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| Michigan commit James Ross is the second-highest Wolverine on the list at #143 |
Yesterday Rivals released the Rivals 100. Today just before noon, they released their top 250 prospects. This puts five state of Michigan players in the country's top 250, including Royce Jenkins-Stone at #87. Altogether, 108 of Michigan's 153 offers (or 70.6%) are to the top 250 recruits in the nation. Michigan offerees on today's list are:
101. Peter Jinkens - LB - Texas (Texas)
103. Max Tuerk - OT - California
107. LaDarrell McNeil - S - Texas
108. Deontay McManus - WR - Maryland
112. Elijah Shumate - S - New Jersey
118. Ty Darlington - C - Florida
123. Connor Brewer - QB - Arizona (Texas)
124. Bri'onte Dunn - RB - Ohio (Ohio State)
126. Raphael Kirby - LB - Georgia
129. Dalvin Tomlinson - DT - Georgia
130. Evan Boehm - OG - Missouri
133. Bryce Treggs - WR - California
134. Aaron Burbridge - WR - Michigan
137. Paul Thurston - OT - Colorado
139. Wayne Morgan - CB - New York
140. Jaleel Johnson - DT - Illinois
143. James Ross - LB - Michigan (Michigan)
147. Devonte Fields - DE - Texas (TCU)
148. Michael Starts - OT - Texas
152. Kyle Dodson - OG - Ohio
154. Dan Voltz - OT - Illinois (Wisconsin)
156. Brent Wilkerson - DE - Maryland (Penn State)
157. Matt Jones - RB - Florida (Florida)
165. Brock Stadnik - OT - North Carolina (South Carolina)
167. Joe Bolden - LB - Ohio (Michigan)
170. Jonathan Williams - RB - Texas (Missouri)
176. Michael Moore - DE - Maryland
184. Greg Garmon - RB - Pennsylvania
185. Ken Ekanem - DE - Virginia
187. Armani Reeves - CB - Massachusetts
190. Sean Price - TE - Florida
191. Shane Callahan - OT - Colorado
192. Jarontay Jones - DT - Georgia
194. Amara Darboh - WR - Iowa
195. Terry Richardson - CB - Michigan
198. Ryan Watson - DE - Maryland
209. Jordan Diamond - OT - Illinois
210. Jody Fuller - WR - North Carolina
211. Leonte Carroo - WR - New Jersey
214. Reginald Davis - WR - Texas (Texas Tech)
215. Troy Hinds - DE - Utah
221. I'tavius Mathers - RB - Tennessee
222. Danny O'Brien - DT - Michigan
224. Cyrus Jones - CB - Maryland
230. Mike Madaras - OG - Maryland (Maryland)
231. Tom Strobel - DE - Ohio
232. Dillon Lee - LB - Georgia
238. Darius Powe - WR - California
240. Latroy Pittman - WR - Florida (Florida)
242. J.J. Denman - OT - Pennsylvania
243. Camren Williams - LB - Massachusetts (Penn State)
246. Ondre Pipkins - DT - Missouri
247. Deaysean Rippy - LB - Pennsylvania
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I know some people are getting worked up because MI players and UM targets aren't ranked as highly as they like but this seems to happen every year (e.g. Marvin Robinson and Ricardo Miller). Eventually the outrage subsides and people seem to accept that this is more opinion than science and/or that M's recruits aren't all going to be 5-star instant impacts making up the greatest recruiting class in history.
ReplyDeleteI've always thought that a ranking system based purely on the list of offers would be as good as any other, at least at this stage.
What do you think of their list and rankings?
Seems like O'Brien, despite his offers isn't as highly regarded as many thought - and perhaps the reported 'cooling' by Hoke and co. has some basis beyond "he's going to Tenn anyway".
I was also interested to see Kyle Dodson higher than a lot of more hyped OL. I've always liked what I heard about him.
Dan Voltz is verbally committed to Wisc.
BTW, excellent work lately. I think you've established yourself as the world's best blogger when it comes to Michigan football recruiting. You've always been the most grounded in terms of maintaining perspective (IMO), but you've taken the professionalism and writing quality up a notch. Keep up the good work.
-Lankownia
@ Lankownia 12:41 p.m.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm not really all that concerned about the lack of top 250 players, 4-star recruits in Michigan, etc. Personally, I disagree with some of the rankings, but that's the norm. You're absolutely right that Ricardo Miller, Marvin Robinson, etc. should stand as cautionary tales for Michigan fans who are getting upset right now.
I agree with a fair amount of the Rivals 250. I do think the midwest is a little underrepresented, but it's the first list and I think Rivals might be hedging their bets, since so many future NFLers come from southern states and California. I don't really care whether Rivals has a midwest recruiting analyst or not, because I like to make my own decisions.
