Jordan Anthony, Wolverine

Jordan Anthony, Wolverine


December 22, 2016




Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy LB Jordan Anthony

Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy linebacker Jordan Anthony committed to Michigan on Thursday evening. He chose the Wolverines over offers from Auburn, Clemson, Georgia, LSU, Maryland, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, Pitt, and Tennessee, among others.

Anthony is listed at 6’1″, 226 lbs. and claims a 4.73 forty with a 36″ vertical.

RATINGS
ESPN: 4-star, 83 grade, #9 ATH, #123 overall
Rivals: 4-star, #1 ILB, #26 overall
Scout: 4-star, #13 OLB, #185 overall
247 Sports: 4-star, 92 grade, #12 OLB, #208 overall

Hit the jump for more on Anthony.

Anthony was offered by Michigan in April of 2015 (LINK). At that time he was finishing up his sophomore year at Olney (MD) Good Counsel, a perennial hotbed of talent that produced, among others, former Michigan cornerback Blake Countess. He transferred to IMG Academy prior to his junior year, when he mostly played running back (highlights here). For a while I thought he might end up at Maryland or Penn State, but both those teams faded down the stretch, and Michigan has had the lead for the past several months. He’s a classmate of center Cesar Ruiz, who committed to Michigan on Monday (LINK).

Anthony is already solidly built. He’s listed at 6’0″ or 6’1″ by the various sites, and his weight is anywhere from 220-226 lbs. He has a thick lower body, which bodes well for lower body strength and his ability to pack a punch. He throws his body around and can be a violent hitter. He might be the type who makes some bone-rattling hits on receivers working over the middle of the field. Anthony changes direction and accelerates well, and he should be a plus tackler in space, something Michigan’s linebackers have struggled with at times in recent years. He isn’t the biggest guy, but he does a nice job of using his hands, angles, and leverage to shed offensive linemen.

On the negative side, Anthony isn’t a blazer like some undersized weakside linebackers are. His listed 4.73 forty is probably pretty accurate. He is also going to be a little bit undersized, so if offensive linemen do latch on to him, he might get pushed around a bit. The biggest thing I think he needs to work on is his instincts. Perhaps taking a year off of playing much linebacker stunted his development a bit, but he tends to stand still after the snap without taking read steps, and you can tell that sometimes he does not maintain eye discipline. He needs to read his keys a little better, or else teams are going to be able to get him out of position.

Overall, his body and physical skills remind me very much of Devin Bush, Jr. I think Bush was a little further advanced coming out of high school, again perhaps because of Bush playing linebacker throughout his high school career. Still, I think they’re very similar players. Anthony should end up at WILL linebacker, where he’ll have to battle with Bush, Devin Gil, and others for playing time (I believe Mike McCray will play middle linebacker next year). Bush is a guy I could see eventually moving to MIKE, too, but I think Anthony is a WILL all the way.

Michigan now has 25 commitments in the 2016 class, and there are expected to be roughly 30 players in the class. He’s the second player from IMG Academy, a magnet school for talented athletes that I discussed at length several months ago (LINK). Anthony is also the third linebacker, joining Joshua Ross and Ben Mason, the latter of whom might end up at fullback. The Wolverines are also recruiting Paramus (NJ) Catholic’s Drew Singleton and Starkville (MS) Starkville’s Willie Gay.

TTB Rating: 78 (ratings explanation)

10 comments

  1. Comments: 1356
    Joined: 8/13/2015
    Roanman
    Dec 23, 2016 at 6:25 AM

    He looks like he could be really hard to hurt.

    I wish he looked a bit more twitchy. That’s ok. Twitchy will be the next linebacker.

    I hope.

    • Comments: 522
      Joined: 8/12/2015
      DonAZ
      Dec 23, 2016 at 8:10 AM

      I think I know what you mean by “twitchy,” but I’m not certain.

      Is that something like what Peppers is — super-fast to close in space, very reactive, etc.?

      • Comments: 6
        Joined: 12/30/2015
        robpollard
        Dec 23, 2016 at 11:51 AM

        Not speaking for Roanman, but yes, typically that is what “twitchy” means — fast-reaction.

