Posts under: Blog

Visitors: April 6-8, 2018

Mineral (VA) Louisa LB Brandon Smith

2019

Trente Jones – OT – Loganville (GA) Grayson: Jones is committed to Michigan (LINK).

Brandon Smith – LB – Mineral (VA) Louisa: Smith is a 6’5″, 215 lb. prospect with offers from virtually every big-time program in the country, including Michigan. He’s a 5-star, the #1 inside linebacker, and #19 overall. His visit is scheduled for April 3.

John Olmstead – OT – Metuchen (NJ) St. Joseph: Olmstead is a 6’6″, 290 lb. prospect with offers from Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, and Rutgers, among others. He’s a 4-star, the #18 offensive tackle, and #168 overall. Right now 100% of the Crystal Ball picks are for Notre Dame.

Jack Stewart – OT – New Canaan (CT) New Canaan: Stewart is a 6’5″, 285 lb. prospect with offers from Arizona, Boston College, Michigan, and Texas A&M, among others. He’s a 3-star, the #84 offensive tackle, and #1001 overall.

2020

Paris Johnson, Jr. – OT – Cincinnati (OH) St. Xavier: Johnson is a 6’7″, 275 lb. prospect with offers from Alabama, Michigan, Notre Dame, and Ohio State, among others. He’s a 4-star, the #1 offensive tackle, and #7 overall in the 2020 class.

Trey Wedig – OT – Wales (WI) Kettle Moraine: Wedig is a 6’7″, 284-pounder with offers from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, among others. He’s a 247 Sports 4-star, the #22 offensive tackle, and #160 overall. Believe it or not, a Wisconsin offensive lineman is expected to pick . . . Wisconsin. It’s 100% right now. Wedig actually visited Michigan last weekend, but I wasn’t aware of it until afterward.

2021 Recruiting Update: April 5, 2018

Sol Jay Maiava (image via Twitter)

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ADDED TO THE BOARD: 2021

La Jolla (CA) Bishop’s School quarterback Tyler Buchner was offered by Michigan. He’s a 6’2″, 200-pounder who was already committed to Michigan for lacrosse, and now he has a football offer. UCLA has also offered him for football.

Monroeville (PA) Gateway running back Derrick Davis, Jr. was offered by Michigan. He’s a 6’0″, 175-pounder with offers from Penn State, Pitt, and West Virginia. He grew up as an Alabama fan, and his dad played at Michigan State. So . . . I have a hard time seeing this go in Michigan’s direction.

West Lafayette (IN) West Lafayette linebacker Yanni Karlaftis was offered by Michigan. Karlaftis is a 6’3″, 205 lb. outside linebacker, and he’s the brother of 2019 defensive end George Karlaftis, a Purdue commit. If you’ve not familiar with the story of the Karlaftis family, it’s a very interesting – and sad – tale. They grew up in Athens, Greece, after their father got two degrees, an undergrad at Miami-FL and a Ph.D at Purdue. Their dad tragically passed away in 2014 after the family moved from Greece to West Lafayette, IN. Here’s a more in-depth article if you’re interested (LINK).

Hit the jump for more updates on the 2021 class.

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Preview of 2019 In-State Recruiting: #6-10

Muskegon (MI) Muskegon OT Anthony Bradford (image via Twitter)

Using 247 Composite rankings, I’m doing a rundown of the top players in the state of Michigan for 2019. I posted about the #1-5 players last week (LINK). Here’s the next installment.

6. Anthony Bradford – OT – Muskegon (MI) Muskegon
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 320 lbs.
Notable offers: Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State
Commitment: Uncommitted
247 Composite: 4-star, #23 OT, #236 overall
Analysis: Bradford’s own Hudl page lists him as 6’6″ and 344 lbs., along with a 5.24 forty, a 5.12 shuttle, a 28″ vertical, and a 365 lb. bench press. I’m guessing he’s closer to the 344 than the 320; he is a very large individual and someone who probably needs to reshape his body a little bit. He moves pretty well for a guy his size and has a good first step, though he will need to rework his stance a little bit in college, which may slow him down a little bit when he puts less weight on his hand. He’s a mauler and probably a right tackle, or maybe an offensive guard.

Hit the jump for #7-10.

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Villanova 79, Michigan 62

I just have some quick thoughts on the basketball game we all watched tonight. I know you don’t come here for basketball coverage, but this will be cathartic for me (and maybe for you).

• Congratulations to Villanova. They were the better team, both in the tournament and in the regular season. They deserved to win, and the “experts” were correct to predict them to win the game.
• It was a bad time for a bad game. I said before the game that Michigan needed to have a Texas A&M-like game, and obviously they didn’t. Charles Matthews had his worst game of the tournament, partly because of some mental mistakes, and partly because Villanova had the athletes to match him. This was not a good matchup for Duncan Robinson, and he played like it. The Wolverines needed to be firing on all cylinders and, well, a couple of those cylinders were misfiring.
• This was a good matchup for Zavier Simpson. Simpson probably took some motivation from the way people were talking about him before this game, but I was confident all along that he would do just fine against National Player of the Year Jalen Brunson. Brunson had 9 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 turnovers. If you can hold any NPOY to those numbers, you’re doing a good job.
• Donte DiVincenzo was the X-factor. The guy had 31 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocked shots. He was 5/7 on three-pointers. What can you do when a guy is in the zone like that? I thought Abdur-Rahkman did a good job on him defensively, but he was too quick for Simpson and Matthews; Matthews, in particular, looked to be surprised by DiVincenzo’s quickness and athleticism, both offensively and defensively.
• The referees were not the reason ‘Nova won the game. Again, the referees were not the reason ‘Nova won the game. BUT. I was still frustrated by the way the game was called. People talk about Michigan being handsy and physical, but Brunson should have sat out the vast majority of the game with foul trouble. He flopped on defense and threw elbows on offense, and the refs didn’t do a thing early. I think somebody got in the referees’ ear and/or they just realized all the bulls*** emanating from Brunson, so they came to their senses, called him for 4 fouls, and eventually removed him from relevance.

Congratulations to John Beilein and the Wolverines on a great season. They set a school record for wins in a season, won the Big Ten Tournament, and won 14 games in a row leading up to the national championship game. I don’t know if Wagner will come back, and both Robinson and Abdur-Rahkman are finished, but the future is still bright for these guys. I’m excited to see Charles Matthews, Jordan Poole, Isaiah Livers, Zavier Simpson, and others mature in the coming years.

Go Blue!

Gabe Newburg, Wolverine

Clayton (OH) Northmont DE Gabe Newburg

Clayton (OH) Northmont defensive end Gabe Newburg on Monday night, just before the basketball team played in the national championship game. He picked the Wolverines over offers from Cincinnati, Iowa, Michigan State, Rutgers, and some MAC programs.

Newburg is 6’5″, 230 lbs. He claims a 4.73 forty, a 330 lb. bench, and a 215 lb. clean. As a junior in 2017, he made 58 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and 1 fumble recovery (for a TD).

RATINGS
ESPN: Unranked
Rivals: 3-star, 5.6 grade, #53 WDE
247 Sports: 3-star, 85 grade, #55 WDE, #813 overall

Hit the jump for more on Newburg’s commitment.

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