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What happened today: I was fingered by Blogger's spambots and had to wait it out for someone to stop by, note that spammers are unlikely to have "suck my balls, blogger" prominently displayed at the top of the blog, and give me the go-ahead to post again. They have done so. A now-dated MSU post is directly below this one.

By way of apology, a Sam McGuffie highlight reel that's wicked sweet (music NSFW):



That hurdle thing was less a brilliant improvisation than a regular part of the McGuffie arsenal.

Roast Beast!

2/27/2006 - Michigan 67-56 Michigan State - 20-10, 8-7

I will admit that this basketball grinch's heart grew three sizes when Brent Petway threw down a half-court alley-oop from Jerrett Smith midway through the second half yesterday. Even my ambivalence about the possibility of another NCAA near-miss leading to an extension of the Amaker era eroded with every shot of a white-clad slackjaw cheering for Michigan State and every non-turnover possession. It's no fun thinking big picture in the throes of actual sporting competition, and I hereby suspend any and all conflicted musings until the season ends.

Bullets:

• Credit where it's due to Amaker: the switch to Smith as the starting point guard seems to be working. Though his final numbers weren't stunning -- 8 point, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 turnover -- they were efficient. His defense on the Spartan guards was surprisingly competent.
• Second positive adjustment: bringing Jevohn Shepard off the bench to play BRJ/Tayshaun Prince on Drew Neitzel. It's hard to tell how much Neitzel's illness affected his play since he could hardly get a shot off unless it was an awful and infuriatingly accurate three-pointer. Shepard's still an offensive nothing, but unfortunately neither Lester Abram or Ron Coleman has much on him at this point.
  
• Michigan's persistent inability to finish at the rim was going to be the thing I harped on -- turnovers being shockingly absent -- should Michigan have blown the game. Most flagrant was Brent Petway's decision to spin into the lane and throw up a missed hook when if he had gone baseline he would have had a thunderous dunk. YOU'RE BRENT PETWAY! You jump over things. That's your thing. No with the skill. Yes with the ARRRRRGH DUNK.
• The second half pick-and-roll perfectly executed by Jerrett Smith, Brent Petway, and Courtney Sims: most shocking basket of the Amaker era?
• We are still a major longshot to make the tournament. A win over OSU is required and improbable, and then we can't screw it up in the Big Ten tournament.
• The disappearance of Lester Abram is on a par with Amelia Earhart.
• I really hate that Bill Simmons beat me to "Drew Neitzel is dead ringer for a leukemia patient."
  

Given the fate of Michigan basketball under the watchful eye of an MGo-liveblog, we're going to skip it. But there might be an open thread or something. We're very likely to lose, but let's cross that bridge when we come to it.

Unverified Voracity Zoom

Troy Woolfolk is fast. The incoming cornerback just got done owning the 100 meters at a Texas meet:

100 — 1, Troy Woolfolk, Dulles 10.28; 2, Alvin Johnson, Lamar 10.65; 3, Cordell Riggings, Humble 10.7.

There is probably some wind-based/hand-timed mitigating factor in that number, otherwise that's a staggering time. In any case, he gap between Woolfolk and second place is giant. Hopefully he can change directions. Also of note is the 200:

200 — 1, Damien Clestine, Beaumont Ozen 21.18; 2, Darryl Stonum, Dulles 21.38; 3, John Durand, Ball 22.25.

Stonum is a wide receiver for Dulles; we lead for his services.

Oh snap. Friday's post about the CHL and USHL getting ready to throw down? Yeah...

Both NCAA schools and CHL teams claim that they can provide a university degree while chasing the dream of the NHL. The numbers state otherwise.

On a typical NCAA roster of 28, .5 players make it to the NHL, 23.5 graduate from university, and 4 do not graduate from university.

On a typical CHL roster of 25, 1 player makes it to the NHL, 4 obtain a university degree and 20 do not obtain a university degree.

In the contest to graduate players from university the NCAA wins 23.5 to CHL 4.

The question then becomes why does the CHL graduate only 16% of its player base from university while the NCAA's number is at 84%?

...says the USHL's official website(!), which then proceeds to enumerate the reasons why the CHL's much-lauded education packages hardly ever get used. I'm willing to be there's some data massaging going on there, but you can't bridge a gap that wide -- or even approach it -- just by rearranging the data. Junior advocates make an effort in the comments of this post, if you're interested in the other side.

Wonk on Michigan, noting the eerie consistency of the Wolverines under Amaker:

The Michigan theory of chaotic status quo. All Michigan events and decisions sum to zero and perpetuate the status quo in Ann Arbor. Even seemingly diametrically opposed actions work in concert to reproduce the past. (How Hegelian!)

Disagreement: the Udoh-Sims switch is posited as a defensive substitution that gets a couple shot-blockers in the game at the same time, but does Udoh's advantage in block percentage (6.4% for Sims, a staggering 11.2% for Udoh) sufficient to offset his deficit in defensive rebounding (20% for Sims, 13% for Udoh)? Udoh, like many a jumping-jack freshman (or a jumping-jack senior coughpetwaycough), tries to block everything. The corresponding void on the block leads to offensive rebounds and contributes to Michigan's crappy defensive rebounding.

Sims' removal from the starting lineup has to be explained in some other way.

About tonight. Michigan has an opportunity over the next two games to play themselves into the tournament... maybe. Drew Neitzel -- the entirety of Michigan State's offense -- has come down with the flu. He'll play tonight, but how effective he is remains to be seen. It might not mean much: this is glacially-paced college basketball, after all. Then the 14-1 but hideously-overrated Buckeyes come to Crisler. While Michigan's chances in that game aren't good, Ohio State is also not the juggernaut their record implies.

(Buckeye Commentary:

That UCLA garnered a few first place votes is not surprising but what's unexpected is the plethora, the absolute glut of talk today castigating Ohio State's win. Even the Big Ten Wonk calls us the "ugliest 14-1 team". What gives?

This type of criticism would be tolerable if vanity had any place in college basketball. Or college football? We know that well do we not after our 2002 National Championship? So, I'm still struggling why it matters that a team doesn't win pretty enough. Naturally, I'm struggling because there really isn't any answer other than it doesn't matter.

This is inaccurate. As John Hollinger pointed out in his latest ESPN blog entry, in which he defends his power ratings' placement of the Spurs, not the Mavs or Suns, #1:

...as I've been trying to beat into people's heads over and over again, point differential is a better indicator of future success than won-loss record. In other words, if you were trying to pick a game between the Mavs and Spurs tomorrow, you'd be better off ignoring the standings and looking just at point differential.

Ohio State's point differential is the best in the Big Ten (or at least their efficiency margin is, and that's a more accurate stat anyway), but it doesn't compare to Illinois 04-05, the last Big Ten team to be #1 at this late date in the season, especially since this year's edition of the Big Ten isn't good. Ohio State is an ugly team that gets in a lot of ugly games and once they're past the sacrificial #16 seed they could go out the window at any time.

Obvious disclaimer: Thad Matta could outrecruit Tommy Amaker in a KKK uniform, and his coaching is at least all right. I would swap basketball programs in a second. Etc.)

Anyway: Michigan could sneak its way into the tournament with a sweep in its final two games. I'm conflicted about this. It would obviously be nice to make the tournament, but managing to win a couple games like this wouldn't sufficiently improve my opinion of Amaker to make his inevitable retention palatable. I have seen six years of confused "motion" offenses, four years of Brent Petway waiting to throw the ball to some guard who is always cutting away from the basket and always well guarded. I have seen Amaker's often bizarre recruiting. I have seen too many turtlenecks. And I say the chances Amaker can turn the Michigan program into a consistent top 25 team are very, very low no matter the outcome of these next two games.

Etc.: Amani Toomer's divorce may well end up history's ugliest; SI does their Road Trip feature on Michigan; David Harris article; Steve Kampfer article. SMQB demolishes Dennis Dodd for taking up the cause of poor, blackballed Gary Barnett.

Recruiting Board Updated

Update 2/26: Added NJ S Brandon Smith, TN WR Rodriguez Wilks, IL OL Graham Pocic, CA OL Vaugn Dotsy, and FL LB Nigel Bradham. Linked to Mike Zordich interview. Fixed "illcit" typo that had been there for two years. Added VA LB Marcus Dowtin, GA DT Omar Hunter, and MI CB Troy Tidwell, MN WR Michael Floyd, OH WR Nate Wilburn-Ogletree. Linked to Jon Major interview. Added KY DE Dexter Heyman, KY DT Brandon Newman, CT DT Massengo Kabongo.

Downgraded NC S Robert Blanton from green to yellow.

Editorial Opinion: Ah, the days when recruiting is a constantly expanding set of possibilities. A ton of guys go on the board and none come off. Three Southern defensive linemen are of particular note:

GA DT Omar Hunter is likely to be one of the top three prospects in the state. He's been inspiring paeans since his sophomore year. He's had high-profile SEC offers for six months. The kicker:

Omar Hunter: Auburn, Mississippi State, Florida, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Maryland, South Carolina, Duke and Ole Miss have offered. Attended UF Junior Day. He is from NJ and favors Michigan. If offered he said he would likely commit. Auburn is likely second.

No doubt the Michigan coaches are scrambling for tape as we speak. [A note on that site: it's a blog (dodgy), but one of a few Florida ones officially hosted at their Scout site (less dodgy). Given the explosion of Hunter chatter on Michigan message boards, the bolded assertion is not taken from the ether.]

KY DT Brandon Newman and KY DE Dexter Heyman both enter the board with nice green smileys. Both are saying nice things about Michigan at the moment, albeit things of the sort that are clearly less argh-offer-now than Hunter's seeming eagerness to drop. Heyman's quote: "if I had a leader, it would be Michigan." So there you go. Heyman's a top-100-ish defensive end and should be getting an offer at some point. Newman is probably a 3.5 star type who may not get an offer right away if Michigan feels good about Hunter and a couple other guys. With a small class and a lot of young DTs Michigan will probably go light at the position this year.

The rest of the new guys are just names at this point. Dotsy, probably one of the best guard prospects in the 2008 class, goes to St. Bonaventure with Michael Williams and 2008's #1 RB, Darrell Scott.

Board here.

CHL, NCAA: Let's Get It On

Hockey down the road. The USHL profiles a couple of '91 recruits. One is future NTDPer David Valek, who is either a Czech dual citizen...

David came to Detroit Honeybaked this year via the Czech Republic, where he has played the past few seasons. The last two years he has played in a town called Tinec, and in both years he played for two teams - a younger development team and the older main team in his town.

...or didn't get the memo that Prague is so 1995. Valek's currently at Detroit Honeybaked and has Michigan season tickets. As a '91, he would come in with the 2009 class. But that's only of provincial interest.

