Kiante Enis
Winchester (IN) Winchester running back Kiante Enis decommitted from Michigan on Thursday. He is a 6’1″, 200 lb. back who’s a 247 Composite 3-star, the #35 running back, and #561 overall.
Enis committed to Michigan in early June after Michigan offered him during their satellite camp tour around the country (LINK). The nephew of former Penn State and Chicago Bears running back Curtis Enis, he was expected to play running back, wide receiver, or safety at the next level. The younger Enis was a record-setting back in high school, rushing for almost 3,200 yards as a junior and scoring 49 touchdowns. His senior year saw him run 278 times for 2,393 yards and 35 scores. But Enis mentioned a couple months ago that he had not been hearing much from Michigan’s coaching staff recently, and he took an official visit to Indiana back in December. Another official is scheduled for Miami-OH this coming weekend.
Hit the jump for more.
Much like Erik Swenson, Enis did not show much growth between his junior and senior seasons. When I watched his junior film around the time he camped, I saw a kid with good athleticism who was raw. None of that rawness appears to have been cleaned up. He does not show great toughness or instincts when running the ball; as a defender, he plays safety with all the ferociousness of a stereotypical cornerback. He does have pretty good speed and leaping ability, but there’s more to playing football than running fast and jumping high. He had a great deal of success against some mediocre to poor competition in high school. Time will tell if he can translate that to on-the-field success at the FBS level. Here are those senior year highlights:
Regardless, Michigan is down to the scholarship limit of 85 for the 2016 season after shedding several transfers and commits in the past week and a half. (That may change tonight when California cornerback David Long announces his commitment.) There are three running backs of various sizes and skill sets remaining in the class: bruising early enrollee Kingston Davis, the all-around early enrollee Kareem Walker, and scat back Chris Evans, who did not get the memo about early enrollment. The presence of those two early enrollees factored into Enis’s decision, since he would be a semester behind and battling against some quality players. Enis’s replacement in the 2016 class will probably not come from a pure running back prospect, but perhaps from an “athlete” like Khaleke Hudson, who could play running back, linebacker, or safety in college.
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Michigan isn’t “down” to 85 because they were never above 85, because they aren’t allowed to be above 85, ever.
Michigan may PROJECT to be over 85 for Fall, after signing day – which is what is commonly referred to as oversigning, but we’re several weeks away from that oft-mentioned but never actually having occurred (at MIchigan anyway) possibility.
A “commitment” is not a commitment anymore, let alone a scholarship. If Nate Johnson doesn’t get you to change your mind on how you’re doing this math I don’t know what will. There was a time where 80-90% of “commitments” were commitments and resulted in scholarships, but times have changed. It’s probably still above 50%, but trending down and fast.
But yeah, Michigan is going to add “commitments” and most of those guys will be offered scholarships and then… It seems increasingly likely that Michigan will indeed “oversign” and then the situation will sort itself out is through “try outs” for 5th year players in spring plus aggressive “you might want to think about a transfer if you want to play” conversations and various other forms of managed attrition. Or you know, garden-variety attrition due to injury, transfer, off-field issues, etc.
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I refer you to the great “Grosse Pointe Blank” for how I feel about having this conversation:
“Look, I don’t want to get into a semantic argument about it. I just want the protein.”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119229/quotes?item=qt0469138
I really don’t care how you want me to phrase it. You and I and everyone who reads it know the meaning of the text. If you want things written in your own words, then I would be glad to help you start a Blogger account and get crackin’.
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I’m with the waitress.
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