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2014 Maxwell Award watch list

Devin Funchess

The 2014 Maxwell Award watch list has been released. A couple Michigan players are included, as well as several other Big Ten players and opponents. The Maxwell Award is given to college football’s most outstanding player.

Ameer Abdullah – RB – Nebraska
Dres Anderson – WR – Utah
Connor Cook – QB – Michigan State
Stefon Diggs – WR – Maryland
Devin Funchess – WR – Michigan
Devin Gardner – QB – Michigan
Everett Golson – QB – Notre Dame
Melvin Gordon – RB – Wisconsin
Christian Hackenberg – QB – Penn State
Jeremy Langford – RB – Michigan State
Tyler Lockett – WR – Kansas State
Venric Mark – RB – Northwestern
Braxton Miller – QB – Ohio State
Jake Waters – QB – Kansas State

Recruiting Update: July 7, 2014

Glen St. Mary (FL) Baker defensive end CeCe Jefferson (#7)

ADDED TO THE BOARD: 2015
Glen St. Mary (FL) Baker defensive end CeCe Jefferson was offered by Michigan at some point in the past. He’s a 6’2″, 250 lb. prospect with offers from Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Florida State, and USC, among others. He’s a 247 Composite 5-star, the #1 strongside end, and #4 overall. Michigan apparently offered him a while ago, but it was not made public until recently. Obviously, that does not bode well because Jefferson clearly hasn’t publicized his interest. Meanwhile, he appears ticketed for Florida.

Elkton (MD) Eastern Christian Academy quarterback David Sills decommitted from USC. I can’t help feeling a little badly for Sills, who made national news for committing to the Trojans as a seventh grader when Lane Kiffin offered him. It underlines the uncertainty of early recruiting, but Sills watched two coaching changes at USC, saw current coach Steve Sarkisian grab Ricky Town from Alabama, and now finds himself searching for a lower-tier home, which seems likely to be West Virginia at this point.

OFF THE BOARD
New Lenox (IL) Providence Catholic wide receiver Miles Boykin committed to Notre Dame. Michigan thought they might have a chance after he visited for the spring game and was offered shortly thereafter, but things had been trending toward Notre Dame for a few weeks. The Wolverines ended up finishing third behind the Fighting Irish and Michigan State.

St. Paul (MN) Cretin-Derham Hall defensive end Jashon Cornell committed to Ohio State. I have noted all along that Cornell was overrated as a defensive end, and Michigan’s coaches apparently saw him more as a defensive tackle as he added weight. They were reportedly not pursuing him very hard toward the end of his recruitment, although it likely would not have mattered either way.

Cincinnati (OH) St. Xavier linebacker Justin Hilliard also committed to Ohio State. I wrote a scouting report on Hilliard last November (LINK), and I do think he will be a force to reckon with as a Buckeye. In my opinion, he’s the best prospect to come out of Ohio in the last few years.

Douglasville (GA) Alexander running back Mikell Lands-Davis committed to Georgia Tech. Lands-Davis is a sturdy back with good balance, and I can picture him making a good triple-option fullback for the Yellowjackets.

Dallas (TX) Bishop Dunne wide receiver A.D. Miller committed to Illinois. I considered Miller one of the top three receivers likely to commit to Michigan in the 2015 class, so now the Wolverines are down to two (Brian Cole and Auden Tate) unless they extend more offers.

Orange Park (FL) Oakleaf linebacker Shaquille Quarterman, a 2016 prospect, committed to Miami. His teammate was linebacker Darrion Owens, who also held a Michigan offer and chose Miami in the 2014 class.

Douglas (GA) Coffee tight end Jalen Wilkerson committed to Florida State. Michigan never had much of a chance, and his highlight reel entitled “The Chosen One” made me not want him in Ann Arbor, anyway.

MISCELLANEOUS
I posted a list of players planning to attend the 2014 BBQ at the Big House (LINK).

I also posted a list of participants in Nike’s The Opening (LINK).

Last week on Recruiting Season, I profiled Orchard Lake St. Mary’s linebacker Joshua Ross, Detroit Cass Tech’s Demetric Vance and Donovan Peoples-Jones, Brighton’s Alexx Zielinski, and Traverse City West’s duo of Jacob Cerny and Tommy Roush.

Nike’s The Opening 2014 roster

Alex Malzone will be recruiting for Michigan while in Oregon

The Opening will take place with various events from July 5-11. Here’s a rundown of the various Michigan targets who will be participating. Quarterbacks will be distributed for the 7-on-7 tournaments at the event, so they are not currently assigned to squads.

QUARTERBACKS
Blake Barnett – QB – California (Alabama)
Ryan Brand – QB – Michigan**
Deondre Francois – QB – Florida
Alex Malzone – QB – Michigan (Michigan)
Josh Rosen – QB – California (UCLA)
Jarrett Stidham – QB – Texas (Texas Tech)

ALPHA PRO
George Campbell, Jr. – WR – Florida
Marcus Lewis – CB – Washington, D.C. (Florida)
Osa Masina – LB – Utah
Josh Sweat – DE – Virginia

APOCALYPSE
Matt Burrell, Jr. – OT – Virginia
Rasheem Green – DT – California
Damien Harris – RB – Kentucky
Malik Jefferson – LB – Texas
Jaylon Lane – CB – Texas (Oklahoma State)
Josh McMillon – LB – Tennessee
Jacques Patrick – RB – Florida
Mook Reynolds – CB – North Carolina (Virginia Tech)

