UM Football Recruiting - by WM Wolverine

[lineygoblue]

Its a practice that is frowned upon in the B1G. Mike White came to Illinois some years ago and tried to "quick fix" the problems in Champaign with JUCO's and ended up getting the Illini in trouble with the NCAA.

JUCO's can get into B1G schools, but most teams are very choosy about them.

[WM Wolverine]

Sparty at least used to take a JUCO every year or two; I believe that's stopped since Dantonio...

Issue at some B10 schools is they need to take 'quality' courses at the junior college to at least get the credits to transfer over.

[Da Geezer]

Just for fun, I looked up the rankings on ESPN for JUCO prospects

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/recruiting/football/story/_/id/8743658/espn-junior-college-100

Ole Miss has 3 of the top 11 who have committed. A WR is ranked #2. I can see Treadwell going to Ole Miss. The # 1 overall is supposedly going there too.

K State was crap, they bring back Snyder and three years later he is one game away from the NCG

[SeattleLionsFan]

Ole Mi$$ for sure!

[WM Wolverine]

My desktop computer died last night, yet to troubleshoot but it had my spreadsheet on all the recruits, commits, depth charts, 'visit lists', etc. Anyway, I promised a '14 recruiting board but here it is; no QB offers yet.

M doesn't want to give an offer to a QB unless they absolutely love them, with Shane Morris in '13 they can do that. Actually in the past couple classes, M has done well in a lot of areas LB, OL, DL & QB especially that they are recruiting based more on talent than numbers. Numbers are good at WR/DB too so they shouldn't feel the need to reach for lesser talents early like they might've done in the '12 class...

*QB: Whoever gets that first offer will be put on a pedestal...

*RB: Jonathan Hillman...

*WR: Artavis Scott, Corey Holmes & Dionte Sykes...

*TE: Garrett Dickerson...

*OL: Denzel Ward, Alex Bars, Mason Cole, Tommy Doles & Sam Mustipher...

*DE: Lawrence Marshall & De'Shawn Hand...

*DT: Malik McDowell & Bryan Mone...

*LB: Michael Ferns

*CB: Damon Webb, Parrker Westphal & Jabrill Peppers..

*S: Montae Nicholson...

[Da Geezer]

@ WM

thanks

[WM Wolverine]

M is in very good position with: Webb, McDowell, Marshall, Doles and Bars... Good position with Westphal, Mone, Cole & Holmes...

Most of the others, I'm not really sure where M stands as these things change quickly, they aren't very far in their recruitment and these guys haven't trimmed their lists yet but most all of the above are 4* caliber talents with at least some mutual interest. I'm sure Touch the Banner or Rivals probably could give a better recruiting board but this one does a good job at listing the most likely to be Wolverines in the short-term.

[Detroit Dan]

Thanks WM...

[iam416]

Montae Nicholson is OSU if they take him. Numbers are tight, but they will, I think.

M doesn't want to give an offer to a QB unless they absolutely love them, with Shane Morris in '13 they can do that

I actually strongly disagree with that approach. I think it remarkably foolish to rely on one player to live up to the hype at the game's most important position. I would take 1 QB per year.

Ohio State, e.g., signed a QB as highly regarded as Shane Morris -- Justin Zwick. They also took Troy Smith in that class. Tressel even took Kenny Guiton in the class after TP, and TP was as surefire as yo could get -- and by the time they offered Guiton, TP was playing.

I just think it's walking a really, really dangerous line to go a class without a QB. A bad QB will kill your season. An unspeakably hellacious QB situation -- Dante's Bausermann Ring of Hell -- will make you want to kill everything around you. High risk, IMO. But if numbers are tight, numbers are tight. Could always use it on another OL :-)

[iam416]

Re Ohio class of 2014, I'd rate it thin.

Marshon Lattimore is fantastic.

Ferns, Dante Booker and Joe Berger are legitimate big-time LB recruits.

Trout and Marcelys Jones are decent OL recruits. Jimmy Byrne, I think, is the clear best and solid top 100 type player.

Snodgrass is a decent WR.

Both Jones and Snodgrass are high ceiling/low floor players, IMO. They both have upper 4* talent with enough questions marks (Jones and his weight/effort, Snodgrass b/c he plays in a running offense and is really raw) to put them in the high 3* range.

Kizer is a nice QB and will probably play in the B10 somewhere.

Personally, I'd get excited about Byrne, Lattimore and maybe Booker. Booker could be super, but he needs to show more, IMO, this season.

Berger is just an f'n tackling machine/pure football player with good size, good speed from a good program. Not as much talent as Booker, IMO, but I think he's a solid bet to be a productive player for a really good program.

Ferns is the other guy who I think will be good. He just doesn't play very good competition, so it's harder for me to judge him. He has size and speed, though.

IMO, Ohio State will take 4-6 Ohio kids this year. Jones is in, Booker is a lock, as is Lattimore. I think they'll take Berger. And then probably Trout and Snodgrass if they can't do any better outside the state.

[iam416]

Also, Kief and Watkins. They're B10 level players. I think OSU likes Snodgrass better than those two, so I doubt OSU will be a player. But they're solid prospects.

[The Oracle]

Michigan is definitely taking a QB in this class, just being judicious in their offers.

[Hannibal]

IIRC there were rumors a while back that Nicholson was going to commit to M. Or maybe I'm thinking of somebody else. Is he really considered an OSU lock?

[iam416]

He is by OSU insiders. I think. He's the kid from Western PA, right?


Incidentally, the OSU Scout guy just did a breakdown of the 2014 Ohio class. Pretty much what I said with a few add-ons. I'll crib it here at some point.

[iam416]

Yeah, even in the updates, Nicholson is pro-OSU. He was waiting for the offer (M offered earlier). He grew up in Columbus following OSU and loves the Buckeyes. And that's just from public recruiting articles.

Raekwon McMillan is also looking really good for Ohio State. And they have real shot at Jalen Hurd.