Terry Talbott, Wolverine

Tag: 2010 Recruiting

15Aug 2009
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Terry Talbott, Wolverine

Late last night GoBlueWolverine.com reported that brothers Terry and Terrence Talbott, from Huber Heights, OH, committed to play for Michigan.

Terry is a defensive lineman whose position is a little blurry. Rivals lists him at 6’4″ and 265 lbs. Scouting Ohio lists him at 6’4″ and 245 lbs. It’s possible that Scouting Ohio is a bit outdated, but on the plus side, at least they agree on his height. The websites list him as a defensive tackle/nose tackle, but I’m not sure that’s the best fit for him. He seems more like a defensive end for Greg Robinson’s 4-3 under defense. Rivals is notorious for having overstated sizes (Anthony Lalota was 6’6″ and 260 lbs. until he got on campus and the spring roster listed him as 6’4″ and 235), so I’m more inclined to trust Scouting Ohio.

Even more so than his size, Terry plays like a defensive end. He uses his quickness off the ball to beat blockers to his gap. He’s long and lean and uses his hands well to fight off blockers. I wouldn’t define him as a speed rusher, but he looks like a 3-4 defensive end to me.

A 3-star prospect to Rivals, Terry chose Michigan over offers from Illinois, MSU, UCLA, and Wisconsin, among others. I expect that Michigan will still pursue at least one true defensive tackle prospect (Sharrif Floyd and Louis Nix, to name a couple). Even though Michigan’s defensive tackles are young, there are only three scholarship players on the roster (Mike Martin, Will Campbell, and Renaldo Sagesse). Perhaps more dire is the defensive end position – Brandon Graham graduates this year, and both Adam Patterson and Greg Banks are redshirt juniors. Anthony Lalota is the only DE behind them.

Scouting Ohio video is here.

17Jun 2009
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Holmes Onwukaife, free agent

A couple days ago, I reported that Holmes Onwukaife committed to Michigan. There was a Rivals post from one of the mods stating he was committing and confirmation from Tom VanHaaren, MGoBlog’s official recruiting resource.

We heard nothing official for a couple more days, and then there’s this Onwukaife quote from Josh Helmholdt this morning:

“…the outside linebacker position is full, and they opted me to try the inside linebacker, but I dont think I’m going to.”

I apologize for the error in my reporting.

That being said, I did call the switch to inside linebacker, so I’ve got that going for me, I guess . . .

17Jun 2009
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2009 Summer Camp visitors

Monday – June 15, 2009
Marcus Beaurem, WR – Sterling Heights, MI
Greg Brown, CB – Fremont, OH (Class of 2011)
Ashton Broyld, QB – Rochester, NY (Class of 2011)
Calvin Caldwell, CB – Greenville, SC (Class of 2011)
De’Shon Dixon, RB – Flint, MI
Chris Frost, WR – Mathews, NC (Class of 2011)
Justice Hayes, RB – Grand Blanc, MI (Class of 2011)
Ronnie Howard, Jr, RB. – Sharon, PA
Bill Ivan, OL – Charlevoix, MI
Jeremy Jackson, WR – Ann Arbor, MI (Michigan commit)
Cornelius Jones, QB – Spartanburg, S.C. (Michigan commit)
Edwin Limmitt, RB – Warren, MI
Andrew Marcotte, OT – Williamsburg, VA
Kyle McAvoy, OL – Bloomington, IL (Class of 2011)
Luke McAvoy, OL – Bloomington, IL (Class of 2011)
Justin Moss, DE – Canton, MI
Drew Phillips, RB – Boaz, AL
Jewone Snow, LB – Canton, OH
Alexander Waters, CB – Hoover, AL
DeVante Woods, RB – Fremont, OH
Matt Zakrzewski, LB – Traverse City, MI
Anthony Zettel, OG – West Branch, MI (Class of 2011)

Bobby Swigert and Kurtis Drummond, Class of 2010 safeties who have been offered, both visited unofficially on Monday.

Tuesday – June 16, 2009
Dakota Anderson, TE – Xenia, OH
DeAnthony Arnett, WR – Saginaw, MI (Class of 2011)
Courtney Avery, DB – Lexington, Ohio (Stanford commit)
Marcus Beaurem, WR – Sterling Heights, MI
Trey Bennett, WR – Alexander City, AL
Tyler Brause, QB – Bucyrus, OH
Eduardo Clements, RB – Miami, OH
Garret Davis, OL – Ypsilanti, MI
Tevon Eatmon, TE – Bucyrus, OH
Kyle Foster, WR – Ann Arbor, MI (Class of 2011)
Kris Frost, WR – Matthews, NC (Class of 2011)
Christopher Gallon, WR – Oviedo, FL (Class of 2011)
Devin Gardner, QB – Inkster,MI (Michigan commit)
Justice Hayes, RB – Grand Blanc, MI (Class of 2011)
Nick Hill, RB – Chelsea, MI
Bill Ivan, OL – Charlevoix, MI
Shaquille Jefferson, DB – Lexington, OH
Percy Johnson, LB – Madison Heights, MI (Class of 2011)
Taiwan Jones, WR – North Branch, MI
Daniel Lindsey, RB – Inkster, MI
Nathan Lindsey, RB – Inkster, MI
Ricardo Miller, WR – Orlando, FL (Class of 2011)
Wayne Pettus, CB – Melvindale, MI
Drew Phillips, RB – Boaz, AL
Jerald Robinson, WR – Canton, OH (Michigan commit)
Terrence Stevens, DB – Inkster, MI
Johnathan Taylor, WR – Inkster, MI
Vorheese Zanders, WR – Inkster, MI
Anthony Zettel, OG – West Branch, MI (Class of 2011)

16Jun 2009
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Cornelius Jones, Wolverine

Spartanburg High School athlete Cornelius Jones committed to become a Michigan Wolverine on Monday night. Since he received an offer from Michigan in January, he claimed that the Wolverines were his leader. Jones finally visited Michigan’s campus early this week for the Wolverines’ summer camp and committed before he was to leave on Tuesday morning.

