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2015 Season Countdown: #75 Alex Malzone

Alex Malzone

Name: Alex Malzone
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 218 lbs.
High school: Bloomfield Hills (MI) Brother Rice
Position: Quarterback
Class: Freshman
Jersey number: #12
Last year: Malzone was a senior in high school. He was 211/325 for 2,998 yards and 38 touchdowns. He was a 247 Composite 4-star, the #13 pro-style quarterback, and #295 overall.

Malzone committed to Michigan in the spring of 2014, and it was a source of some consternation for Michigan fans. Also an accomplished baseball player, he was not extremely well regarded as a quarterback recruit and had a hitch in his throwing motion that worried some analysts. Many Michigan fans thought Brady Hoke and his staff should have waited longer on some of the big fish instead of offering Malzone, who was a shoo-in to commit. Brother Rice fell short of a state championship, but he had a stellar season throwing to eventual Michigan-bound receiver Grant Perry.

Malzone skipped his senior year of baseball to enroll at Michigan in January. He received some mixed reviews during spring practice, but Jim Harbaugh supposedly warmed up to him because of how quickly he picked up the offense and the dedication he showed. When Michigan held an intrasquad scrimmage for the spring game, Malzone headed up one of the squads. The defense is always ahead of the offensie in the spring, so it was tough to glean much. However, things moved a little too quickly for Malzone, and he currently lacks the arm strength to push the ball down the field or fit it into tight spaces. Not only did he look to be behind junior Shane Morris, but freshman Zach Gentry is on his way into town, and fifth year Iowa transfer Jake Rudock will likely be the starter. It seems that Malzone will be no higher than third on the depth chart, and with both Rudock and Morris available, it would make sense to redshirt the freshman.

Prediction: Redshirt if possible

Recruiting Update: June 16, 2015

New Orleans (LA) Brother Martin linebacker Bruce Jordan-Swilling

COMMITMENT
Dudley (MA) Shepherd Hill tight end Sean McKeon committed to Michigan (LINK).

Norco (CA) Norco quarterback Victor Viramontes committed to Michigan (LINK).

ADDED TO THE BOARD: 2017
Tampa (FL) Tampa Bay Tech wide receiver Daquon Green was offered by Michigan. He’s a 6’1″, 183 lb. prospect who has offers from Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, and Miami, among others. He’s a 247 Sports 4-star, the #33 wide receiver, and #210 overall. He earned his offer after the satellite camp in Florida, and he also attended the Sound Mind Sound Body camp this past weekend. He’s a speed player who can go get the ball and run after the catch.

Salt Lake City (UT) Brighton running back Sione Heimuli-Lund was offered by Michigan. He’s a 6’0″, 220 lb. prospect with offers from Arizona State, BYU, Oklahoma State, Stanford, and Utah, among others. He’s a 247 Composite 4-star, the #15 running back, and #160 overall. Lund is a somewhat squat running back who might turn into a fullback or a linebacker in college. He is a teammate of 2016 wide receiver and Michigan target Simi Fehoko, as well as 2015 linebacker Osa Masina (USC). The Wolverines have two Salt Lake City natives currently on the team, though they went to Highland: fullback Sione Houma and defensive tackle Bryan Mone.

Baltimore (MD) Our Lady of Mt. Carmel defensive end Joshua Kaindoh was offered by Michigan. He’s a 6’6″, 235 lb. prospect with offers from Alabama, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia, Ohio State, and Penn State, among others. He’s a 247 Sports 4-star, the #2 weakside end, and #53 overall. Kaindoh is a long and lanky end or even outside linebacker, but the early favorite appears to be Ohio State.

Hit the jump for several more 2017 offers, a new 2018 offer, and some random bits and pieces.

Bellaire (TX) Episcopal offensive tackle Walker Little was offered by Michigan. He’s a 6’7″, 301 lb. prospect with offers from Arizona State, Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and TCU, among others. He’s a 247 Sports 3-star, the #30 offensive tackle, and #302 overall. He’s a huge human being who looks like a college player already. Little is a teammate of 2017 defensive tackle Marvin Wilson, who has Michigan in his top five.

