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As expected, SC CB JT Floyd has committed to Michigan. Informative update coming.

Owen Riley, Greenville Online

Hopefully Informative Update: Rodriguez is pursuing an inordinate number of WR/DB/RB tweener. Floyd is one of these; though most project him on the defensive side of the ball he was a two-way star at JL Mann High this year:

Floyd, who has committed to the University of Tennessee ("soft verbal," he said during the season), is playing wide receiver and returning kickoffs and punts for the North.

As a senior, he caught 50 passes for 811 yards and 11 touchdowns. He also scored on a punt return and a fumble return.

Floyd appears to be a middling recruit. Other schools in pursuit were Tennessee (obviously), South Carolina, North Carolina, NC State, and Maryland. Though the junior-year offer from Tennessee is impressive, Floyd did not draw interest from any other major programs. Floyd was picked for an annual North-South SC All Star game but was passed over for some sort of "Shrine" game.

Guru ratings are pretty consistent. Lemming rated him the #19 safety, just ahead of MSU commitment Charles Burrell, in October. ESPN gives him a meh 74 and has different ideas than most about his preferred spot on the field:

Floyd is a two-way standout at safety and wide receiver, but the more you watch him on defense, the more you think he may end up at wide receiver. He is athletic and rangy but not really a devastating player in the middle of the field. On offense however, he makes a lot of plays and is one of the more surehanded guys we have seen in this class.

The rest of his $ profile makes him sound like a less physical Jason Avant; there are repeated references to his lack of elite speed and his reliability/excellent hands/clutchosity. Everyone else projects Floyd in the secondary. Rivals gives him three stars and ranks him #20 in South Carolina. Scout also gives him three stars and dubs him the country's #74 safety.

While you can argue that Floyd's early commit to Tennessee removed him from guru radar screens and depressed his ranking, the schools after him, the All-Star snub, and the universal "meh" ratings suggest otherwise. Floyd is a middling recruit who's 50-50 to contribute. He's a good pickup in this transitional situation -- Michigan is scrambling to fill 25 slots with few prospects left on the board --but isn't likely to be a star.

Whoops. This article from July about Floyd's commitment to UT has one awesome passage:

When asked about how committed he was, Floyd almost provided the answer UT fans are looking for.

"This is definitely, probably, the best place for me," Floyd said. "I love the facilities and the way the coaches interact with the players. It's like a big family. Nobody's above anybody. You're just one of the guys. That's something that I like."

Woooo for sentence-invalidating asides.