I don't know exactly why Michigan backed off O'Brien, but I think it may have something to do with their recruitment of Ondre Pipkins. Pipkins looks like a better player to me, and one of the recruiting sites' mods (Josh Helmholdt or Sam Webb, I can't remember) said that they thought Pipkins was at the top of Michigan's defensive tackle list. Honestly, O'Brien looks like a 3-4 (or 3-3-5) nose tackle to me, but I'm not sure he really fits what we need. He's a little bit slow of foot and doesn't really move his feet that well when taking on blocks, so that's a concern for me.
I think Dodson is a good player. I think he's pretty accurately ranked at #152.
Thanks for the correction on Voltz. And thanks for the compliments. I will make sure to get a badge made up that says "World's Best Michigan Football Recruiting Blogger." That will surely help me in the Department of Picking Up Ladies when I hit the bars. Yippee! Now I can put away the "Federal Booty Inspector" T-shirt. :o)
Everything I had heard on O'Brien was that the was the next Martin. Suprised to read that he's more of a NT given that his bulk isn't really there (at least on the NFL level). But I guess it makes sense, along with greater focus on Pipkin and Day. Then again, DT is such a huge need that I'm surprised to see them back off any prospect being recruited by Alabama and the like (though thats his only truely upper-echelon offer.)
ReplyDelete@ Lankownia 1:41 p.m.
ReplyDeleteI think Martin was a better athlete coming out of high school. O'Brien is only 6'3" and he's built like a fire hydrant. That NT needs to take on double-teams, and the 3-tech needs to be the penetrator. I could see O'Brien getting into backfields a little bit because of his strength, but I'm not sure what he would do when he got back there. Meanwhile, if we put a duo of a big ol' nose tackle and O'Brien out there, that probably wouldn't put much athleticism on the field in the middle.
Personally, I think there might be something going on behind the scenes with O'Brien, but I don't know what it might be...
By the way, I believe Alabama runs a 3-4, and I doubt they would want O'Brien as an end in a 3-4. That might hint at his potential as a NT.
This 250 is way different than every other recruit list in America. Wormley and Sheldon Day aren't even listed and Jordan Diamond is outside the top 200! This is like the Olympics where 5 judges give a perfect 10 score but the Russian judge gives a 6. Way to go Rivals, you're that guy now. You're the commie judge at the Olympics who's on the take.
ReplyDelete@ Michael 2:13 p.m.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Wormley and Day should be on the list. I think Day is a top 100 player, and Wormley should probably be in the top 150, at least.
But I don't mind where Diamond is ranked. I think Michigan fans are overrating him.
The problem is that Rivals doesn't gain any 'take' from being 'on the take'. I could see some validity to the idea that Rivals is being different just to be different (to get attention, like Sports Illustrated's picks to win the national title) but considering they're one of, if not the, biggest name in the game, that seems dubious.
ReplyDeleteI really don't get why this bothers people. You want some differences of opinion, not 5 sources that all say the same thing.
To a specific case - Chris Wormley has no offers outside of the Big10. Yes, he got an OSU offer but so did other DEs. If he was really an elite prospect, he'd have a more impressive offer list. The arguments for Diamond and Day are much stronger.
These things are a matter of opinion based on how people play at the beggining of their junior year of high school, 2 years before most of these guys will hit college campuses for their red-shirt freshman years, and in some cases 5-6 years before they become starters. These evaluations will change when people play their senior years. Its all preliminary and extremely subjective and based on projecting out what these kids will be when they grow up -- so why get worked up?
@ Thunder
ReplyDeleteI (sort of) agree, we've got a bit of fervor about our new class here but Diamonds's listed as the #9 OT by Scout and #40 overall and only as the #33 O-Lineman by Rivals and #209 overall. Scout does throw out 5 star ratings like confetti it seems but Rivals is basing so many of their rankings on pure guesswork because they only recently upgraded to 2 midwest scouts total(1 from Illinois and 1 new scout, who's 1 year removed from Bucknuts.com) and the favored midwest recruits are almost exclusively from Illinois or osu targets. Only 4 midwest kids outside Illinois/Ohio made the Rivals100 and it's not because they're better or worse, it's because Rivals doesn't bother to scout the midwest. I'm sticking with 247, Lemming, and ESPN until they start putting in a token effort at Rivals.
I notice that you don't have Terry Richardson (#195) highlighted as a UM commit. Oversight? Wishful thinking? Premonition?
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous 4:33 p.m.
ReplyDeleteRichardson didn't commit to Michigan until May 19. This was published on May 10.