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| Could Valdez Showers be coming home to Michigan to complete his college career? |
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It's not really a secret at this point that Michigan is looking for a receiver or two to supplement the current wide receiver corps. The Wolverines do not have a clear option to be the #1 guy for the upcoming season, and at this point, all current players are complementary at best. I mentioned a couple days ago that we would probably be hearing about some potential transfers soon, and Michael Spath from The Wolverine dropped a few receiver names today. I can say that only one of these players was a name I had heard connected to Michigan the other day, and this is the first time I've heard of A.J. Legree (Chris Gallon, Josh Grady, and Valdez Showers were all familiar to me from when they were high schoolers).
Here's a look at each of the potential transfers:
Chris Gallon - WR - Bowling Green State University: Gallon is a 6'4", 229 lb. wideout who is a cousin of former Wolverine wide receiver Jeremy Gallon. While Jeremy went to Apopka (FL) Apopka, Chris attended Orlando (FL) Dr. Phillips, which produced players like Demetrius Hart (Alabama/Colorado State), Hasean Clinton-Dix (Alabama), Kenny Shaw (Florida State), and Trey Griffey (Arizona). Chris was a Rivals 3-star and the #65 wide receiver in the 2011 class. He redshirted as a freshman and then led the team with 54 catches, 720 yards, and 6 touchdowns in 2012. His last two seasons have been interrupted by injuries (24 catches, 232 yards, 2 touchdowns in 2013), including a total washout of 2014. Gallon is a big target without a lot of speed. On a mostly unrelated note, Gallon was at one time a teammate of former Michigan wide receiver Je'Ron Stokes at BGSU.
Hit the jump for more.
Josh Grady - WR - Vanderbilt: Grady is a 6'0", 202 lb. player who attended Seffner (FL) Armwood, a powerhouse school in Florida that also produced running back Matt Jones (Florida), wide receiver Alvin Bailey (Florida), and safety Leon McQuay III (USC). Grady was a Rivals 3-star and the #45 athlete in the country. Grady arrived at Vanderbilt as a quarterback, moved to wide receiver, moved back to quarterback, and then returned to the receiver position. He has 7 career catches for 89 yards, all of which came as a redshirt freshman during that 2011 season. He has also completed 3/7 passes for 27 yards, 0 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions, plus carrying the ball 11 times for 20 yards.
Alphonso "A.J." Legree - WR - USF: Legree was a Rivals 3-star coming out of Fort White (FL) Fort White in 2012, when he signed with Kentucky. He caught 12 passes for 113 yards as a true freshman. As a sophomore in 2013, he started two games and caught 7 passes for 97 yards, but he left Kentucky in the spring of 2014 to transfer to South Florida, where he had to sit out the year due to transfer rules. Now entering his fourth college season and listed at 6'1", 194 lbs., he is reportedly graduating and potentially looking for a new situation. South Florida head coach Willie Taggart is a former Jim Harbaugh assistant coach. UPDATE: Rivals says Legree is likely not an option since he will probably not have enough credits to graduate this summer.
Valdez Showers - WR - Florida: Showers is listed at 5'10", 188 lbs. Originally from Madison Heights (MI) Madison, Flowers spurned Michigan and Rich Rodriguez/Brady Hoke in the 2011 class to play corner at Florida. He was a Rivals 3-star and the #40 cornerback. He redshirted during his first year down in Gainesville, and he made 2 tackles playing special teams as a redshirt freshman. Going into 2013, he switched to running back/wide receiver for Will Muschamp. That season he ran the ball 12 times for 103 yards, and he also caught 18 passes for 102 yards and 1 touchdown. This past year he had 1 carry for -5 yards and 2 catches for 31 yards.
THE TAKEAWAY
None of these names are particularly exciting, but that's the nature of grad transfers. Usually, these guys are transferring because they're not getting playing time and want some. (It's the same reason that Richard Ash, Josh Furman, Mike Jones, Thomas Rawls, etc. have left Michigan recently.) Some new names are likely to pop up, but here's my pecking order of these four guys:
1. Valdez Showers - Speedy, fairly experienced hometown kid.
2. A.J. Legree - Decent sized kid with fair combination of skills.
3. Chris Gallon - Big possession receiver whose body type and skill set are similar to players already on roster. History of knee injuries.
