DeSoto (TX) DeSoto cornerbacks Gemon and German Green committed to Michigan on Thursday. They are twins. I thought about making separate commitment posts, but they’re used to sharing.
First up for a review, though? Gemon, because that’s how the alphabet works.
Gemon chose the Wolverines over offers from Houston, Indiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Texas Tech, and Wisconsin, among others. He’s 6’2″ and 165 lbs., claiming a 4.59 forty.
RATINGS
ESPN: 4-star, 80 grade, #42 CB
Rivals: 3-star CB
Scout: 4-star, #17 CB, #181 overall
247 Sports: 3-star, 88 grade, #35 CB, #368 overall
Gemon is a long corner with some room to fill out. He uses his length well to disrupt receivers’ routes and make plays on the ball. Even when he doesn’t get his hands on the ball, he can make it difficult for receivers to separate and create a clean target. As with a lot of long corners, he’s best in man coverage, which fits well with what Michigan does. He flips his hips relatively well to maintain position on deep routes. He does a good job of recognizing combination routes and reacting accordingly. He’s a willing tackler, albeit a little bit light.
On the negative side, he needs to add weight and strength to his 165 lb. frame. He’s a little bit stiff in his backpedal, and he does not break well on in-breaking routes, which may come when he adds some more strength. He also lacks great speed and does not offer much in the way of big-play ability, return skills, etc.
German, meanwhile, is 6’2″, 168 lbs. He has offers from Houston, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, and Tennessee, among others. He claims a 4.76 forty.
RATINGS
ESPN: Unranked
Rivals: 3-star CB
Scout: 3-star, #62 CB
247 Sports: 3-star, 84 grade, #74 CB, #808 overall
There’s not as much to glean about German, because he tore his ACL and missed his junior season. His sophomore film shows him playing JV ball, mostly at safety and slot corner. To be honest, he doesn’t look outstanding, but sometimes a year makes a huge difference when you’re talking about kids who are 16 years old.
DeSoto is a big program in the state of Texas, so this may help Michigan get its foot in the door with some other DeSoto or Texas prospects, too. The Wolverines have not generally done well in Texas in recent years, but they did land Aledo’s Chuck Filiaga in the 2017 class.
Overall, I like what Gemon Green brings to the table. We’ve seen Michigan do well with tall corners in recent years (Channing Stribling, Jeremy Clark), and there’s no real reason to believe that success can’t be replicated here.
I’m not sure what to think about German. Hopefully he can return to health in 2017 and be prepared to play college ball in 2018 and beyond. I’ll be looking forward to seeing what he looks like during his senior season.
Gemon Green TTB Rating: 77 (ratings explanation)
German Green TTB Rating: 59
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Those ratings seem spot on to me. It will be interesting to see more of the twins in the summer and into the fall season.
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Gemon won the DB mvp of the Dallas Opening nike camp and earned an invite to the finals Opening. He also put up some pretty decent testing numbers there too. Guess we’ll have to wait and see on his brother though.
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Interesting signings. Gemon seems like just the CB type Michigan likes and seems to have that competitive spirit Harbaugh loves.
German seems like a TBD until he recovers from his ACL. They must have seen something they really liked to take him this early with such a small class.
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i like the gemon kid and his bro is probably just as good if he gets right.
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yeah its kind of rare to see twins and / or brothers with equal abilities and / or production – if were talking about both players being average at best it obviously occurs more frequently but its fairly unusual to see twins both excel as good to great players. both twins starring tends to be more common in olympic sport like crew or whatever, and while it happens in d1 football, its just not as likely. sure love to see both guys end up stars in maize and blue though
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I think this is more of a case where Harbaugh and staff LOVE Gemon and are willing to take a flyer on German in order to get Gemon. As a parent of twins, I can totally understand the bond between them. It’s basically a package deal if these brothers are as close as many twins are. The parents know that these kids can’t be separated, especially if they are traveling a great distance for college. Therefore, Harbaugh knows that he has to offer both with the hopes that German heals well and can play like his brother.
As for the ratings, I think it’s a good call. German doesn’t show as much athleticism as his brother before his injury and they both lack top end speed. The important part of this commitment is the Texas connection. Similar to Kurt Taylor, I think this is a major component to this recruitment. Personally, I disagree with this strategy of getting your foot in the door in a particular area at the expense of talent in other places, but that’s another discussion.
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FWIW, Steve Lorenz said that Michigan’s staff likes German even more than Gemon. I don’t know if I buy that, but Lorenz is usually pretty spot on.
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very interesting, if true – i thought i read that german missed almost his entire junior year with acl tear so he hasnt played much varsity ball. if the staff likes him more, maybe they worked him out in person?
if they havent seen the bros work out in person, i find it unlikely they like the injured bro german more based on camp tape and footage from jv ball.
his bro gemon is a solid prospect, at least for what the staff apparently wants to do with longer DBs. its not like hes chump change, hes a decent prospect on tape and competed with some of the best in texas hs ball. not to mention i believe i read he recently won mvp at dallas opening camp – camp settings are far from big ten saturdays but its still a competitive environment and a nice additional data point.
so thats saying something if they like his game / potential more than his bro. itd just be very interesting if the staff likes the injured bro more at this point given his lack of varsity tape. also wonder if they see him at CB or S or just plan to get them both on campus and then sort it out
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Uh….not believing that. Lorenz is awesome but there is NO WAY they like the limited JV footage of German more than Gemon. Sounds like some fluff they thew at the family during recruitment.
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I think these two are very similar as prospects. Not quite identical, but very very similar. They are so similar I am thinking about calling them “the twins”.
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I’m still mad the Talbott bros didn’t work out. Maybe one of the Greens can move to DL.
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Haha, #1
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