Wolverine Wednesday: Time is Not On Their Side for 2013 Recruits

Today is March 14th, 2012 and most of America is gearing up for the NCAA Tournament which starts on Thursday but play-in games kicked off last night.   In past years, if you are a highly ranked high school football player you had plenty of time to make a decision and could pretty much pick the school you wanted in the next 10 months or so.   You could even delay your decision until an all star game and pick a hat on national TV. 

Well, that might not be the case if you want to become a Wolverine.   I still am keeping this years number at 20 spots and The Wolverines have filled 15 of those spots already.  That means Michigan has 5 spots left and could be close to full after the spring game. 

Tight End is one of the spots Michigan is looking to take another player in and the class filling up is having effect on recruits.  Scott Orndoff a TE that committed to Wisconsin before it's entire offensive staff went to Pitt is coming in this weekend:  “If I decide I want to go there, I will have to make a decision quickly,” Orndoff said, “because of how quickly they are filling their spots. Like every player I just want what is best for me. Like whether it would be the school (academics), or how much playing time I am going to get. There is a lot that goes into it (recruiting). But definitely the way this class is filling up, I can’t take my time if I decide to go there. They are not going got wait for me, you know.”

Running Back is another tight race.  Michigan has one spot one left and two high profile guys looking at it.  Ty Isaac was in last weekend and DeVeon Smith will be in town this weekend.  Many thought DeVeon would pull the trigger this weekend, but he has started to back off that stance now.   It seems it could be a race to who commits firsts for those two guys.

Defensive Tackle probably has two spots left and has been a little under the radar so far.   Two guys who I think are top candidates to commit, is this weekend visitor Henry Poggi and former visitor Rod Crayton.  The buzz is Rod is trying to get back to Ann Arbor soon for another visit.

Wide Receiver could be the one position we have to wait for to fill up.  Michigan's top prospect is Laquon Treadwell and recruiting a few more guys as well.   Minnesota WR James Onwualu was planning a visit to Ann Arbor today, but that visit will need to be re-scheduled.   I think Michigan would like to take 3 WR's in this class if some more spots open up. 

Michigan is still waiting on one LB with three strong candiates in the fold:  E.J. Levenberry, Dorian O'Daniel, Ben Gedeon.  Many thought Ben would be Blue by now but nothing official/public.   EJ is expected to announce at an all star game which would push his recruitment all the way to January.  Dorian is expected in town for the Spring Game.  (I wonder if he comes if Ben commits?)

5 spots open and with 1 TE, 1 RB, 2WR, 2 DT's and 1 LB= 7 spots.  If Michigan doesn't get any more attrition I expect they would only take 1 more WR & DT.

It's March but this class could be filled up by April.   (I hope there are a few spots open so we have something to talk about this summer!)