The larger issue is raised by the other recruit profiled. He doesn't have any particular Michigan connections; he does have an interesting opinion or two on the OHL-NCAA tug of war:

Lowry has a bit of knowledge of college hockey, and feels that living in the major junior hockey hotbed of Kitchener/Waterloo that college hockey falls short in promoting their game to kids in Ontario, Canada. "I think I have gotten one thing from a college and it was a survey," Lowry said. "I have gotten 5 or 6 cover letters from OHL teams and OHL Central Scouting. As well, my team had a seminar with the OHL." With that said, he is well aware of the opportunity to play in the NCAA. When asked about his knowledge of college hockey, Lowry stated, "at Prospects a few years ago I went to a great seminar about NCAA hockey. They explained it to us, and I know it is good hockey for sure." When asked what college hockey needs to do to get the word out more, Lowry said, "I think they need to open up the rules a bit, let college coaches contact kids earlier."

Lowry's proposed rule change is on the table according to this Waterloo, Ontario newspaper article on the OHL's push towards ever-younger contact with youth hockey players:

This April, the NCAA will consider changing its rules to allow schools to contact players in their Grade 10 years once a month.

The only reason for this rule change is the NCAA's ongoing war with the CHL; the primary reason for this OHL initiative is the ascension of the USHL, which attained "Tier I" status from USA Hockey in 2002 by increasing its financial commitments to its players. The ensuing rush of talented players planning on playing in college gutted the NAHL, its domestic college-feeder competitor, and created a league nearly on a par with anything the CHL can offer. Current Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson, who left LSSU for the OHL years back:

Notre Dame's Jackson, who also coached in the Ontario Hockey League, believes the USHL's top teams would be competitive if they moved to the OHL.

That implies that the league as a whole is still a step or two behind the CHL but the difference is neglible enough for the OHL to start a series of "Elite U-16" camps that seem an obvious attempt to win mindshare. You can check the OHL's breathless press release or the above-mentioned Waterloo article, which features a couple of partisans going "did too/did not" for its length. The series of events (USHL gets big, USHL starts raking in recruits who might otherwise be CHL all the way, OHL starts reaching out to younger kids, filling their heads with LIES LIES LIES their opinion about the college game) and Occam's razor suggests that "did too" is the right answer.

A world-class junior league that maintains players' collegiate eligibility removes a major selling point the OHL had over college hockey by providing elite players a place to go for the last couple years before they hit campus. USA Today had an extensive article on the league a couple weeks ago with quotes from Tristin Llewellyn:

Clearly, the USHL players have pride in their league. "Actually I think this league is just as good, if not better, than most (Canadian) Major Junior," Tri-City player Tristin Llewellyn says.

Llewellyn says the USHL "has to be the fastest league in North America." He says when he trains with OHL players or in Calgary with Western Hockey League players, what those players see as "their fastest speed seems average to me."

Llewellyn will be suiting up at Yost this fall.

(Via WCH and Marc Foster.)

New Shirts!

1) Sometime last year I got a cease & desist from the Collegiate Licensing Corporation claiming an exclusive trademark on "Notre Dame." As a result, the "Notre Dame: returning to glory since 1993" shirts got pulled. They are now collectors items worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Anyway, here's a new version that expresses my disdain for the state of North Dakota:



Damn North Dakotans and their clovers!

2) We're going to Wisconsin this year for what should be a huge Big Ten game. Wisconsin returns a ton of starters and is coming off a 12-1 year. But we're Michigan. Let 'em know:



(For anyone deeply confused by this reference, read this. Or this. Or this.)

3) Self-explanatory.



Visit MGoStore.

Coming Or Going: West/North-ish

(Named after the (apparently) famous Price Is Right game. Ask Orson.)

Hello! More exploration of the sketchy ethics of college football recruiting. Orson Swindle and I gathered the last six years of classes for every BCS team and found average-sized recruiting classes for each team. For comparison's sake, a team with 100% retention that never redshirts or recruits JUCOs or transfers should average 21.25 scholarships a year. A team with a 100% retention rate that redshirts everyone but still avoids JUCOs and transfers should average 17. If you figure about half of all freshmen redshirt (figure pulled directly from rear), then 100% retention means a class of slightly over 19 kids.

Disclaimers go here: Numbers are from Rivals. Scout has different numbers that are on average a little bit smaller. 100% retention is impossible and there are many completely kosher reasons for kids to leave a college football program before their eligibility expires. JUCOs and transfers were not accounted for in these numbers and obviously have a distorting effect (though transfers don't even show up in the rivals DB, so the net effect of a transfer to your school is to make your school look less like an Indonesian ferryman shoving people off the boat into alligator-infested waters.)

I've got the Big Ten, Pac-10, and Big 12. Check EDSBS around noonish for the ACC, Big East, and (drumroll...) SEC.

Big 12	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	Average
Iowa State	27	26	29	27	30	25	27.3
Kansas State	30	17	26	26	30	32	26.8
Texas Tech	24	25	26	21	34	26	26.0
Oklahoma State	28	31	19	21	29	23	25.2
Colorado	31	25	20	25	22	27	25.0
Missouri	23	23	25	23	25	27	24.3
Baylor	25	22	20	22	29	27	24.2
Kansas	22	27	21	28	25	22	24.2
Texas A&M	23	24	28	25	23	18	23.5
Oklahoma	24	24	18	27	28	20	23.5
Nebraska	21	19	20	32	22	27	23.5
Texas	28	18	20	15	25	24	21.7
Total Average							24.6

Our Indonesian Ferryman for the Big 12: Iowa State. An unsurprising second and third are Kansas State, Texas Tech, and their insatiable lust for JUCO blood.

And the Big 12 Mr. Chips Award For Academic Integrity goes to big, bad Texas -- though their number would be but middling in the Big Ten.

Pac 10	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	Average
Oregon State	20	22	36	30	33	35	29.3
Oregon	24	23	30	24	22	29	25.3
Arizona	29	26	29	26	25	16	25.2
Washington St.	28	18	27	21	24	26	24.0
Arizona St.	29	22	22	21	24	23	23.5
Cal	21	28	19	24	20	25	22.8
Washington	21	27	23	13	22	27	22.2
USC	22	28	19	19	26	18	22.0
UCLA	26	19	26	21	22	10	20.7
Stanford	16	26	12	17	18	19	18.0
Total Average							23.3

Yea, verily the Pac-10 is a conference of extremes.

Our Indonesian Ferryman for the Pac 10 is Oregon State with a staggering 29 scholarships handed out per class and a whopping 134 recruits over the past four years. Oregon State is the national Indonesian Ferryman and the sketchiest program in all the land.

Meanwhile, Stanford is puttering along at 18 scholarships per year. They win the Mr. Chips Award For Academic Integrity for the Pac-10 and the nation.

Big Ten	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	Average
Michigan State	21	21	31	27	28	21	24.8
Purdue	27	26	28	21	27	18	24.5
Minnesota	27	27	24	20	22	22	23.7
Illinois	23	27	24	20	27	21	23.7
Indiana	21	25	26	25	21	19	22.8
Wisconsin	25	22	23	22	23	17	22.0
Iowa	22	22	21	23	21	22	21.8
Michigan	21	17	22	23	19	20	20.3
Penn State	22	11	25	19	24	21	20.3
Ohio State	24	16	24	18	20	15	19.5
Northwestern	22	22	15	20	17	19	19.2
Total Average							22.1

Our Indonesian Ferryman for the Big Ten: Michigan State. To be fair to the Spartans, their total would be good for but fourth in the Pac-10 and a piddling sixth in the Big 12.

Raise your hand if you thought Northwestern would win the Mr. Chips Award for the Big Ten. That's all of you, good. Now raise your hand if you thought Ohio State would come in second. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Ohio State is increasingly irritating: first they go and win against us all the time, reducing my ability to make fun of them to critically low levels, then they go and stop getting in trouble altogether -- a third string kicker selling weed just doesn't cut it, even if his last name is a popular synonym for semen. What's a blogger to do?

And there's one relevant team floating out there not in any conference...

That Other Team	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	Average
Notre Dame	18	21	16	15	28	18	19.3

To its credit, Notre Dame retains like a mother. Either that or Willingham was so bad at recruiting they left large numbers of scholarships open.

EDSBS will have has the ACC, Big East, and SEC up... how do they stack up? Stay tuned! Spay or neuter your dogs and such!

Unverified Voracity Doesn't Know

There is a nasty rumor circulating the Michigan internets that three players, two of them potential starters, are in some degree of trouble. The rumor is multiply-sourced and probably true, IMO, but the assertion that all three are booted from the team is at the very least premature. Varsity Blue chips in with what they can:

Rumors have been perpetuated on the internet (including those damn bloggers -ed.*) that three players, whose names I will not drag through the mud until this rumor has been in some way substantiated, have been caught with drugs and kicked off the team. Per Tom Beaver [GBW poohbah -ed], at least the aspect of getting removed from the team is false, and he also stated unequivocally that the law is NOT involved.

He also offers some circumstantial evidence of his own that indicates anyone panicked should calm down a bit; hit up Varsity Blue's post for that additional bit of reassurance.

In sum: three guys probably in trouble but of the stairs-running variety. A complicating factor: a couple of the accused have been in trouble before and may be running out of strikes. (Any SEC fans wishing to jump down my throat about this would be advised to look into whether their favorite program conducts off-season random drug tests for recreational substances first.)

Mel Kiper is not a huge fan of Alan Branch. Detroit News article on instate draft prospects:

Branch has enormous physical ability, very athletic with tremendous physical prowess," the ESPN analyst said Wednesday during a teleconference. "I'd say he'd probably go top 10 to 12, but I have him right now at 18, 19, 20."

The knock on Branch, a 6-foot-5, 330-pound defensive tackle, is his lack of production, Kiper said.

"He should be a dominant player but was not on a consistent basis (in college)," Kiper said. "He probably needed another year at Michigan, in terms of production, because he was not a guy that gave you results in terms of tackles and sacks that you thought were possible.

"He's got a chance to be a heck of a player. The potential is there."

This is silliness on a par with those MaxwellPundit voters who downgraded Reggie Nelson because he only made one tackle in the MNC game. (How many tackles was Nelson, a deep free safety, supposed to make when Ohio State completed four passes?) Branch is a defensive tackle and to measure his impact on the game in terms of numbers is inherently shallow.

Kiper on Hall:

On cornerback Leon Hall (5-11, 193) -- "If you asked me where he'd go in September, October, November, I'd probably have said top 10. What hurt him a little was the Ohio State game and then the Rose Bowl, where he was beaten deep, and his recovery speed was in question. The combines and workouts overall are important for him. I think he's a mid-first-rounder right now."

