Chris Hinton, Jr. (image via Twitter)
Norcross (GA) Greater Atlanta Christian defensive end Chris Hinton, Jr., a 2019 prospect, committed to Michigan on Saturday. He chose the Wolverines over offers from Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Florida, LSU, and Stanford, among others.
Hinton is 6’4″, 265 lbs.
RATINGS
ESPN: N/A
Rivals: 5-star SDE, #3 overall
Scout: 5-star, #1 SDE, #3 overall
247 Sports: 4-star, 96 grade, #2 SDE, #14 overall
Hit the jump for more on Hinton.
Hinton has a “Jr.” after his name because his dad has the same name – and the dad is the guy who played for the Colts, Falcons, and Vikings in the 1980s and 1990s. Dad was the #4 overall pick by the Baltimore Colts back in 1983, and he was eventually traded to the Falcons for the pick that became Jeff George (whose son now plays QB for Illinois). There is also a younger son, Myles Hinton, who is a 2020 prospect with a Michigan offer.
Chris Hinton, Sr. (image via Deutschland Trends)
Hinton, Jr. is listed as a strongside end by the recruiting services, and he’s built like one right now. At 6’4″ and 265 lbs., he doesn’t have a ton of extra weight to shed, and he has a thick lower body. He bends well and uses his hands. He has plus athleticism for a big boy, and he anticipates well.
On the negative side, I don’t know if Hinton is destined for the strongside end position long-term. He was deemed an offensive line prospect earlier in his career, and his body type lends itself to offensive guard. Even if he doesn’t play offense, I think he will grow into a defensive tackle.
Overall, this is a very good pull for Michigan. He has the bloodlines, and he has athleticism for a big guy. Whether he plays offensive tackle, offensive guard, strongside end, defensive tackle, or nose tackle is immaterial. The most important thing is getting him on campus and finding a place where he can be successful.
Michigan now has four commitments in the 2019 class, including Hinton, DE Stephen Herron, LB Charles Thomas, and OG Nolan Rumler. Hinton continues Michigan’s run in the State of Georgia, which includes 2018 LB Otis Reese, 2018 CB Myles Sims, 2017 signee Aubrey Solomon, and several others.
TTB Rating: N/A. I won’t be posting a TTB Rating until the 2018 class finishes out, but I would tentatively place Hinton in the high 80s.
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Great pick up. I figured seeing his size now that he was likely to move inside.
On a related note, not sure if I missed it but did you do a commitment post for Faustin? Lots of fans seem unhappy due to his ranking, wondering what you see from him and how successful he can be.
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I have not done a post for Faustin yet. We’re in the middle of two-a-days, and I haven’t been able to keep up with the commitment burst and the countdown posts all at once.
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“We’re in the middle of two-a-days”
The other day I read a quote from Harbaugh about not doing two-a-days any more. I’m not a football coach, so I have absolutely no opinion one way or another. Any thoughts on Harbaugh’s apparent view of two-a-days?
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They’re not allowed to do two-a-days anymore, so it’s not really Harbaugh’s decision. As long as everyone’s following the rules, then I don’t think it matters either way.
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There are no two-a-days any more.
But it would have been nice to have a thread on Faustin that wasn’t the usual dump of “stars don’t matter because Mike Hart blahblahblah trust the coaches” that flows out at MGoBlog.
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Can you tell me the difference between a low 4 star and high 3 star? Factor in all the variables of age, developmental growth, level of competition, coaching and system. Also give me a scouting background on those designating the ‘stars’.
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The mgoblog “stars don’t matter because they change” argument is very dumb. So is slavish devotion to stars.
Mgoblog acknowledges “the Michigan bump”. This is real. (and I hope accepted by anyone bothering to read here.) It seems entirely obvious that offer lists influence rankings. The online writers are looking at an Alabama or Michigan-offered prospect differently than they did before he got those offers.
My question for WCB is this: if the recruiting sites are right in “trusting the coaches”* why aren’t we fans?
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My argument is you do have to trust the coaches. But you trust them in regard to who they prioritize getting. When they miss on someone like Rickert it’s a blow not because he’s highly ranked but because he was a priority recruit for this staff and the other powerhouse programs. Not getting him is the failure. Getting the ’19 guys they are getting is a success, regardless if they are 3 stars like Thomas or 5 stars like Hinton — because that’s who the staff prioritized.
To me, “Trust the coaches” doesn’t mean every 3 star they get is great. That kind of application is silly to me. Why bother following recruiting at all if every recruit is a success in your eyes? But when the coaches target somebody aggressively and land him early in the cycle — it’s something to be excited about and not worth worrying about their exact ranking…or how it might change now that he’s committed to Michigan and subject to favorable bias of internet “analysts”.
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Yeah I tend to agree with your assessment. It’s about right. I think a blind person can give out a 5 star rating but once you get to a certain level you really are coming down to a matter of preference or limited in person and film scouting.
