Monday Recruitin'

Update 7/30: Added FL LB Tarik Rollins(then immediately removed him), NC DE Quintin Coples, KS WR Chris Harper. Linked to articles on TX WR Jeff Fuller, MN WR Michael Floyd, VA WR Deion Walker, video of CA RB Darrell Scott (interview), more articles on IL QB John Wienke, NJ LB JB Fitzgerald, MI RB Jonas Gray. Removed AL OL Antoine McClain (dropped us), IL LB Steven Filer (ND), FL DE Cory Liuget (dropped us). Linked to Bucknuts chat w/ mentions of IL DT Garret Goebel and PA LB Shayne Hale. Also a Bucknuts thread with more Hale. Now: Scout article on Hale.

Another article on Walker, and Goebel Goebel Goebel. First: Scout article. Second third and fourth are threads from Buckeye message boards featuring XPUNISHER posts -- XPUNISHER is Garrett's uncle. Nevermind. He committed to OSU. Moved TX RB Sam McGuffie to committed.

Editorial Opinion: Well, a lot of this was "where is Garret Goebel going?" type speculation stuff, which is moot since Goebel told everyone where he was going: Ohio State. This was the inverse of the Koger recruitment. One school had a presumably large lead at one point, then the trailing school made a late charge complete with visits and encouraging/discouraging quotes, then picked the presumed leader. It would have been nice to have him, but with Martin in the fold and Campbell for next year Michigan is fine at DT. I would be surprised to see another in this class.

Other guys off the board were peripheral guys Michigan wasn't heavily involved with save IL LB Steven Filer, who we finished third for. He's another blue chip headed to Notre Dame; though Michigan's class is looking fine -- better than fine, it's looking like the best class Michigan's had in a few years -- Notre Dame is doing well.

The other bit of bad news isn't particularly unexpected: MN WR Michael Floyd is leaning elsewhere, naming a top two of ND and OSU. No big deal given Stonum, etc.

Anyway, on with the show: I don't know what to make of PA LB Shayne Hale. First, he and cousin Cameron Saddler set three official visits to their three mutual finalists. The Buckeye insider guys at Bucknuts seem to be writing him off:

jimmy (Jul 24, 2007 12:51:37 PM)

Is Shayne Hale a linebacker or DE at Ohio State?

Bill Kurelic (Jul 24, 2007 12:52:40 PM)
Linebacker. But I don't think he ends up at Ohio State.

Duane (Jul 24, 2007 12:52:43 PM)
I see a linebacker but he is a big kid. he could grow into a DE. He is so athletic and so quick he could stay at linebacker longer than most kids would as they add weight.

Duane (Jul 24, 2007 12:54:18 PM)
I too think he does not come this way. I am more of the mind that this package deal is real. Saddler is the dominate [sic] personality. Hale is going to be reluctant to walk away from what amounts to is his shield.

atlanticrob (Jul 24, 2007 1:25:25 PM)
Considering we didn't take a pure linebacker last year (Brian Rolle and Jermale Hines might both end up at safety), why can't we seem to get Hale and Sabino more interested in us considering Laurinaitis and Grant will be gone, and Freeman will be a senior?

Bill Kurelic (Jul 24, 2007 1:27:31 PM)
In the case of Hale, the biggest issue is his desire to go to school with his cousin, Saddler. Without that issue I would tend to like OSU's chances. I will also say, I think Hines is going to be a very good linebacker at OSU eventually. I can tell you, the people at the Woody Hayes Facility really, really like him.

Kurelic also posted this on their board:

In my front page story on Saturday on Shayne Hale, Hale discussed his interest in going to the same school as his cousin, Cameron Saddler. Hale basically said the two would like to go to the same school, but it's possible they could go their seperate [sic] ways.

For my print publication, "Midwest Football Recruiting News," I needed to talk with Saddler. While doing so I asked him about going to the same school as Hale and here is what he had to say.

"We most likely will go to the same school. He has four schools and I have four. The one that is different is Syracuse for me and Ohio State for him. We're going to make the best decision for each of us, but most likely we will go to West Virginia, Michigan or Virginia. Ohio State recruited me, but they didn't offer. I was interested, but they didn't offer."

So all that is like k-rad, right? Not going to OSU and you have to like Michigan's chances for a couple of PA recruits who are also considering Virginia and West Virginia. Then, this Scout article from yesterday throws cold water on everything:

"Ohio State will be really strong again this year," he said. "They stand out every year and are probably my favorite, slightly now. It's a great program and I love the facilities. They are all new and you couldn't ask for anything more. I went to the Penn State (at Ohio State) game last year and it was amazing there. I love how they shut things down and the atmosphere is all that. Everyone shows up to the game."

There are also nice things said about the other schools on his list (M:

"Michigan is great because I like Ann Arbor a lot," Hale said. "There's a lot to do there and it's a fun place. The people there are great and I like how hard and fast they practice."

), so maybe panic is not quite called for, but jeez man. Way to harsh my buzz. So like WTF, dunno. Ask again later.

Unfortunately, most of the rest of the stuff linked above is probably irrelevant fluff: noncommittal articles on that WR (Deion Walker) who has like 50 schools on his list and probably isn't coming here; a noncommittal article on another WR (Jeff Fuller) who has seven schools on his list and probably isn't coming here; stuff on RBs (Jonas Gray, Darrell Scott) probably not coming here, especially after McGuffie's commit; obviously one-sided quotes from the GatorCountry replacement on Scout from JB Fitzgerald that probably don't mean much. Goebel announcing really stole a lot of thunder from this particular edition of Monday Recruitin'. If he wasn't already a Buckeye I would ratchet up my undying hatred, but it only goes to 11.