No problems with that. Throughout the year it seemed odd that Leon Hall was being talked about like a top-ten pick and a Woodson-Law type corner. Don't get me wrong: Leon was a very good collegiate corner. But he never had that lockdown ability you expect from a guy with that level of hype. As far as corners of the last decade or so go, the list is like this:

• Woodson
• Enormous, Weis-sized gap.
• Law
• Similarly sized gap.
• Hall, Jackson
• Lesueur

I think I'll have something more on this Delaney thing soon. I mean, lord knows I don't want to. It's been my longstanding opinion that the top five conferences are all fairly equal -- though if Miami and FSU don't pull out of their tailspins, the ACC isn't -- and arguing about which conference is incrementally better this year is a stupid and boring conversation to have. But Delaney and the Big Ten have been getting hammered ever since OSU didn't show up for the MNC game (and, granted, Michigan didn't show up for the Rose Bowl) by people who think the result of whatever the last game was is the way all future contests will go forever and ever.

A couple quick things, though. BGS posts something called "Big Tenvy" that has a nice table of the 19 recruits offered by both Big Ten and SEC schools this year, notes that 15 of them went to SEC schools, and claims that this effectively disproves the infamous Delaney line about not having six top-ten classes because of the modicum of scruples the Big Ten chooses to maintain or whatever. (<-- Delaney's words paraphrased and not, at this time, an expression of personal opinion.) Leaving aside the obvious sample size problems, a subset of players that have been offered by both sets of schools implies that their academics obviously met the standards of both conferences and proves nothing about a hypothetical gray area in which one says OK! and the other NO WAI. But what really drew my ire was the Larry Grant example, which is so dumb it featured heavily in a Matt Hayes article. General rule of thumb: if Matt Hayes is using something, run away. BGS excerpt:

Originally from Georgia, Grant selected Florida but could not qualify academically. After completing some make-up work he then enrolled at, you guessed it, Ohio State. Tell me again which conference had the higher standards?

Excerpt from BGS-linked article:

Although Grant landed at OSU, that was not his original destination. A few months ago, he was committed to Florida and all but had his bags packed for Gainesville. Originally from Norcross, Ga., an Atlanta suburb, Grant intended to play in the Southeastern Conference.

Then came the revelation that he had not passed a math course that the SEC requires of all junior-college transfers. Florida couldn’t take him. He did the makeup work in January, but by then he was a free agent.

The implication of this sentence is that by the time Grant committed to OSU, he was eligible to play anywhere in the SEC. Second excerpt:

Tressel is not a fan of junior-college transfers, primarily because they can be in the program three years at the most. In his five years at OSU, he had not signed any, although he had inherited two, receiver Chris Vance and linebacker Jack Tucker.

Criticizing Ohio State and the Big Ten for taking an SEC-eligible Larry Grant when he's the only JUCO Ohio State has taken in five (now six) years of recruiting is something only Matt Hayes could come up with, and BGS should be embarrassed that they resorted to it.

Meanwhile, over at EDSBS Orson takes a look at the 2002 Michigan and Florida classes and checks them for relative flameouts. There are a lot of ways a player can fail to serve out their eligibility, and only some are ethically dubious. A rough division:

THAT'S LIFE

• Injury.
• Playing-time-related transfer.
• Playing-time related departure from team -- ie: buried so far on the bench the only chance you'd have to play is if the walkons all tear their ACLs. Most schools retain the option to cut guys after their fourth year.
  
• NFL departure (within reason: if you aren't going on the first day that's sketchy)

SKETCHY IN QUANTITY

• Guys who never qualify.
• Academic washouts.
• Showing your manhood to coeds and such
• Lawrence Phillips disease.

Of Michigan's 21 recruits (Disimone only shows 20, counting Quinton McCoy against 2003, but he first signed a LOI in '02 so it's better to file him here for purposes of this discussion), 12 completed their eligibility. Six were "That's life" departures: Rembert and Guiterrez left so they could play. Kolodziej and Berishaj left because of injuries (2002 was a bad year to be an OL with a last name ending in "J"). Kevin Murphy and Jacob Stewart were not invited back for fifth years because they weren't going to see the field. Only three fall in the sketch category: Greg Cooper, who didn't qualify, prepped, and went to State, Larry Harrison, who loved running around town without pants on, and McCoy, who was an academic washout.

Orson's analysis of Florida's 2002 class, which is similarly sized, shows 13 guys (Orson actually shortchanges UF by undercounting here) who finished their eligibility or left early for the draft. One guy was injured, and another was unambiguously sketchy. The remainder:

Transfers:

Patrick Dosh: Became a pirate at ECU. Yarr for him.

McKenzie Pierre: Robbed Florida fans of an exceptional name by transferring after ‘04.

Jimtavis Walker: Became a cabbie-mugging Beaver before flunking out completely.

Guys who fell off the face of the earth.

Todd Bunce. D-lineman who fell into Federlineville.

Gavin Dickey: Fleet qb who opted to play British women’s sport instead of football.

Ryan Carter, OL: Running guns in Cote d’Ivoire, for all we know.

Placing these guys into one big "didn't finish" category leaves something to be desired. In Michigan terms, there are Matt Gutierrez transfers and Max Martin transfers. The latter are sketchy. We can safely file Walker into "sketchy" and Dickey into "not" (baseball, for those having a hard time translating), the circumstances of the other two transfers and the mysterious disappearances of Carter and Bunce are ambiguous. So Michigan has 18 not sketchy, 3 sketchy; Florida 15 not sketchy, 2 sketchy, and 4 don't knows. Still fairly even. Orson's promised a look at Tennessee, who by dint of sheer numbers can't possibly maintain that sort of good citizenship record.

Anyway: this debate seems to be only starting and since it's the offseason you'll no doubt end up with as much of it as you care to absorb.

Etc: Rivals previews the Michigan baseball team, which should be pretty good for northerners; Stadium & Main on Appalachian State and future scheduling.

Penn State Hates Us

I posted this at the Fanhouse but it demands distribution everywhere and anywhere I control. A brief setup: this guy really, really likes Penn State (and Notre Dame). He's kind of hammered. He's watching the 2005 Michigan-Penn State game. Hilarity ensues. (First part's a little slow, but stay with it.)

2007 Recruiting: Recap, Wrap, Opinions

Position by position grades:

• QB: A+. Obviously.
• FB: A. Not a hugely important position but Vince Helmuth is a highly regarded prospect there. Ready and willing to do the gruntwork of the position.
• RB: C. Avery Horn is fast but Michigan struck out on some more heavily promoted kids.
• WR: A. Don't believe the lack of hype about Junior Hemingway.
• TE: B+. Webb is a boom-or-bust type, Watson a guy who will probably play but be uninspiring..
• OL: D. Whiff places heavy pressure on the class of 2008.
• DL: B-. Didn't need much. Van Bergen is highly regarded, Sagesse a wild card. If you want to fit Slocum in this category, then it's a good haul.
  
• LB: C. Panter was an important recruit for right now. The other two are meh, IMO.
• DB: B+. Got the blue-chipper they needed and a couple additional players, but the depth is lacking.

Overall? B+. There are some disappointing aspects to the class, but if you had told me on Signing Day I could draft one player in the country I would have taken Mallett. If the scuttlebutt on the Warren/Johnson trade is correct and Warren is more likely to help right now, I think I'd rather have Warren for a secondary that has no reliable corners at the moment. Michigan also loaded up on receivers/TEs.

OTOH, only two offensive linemen, one of them a center-only type because of his size and the other a sleeper who Michigan snatched from MAC schools, is the worst Michigan OL class in the Lemming era of recruiting (ie, since I've been paying attention). The two non-JUCO linebackers are both projects. Past Warren there are a couple of decent safeties who are unlikely to be stars and then Sears/Richards-type projects at corner. Michigan really needed a second blue-chippah at corner they did not get. There's a lot wrong with the class, but the slam dunk at the most important position on the field and the biggest need for Michigan going in makes up for almost all of it.

Panic! About Instate Recruits: Michigan only flagged down two of Michigan's top 15 prospects. But it's not that bad:

Ryan VanBergen and Martell Webb. Commits.

Justin Siller, Keith Nichol, and Steven Threet. Quarterbacks who are not named "Mallett." Michigan didn't pursue any of them.

Mark Dell, Quincy Landingham, Derek Knight. Michigan was clearly focused on other players from the start. For whatever reason, they never showed any interest.

Taurian Washington. Mutual flirting went on, but he apparently lost his scholarship offer when James Rogers outperformed him at camp and committed. No real loss; Michigan picked up two higher-rated receivers in the class.

Darris Sawtelle. Tennessee legacy.

Cedric Everson. Circus freak who claimed offers from every program in the country, then committed to Georgia Tech. GT later pulled his offer. He committed to State, then decommitted on Signing Day to Iowa. Michigan never pursued him, and even though he may be able to run fast Michigan doesn't have to put up with radioactive nuts like him.

Ronald Johnson, Dionte Allen, Joseph Barksdale, Chris Colasanti. Whiffs on players Michigan wanted. Barksdale was kind of a flake and Colasanti came from a school Michigan does terribly at (Brother Rice). He was set on PSU from the very beginning. Blaming Michigan for not getting him is like blaming Pitt for not getting Toney Clemons. Sometimes kids just like a particular school that is not the local one.

No excuses for Johnson and Allen, but they are but two players.

So... there were six players in the top 15 Michigan went after with some expectation of getting. (Can hardly blame them for Sawtelle.) They got two and there were extenuating circumstances why they didn't do better than that. Is that great? No. But it's certainly not the disaster it was made out to be by spreaders of FUD. I'd be more concerned if Michigan was losing recruits to Notre Dame and Michigan State, teams who can apply a consistent presence in the region. (OSU tapping into the state is kind of irritating.)

General impressions of the 2008 landscape: The Midwest seems much stronger than it was a year ago. Pennsylvania has a lot of high-end prospects. Ohio is back to its normal level. Michigan has a second consecutive good year, though one that's a bit of a step back from 2007.

