Recruiting Update: January 6, 2015

Reisterstown (MD) Franklin offensive tackle Pat Allen

This is a huge recruiting update. I am a masochist.

ADDED TO THE BOARD: 2015
Reisterstown (MD) Franklin offensive tackle Pat Allen decommitted from Georgia. He was supposedly leaning toward committing to Tennessee on Sunday night in the Semper Fidelis All-American Bowl, but he ended up not announcing a decision at all. That is supposedly because he is re-considering the Bulldogs. Allen visited Michigan in the fall for an official visit, so a concerted effort by Harbaugh could get the Wolverines back in the mix.

Winter Garden (FL) West Orange running back Dexter Williams decommitted from Miami. A long-time Miami commit, he had been wavering for a while. In early December he said he was on track to graduate early and enroll at Miami in January, but that has fallen off. A reported score of 17 on his ACT might hamper his chances of qualifying at some schools, but he took an official to Louisville, has one set to Notre Dame, and is being pursued hard by Florida. Williams is a 6'0", 192 lb. prospect who's a 247 Composite 4-star, the #10 running back, and #83 overall.

OFF THE BOARD
Miami (FL) Booker T. Washington tight end Devonaire Clarington committed to Texas at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. Clarington played defensive end his senior, but he is expected to be an offensive player for the Longhorns.

New Orleans (LA) Warren Easton wide receiver Tyron Johnson committed to LSU at the Under Armour All-American Game, which was exactly what everyone expected.

McKinney (TX) North running back Ronald Jones II committed to USC at the Under Armour All-American Bowl. He had previously been committed to Oklahoma State.

Bellflower (CA) St. John Bosco offensive guard Zach Robertson committed to Arizona State. Robertson was a high school teammate of quarterback Josh Rosen, who enrolled early at UCLA.

Manassas (VA) Stonewall Jackson defensive tackle Tim Settle committed to Virginia Tech during the Under Armour All-American Game. At one time Settle was presumed to be leaning toward Ohio State, and he was also friendly with 2014 defensive end Da'Shawn Hand (Alabama), who was thought to be a draw at one time (Settle also had an Alabama offer).

Missouri City (TX) Fort Bend Marshall cornerback Kendall Sheffield committed to Alabama at the Under Armour All-American Game.

Dallas (TX) Skyline linebacker Anthony Wheeler committed to Texas at the Under Armour All-American Game.

Hit the jump for a bunch of brief profiles on potential recruits to look at for 2015, plus some miscellaneous recruiting tidbits from the last week or two.

May 2014 Coach Visits

Wayne (NJ) De Paul running back Kareem Walker

I'm going to start a running list of the prospects Michigan has stopped by to see during the month of May. There may be some spillover from late April as I find out about coach visits. Like last month's post, the newest additions will be placed at the top of each year's list of prospects. Offered players are denoted by an asterisk.

2015
Auden Tate - WR - Tampa (FL) Wharton*
Damien Harris - RB - Berea (KY) Madison Southern*
Ray-Ray McCloud III - RB - Tampa (FL) Sickles*
Devante Peete - WR - Fort Lauderdale (FL) St. Thomas Aquinas*
Jordan Scarlett - RB - Fort Lauderdale (FL) St. Thomas Aquinas
Deon Cain - WR - Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy
Henry Roberts - OT - Bellevue (WA) Bellevue*
Amari Henderson - CB - Charlotte (NC) Mallard Creek
Hunter Dale - S - New Orleans (LA) John Curtis
Juval Mollette - WR - Randleman (NC) Randleman*
Johnny Frasier - RB - Princeton (NC) Princeton*
Darian Roseboro - DE - Lincolnton (NC) Lincolnton*
Tyriq Thompson - LB - Detroit (MI) King*
Iman Marshall - CB - Long Beach (CA) Poly*
Kendall Sheffield - CB - Missouri City (TX) Fort Bend Marshall*
Tyrone Wheatley, Jr. - TE - Manlius (NY) Canisius*
Chris Clark - TE - Avon (CT) Old Farms*
Michael Weber - RB - Detroit (MI) Cass Tech*
Mikell Lands-Davis - RB - Douglasville (GA) Alexander*
Osa Masina - LB - Salt Lake City (UT) Brighton*
Jake Pickard - TE - Millburn (NJ) Millburn
Keisean Lucier-South - DE - Orange (CA) Lutheran*
Brandon Knight - OG - Noblesville (IN) Noblesville
Vic Thomas - DE - Orlando (FL) First Academy
Garrett Williams - TE - Orlando (FL) First Academy
Garrett Thomas - OT - Many (LA) Many*
Dexter Williams - RB - Orlando (FL) West Orange (Miami commit)*
Michael Ojemudia - LB - Farmington Hills (MI) Harrison
T.J. Simmons - RB - Lakeland (FL) Christian
DaMarkus Lodge - Cedar Hill (TX) Cedar Hill*
Kyle Marcincik - WR - Dublin (OH) Coffman
Sotonye Jamabo - RB - Plano (TX) West*

This post is getting long, so hit the jump for 2016 and 2017 prospects.

Recruiting Update: January 27, 2014

Stephenville (TX) Stephenville quarterback Jarrett Stidham

ADDED TO THE BOARD: 2014
Fort Lauderdale (FL) University School defensive end Richard Yeargin III decommitted from Notre Dame. He probably would have been an outside linebacker for the Fighting Irish, but he's expected to end up at Clemson now, where I believe he will be a defensive end.

