhhh... I'm committed to Michigan but I'm still open for visits and hearing what other coaches think and offers."

[WM Wolverine]

Other than Kurt Taylor this classes commits seem awfully solid.

Class is ranked 4th thanks to it's high numbers. JH is chasing a lot more long shots in this class that'll decide later in the process that could swing the class from elite (3rd/4th ranked class) to just very good (7th - 10th)...

I'm not worried about the offensive line (yet) but for selfish purposes would like to see some more offensive lineman bolded on my recruiting board. Offensive line is nearly half of your offensive starters (5 of 11), it's easy to end up low on numbers if attrition hits hard and/or a commit jets for Stanford at the last minute like Devery Hamilton.

[Pasadena Blue]

I don't think Samuels is a solid commit either, and if we land any of the higher ranked RB's, I could see him bolting.

I also think a few of our current 3* are going to get a bump to 4* status before all is said and done.

I'll also sleep better when the OL commits actually start to drop.

[The Oracle]

Kai Leon-Herbert is supposedly deciding this month and is visiting next weekend. A commit isn't out of the question. He jumped up to Rivals #61 overall in the last update and is #171 in composite.

[iam416]

Ohio State had a nice run, but the tide seems to have turned in favor of Michigan.

Detroit Dan nails it. Though one has to ignore all available facts to reach that conclusion.

Anyway, Villain is a good get, though he's been in the bag for weeks, I think. And WM's big board looks mostly like kids who will commit -- especially on defense. Not sure about the big fish on the OL.

[Hannibal]

This year's OL class needs to be big. 5 at least.

[The Oracle]

As WM has stated, it's be bad news if the remaining DTs commit as they are back up plans. Maybe back up, back up.

[WM Wolverine]

Agree that the OL targets are all plan A types and it'd be nice to land a couple of them. Jordan Reid is a plan B at guard who M could land if they wanted him.

[Wellington_beefhouser]

Here's a nice little write up from a guy (u/WhenIntegralsAttack) on Reddit . I thought it was a good read on the satellite camp in Houston. Enjoy.

(1) Michigan comes out in full force and is in control. I think every position coach, coordinator, and the man, Jim Harbaugh himself, were there for the camp. There were two coaches from New Mexico State who were there as well. It struck me that the coaches from Michigan had a plan. They brought their own equipment, or had coordinated with the hosting high school on what equipment was needed. There was no wasted time in running drills. The two New Mexico State coaches simply seemed along for the ride, as they were never front and center in front of the players and coaching. They were mostly off to the side to play a supporting role in whatever the Michigan coaches were doing.

(2) Like everyone who has seen these before, everything is a competition. At first, there were warm ups, but then agility and speed drills. There were thirty yard dashes, ladder drills, and then a cool drill where one player had to two-hand-touch four other players who were all trapped in a circle. The four players had to avoid the one, and it was timed how fast the one could catch the four. After each run, the coaches would select the three fastest players, and then have all the best compete with each other. The top three of everyone were then presented to the crowd. Jim Harbaugh would raise the kid's hand as in a boxing victory announcement, and yell out the kid's name, where he placed in the competition, school, position, and year. We would then all clap for them. These drills lasted about an hour.

From there, the kids broke up into positional drills. This is where I think Michigan's dedication to the camps shows itself. If you're going to do position drills, you need to have a lot of different coaches there to teach those drills. This is why I think a school is kidding themselves if they only send one, two, or three guys to a camp. You literally can do nothing with only two coaches. Schools that send so few guys are looking to catch some easy recruiting, nothing more.

Position drills lasted about an hour and a half. There was everything: Harbaugh worked with the quarterbacks. They did a drill where they had to stand on the sideline and throw the football through the uprights. They then moved progressively closer to the back of the end zone, where they had only a sliver of room to put the ball through. Eventually, even Harbaugh couldn't get the ball through.

Fisch worked with the receivers. They did drills on tracking the ball over their shoulders, running routes and catching the ball after quick pivots.

Tyrone Wheatley worked with running backs on drills to increase lateral agility by having them race through cone setups.

Eventually, they brought the groups together and had the quarterbacks, wide receivers run drills together. There would be a set of four quarterbacks along the field- two on each side. The wide receiver would run between them and the quarterbacks would throw the ball. The receiver had to be alert and have good hands to catch all four balls. Only a couple could do it on the first go around.

Finally, they brought in the corner backs too so that they could work on one-on-one passing drills. I'm not sure how the routes were chosen, but the receiver ran a route to try to get open, and the quarterback would try to get it to them. Obviously, the corner back had to break up the pass.

At the end of the camp, Harbaugh had them arrange in three circles, and then have a competition of who could hold their feet out a foot above the ground the longest while lying on their backs (hands under the butt not allowed).

(3) This camp was about two things: coaching and getting Michigan's name out there to kids. I have a quick story that will explain why this is important: there was someone from either the local media or a recruiting site interviewing a kid. I overheard the interview a bit. The kid obviously favored A&M, but was looking at Michigan too. The interviewer wanted to know if distance was going to be a problem.