New Orleans (LA) Brother Martin linebacker Bruce Jordan-Swilling was offered by Michigan. He’s a 6’2″, 215 lb. prospect with offers from Florida, LSU, Miami, and Oklahoma. He’s a 247 Sports 4-star, the #5 outside linebacker, and #88 overall. Jordan-Swilling is also a standout running back, although his future is probably on defense. He is the son of former New Orleans Saints Pro Bowl linebacker Pat Swilling. Michigan has also offered two of Bruce’s 2016 teammates, tight ends Peyton Aucoin and and Irvin Smith, the latter of whom is also the son of a former NFLer. Also as an aside, Brother Martin also boasts Bruce’s twin brother (a cornerback who is somewhat less heralded) and another running back named Jordan Bruce. So Jordan Bruce, Bruce Jordan-Swilling, and Tre Swilling are all on the same team. “Hey, Bruce, get over here! No, not you, Jordan. I mean Swilling, get over here! No no no, not you, Tre. Dammit, Bruce Jordan-Swilling, GET OVER HERE! Finally. So…can you get me a water bottle? I’m parched. Thanks.”

Las Vegas (NV) Bishop Gorman quarterback Tate Martell was offered by Michigan. He’s a 5’11”, 180 lb. prospect with offers from Alabama, Texas A&M, Utah, and Washington, among others. He’s a 247 Sports 4-star, the #2 dual-threat quarterback, and #25 overall. As a sophomore in 2014, he completed 124/200 passes for 2,537 yards, 40 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions; he also ran 73 times for 433 yards and 5 touchdowns. He claims a 4.62 forty. Despite his slight frame, Martell has a cannon of an arm, throws a nice ball, displays good accuracy, and can escape pressure.

Fort Lauderdale (FL) Dillard wide receiver Jordan Merrell, a Cincinnati commit, was offered by Michigan. He’s a 5’10”, 176 lb. prospect who earned his offer at the Florida satellite camp. Merrell plays some running back and could end up at either position in college.

Fort Lauderdale (FL) St. Thomas Aquinas wide receiver Joshua Palmer was offered by Michigan. He’s a 6’3″, 190 lb. prospect who also has an offer from Temple. Palmer transferred from a school in Canada to St. Thomas Aquinas this offseason, to this coming year will be his first year of playing football in America. He did play in the International Bowl against the United States, where he made a few nice plays. Michigan is recruiting several other plays at St. Thomas Aquinas in the 2017 and 2018 classes.

Memphis (TN) Trezevant running back Cordarrian Richardson was offered by Michigan. He’s a 6’0″, 220 lb. prospect with offers from Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, and Tennessee, among others. He’s a 247 Sports 4-star, the #21 running back, and #266 overall. Richardson attended the Sound Mind Sound Body camp at Macomb (MI) Dakota this past weekend and also made a stop at Michigan’s campus, where he was offered.

ADDED TO THE BOARD: 2018
Oak Park (MI) Oak Park offensive guard Marquan McCall was offered by Michigan. He’s a 6’3″, 280 lb. prospect whose only other offer comes from Akron. McCall worked out at the Sound Mind Sound Body camp in front of Michigan’s coaches, and they offered him shortly thereafter. He is a teammate of 2017 offensive tackle Ja’Raymond Hall, who also holds a Michigan offer and seems likely to drop for Michigan at some point.

MISCELLANEOUS
Detroit (MI) Cass Tech safety Jaylen Kelly-Powell named Michigan his leader. After observing him at the Sound Mind Sound Body camp late last week, the coaches say he could play either cornerback or safety for them.

Warren (MI) De La Salle running back Allen Stritzinger also named Michigan his leader. Stritzinger’s next biggest offer is from Cincinnati, so that’s not much of a surprise. Stritzinger is a guy who could play running back, wide receiver, cornerback, or safety at the next level.

Over on Recruiting Season:

• I added a profile for Orchard Lake St. Mary’s LB Dwayne Chapman
• Ann Arbor Skyline WR Hunter Rison committed to Michigan State
• I updated the profile of Detroit King WR Ambry Thomas

Victor Viramontes, Wolverine

Norco (CA) Norco quarterback Victor Viramontes (image via 247Sports.com)

Norco (CA) Norco quarterback Victor Viramontes committed to Michigan on Monday. He chose the Wolverines over offers from Colorado, Nebraska, Washington State, and Wisconsin, plus a few others.

Viramontes is listed at 6’2″, 220 lbs. He claims a 4.58 forty. As a junior in 2014, he was 123/228 passing (53.9%) for 1,784 yards, 18 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions; more impressively, he ran the ball 214 times for 1,757 yards (8.2 yards/carry) and 18 touchdowns.

