Cincinnati (OH) St. Xavier quarterback Chase Herbstreit committed to Michigan on Sunday. Michigan appears to have been his only FBS offer.
Herbstreit is listed at 6'2" and 185 pounds on 247 Sports. As a senior in 2024, he threw for 1,600 yards and 16 touchdowns. He also ran for 649 yards and 8 touchdowns.
RANKINGS
ESPN: Unranked
On3: 3-star, 83 grade, #128 QB
Rivals: 3-star QB, 5.5 grade
247 Sports: 3-star, 83 grade, #148 QB
Hit the jump for more.
Herbstreit is the son of former Ohio State quarterback Kirk Herbstreit, who is now of course a national household name for his work on College GameDay and both college and NFL broadcasts. While it's not the norm for an Ohio State legacy to end up at Michigan or vice versa, it does occasionally happen. Former Michigan linebacker Mike McCray II was an Ohio State legacy, for example, and there are several others.
While Allen Trieu of 247 Sports did confirm this is a full scholarship, it's a bit of an odd commit since Michigan just signed #1 overall recruit Bryce Underwood at the quarterback position. It does make some sense for Herbstreit because he gets a scholarship to a big-time program, and the pressure won't be on him to play anytime soon. And from a Michigan perspective, it makes sense to recruit a guy who probably knows he needs to sit and marinate on the bench for a little while before he's close to being ready to play.
As you might expect for a guy who didn't have an FBS offer until December of his senior year, Herbstreit has some limitations. For better or worse, he actually reminds me somewhat of Davis Warren. Herbstreit doesn't have great arm strength, and he takes some risks sometimes when trying to layer the ball or fit it into tight windows. He gets away with it in high school because of the talent disparity, but he just won't be able to make some of those throws at the college level. His deep ball is probably better than his short or intermediate throws, because he puts a lot of air under his deep throws - reminding me of Warren's spring game TD to Kendrick Bell. Also like Warren, his feet can be a little sloppy at times and he doesn't always step into or follow through on his throws.
Where Herbstreit clearly surpasses Warren is with his running ability. Warren has decent quickness to escape the pocket and gain a few yards if nobody's paying attention, but Herbstreit has a little more acceleration and top-end speed. He won't be confused for a running QB, but he could potentially take off and scramble once in a while or gain an occasional first down on a zone read.
Overall, Herbstreit is an insurance policy and a developmental piece. As long as Underwood is on the roster, we shouldn't expect to see Herbstreit on the field in a meaningful capacity. Down the road, he could potentially be an upperclassman game manager type who complements a solid running game.
TTB Rating: 60
We live in interesting times.
ReplyDeleteSo Denegal has gone to the portal, which is not a shock. It will be interesting to see where he goes, and how well he does. If he has his heart set on being a QB, and he lands somewhere not named 'Michigan' and does relatively well, then what does that say about Michigan's QB development and utilization?
No OC name has been announced. Do we read the tea leaves as this means the target candidate is on staff to one of the playoff teams?
Michigan gets Alabama in the Whatever Bowl in Tampa. The opt-outs will be many, and the younger fellers will get a chance to play. Good for them. The non-playoff bowl games are now glorified practices and pre-spring spring games. What's the strategy for that game? Is winning really the objective (for recruiting, prestige, etc.), or is the objective more about getting game reps in prep for next year?
Opt outs ought to be pretty interesting. I assume Graham and Grant but who else? Loveland and Johnson are injured anyway so that might be a legit injury situation still.
DeleteI suspect portal departures (like Giudice and Anderson) and injuries are a bigger deal than opt outs this time around. But maybe Mullings or Edwards? Hinton or Priebe? Stewart or Moore? Paige or Johnson?
Thinking about Underwood ... Kirk Campbell was the QB coach and OC, and he's gone. If you're Sherrone Moore, do you have one coach fill both roles? Or do you separate the OC and QB roles, and get someone specifically to focus on and maximize Underwood's potential?
ReplyDeleteIt's been said before: with Underwood, Sherrone Moore's job at HC is linked to how well Underwood -- and by extension, the team -- does. That doesn't mean he has to with the national championship every year. But if the team struggles, and Underwood looks underutilized and lost, then it won't bode well for Moore. For the record, I don't think that will happen. But it gets to the question I asked: do you get a QB coach in to focus on the QB role, and have the OC duties shouldered by someone else?
I don't mind the addition, but do wonder about roster limits. We're running low on space, and fast if we add double digit transfers
ReplyDeleteAs for Herbie, I don't mind a Davis Warren type as long as we recruit better before & after this time, and he doesn't climb higher than QB3
One thing about QB depth charts is that they never really end up as planned. Even in a case like JJ where everything goes basically perfectly; 1 year apprentice, 2 years starting, off to the NFL -- Michigan definitely didn't expect for his top backups as a junior to be 7th year Jack Tuttle and 2nd year Alex Orji.
Deletewell they should have anticipated it. they didnt recruit anyone before or after mccarthy. QB turned TE the year prior, then 2 inaccurate wrecks the year after. harbaugh dropped the ball big time. were fine with it bc he won a ring, then moore landed the nations top prospect. but harbaughs track record of developing QB recruits/transfers, aside from mccarthy, was nightmarish for a top 10 type program.
Deletehavent seen/heard much on jaden davis, still early. however a kid with his physical traits would have to be lights out accurate with incredible poise & instincts to warrant such a long engagement/verbal to top 10 program with depth trouble. guess well find out what hes about.
re herbstreit - its not like theyre done looking at portal QBs or it alters future QB recruiting since NIL offers more roster flexibility. just another body for the room. harbaugh definitely supplemented the bottom of his roster well (among many other things). he added a depth QB every year or every other year and also found quite a few valuable walkons. and walkon culture has an impact. seems moore intends to build on that. heres hoping young herbie hits the weight room, develops into a trustworthy player in 2-3 years, then earns a few snaps at michigan or transfers down for PT. seems like a win/win move
McNamara was here before McCarthy, and will remain in the college game for a couple seasons past him. Transfer is not shocking in the modern age of course but I don't know how much you can put it on Harbaugh.
DeleteTo me it's on Campbell and Moore that they did nothing in the portal at QB in the 2024 offseason and didn't do enough to address the severe QB limitations with Warren/Orji/Tuttle/Davis/Denegal as the options. It was not really a problem when JJ was here and it very obviously was when he wasn't. NOBODY should know that better than Moore and Campbell.
If Harbaugh is around he probably would have addressed it - as he did in 2015 and 2018. Campbell and Moore took a different path and ended up with a QB room far worse than anything Harbaugh ever had.
SPY!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteDon't trust it.
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OK more seriously -- " insurance policy and a developmental piece" nails it. He'll be a presence in the room. Assuming he is a high character kid AND he isn't needing to start immediately, this should be beneficial to the program. I like the idea in theory.
I just don't like it being a guy with such strong OSU ties. In a portal mad world I'd love to imagine him sticking around, exceeding expectations, and maybe starting after Underwood is off to the NFL. But that doesn't seem too likely to happen with most kids. I worry that he might spend a few years "interning" at the Michigan program and then joining up with the bad guys. Like Boren and Mattison (and to a far lesser extent Vazquez). But I guess you can't worry too much about that.