Michigan's needs are primarily at offensive line, defensive back, and tailback. They've also offered a ton of linebackers already (the Midwest is overflowing with them). Names to watch out for:

• CA RB Darrell Scott. Early favorite for this year's #1 back, he's transferring to freshman-to-be Michael Williams' school. With USC having locked up last year's #1 and #2 RBs, plus four others in the past couple years, he's more liabile to escape Trojan clutches than most California recruits. Ron English and an attractive depth chart -- the only significant competion appears to be Brandon Minor -- should have us in the running.
• MI RB Jonas Gray. From Detroit Country Day and has publicly stated he was big into Notre Dame, but may be backing off that for similar depth chart reasons: ND picked up Robert Hughes and Armando Allen in the last class.
• TX RB Sam McGuffie. McGuffie's the hurdling whiteboy as seen on Deadspin and every social video site you care to name. His father's from Michigan and there is thorough mutual interest between the two sides.
• PA WR Jonathan Baldwin. Ty Law's cousin, the 6'6" Baldwin is one of the top five prospects in a good class of Pennsylvania prospects. Michigan has an early lead but it's tentative.
• TX WR Daryl Stonum. A former teammate of Troy Woolfolk and Brandon Herron, he's been very vocal about Michigan's lead for his services. Ranked around #11 in Texas, Stonum will probably be at the tail end of top 100 lists or just off them.
• MI OT Dan O'Neill. A solid-four star type, O'Neill is expected to commit sooner or later.
• TX OT JB Shugarts. He's leaving the state, is friends with McGuffie, and has been up to Michigan. Will have to fight off OSU, UF, LSU, etc, but a decent shot.
• PA LBs Christian Wilson, Shayne Hale, and Andrew Sweat all have Michigan in the top group of teams they're listing. OSU will be a competitor for all three.
• CA DBs Robert Golden and Brandon Leslie. From Fresno Edison, the former home of Johnny Sears. Michigan's recruiting both. Golden has repeatedly said that Arizona(!?) leads for his services

There are more -- check the board -- if you're interested.

A successful 2008 class: Two running backs, one of them highly rated. A couple nice receiving targets. Three offensive tackles, two highly rated, and three interior linemen. A good defensive end, two highly rated linebackers, Boubacar Cissoko and two more corners. Add in a Mallett caddy, a defensive tackle, and a safety, and it's around 18 guys from our current starting point of 13.

Unverified Voracity Snaps Back

A quick look at Pennsylvania's top ten next year shows Michigan in like whoah. Though QB Terrelle Pryor and DT/OL Lucas Nix are long shots, Michigan is in on eight of the top ten according to the plugged-in Chris Dokish. Offers are out to the top six, and #10. #7 is CB Jared Holley, a guy who will get offered sooner or later.

The LA Times has an epic article on Jack Johnson.

All Hail English. Rivals declared him the Big Ten's best recruiter after his Lazarus job with Donovan Warren. Also on the list is Scot Loeffler.

Interesting bit from the Sports Economist on college basketball recruiting, which anyone will tell you is sleazy as all git out. It references this WaPo article on AAU teams, which increasingly structure themselves as non-profits and accept tax-deductible "donations" from boosters:

"You say, 'Let's talk,' " the college coach said. "You keep it going as long as you can until you can figure out a way around it or until you decide to donate maybe less than what they want just to stay in the equation. As soon as you say, 'No,' you are out. You have to do what you have to do to get the player."

Further evidence that Sonny Vaccaro should be shot into the sun:

Sonny Vaccaro, a prominent shoe company representative who helped create the current youth summer basketball league system nearly two decades ago, confirmed that the practice is popular, calling it "brilliant." "It is a unique, newer and cleaner way of getting money to people who have players who may or may not end up at your school," said Vaccaro, who now works for Reebok.

You can feel the slime oozing off the screen. Do not be alarmed. The Sports Economist makes a good point of its own:

it also is interesting evidence supporting the economic prediction that changing the rules about who gets the money doesn't change anything about whether or not it gets collected by somebody. I always find it interesting that people supporting the NCAA amateur requirement would rather see the money go to recipients like these "talent collectors." But that's just me.

OH SNAP. Chicago Tribune curmudgeon Sam Smith on blogs:

How is it I can work for decades developing contacts around the NBA and traveling regularly around the NBA and talking with the decision makers and some guy in his basement in his underwear is writing something that has credibility? As close as I can figure, these bloggers are the electronic version of the neighborhood tavern. You used to go in and hear people wailing about sports or politics and offering opinions on all the major issues. We did our man in the street interviews when such issues came up. Now, these people we used to ask for opinion started these blogs and are supposed to be experts. How can that be? I never see any of them, I never hear the coaches and general managers and players I talk to saying they talked to them. So where do they get their information?

People often doubt the traditional media, but we are out asking questions, developing sources of information and interacting with the participants. What are these bloggers doing? I'm fortunate on some level to be getting close to retirement because if these blogs are credible sources of information, there's no point in spending all the time on the road that I do.

Smith invokes MSM Media Fallacy #6 here: "blogs are trying to be just like newspapers because newspapering is the only thing that is valuable," but whatever. Then Smith wrote an article on the upcoming NBA trade deadline that featured not one but two quotes gathered by bloggers and failed to provide attribution. One of the liftees was Dan Steinberg of the DC Sports Bog, who noticed and... well... OH SNAP.

Etc.: Carty on potential Big Ten scheduling changes; Statistically Speaking takes a look at the Big Ten through the lens of some interesting statistical measures.

The Vivisected Pairwise

Many, many thanks to Sioux Sports for their handy PWR/RPI widgets. This post would not be possible without them.

So: we've established that a Western split is probably good enough to keep them a TUC. Does it matter? A comparison-by-comparison look at the PWR.

WINNING COMPARISONS

(ie: Comparisons Michigan wins right now. Prefer all of these to be "Etched In Stone.)

Tossups

• Denver. We own COP, but RPI is really really close and TUC is ridiculously close.
• Michigan State. H2H is tied. We have a significant COP edge that could go away since we're in the same conference. TUC is very close, RPI is very close.
• North Dakota. We win COP, but TUC and RPI are very, very close. NoDak's final four games are against TUCs, so there's a lot of wiggle here.

Solid

• Colorado College. We own COP and have a medium-sized RPI edge. TUC could go either way but as long as we're ahead of them in RPI we'll take the comparison.
• Cornell. No COP, they're well behind in RPI and have an ugly TUC record.
• Dartmouth. See "Cornell".
• St. Lawrence. We win COP and have a sizable TUC advantage that could go away if we lose WMU. Michigan has a 0.1 RPI advantage.
• Vermont. Same situation as St. Lawrence, but only if they do well in two games against BU upcoming.

Etched In Stone

• Lake State (or whoever is #25). Michigan will beat either Lake State or whoever replaces them simply by virtue of being well above .500.
• UMass. Huge RPI edge and we own COP.
• Michigan Tech. See Lake State.
• Niagara. See Lake State.
• Quinnipiac. See Lake State.
• Western. See Lake State.
• Wisconsin. H2H win and major RPI/TUC advantages. They win COP at the moment.

LOSING COMPARISONS

(Prefer these to be tossups.)

Tossups

• Boston College. Michigan has an RPI advantage of about 0.1, which is probably going to stand. They've lost COP and can't get it back. BC currently wins the TUC category because they're 9-8-0 and Michigan is 9-8-1.
• Miami. We have a tiny RPI edge; they have a tiny edge in TUC and a decent-sized lead in COP. A lot of wiggle in this comparison since it's a conference team.

Solid

• Boston University. Michigan has lost COP and is far behind in TUC. If BU gets swept by Vermont and Michigan outperforms BU in their respective conference tourneys Michigan might get by, but it's doubtful.
• Maine. We've lost COP. TUC is dead even at 9-8-1; Maine has two left against TUC Vermont and a decent RPI advantage. If Maine coughs it up at the end of the season we could move past them; doubtful.
• St. Cloud. The Huskies have a brutal closing stretch against Minnesota and North Dakota and could conceivably lose their TUC advantage over us if Michigan plays well down the stretch. We own COP right now with two against Minnesota pending. It would take a hefty collapse by SCSU but it's not impossible.

Etched In Stone

• Clarkson. We've lost COP, don't have the games to make up TUC.
• Minnesota. Duh.
• UNH. Duh.
• ND. Duh.

(Aside: notice how we're killing WCHA teams in COP? This is largely because we only had to lose to Minnesota once. Some of these teams, good otherwise, are rocking 0-4 records versus the Gopher death machine. Another item to add to the Complaints Against The Pairwise.)

THE UPSHOT

Without highly improbable events we have limited upside but limited downside. If we take all five tossups and nothing in the solid categories flip we'll be the last two-seed. If we lose all of them we have minor trouble, as we'll be tied for 12th with State. Since they win our comparison in this hypothetical scenario, they'll get the #12 seed and we'll be a couple of conference tournament upsets from getting bounced.

The good news: I don't think Western's TUC status matters all that much in terms of getting into the tournament. It will be hard to pull many of the tossups without that 3-1 boost, but the only way we can not make the tournament is by killing our RPI with bad performances against OSU and in the first round of the playoffs. Michigan's fate is entirely within its own hands. And with the vagaries of the PWR, where you actually get seeded is virtually irrelevant. I'd rather end up #12 than #9 and have to face Minnesota. (Unless Holy Cross wins the Atlantic Hockey tournament.)

Assuming at least a split versus OSU and a Michigan victory in their first-round playoff series, we are in, Western or no. If Michigan goes out and loses four straight, we're out, but assuming a reasonable performance down the stretch Michigan's tourney streak is not in jeopardy.

Untangling The TUC Cliff

The status of Western Michigan, Lake State, and Ohio State is vitally relevant to Michigan's tournament chances. At this moment, both Western and Lake State are tentatively TUCs (assuming, as most do, a "good win" bonus of .003); Ohio State is not. Michigan plays OSU this weekend; Western and Lake State play at the Soo. All four games are critical for Michigan. Obviously, losing to OSU is bad but it gets even worse if getting swept shoves the Buckeyes into the top 25 in RPI, adding an ugly 0-2 to Michigan's TUC record. Michigan is 1-1 against Lake State and would probably prefer the Lakers to not be a TUC; they are 3-1 against Western and very much want those games to count extra.

This calculation was easier a year ago when there was a set threshold instead of a top 25, but we do what we must. With two games against a decent opponent, a Western sweep will retain their TUC status. The chasing teams don't have the opponents to pass the Broncos. Threat by threat:

• RIT plays Bentley, 55th of 59 in RPI.
• Sacred Heart plays Army, 44th.
• Lake State plays... uh... Western.
• MSU-Mankato plays Colorado College.

Only Mankato has the opportunity to break past Western if they sweep, and that would require an implausible sweep of their own. OTOH, if Western takes the pipe their RPI will drop to 0.4986. Though teams are going to bounce around madly over a weekend of play, as of right now that would be good for but 32nd. There's no chance they get swept and retain TUC status.

Is a split good enough? Maybe. They're 24th now, so one team can pass them. With a split Western will see their RPI drop to .5057 from .5100 -- not good. Both RIT and Sacred Heart are better than that now, albeit barely. Since they're playing crappier opponents than Western, if either one of them splits Western would stay ahead of them. Lake State will not pass Western with a split and Mankato needs three points from CC to make the leap. Past that you're looking for fairly improbable things to happen, like Bemjidi sweeping its last four games or Northeastern taking its last three, for anyone to pass the Broncos.

