Friday, January 16, 2015

Final ESPN 300 for 2015 released

Saginaw (MI) Heritage wide receiver Brian Cole is Michigan's top ranked commit.
Here's a look at the final ESPN 300 for the 2015 class (LINK), which I have been tracking over the last couple years. Here's what it looked like back in July (LINK). Movement for Michigan commits is here:

- Brian Cole fell from #139 to #148
- Tyree Kinnel fell from #192 to #196
- Grant Newsome fell from #242 to #253

5-stars:
2. Terry Beckner, Jr. - DT - Illinois
4. Iman Marshall - CB - California
7. George Campbell - WR - Florida (Florida State)
9. CeCe Jefferson - DE - Florida
10. Kevin Toliver II - CB - Florida (LSU)
11. Josh Sweat - DE - Virginia (Florida State)
12. Kendall Sheffield - CB - Texas (Alabama)
14. Blake Barnett - QB - California (Alabama)
17. Justin Hilliard - LB - Ohio (Ohio State)
18. Mitch Hyatt - OT - Georgia (Clemson)
19. Tim Settle - DT - Virginia (Virginia Tech)

4-stars:
22. Keisean Lucier-South - DE - California (UCLA)
24. Arden Key - DE - South Carolina
27. Minkah Fitzpatrick - CB - New Jersey (Alabama)
28. Soso Jamabo - RB - Texas
29. Roquan Smith - LB - Georgia
30. Tyron Johnson - WR - Florida (LSU)
31. Malik Jefferson - LB - Texas (Texas)
33. Jashon Cornell - DE - Minnesota (Ohio State)
34. Ronald Jones II - RB - Texas (USC)
35. Christian Kirk - WR - Arizona (Texas A&M)
36. Damien Harris - RB - Kentucky (Alabama)
37. Jarrett Stidham - QB - Texas (Baylor)
38. Preston Williams - WR - Georgia (Tennessee)
39. Shy Tuttle - DT - North Carolina (Tennessee)
41. Rasheem Green - DT - California
42. Deondre Francois - QB - Florida (Florida State)
46. Jeffery Holland - LB - Florida
49. Jacques Patrick - RB - Florida (Florida State)
50. Josh Rosen - QB - California (UCLA)
54. Adonis Thomas - LB - Georgia (Alabama)
55. Abdul Bello - OT - Florida (Florida State)
57. DaMarkus Lodge - WR - Texas
58. Drew Richmond - OT - Tennessee (Ole Miss)
64. Jalen Dalton - DE - North Carolina (North Carolina)
66. Anthony Wheeler - LB - Texas (Texas)
67. Jerome Baker - LB - Ohio (Ohio State)
75. Rashad Roundtree - S - Georgia (Georgia)
77. Osa Masina - LB - Utah
78. Dexter Williams - RB - Florida
80. Johnny Frasier - RB - North Carolina (Florida State)
89. Jake Fruhmorgen - OT - Florida (Clemson)
91. Keenan Walker - OT - Arizona (Arizona)
94. Matt Burrell, Jr. - OG - Virginia (Ohio State)
98. Hjalte Froholdt - DT - Florida (Arkansas)
109. Hale Hentges - TE - Missouri (Alabama)
111. Chris Clark - TE - Massachusetts
112. Devonaire Clarington - TE - Florida (Texas)
125. Sterling Jenkins - OT - Pennsylvania (Penn State)
129. Ryan Bates - OT - Pennsylvania (Penn State)
136. Clelin Ferrell - DE - Virginia (Clemson)
138. Christian Pellage - OT - Florida (South Carolina)
139. Garrett Taylor - CB - Virginia (Penn State)
140. Mike Weber - RB - Michigan (Ohio State)
142. Jordan Whitehead - CB - Pennsylvania (Pitt)
145. Ty'Son Williams - RB - South Carolina (North Carolina)
146. Kirk Merritt - ATH - Louisiana
148. Brian Cole - ATH - Michigan (Michigan)
157. Ray-Ray McCloud III - RB - Florida (Clemson)
158. Tyler Jordan - C - Florida (Florida)
159. Marcus Lewis - CB - Washington, DC
161. Dre'Mont Jones - DE - Ohio (Ohio State)
168. Kendrick Norton - DT - Florida
169. Shaun Crawford - CB - Ohio (Notre Dame)
171. Joshua McMillon - LB - Tennessee (Alabama)
173. John Reid - CB - Pennsylvania (Penn State)
184. Darian Roseboro - DE - North Carolina (North Carolina State)
195. Juwan Johnson - WR - New Jersey (Penn State)
196. Tyree Kinnel - S - Ohio (Michigan)
210. Pat Allen - OT - Maryland
213. Devante Peete - WR - Florida
223. Isaiah Prince - OT - Maryland
242. Ryan Davis - WR - Florida
247. Rashard Causey, Jr. - CB - Florida (Florida International)
253. Grant Newsome - OT - New Jersey (Michigan)
255. Cameron Townsend - LB - Texas (Texas)
273. Cameron Ordway - CB - Tennessee (Ole Miss)
276. Darrin Kirkland, Jr. - LB - Indiana (Tennessee)
278. Zach Robertson - OG - California (Arizona State)
298. Joe Burrow - QB - Ohio (Ohio State)

