5Dec 2018
Attractive Michigan Girls of the Week
I don’t know where this is that restaurant employees would be dressing up in Michigan gear, but good for that place. Go Blue!
I don’t know where this is that restaurant employees would be dressing up in Michigan gear, but good for that place. Go Blue!
Zach Harrison
It was announced today that Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer is “retiring” after the Rose Bowl. (Afterward, he will probably take off a year, let people forget how he housed a domestic abuser, and then take a job as the head coach at Penn State or Florida State.)
Regardless, OSU will be led by 39-year-old offensive coordinator Ryan Day going forward. Day was 3-0 as the interim head coach during the beginning of the 2018 season, when Meyer was suspended for being a big jerk.
On the recruiting front, I doubt many committed prospects will start to jump ship, because the continuity is going to be there. I would imagine Day will keep most of the staff, even if the ax falls on defensive coordinator Greg Schiano. But since this is a site so heavily centered on recruiting, it’s worth taking a look at the Buckeye commits with Michigan offers:
Of those prospects, Michigan was only highly involved with Chambers. For a while it looked like Chambers, a Georgia native, might be a Michigan lean. I really like Cade Stover (a Ben Gedeon clone) and Ronnie Hickman, too, but Stover is a native Ohioan and Hickman never paid Michigan a ton of attention.
Most significantly, the departure of Meyer may push defensive end Zach Harrison harder toward Michigan. There have been varying rumors in the past couple weeks, some that he was leaning toward Michigan and some that he was leaning toward the home-state Buckeyes. Harrison is a 5-star prospect and a top-notch athlete. Of course, the possibility has been out there for a while that Meyer might be on his last legs at Ohio State, but the slight uncertainty of a first-time head coach might be enough to settle the issue once and for all in Harrison’s mind that he wants to pick Michigan.
Damien Harris (image via USA Today)
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DECOMMITMENTS
Damien Harris, RB (Alabama): Harris ran 9 times for 52 yards and caught 1 pass for -1 yard in a 35-28 win over Georgia, giving Alabama the SEC Championship.
Jeremiah Holloman, WR (Georgia): Holloman caught 2 passes for 37 yards in a 35-28 loss to Alabama.
Rashad Weaver, DE (Pitt): Weaver made 1 tackle, 1 tackle for loss, and 1 pass breakup in a 42-10 loss to Clemson in the ACC Championship.
Mike Weber, RB (Ohio State): Weber ran 17 times for 51 yards and caught 3 passes for 21 yards in a 45-24 win over Northwestern, giving the Buckeyes the Big Ten Championship.
FORMER COACHES
Brady Hoke, Defensive Line Coach (Carolina Panthers): Hoke was fired after the Panthers’ 24-17 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. The Panthers are 6-6.
Scott Shafer, Defensive Coordinator (Middle Tennessee): A week after holding UAB to 3 points in a victory, Middle Tennessee’s defense gave up 27 points and lost the Conference-USA Championship game to UAB, 27-25.
Pickerington (OH) Central WR Lorenzo Styles, Jr. (image via Irish Sports Daily)
It’s been a while since I’ve done a recruiting update on the 2021 class. That’s because they’re over two years away from signing. But now it’s time to catch up on everything we’ve missed. These aren’t necessarily “new” offers, but nobody else is doing recruiting updates on 2021 prospects, so you probably haven’t heard of many of these players.
Christian Abraham – CB – Paramus (NJ) Catholic: Abraham is a 5’11”, 195 lb. prospect with an offer from Rutgers. That’s the alma mater of Jabrill Peppers, Rashan Gary, and Drew Singleton, though the former two are gone to the NFL, and Singleton announced he would transfer. Michigan does still have safeties coach Chris Partridge, who was the head coach at Paramus.
Hayden Conner – OT – Katy (TX) Taylor: Conner is a 6’5″, 298 lb. prospect with offers from Georgia, LSU, and Texas, among others. He’s the 247 Sports 4-star, the #5 offensive tackle, and #27 overall.
Hit the jump for a bunch of other offers.
Jim McElwain
Michigan wide receivers coach Jim McElwain will reportedly be the new head coach at Central Michigan. McElwain spent just one season in Ann Arbor after previously being the head coach at Florida and Colorado State, along with being an offensive coordinator at Alabama. Central Michigan fired head coach John Bonamego at the end of the season, a 1-11 year and the worst in program history (Bonamego was 7-6, 6-7, and 8-5 the previous three seasons).
McElwain appeared to do a good job as the wide receivers coach this season. I heard positive reports from behind the scenes about his personality. And on the field, his charges performed well. While they didn’t put up huge numbers, they generally caught the balls that came to them and created some big plays. Donovan Peoples-Jones was a third team all-conference player (39 catches, 541 yards, 7 TD), Nico Collins had a breakout season (33 catches, 552 yards, 6 TD), and freshman Ronnie Bell was a low-ranked prospect who came in and caught 8 passes for 145 yards and 2 touchdowns.
It’s unclear how much McElwain was involved in play calling, since Michigan did not name an offensive coordinator this season. It has been assumed that McElwain, Pep Hamilton, and Ed Warinner all had some say in game planning, along with head coach Jim Harbaugh. McElwain also has not been known as an ace recruiter, so he should not be missed too much in that respect, either.
It’s too early to tell who will emerge as a possible replacement. Graduate assistant Roy Roundtree (a former Wolverine wide receiver) came to Michigan this season to work with the position, but his resume is rather thin after one year at Michigan and previously having coached at Indiana State. I would be very surprised if Michigan promoted him to the open wide receivers coach gig, except perhaps as a short-term replacement through the bowl game and for recruiting purposes.