RATINGS
ESPN: Unranked
Rivals: 3-star, #19 dual-threat QB
Scout: 3-star, #31 ATH
247 Sports: Unranked

Viramontes participated in Michigan’s satellite camp in Fresno, California, last week. Despite being in a hotbed of talent, the participation in Fresno was not at the same level as previous stops, so it looked like the Summer Swarm tour was ending on a bit of a flat note. But reports came out of the camp that head coach Jim Harbaugh was keeping an eye on Viramontes, pulled his father aside, and had a lengthy discussion. An offer came following the camp, and it only took a few days for “Vicious” Vic Viramontes to publicly accept, despite never having visited Ann Arbor.

EDIT: Here’s an excerpt from my post on Monday morning:

Even better is that his nickname is “Vicious Vic,” so if he ever decides to pursue MMA, he’s got a pretty nice, alliterative name for it: Vicious Vic Viramontes. (You can hear Michael Buffer saying that name, can’t you?) Anyway, Viramontes is a veritable virtuoso on the field who has various valuable skills, like vision and a vibrant arm, to victimize a defense on his way to taking a viselike, victorious grip on a quarterback job. (That’s my way of saying that Vicious Vic can probably go somewhere and be The Man at quarterback in this class, rather than possibly playing second violin fiddle to Brandon Peters.)

I see a little bit of Jim Harbaugh himself in Viramontes. The Norco quarterback plays with a carelessness for his body that shows competitiveness and passion for the game. He will bulldoze tacklers or jump over guys rather than run out of bounds. That’s probably part of why he was offered. As for his more traditional quarterback skills, Viramontes has a strong arm and can throw the outs, the deep ins, the long ball, etc., and he makes some of those throws off of his back foot. He also has an ability to feel pressure in the pocket and keep the play alive while still keeping his eyes downfield. When he tucks the ball to run, he brings all 220 lbs. with him, and at a faster speed than you might guess. He’s not afraid to run over would-be tacklers, and Derrick Green could learn a thing or two from Viramontes about balance and running through low tackle attempts. He also shows nifty feet to keep defenders off balance, he can cut without losing much speed, and he can outrun most of the guys on a high school field.

All those positives aside, Viramontes has a lot of mechanical things to work on before he can succeed at the next level. I imagine Harbaugh will work with him on his footwork and dropback, whether it’s from under center or out of shotgun. He tends to favor one side directly on the snap, and he does not look off defenders, although his ability to keep the play alive can get guys out of position at times. He finishes his throws high, but he tends to drop the ball down, which elongates his delivery like a mirror image of Tim Tebow. He also carries the ball loosely with one hand when he scrambles, which can lead to turnovers. The big rumor with him is that he wings everything with 100% velocity, so he will need to dial it back at times; there are examples of a little touch in his highlights, though, so the ability is there but maybe not with consistency. A lot of coaches would probably advise him to run out of bounds and take a little less of a beating, too.

When it comes to quarterbacks, I am of the opinion that too many is better than too few. I said this many times during the 2012 and 2013 recruiting cycles, but it was a mistake to skip the 2012 cycle and crown Shane Morris as the heir apparent for 2013. At one time under Brady Hoke, Michigan had about 12 scholarship linebackers and three quarterbacks, so they had a full four-deep at linebacker – a position that’s often interchangeable with at least one of the other linebacker positions – and went just three-deep at the most important spot on the field. Numbers breed competition, and sometimes you need your second or third quarterback. Quarterbacks are also smart guys who are often some of the better athletes on a team, so they can transition to tight end, slot receiver, safety, etc.

As for Viramontes himself, he joins Brandon Peters at quarterback in the 2016 class. The nice thing about this addition is that it allows for so much flexibility. Even if Peters proves to be the superior quarterback, Michigan could employ Viramontes as a Tebow- or Blake Bell-type short yardage player who can be a dual-threat. With the way he plays, he could be a short-yardage back like Wyatt Shallman, an H-back like Aaron Shea, a linebacker, maybe a safety, maybe a special teams coverage guy. I said previously that I thought Viramontes would end up committing elsewhere because he could be “The Quarterback” in another school’s class. Instead, it looks like he will be Michigan’s Swiss Army knife to deploy as needed. I do think he can be a full-time quarterback with some development because the physical tools are there, so that part of his game comes down to whether he can handle the information and tutelage from Harbaugh.

