As you can probably imagine, I spent so much time writing commitment posts and updating the 2016 Offer Board last night that I didn’t have time for a substantive post for this morning. So here’s a mini-roundup in case you missed anything.
- Rashan Gary, Wolverine (LINK)
- Devin Asiasi, Wolverine (LINK)
- Lavert Hill, Wolverine (LINK)
- Quinn Nordin, Wolverine (LINK)
- Every commit so far has been updated on the 2016 Offer Board (LINK). Scroll down to the comments section to see yesterday’s action if you don’t want to read through all 255 players’ biographical information.
- I updated the All-Time Recruit Rankings with all the 2016 commits (LINK). Rashan Gary is our #1 recruit during the modern recruiting era, but someone who may not be getting enough hype is offensive lineman Ben Bredeson. Believe it or not, he is our 15th-best recruit since 2000. In fact, if he were in any of the 2008-2012 classes, he would have been the top recruit in our class.
- If you want to watch video of the Signing of the Stars event, here it is: (LINK).
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Just out of curiosity, what are they mad about at MLK?
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How Norfleet was treated. True or not, there is a perception of injustice.
I believe MLK is in general more closely tied with MSU than UM historically – kind of like Cass Tech sends more kids to UM.
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Most recently, Michigan’s “treatment” of Dennis Norfleet seems to have been an issue. The people at MLK didn’t like the way he was let go from the program, but Harbaugh was running a tight ship and Norfleet wasn’t walking the line. I also believe there have been some pre-existing relationships with Michigan State that have those coaches being more pro-MSU than Michigan, so if a guy has the choice between Michigan/MSU, they are rumored to show some favoritism.
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There are rumors that Victor Viramontes and Connor Murphy did not have a commitable offer come NSD. Assuming that these rumors are true, what do you think of the coaching staff decision to take a specialist (albeit a really good one in Quinn Nordin) when we already have a good kicker in Kenny Allen as supposed to the highly rated Murphy and Viramontes?
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I think it’s a good idea given those other two options. Viramontes is a good athlete who doesn’t have a clear position, and I’m not too awfully high on Murphy. Meanwhile, Allen only has a year left. I would have preferred an OT over Nordin but that wasn’t really an option since Hamilton decommitted so late in the process.
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Given I never had any football talent other than kicking the ball around a bit, the role of the punter and kicker has always been near to my heart.
There are things we don’t know: (a) will Nordin’s performance in college be an extension and improvement over high school? and (b) what other options did Michigan have for that position?
(a) I think it’s safe to say Nordin will be no worse. If he gets better — or much better — he’ll be well worth it, I think.
(b) Allen is a walk-on, I believe, and I think there’s a long history of walk-on kickers in the college ranks.
Still, if there’s a reasonable belief a kicker or punter far exceeds average, it’s worth pursuing. We saw with O’Neill this year how a punter can contribute (he flipped the field on several occasions). A *great* field goal kicker can be the difference between win and loss in close games.
The consensus seems to be that Nordin is at least “above average,” and maybe we’ll see him rise to “great.” If that turns out to be the case, then I think taking him over Viramontes was the right choice.
But it all comes down to his eventual differentiation over what could have been acquired from the walk-on kicker talent available to Michigan.
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Good point about Bradensen. Hopefully he is more like similarly-ranked Manningham, Jamison, Schilling and less like similarly-ranked Stonum, Slocum, Watson.
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I haven’t heard much about Dytarious Johnson senior football season. I read that he’s still in the class and awaiting a “transcript problem” resolution. I loved his junior highlights but have seen very few from this past season. He seems like a quality LB with the way he hits people. I think a lot of people on this board don’t remember you had him as a 77 rating. For a 3 star that’s pretty high by your evaluation. Was he hurt?
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