4. Josh Grady - Fairly inexperienced and largely unproductive.
Agreed. I think we have a bigger need at the Oline but seems like the coaches are leaving that alone. As for WRs, I think Valdez Showers certainly will be worth it, and he's also from Michigan so it's a big pull.
ReplyDeleteI'm relieved by our two QB transfers, pumped about our new punting prospect, but am somewhere south of meh on this group of receivers.
ReplyDeleteI kind of like our receivers, even though they haven't accomplished a thing beyond Darboh having some catches and Stribling making the famed downfield block. I think we have a pretty good combination of route runners, speed and size, spread around what we already have. I don't see anything here that I would consider an upgrade.
As an aside, did the kid we chased around to play center last year get any minutes with OSU?
Canteen fever! Catch it.
DeleteNo, the Alabama to OSU kid (lindsey) didn't end up playing.
I think you meant chesson in regards to the downfield blocking. Also I agree that a WR transfer is unnecessary we have a well rounded stable of WRs. Now they need to step up. A solid QB would help.
DeleteThat center, Lindsay I believe was his name, never saw the field.
ReplyDeleteYawn.
Deletehope he enjoyed his "graduate education" at Ohio.
DeleteOf course he didn't see the field. Urbs only wanted him so we wouldn't get him.
DeletePssh. Yeah. That's why kids should know these things better. Good luck Chad Lindsay, because you won't have a pro career and that little OSU masters degree doesn't mean much.
DeleteIIRC, Chad Lindsay was injured and that's why he never played for Ohio State. It's not because he wasn't good enough.
DeleteNot sure you can say "that's the nature of grad transfers" when there are plenty of examples of big name players like Russel Wilson moving around. Michigan's getting a starting caliber CB and proven QB just this year.
ReplyDeleteGood rundown overall, but I agree with your conclusion that none of these guys are real tantalizing. I'm not sure we aren't better off with the guys we have, but I suppose adding another option would be nice if they have room. In general, I'm a fan of grad school transfers as a 'cheap' way to get valuable veteran contributors.
Your one example of a "big name" grad transfer is a guy who was at odds with his coach and played at Wisconsin four years ago. Rudock was losing his job at Iowa, and Lyons seemed to be kind of losing steam at Stanford. Last year Michigan was in on Chad Lindsay, who was basically getting squeezed out of Alabama.
DeleteSo yeah, grad transfers are generally not particularly exciting players. Michigan fans are mostly excited about Rudock because the QB play has been bad here for so many years. If this were 2008 coming off of stints by Brady, Henson, Navarre, and Henne, we would probably not be particularly excited about Rudock.
The only reason our qb transfers excite is b/c our current qbs leave very much to ?.
ReplyDeleteAre you telling me we have a bunch of talented *4 star receivers that are now incapable of getting the job done?!
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm suggesting that Brady Hoke's wide receiver recruiting was not up to snuff. That's been an issue I had all along - he recruited too many tall, slow wide receivers like Jaron Dukes, Csont'e York, etc. Drake Harris is constantly injured, and Maurice Ways has had issues with drops. I like both of those guys, but for various reasons, nobody seems to be standing out. The only guy who seems to be solid is Amara Darboh, but he's a possession guy.
DeleteYup. One of the reasons why 2014 season flopped because there just wasn't a receiver who could make people miss and stretch the field. In 2013 we at least had Gallon. Hoke's WR recruiting was problematic and I remember Thunder talking about that for a few years now.
DeleteYep, pretty much...it's sad that in four years, Hoke couldn't develop even one WR recruit into a decent Big Ten quality pass catcher. Lots of other teams get far more WR production out of far less talent on paper. And unfortunately, the problem extends to pretty much every other position on the field, including OL, DL, RB and QB.
DeleteI think that's a mischaracterization of what actually happened. Jeremy Gallon was very, very good for Michigan in the second half of 2012 and all of 2013. He set several records. Devin Funchess was good enough to be a second round pick. Both of those guys were developed by Brady Hoke and staff.
DeleteI have more of an issue with the recruiting, not so much the development. I don't think Hoke brought in enough talent at the WR position, at least not early enough. There are a couple guys we're waiting on (Harris, Ways, Canteen, etc.) to see if they can play, but overall, he reached on some guys and didn't pursue the right mix of receivers, IMO.
Mistake: Showers went to Madison, Rogers went to Lamphere. Played against both of them (Rogers in basketball, Showers in football)
ReplyDeleteMistake: Rogers went to Lamphere, Showers went to Madison
ReplyDelete