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Scouting Report: Austin White, RB – Livonia, MI

This is the beginning of a series of scouting reports on Michigan targets that will continue throughout the recruiting cycle. The first scouting report will be on Austin White. It has been rumored that he committed to Michigan on Junior Day, but that is unsubstantiated and will be treated as such. That being said, if he does in fact commit, this scouting report will hopefully be informative.

Height: 6’1″
Weight: 186 lbs.
Position: Running back
School: Stevenson High School in Livonia, MI
40 Yard Dash: 4.44 (reported)
Vertical: 33″

Notes: Holds offers from Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, and Wisconsin (among others) . . . Rushed for 1,610 yards and 28 TD’s as a junior in 2008 . . . Caught 21 passes for 310 yards and 4 TD’s as a junior in 2008 . . . Two older brothers walked on to Michigan State football team . . . #3 player in Michigan, according to Scout.com . . . Wears #23

Scouting report: Catches the ball well out of the backfield and downfield . . . Catches with his hands, not with his body . . . Runs with a natural body lean . . . Has good speed, but not a gamebreaker . . . Stays low in and out of cuts . . . Hops too much in the backfield and needs to refine his footwork . . . Solid runner who falls forward when tackled but doesn’t break enough tackles . . . Needs to run with more purpose . . . Does not have the speed or moves to be a finesse runner . . . Above average balance allows him to make solid upfield cuts without wasted steps or motion . . . Has the necessary tools to succeed as a read option back or lined up as a wide receiver in the spread offense . . . Plays in Pro “I” offense in high school . . . Needs to work on reading the fullback’s block out of the “I” formation

Projection: White will be a solid but unspectacular back in a BCS-level program.

Reminds me of: Jerome Jackson

Junior Day visitors

Michigan’s “Night of Champions” is going on right now, in which Michigan football players compete in various weightlifting events. These are some of the players who should be there, although it’s unclear exactly who made it.

Quarterback
Robert Bolden – Orchard Lake, MI
Devin Gardner – Inkster, MI
Cornelius Jones – Spartanburg, SC
Caleb Watkins – Middletown, OH

Running Back
Leveon Bell – Reynoldsburg, OH
Nick Hill – Chelsea, MI
Stephen Hopkins – Flower Mound, TX
Austin White – Livonia, MI

Wide Receiver
Jeremy Jackson – Ann Arbor, MI
Jerald Robinson – Canton, OH
Baquer Sayed – Dearborn, MI
D.J. Williamson – Warren, OH

Tight End
David Schneider – Cincinnati, OH

Offensive Line
Mickey Baucus – Mundelein, IL
Bill Ivan – Charlevoix, MI

Defensive Line
Darryl Baldwin – Solon, OH
Jibreel Black – Cincinnati, OH
Tremondae Branch – Flint, MI
Derrick Bryant – Columbus, OH
Garret Davis – Ypsilanti, MI
Johnathon Hankins – Detroit, MI
C.J. Olaniyan – Warren, MI
Louis Trinca-Pasat – Chicago, IL

Linebacker
Daniel Easterly – Detroit, MI
William Gholston – Detroit, MI
Austin Gray – Warren, MI
Scott McVey – Cleveland, OH
Ishmael Thomas – Detroit, MI

Defensive Back
Arryn Chenault – Fairfield, OH
Mylan Hicks – Detroit, MI
Dior Mathis – Detroit, MI

Spring Football Roster

Mgoblue.com released the spring football roster today. Most of the players seem to be pretty svelte, but there are a few interesting weights and position tidbits.

J.T. Floyd is listed as a cornerback. This seems to be his position for the foreseeable future.

Anthony Lalota was listed at 6’6″, 260 lbs. on his Rivals recruiting page. The roster lists him at 6’4″, 235 lbs. This is a considerable difference. Considering Lalota’s raw skills, his size was one of the things working for him. Now it’s apparent that he’s smaller than some of our linebackers, and I think a redshirt is even more likely than I thought before.

Greg Banks is 275 pounds. That’s the heaviest he’s been in his career. Perhaps he’s bulking up to play strongside defensive end.

As reported earlier in the week, Steve Watson is listed as a defensive end. He’s now up to 251 lbs.

Former fullback Vince Helmuth has ballooned to 299 lbs. He’s now a DT on a team that only has four defensive tackles listed on the depth chart, so it’s very likely that he’ll see the field this coming fall.

