Thursday, December 10, 2015

Michigan Thursday: A Lot of Things In The Wind

There is a ton of speculation right now on who the next DC is going to be.  We know Scott Shafer was picked up by DJ at Maryland and it seemed Jimmy wasn't that interested anyway.    The two candidates that seem to be coming up is Georgia's DC Jeremy Pruitt and Stanford DC Lance Anderson.   Reports are that Jeremy is scheduled to meet with Jimmy on Friday.   I wouldn't be surprised if Jimmy has already spoken with Lance.   Some have speculated that Lance might be considering an offer from Michigan right now.

Pruitt is the biggest name out there for an available DC.  He is known as a great coach and a great recruiter, though he does have some baggage.   He is known as a tough person to work with and there were reports he got into some type of physical altercation with former Georgia coach Mark Richt this past season.   He is not expected to be retained when Alabama DC Kirby Smart takes over Georgia.  There is some thinking that Pruitt may also be a candidate for Alabama's DC role as that is where he played his college ball.  Pruitt's specialty is also coaching DB's and Michigan already has two of those coaches currently on staff.

  • In what was expected, David Reese an instate LB commit, de-committed last night.   Michigan recruited him as a FB and then he wanted to play LB.   David wants to enroll early and Michigan didn't have a spot for him.   This is a clear sign that Michigan was not 100% sold on him playing LB.   With that said, David has had a ton of offers since his Michigan commit and will end up at a big time school.   Good luck to him!

  • Michigan WR recruiting might be an issue.   Michigan just offered 3 star 5'11 Tennessee WR  Nate Johnson.   This offer is pretty late in the process.  NJ WR Donald Stewart had an in-home with Michigan coaches this week and continues to be very interested in Michigan.   Corely is expected to be going to MSU.

  • Instate DB Lavert Hill will take his official visit to A2 this weekend. 

7 comments:

Big35Hurt said...

If Jeremy Pruitt and Lance Anderson don't pan out, what's the chances that Mattison gets the gig?

I open this up to the group....On the recruiting front....what's your feeling that we sign each of the following recruits (give it a % grade, I'll list mine)

Isaac Nauta - 50% with the disclaimer that Michigan is BY FAR the best fit for him and his skill set. I had him at around 30% until Richt got fired and Eason rumored to leave. I'm REALLY hoping Eason leaves.

Delanie Walker - 80% Perfect fit with a perfect opportunity. We have enough Clydesdales, we need a thoroughbred!

Devin Bush Jr - 25%. I just have a feeling he's gonna go where his daddy played...

Rashaun Gary - 99.9% He's coming to the Big Blue. I just feel it. The only thing that can change that is if Bama brings a big bag of money to his house just like they did with Damien Harris (you know that happened!)

Terrance Davis - 85% Jimmy is building a real bunch of MAULERS on the OLine isn't he? :o)

Caleb Kelly - 20% I list him cuz he's a high profile player at a position of need..... I'm inclined to say it's probably even less than 20%, but the Jimmy Factor coupled with the opportunity to start right away gives us an outside shot. He's likely pretty much a Sooner...

Mecole Hardman Jr. - 30% I know we are "late to the game" but with the Georgia situation, I think we could become a player here for a top 10 recruit and perhaps the top athlete in the land. This would be a great get if we could somehow pull it off.

Random Shots: WE NEED LB HELP!!!! So, let's get it done boys!

Big35Hurt said...

LOL I just realized that I wrote "Delanie" Walker.....Can you tell that I have been working on my Fan Duel lineup this morning also and Delanie Walker on the brain? It's obviously Kareen Walker....by the way, he set his commitment date for 1 week from today. he's got to be going BLUE!!!

Big35Hurt said...

1 more name to add....

Lavert Hill - 95% I don't think he de-committed from Sandusky U and has been a fixture at UM games because he's looking elsewhere. I think he's definitely coming here.

Scott K said...

Rumor is Eason and Nauta are going to be in Gainsville.

ScottyDoggs said...

I have got to throw in my two cents worth... Anyways, Harbaugh ought to recruit Michelle Roque (plays flag football at Florida State... she is famous. Throws accurately on the run(out of the pocket) ,and can turn on the burners(boogies) when she runs... she has hoards of highlights on all the sport networks... very impressive and athletic.
Maybe not for Michigan , but I do believe she could run a team in division III... anyways it's great to watch her highlights.

Voice of Reason said...

I like Harbaugh's approach here with the DC. I believe he has an idea who he's like to have in that position. The opening has already been posted nationally, and anyone who is interested can express an interest.

I don't believe that he'd go for the high profile name just to get a "name" to impress the kids. It should be a person who fits that program and can at least maintain if not continue to upgrade the defense.

DJ Durkin (no sour grapes really) got the credit for building a defense that for the most part was already built. He introduced another concept regarding their playing schemes but the foundation and structure was already there. G-Matt did most of the heavy lifting from the past few years and so this defense would have in my opinion taken a step forward even without Durkin.
Any coordinator coming in will not be working from scratch. In fact, if we get the LB pieces, D-line depth and so forth that we will likely get, whomever arrives will also get the credit for doing such a "great job" with this Michigan defense.

Durkin for all he's done still couldn't stop the run particularly against the good spread teams. For all intent and purposes he was exposed, because he didn't know how to adjust during the games or when he knew that the osu game was coming up. If Michigan had been slated to play Ole Miss in the Citrus bowl, we would have been screwed!!! Also, Durkin coached the LB's, so have our LB play gotten any better? We can question if the LB's are quality or not, but have they actually gotten any better? No? Sometimes you have addition by subtraction.

However, I don't blame him for getting out while the getting was good. I want Harbaugh to do this DC thing right and get a good one this time. IMHO!!!

Bob said...

I don't think GMat is the long term solution. I think he wants to retire in a year maybe two. Family is in A2 and I think he is just fine making $800K a year coaching the D-Line.