Oklahoma's Kellen Jones (#52) and Tony Jefferson bring down Iowa C.J. Fiedorowicz in the endzone
(image via Greenwich Time)
Former Michigan cornerback Greg Brown left the program mid-season and has transferred to Findlay, a D-II school.
Former Michigan commit and current Miami Hurricane defensive back Dallas Crawford redshirted this past season.
Former Michigan commit and current Oregon Duck offensive tackle Jake Fisher played a backup role in 13 games this season.
Former Michigan commit and current Miami Hurricane kicker Matt Goudis redshirted this past season.
Former Michigan signee and current Oklahoma Sooner linebacker Kellen Jones played as a backup and special teamer in 11 games this past season, making 9 total tackles.
Former Michigan commit and current Wake Forest Demon Deacon quarterback Kevin Sousa redshirted this past season.
The future plans of former Michigan tight end Chris Barnett and former offensive lineman Tony Posada are unknown. Both decided to leave the program after they were already enrolled at Michigan this past fall.
Vladimir Emilien intends to play for Toledo in 2012
Former Michigan safety Vladimir Emilien still remains at Toledo, contrary to what I reported previously. In an exchange with TTB Andrew, he said, "I'm still on the team. This is just my sit out year NCAA rule for transferring. But since I have to sit out this year, I am more focused on school rather than worrying about games every Saturday. But I still have to practice and workout with the team. Until I'm eligible my main focus is focusing on my grades and making this football program successful with my help."
Former kicker/punter commit Anthony Fera is having a solid season at Penn State. He's averaging 44.6 yards on eight punts and 64.4 yards on five kickoffs. Essentially, he's Will Hagerup. Except Fera's not suspended right now.
Former defensive tackle commit DeQuinta Jones has 7 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and 2 quarterback hurries on the season for Arkansas.
Former wide receiver commit Marquis Maze has 15 catches for 186 yards and 1 touchdown on the season for Alabama.
Former quarterback commit Kevin Sousa is currently redshirting for Wake Forest.
Former Michigan running back Austin White is currently redshirting for Central Michigan. Because he began the fall semester in 2010 at Michigan, he must sit out for the 2011 season.
Michigan fans won't be seeing these hops on the football field anytime soon.
I received a message from a reputable source a couple weeks ago that this would happen, but it was being kept on the down-low. Now it has become public. Class of 2011 wide receiver recruit Shawn Conway will not qualify by NCAA Clearinghouse standards. He still plans to play football at Michigan in the future, but he'll have to attend junior college before doing so.
I am not counting on Conway playing at Michigan anytime in the future. I am certainly a fan of his abilities, but junior college players rarely are recruited or accepted to Michigan. Conway would have to earn his associate's degree at said junior college before even having a shot to transfer to the Ann Arbor campus. Michigan is historically a difficult school into which to transfer, which is why not many JUCO recruits are pursued by the coaching staffs. The last JUCO transfer to get into Michigan was linebacker Austin Panter in 2007, but he was the first since the early '90s. It is possible, however, that since Conway knows he wants to attend Michigan, he can find a JUCO academic program whose credits will transfer to U of M. I'm not holding my breath, though.
This leaves Michigan with zero outside wide receivers in the 2011 recruiting class. It has been apparent that the coaches wanted at least two receivers in the class, and the news about Conway was probably the reason that Michigan offered California wide receiver Devin Lucien in recent weeks. It might also be why Justice Hayes was welcomed into the fold with such open arms when he decommitted from Notre Dame a couple weeks ago; Hayes is more of a slot receiver, but has the size and ability to play outside, too.
Conway is the second subtraction from the 2011 class within a week. Over this past weekend, quarterback Kevin Sousa changed his verbal pledge from Michigan to Wake Forest. This also continues a disturbing trend of Rich Rodriguez recruiting academic question marks. Class of 2009 cornerback Adrian Witty failed to qualify, and four players disappeared from the Class of 2010 due to grade issues (Demar Dorsey, Antonio Kinard, Conelius Jones, and Davion Rogers).
I expect that Michigan will continue to recruit Lucien and North Carolinian Kris Frost, who doubles as a linebacker prospect. Florida slot receiver Prince Holloway is also a potential option.
Quarterback Kevin Sousa, who had been committed to Michigan since June 2010, has decommitted in favor of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Sousa is 6'2", 213 lbs., and the #22 dual-threat quarterback to Rivals. Here's the commitment post I wrote for him a few months ago.
Sousa started to hint that he might be re-opening his recruitment last month when he showed a bit of disappointment that the Michigan coaches were continuing to recruit other quarterbacks, namely Marquise Williams (who was committed to North Carolina and now is a Virginia Tech commit). While Sousa didn't seem to mind the highly touted quarterbacks already on Michigan's roster, he was clearly agitated that Michigan didn't seem to be fully devoted to him as their future quarterback.
