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| LaQuon Treadwell, Shane Morris, and Jourdan Lewis at The Opening |
ADDED TO THE BOARD: 2014
Wayne (NJ) De Paul wide receiver Kiy Hester was offered by Michigan. He’s a 6’2″, 200 lb. athlete with offers from Maryland, Miami, Michigan State, Rutgers, and several others. As a sophomore in 2011, he had 27 receptions for 501 yards and 8 touchdowns. He also plays a little bit of safety and cornerback, but he looks somewhat disinterested in defense and more of a natural receiver.
OFF THE BOARD: 2013
Wyomissing (PA) Wyomissing Area linebacker Alex Anzalone committed to Notre Dame. Anzalone was previously committed to Ohio State but decommitted after the blowup with the sexual predator fan. He was also a guy who planned to visit Michigan until the coaches put all their eggs in the E.J. Levenberry basket.
Indianapolis (IN) North Central defensive tackle Darius Latham committed to Wisconsin. Michigan never seemed to be recruiting Latham very hard, and they supposedly wanted him more for the offensive line than defense..
Houston (TX) Westfield defensive tackle Hardreck Walker committed to Texas A&M. Walker expressed interest in Michigan, but he set an announcement date before ever visiting campus. Michigan is also reported to be done recruiting the defensive line for 2013.
VISITORS
Duluth (GA) Peachtree Ridge offensive tackle Orlando Brown was reported by Wolverine Nation‘s TomVH a couple weeks ago to be visiting on July 14, which would be this coming Saturday. We’ll see if that visit actually takes place, but Brown is a 6’9″, 376 lb. kid with offers from all over the place. It’s been pointed out numerous times, but he’s the son of the late Orlando Brown, a former offensive tackle for the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens.
Salt Lake City (UT) Highland defensive tackle Bryan Mone was supposed to visit last week, but the visit didn’t materialize. He does still plan to visit, but he’s not sure when. He’s a 6’3″, 280-pounder who was a teammate of incoming freshman fullback Sione Houma. Mone was the first player to be offered in the class of 2014.
REVIEW OF THE OPENING
The Opening took place in Beaverton, OR, this past week. Some of it was televised on ESPNU over the past few nights, so here are some thoughts based on SPARQ results and what I saw on TV and videos posted online.
Wheaton (IL) St. Francis offensive guard Kyle Bosch measured in at 6’5″, 311 lbs. He had a 5.52 forty, a 4.87 shuttle, a 23.2″ vertical, and a 35.5′ Powerball toss. However, he left the competition early due to what he’s afraid is mononucleosis.
Pickerington (OH) North tight end Jake Butt was featured in some clips online and in a televised Friday night seven-on-seven game with Tyrone Swoopes as his quarterback. Swoopes was one of the worst passing quarterbacks at the event, which was somewhat expected for a dual-threat guy like him, who is an excellent runner. Butt played very well in the seven-on-seven game. He’s not an elite athlete at tight end like Miami-committed Travis Johnson or Alabama-bound O.J. Howard, but he’s tall and stout, and he showed nice hands in traffic.
Pickerington (OH) Central defensive end Taco Charlton measured in at 6’6″, 249 lbs. He had a 4.89 forty, a 4.50 shuttle, a 31.6″ vertical, and a 40′ Powerball toss. Michigan and Ohio high school rules prevent players from wearing pads during events like this, but Charlton performed well in the events in which he was allowed to participate. His speed off the ball was noted as a positive, but those events generally favor the defender, so I take those reports with a grain of salt.
Detroit (MI) Cass Tech offensive guard David Dawson measured in at 6’3.5″, 282 lbs. He had a 5.54 forty, a 5.16 shuttle, a 22″ vertical, and a 41′ Powerball toss. Dawson is frequently listed in the neighborhood of 6’5″ and 305 lbs., so these measurements are more indication that he’s headed for offensive guard. Dawson didn’t make waves with his play, but he did receive positive reviews. He did makes waves, however, with his stated plans to visit Friday Night Lights at the University of Florida, which is a “camp” in the technical sense, but is more of a recruiting tool. He stated that he had already bought his plane ticket and that he would talk to Michigan’s coaches about it, but miraculously, over the span of 24 hours, the visit was off and he remains committed to Michigan. This situation will be one to watch over the coming months, though.
Detroit (MI) Cass Tech cornerback Jourdan Lewis measured in at 5’10”, 159 lbs. He had a 4.68 forty, a 4.34 shuttle, a 32″ vertical, and a 36′ Powerball toss. Some people expressed disappointment in his 4.68 forty time, but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: most forty times you see for high schoolers are exaggeratedly fast. After three years at Michigan and training for the draft, Donovan Warren ran a 4.68 at the NFL Combine. Of course, Warren went undrafted, but he was a pretty good college cornerback (All-Big Ten in 2009) and might have raised his stock if he had stayed for his senior year. In one-on-one drills on Day 1, Lewis went 5-for-5, had a very nice interception that was televised in Saturday night’s seven-on-seven game, and had a diving crunch-time pick in the championship game to keep his team alive (although they lost 14-6). He has earned positive reviews for his makeup speed and it shows on film, so I’m not worried about that forty time in the slightest.
Trotwood (OH) Trotwood-Madison linebacker Mike McCray II participated in The Opening, but didn’t really leave much of an impression. I watched his seven-on-seven game on Saturday night and he was hardly noticeable, although linebackers are rarely stars in those types of events, especially inside linebackers. McCray is seen by many analysts as more of a run-stuffing linebacker (even though I have some questions about his instincts), so I’ll repeat that it’s tough to judge much at these camps. They’re fun to watch, but not particularly useful for most positions.
Warren (MI) De La Salle quarterback Shane Morris impressed most observers. He has perhaps the strongest arm of any quarterback in the country, but his accuracy has come into question at times. The best chance to show his stuff came in the seven-on-seven tournament, in which he played well most of the time. However, his team (the Land Sharks) had what looked like the worst receiving corps of the six squads. Devonte Whitfield is a decent receiver and made some plays, but Morris’s best targets were probably tight end O.J. Howard and running back Taquan Mizzell. I value game film over camp performances, but this is how I would rank the six quarterbacks’ performances over the weekend:
1. Max Brown – Sammamish (WA) Skyline – committed to USC
2. Shane Morris – Warren (MI) De La Salle – committed to Michigan
3. Cooper Bateman – Salt Lake City (UT) Cottonwood – committed to Alabama
4. Christian Hackenberg – Fork Union (VA) Fork Union Military Academy – committed to Penn State
5. Brice Ramsey – Kingsland (GA) Camden – committed to Georgia
6. Tyrone Swoopes – Whitewright (TX) Whitewright – committed to Texas
The all-tournament team for seven-on-seven consisted of:
QB: Max Browne (committed to USC)
RB: Ryan Green (committed to Florida State)
WR: Torii Hunter, Jr.
WR: Ryan Switzer (committed to North Carolina)
TE: Jake Butt (committed to Michigan)
TE: O.J. Howard (committed to Alabama)
LB: Larenz Bryant (committed to South Carolina)
LB: Jaylon Smith (committed to Notre Dame)
LB: Matthew Thomas
CB: Cameron Burrows (committed to Ohio State)
CB: Jourdan Lewis (committed to Michigan)
