Running Back Recruiting
Cordova (TN) St. Benedict’s Jordan Wilkins |
Yesterday’s announcement by Joliet (IL) Joliet Catholic running back Ty Isaac that he would be playing football at USC stunned some Michigan fans. With his recent behavior, it was not surprising that heading to Southern California would be his choice. Isaac started to withdraw from publicity a little bit, and it seems that when kids start to weary of the process, that’s often because they’re headed somewhere that won’t necessarily be well received publicly. A kid from Illinois spurning Notre Dame, Michigan, and other midwest schools is going to get a little blowback. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Isaac’s recruitment is over, because schools will probably continue to make a push for him. But for now, Michigan fans should operate under the assumption that he’s permanently off the board.
Isaac was clearly the top running back prospect on the coaches’ board, so where do the Wolverines go from here? Well, they already have Warren (OH) Howland running back DeVeon Smith and Novi (MI) Catholic Central jumbo running back Wyatt Shallman. Both are solidly considered 4-star recruits, they can both play a role at Michigan, and both seem to be strongly committed to Michigan. What Michigan seems to lack in those two guys is a gamebreaker. They’re both grind-it-out types who can break tackles or score near the goal line, but neither appears to have the speed and agility to go 80 yards on any given play.
The two names that pop up most frequently are Richmond (VA) Hermitage running back Derrick Green and Cordova (TN) St. Benedict tailback Jordan Wilkins. While Green claims 4.37 forty speed, that kind of acceleration and explosion isn’t apparent on his highlight film. The 6’1″, 215-pounder looks more like a between-the-tackles power guy than a big play guy. With Smith and Shallman already in the fold for 2013, taking a commitment from Green would seem a bit redundant.
Wilkins, on the other hand, looks a lot more like Isaac. The Tennessee product has more lateral agility than Green, can catch the ball out of the backfield much like Isaac, and has the ability to break the big one. While I don’t know that I can justify saying that Wilkins is faster than someone who claims a 4.37 forty, comparing junior film of Wilkins and Green makes the former look like the big-play guy that Michigan should be seeking.
Outside of those two guys, who both have offers, the pickings get a little slim. There aren’t a great deal of options in the midwest, and reaching outside of the midwest is always a tough pull. Chelsea (MI) Chelsea tailback Berkley Edwards is a Michigan legacy and the younger brother of wide receiver Braylon Edwards, but he’s small and probably not the feature back that Michigan really wants. Otherwise, he would have been offered already. Pickerington (OH) North’s Godwin Igwebuike is the teammate of 2013 tight end commit Jake Butt and has an offer from Wisconsin, but again, he’s not a threat to take it the distance. The only other big-time running back prospect in the Big Ten imprint appears to be Philadelphia (PA) Imhotep’s David Williams, who has offers from Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Penn State. Williams doesn’t have a Michigan offer and it could very well be too late to get a foot in the door.
It seems most likely at this point that Michigan will once again go without an elite level running back in the 2013 class, which continues the trend that arguably started in the 2010 class. Fitzgerald Toussaint, a 2009 recruit, was somewhat highly touted but not really a national recruit. One might even make the argument that you would have to go all the way back to 2008, when Michigan snagged the highly sought after Sam McGuffie, to find an elite running back in a Michigan recruiting class.