Michigan Football: State of The Recruiting Union - Week 2 January 2010

Michigan has 23 verbal commits with the presumed loss of Adrian Witty and Tony Drake from the 2010 class.

Michigan has 2 spots left for a full class of 25 and somewhere between 3-4 more spots for overflow recruits due to not signing a full class in 2009, early enrollees in this class, and players leaving early to the NFL.

Michigan has three more "visit ready" weekends before signing day on February 3rd. With official visits left, Rich Rod and other coaches on the road they will be "selling" the Michigan program and future success to the following high school seniors.

Below is my opinion of Michigan's Recruit Board:

1. Sean Parker, Safety from California: I believe Sean is Rich Rod's biggest priority to end this class. The safety position needs depth on the Michigan roster and having Sean in this class is very important. Sean just played in the Army All American game and has a final 3 of Michigan, USC, and CAL. With the changes at USC, Michigan has an opening to convince Sean to leave the state.
2. Dillon Baxter, RB from San Diego - Dillon was a USC lock before Pete headed to the Pacific Northwest. He visited Ann Arbor for the OSU game and was impressed but was still planning on enrolling early at USC. Now Dillon hasn't enrolled and maybe open to other schools, including Michigan. Tate and Dillon are friends, but it most likely will come down to who gets the USC job and what the NCAA does. Michigan lost a RB in this class due to academics and Dillon would be a "huge" get for the Wolverines.
3. Tony Grimes, CB Florida- Tony seemed to be a Michigan lock until recently when Michigan lost it's LB coach and Grimes recruiter Jay Hopson to Memphis. Tony also played in a cold weather all star game and didn't enjoy it. Michigan is still in the race but they will have to show Tony a lot of love the next 3 weeks. Miami and Ole' Miss are in hunt for Tony.
4. Rashad Knight, a Safety/CB from Florida. Rashad is planning a visit to Ann Arbor this month and Michigan might have to play catch up to Rutgers. So having a chance to get him on campus will be a great opportunity to get him to drink the "kool aide".
5. Jatashun "Big Tex" Beachum, at DT from Texas. Jatashun is committed to Arkansas and really enjoyed his visit to Ann Arbor this Fall. His recruitment has been quiet for awhile now and some insiders believe that Ann Arbor maybe too far from home for "Big Tex" and that the smart money is on him staying with Arkansas.
6. Jibreel Black, a DE from Cincinnati that has been committed to Indiana and Cincinnati already. If Michigan gets him to come up for a visit, I think they have a shot but I would say he ends up sticking with Butch Jones and UC.
7. Mike Taylor is a LB committed to Tennessee. He played in the UA game and played very well. Getting him to Michigan would be a huge last minute steal for the Wolverines. I would have him higher on the priority list, if I thought Michigan had a real shot of him changing his commitment. Michigan needs Parker and Taylor the most.
8. Torrian Wilson, Offensive Lineman from Miami and DT from the same school Todd Chandler. Both were planning a visit to Ann Arbor the last weekend in January but Michigan might get bumped for Louisville, which is coming on strong for both of these Miami teammates after Charlie Strong took over.
9. A Surprise Recruit or Two: A few recruiting insiders are saying that Michigan is working on a couple of "surprise" recruits. The word is they are on the Offensive and Defensive line. Michigan currently only has one offensive lineman in the 2010 class.

It's really getting down to crunch time and Michigan needs to keep their current commits committed and finish the class strong in the next 3 weeks. Many of the players are planning to announce on signing day and Michigan needs to know exactly where those kids are going. They don't need a repeat of 2009 where they landed Denard Robinson and Je'Ron Stokes but lost two defensive tackles.

Michigan lost out on two different defensive line recruits lately with Hankins and Murphy both going to other schools. They could use a DT, 2 DB's, a LB and a All American Running Back to finish this class.