O’Maury Samuels, Wolverine

O’Maury Samuels, Wolverine


April 4, 2016
O'Maury Samuels 817x

Los Lunas (NM) Los Lunas RB O’Maury Samuels (image via KRQE)

Los Lunas (NM) Los Lunas running back O’Maury Samuels committed to Michigan on Sunday. He chose the Wolverines over offers from Arizona and TCU, among others.

Samuels is listed at 5’11”, 190 lbs. He was recently invited to The Opening after the regional in Dallas, where he took the national lead in SPARQ rating with a score of 138.3. He ran a 4.58 forty and a 4.14 shuttle, and he showed off a 44.5″ vertical. As a junior in 2015, he ran 185 times for 1,468 yards (7.9 yards/carry) and 21 TDs; he also caught 8 passes for 92 yards and 2 TDs.

RATINGS
ESPN: Unranked
Rivals: Unranked
Scout: 4-star, #23 RB
247 Sports: 3-star, 89 grade, #25 RB, #338 overall

Hit the jump for more on Samuels’s commitment.

Samuels had a couple regional offers before Michigan stepped forward several weeks ago with an offer. Some decent offers came in after the Wolverines’, but none on the level of Michigan. He quickly scheduled a visit to Ann Arbor and reportedly was close to committing on the trip. Shortly after returning home, he went ahead and announced.

Well built for the position, Samuels has a solid frame but probably won’t turn into a big, 230 lb. bruiser. He’s a slashing runner with good change-of-direction skills, and he accelerates well into and out of his cuts. He claims his laser-timed 4.58 was slow, but regardless, he appears to have good straight-line speed. He carries the ball high and tight, which should help him prevent fumbles.

He does tend to carry the ball in his right hand even when going left, so he will have to work on breaking that habit to avoid turnovers. It also might be an adjustment going from New Mexico to Michigan, where the competition level will take a huge leap forward. New Mexicans aren’t known for their football prowess, and not many elite football players come from the state, although Michigan did also take QB Zach Gentry in the 2015 class.

Overall, I have been waiting for a back like Samuels for a long time. He’s the type of quick, speedy, strong, instinctive runner that Michigan has not been able to successfully recruit since Fitzgerald Toussaint in 2009. It’s always hard to judge players against poor competition, but I think this is a very solid pickup for the Wolverines. He offers a little extra zip that A.J. Dillon and Kurt Taylor lack, although both of those players can certainly find a role in Jim Harbaugh’s offense.

Michigan is now up to 11 commits in the 2017 class. Adding in the two aforementioned backs, the Wolverines have three tailbacks, plus fullback Chase Lasater. They are probably done recruiting the running back position.

TTB Rating: 88

12 comments

  1. Comments: 1356
    Joined: 8/13/2015
    Roanman
    Apr 04, 2016 at 7:33 AM

    When High Schools are contacted about a kid like Samuels do they provide complete or more extensive film, or is HUDL as good as it gets for seeing a kid play?

    • Comments: 3844
      Joined: 7/13/2015
      Apr 04, 2016 at 8:19 AM

      Coaches usually request game film, and that can be provided via Hudl. Except for truly elite recruits, usually game film is required before a school will offer. You’ll see sometimes that recruits start to get offered in the middle of their junior or senior seasons, and that’s often because coaches want to watch game films from their first few games of the year before they extend offers.

  2. Comments: 77
    Joined: 1/22/2016
    Tartarsauce
    Apr 04, 2016 at 7:38 AM

    I think Samuels is as exciting as any RB recruit UM has gotten in a while. Once Harbaugh and Drevno really gets the OL going, this kid could be a monster. It’s a long time until signing day, so I am a little nervous that we can hang onto him.

  3. Comments: 359
    Joined: 8/11/2015
    GKblue
    Apr 04, 2016 at 9:11 AM

    Your paragraph beginning “Overall,…” nailed my thoughts on Samuels. To separate the scripted highlight reals from one athlete to another the level of competition has to be considered. I hope we can hang on to him until NLOI.

  4. Comments: 111
    Joined: 10/14/2015
    UM_1973
    Apr 04, 2016 at 11:43 AM

    Thunder, I noticed that our current group of commits are made up of mostly 3 stars. However, unlike last year’s bunch of early commits, you seem to be more impressed by this year’s bunch than last year’s. Based on that, do you expect that there will be less decommitments in this year’s class compared to last year’s class?

    • Comments: 3844
      Joined: 7/13/2015
      Apr 04, 2016 at 11:57 AM

      I started typing out a response to this, but I think it might be best suited to a mailbag post for later in the week. This is something I wanted to address, anyway.

  5. Comments: 6285
    Joined: 8/11/2015
    Lanknows
    Apr 04, 2016 at 1:26 PM

    Love it. I’m with Thunder that I wanted to see a RB who is an elite athlete. Not just “for his size”. Hopefully he sticks in the class.

  6. Comments: 35
    Joined: 8/11/2015
    TriFloyd
    Apr 04, 2016 at 5:25 PM

    I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bigger gap between meh star rating and high TTB rating.

    • Comments: 3844
      Joined: 7/13/2015
      Apr 04, 2016 at 7:56 PM

      That may be true for now. There’s at least a decent chance that he gets a ratings bump before all is said and done. His SPARQ score and commitment to Michigan will probably perk up some recruiting services’ ears.

    • Comments: 117
      Joined: 9/28/2015
      PapaBear
      Apr 04, 2016 at 8:56 PM

      Yup….my thoughts exactly….TTB rating of 88? But like Thunder said, the recruiting services will catch up. This kid along with 2-3 more current recruits will be 4 star kids before NSD.

      But this Samuels kid would be #4 on the depth chart right now !

    • Comments: 77
      Joined: 1/22/2016
      Tartarsauce
      Apr 04, 2016 at 10:38 PM

      Samuels just got bumped up to 4 star at Rivals.

      • Comments: 3844
        Joined: 7/13/2015
        Apr 05, 2016 at 10:04 AM

        It’s nice to see them catching up with reality.

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