ADDED TO THE BOARD: 2015
Corona (CA) Santiago quarterback Blake Barnett was offered by Michigan. He's a 6'3", 195 lb. prospect with offers from Arizona, Cal, and UCLA, among others, and he has been committed to Notre Dame since last November. According to 247's Composite rankings, he's a 4-star, the #6 pro-style QB, and the #135 player overall. As a junior in 2013, he passed for 2,332 yards and 22 touchdowns, and he ran for 695 yards and 13 touchdowns. He runs a spread offense in high school and has a good combination of throwing and running abilities. Following Michigan's offer, he stated that he was solid with Notre Dame but would check into what the policy is on taking other visits, so the offer appears to have stirred at least a little bit of interest.

Princeton (NJ) Princeton running back Johnny Frasier was offered by Michigan. He's a 5'11", 200 lb. prospect with offers from Georgia, North Carolina, and Penn State, among others. According to the 247 Composite, he's a 3-star, the #57 running back, and #651 overall in the class. As a sophomore in 2012, he had 229 carries for 1,792 yards and 21 touchdowns, plus 13 catches for 194 yards and 2 more scores. Frasier has decent speed and vision, but his biggest asset might be his balance; he doesn't run over tacklers, but he bounces off and keeps moving forward.

Berea (KY) Madison Southern running back Damien Harris decommitted from Michigan. Harris had been committed to the Wolverines since summer 2013, but the poor season combined with the departure of offensive coordinator Al Borges has made him rethink some things. His mother went on the record saying that the Wolverines are still #1 on Harris's priority list, but it's rare that kids decommit from a school and then end up signing with that school, the stories of David Dawson and Will Campbell be damned. One school that may benefit is Ohio State, which was high on Harris's list before he chose the Wolverines; however, Michigan was his childhood favorite, so hopefully the 247 Composite #2 running back stays true to his youth.

Cedar Hill (TX) Cedar Hill wide receiver DaMarkus Lodge was offered by Michigan. He's a 6'2", 190 lb. prospect with offers from Auburn, Baylor, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech, among others. He's a 247 Composite 4-star, the #3 WR, and the #52 player overall. As a junior in 2013, he had 72 receptions for 1,255 yards and 22 touchdowns. He has very good speed and runs nice routes, but he is also very likely to stay in the state of Texas.

Orange (CA) Lutheran defensive end Keisean Lucier-South was offered by Michigan. I wrote up a scouting report on him last Friday.

Stephenville (TX) Stephenville quarterback Jarrett Stidham was offered by Michigan. He's a 6'3", 190 lb. prospect with offers from Baylor, Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Oregon, TCU, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech, among others. He's a 247 Composite 4-star, the #2 dual-threat QB, and #46 overall. As a junior in 2013, he completed 160/268 (60%) of his passes for 2,687 yards, 30 touchdowns, and 5 interceptions; he also ran 143 times for 975 yards (6.8 yards/attempt) and 16 touchdowns. Baylor appears to be the leader for Stidham, which would make some sense because head coach Art Briles was Stephenville's coach before moving on to the college ranks.



Lawrenceville (GA) Central Gwinnett outside linebacker Adonis Thomas was offered by Michigan. He's a 6'4", 215 lb. prospect with offers from Florida, Florida State, Miami, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Texas A&M, among others. He's a 247 Composite 3-star, the #40 athlete, and the #376 player overall. Thomas is listed as an athlete partly because he plays receiver, but he's too stiff to be an offensive player at the next level. He looks like a SAM linebacker who may be able to grow into a weakside end at some point. Florida and Ohio State are two teams out front right now, and Michigan struggles to pull kids out of Georgia.

ADDED TO THE BOARD: 2016
Lawrenceville (GA) Central Gwinnett offensive tackle E.J. Price was offered by Michigan. He's a 6'5", 273 lb. prospect with offers from Auburn, Florida State, Miami, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin, among others. Price moves very well for a kid his size and should be a left tackle prospect going forward. Price is just the third lineman to have been offered for the 2016 class, following Erik Swenson (who is committed to Michigan already) and Thiyo Lukusa.

Flower Mound (TX) Marcus tight end Kaden Smith was offered by Michigan. He's a 6'5", 235 lb. prospect with offers from Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech. As a sophomore in 2013, he had 40 receptions for 640 yards (16 yards/catch) and 8 touchdowns. It's early, but Smith is expected to be one of the top couple prospects at his position in the 2016 class. He visited Ann Arbor last summer and appears to have more than passing interest, but the general expectation is that he will stay down south. His school is the alma mater of former Michigan running back Stephen Hopkins.

OFF THE BOARD
Houston (TX) Cypress Falls outside linebacker Otaro Alaka flipped from Texas to Texas A&M.

Manalapan (NJ) Manalapan wide receiver Saeed Blacknall flipped from Rutgers to Penn State. Blacknall was the prize recruit remaining in the Rutgers class that has seen a great deal of attrition in the last couple months, including Michigan running back offeree Jonathan Hilliman (Boston College) and Detroit Country Day quarterback Tyler Wiegers (Iowa).

Goodyear (AZ) Desert Edge outside linebacker Ismael Murphy-Richardson committed to Arizona State. He never exhibited interest in his Michigan offer.

Ventura (CA) St. Bonaventure quarterback Ricky Town decommitted from Alabama and then committed to USC shortly afterward. Town is considered to be one of the top few quarterbacks in the 2015 class, and while he does not hold a Michigan offer, he was recruited to the Crimson Tide by offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier, who now holds the same position for the Wolverines. Michigan has thrown out a few offers for 2015 quarterbacks but is yet to really ignite a ton of interest, so it's worth watching Town and others. I would not expect Town to have serious interest in the Wolverines even if offered, but this is interesting because Elkton (MD) Eastern Christian Academy quarterback David Sills - who holds a Michigan offer - has been committed to USC for several years.

Chandler (AZ) Hamilton offensive tackle Casey Tucker committed to Stanford. Tucker was committed to USC at one time and briefly flirted with interest in playing at Michigan, but he never visited Ann Arbor.