So while Michigan's coaches didn't seem convinced that Sousa was their guy, they also seem to have struck out on all or most of the quarterbacks ahead of him on their wish list (and mine). The two remaining uncommitted quarterback prospects on Michigan's board are Cardale Jones (Cleveland, OH) and Tanner McEvoy (Oradell, NJ). Jones hails from Glennville High School, a program helmed by Ohio State-loving Ted Ginn, Sr. He's a bit of a poor fit for Michigan's system, and I can't see him succeeding in an offense predicated on the zone read option. Meanwhile, McEvoy spent his high school career as a receiver before switching to quarterback prior to his senior season. He did enjoy some success this past fall (26 passing touchdowns, 11 rushing touchdowns at last count), but one can only assume that he would be a bit of a project as a quarterback.
In my opinion, Michigan needs to bring in a quarterback prospect in the 2011 class. Some fans think the Wolverines can get away with avoiding the quarterback position for 2011 and going after some players in 2012. I think that would be a mistake. It's entirely possible that the coaching situation at Michigan could cause one or more transfers. If Rich Rodriguez remains at Michigan, the chance exists that Tate Forcier might want to go elsewhere; he's good enough to start at many places in the country. If Jim Harbaugh is hired, I'm not sure how Denard Robinson fits. Meanwhile, it's unclear how Tate Forcier would feel about playing for Harbaugh. Forcier would seem a better fit for Harbaugh's system, but Tate's older brother Jason (also a Michigan Wolverine back in 2005-2006) threw a total of 13 passes under Harbaugh after transferring to Stanford. Even if each of the quarterbacks remains, that gives Michigan only three on the roster (the aforementioned Forcier and Robinson, plus freshman Devin Gardner). One or more transfers would obviously leave Michigan perilously thin at the position.
The decommitment of Sousa leaves Michigan with 13 commitments in the Class of 2011, and Michigan should have 22 to give. Approximately nine slots remain open.
Kevin Sousa, a 6'2", 213 lb. quarterback from Orlando, FL, committed to the Wolverines on Tuesday. He received an offer just over a week ago and immediately scheduled a trip to Ann Arbor. Sousa has been on the recruitment radar for several months, but the coaches admitted to him that their higher valued targets (Braxton Miller, Christian LeMay, Everett Golson, Kiehl Frazier, etc.) were headed elsewhere and they were expanding their recruitment of the position.
Sousa's actual size is a bit of a mystery, since he's listed in various places to be somewhere between the above height/weight and 6'4", 235. Six-feet-four and 235 lbs. sounds a little big to me, despite the fact that his arms in the above picture look like WIFFLE ball bats. But however tall and broad he stands betweens those ranges, Little Tate Forcier this is not.
Sousa just started playing football as a sophomore, after being a soccer player in his earlier days. Furthermore, Lake Nona High School's program was in its first year when Sousa was a junior, so there's plenty of room to improve, both for him and his team. In two seasons as a varsity quarterback, he's thrown for 2,636 yards and 16 touchdowns while rushing for 1,775 yards and 10 touchdowns. He also missed three games of his sophomore year due to a knee injury, so those numbers are slightly deflated. Also, all accounts point to Sousa being a highly coachable kid who's ready and willing to learn (video interview here).
Watching Sousa's highlight film, I see a lot of great things and several things that he'll need to improve. He's a great physical specimen with excellent size, good speed, and good vision. He has an above average arm to get the ball downfield. For being new to the sport, he's got a good head on his shoulders. He keeps his eyes downfield when he's scrambling and tries to find the open man. When he does tuck the ball and run, he can run around or through defenders. In fact, there are times where he tries to run over smaller kids rather than leaving them in the dust.
Mechanically, he has plenty to improve. He needs to hold the ball higher when dropping back, which will quicken his release. His windup is a little long, especially when scrambling. I also noticed that there were several times where he tried to escape pressure with the ball dangling from his right hand only; if you watched Tate Forcier at the beginning of the 2009 Ohio State game, you know that's not a good idea. I'd also like to see Sousa hop a little bit less. Most of his snaps seem to come out of the shotgun, and instead of taking steps to drop back, he hops up and down. Not only does it put him in a poor position to throw, but it also affects a quarterback's vision - the receivers and defenders are suddenly bobbing up and down in his sightline, as if he's standing on a dinghy. That was a problem in his junior season film (the first video) but seems to have been corrected by the spring game (second), so hopefully that problem has been fixed permanently.
Luckily for Michigan, Sousa should have plenty of time to improve. Tate Forcier, Denard Robinson, and/or Devin Gardner should be able to hold down the fort at quarterback through at least 2013. Sousa can redshirt in 2011 and continue to work on the little things. He's exactly the kind of quarterback that Michigan should be getting in this class, and realistically, Rodriguez and Co. couldn't have expected a much better outcome with QB recruiting. There are a few guys out there who are more polished, but not many with better physical talent. However, very few elite prospects would have wanted to come in a year after Devin Gardner and two years after Forcier/Robinson. Sousa is a great addition to the recruiting class.
