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| Pharaoh Brown |
So much for making it through a recruiting cycle without losing a commitment. Lyndhurst (OH) Brush TE/DE Pharaoh Brown (commitment post here) will no longer be attending Michigan next year. The 6'7", 220 lb. tight end seemed slightly disgruntled and headstrong during a late-season interview in which he said that he was starting to enjoy playing offense and that he might have to talk with Michigan's coaches about switching from defense to offense. I started to wonder about his attitude toward Michigan when I saw that interview. Sometimes kids say things like that and laugh; Brown wasn't laughing.
Brown talked to Michigan's coaches about playing on the offensive side of the ball, and they allowed him to flip to tight end. But apparently that wasn't good enough. Brown took an official visit to Oregon this past weekend and, by all accounts, failed to mention it to U of M's coaching staff. The reason? It's a definite no-no to Brady Hoke and his staff. Fellow class of 2012 player Terry Richardson had plans to visit elsewhere this fall, but he was talked out of it also. Hoke believes that if a player commits to a school, he shouldn't visit elsewhere. And if he does, then he's risking his chance to play for the Wolverines.
I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of Hoke's tactics here. While I understand that he only wants players who strongly want to attend Michigan, I also believe that players should have the opportunity to explore their options. Especially when the coaching staff is trying to get so many commits early in the recruiting cycle (for example, there are two already in the fold for February 2013), they ought to give kids a little leeway.
This is not to say that Brown should still be considered a commit by Hoke. But in my opinion, Hoke should say, "Okay, you're clearly not committed to Michigan at this time. Go explore your options and I hope you sign with us in February, but in the meantime, I'm not going to hold your spot and it might not be here if or when you want it." Of course, it's entirely possible that Hoke sent that message to Brown, but the prevailing thought seems to be that Michigan will no longer be recruiting Brown.
Brown is a 4-star prospect to Rivals and 247 Sports, and a 3-star to both ESPN and Scout. While it's disappointing to lose someone with his raw talent and skill level, his loss probably won't be an extremely damaging blow to this recruiting class. Michigan has two other tight ends in this class (Devin Funchess, A.J. Williams) and four defensive ends (Matt Godin, Mario Ojemudia, Tom Strobel, Chris Wormley). Meanwhile, the Wolverines have needs at defensive tackle, offensive line, wide receiver, running back, and quarterback. With the recruiting class down from 24 to 23, this leaves five open slots to pursue guys who might have been squeezed out of the class by pure numbers, such as perhaps Jordan Diamond or Yuri Wright. There's also the possibility that Michigan will try to pursue San Diego (CA) Westview TE Taylor McNamara, who recently re-opened his recruitment; however, considering Michigan was content with two tight ends prior to Brown's flip from defense to offense, I'm assuming they won't go hard after another tight end.
For other news on former Wolverines, check out the Ex-Wolverine Encyclopedia.
The belief that Pharaoh Brown will no longer be recruited by UM is incorrect. According to Sam Webb, while Brown is no longer considered a commit, he will, in fact, continue to be recruited by the staff.
ReplyDeleteHe would need to do a lot of filling up/lifting to be utilized on the defensive side of the ball position. 6'7" and 220 (He is a tweener)? I guess I could see him as a DE if he added, I don't know, 50 lbs, but even so, he seems a bit tall for DE, no? No disrespect to Brown, I am sure he is a great kid and a solid athlete, but I would not be all that disappointed if we took Yuri, Dunn, Garnett, Banner, Darboh, Diamond, Diggs, etc. in his place.
ReplyDeleteTom Beaver also said on Scout that they are still recruiting Pharaoh Brown but the staff no longer views him as a commit. I think there is still a pretty good shot he ends up a Wolverine.
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous 11:29 a.m. and bada bing 11:39 a.m.
ReplyDeleteWell, I hope you're right, because I like Brown. Sam Webb knows more than me, so if he said it (I didn't hear the show), then I guess he's probably right.