FLY RUSH
Chris Clark – TE – Connecticut (Michigan)*
Darrin Kirkland, Jr. – LB – Indiana (Michigan)
DaMarkus Lodge – WR – Texas (Texas A&M)
Drew Richmond – OT – Tennessee
Kendall Sheffield – CB – Texas
Dexter Williams – RB – Florida (Miami)

LAND SHARKS
Justin Hilliard – LB – Ohio
Soso Jamabo – RB – Texas
Tyron Johnson – WR – Louisiana
Keisean Lucier-South – DE – California
Kevin Tolliver II – CB – Florida (LSU)

MACH SPEED
Terry Beckner, Jr. – DE – Illinois
Shaun Crawford – CB – Ohio (Notre Dame)
Minkah Fitzpatrick – CB – New Jersey (Alabama)
Mitch Hyatt – OT – Georgia (Clemson)
Ray-Ray McCloud III – RB – Florida
Auden Tate – WR – Florida
Levonta Taylor – CB – Virginia#
Adonis Thomas – LB – Georgia
Mike Weber – RB – Michigan
Preston Williams – WR – Georgia (Tennessee)

VAPOR CARBON
Jashon Cornell – DE – Minnesota
Rashan Gary – DT – New Jersey#
Juwan Johnson – WR – New Jersey (Penn State)
Christian Kirk – WR – Arizona
Iman Marshall – CB – California
Tim Settle – DT – Virginia
Keenan Walker – OT – Arizona (Arizona)

*Recently chose not to attend
**Does not hold a Michigan offer but is an in-state prospect
#2016 prospect

2014 Season Countdown: #50 Lawrence Marshall

Lawrence Marshall (image via Scout)

Name: Lawrence Marshall
Height: 6’4″
Weight: 245 lbs.
High school: Southfield (MI) Southfield
Position: Defensive end
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: #93
Last year: Marshall was a senior in high school. He made 68 tackles, 8 sacks, and 3 forced fumbles. He finished as a 247 Composite 4-star, the #10 weakside end, and #176 overall.
Final TTB Rating: 72

Marshall originally committed to Ohio State after visiting Columbus in the spring of 2013, only to reconsider and decommit shortly thereafter. Then in early May, he committed to the Wolverines. It wasn’t a Kyle Kalis-level event from rival to rival, nor did it have the buildup of Gareon Conley flipping to Ohio State. Still, there are worse things than stealing a recruit from the Buckeyes. Marshall was expected to give Michigan a boost in the recruitment of defensive lineman Malik McDowell (who transferred from Detroit Loyola prior to the 2013 season), but that was not to be. McDowell eventually chose Michigan State, and Marshall ended up as the only defensive end in Michigan’s 2014 class. He had a solid senior season and was chosen for the Offense-Defense All-American Bowl.

Marshall has reached a good size for a freshman defensive end and comes in larger than any weakside end prospect in recent memory (most of them have been 215-230 lbs.). That may be fortunate, because Michigan is a little short on weakside ends and may need Marshall to play a role this season. Established starter Frank Clark has an experienced junior backup in Mario Ojemudia, but that’s where the depth chart stops. Michigan could rearrange some things and put strongside guys Taco Charlton or Brennen Beyer at weakside end if necessary, because there’s more depth behind them. Regardless, this coaching staff has gone three deep at weakside end for the past few years, so my expectation is that they will play Marshall. One other strategy in the past has been to play a SAM linebacker at weakside end in nickel situations, which might save someone like Marshall from burning his redshirt; however, Cameron Gordon graduated and Jake Ryan moved to middle linebacker, so putting Ryan down at WDE would necessitate bringing in a backup middle linebacker, which is a questionable move. The coaching staff will probably try to get Marshall’s feet wet early in the season so he can contribute more as the year goes along.

Prediction: Backup weakside end

2014 Season Countdown: #51 Jack Miller

Jack Miller

Name: Jack Miller
Height: 6’4″
Weight: 297 lbs.
High school: Toledo (OH) St. John’s
Position: Center
Class: Redshirt junior
Jersey number: #60
Last year: I ranked Miller #17 and said he would be the starting center. He started the first four games.

Miller went into the 2013 season as the presumed starting center and was essentially the only player recruited for that position other than Patrick Kugler, who was a true freshman at the time. Miller started the first four games of the year, but things did not go well. The whole offensive line missed blocks and assignments, but the game was clearly moving too quickly for Miller. After the first third of the season, he was replaced by walk-on guard Graham Glasgow, who had been starting at left guard up until that point. Despite numerous botched snaps between Glasgow and quarterback Devin Gardner, the coaching staff never turned the reins back over to Miller.

This season the coaches will have no other choice but to hand the center job to someone other than Glasgow, if only for one game – Glasgow has been suspended for the opener against Appalachian State. Miller was ahead of Kugler in the spring game, and Miller is the only other center to have played in an actual game. So my guess is that Miller will be the starting center for at least one game this season. He may draw into the lineup long-term as well if Glasgow finds himself starting at right tackle, which is a possibility with the uncertainty surrounding the inexperienced Ben Braden. I do not expect Miller to establish a stranglehold on the position, and he may be passed up by Kugler at some point, but I do believe we’ll see Miller on the field for stretches of time this year.

Prediction: Part-time starting center