Quindarious Monday (image via Bulldawg Illustrated)
With a flurry of 2018 offers going out in recent weeks, I have to break things down into smaller chunks. And Michigan has been greatly expanding its defensive back recruiting board lately. Below is a look at the cornerbacks and safeties with shiny new Michigan offers:
Ft. Lauderdale (FL) St. Thomas Aquinas cornerback Al Blades, Jr. was offered by Michigan. He’s 6’0″, 170 lbs. and has offers from Alabama, Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, and Miami, among others. He’s a 4-star, the #12 cornerback, and #78 overall. He’s the son of former Miami wide receiver Al Blades and the nephew of former Hurricane (and Detroit Lion) safety Bennie Blades, so Miami is a likely landing spot.
McDonough (GA) Eagle’s Landing cornerback Tre’ Douglas was offered by Michigan. He’s 6’2″, 180 lbs. and is ranked as a 4-star, the #30 cornerback, and #319 overall. Alabama, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia, and Ohio State are also after him. He’s a tall, lanky corner prospect, which is becoming a common trait for Michigan’s corner targets.
Naples (FL) Naples safety Sammy Faustin was offered by Michigan. Faustin is 6’2″, 170 lbs. and his offer list is slightly less improve than the above players’, with the likes of Kentucky, North Carolina State, and Virginia as his best tenders. He could play a boundary corner spot, but I think he’s more likely headed for a safety position.
Hit the jump for a bunch more defensive back offers.
Ft. Lauderdale (FL) Dillard cornerback Stanley Garner was offered by Michigan. He’s 6’3″ and 180 lbs., and he has offers from Auburn, Clemson, and Miami, among others. He’s a 3-star, the #63 cornerback, and #684 overall. Another long and lean corner, he lacks great speed or quickness. Dillard is the school that produced former Michigan defensive back Wayne Lyons.
DeSoto (TX) DeSoto cornerback Gemon Green was offered by Michigan. He’s a 6’2″, 170 lb. prospect with offers from Houston, Oklahoma State, Oregon, and TCU, among others. He’s a 3-star, the #40 cornerback, and #472 overall. I like him. He’s quick, he plays the ball well in the air, he has good instincts, etc. He says Michigan, Oregon, and TCU are sticking out right now and he wants to visit Ann Arbor.
Marietta (GA) Lassiter cornerback Christian Jackson was offered by Michigan. A teammate of Derrik Allen’s (see below), Jackson is a 6’1″, 185-pounder whose next biggest offers are from Michigan State, North Carolina State, and Virginia Tech. He’s a 3-star, the #73 cornerback, and #774 overall. He’s a solid athlete but nothing spectacular.
Atlanta (GA) Carver safety Quindarious Monday was offered by Michigan. He’s a 6’3″, 175 lb. prospect who could potentially grow into an outside linebacker someday. He has offers from Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, and Oklahoma, among others. He’s a 4-star, the #16 athlete, and #230 overall. Along with having a fabulous name, he’s also one of those tantalizing athletes who’s long, tall, speedy, and can hit.
Atlanta (GA) Hapeville Charter cornerback Chris Smith was offered by Michigan. He’s 6’0″, 165 lbs. and a 3-star, the #37 cornerback, and #433 overall. He had 5 interceptions and 9 passes defended as a junior in 2016. He’s a little smaller than most of these corners, but he claims 4.6 speed and has some good ball skills. He’s probably headed to Georgia, though.
San Diego (CA) St. Augustine cornerback Isaac Taylor-Stuart was offered by Michigan. He’s a 6’2″, 187 lb. prospect with offers from Alabama, LSU, Notre Dame, Oregon, UCLA, and USC, among others. He’s a 4-star, the #4 cornerback, and #32 overall in the 2018 class. He claims a (probably fake) 4.3 forty, but he can fly and has excellent change-of-direction skills. Alabama appears to be the front-runner here, unfortunately.
OFF THE BOARD
Marietta (GA) Lassiter safety Derrik Allen committed to Notre Dame. He’s one of my top few defensive back wants in this class, so this is disappointing. On the plus side, Notre Dame had a really crappy year in 2016. If they repeat that effort, some of their commitments may be ripe for the picking.
Los Angeles (CA) Hawkins cornerback Eric Fuller committed to Nebraska. Fuller plays for a talent-laden school in L.A. that somehow seems to have its star players whittling their lists down to Nebraska and USC. Classmate Jalen Hall seems USC-bound, and he would join 2017 teammates Joseph Lewis and Greg Johnson, but the latter two were pegged by many to be headed for Lincoln.
Detroit (MI) Cass Tech cornerback Kalon Gervin committed to Notre Dame. I named Gervin as the #2 player in the in-state class recently (LINK), but he’s not on the same level as Ambry Thomas from 2017. Michigan wasn’t really pushing for him, and they seem to be pegging taller corners than the 5’10” or 5’11” Gervin.
Miami (FL) Carol City safety Randy Russell committed to Miami. Michigan had just offered him in early February, so he said thanks-but-no-thanks.
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CB is the biggest need in the class. That could change if Hill, Long, Thomas, and St. Juste all look strong or they get something from Washington but chances are there will be some misses in there and Michigan will be looking for immediate contributors from ’18s.
Without an obvious local target, it’s good that Michigan is casting a wide net. Let us hope that between Peppers, Lewis, Stribling, Hill and Thomas Michigan can soon tell a nice tale about NFL success.
Anybody that Michigan has a particularly good chance with or are these all more or less shots in the dark?
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I think safety is probably the biggest need in the 2018 class. At least cornerback has some highly rated players (Ambry Thomas, David Long, Lavert Hill, Benjamin St-Juste). Safety is largely a bunch of 3-star guys, guys who have potential but aren’t elite athletes.
I think most of these guys are shots in the dark, generally, although Christian Jackson took a visit this week and Michigan is clearly his biggest offer.
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Generally speaking it’s easier to move a CB recruit to safety than vice versa. Plus it’s likely they add a highly rated WR recruit to safety (Hawkins, DPJ, etc.)
I’m not going to get hung up on the ratings though. We have 3 guys who have played a bit and looked compelling at safety: Metellus, Kinnell, and Hudson. At CB all we have is star-rating and a few glimpses of Hill. We’ll know more after the season of course but the situation at Safety is far more certain than that at corner at the moment.
They need both badly, so the debate is academic.
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Quindarious Monday will play on Sunday.
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dudes an impressive athlete, he plays physical too which always nice to see. love to see m land a few top flight DBs this cycle – theyve signed talented CBs of late and some decent S prospects but still lack truly elite, rangy safeties (like the cats teams like lsu seem to sign every single year). monday should be an interesting prospect to follow
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