In sum: Western sweep is good. If they get swept they're gone. If they split we're rooting for Army or Bentley to take one of four games and for CC to not completely blow it against Mankato. The chances of that are around 75%, just to pull a number out of thin air. One of two should be good enough for now. The playoffs will also play a major role, but projecting out past the next couple games is fruitless.

Nasty, close your eyes and shiver scenario: That is, unless Michigan gets swept this weekend. That would propel OSU past Western into the 25th spot in the 75% scenario, replacing our 3-1 record versus them with a (hypothetical) 0-2 record versus Ohio State. Our RPI would plummet to 15th, our TUC record would get eviscerated, and the chances of an at-large bid would virtually flatline.

Moral of the story: do not lose to Ohio State this weekend.

Unverified Voracity Is Precious

All Hail Hunsick. The Detroit News on Sunday's Lake State game:

T.J. Hunsick scored twice for Michigan in a 3-1 Central Collegiate Hockey Association victory over Lake Superior State Sunday at Joe Louis Arena.

Woo!

While we're on hockey, the current PWR is a perfect example of why the system is so very broken. Despite Michigan going 1-2-1 over its last four against generally mediocre competiton, they've moved up to seventh in the pairwise. Why? Western Michigan clawed its way into the top 25 in RPI by sweeping Michigan State last weekend. All of a sudden, Michigan's 3-1 record against the Broncos is deemed relevant. The result:

5	Clarkson	20	4	20-7-5	.7031	5	.5588
6	Boston University	19	6	17-5-9	.6935	6	.5561
7	Michigan	18	8	22-11-1	.6618	9	.5482
8	Maine	16	11	19-10-2	.6452	10	.5474
9t	Denver	15	12	20-11-3	.6324	7	.5502
9t	North Dakota	15	16t	17-11-4	.5938	8	.5487

Where before Michigan was getting punished for stupid reasons, -- like having a 1-1 record against common opponents instead of a 1-0-1 record -- now they are rewarded for Western Michigan proving itself a little less mediocre. The TUC cliff in action, folks. Anyway: pull hard for WMU this weekend against Lake State.

Oldish Mallett article from the Daily. Has this passage:

With starting quarterback Chad Henne entering his final season as a Wolverine, Michigan coach Lloyd Carr has made it clear that Mallett won't redshirt this season. And the freshman seems fine with that.

"It wasn't my decision," Mallett said. "If they need me to play, then I'll play. If they want me to redshirt, then I'll redshirt."

We already knew that Carr said Mallett was unlikely to redshirt, something which bugs me on a regular basis. Last year Carlos Brown and Adam Patterson basically threw away a year of eligibility for scant garbage time against teams like Eastern Michigan and Notre Dame. Meanwhile, Prescott Burgess would be returning for a fifth year and a shot at being drafted in the first round if he had only taken a redshirt. I know Carr sometimes has to promise a recruit playing time as a freshman, but whatever salutary effects one gets out of 12 snaps versus MAC backups pale in comparison to a potential fifth year. Mallett evidently does not demand playing time and though the hype around him suggests that he won't be around for five years, that's hardly a guarantee. Unless Lloyd knows something about Jason Forcier that we don't, I would prefer him to redshirt.

We do hates them. Someone dropped a link to this in the comments of a Fanhouse post in which I declare my Irish antipathy:



Now my facebook profile picture.

Hire Rudy T? There's a movement afoot to make Rudy Tomjanovich the next Michigan basketball coach. I'm personally in the "Hire Anyone" camp, but Rudy T seems a decent choice. Remember the weird recruiting saga of Tory Jackson, who Amaker "backed off of" because of demands from his handlers? Yeah...

• Jackson was averaging 5.67 assists per game going into today's game, second in the Big East. USF freshman Chris Howard is leading at 6.18. The next best freshman if Villanova’s Scottie Reynolds, seventh in the conference at 4.25 assists per game right behind Dominic James who is averaging 4.77 per game.
• Tied for second in the conference in steals, 2.08 per game. The next best freshman, Villanova's Reggie Redding, is seventh.
• ...Jackson has been climbing the Big East rankings in assists to turnovers ratio. He entered today's game fourth at 2.13. Only one other freshman, South Florida's Chris Howard at #8, is in the top fifteen.

Amaker's refusal to accept whatever demands Notre Dame did has left us in the capable hands of Jerrett Smith, a guy Amaker offered as a sophomore. A suggestion for Amaker's post-Michigan career: Detroit Lions scout.

Etc.: Braves & Birds presents his life as a Michigan basketball fan in haiku.

2008 Michigan Football Recruiting Board

Be sure to read the official mgoblog recruiting philosophy before committing suicide over anything you read here.

A Note on "Stars": These are my guesstimates. Players don't have stars associated with them yet. When the recruiting services add them I'll adjust my ratings. Half-stars appear to provide some additional accuracy. Generally a 4.5 star is a guy solidly in the top 100 on Scout/Rivals/ESPN and really highly rated by one. A 3.5 star is either a guy who is is a 3 on one site and a 4 on the other or a four-star that no one seems particularly excited about.

A Note on Premium Info: No illicit sharing of said material will appear on this site. Players are listed with interested schools in their profiles; this information is public. Commitments are by definition public. Any assertions as to schools in the mix, decision dates, or leaders I will back up with links to public information.

Projected Class Size:

As of right now: 18. Probably 22 by signing day.

	Names	Count
Expired Eligibility	Henne, Hart, Long, Kraus, Crable, Adams, Englemon, Campbell, C. Graham	9
Transfer	Forcier, Mixon, McKinney, Mallett	4
Early Entry	Manningham, Arrington.	2
Unrenewed Fifth /Medical	DeBenedictis, Ciulla, Mitchell, Gallimore	4
Other	Unused: 1. Stupidity: Germany, Richards, Sears; Lethargy: Schifano.	5

Total: 24.

Anything not in the "expired eligibility" is a wild-ass guess from me; read nothing into it, I beg you.

Update 2/4: Moved FL QB Justin Feagin to committed. Then moved him back to uncommitted. Moved TX WR Terrence Robinson to committed. Removed PA HB Christian Wilson. Linked to some more Feagin video, Robinson commit video. Added FL WR Onterrio McCalebb, FL OL Ricky Barnum, removed FL WR Martavious Odoms.

Pryor: one.

Update 2/5: Removed OH WR Roy Roundtree (premium article but the meat is in the headline/header).

PRYOR EEEE PRYOR EEEE: He's not deciding... unless he is! Jack McCallum knows jack and says OSU; Tom Luginbill also knows jack and says Michigan.

Signing Day: Moved OH OL Patrick Omameh to committed. Moved FL QB Justin Feagin to committed.

The Board

Legend:

Icon	Name	Meaning
	Sad Josh	The genre of player with unrequited interest in Michigan. Unlikely to receive offers; most will eventually fade off the list and go to Duke or Michigan State or something.
	Nefarious Eduardo	Player is a longshot. Either they've declared someone else a leader publicly or popular opinion holds that they're likely to go to another school.
	Data	Either no opinion or Michigan is one of a fairly even group of chasing schools. Players in this category maintain no leader or change their leader frequently. The default category for players that we don't know much about yet.
	Happy Teeth	Players who have Michigan in a small leading group or have Michigan as a tenuous favorite. Should be regarded as a good shot, not a slam dunk.
	Mr. Blue	Player is either a verbal or is expected to be one sooner or later. Players with this designation are 65%+ to be Michigan commits.

Quarterback
Needs: Minor. Mallett's on board; Forcier and Cone provide adequate depth. I would expect one guy of the three-star variety.

Update: Forcier's departure means that one quarterback is a must and should improve our chances a bit, since Mallett can no longer redshirt and we can offer any prospective commits an opportunity to get two years of separation.

Update Update: With Wienke's commit and the transfer of Stephen Threet, who's now essentially a member of the 2007 class who has to redshirt, we are done. I have Pryor on the board until he eliminates us officially.

Projected Commits: 1.

Quarterback

Prospects
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Justin Feagin	FL	***	Michigan		Dual threat HS QB who's an ATH type that could end up several different places. Small-school player of the year in FL, third in Mr. Football voting. Rodriguez was on him at WVU; Michigan has taken up the baton. Video. Article.
Prospects
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Terrelle Pryor	PA	*****	Michigan, Ohio State, others		National #1 recruit. CNNSI article. NYT article. Video, more video, AA game video. Charlie Batch in the house.
Dominick Britt	OH	***	M, others?		Trotwood-Madison (Shaw, Moore, Roundtree)... visited this weekend. Offer?

Running Back / Fullback
Needs: Minor(FB)/Major(RB). Vince Helmuth and Andre Criswell will battle for the fullback job for the next few years. There's not much depth, but Michigan can move over some tight end or defender who's not going to see any time otherwise. At tailback Michigan picked up Avery Horn last year and has true sophomores Carlos Brown (argh wasted redshirt) and Brandon Minor, but looks for at least one tailback in every class. Whoever comes in this year will have a clear shot at the starting job after Mike Hart's departure.

Projected Commits: 3, 2 RB, 1 FB.

Running Back

Commitments
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Sam McGuffie	TX	****	Michigan		Kid with the crazy highlight reel; parents originally from Michigan. Scout article. Houston Chron article. Scout article. Chron article. Set your DVRs for Oct. 18. Blue on McGuffie.
Mike Cox	CT	**	Michigan		MGoBlog on Cox.
Michael Shaw	OH	****	Michigan		Former PSU verbal, teammate of Brandon Moore. Recent visitor. Fringe top 100 guy.

Wide Receiver
Needs: Minimal. Clemons, Hemingway, Babb, and Webb all came in a year ago (though Webb is widely expected to end up at tight and Babb could be in the secondary sooner or later). Michigan always takes at least one, but a second will only be because Michigan found a player they really liked.

Projected Commits: 2.

Wide Receiver

Commitments
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Darryl Stonum	TX	****.5	Michigan		Fort Bend Dulles (Woolfolk, Herron). Early Enrollee. Says we are team to beat. Scout article; another Scout article. Houston Chronicle article.
Terrence Robinson	TX	****	Michigan		Recent offer; 5'9 slot receiver like Reynaud. Youtube highlight; another. Chron article. Commit video.
Roy Roundtree	OH	****	Michigan		6'0" receiver, former Purdue commit. Trotwood-Madison (Shaw, Moore).
Prospects
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Onterrio McCalebb	FL	***	M, Auburn		Jitterbug sort. Visited on final opportunity to.