11 comments:

  1. Josh rose 50 what do you make of that

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't make much of it. He's a good player. The game seems to be trending toward dual-threat guys, and he's more of a pro-style guy. I'm not surprised that he's not a top-10 guy since there are other good athletes and we're seeing guys like Mariota, Cardale Jones/JT Barrett, etc. make national championship games.

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    2. Disagree that the pro game is "trending" towards dual threat guys. That's what they're getting fed by colleges, and some pro teams ride a flavor of the month for a few years, but they never last. None of the long term high-quality QBs in the NFL are like that.

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  2. So we basically have a miniscule class with no talented players to start the Harbaugh "era". And is it just me, or do our commits always seem to drop in the rankings every time they're re-evaluated?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Everyone's commits drop in the rankings. As more players are evaluated and get a chance to shine, it's only natural for the guys who rated high early to slip some.

      Also, we have six commits RIGHT NOW and not a ton of talent RIGHT NOW. Michigan is still fighting for some of these other guys (Iman Marshall, Chris Clark, Mike Weber, etc.). We're not really starting the Harbaugh "era" with just these guys, since there will inevitably be some commitments before February. Whether it's any of the guys on this list, nobody knows right now.

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  3. Well, no....EVERYONE'S commits can't drop. If some players are moving down on the list, others are moving up to take their places. Ours always seem to be the former and not the latter, though.

    And you say RIGHT NOW as if it's August. Signing date is less than 3 weeks away, though, and pretty much all of the recruits that could make an impact have either committed elsewhere, or have a lot of other schools in line ahead of us. Legacy of the Hoke collapse. About all we can hope for right now is some 3 star bodies to keep this from being a virtually empty class 4 years down the road. If Harbaugh can land 5-6 low rated guys, maybe a few of which can develop, and maybe a well-chosen grad transfer or two, that's about the best we can hope for in 2015. People who think he can just waltz in and land a bunch of top 100 players, or steal them from other schools, are going to be very disappointed. We'll just have to hope we can get recruiting momentum back for 2016.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Clearly, saying "everyone" is a rhetorical device. But certainly the vast majority of teams with top 300 prospects sees at least one of those prospects drop in the rankings.

      I don't think anyone is really expecting Harbaugh to waltz in and steal a bunch of top 100 players. Is that rhetoric on your part like the word "everyone" was on mine?

      Michigan has a real chance at top 300 players like Chris Clark, Mike Weber, and Marcus Lewis, and several others have expressed interest in visiting (DaMarkus Lodge, Kendrick Norton, etc.). If Michigan takes 12 commits and 6 of them end up on this list, I don't think that's anything to be ashamed of. This was always going to be a small class, so there's no legitimate reason for expressing disappointment about that aspect at this point.

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  4. Well, of course I'm not going to be disappointed if we don't take more players than we have room for. Of course this was going to be a small class no matter what. But there's a huge difference between having room for 12 (and a lot of needs to fill) and only having six a few weeks before signing date. And it's not about being "ashamed"... Not sure where that came from. It's about being able to compete at the level we want. Alabama already has 9 guys in the top 50, and we have none. How's that likely to play out 3, 4, 5 years down the road? Probably a lot like this year.

    As far as Weber, do you really think he's going to bail on the defending national champ (and a top NC contender for the forseeable future)? Why would he do that to go anywhere else, let alone to a school he already dissed and that has nothing to offer in the way of a supporting cast?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We really don't have very many needs to fill. This is not the Rich Rodriguez years. We have numbers and talent (if you are to believe recruiting rankings) at every position.

      I don't think Weber IS GOING to bail, but it's a possibility. He hasn't shut the door to it, and the coaches are still working on him.

      This whole discussion is why I said above that those are the guys we have RIGHT NOW. You can sit here and say that this class isn't very impressive all you want, but it's not finished. If we fill out the rest of the class with 2-star guys, I'll agree. But the point is that you and I don't know how the class will look in three weeks, so it's really kind of a pointless criticism to level.

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  5. The point is that the chances of improving a class significantly in the last few weeks before signing are low. Teams with highly ranked recruiting classes had almost all of their commits lined up long before now. We knew this was going to be a small class all along, but now the chances are high that it will be a weak class as well.

    ReplyDelete