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Monday, February 2, 2015

2015 Recruiting Update: February 2, 2015

Brentwood (TN) Ravenwood wide receiver Van Jefferson
COMMITMENT?
Gardena (CA) Junipero Serra wide receiver Deontay Burnett may or may not have committed to Michigan (LINK). It sounds like he wanted to (or wants to) but either his coach or Rivals reporter Adam Gorney fouled something up.

ADDED TO THE BOARD: 2015
Grayslake (IL) North running back Titus Booker, a Wisconsin commit, was offered by Michigan. Booker is a 5'11", 172 lb. kid with a reported 4.41 forty time who committed to Wisconsin as a cornerback. He's ranked as a 247 Composite 3-star, the #50 running back, and #673 overall. Booker immediately scheduled an official visit to Ann Arbor, but he pulled back on that almost as immediately and said he was solid to the Badgers. Michigan wanted him as a running back.

Shreveport (LA) Calvary Baptist running back Orlando Bradford, an Arizona commit, was offered by Michigan. Bradford is a 5'9", 195 lb. back who's a 247 Composite 3-star, the #73 running back, and #997 overall. He immediately tweeted out that he appreciated the offer from Michigan, but that he was fully committed to the Wildcats.

Hit the jump for several more offers and tidbits.


Port Arthur (TX) Memorial running back Corey Dauphine, a Texas Tech commit, was offered by Michigan. Dauphine is a 6'0", 185 lb. prospect with a 4.5 forty who's ranked as a 247 Composite 4-star, the #18 running back, and #211 overall. Much like Bradford, Dauphine expressed thanks for the offer but said he was solid to the Red Raiders.

Sarasota (FL) Riverview running back Karan Higdon, an Iowa commit, was offered by Michigan. Higdon is a 5'10", 190 lb. prospect who's a 247 Composite 3-star, the #40 running back, and #477 overall. He got the offer on Saturday morning, said he was solid to Iowa, and then scheduled a flight to Michigan for Saturday afternoon. Higdon runs hard and has good vision, but he's not a breakaway back. However, the Wolverines need a backup plan for Michael Weber - if not a second back, period - so the coaching staff needs to look at a lot of options.


Brentwood (TN) Ravenwood wide receiver Van Jefferson, an Ole Miss commit, was offered by Michigan. Jefferson is a 6'2", 183 lb. prospect who claims a 4.56 forty. He's a 247 Composite 4-star, the #11 wide receiver, #108 overall, and a U.S. Army All-American. Jefferson is the son of former NFL receiver Shawn Jefferson, who then became a coach for the Detroit Lions. Because of that, Van attended Orchard Lake (MI) St. Mary's for his first couple years of high school before moving to Tennessee, where his dad is now the Tennessee Titans wide receivers coach. Immediately upon receiving the offer, an official visit was scheduled for this past weekend. Van was previously committed to Georgia before flipping to Ole Miss, so a pledge to Michigan would be the third during his recruiting process.

Boutte (LA) Hahnville wide receiver Brandon Singleton, a Cal commit, was offered by Michigan. Singleton is a 6'0", 170 lb. prospect who's a 247 Composite 3-star, the #107 wide receiver, and #860 overall. He also has offers from Arkansas, Georgia Tech, and Minnesota. He just committed to Cal on January 26th, so it would be a quick flip and Singleton has not visited Ann Arbor.

OFF THE BOARD
Millburn (NJ) Millburn defensive end Jake Pickard flipped from Wisconsin to Syracuse. This was a very strange development, because he was committed to a powerhouse school, took an official visit to a big-time program in Michigan, canceled on official visit to powerhouse Oregon, and then . . . committed to Syracuse. I don't understand this one at all.

MISCELLANEOUS
I posted my predictions for all of Michigan's uncommitted offerees (LINK).

Here's a list of this past weekend's official visitors (LINK).

I updated several profiles of 2015 recruits within the state of Michigan (LINK).

4 comments:

  1. Re: Pickard ... playing time? Big Fish in Small Pond syndrome?

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    Replies
    1. UW and Syracuse are big ponds. It's possible he was afraid of competition, but I think it's more likely that with all the staff changes taking place he was really more of an uncommitted prospect. Being from NJ - Syracuse makes sense.

      Others are speculating that the UM staff cooled on Pickard due to optimism with other TEs...so perhaps things look good with Wheatley or perhaps Clark didn't want a similar player to join him.

      I general dislike this kind of rationalizing post-commit "we didn't want him anyway", but in this context it might be legitimate.

      Things are moving quickly at this stage.

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  2. ...or...Harbaugh, Shafer, Parents and Player all discussed it and decided Player would be better off in Shafer's hands. I have to believe they cooperate with each other.

    - Dave

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This seems feasible. Fans like to boil it down to football program prestige and depth chart but most of the time there's a lot more to it.

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