Thursday, January 5, 2017

Michigan Thursday: Michigan's January Recruiting Board

We finally went a day without a Michigan coach leaving the program or getting an extension.   So I thought I would create a my own opinion on Michigan's recruiting board for the last month of the recruiting cycle for the 2017 class.   The largest needs are on the offensive and defensive lines (specially at defensive tackle). 

  1. Najee Harris - #1 player in the country
  2. Chuck Filiaga - 4 Star OT
  3. Jay Tufele - 4 Star DT
  4. Nico Collins - 4 star WR from Alabama
  5. Mekhi Becton - 3 Star OT from Virginia
  6. Willie Gay - 4 Star LB from Mississippi
  7. A new offensive lineman that we haven't heard about yet.
  8. CT CB Brandon Sebastian, a BC commit will take an official to A2 this month.
Michigan has 26 commits currently and I believe the class will come in at 30. 

Here are my assumptions to the above list:
  • Aubrey Solomon goes to Alabama
  • Willie Gay has some work to do in the classroom and LSU is interested
  • TJ Slaton wants to play on D-line instead of the offensive line and will look at other schools. (KY and FL)
  • OT Toryque Bateman has Michigan in top 3 but there are qualification concerns
  • Jay Tufele is a tough read and will take more officials in January.  I think Michigan will make him a high priority this month, but might be a difficult pull from out West.
  • Michigan may or may not take another DB in this class.
  • I don't have any inside info on the #7 bullet, I'm just betting Jimmy has some Plan B guys if they need another offensive linemen.
  • Michigan might also have to pull a Willie Henry and pick up a DT late in the process if they miss out on Solomon and Tufele, which is a decent possibility.
  • I also expect one or two de-commitments in January from the current commit list.
  • I wouldn't be surprised if Michigan also added a TE or FB late in the process if they have room.
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  • There are some thoughts that Alex Leatherwood's recruiter from Alabama Mario Cristobal could be leaving for Oregon after the NC game.   Don't know how that would effect his recruitment. 

  • Coach Beilein won his 200th game at Michigan last night.  Congrats!

  • No surprise that JT Barrett is coming back for his senior year, he is not a QB prospect at the next level. Raekwon McMillan is heading to the NFL.

4 comments:

Voice of Reason said...

You know, I trust Harbaugh's plan B more than most coaches plan A choices. I believe there is a method to his madness, with all of the satellite camps and the hiring of the non-coaching recruiting staff that have been excellent at identifying and coaching top high school players, you know there is some sort of system to get a jump on and find those kids that fit his style of football regardless of ratings.

They don't have to be a twelve star player if they know from seeing and working with him in a camp that they can bring in a raw materialized three star project and build him up. Someone said recently that when he was at Stanford he was able to bring in three star linemen and turn them into world beaters. That made me wonder about the Nolan Ulizio's and the Stephen Spanellis' that he's recruited. In fact, I remember reading about a month ago one of the players gave unsolicited praise about Ulizio's performance in practice as one to watch. Ulizio was one of the first O-linemen that Harbaugh brought in and fans were asking themselves "why waste a scholarship?" (hmm).

I also remember reading somewhere that when Harbaugh was at Stanford, he would recruit and had a lot of great commits and then a number of them would de-commit. That caused him to develop a strategy that forced him to identify rawer players and develop them. He proved to be very good at it, in fact one of the best. My point being that I don't think we need to freak out if we miss out on a five star player or two. I believe someone will step up and Michigan will put the best players on the field. IMHO!!!

Mike Tebbe said...

Harris to Alabama.

Time to move on to Eno Benjamin.... Very talented RB

Still need Chuck Filiaga, Nico Collins and either Aubrey Solomon or Jay Tufele and Willie Gay...

Great class....

Scott K said...

I think Solomon's "fuck Michigan" video moves Michigan out of his finalists.

Still a great class and I think we can expect Jim to land a guy or two out of left field.

Mike Tebbe said...

Ya... That was reported after I posted....

I agree still a great class with the 26 we currently have..

Anything else is icing...