Norco is a school that produces quite a bit of talent, sending players to places such as Arizona State, Boise State, Duke, UNLV, USC, and others over the years. Harbaugh has some experience with a Norco product in the form of former Stanford running back Toby Gerhart. While out in California, Michigan also offered Viramontes’s teammate, 2016 linebacker/safety Troy Dye.

TTB Rating: 75 (ratings explanation)

Sean McKeon, Wolverine

Dudley (MA) Shepherd Hill tight end Sean McKeon (image via Rivals)

Dudley (MA) Shepherd Hill tight end Sean McKeon committed to Michigan on Monday. He chose the Wolverines over offers from Boston College, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Syracuse, and Virginia Tech, among others.

McKeon is 6’5″, 230 lbs. He claims a 4.69 forty, a 4.58 shuttle, a 36″ vertical, a 275 lb. bench press, and a 455 lb. squat.

RATINGS
ESPN: Unranked
Rivals: 2-star TE
Scout: 3-star, #51 TE
247 Sports: 3-star TE

McKeon was offered relatively recently. He immediately set up a visit date to see Michigan, and that visit took place this past weekend. He slept on it for a night, and here we are. The speed of his process makes a lot of sense, not only because Michigan is his best offer, but because tight ends should be lining up to play for Jim Harbaugh.

I have an inherent trust for Harbaugh’s evaluations and usage of tight ends, so I will try not to let that color my evaluation of McKeon himself. But I do think there is a lot to like. First of all, he has good size without bad weight, and he should just be able to pack on some muscle before contributing. Once the play starts, the first thing that jumps out about him is that he shows good acceleration off the ball, and I think he will be able to get separation from linebackers with that initial speed burst. He also shows the ability to adjust to the ball in the air, whether it’s sliding to make a catch or going up to get it, where he can catch the ball with his hands outside the frame of his body. He is not an absolutely dynamic runner with the ball in his hands, but the first clip of his highlights shows a pretty amazing run-after-catch effort, and the offense also uses him on reverses, which is pretty rare for a tight end. McKeon is also a willing blocker who shows some pretty solid technique, and he has the feet and the hips to be effective in the run game.

On the negative side, Massachusetts is not known for its football talent, and the guys McKeon runs away from in the film are probably not going to be big-time recruits themselves. He is not a quick-twitch guy who will make people miss very often, and he is mostly a straight-line player, which is pretty standard for tight ends.

Overall, though he is a 2-star guy or unranked to a couple services, I think McKeon is a quality recruit. He reminds me of junior tight end Jake Butt in a lot of ways. Michigan should be able to get him in the flat or hit him on crossing routes, and a guy with decent speed who’s 250 lbs. or so will be tough to bring down for defensive backs.

McKeon’s commitment gives Michigan thirteen pledges in the 2016 class. He is the first true tight end in the class, though defensive end Rashad Weaver could be a blocking-type tight end. When McKeon arrives on campus, Butt will be a senior, and no other players have established themselves as true tight ends instead of H-backs (Khalid Hill, Ian Bunting, Henry Poggi, and Chase Winovich all seem like H-back types). The only other guy pegged for tight end is incoming freshman Tyrone Wheatley, Jr., who is 6’7″, 286 lbs. and could feasibly end up at another position. If McKeon can add a reasonable amount of weight, he could find himself battling for a starting gig as a sophomore.

The last Michigan recruit from Massachusetts was 2013 defensive tackle Maurice Hurst, Jr., and no Michigan player has ever come from Shepherd Hill.

TTB Rating: 83 (ratings explanation)

2015 Season Countdown: #76 Reon Dawson

Reon Dawson (#20)

Name: Reon Dawson
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 175 lbs.
High school: Trotwood (OH) Trotwood-Madison
Position: Cornerback
Class: Redshirt sophomore
Jersey number: #30
Last year: I ranked Dawson #89 and said Dawson would play cornerback very little, if at all. He did not see game action.

I will admit that I have heard zero buzz about Dawson since he arrived on campus in 2013. He was a flier scholarship offer in that class, and so far it has not paid dividends. Last season he was listed at 178 lbs., and this year he’s listed at 175 lbs., which is a small change but one in the wrong direction. The Wolverines have almost a desperate need for cornerbacks this season because things get questionable beyond the top two guys, but I do not expect Dawson to be in the mix for playing time unless a series of injuries plagues the defensive backfield.

Prediction: Backup cornerback