Tight End
Needs: Moderate. Would be "minimal" but Michigan is running a ton of multiple-TE sets these days. Two tight ends came in the last class. There is a third player, Quintin Woods, in academic limbo who may or may not arrive on campus.

Update: Carson Butler getting the boot upgrades the need here to "serious"; Brandon Moore's commit helps mitigate that somewhat. We will probably take another at this point.

Projected Commits: 1-2.

Tight End

Commitments
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Brandon Moore	OH	****.5	Michigan		Offer. Video. Rivals Top 100/Scout Top 100. MGoBlog on Moore. Scout article; video interview. Photos. DDN article.
Kevin Koger	OH	****	Michigan		Offer. M-OSU battle. Blade article. Bunch of pictures. ATH DE. Video. Blade again. Blade on his commitment. Blade. Solid even after the coaching switch.

Offensive Line
Needs: Severe. Michigan has only five offensive line recruits across the last two classes. Fortunately two of those recruits, Justin Boren and Steve Schilling, appear to be can't-miss players. Beyond them is very little. Expect at least five recruits.

Projected Commits: 5.

Offensive Line

Commitments
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Dann O'Neill	MI	****.5	Michigan		Tackle. Rivals 100 (#64). Grand Haven Tribune article. AANews article. Grand Rapids Press.
Elliot Mealer	OH	***.5	Michigan		Tackle prospect. Video. Blade article.
Kurt Wermers	IN	***.5	Michigan		Scout interview. Guard prospect. Article. MGoBlog on Wermers. Scout article. Local newspaper article. Video.
Rocko Khoury	MI	***	Michigan		Scout article. Commit article.
Patrick Omameh	OH	***	Michigan
Ricky Barnum	FL	****	Michigan		Florida verbal who visited.

Defensive Tackle
Needs: Moderate. It's hard to tell exactly who's a tackle and who's an end on the defensive line. It's also hard to tell whether or not freshmen Marques Slocum, Renaldo Sagesse, John Ferrara, and Jason Kates are going to do anything. Ferrara and Kates redshirted and Slocum may not have a redshirt year available after his bizarre academic sojourn, so for class balance purposes it may be more important than one might think to grab a DT in this class.

Projected Commits: 1.

Prospects

Commitments
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Mike Martin	MI	****	Michigan		Offer. Rivals250. Senior year highlights.

Defensive End
Needs: Moderate. Michigan has a plethora of good sophomore options in Eugene Germany, Brandon Graham, and Adam Patterson (arrrgh wasted redshirt) plus freshman Ryan Van Bergen.

Projected Commits: 2.

Defensive Ends

Commitments
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Prospects
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Nick Perry	MI	****	M, MSU, USC, Miami		May be an OLB. Offer. Lemming thinks he'll stay home, FWIW. USC lead?

Linebacker
Needs: Minor? Michigan evidently thinks the need here is severe given the offers they have out, but since Jonas Mouton, Obi Ezeh, Cobrani Mixon, and Quintin Patilla all redshirted Michigan has no fewer than six linebackers with freshman eligibility. Marell Evans and Brandon Herron are a lock to join the redshirt crew, too.

Projected Commits: 2, but it would be nice if they were big-timers.

Linebacker

Commitments
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
JB Fitzgerald	NJ	****	Michigan		Offer. Junior stats. Scout article; second. Has visited lots; think we lead. Another Scout article; another. Schiano following him around in a helicopter. Soft?
Marcus Witherspoon	NJ	****	Michigan		Rivals 250. Offer. Scout interview. MGoBlog on Witherspoon. Newspaper article. Reopened recruiting after coaching change, Michigan still likely destination. Recommitted; article.
Kenny Demens	MI	***.5	Michigan		Offer. Commit article.
Taylor Hill	OH	***.5	Michigan		MGoBlog on Hill.

Cornerback
Needs: Moderate, even considering Cissoko's commitment. Though Michigan's now secured two five-star-ish commits in two years, in the new spread-mad era of college football one can never have enough cornerbacks. Two of last year's three commits are huge projects; Michigan will go hard after another couple corners.

Projected Commits: 2.

Cornerback

Commitments
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Boubacar Cissoko	MI	****.5	Michigan		Heavily hyped after a couple standout combine performances as a junior. Detroit Cass Tech. PSU Nike Camp MVP. Video. DetNews article. Varsity Blue scouts. Still solid. Fluff. DetNews.
JT Floyd	SC	***	Michigan		ATH S. GoVols article. Palmetto Sports. Scout. Recent Scout article; still in it. Scout again. Palmetto on his trip. "Michigan fans will be happy."

Safety
Needs: Moderate. Jonas Mouton is an OLB and Jerimy Finch can't decide what he wants on his Big Mac, let alone which school he wants to go to, leaving Michigan with Steve Brown, Michael Williams, and Artis Chambers across the last two classes

Projected Commits: 2.

Safety

Prospects
Name	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Notes
Brandon Smith	NJ	****	Michigan		HS QB. ATH WR/OLB(?). Offer. Scout article. Sounds enthused. Rivals article; Scout article. May commit at PSU? Interview. Visited CU. Commit article.

Kickers
Needs: None. Zoltan is a sophomore, Bryan Wright a redshirt freshman.

Projected Commits: 0, though if someone wants to walk on they'll take him.

A reminder: the Star Scale for Rumor Credibility.

• 0-star: incoherent ravings.
• 1-star: clearly biased speculation without backing.
• 2-star: Some guy saying something on some board that claims insider info due to a chance occurence.
• 3-star: Information from someone less established as an insider but a frequent poster who seems sane and useful.
• 4-star: recognized insider-type person with no ax to grind who has established his bonafides on past recruits.
• 5-star: actually verified by an article and a quote from the player, a family member, or a coach.

So. Cutoff is two stars... sometimes three. Played by feel. In the future there will be denotations as follows:

UV: the information in sum(star rating).

Links will be provided so you can judge for yourself; posts that will fall into the memory hole will be copied for posterity.

Old Updates:


Update 2/25: Added NJ S Brandon Smith, TN WR Rodriguez Wilks, IL OL Graham Pocic, CA OL Vaugn Dotsy, and FL LB Nigel Bradham. Linked to Mike Zordich interview. Fixed "illcit" typo that had been there for two years. Added VA LB Marcus Dowtin, GA DT Omar Hunter, and MI CB Troy Tidwell, MN WR Michael Floyd, OH WR Nate Wilburn-Ogletree. Linked to Jon Major interview. Added KY DE Dexter Heyman, KY DT Brandon Newman, CT DT Massengo Kabongo.

Downgraded NC S Robert Blanton from green to yellow.

Update 3/5: Upgraded Jonas Gray from red to yellow. Added MI QB Brendon Kay, NJ LB Marcus Witherspoon, MN LB Sam Maresh, MI WR James Wade. Linked to article on MN WR Michael Floyd -- he has an offer. Added CA WR Christopher Owusu. Noted that 'Bama and UF lead for GA S Darrell Simmons.

Removed IN OL Braxton Cave and IN WR John Goodman, who both committed to ND.

Update 3/15: Downgraded PA LB Andrew Sweat to yellow. Downgraded OH TE Brandon Moore to red; bet you a dollar he's SEC. Added OH OL Matt Grieser, IN OL Kurt Wermers, FL DT Marcus Forston, NJ WR Dejuan Miller, OH LB Justin Staples, OR OL Matt Lipski, IL DE Darius Fleming, NY RB Latavius Murray, NV(!) TE Cody Aughney, PA WR Vaughn Carraway, and NJ DE Jack Crawford.

Linked to article on TX WR Daryl Stonum (down to Michigan & Florida), update on TX RB Sam McGuffie's track exploits. (Second McGuffie track update.) CA OL Khaled Holmes likes Borat. Linked to articles on MN WR Michael Floyd and IL DE Darius Fleming. Downgraded Zebrie Sanders to red -- we're not in his top five.

Removed OH OL Mike Adams (OSU).

Update 3/21: Linked to articles on NC DB Robert Blanton, NJ LB JB Fitzgerald (lol). Noted that GA DT Omar Hunter has his offer now. (woot) Moved MI OL Dann O'Neill to committed. Added IL RB Jason Ford, NJ LB Brendan Beal. Removed OH TE Kyle Rudolph (dropped us), OH LB Devoe Torrence (OSU). Moved PA DT Lucas Nix to OT, where he's getting recruited by a lot of schools. If he ends up here OT is a much more logical place for him to play.

Downgraded CA OL Khaled Holmes to red; USC leads. Linked to JB Shugarts article, Brendan Smith article.

Update 3/26: Removed FL OL Michael Brewster (dropped us). Downgraded PA TE Mark Weddeburn to red after ugly Scout article. Upgraded CO OL Bryce Givens to green: we lead w/ Nebraska. Linked to articles on OH S Dan McCarthy, PA OL Luke Nix (upgraded Nix to yellow since this supposed heavy Pitt lean does not appear to be materializing), PA OL RJ Dill, OH LB Brandon Beachum, TX OL JB Shugarts, KY DE Dexter Heyman. Upgraded Zebrie Sanders to yellow; top-five omission in earlier article appears to be momentary oversight. Added MD OL Lane Clelland, SC OL Kenneth Page.

Removed OH TE Jake Stoneburner (OSU). Downgraded CA CB Robert Golden to red -- not in top six. Ditto for PA LB Andrew Sweat -- running fourth. Ditto for Brandon Leslie -- no offer, not in top five.

Update 4/5: Linked to article on PA WR Vaughn Carraway. Black Shoe Diaries now has a recruiting board of his own; it thinks we lead for him. Bumped MI WR Fred Smith to green. Linked to article on PA LB Shane Hayle; not in top six but he hasn't really narrowed it. Added CA QB Dayne Crist. Downgraded WA DE Kavario Middleton to red; nasty Scout article. Added TX DE Kapron Lewis-Moore, MI TE Tyler Hoover, OH TE Kevin Koger, AZ RB Covaughn Deboskie. Removed MN LB Sam Maresh (Minnesota), PA RB Cameron Saddler (lack of mutual interest).

Update 4/10: Linked to articles on CA WR Christopher Owusu, CA OL Khaled Holmes, and MO TE Wes Kemp. Both downgraded to red due to a lack of interest on M's part. Removed MN LB Sam Maresh (Minn). NE OL Trevor Robinson (Neb), OH TE Nic DeLillo (Clemson). Note that the same article claims M is in Zebrie Sanders' top three. Linked to articles on AZ RB Covaughn Deboskie and KS LB Arthur Brown. Removed TN WR Rodriguez Wilks (we threw him an offer but he's SEC all the way), CO OL Bryce Givens (Neb). Added OH OL Elliot Mealer, OH LB Jamiihr Williams. Linked to very positive article on MI WR Fred Smith and one of those Scout articles about campers/visitors that make a lot of assertions worth evaluating.

