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| Devin Funchess |
247 Sports released their Pre-season All-Big Ten Team on Wednesday morning. There are a few Michigan players on the list:
WR Devin Funchess
LB Jake Ryan
CB Blake Countess
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| Wayne (NJ) DePaul Catholic running back Kareem Walker (image via NorthJersey.com) |
2015
2016
Donnie Corley – WR – Detroit (MI) King: Corley is a 6’2″, 180 lb. prospect with offers from Cincinnati, Illinois, Iowa, and a few MAC teams. He’s a 247 Composite 4-star, the #44 wide receiver, #252 overall, and #8 in-state. Corley is transferring from Wyandotte (MI) Roosevelt for his junior season.
Lawrence Gordon – DE – Saginaw (MI) Arthur Hill: Gordon is a 6’6″, 260 lb. prospect with no offers at this time. He’s a 247 Composite 4-star, the #9 weakside end, #163 overall, and #3 in-state. He has visited Ann Arbor several times, and the Wolverines are the presumed leader.
Lavert Hill – CB – Detroit (MI) Cass Tech: Hill is a 5’11”, 165 lb. prospect with offers from Miami, Michigan, and Ohio State, among others. He’s a 247 Composite 4-star, the #22 cornerback, and #228 overall. He’s the younger brother of Michigan sophomore safety Delano Hill.
Leon Page – DE – Detroit (MI) King: Page is a 6’3″, 212 lb. prospect with no offers at this time. As a sophomore in 2013, he had 28 tackles, 14 tackles for loss, and 6.5 sacks.
Kalebb Perry – WR – Mt. Pleasant (MI) Mt. Pleasant: Perry is a 6’2″, 180 lb. prospect with offers from Central Michigan and Western Michigan. He’s a 247 Composite 3-star, the #84 wide receiver, #504 overall, and #17 in-state. As a sophomore in 2013, he had 28 catches for 543 yards and 6 touchdowns. He camped at Michigan back in June but is still waiting for big-time offers.
Kareem Walker – RB – Wayne (NJ) De Paul Catholic: Walker is a 6’1″, 210 lb. prospect with offers from Alabama, Clemson, Florida State, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Pitt, Rutgers, and Wisconsin, among others. He’s a 247 Composite 5-star, the #1 running back, and #6 overall. He also claims a 4.4 forty. Most importantly, his dreadlocks and running style make him look like Denard Robinson when he’s running the ball.
Mikale Washington – QB – Detroit (MI) King: Washington is a 6’4″, 180 lb. prospect with no offers at this time. He’s a 247 Composite 3-star, the #24 pro-style quarterback, #428 overall, and #14 in-state. Washington transferred from southern California in the offseason, so this will be his first year of football in the Mitten.
2017
Johnathan Berghorst – DE – Zeeland (MI) East: Berghorst is a 6’2″, 215 lb. prospect with no offers at this time. Despite the lack of offers, he’s considered to be one of the top several in-state prospects for 2017.
Andre Jackson – CB – Bridgeport (MI) Bridgeport: I have been unable to find much information on Jackson other than his class and high school.
Bruce Mann – QB – Bay City (MI) Western: Mann is a 6’2″, 180 lb. prospect with no offers at this time. Although it’s early, he’s considered to be perhaps the top quarterback in-state for his class. However, his father had been the coach at Western for the past five years and has now taken a power company job near Chicago. Mann is reportedly remaining in-state while his father commutes, but there’s a good chance that the younger Bruce will eventually move closer to Chicago.
Will Rogers – DE – Saginaw (MI) Arthur Hill: Rogers is a 6’6″, 235 lb. prospect with no offers at this time.
2019
Sam Johnson III – Detroit (MI): This is way early, but the recruiting sites reported it. In the Detroit youth league, Johnson completed 68/104 passes for 1,125 yards, 15 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions, plus he ran for 224 yards and 4 touchdowns on 31 carries.
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| Bellflower (CA) St. John Bosco offensive guard Zach Robertson (image via Maxpreps) |
ADDED TO THE BOARD: 2015
Bellflower (CA) St. John Bosco offensive guard Zach Robertson was offered by Michigan. He’s a 6’5″, 308 lb. prospect with offers from Arizona State, Arkansas, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, UCLA, USC, and Washington, among others. He’s a 247 Composite 4-star, the #14 offensive guard, and #259 overall. He claims a 340 lb. bench, a 465 lb. squat, and a 5.4 forty. Robertson is a punishing blocker on the move who I believe fits best at offensive guard, though he’s a tackle in high school. He has said that he wants to take an official visit to Michigan, but the current line of thinking is that he’s bound for UCLA, where high school teammate (and fellow Michigan offeree) Josh Rosen is committed.
