Posts under: homepage

Recruiting Update: May 10, 2016

Atlanta (GA) Pace OG Jamaree Salyer

ADDED TO THE BOARD: 2018
Marietta (GA) Lassiter cornerback Derrik Allen was offered by Michigan. He’s a 6’2″, 206 lb. prospect with offers from Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, and Notre Dame, among others. He’s a 247 Sports 4-star, the #2 cornerback, and #17 overall. He’s already committed to the 2018 U.S. Army All-American Bowl. For such a big corner – though he could end up at safety – Allen is surprisingly tentative coming up to tackle. He makes some acrobatic catches, though, and is physical in press man coverage.

Cypress (TX) Ranch offensive tackle Colten Blanton was offered by Michigan. He’s a 6’7″, 271 lb. prospect with offers from Oklahoma, Ole Miss, TCU, and Texas A&M, among others. He’s a 247 Sports 4-star, the #17 offensive tackle, and #112 overall. Blanton is very lanky at this point and almost looks like a tight end or defensive end, but he should fill out by the time he finishes high school and needs to get considerably stronger to hold up in college.

Missouri City (TX) Fort Bend Marshall offensive guard Barton Clement was offered by Michigan. He’s a 6’2″, 304 lb. prospect with offers from Baylor, Houston, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and TCU, among others. He’s a 247 Sports 4-star, the #4 offensive guard, and #70 overall. Physically, he’s very well developed at this point in his career, but he’s going to have to be an interior guy with his lack of height and length, unless he hits a growth spurt.

Hit the jump for several more 2018 offers.

read more

2017 Recruiting Update: May 9, 2016

Waxahachie (TX) Waxahachie WR Kenedy Snell (image via DFW.com)

Follow Touch the Banner on Twitter (LINK) and Facebook (LINK). You can also donate to the site by making purchases on Amazon (LINK

).

ADDED TO THE BOARD: 2017

Warren (OH) Harding safety Lynn Bowden decommitted from Indiana. He’s a 6’1″, 185 lb. prospect with offers from Kentucky, Penn State, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, among others. He’s a 247 Composite 4-star, the #10 athlete, and #197 overall. It was surprising to me when he initially committed to the Hoosiers because he’s more talented than even the best of Indiana’s recruits most years, so it does not surprise me at all that he’s looking elsewhere. Michigan is holding a satellite camp at his school this summer (LINK).

Fayetteville (AR) Fayetteville defensive tackle Akial Byers was offered by Michigan in late March and I missed that news. He’s a 6’4″, 275 lb. prospect with offers from Alabama, Arkansas State, Florida State, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Ole Miss, among others. He’s a 247 Composite 4-star, the #15 defensive tackle, and #263 overall. As a junior in 2015, he made 69 tackles, 11 TFLs, and 3 sacks. Don Brown visited him in late April, so the Wolverines are actively recruiting him. He’s a big body with some impressive quickness, and he uses his hands pretty well. Arkansas two of the three Crystal Ball picks, but he has yet to pick up an offer from the home-state Razorbacks.

Lewisville (TX) Lewisville wide receiver Tyrell Shavers was offered by Michigan. He’s a 6’6″, 202 lb. prospect with offers from Alabama, Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Miami, Oregon, Stanford, and Texas, among others. He’s a 247 Composite 4-star, the #26 wide receiver, and #207 overall. As a junior in 2015, he caught 36 passes for 667 yards and 10 TDs. He claims a 4.38 forty. A lot of 6’6″ receivers look like they might grow into tight ends, but Shavers is pretty lanky and looks like he’ll stick on the outside.

Hit the jump for a couple more offers, a player who went off the board, and a brief recap of some in-state accolades at the Nike’s Columbus Regional combine.

read more

Visitors: May 6-8, 2016

West Linn (OR) West Linn OT Alex Forsyth (image via Oregon Live)

2017

Nico Collins – WR – Pinson (AL) Clay-Chalkville: Collins is a 6’5″, 195 lb. prospect with offers from Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, and Georgia, among others. He’s a 247 Composite 4-star, the #11 wide receiver, and #79 overall. He was supposed to visit Ann Arbor for the spring game but ended up visiting Georgia instead. As a junior in 2015, he caught 60 balls for 1,103 yards and 16 TDs. All 11 of his 247 Sports Crystal Ball picks are in favor of the Crimson Tide.

Alex Forsyth – OG – West Linn (OR) West Linn: Forsyth is a 6’5″, 280 lb. prospect with offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Michigan, and Oregon, among others. He’s a 247 Composite 3-star, the #65 offensive tackle, and #584 overall. It’s difficult to pull Oregon players out of Oregon who have Oregon offers, and that seems like it will be the case with Forsyth, too. He has three Crystal Ball predictions, all for the Ducks. He’ll be in town on Wednesday, May 4.

Deron Irving-Bey – DE – Flint (MI) Southwestern: Irving-Bey is a 6’5″, 271 lb. prospect with offers from Indiana, Iowa State, Michigan, and Michigan State, among others. He’s a 247 Sports 4-star, the #13 strongside end, and #287 overall. He picked up the offer from the Wolverines toward the end of April. Like Forsyth, Irving-Bey has three Crystal Ball predictions for a green team, but this one is the Spartans. He will be in Ann Arbor on Tuesday, May 3. UPDATE: Irving-Bey did not visit this week and will try to make it to campus in June.

Site news: I’m a baller

(image via SB Nation)

A Crystal Baller, that is. This has been in the works for a bit, but yesterday I was given access to my own 247 Sports Crystal Ball account. Thanks are in order for Steve Lorenz, who vouched for me at 247; Chad, who gave me the account on the technical end at 247; and user Frito Bandito, who told me on Twitter that he sent messages to Lorenz on my behalf to get the ball rolling.

My first Crystal Ball prediction was for St. Joseph (MI) St. Joseph weakside end Corey Malone-Hatcher to Michigan. You can see all my predictions here (LINK

). You can also follower me on Twitter (LINK), where my predictions will be posted in real time.

Football Study Hall: The modern power run game

Ian Boyd has a solid article on how various offenses run power, including read plays (LINK).

Hit the jump for some pictures of beautiful women, including a model doing a runway walk.

read more