Update 4/15: Added a legend. Some small changes: all of our little projection icons have names. Mr. Blue, previously reserved for Michigan commitments, is now deployed for players like Marcus Witherspoon (please note latest Rivals article from the PSU site: "Witherspoon has heart set on Big Ten school"; it's not PSU) and Fred Smith who are highly likely to end up Michigan commits and -- this has key -- have said as much publicly. Hopefully no Rojo types end up in this categorization, but no guarantees are provided. There's a new icon, Sad Josh, used for guys who have expressed an interest that Michigan does not seem to reciprocate. With the clarifications and such several players have been moved into new categories. Smith and Witherspoon get Mr. Blue. Deboskie gets a green now that there's a separate category for players who are expected to end up at Michigan. A bunch of players got shoved into Sad Josh. Er.

Added MI DT Mike Martin. Linked to stories on OH TE Kevin Koger, CA QB Dayne Crist (header for second is not good), IN OL Kurt Wermers, IL DE Darius Fleming, some video of OH OL Elliot Mealer. Removed FL LB Nigel Bradham (FSU), CA CB Robert Golden (we don't seem that interested, and neither does he).

Update 4/20: Linked to article on TX RB Sam McGuffie. Removed CA CB Brandon Leslie (no mutual interest), PA LB Andrew Sweat (dropped us), CA QB Dayne Crist (ND), MI S Charles Burrell(MSU). Added OH RB Darius Ashley, MD RB Josh Haden, NC RB Brandon Barnes, LA TE Tyler Edwards. Linked to header on OH OT Elliot Mealer, article on PA WR Jonathan Baldwin, article on OH LB Brandon Beachum, article on MI TE Tyler Hoover.

Removed GA S Darrell Simmons (dropped us), NJ LB Brendan Beal (dropped us). Linked to article on OH OL Zebrie Sanders. Added TX S Keanon Cooper, OK S Kye Staley. Moved OH OL Elliot Mealer to committed.


Update 4/30: Added VA WR Deion Walker, KY OL Ryan Benzick, IL DT Garrett Goebel, AZ OL Zach Schlinck, WV OL Josh Jenkins, OR DE Ethan Johnson (offered). Linked to articles on OH OL commit Elliot Mealer, GA DT Omar Hunter. Removed IL RB Jason Ford (M lack of interest). Linked to brief mention of possible M lead for IL LB Stephen Filer.

Am specifically leaving two guys off the board despite some announced interest: TX WR Sedrick Johnson claims a verbal offer from Michigan and has them in his top five, which he claims is in no order before talking all about how Texas A&M is highly likely to get him. CA RB Milton Knox says Michigan is in his top five; we haven't offered. If these guys appear to be serious targets later I'll add them.

Update 5/7: Linked to Scout header indicating IL OL Graham Pocic has an offer. (This means the gray icon has been replaced with a yellow.) Linked to AJC article on GA DT Omar Hunter, blog post on AZ RB Covaughn Deboskie. Noted assertion on BP that OH RB Darius Ashley has officially snagged a Michigan offer (FWIW. Seems solid to me). Added PA RB Cameron Saddler, TX LB Joseph Ibiloye, NV DT Lawrence Guy, AZ CB Marc Anthony. Removed MD OL Lane Clelland(ND). Linked to articles on MD RB Josh Haden, PA TE Hubie Graham (#2), PA WR Jonathan Baldwin.

Update 5/14: Consistent and repeated pessimism at BP re: OH TE Kevin Koger has caused me to bump him up to blue. (There is also a poster who has to be a high school classmate of IL OL/DT Garrett Goebel ranting about woo OSU in that recruitment; don't know how seriously to take it.) Also downgraded PA OL Lucas Nix to red; seems the Pitt lean is for real. Moved Christian Wilson from LB to RB; he's been offered as a FB/H-back. Linked to articles on OH OL Zebrie Sanders, IL OL Graham Pocic, KS LB Arthur Brown, AZ OL Zach Schlink, GA DT Omar Hunter. Added AR WR Joe Adams.

Much rejiggering of DTs, much of it based on one of those GBW summary articles: MI DT Mike Martin has an offer and is widely presumed to be a lock; he's upgraded to blue. NV DT Lawrence Guy now has an offer and has Michigan in his top three; green. MS DT Cameron Wagner is downgraded to gray with the new offers out. KY DT Brandon Newman goes down to red; there has been much talk of him and Notre Dame.

Linked to articles on AZ RB Covaughn Deboskie (visit coming up), NJ S Will Hill (he speaks!), another on IL OL Graham Pocic, PA WR Jonathan Baldwin (amongst other PA recruits). Also here is another combine article. Removed OH LB Mike Zordich.

Linked to Jim Stefani's early Michigan top 25.

Update 5/21: Linked to article on DC DT Reggie Ellis. Added KS TE Spencer Ladner, AL OL Antoine McClain, GA S Jamoris Slaughter (Scout article), FL OL Matt Patchan. Linked to Rivals roundup article w/ info on Cissoko, Fred Smith, Vaughn Carraway, newspaper article on Butler High in NC. Did some general cleanup with schools of interest and reorganized a couple sets with some new gray icons. Linked to Jonas Gray article. Does he have a frickin' offer or not? Linked to articles on PA WR Vaughn Carraway, NC S Robert Blanton, PA LB Shayne Hale, PA QB Terrelle Pryor, header on PA WR Jonathan Baldwin (no longer considering basketball), pictures of OH TE Kevin Koger. Moved IN OL Kurt Wermers and OH TE Brandon Moore to committed. Added TX CB Adrian Bushell. Downgraded Darrell Scott to red, removed FL DT Marcus Forston (was only on board because of single brief mention, does not appear to have any serious interest). Linked to articles on the commitments of Wermers (second article) and Moore. Added AZ TE Dion Jordan.

Update 5/28: Linked to articles on TX WR Daryl Stonum, NJ LB JB Fitzgerald (lolacronym), IL OL Garrett Goebel, MO LB Spencer Ladner, MI WR Fred Smith, IL OL Graham Pocic, GA DT Omar Hunter. Also linked to what seems very solid speculation on NC S Robert Blanton: ND. Added CA S Rahim Moore, AL LB Jerrell Harris, OH DB DJ Woods, CT LB Jonathan Meyers, AZ LB Kurt Magnum, OH RB Michael Shaw.

Backed OH TE Kevin Koger down from blue to green after the Brandon Moore commit. Another article on Goebel. McGuffie is going to be on ESPN2 this fall. Bumped GA DT Omar Hunter to blue; article header encourages. Bumped Darrell Scott to yellow; reports of having a top three minus Michigan not true.

Update 6/4: Linked to articles on MO TE Spencer Ladner, PA RB Cameron Saddler, TX S Keanon Cooper, NJ LB Marcus Witherspoon, TX DE Kapron Lewis-Moore (downgraded to red; no M mention), TX CB Adrian Bushell, OH OL Zebrie Sanders, MI RB Jonas Gray, OR DE Ethan Johnson, OH LB Brandon Beachum. Added AZ RB Ray Polk, CA DE (DT?) Jamaar Jarrett, LA CB Robby Green. Linked to a trio of articles on some PA recruits: WR Jonathan Baldwin, LB Shayne Hale, and QB Terrelle Pryor, OL Lucas Nix, RB/WR/KR Cameron Saddler.

Removed PA LB Shariff Blake (no M interest), CA OL Khaled Holmes, PA OL RJ Dill, TX LB Joseph Ibiloye (dropped us). Linked to the Pittsburgh Sports Report's PA Top 50. OH RB Michael Shaw now has an offer. Linked to articles on WA DE Kavario Middleton, MI OL Rocko Koury, LA CB Robby Green. Moved NJ LB Marcus Witherspoon to committed.

Update 6/11: Removed MO TE Spencer Ladner (Cal), GA DT Omar Hunter (ND), LA TE Tyler Edwards (dropped us). Moved MI DT Mike Martin to committed. Linked to articles on KS LB Arthur Brown, MI RB Jonas Gray, LA CB Robby Green, PA QB Terrelle Pryor. Added IL DE Glen Foster, IL OL Neal Dieters, TX WR Jeffery Fuller, VA QB Sean Glennon, TN OL Preston Bailey. Noted solid inside info on OH RB Michael Shaw from BP. Linked to speculation on PA WR Jonathan Baldwin and PA QB Terrelle Pryor.

Update 6/18: Removed MO WR Wes Kemp (Wisc), MD RB Josh Haden (down to BC, UF), CA WR Christopher Owusu (no M interest). Linked to articles on AZ RB Covaughn Deboskie (slight Cal lead, moved down to yellow from green), NJ TE Chris Pantele, NJ S Will Hill, OH LB Brandon Beachum (offered?), another on Beachum, OH RB Michael Shaw, TX CB Adrian Bushell. Two headers of note from always excitable GBW: TX WR Daryl Stonum visits; NJ S Brandon Smith sounds enthused.

Scout has updated their top 100. We like Rivals better this year.

Update 6/25: Linked to articles on MI RB Jonas Gray (MSU lead, but that was before he got his Michigan offer), WA DE Kavario Middleton, OR DE Ethan Johnson, MN WR Michael Floyd, PA FB Christian Wilson (also info on Saddler, Baldwin). Youtube video of Jonathan Meyers; Daily Illini article with quotes from FL DE Cory Liuget, IL DE Glen Foster, and IL LB Steven Filer. Added OK QB Nathan Stanley, WI OL Kevin Zeitler.

Removed NC S Robert Blanton (ND), PA OL Lucas Nix (Pitt), MI TE Tyler Hoover (MSU), IL OL Graham Pocic (Ill).


Update 7/1: Linked to video of OH TE Kevin Koger, note on VA LB Marcus Dowtin, article on IL OL/DT Garrett Goebel, PA TE Hubie Graham, PA LB Shayne Hale, PA WR Jonathan Baldwin, KS LB Arthur Brown. Added IL QB John Weinke. Removed FL OL Matt Patchan (dropped us), VA WR Deion Walker (dropped us), NC RB Brandon Barnes (NC State), VA QB Mike Glennon (NC State), OR DE Ethan Johnson (ND), GA S Jamoris Slaughter (ND), WI OL Kevin Zeitler (Wisc), VA LB Marcus Dowtin (UGA). Moved MI OL Rocko Khoury to committed. Also: Khoury commit article.

Linked to the national Scout 300(!); always seeking to one-up Rivals, eh? Should I bother adding TX WR Sedrick Johnson? Shayne Hale and Saddler appear to be a package for real.

