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Final Rivals 100 for 2017 released

Donovan Peoples-Jones (image via Bleacher Report)

I’ve given up updating every single release/re-release of rankings, because with four sites doing constant updates – especially at 247 Sports – it’s just too time-consuming. But it is worth noting final rankings, because these are the ones we’ll be looking back at in three to five years to see if they were accurate as these players graduate or head to the NFL. For reference, here’s the initial Rivals 100 from July of 2015 (LINK) and the Rivals 250 (LINK). Below is the final Rivals 100 (linked here) prospects who were offered by Michigan.

MOVEMENT FOR MICHIGAN COMMITS SINCE JULY 2015

• Donovan Peoples-Jones jumped from #55 to #12
• Jordan Anthony jumped from #82 to #26
• Cesar Ruiz jumped form #156 to #41
• Drew Singleton jumped from #144 to #52
• Luiji Vilain jumped from off the list to #74
• Tarik Black jumped from #112 to #76
• Dylan McCaffrey fell from #100 to being off the list

Hit the jump for the full list.

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Review of 2008 Recruiting: Running Backs

Sam McGuffie (image via AnnArbor.com)

THE ROSTER
Kevin Grady (RS Jr.)
Carlos Brown (Jr.)
Brandon Minor (Jr.)
Avery Horn (RS Fr.)

THE RECRUITS
Michael Cox
High school: Avon (CT) Old Farms
Ratings: Rivals 3-star RB
College: Michigan UMass
Other notable offers: Boston College, Connecticut, Maryland
Scoop: Cox redshirted as a freshman. He had 13 carries for 113 yards (8.7 yards/carry) and 2 touchdowns in 2009, and then he had 6 carries for 56 yards (9.3 yards/carry) in 2010. He remained for 2011 but didn’t touch the ball. He took a grad transfer exception to end up at UMass in 2012, where he ended up as the starting running back. He had 198 carries for 710 yards (3.6 yards/carry) and 5 touchdowns, along with 13 catches for 63 yards. He was drafted in the 7th round (#253 overall) in the 2013 NFL Draft by the New York Giants. Over the 2013-2014 seasons, he totaled 26 carries for 76 yards and 5 catches for 21 yards. He was used extensively as a kick returner, totaling 31 returns for 697 yards (22.5 yards/return). He has been out of the league since the end of that 2014 season.

Sam McGuffie
High school: Cypress (TX) Cy-Fair
Ratings: Rivals 4-star, #10 APB
College: Michigan Rice
Other notable offers: Notre Dame, USC
Scoop: McGuffie played immediately as a freshman, carrying the ball 118 times for 486 yards (4.1 yards/carry) and 3 touchdowns; he also caught 19 passes for 175 yards and 1 touchdown. He transferred to Rice after the season and sat out 2009. He carried the ball 197 times for 883 yards (4.5 yards/carry) and 6 touchdowns, and he also caught 39 passes for 384 yards (9.8 yards/catch) and 3 touchdowns, in 2010. An injury-shortened season in 2011 saw him carry the ball 38 times for 158 yards (4.2 yards/carry) and 1 touchdown, along with 9 catches for 72 yards (8.0 yards/catch) and 1 touchdown. He moved to slot receiver for 2012, catching 54 passes for 603 yards (11.2 yards/catch) and 5 touchdowns. He went undrafted in 2013 and spent some time on a few practice squads. He’s now a member of the U.S.A. bobsled team.

Michael Shaw
High school: Trotwood (OH) Trotwood-Madison
Ratings: Rivals 4-star, #7 RB, #102 overall
College: Michigan
Other notable offers: Clemson, Nebraska, Penn State, Tennessee, West Virginia
Scoop: Shaw started his career as a backup and maintained that role for the remainder of his four-year career. He had 42 carries for 215 yards (5.1 yards/carry) in 2008. Then in 2009, he had 42 rushes for 185 yards (4.4 yards/carry) and 2 scores. In 2010 he ran 75 times for 402 yards (5.4 yards/carry) and 9 touchdowns. With the arrival of Brady Hoke in 2011, his attempts fell to 31 while rushing for 199 yards (6.4 yards/carry) and 3 touchdowns. For his career, he had a respectable 190 carries for 1,001 yards (5.3 yards/carry) and 14 touchdowns, along with 19 catches for 124 yards (6.5 yards/catch) and 1 score. He was undrafted in 2012 and did not play professionally.

Hit the jump for other players the Wolverines targeted in 2008, along with some other bits and pieces at the end.

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Role Playing: Michigan’s GM in 2016

Jabrill Peppers

A question was posed to me last summer on Twitter about what my team would look like if I were a GM putting together a team of current Wolverines as an NFL roster. I never got around to it. It’s a totally useless idea since Michigan isn’t in the NFL, but this type of stuff is fun in the off-season. It’s probably a little late for 2016, but with the class of 2017 unsigned as of yet, it’s definitely too early for 2017.

So here’s the roster that GM Thunder would put together for the new franchise:

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What I’ve Been Reading: NFL Confidential by Johnny Anonymous

NFL Confidential by Johnny Anonymous intrigued me from the beginning. Not only was it touted as an anonymous tell-all book from the “gutters of football,” but it was quickly rumored to have been written by one David Molk. Michigan fans know Molk as a former Wolverines lineman who won the Rimington Trophy for the nation’s best center in 2011. Despite writing it anonymously, several people dug into some of the facts and determined a lot of the storylines matched the Philadelphia Eagles and their backup center.

I have to say that my enthusiasm for reading the book faded rather quickly. Johnny Anonymous comes off as a self-righteous, hypocritical meathead. He rails against the establishment repeatedly for treating players like dirt. He says he hates football. He insults other players’ behavior. And yet he buys into all of those things in one way or another. The stereotypes that he claims to hate actually describe him well in many ways. I won’t get into the specifics in case you want to read the book yourself. Is he the worst guy on the team? No. But maybe that’s not saying much.

There’s not a ton of juicy stuff here because the author keeps things anonymous, so he uses pseudonyms for all of his coaches, teammates, and family members. He also doesn’t talk much about X’s and O’s; though I didn’t expect that, it would have been a plus.

My biggest issue with the book is the overall sense of dislike for everything and everyone around him. He truly seems not to appreciate any of the people around him, except his mother (who died when he was young) and perhaps his father. Girlfriends, teammates, coaches, etc. all come in for embarrassment and insults. He seems like an unhappy person, which is understandable when your mother dies at a very young age. And while he’s not specifically asking readers to think how he thinks, that is sort of an underlying hope for any author: Maybe these people will agree with me. This theme is encapsulated toward the end of the book when a bunch of his teammates are griping, and he jumps in with a poorly conceived joke – but one that represents his attitude:

You know what I hate? Happy people.

What have you been reading lately?

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Ex-Wolverine Updates: Post-2016 Recap

Kyle Bosch (#62, image via Scout)

Former OG Kyle Bosch: Bosch made 1 tackle this year, but more importantly, he started all 13 games at West Virginia and was named Second Team All-Big 12.

Former DE commit Pharaoh Brown: After missing all of 2015 while recovering from a nasty knee injury, Brown was Oregon’s starting tight end and made 33 catches for 426 yards (12.9 yards/catch) and 5 touchdowns. However, he got in some legal trouble and missed the final two games of the season. His college career is complete.

Former WR commit George Campbell: Campbell redshirted during his second year at Florida State due to injury. He will be a redshirt sophomore this coming fall.

Hit the jump for updates on many, many more former Wolverines.

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