@ Anonymous 11:37 a.m.
ReplyDeleteI think you're underestimating Brown's skills. He was 220 before this season, which means that 220 is probably a lowball estimate of his weight. Meanwhile, he's one of the most athletic guys in the entire class. Mario Williams is 6'7", so no, I don't think he's too tall to develop into an elite player. Wherever Brown ends up (offense, defense, Michigan, Oregon, etc.), I think he's going to be pretty good.
"Those who stay will be Champions"
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear the reports that UM is still open to a re-commitment. It is hard to know what the staff thinks about him deep down. I think Brown is a top notch "big" athlete, the type that UM has not been attracting the last several years. And he has potential at multiple positions. Who knows how his body will respond to the weight program, but he would be heavy enough to be a pass rush specialist at minimum. The coaches may have agreed to the move to TE, but maybe they were not thrilled with it. I see him as having more potential than Funchess at TE. But you don't need a ton of TE's on the roster and very few are difference-makers at the college level anyway.
ReplyDeleteI was very disappointed to see this. When I heard he was switching to TE a few weeks ago I got started having visions of Jermichael Finley in a winged helmet dancing through my head. Hopefully he still ends up blue in the end.
ReplyDeleteDoes anybody know for sure whether Brown had a conversation with the staff prior to this visit or if he just went and then tweeeted that he was there?
ReplyDeleteWhen I say conversation with the staff, I mean in addition and subsequent to that conversation which is reputed to happen with all commits at the time of their commitment having to do with trips after their having committed and spots going away.
And has Brown had an official to Michigan or was it this weekend?
Any chance that Michigan wants Brown to not commit since they have depth in this class at TE and WDE and they want someone like Schutt without losing out on a top tier guy like Diggs, Payton, Darboh, etc?
ReplyDeleteIf Oregon is recruiting him all the way from Ohio, I want him.
ReplyDeleteWe need bodies at TE, because no one coming back is a reliable contributor.
I have a feeling Brown will work is way back onto the team. He made a "dumb kid" decision and I bet the coaches are gonna see how the rest of the class fills up and then decide where they go from there if he still wants on.
ReplyDeleteKid should have knew better, though.
Roanman:
ReplyDeleteFrom what I heard on the radio this morning w/Sam Webb, it sounds like Brown just took the visit w/o saying anything to Michigan.
That kind of behavior wouldn't sit well with me if I were a coach at UM.
Since Brown was committed to UM, I assume he's already
taken his official to UM, but I don't know for certain.
@ Roanman 4:41 p.m.
ReplyDeleteBrown has not taken his official visit to Michigan yet.
This thing feels retrievable to me if either party wants it to be.
ReplyDeleteYou got a kid starting to feel himself a little bit wanting the rest of the world to feel him too, decide he's gonna just do what he wants. Coaches can't say anything publicly ..... rules.
It could be fixed already ..... or not.
I was pumped at the notion of Brown at TE because being me, I want to move 6'5" and skinny Funchess outside in order to abuse 5'10" CBs.
So, just for scorekeeping purposes, that's Houma to TB, RJS to FB, Brown to TE, Funchess and Gant to WR leaving plenty of room for Schutt, the other big interior kid from Washington that Thunder likes, Dunn and Wright.
Class complete.
Still kidding ... sort of.
I agree that the general policy should be something like "Okay, you're clearly not committed to Michigan at this time. Go explore your options and I hope you sign with us in February, but in the meantime, I'm not going to hold your spot and it might not be here if or when you want it." But maybe Hoke expects that commits will be upfront and ask to take visits as opposed to sneaking around. It's also possible that someone had a conversation with him and Brown didn't react well. Again, we really don't know the story. So far, I can't fault Hoke for his recruiting prowess/methods so I am inclined to give the staff the benefit of the doubt here. Maybe the two sides smooth over their differences and he still ends up in this class anyway.
ReplyDelete