You are right. The bump is real and these ranking guys probably do look at the offer sheet. Bottom line is one you get to a low 4 star and high 3 star it’s basically a crapshoot. For every 4 star that panned out or flamed out or every 3 star that made it or busted all really comes down to coaching and development and some other variables. I’d rather have coaches make these decisions and the meaty part of the talent curve and then hopefully they land some 5 stars and some HIGH 4 stars.
I think we agree. Outside of the top 50-75 guys then trust the coaches.
I did like Faustin. Not because of some ranking because when I watched him he looks like a solid safety prospect and it turns out he was a high 3 star. Would I be happier if he was a 4 star? Now we are just being ridiculous in our star gazing.
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I like that way of looking at it – outside of the obvious blue-chippers we should keep an open mind.
The key is how many of the blue-chippers they hit on.The Rickerts, Isiah Wilsons, and Najee Harris’ are worth the “stars matter” logic. So are the Peppers’ and Gary’s. The Barakas and Gradys count here too – we’re talking about probabilities not guarantees.
What’s not worth parsing is if a guy is 3-star or 4-star or on a top 250 list or not. Maybe if you’re Illinois you should care since you’re grasping for talent anywhere you can find it. Not true at Michigan.
Waiting for the websites to agree with the coaches (or not) is pointless. What if St.Juste hadn’t gone to the Opening and raised his rankings afterwards – would it matter one bit to Michigan?
This is especially true with this staff who have shown they’ll run a guy out of the class if he isn’t developing the way they like.
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Regarding Hinton, I had a couple questions. He looks like he has a large lower half and plays hard to the whistle, which are great traits. He also looks like he’s quick off the ball. Doesn’t he project more like a down lineman than a DE? He doesn’t look like he has that kind of frame. Seems like a lower to mid 80’s type of guy on your ratings but we’ll see. I don’t see 5 star though.
What type of competition is he playing against? I know he’s from GA but is this a lower level division. Seems like the teams he’s playing are small and slow.
What position does his brother project to play?
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I agree. I see a stout interior guy. I see a guy who can play a few different positions but not a guy who is going to be able to rush off the edge. When I watched his tape he reminded me style wise of a bigger Warren Sapp. That is a tremendous compliment. I would think mid 80’s because I don’t know how his strength will translate at a much higher level. Clearly a great pick up.
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Could be better another Wormley? A big dude that can play SDE and/or 3T?
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It seems like the prototype for SDE is a guy who is big enough to play DT but quick enough to be an edge rusher.
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UM also is doing well with another highly ranked 2019 kid that is identified as a SDE — George Karlaftis out of Indiana.
Who knows how big they’ll be in in August 2019 or what position they’ll play on the line. The way UM rotates defenders, if they have the skills/drive, they’ll get plenty of snaps. And there’s always a need for another athletic OLinemen.
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I would not consider it a negative at all if he ended up on interior DL.
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The star thing is fun for fans because it gives us something to glow about, but it’s dumb as hell from the standpoint of honest to goodness talent evaluation.
Just for starters, the rating services are mostly going to miss any kid that isn’t coming out to the camps on a regular basis. So the kid who has one, maybe two places in mind is nearly always going to have fewer stars simply from a lack of comparative exposure.
Secondly, it favors early maturing kids that blow up as freshmen and sophomores and then plateau. Some notable examples in this category are Marvin Robinson, Ricardo Miller, Shane Morris, and probably David Dawson, Kyle Kalis and Ondre Pipkins as well. Robinson and Miller were beasts as under classmen and fell back some in the ratings as the competition matured and caught up. Clearly not far enough.
My kid is a wonderful example of both issues in a different sport. He made up his mind where he was going to go play when he was in 8th grade. He hit two camps over his high school career and blew off every other school that talked to him. He was a scrawny little runt of a kid that doesn’t bother to grow until his senior year of high school. His club team goes dominant the spring of his senior year, wins the state championship, and their games are crawling with college coaches wondering who the hell is the tall skinny kid.
Which is why you look at the film, be it hi-lite or otherwise.
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I think the early-maturing argument is a lot stronger than the camp argument.
A factor in this is age-within-class. Beilein’s had some great success with landing young kids (like Levert) who are naturally going to bloom a little later. He’s also gone on the other end and found older kids (including prep schoolers) who are older and therefore closer to contributing as freshman (a la Albrecht, Abdur-Rahkman) without lots of development needed.
I’m not sure football coaches are tracking this as closely, but probably should. The websites aren’t as far as I’ve seen.
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The star thing is fun for fans because it gives us something to glow about, but it’s dumb as hell from the standpoint of honest to goodness talent evaluation.
Yes. It’s hard to comprehend how some people actually buy into this stuff as gospel. Do some people believe program A with average rankings of #8 over 5 years is somehow going to win 90% of the time over program B with rankings of # 16?
So many variables. Now if someone wanted to convince me that a program that gets 5 stars at 4 different positions will win over a program with 3 stars then I could be swayed.
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The argument is valid in aggregate. Talent helps you win. It’s not the only thing but it’s a big one. The problem is when people, even while acknowledging the rankings aren’t always right, will scoff at every 3-star commitment and cheer every 4-star.
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