Of course it was a problem. Even if the kid didn't say it was. Think about it: how much do you know about the University of Florida or Texas A&M? Almost nothing, even though they're good schools with good athletic teams. The schools just aren't in your mental landscape. It's the same with these kids. They know Michigan exists, but it might as well be a mythical place to most of them.

These camps are about having actual Michigan coaches interacting with kids from day one: when they're freshmen. When these Texas kids become recruits, Michigan can call them up and be familiar, whereas Georgia can't, Alabama can't, etc. Every team is an outsider to kids not in the local area, and Michigan is the first team working to become familiar with everyone.

There's a narrative that Michigan is picking up these unknown kids after seeing them at a satellite camp for two or three hours. This is nonsense. Hours of film study go into deciding to offer a kid. These camps are about exposing the kids to Michigan, not the other way around. We win on the recruiting trail if Texas kids see Michigan as equal to A&M or UT in terms of comfort level. Every kid has two schools they're comfortable with now: the hometown team and Michigan. We won't win all the recruiting battles, but we're going to win some.

(4) After the camp, I got a chance to to have some quick words with the coaches and get some autographs on a Michigan flag I brought (I'm not a recruit or a parent, no NCAA violations occurred. Seriously, the coaches asked the NCAA rules person there, it's okay.)

Tim Drevno: Is fucking huge. Seriously, I'm 5' 10" and he must be at least 6' 5". He's also really soft-spoken, and almost a little shy. He was very nice. I just told him how happy I was he was in Ann Arbor and how much I was looking forward to the coming season. He really appreciated it. When he signed my flag, he also put "Phil 4:13", which I presume means "Philippians 4:13". It's the verse "I can do all this through him who gives me strength." I was not aware he was religious.

Jedd Fisch: Is extremely personable. We talked about the improvement of the wide receivers. He wanted to know when I went to Michigan. We laughed a little bit about frustrations with the NCAA.

Jay Harbaugh: was super chill and talking with him didn't feel like talking with a coach. It was more like talking with a friend. He's only a few years older than me, so it makes sense. We talked about the Mackey Award. I was surprised how straightforward he was: he said that Jake Butt deserved second place, but that the guy who did win it had an awesome year and deserved it. He said Jake got gypped for not being 2nd, but that he expects him to win it this year.

Don Brown: Super friendly and personable in person, super loud in practice. My girlfriend was nervous around the coaches, and he cracked a joke and broke the ice with her immediately. I can see why he's a great recruiter. You feel like you've known him all your life within five seconds of talking with him. We talked about whether he's been able to see a lot of Ann Arbor and whether he was liking it. He said he loves it, and he and his wife enjoy going out to main street. He has ten grand-kids and really enjoys being around young people.

Jim Harbaugh: has everyone vying for his attention all the time. I thanked him for coming to Ann Arbor, told him I was excited for next season, got a picture and autograph, and that's about it. He seemed very normal. On a spectrum of normal to crazy, Jim is much closer to normal than the media would lead you to believe. He was great around the young children of parents. He interacted with families very well (I overheard him tell a couple that they have a beautiful family). All in all, anyone telling you he's unstable or a madman is way off the mark. He's just a quirky dude who loves football.

[lineygoblue]

Harbaugh as HC is the best thing to happen to Michigan Football since Schembechler signed the dotted line.

[hack]

Bo 2.0.

[Mike]

Thanks for that post about the camps. Nice to get a feel for what one is like.

[jaadam4]

Yeah that was an awesome read. Thanks

[The Oracle]

Top 10 DT Darnell Ewell...M currently 2nd.

The rivalry on the field between Michigan and Ohio State is arguably the biggest in any sport. Off the field, they've found themselves in another recruiting battle for Norfolk (Va.) Lake Taylor defensive tackle Darnell Ewell.


Darnell Ewell
Defensive tackle
4 STARS
Lake Taylor
Norfolk, VA
RR: 5.9
Ht: 6'4"
Wt: 295 lbs
Class: 2017
8
POSITION
125
NATIONAL
-
STATE
Commitment status:
UNDECIDED

Ewell showed out at the Rivals Five-Star Challenge in Atlanta this past weekend. His ties to Michigan began before he was even being recruited by U-M.

"My family is in Michigan, thats a reason why I'm going for the visit - to be around family," he said. "Going to Michigan means being with family to me."

Ewell is rated No. 125 nationally and eighth overall at his position. With his national ranking rising, the Maize and Blue have increased their pursuit of the national standout. Ewell finds himself ready to visit and set the date prior to the camp in Atlanta.

"I'll visit June 25th," he said. "I'm ready to visit, check it out and learn more. See some historical sites and just the school in general."

We're in the middle of satellite camp season and Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh is in the national spotlight more than any other coach. Ewell recognizes that Harbaugh is all over.

"Right now, he is that guy," he said. "I'm excited to see what he has planned and what Michigan really is."

Right now, Ewell seems pretty set on his top list of schools too. With a couple of visits set up, he gave us his exact order.

His top list, in order, is Ohio State, Michigan, Alabama, Clemson and Notre Dame.

With his upcoming visits to Ann Arbor and Columbus, we could get a real feel of where both schools are at. U-M could leapfrog the Buckeyes for the top spot with a good visit. Either way, the Wolverines are after the Rivals150 star hard.