Recruiting Board Updated

Update 1/13: Linked to Jonas Mouton article and Brandon Graham article. Removed WR Adrian Cannon, who apparently commited to Maryland, TE Andrew Quarless(PSU), and RB Knowshon Moreno(ceased listing us). Added TX QB Nick Stephens after a mention that Michigan had offered him in the Dallas Morning News.

Adjusted teams for RB/FB Brandon Minor(down to Michigan and Tennessee), OT Sam Young(ND, PSU, USC, M), and DE McKenzie Matthews, (M and Pitt with M leading).

Editorial Update: The sudden addition of Stephens to the board indicates that Michigan is indeed trying very hard to bring in a second quarterback in this class. With Matt Gutierrez at Idaho State next year, Henne's backups will be redshirt freshman Jason Forcier and true freshman David Cone... not a comforting thought. Adding a second true freshman may not help much, but since both Cone and Forcier are extremely raw (Forcier had one year in a passing offense, Cone zero) a player more familiar with the "forward pass" could be more prepared than either of the current recruits in an emergency situation. Anyway, the DMN graf on Stephens:

• Michigan is scrambling to find a quarterback and has contacted Southlake Carroll's Greg McElroy and Flower Mound's Nick Stephens. In fact, Michigan has offered Stephens a scholarship. Stephens, who is orally committed to Ole Miss, visited Tennessee this weekend. McElroy, No. 25 on SportsDay's area top 100, said he is a solid commitment to Texas Tech. Stephens is No. 32 on the area list.

Stephens is definitely looking around after Ole Miss canned their offensive coordinator:

Flower Mound quarterback Nick Stephens is orally committed to Ole Miss, but he is brutally honest about next weekend's official visit to Tennessee.

He could wind up switching to the Volunteers.

"I wouldn't be going on the visit if that wasn't possible," Stephens said. "I wouldn't be wasting their time." ...

The longer it takes Ole Miss to find Mazzone's replacement, the more likely it is the Rebels will lose Stephens.

"It all depends on when Ole Miss gets their offensive coordinator," Stephens said.

Also of note is a definite assertion from Scout that Michigan is leading for NY DE McKenzie Matthews, who is one of those players with a gap between their offers (Miami, OSU, Michigan, BC, Pitt) and their rating (generally three stars). Matthews is an edge rusher who collected 27 sacks last year.

And I would be remiss if I did not comment on the festival of speculation going on about OMG SHIRTLESS OT Sam Young, who cancelled his recruiting visits to Michigan and Penn State and moved up his timeline. Various reports had him deciding and then visiting Notre Dame; if true that would be functionally equivalent to "committing to Notre Dame." However, the does not appear to be accurate. Young is hosting Pete Caroll today:

Carroll's focus clearly is on reloading with the Feb.1 signing day approaching. He left Sunday night on a recruiting trip and has an in-home visit scheduled for today in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., with offensive lineman Sam Young, Rivals.com's No.2 offensive tackle and No.23 overall.

Young is also expected to host visits from Weis... and Lloyd Carr. So it isn't over, but that same Scout article referenced earlier re: McKenzie Matthews pointedly omits any mention of Young. So it doesn't look particularly good, but there's too much "not so fast, my friend" insider buzz to write him off completely.

Link here.