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| Hollywood (FL) Chaminade-Madonna defensive tackle Khairi Clark (image via 247 Sports) |
Long Beach (CA) cornerback John Ross was offered by Michigan. He's a 5'9", 165 lb. corner with offers from Cal, Purdue, UCLA, Washington, and several others. He was supposedly offered before Channing Stribling, so Michigan may not be actively recruiting him anymore.
Euless (TX) Trinity defensive end Gaius Vaenuku has a Michigan offer. It's unclear when he received the offer because Michigan does not appear to be recruiting more players at his position, so perhaps this is an old offer that was just reported. Regardless, Vaenuku is a 6'6", 260 lb. kid who could play either defensive end or offensive tackle at the next level. He has offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Oklahoma State, TCU, and UCLA, among others. Trinity is the alma mater of offensive guard Hiva Lutui (Utah), whom Michigan offered for the 2012 class. (Highlights.)
ADDED TO THE BOARD: 2014
Nashville (TN) Montgomery Bell Academy offensive tackle Alex Bars was offered by Michigan. In case you haven't figured it out, his older brother is incoming freshman Blake Bars, also an offensive tackle. Alex is a 6'6", 260 lb. athlete who could also play strongside end at the next level, but Michigan wants him as an OT. He has also been offered by Kentucky and Tennessee.
Hollywood (FL) Chaminade-Madonna defensive tackle Khairi Clark was offered by Michigan. Clark is a 6'3", 311 lb. tackle with offers from Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Miami, Notre Dame, and Wisconsin, among others. As a junior in 2011, he had 60 tackles and 8 sacks. If you remember when Rich Rodriguez was going all Ponce de Leon on Florida, he went after Chaminade-Madonna wide receiver Curt Evans (Boston College) and quarterback Jerrard Randall (LSU) in the 2011 class.
La Mirada (CA) La Mirada tight end Tyler Luatua was offered by Michigan. He's a 6'4", 230-pounder who could play either tight end or defensive end at the next level. He has offers from Alabama, Miami, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and USC, among others. His older brother Isaac plays offensive guard for Alabama, but Tyler indicated that he wants to stay closer to home. Either way, he seems unlikely at this point to give Michigan heavy consideration. (Highlights.)
OFF THE BOARD
Damascus (MD) Damascus wide receiver Zach Bradshaw committed to Penn State. He visited Michigan and Michigan State and was high on MSU to start, so this is a win if you're rooting against the Spartans. Penn State hasn't done much in the way of developing wide receivers since, oh, Joe Jurevicius, so I won't be concerned until the Nittany Lions prove me wrong.
Charlotte (NC) Vance linebacker Larenz Bryant committed to South Carolina. Bryant never showed much interest in Michigan when they offered, and the linebacker position was filled shortly thereafter, anyway. The Gamecocks also received a commitment from fellow linebacker target Matt Rolin a couple weeks ago.
Grand Rapids (MI) Christian wide receiver Drake Harris committed to Michigan State. Harris will probably be the first- or second-highest rated player in the state for 2014. The 6'4", 180-pounder hopes to play wide receiver while also playing shooting guard for the Spartans' basketball team.
Pendleton (SC) Pendleton defensive tackle Michael Hill committed to Ohio State. The 6'3", 315 lb. defensive tackle was being recruited for the nose tackle position by Michigan, but never really voiced interest in playing for the Wolverines.
Concord (CA) De La Salle linebacker Michael Hutchings committed to USC. This came as a surprise to exactly no one.
Petaluma (CA) Casa Grande defensive tackle Elijah Qualls committed to Washington. Qualls could play several positions in college - running back, defensive end, or defensive tackle - but Michigan was recruiting him for the defensive tackle position. The commitments of Henry Poggi and Maurice Hurst, Jr. soften the blow considerably.
Moreno Valley (CA) Rancho Verde wide receiver Demorea Stringfellow committed to Washington. He was slightly interested in Michigan and could have been the playmaking receiver that the coaches hope to get out of LaQuon Treadwell, so the window continues to narrow on guys who can make things happen after the catch.
You make an interesting point about Joe Jurevicius being the last WR that PSU developed. Thinking back, they had a string of decent WR's in the '80's and early '90's. But you are right that it came to a halt about 15 years ago. You can probably say the same for QB's (Clark arguably had a couple solid years in there). This must be an issue with player development and/or offensive scheme, because they have brought in decent prospects over the years. Maybe poor QB play has been the biggest factor. Will be interesting to see if this new pass-happy coach turns that trend around.
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling that he's going to turn it around on offense, and some of the defensive coaches stayed. I think PSU is going to be pretty formidable in the coming years, but the recent history on offense hasn't been great.
DeleteWhat positions do you see the coaches still targeting for 2013, or are they just targeting remaining talent with Michigan interest at this point? I know they have positions we still haven't taken this year, and likely won't need to with kids likely redshirting from 2012 at SDE and such.
ReplyDeleteI think the only position that they WILL take is wide receiver. The other spot could be a running back or defensive back. At this point, I think Michigan can practically take the best available player that wants to come.
DeleteGoing all Ponce de Leon ...... I'm going to dwell on that one for a bit .........................................................
ReplyDeleteYup, I'm using it.
Glad to be of service.
DeleteLooks like 2014 will be a rather large class as well. We stand to graduate 18 players without typical attrition, and the junior class behind them has only 15 kids in it. We're gonna have an even younger team pretty soon.
ReplyDeleteEh, since 2002 the smallest classes were 17 and 19, with all other classes being 20-27. So 18 is right on the mark, even if you figure in a few more spots due to attrition.
DeleteAnd regular attrition for the 2013 numbers could come out of those 18 graduating too, I guess.
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