Both Kenny Demens (6’1″) and Marell Evans (6’3″) are 237 lbs. It’s been reported that Demens might be able to play MIKE. If he becomes a viable option at MIKE, that allows a little more flexibility amongst the linebackers. It might allow Obi Ezeh to move from MIKE to SAM and let J.B. Fitzgerald find his best fit as well.

Last year’s starting offensive line averages 289 lbs.

Mike Cox (6’0″, 215) is virtually the same size as Brandon Minor (6’1″, 216), so there’s a big back on the roster to take over once Minor and Kevin Grady (5’9″, 226) leave.

Vincent Smith is 5’6″ and 158 lbs. He will almost certainly redshirt.

Brandon Smith is listed at 6’3″, 211 lbs. If he’s able to keep his weight/musculature in check, he should be able to remain at safety.

Mike Jones is listed at 6’2″, 202 lbs. as a safety. He’s been doing drills with the linebackers and probably will end up there eventually. Both Brandon Herron (222 lbs.) and Marell Evans (237) began their careers around that size, so it’s obviously possible for him to get to linebacker size. Brandin Hawthorne is 195 right now.

Junior Hemingway is 6’1″ and 226 lbs. That’s very large for a wide receiver.

Devin Gardner to announce commitment on Monday

Reports on Scout and Rivals have stated that Devin Gardner will announce his commitment on this coming Monday. The overwhelming sentiment on these sites and other message boards is that Gardner will be a Wolverine.

UPDATE: Ah, the fickle minds of youth. According to Rivals.com, Gardner will not hold a press conference on Monday to announce his decision, but he will decide on Saturday. Since he is scheduled to attend Michigan’s spring practice on that day, that bodes well for the Wolverines.

Position switch: Steve Watson

With Greg Robinson as Michigan’s new defensive coordinator, the Wolverines will probably be running a hybrid 4-3 defense in 2009. Robinson’s employment of the 4-3 often involves a stand-up defensive end/outside linebacker.

Unfortunately for Michigan, the Wolverines don’t have an established player who is an ideal fit at that defensive end position. Shawn Crable would be an example of a player who could play the position well, but he’s entering his second year in the NFL. Incoming freshman Craig Roh was told by Robinson that the coaches wanted him to be used as that DE/OLB, but he’ll be new to the college game and might need some extra time to adjust.

Three Michigan players have been identified by the staff as potential contenders: linebackers Marell Evans and Brandon Herron, as well as converted tight end Steve Watson.

The Evans idea makes some sense. He was a star in spring 2008 practices but vacated his starting outside linebacker job early in the season to John Thompson. At 6’3″ and 231 lbs., he has the size and the speed to be a decent contributor. He’ll probably need some size and strength to hold up against the run, but he has an entire offseason to bulk up a bit.

Brandon Herron also seems to fit. He’s slightly smaller than Evans at 6’2″ and 218 lbs. He played some on special teams as a redshirt freshman in 2008, but never garnered much attention as a full-time linebacker. Herron is only a redshirt sophomore, but he perhaps seems destined for a career on the bench.

The Steve Watson position switch is the most intriguing. As the #15 (Rivals) or #19 (Scout) tight end in the class of 2007, he was supposed to battle for the tight end position after Carson Butler left. But with class of 2008 tight end Kevin Koger apparently outplaying everyone on the roster – causing Butler to move to defensive end – that position seems to be filled for the foreseeable future. While Koger, Martell Webb, and Brandon Moore compete for playing time at tight end, it seems Watson has decided to try his hand at defense.

The problem? Watson barely even played defense in high school. At J.K. Mullen High School in Denver, Colorado, he accumulated a total of 15 tackles and 3 sacks in his career. He does not seem to be possess a great chance of contributing on defense, but I admire his willingness to give up his most familiar position to compete elsewhere. At 6’4″ and 242 lbs., he has the size but probably lacks the instincts and technique to be successful. The good news is that he’ll only be a redshirt sophomore in 2009, which means he has a couple years to hone his skills. He might contribute down the line, but I expect that Evans or Roh will develop a stranglehold on the position before Watson can adjust.

Predicted depth chart:
DE/OLB
Marell Evans – Jr.
Craig Roh – Fr.
Brandon Herron – RS So.
Steve Watson – RS So.