        Peppers was as “twitchy” as literally any Michigan defenders I’ve seen in the past 10, if not 20 years. To pick just one example, his close out tackle on Lewerke to seal the game against MSU. When he decided to go get Lewerke, Peppers was on him in an instant. It might be even part of the reason why Lewerke’s leg got accidentally broken — Lewerke couldn’t get out of the way (like he might a normal defender) and was caught in an awkward position.

        • Comments: 1356
          Joined: 8/13/2015
          Roanman
          Dec 23, 2016 at 12:05 PM

          Twitchy references quick twitch muscles, something I have seen a great deal of in other people, but never personally experienced aside from getting hit by it on occasion.

          Other popular synonymous adjectives are explosive, sudden, quick. synonymous phrases include one my all time favorites, “heat seeking missile”.

          All of those words will aptly describe the athleticism of Drew Singleton who while not perfect, does have twitchy in abundance.

  2. Comments: 1863
    Joined: 1/19/2016
    je93
    Dec 23, 2016 at 9:19 AM

    Thunder, I’ve read elsewhere that Jordan Anthony outplayed his teammate, coveted 5*LB dylan moses this year. Your thoughts?

    • Comments: 3844
      Joined: 7/13/2015
      Dec 23, 2016 at 10:11 AM

      The stats don’t support that. Moses had 106 tackles, while Anthony had 79. Moses had 3 sacks, while Anthony had 0.5. Moses had 5 pass breakups, while Anthony had 3.

      However, Anthony is a more instinctual linebacker. Moses was largely a running back before now, while Anthony was a coveted linebacker going back to his sophomore. Despite playing running back as a junior, Anthony was mostly considered a LB for college purposes. There was a time when people thought Moses was going to be the next Leonard Fournette at LSU. Here are Moses’s highlights from this year:

      http://www.hudl.com/video/3/2900233/57851a35eae10c39a85b4bae

      You can see that he’s a little slow to react, and I think that has a lot to do with inexperience. You could see it in his pass drops at The Opening, too. I don’t know if he’ll ever reach his “potential,” but you can see that he has the size, strength, physicality, etc. to be very good. Anthony is a little quicker to diagnose plays, although he has to work on that aspect of his game, too.

      • Comments: 1863
        Joined: 1/19/2016
        je93
        Dec 23, 2016 at 10:33 AM

        Excellent, thanks and GO BLUE

  3. Comments: 23
    Joined: 11/15/2015
    brandywine
    Dec 23, 2016 at 12:22 PM

    It’s exciting that Michigan is finally getting elite linebacker prospects (Anthony and potentially Singleton). Look at the position rankings from recent years- Alabama and OSU have been absolutely stockpiling. These are the kind of players that add the versatility and speed to an edge that dominant defenses possess.

    McCray was a nice prospect, but the last truly elite LB Michigan got was maybe Jonas Mouton?

  4. Comments: 6285
    Joined: 8/11/2015
    Lanknows
    Dec 23, 2016 at 12:52 PM

    I’m still confused about what a post-Peppers Don Brown LB corps is supposed to look like. MLB is the prototypical-sized ILB who can stop the run. After that – things seem muddled.

    WLB is typically a bit smaller and quicker (a la James Ross)…I think. This year’s WIL was McCray who was big and blitzed a lot, like what I think of as a typical SAM. Then the SAM (Peppers) was undersized and fast, more like what I think of as a typical WLB. Then his backup was Furbush who is closer to a typical SAM – but he barely played. I don’t know if I’m alone on being confused, but it seems like the SAM and WIL were kind of switched this year. But then Bush is supposedly going to play WIL next year (back to normal) and nobody seems to know who the SAM will be. And wasn’t Bush a backup MLB this year?

    So anyway, I have no idea what ‘positions’ to assign Bush, Anthony, Singleton, and Gil to. Even moreso than usual with LBs.

  5. Comments: 6285
    Joined: 8/11/2015
    Lanknows
    Dec 23, 2016 at 12:58 PM

    I automatically ramp up expectations for any player who is shorter than prototypical size. I figure that means they are getting dinged in their rankings relative to their ability as a football player.

    This LB class may be a little overrated in the rankings, but it’s an excellent haul of talent (assuming they get Singleton later today).

    I was very disappointed with LB recruiting at the end of the Hoke era. Harbaugh seems to have addressed the problem pretty quickly.

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