Also: articles on OH RB Michael Shaw (also a RUTS post), PA WR Jonathan Baldwin, OH TE Kevin Koger. Added AZ S Jarrell Barbour, GA LB Devonta Bolton, MI OL Deontae Pannell. Moved IL QB John Wienke and TX WR Daryl Stonum to committed And... wow... linked to thread at a Michigan message board in which the mother of PA FB/LB Christian Wilson asks a bunch of questions and gets some good answers and some appalling juvenility.

Update 7/8: Linked to articles on IL QB John Wienke (a second; video interview), PA WR Vaughn Carraway, TX S Keanon Cooper, AZ CB Marc Anthony, NJ S Brandon Smith. Video of MI CB Boubacar Cissoko. Added TX DE Damion Squire. Linked to Arizona blog post w/ mentions of AZ CB Marc Anthony, AZ TE Dion Jordan, and AZ OL Zach Schlinck. Linked to articles on VA WR Deion Walker, OH OL Zebrie Sanders, IL DT/OL Garrett Goebel, PA CB Jared Holley, IL QB John Wienke. Removed IL DE Glen Foster (Illinois).


Update 7/15: Linked to articles on NJ S Brandon Smith, MN WR Mike Floyd, OH OL Zebrie Sanders, TX CB Adrian Bushell, PA H-back Christian Wilson, LA CB Robby Green, AL OL Antoine McClain. Removed AZ DT Lawrence Guy (dropped us), MI QB Brendan Kay (Cinci), OK QB Nathan Stanley (M done at QB), WV OL Josh Jenkins (no indication of mutual interest).

Downgraded Deontae Pannell, Adrian Bushell from green to red. Downgraded Kevin Koger from green to yellow. Upgraded Nick Perry, Christian Wilson to blue, Robby Green to yellow. Noted some Hale/Saddler speculation from Scout.com's Bob Lichtenfels. Re-added VA WR Deion Walker.

Update 7/23: Linked to articles on NJ LB JB Fitzgerald, OH TE Kevin Koger, TX WR Darryl Stonum, PA LB Shayne Hale, IL OL Kurt Wermers, PA HB Christian Wilson. Removed OH LB Brandon Beachum (no offer; dropped us), AZ RB Covaughn Deboskie (dropped us), GA LB Devonta Bolton (dropped us). Moved OH TE Kevin Koger to committed.

There's also this article from a WVA paper about the Hale/Saddler package deal that is sort of horribly written.

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.

Update 8/6: Linked to articles on WA DE Kavario Middleton, AL LB Jerrell Harris, video interviews with DC DT Reggie Ellis and OH TE Brandon Moore; photos of Moore. Added CA S Vaughn Telemaque, TX WR Omarius Hines. Removed MI RB Jonas Gray (Neb), MI WR Fred Smith (MSU). Added CT RB Mike Cox as a commit. Linked to Scout interview of PA LB Shayne Hale and PA WR Cameron Saddler; speculation from Recruiting Planet on the package deal.

Also, there's an updated Rivals 100.

Update 8/13: Linked to fully ranked Rivals 250, articles on MI CB Boubacar Cissoko, TX S Keanon Cooper, AZ TE Dion Sims, MN WR Michael Floyd. Removed MI OT Deontae Pannell (PSU), OH RB Michael Shaw (PSU), TX DE Damien Square ('Bama), AZ S Jarrell Barbour (Arizona). Linked to Facebook chat w/ CT RB Mike Cox. Added PA DE Adrian Robinson.

Update 8/20: Linked to articles on LA CB Robby Green, PA WR Jonathan Baldwin (second), PA HB Christian Wilson (useless; only linked to assuage potential fears), KS LB Arthur Brown, CA S Vaughn Telemaque, PA LB(DE?) Shayne Hale, AR WR Joe Adams, NC CB Spencer Adams. Removed SC OL Kenneth Page (dropped us), AZ OL Zach Schlink (ASU). Added FL S Karnell Hatcher. Noted header from GBW: we are getting official from LA CB Robby Green (OMG shirtless).

There is an updated Scout 300. I also point out this Darrell Simmons article, but do not add to board. There is also another Wilson article, plus articles on CA DE Jamar Jarrett , OH TE Brandon Moore, PA RB/WR/KR Cameron Saddler, and AZ CB Marc Anthony.

Update 8/27: Moved PA HB Christian Wilson to committed. Removed OK S Kye Staley (Okie State), TX DE Kapron Lewis-Moore (A&M). Linked to articles on MI OL commit Dann O'Neill (another), NJ LB Chris Pantale, video feature on PA HB commit Christian Wilson, more articles on MN WR Michael Floyd, AZ CB Marc Anthony, CA RB Darrell Scott, CO LB Jon Major, PA HB Christian Wilson, PA DE Shayne Hale.

FWIW: internets scuttlebutt on NJ LB JB Fitzgerald. And Varsity Blue took in an OLSM-Cass Tech game, reporting back on Cissoko and '09 commit Will Campbell plus '09 WR/TE Dion Sims. Also: an article on elusive PA CB Jarred Holley that may have an incorrect list for him.

Update 9/3: Linked to articles on PA WR/RB/KR Cameron Saddler, PA HB commit Christian Wilson, DC DT Reggie Ellis, PA WR Jonathan Baldwin, MN WR Mike Floyd, OH TE commit Kevin Koger. Also one that mentions both Saddler and Hale, and this on NJ S Brandon Smith.

Potentially dubious: There is also Bill Kurelic speculation on PA DE Shayne Hale and an article on the top 25 players in Pennsylvania. Hey: the top 50(!) players in Pennsylvania... M/Pitt lead for Baldwin suggested. Recruiting Planet says JB Fitzgerald is committing to M this weekend. Moved NJ LB JB Fitzgerald to committed.

More articles: PA LB Shayne Hale, LA CB Robby Green, PA WR Vaughn Carraway. Removed PA DT Reggie Ellis(dropped us), TX WR Jeff Fuller (Ok). More articles: PA TE Mark Wedderburn, TX S Keanon Cooper, NJ S Brandon Smith, TN CB JT Floyd, MI CB Boubacar Cissoko (and others), PA HB Christian Wilson, PA LB JB Fitzgerald. Also a general article on recruits not getting spooked.

Update 9/24: Added scholarship available due to Sears dismissal; now up to 19. Added FL S Karnell Hatcher, removed WA DE Kavario Middleton (dropped us), AZ CB Marc Anthony (Cal), KS LB Arthur Brown (dropped us), NJ S Will Hill (UF), PA QB Terrelle Pryor (dropped us). Linked to articles on NC CB Spencer Adams, TN CB JT Floyd, PA KR/WR Cameron Saddler.

Update 10/1: Linked to articles on CA S Vaughn Telemaque, MI CB Boubacar Cissoko. Moved MI LB Kenny Demens to committed. Removed LA CB Robby Green (dropped us).

Update 10/8: Linked to articles on CA DT Jurrell Casey (mentions CA S Vaughn Telemaque), TX S Keanon Cooper, PA HB Christian Wilson (second), NJ S Brandon Smith.

Update 10/15: Linked to articles on TN CB JT Floyd, TX S Keanon Cooper (just a header), TX RB Sam McGuffie (VIP emails), NJ LB Marcus Witherspoon. Added MI S Joevall Hoseay. Linked to new Scout 100.

Update 10/30: Linked to articles on PA CB Jared Holley, PA KR/WR Cameron Saddler, CA S Vaughn Telemaque, PA WR Vaughn Carraway, PA DE Shayne Hale.

Update 11/14: Added VA WR AJ Price.

Update 1/7: Wholesale board revamp.

Removed: IL QB John Wienke (decommitted to Iowa), CO LB Jon Major (CU), NJ LB Chris Pantale (BC), AZ RB Ray Polk (committed somewhere, I forget where), WRs Deion Walker, Michael Floyd, and Jonathan Baldwin (ND, ND, Pitt), NC CB Spencer Adams (Clemson), OH LB Zebrie Sanders, CA S Vaughn Telemaque, AZ TE Dion Jordan, PA TE Hubie Graham (Pitt), PA TE Mark Wedderburn, CT LB Jonathan Meyers (dropped us), and like a bunch of other marginal guys, PA CB Jared Holley.

Added: PA QB Terrelle Pryor, OH WR DJ Woods.

Moved: NJ S Brandon Smith to committed. NJ LB Marcus Witherspoon from committed.

Other stuff: extensive highlights of MI DT Mike Martin. We're still in it for JT Floyd.

Update 1/14: Kevin Koger is not wavering. Added TX WR Terrence Robinson, FL QB(?) Justin Feagin, SC WR Jaron Brown.

Articles on Pryor: One Two Three.

Update 1/21: removed TX CB Adrian Bushell, CA OL Vaughn Dotsy, a couple WRs. Added OH LB Taylor Hill as committed. Bumped SC CB JT Floyd to blue. Moved PA HB Christian Wilson from committed, downgraded to yellow based on mother's comments on message board.

Added FL CB TJ Lawrence (ht: Big House Blog), MS RB Desmond Johnson.

Pryor articles: one two three. (There are many more, but they all say the same things.) Also a throwdown.

Update 1/22: Removed OH WR DJ Woods (Cinci), TX S Keanon Cooper. Noted potential USC lead for Nick Perry. Added FL OL Rhonne Sanderson, MS S Charles Mitchell, OH RB Michael Shaw. Downgraded Christian Wilson and Marcus Witherspoon to yellow.

Update 1/25: Added FL QB BJ Daniels, FL WR Martavious Odoms, OH OT Patrick Omameh. Linked to articles on FL QB Justin Feagin, MI DE Nick Perry, SC CB JT Floyd. There's also an extensive piece on Big Ten recruiting classes at ESPN; though ESPN's proven itself useless in the prediction business, their opinions on recruits are an interesting data point.

Pryor articles: one two three four.

Update 1/28: Moved NJ LB Marcus Witherspoon back to committed. Linked to articles on OH TE Brandon Moore, FL WR Martavious Odoms, MI CB Boubacar Cissoko, SC WR Jaron Brown.

There's also a Blade article, but it doesn't contain any new information. Good summary, though.

Pryor articles: one two three.

Update 1/29: Linked to articles on NJ LB JB Fitzgerald, NJ LB Marcus Witherspoon. Removed MS RB Desmond Johnson (Southern Miss?!), FL OL Rhonne Sanderson (FSU).

Pryor: one (via) two.

Update 2/3: Removed FL CB TJ Lawrence, FL nutball QB BJ Daniels, SC WR Jaron Brown. Moved SC CB JT Floyd to committed. Added OH QB Dominick Britt, OH WR Roy Roundtree.

Linked to articles on PA HB Christian Wilson, NJ LB JB Fitzgerald, MI DE Nick Perry (second, third), brief mention of Wilson and Robinson.

Pryor: one two three pics four.