Michigan Tuesday: Recruiting News and Notes

Michigan OL commit Trente Jones @trentejones01 in drills at Under Armour pic.twitter.com/oa3Tj2QZZs

— Tom VanHaaren (@TomVH) April 22, 2018

• Walled Lake QB Sam Johnson has Michigan in his top 5 with BC, Syracuse, Mizzu, and Iowa.

• Zeeland (Mich.) West lineman Connor Burrows has accepted a PWO spot in the Wolverines 2018 class.   Connor is 6'2 285 pounds and had offers from D2 and D3 schools.

• Remember the name George Karlaftis?  He is the highly rated defensive lineman from Purdue's backyard that committed to Purdue.  Well, it seems Michigan is continuing to recruit him like crazy and is expected to get an official visit from George and family this fall.   George and family took an unofficial to Ann Arbor just a few weeks ago and he really enjoyed his visit. "They have great facilities and they have a great coaching staff. Everything is nice and new and they have a really good football history.” His brother is also a highly regarded Freshman that Michigan offered on his visit.   George says he is still 100% committed to Purdue but Michigan is starting to make some progress.  “If I had to pick between the two right now, it would be a tough decision,” Karlaftis said. “They want me equally and the pros and cons are the same for both.

• Elite 2020 all-purpose back Chris Tyree visited Ann Arbor this past weekend and seemed to have enjoyed his trip.

In a fun story, this monkey took a selfie of himself and PETA took the photographer to court over who owns the copyright.  The court decided the photographer does.  It seems the monkey agrees with the decision.

Yahoo

Michigan Monday: Way Too Early Look At ND

I was channel surfing this weekend and saw the ND Spring Game on the guide and decided to take a quick look at what ND has this season.    I watched about an hour as Spring Games when they are not your favorite team is like watching grass grow. 


The Bad News:

Winbush is clearly the #1 QB and is a good athlete.  He has a strong arm and can scramble for extra yards, which we know can give the Michigan defense a ton of problems, see JT Barrett. 


ND's wide receivers (Myles Boykin) are huge and athletic, they will be a handful for the talented Michigan CB's.


ND's running backs also seems very good and can get chuck yards when the offense doesn't throw. The Kelly offense looks like it will score plenty of points.    Lots of RPO's.


Drue Tranquill at LB is very good.


The Good News:


Winbush tends to make mistakes in the throwing game and his offensive line looks shaky.   Getting pressure on him with the nation's #1 DL shouldn't be a problem.


It's hard to know how good the defense is in a spring game, but it looked like ND has issues on defense.  The DB's seemed to get beat often and there was a ton of WR's running open most of the game.  


Field goal kicking looking a little shaky and didn't seem to have a ton of range.


"Footwork" Freddy Canteen got in for a few plays but had a red non-contact jersey on.  

• The word on the street is that we might get a decision from the NCAA later this week on the Shea Patterson eligibility.   We will see!
• Charles Matthews will take a shot at the NBA Draft.  This comes as a bit of a surprise, but he says he won't hire an agent and could decide to come back.  The mock drafts don't have him in the first two rounds and unless he just kills the NBA combine, there seems to be a good chance he comes back for another year in A2.
• Elysee Mbem-Bosse apologizes for his threating Harbaugh tweets.   Which most people do when they have crossed the line and the police start to investigate.  Let's hope this is the end to this story.
• Pep on Peters this Spring: “Just taking command of the huddle, making quicker, faster decisions,” Hamilton said. “That’s all the result of having played in games and getting a true sense of how bad the defensive players and their intentions are with regard to hitting the quarterback.”
• Here is an interesting recruit:  2019 Columbus (Ohio) DeSales Joey Velazquez plays both baseball and football and has a scholarship from OSU in baseball.  He is considering playing both sports at Michigan.  He probably would be a DB and plays CF on the diamond.

Michigan Friday: Just Coach Football

I was reading a Mgoblog post yesterday, where they were discussing the state of the program after the coaching changes this spring.   We have heard about the new focus of the new coaches, the younger guys they brought in like Gant and Roundtree, and even the new attitude of head coach Jim Harbaugh.   This paragraph from the article was very interesting to me:


What it means: There’s a sign on Harbaugh’s desk this year that reads “Just coach football” and there’s a strong narrative emanating from Schembechler that his focus has shifted back to the program instead of positioning it (and himself) nationally/globally. I believe that’s being framed so positively by those around the program because that’s their perspective, but that both are worthwhile pursuits. For this year I think it’s a good thing, since the headlines did their jobs and there were some important things being overlooked on the home front.

So the head coach of Michigan's program forgot to coach football?  It happens.   We pay these guys a ton of money and they become CEO's.  Coaching in college is 24/7 and 365 days a year job.   Recruiting never stops, there are alumni events,  charties, golf tournaments, and so on.


Brian Kelly went through the same things two seasons ago at Notre Dame.  He re-focused on football and his team played better last season.  It's hard to fathom that the head coach at Michigan forgot to coach football, but I guess it can happen.    People seem to be saying the right things this spring, but they say the right things every spring.   The proof will be in the results on the field in September. 

• Breaking News: Speaking about coaching football.  OSU former coach Earl Bruce past away this morning.  RIP Coach!

• Ole Miss, pretty much told the NCAA we don't have anything more to add, to Shea Patterson's response to NCAA request for new information.  My guess is Ole Miss is done paying for this situation and just wants to move on.   Which we all should do, once the NCAA grants the waiver!

• 2019 Instate OL recruit Karsen Barnhart was expected to announce today and it was expected to be a Michigan decision, has delayed that announcement.

• Alabama and ND signed a new home and home contract. Alabama will open the 2028 season in South Bend with a return visit to Tuscaloosa in 2029.

• Speaking of Bama, there is plenty of "smoke" around the Jalen Hurts might transfer "fire" story, if he is not named the starter.

• Michigan has offered NJ 2019 defensive end David Ojabo.

Wolverine Wednesday: Too Many Cooks In The Kitchen

The Michigan offense has been a mess since Jedd Fisch left the program.  When Jimmy got hired, he was clear on roles and from the outside it seemed to be working well and guys stayed in their swim lanes.   The offense last year looked disjointed and sometimes (looked like it was) lacking a true game plan. 


Jimmy needed to fix that, while still bringing in top coaching talent.   He hired former Gators head coach and former National Championship OC Jim McElwain and former OSU OC and former National Champion Ed Warinner.   Both are coaching positions groups that is getting a 100% of their time and focus.   Jim McElwain did his first press conference yesterday and has been happy how the WR's have developed this Spring and he is just learning the offense.  Even though Michigan doesn't have an official Offensive Coordinator it seems Pep is running the show on that side of the ball.   Let's hope that clarity and focus, gives Michigan the uplift on offense they need.

• Elysee Mbem-Bosse left the Michigan program in November and it seems he is holding a grudge against Coach Harbaugh.  The police are even looking into some threats.  This is very sad if its true. 

• Newest commit Jack Stewart has a comment for those concerned he is just a 3 star:  "I've never been to a camp. Ever," said Stewart. "A lot of people are coming at me because I'm only a three star. Well, I've never been to a camp. My dad didn't want me to go to camps. He said, 'they'll find you if you're good.' And that's what happened. I never went to a camp. I never went to a combine. And they ended up finding me.  Sounds like Coach Ed Warinner also made a huge impression on Jack when he visited last weekend. 

• Per ESPN Michigan Basketball has moved up to #15 in the country with it's incoming recruiting class.