OFF THE BOARD
Reisterstown (MD) Franklin offensive guard Patrick Allen committed to Georgia. Georgia was considered the favorite, but Michigan was up there in his top few schools. Allen has said that he still wants to see Michigan on an official visit, so the door isn’t completely closed. His 2016 teammate, wide receiver Steven Smothers, also holds a Michigan offer.
Sicklerville (NJ) Timber Creek wide receiver Cameron Chambers, a 2016 prospect, committed to Michigan State. He visited Michigan and Michigan State the weekend prior to his decision, so it was a bit of a nail-biter to see whether he would choose the Wolverines, although they were thought to be playing from slightly behind. Ohio State was also in the mix. As Michigan has seen with its own early commits, it’s a long time between now and signing day for 2016 prospects.
Warren (OH) Harding center James Daniels committed to Iowa. Daniels has an older brother who’s a freshman running back at Iowa, so the Hawkeyes were thought to be the leaders. Michigan has had a lot of success at Harding over the years (Carl Diggs, Prescott Burgess, Mario Manningham, D.J. Williamson, Davion Rogers), but they have struck out recently.
Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy quarterback Deondre Francois committed to Florida State. This was – and will be – a highly interesting development, because the Seminoles already had two touted quarterbacks (De’Andre Johnson, Kai Locksley) committed in the 2015 class. Taking two quarterbacks in one class happens fairly frequently, but three in one year is almost unheard of. At least one of these guys will flip elsewhere by the time all is said and done.
Sherman (TX) Sherman offensive guard Aaron Garza committed to Kansas. He had previously been committed to Texas.
Tampa (FL) Wharton wide receiver Auden Tate committed to Florida State. At one point Tate called Michigan’s offer a “dream offer” and he has left the door open for an official visit to Ann Arbor. Tate was considered Michigan’s best chance to land a second wide receiver in the class, so the Wolverines may have to expand their offer list if they want another wideout.
Lawrenceville (GA) Central Gwinnett outside linebacker Adonis Thomas committed to Florida. His 2016 teammate, offensive lineman E.J. Price, holds an offer from Michigan.
MISCELLANEOUS
Over on Recruiting Season, I profiled Walled Lake Central’s Ade Ogundeji and Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills’ Derek Smith (Central Michigan). Meanwhile, Muskegon Mona Shores quarterback Tyree Jackson committed to Buffalo, Dearborn Fordson linebacker Abdallah Jaffal committed to Ball State, and West Bloomfield’s Eddie Wilson II committed to Central Michigan.
Here’s a LINK to the video for day 26.
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| De’Veon Smith |
Name: De’Veon Smith
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 220 lbs.
High school: Warren (OH) Howland
Position: Running back
Class: Sophomore
Jersey number: #4
Last year: I ranked Smith #86 and said he would redshirt. He played in four games at running back and had 26 carries for 117 yards.
With an established starter (Fitzgerald Toussaint), some experienced backups (Thomas Rawls, Justice Hayes), and a guy who earned some coach praise (Drake Johnson) already on the roster, I assumed at least one of the freshman running backs would redshirt in 2013. Instead, every one of those guys played in the season opener. There was a long stretch where he went without touching the ball, but he looked somewhat improved by the time he saw daylight again. He broke a 16-yarder against Northwestern and a 38-yarder against Ohio State. Of course, everything is relative; Michigan was the worst in the country at allowing negative-yardage runs because of a porous offensive line, so even a 16-yard run was a jaw-dropping moment in 2013. It appeared that Smith’s bruising style fit the system and personnel best because he could actually run through tackle attempts occasionally, a skill with which the other running backs struggled.
Now the running back job is really up for grabs. Toussaint graduated, Rawls transferred to Central Michigan, Johnson is once against receiving praise from Coach Hoke after recovering from a torn ACL suffered in the 2013 season opener, Hayes started the bowl game, and sophomore Derrick Green has shed over 20 lbs. since his freshman year. Hoke has openly stated that Smith had an edge on Green coming out of the spring due to superior pass protection abilities, so that’s where I assume things stand right now. Smith seems like a high-effort player who carries out his fakes, blocks physically, and will throw his body around. What he lacks is breakaway speed, a category in which he’s behind the likes of Johnson, Green, and Hayes. With a young offensive line, Smith should probably be the choice to get the plurality of carries. Offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier spread out the carries among multiple backs at Alabama, so I would still expect to see a couple other guys get large chunks of playing time.
Prediction: Starting running back; 150 carries, 700 yards, 8 touchdowns
