Tag: 2017 recruiting

Visitors: January 27-29, 2017

Iowa City (IA) West wide receiver Oliver Martin (image via The Gazette)

Ellis Brooks – LB – Richmond (VA) Benedictine: Brooks is a 6’2″, 233 lb. prospect who was committed to Duke at one point. He also has offers from LSU, Maryland, Michigan, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Oregon, and Virginia, among others. He’s a 4-star, the #12 inside linebacker, and #267 overall. He has had a bit of a meandering journey with the Duke commitment, a few different leaders, a few teams slow-playing him, etc. In fact, both Michigan and Notre Dame have pulled back at times. UPDATE: Michigan is no longer pursuing Brooks.

Joel Honigford – OT – Sugarcreek (OH) Garaway: Honigford committed to Michigan in June of 2016 (LINK). This is his official visit.

Oliver Martin – WR – Iowa City (IA) West: Martin is a 6’0″, 188 lb. prospect with offers from Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, and Ohio State, among others. He’s a 4-star, the #28 wide receiver, and #170 overall. He played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl a few weeks ago, and as a senior in 2016, he caught 85 passes for 1,272 yards and 14 touchdowns. He was also Gatorade Player of the Year in Iowa. Michigan had been his leader at one point but backed off when they thought Nico Collins was coming. Now that Collins seems to be headed for Georgia, Michigan has picked things back up for Martin. This will be an official visit.

Hit the jump for some more visitors.

read more

Scouting Report: Ifeatu Melifonwu

Ifeatu Melifonwu (image via Community Advocate)

Name: Ifeatu Melifonwu
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 185 lbs.
High school: Grafton (MA) Memorial
Position: Safety
Class: 2017

Notes: Committed to Syracuse . . . Offers from Massachusetts, Navy, and Syracuse . . . ESPN 3-star, 75 grade, #80 ATH . . . Rivals 2-star ATH . . . Scout 2-star WR . . . 247 Sports 3-star, #69 S, #874 overall . . . Claims 4.58 forty . . . 4.43 shuttle . . . 35″ vertical . . . 265 lb. bench . . . 365 lb. squat

Strengths: Good size . . . Long arms . . . Solid frame . . . Good short-area quickness for his height . . . Excellent feet . . . Tough runner with ball in hands . . . Runs behind pads . . . Good vision . . . Drives feet through contact . . . High-points ball on defense . . . Breaks well on balls thrown in front of him

Weaknesses: A little loose in upper body when carrying ball . . . Not a blazing runner . . . Limited experience against elite competition . . . Needs to work on route running . . . Needs to catch ball away from body more consistently

Projection: Strong safety. Melifonwu has the size and build to play wide receiver or safety at the next level, and we have even seen a team like Michigan play big cornerbacks. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up at any of those positions in the right situation. He has the vision to be an effective offensive player, but his explosiveness isn’t ideal for a wide receiver and he’s too tall and reedy to be a running back. I think his best future position is as a safety playing mostly in the box.

Reminds me of: Raymon Taylor. Taylor was a good offensive player in high school, but he ended up playing cornerback at Michigan. I always thought his skills would suit him to be a solid free safety, but he was shorter than Melifonwu and therefore lighter. I see some similarities in the way they move, but if Melifonwu continues to fill out, he could easy be in the 205-210 lb. range in a couple years. I also see some shades of Delano Hill, a guy you might not want to put in the deep middle of the field but who can cover the flat, some tight ends, and an occasional slot guy.

Likelihood of committing to Michigan: Melifonwu has not yet been offered by Michigan, but he is planning to visit on January 24, 2017. Defensive coordinator Don Brown recruited his older brother at UConn. While Melifonwu has been committed to Syracuse for half a year, the fact that he’s taking an official visit means he would probably seriously consider flipping.

Highlights:

read more

Visitor: January 20-22, 2017

O’Maury Samuels (image via 247 Sports)

2017

O’Maury Samuels – RB – Los Lunas (NM) Los Lunas: Samuels committed to Michigan in April of 2016 (LINK). He had some academic issues that prevented him from taking an official visit late in 2016, so this is now his official visit. He’s now a 247 Composite 4-star, the #21 running back, and #277 overall.

If I had My Druthers . . . 2017 Offensive Line

Austin Jackson (image via USA Today)

Last year I took a late look at a few positions that Michigan was recruiting down to the wire. For example, I wanted Devin Asiasi the most out of Michigan’s remaining tight end targets last January (LINK), and he signed with the Wolverines, for whom he played quite a bit as a freshman. (For the record, the other four tight end targets on that list redshirted in 2016.) As a reminder, I feel it’s necessary to mention that I specifically avoid looking at recruiting rankings while working on this piece to avoid being influenced, though this here hobby means I have a fair idea of their general ranking.

1. Austin Jackson – OT – Phoenix (AZ) North Canyon: Jackson is the least physically developed player on this list at 6’6″, 270 lbs. He’s a lithe, athletic offensive tackle/defensive end, and he almost doesn’t look like an offensive tackle prospect. Though he is largely regarded as an offensive line prospect, he almost certainly needs a redshirt to add some size in order to play OL. He’s very good working up to the second level and playing in space, and he moves his feet well in pass protection. Right now he can get overpowered at the line of scrimmage by bigger players, but I do like athletes at offensive tackle who need to fill out rather than big guys who need to learn to be athletic.

Hit the jump for the remainder of the list.

read more

Final ESPN 300 for 2017 released

Kai-Leon Herbert

ESPN released its final top 300 for the class of 2017 (LINK). Here’s what it looked like in July of 2015 (LINK). Movement for Michigan commits since that first list:

• Donovan Peoples-Jones dropped from #12 to #22
• Kai-Leon Herbert jumped from #265 to #99
• Dylan McCaffrey jumped from #186 to #117
• Drew Singleton jumped from #201 to #153
• Ja’Raymond Hall jumped from #229 to #169
• Ambry Thomas dropped from #146 to #186
• Tarik Black dropped from #102 to #225
• Joshua Ross dropped from #153 to #236
• Jaylen Kelly-Powell dropped from #243 to #262
• Corey Malone-Hatcher dropped from #94 to #270

Hit the jump for the full list of targets.

read more