Starkville (MS) Starkville LB Willie Gay (#3, image via Clarion-Ledger)
COMMITMENTS
Beaver Falls (PA) Beaver Falls DT Donovan Jeter committed to Michigan (LINK).
Warwick (RI) Bishop Hendricken DE Kwity Paye flipped from Boston College to Michigan (LINK).
ADDED TO THE BOARD: 2017
Wylie (TX) East running back Eno Benjamin decommitted from Iowa. Benjamin is a 4-star, the #10 running back, and #159 overall in the class. He said that he would consider Michigan going forward, but the Wolverines seem to have their sights set a little bit higher on the likes of Cam Akers and Najee Harris. With three running backs already committed, it’s unclear if the Wolverines will recruit Benjamin or not.
Hit the jump for some decommitments from other schools, some commitments to other schools, etc.
Starkville (MS) Starkville linebacker Willie Gay decommitted from Ole Miss. Gay named Michigan his #1 school before he decommitted and even before he took an official visit for the Illinois game, but rumors persists that he has some academic hurdles to clear if he wants to get into Michigan. He plans to enroll early, so hopefully he can get those things sorted out by the end of December. If he can, things would be looking good for the Wolverines. He’s a 4-star, the #8 outside linebacker, and #123 overall in the class. For what it’s worth, Gay has been very high on my list of most desired recruits for Michigan, so reeling him in would be huge.
Niles (IL) Parker defensive tackle Juan Harris decommitted from Indiana. The 6’4″, 368 lb. Harris has committed and decommitted to Iowa at least three (or is it four?) times and to Indiana once, so he clearly can’t make up his mind. I would be wary if I were Michigan, and the Wolverines are heavily pursuing Utah’s Jay Tufele for what would probably be their final defensive line spot. Harris does plan to visit Ann Arbor this coming weekend.
Clearwater (FL) Clearwater running back Adarius Lemons decommitted from Florida . . . again. This seems to be a theme. He has backed off of pledges to North Carolina (once) and Florida (twice). The 4-star is the #20 running back and #270 overall in the class, but he too appears to have some academic issues to clear up before enrolling in college. Michigan is not a factor.
OFF THE BOARD
Palm Beach Gardens (FL) Palm Beach Gardens safety Amari Carter committed to Miami. Michigan was not really involved.
New Market (AL) Buckhorn linebacker Will Ignont committed to Tennessee. Ignont had place Michigan in his top group over the summer, but he never scheduled an official visit and he was expected to stay in SEC territory.
Fresno (CA) Central East cornerback Jaylon Johnson committed to Utah. This is a huge get for the Utes, as Johnson is a 4-star, the #9 cornerback, and #74 overall in the class. He would have been high on my list of wants for Michigan at cornerback in 2017, but he never showed a ton of interest in his Michigan offer.
Lancaster (TX) Lancaster wide receiver Omar Manning committed to TCU.
Steubenville (OH) Steubenville tight end Charles Reeves, Jr. committed to Pitt. He had previously been committed to Kentucky.
Bullard (TX) Bullard tight end Major Tennison committed to Alabama. The 3-star, #11 tight end, and #340 prospect in the country was seriously considering Michigan for a time, but then he started looking harder and harder at Alabama. The Wolverines are currently without a tight end commitment in the 2017 class after Carter Dunaway decommitted. On the plus side, Sacramento (CA) Inderkum tight end Joshua Falo was considering both Alabama and Michigan, so this development may help steer him more toward Ann Arbor.
MISCELLANEOUS
Check out the message board for recent updates (LINK), and feel free to amp up the participation.
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I can’t believe we wouldn’t take Aubrey Solomon and Tufele, if Solomon’s mom comes around on us and we were lucky enough to catch Tufele. I also think it would be tough to say no to Irving-Bey. Harbaugh has a well known penchant for moving guys around. I’ve sat with a couple guys who get to see a lot of High School football who agree with Thunder in liking James Hudson as a blind side tackle and Paea at guard.
Then of course you have the gazillion names being bandied about on the offensive line as well. I can see a decommitment festival breaking out at some point going forward if some percentage of these names drop our way. This whole thing is gonna get real interesting before it’s over.
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I think Michigan might take two more defensive linemen if they’re the right guys, but I don’t think they’re going to reach.
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I don’t think any of the names getting mention are a reach, I thought the kid committed to Oregon might be at first, but I watched his film and while I’d rather have Tufele and Solomon, I think he can play. We already have two guys with pretty much identical dimensions to Irving-Bey, but he can play. Some of the guys we’re calling defensive ends look like Sams or “Buck LBs” to me, maybe even inside LBs. I dunno. I think this class could have some real odd properties.
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I consider no TE commits to be a positive. We’re loaded at TE and Michigan is wise to take the year off with the needs on the OL/DL and secondary being such priorities.
On that topic – the massive number of RBs every class continues to befuddle me.
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I would still like Michigan to get one tight end in this class to replace Butt. I think Dunaway would have been a reach, but Falo, Tennison, etc. are good options. I think we can expect at least one tight end to leave in the off-season, along with Butt.
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They took so many in the previous few classes and then moved a QB over too. I think they’re more than good here.
While in general I’d like to see them take at least 1 every class (since they use so many), the red-shirt on Eubanks separates him from the Asiasi, Wheatley, McKeon, Gentry mega-class. With Bunting around that’s 6 guys, which is plenty considering you can often find walk-ons (or OLmen) to contribute as blockers as well.
Not sure if you heard rumblings of attrition or not. It’s always possible, but I don’t see any obvious candidates and — not many places that are better for a TE than Michigan. If that did happen I could see the logic in grabbing another guy, though it’s far from necessary.
We’ll know more once the pecking order with the returning group gets a little more settled.
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Normally you like to take one TE recruit in each class, but we could probably skip it this year with what we have on hand. It doesn’t really make sense to have more than 4 guys on the roster that you actually recruited as TEs, since, as pointed out, you can convert players from a lot of other positions to be blockers, and how good at pass-catching do your 5th and 6th TEs have to be anyway?
As far as RBs, I don’t really think we’ve over-recruited. We had none in 2014 and one in 2015. We had three in 2016, but that was a big class (29), and the three we have next year will also likely be part of a big class. 7-8 scholarship RBs on the roster is not excessive, given the susceptibility to injury, and the likelihood that a few aren’t going to pan out, and that’s what we’ll have over those four classes. Yeah, three every year for four or five years straight would be a lot, but we haven’t gone that far.
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