It’s been difficult to track down specifics on Jones’s statistics. Supposedly, in his first year playing quarterback in high school football, he threw for 1,100 yards and rushed for 656 more yards. According to this page from Maxpreps, Jones had only 1 passing TD and 11 interceptions. (EDIT: Jim Stefani’s site says this: “As a junior QB, he completed 89 of 185 passes (48.1%) for 1,020 yards and 2 TDs and had 226 carries for 736 yards (3.3ypc) and 7 TDs”) That doesn’t look very promising, but I don’t know how much to trust Maxpreps. Those statistics seem incomplete, and I wouldn’t be surprised if (i.e. I’m hoping) those two categories were flip-flopped.

I have been unable to find video of Jones, so I won’t offer much of a scouting report. According to Rivals, he threw very well at camp on Monday; he doesn’t have the strongest arm, but he was accurate and threw a tight spiral. I’m guessing he has some fundamentals to work on, considering his junior year was his first year playing quarterback.

I would not be surprised to see the Wolverines continue recruiting the quarterback position. Uncommitted players like Munchie Legaux, Jeffrey Godfrey, and A.J. Derby are still out there, although Legaux and Godfrey’s interests have fallen off and Derby has never seemed that thrilled with the Michigan offer. But Jones had stated a couple months ago that the Wolverines were recruiting him as an “athlete,” not necessarily as a quarterback. At 6’2″ and 197 lbs., he’s a guy who could end up at safety or even linebacker; he also worked out at wide receiver at the camp on Monday.

I would also keep an eye on in-state schools like Clemson and South Carolina. Jones’s coach stated that Jones looked in-state first but didn’t get any offers, so he started searching outside the state. Nothing I’ve read about Jones indicates that he’s still searching for those offers, but if he has a good senior season and the Tigers or Gamecocks see something they like, that could be a factor down the road.
(Picture via Rivals.com)
15Jun 2009
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Holmes Onwukaife, Wolverine

The commitment of Jordan Paskorz a couple weeks ago set off a Domino effect in Michigan’s recruiting. The OLB/DE from Pennsylvania preceded a commitment from OLB/DE Ken Wilkins (also from Pennsylvania), which preceded a pledge from the newest member of the 2010 class, Holmes Onwukaife. Onwukaife is another LB/DE, albeit from Cedar Park, Texas, not the Keystone State.

Onwukaife played defensive end in a 3-4 scheme as a junior, meaning he was lined up on the inside shoulder of the offensive tackle much of the time. According to his coaches, he will switch to OLB in the 3-4 scheme, meaning he’ll be playing more in open space and getting a clearer lane to the quarterback. Even as a DE last year, he racked up 50 tackles and 9 sacks. According to this Rivals article, Onwukaife is being recruited by Michigan to play OLB.

All those things being said, the Wolverines are beginning to run into the same issue at OLB (the “quick”) as they are at wide receiver on offense; there is such a glut of talent (unproven talent, but talent nonetheless) that some of these guys must be headed for a position change or a decommitment. Not only does Michigan have commitments from Paskorz, Wilkins, and Onwukaife, but incoming freshmen Craig Roh and Anthony Lalota have been told they’ll get a look at the Quick, and UM veterans Brandon Herron, Marell Evans, and Steve Watson are all currently vying for playing time at the position. That’s eight guys fighting for one spot in 2010.

I’m wondering if the coaches also see an opportunity for Onwukaife to play inside linebacker. He’s too small to play DE, so he’s some sort of linebacker all the way. In watching his video, I don’t really see a ton of potential as a rush linebacker. I think he would get consumed by good offensive tackles, and his first step isn’t quick enough to beat those guys to the outside consistently. Onwukaife does a good job of disengaging from blockers and not taking them head on. He also has some very raw athleticism; he has an ability to chase down players from sideline to sideline and a crafty ability to sidestep blockers.

On the flip side, Onwukaife does what too many superior high school players do – he tackles with his arms. Instead of running through the ballcarrier, he makes contact only with his arms and tries to twist the runner to the ground rather than bury him into the turf. This is a technique that can be taught, so it’s not a huge concern, but considering all of the failed arm tackles we saw at Michigan this past year, it’s something that needs to be corrected before he sees the field in college. As I said above, I also question the quickness of his first step. On top of those things, Onwukaife also seems to loaf at times. Judging from his body language, I don’t think it’s laziness – I think he’s a split second slow at diagnosing plays and since he was playing out of position, he seemed to be thinking too much, rather than reacting. But most of his faults seem to be technical, meaning that a couple years of learning should head him in the right direction.

All things considered, I believe Onwukaife could end up at inside linebacker. The lack of inside linebackers and the glut of outside linebackers make me think so. I don’t know how Onwukaife would react to playing in the middle and diagnosing plays from that position, but he has the athleticism and the body to play at the second level. He’s an intriguing prospect to me because he’s so raw – he could be great or he could never see the field. Here’s hoping it’s the former.

Welcome to Michigan.