Tag: 2011 Recruiting

2011 Offer Board Update

Defensive end Jadeveon Clowney

The 2011 Offer Board has been updated for nearly the last time.

A few prospects remain uncommitted, and the most notable one is the consensus #1 player in the country, Jadeveon Clowney.  He’s likely to go to South Carolina, but he hasn’t made anything official yet.  News is still pending on guys like receiver Prince Holloway and tight end/defensive end Taques Franklin, but at this point, uncommitted kids might be going the JUCO or prep school route.

For all the signing day updates and recent commitments, here’s the list from Wednesday.

Meanwhile, I’ve started updating the 2012 Offer Board.  If you have any recruits to add to that list, please e-mail me or leave a comment.  Official offers can’t be handed out until August 1, so all we have to go on right now is reports of verbal offers.

Chris Barnett, Wolverine

Boise State, eat your heart out.

Chris Barnett, a tight end from Hurst, TX, committed to the Wolverines on Wednesday.  Barnett was a bit of a surprise commitment on National Signing Day, because originally, he had planned to announce his commitment and sign his NLI this coming Saturday.

The 6’6″, 245 pounder is a 4-star to Rivals and a 3-star recruit to both Scout and ESPN.  He reported offers from the likes of Arkansas, Clemson, Florida State, Miami, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Tennessee, USC, and various others.  In addition, he had been previously committed to both Oklahoma and Arkansas.  The NSD switch from Arkansas to Michigan provides a small amount of consolation for defensive tackle Dequinta Jones, who switched from the Wolverines to the Razorbacks on NSD 2009.

I have my reservations about Barnett, despite his impressive offer list.  He seems to be a boom-or-bust type of player.  He has good speed and good size, catches the ball well with his hands instead of his body, shows decent agility, etc.  If and when he gives 100%, he should be a real threat.

But there’s a good amount of film on him out there on the internet, and I see a general theme: he seems to be a guy who doesn’t go hard all the time.  He jogs through camp drills at times.  He has some bad body weight around his middle.  He doesn’t move his feet extremely well as a blocker.

He also doesn’t seem to realize that he’s six-foot-six and 245 lbs.!  Someone who’s that big and that fast should be running people over, but instead, he tries to dance around defensive backs once he catches the ball.  He’s athletic enough that it works sometimes, but he’s got to learn to lower his shoulder and punish smaller players for trying to tackle him.  He shows flashes of a willingness to punish opponents, but it’s just not consistent.  Hopefully, tight ends coach Dan Ferrigno can convince him how special he can be.

Barnett is Michigan’s 20th commitment in the Class of 2011.  Brady Hoke hinted that the class might grow by “a few” when the number was at 19, so perhaps there’s a lower level recruit out there who might decide for Michigan.  But the class is most likely finalized.  Barnett was an important recruit in particular because of the low numbers and lack of depth at tight end.  With Martell Webb running out of eligibility after 2010, that left only senior-to-be Kevin Koger and redshirt junior-to-be Brandon Moore as scholarship tight ends on the roster; there are also rumors that Ricardo Miller moved to tight end late in the season, but that has been unconfirmed. 

Barnett probably needs a year to redshirt and work on his body, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him on the field this fall.  Even a slight injury to either of the top two guys would likely necessitate an appearance by Barnett for the multiple tight end sets that Brady Hoke and Al Borges like to use at times.

TTB Rating: 82

Frank Clark, Wolverine

Frank Clark is narrow.

Frank Clark, a linebacker from Cleveland, publicly committed to the Wolverines on Wednesday morning.  Clark had been rumored to be a silent commitment since the weekend of January 21st when he made an official visit to Ann Arbor.  Hailing from Glenville Academic Campus, the 6’3″, 210 pounder is Glenville’s first product to sign with Michigan since Pierre Woods in 2001; Glenville typically funnels its players to Ohio State or . . . well . . . anywhere but Michigan.

A 3-star prospect to each of the three major recruiting services, Clark chose Michigan over offers from California, Michigan State, Minnesota, North Carolina, and others.  But each recruiting service ranked Clark at a different position – linebacker, tight end, and defensive end.

In Brady Hoke’s press conference today, he called Clark a linebacker.  So I’m going to assume he’s a linebacker.  And I’m going to base my opinions on seeing approximately 60 seconds of film on Clark, who doesn’t have a great deal of film out there in cyberspace.  So here we go:

I’m somewhat indifferent.  There’s a quote from Ed Orgeron (the famed USC defensive line coach, Ole Miss head coach, renowned recruiter, etc.) in Meat Market that says something like, “You can’t look at technique stuff when you’re recruiting.  As a coach, you have to think you can coach him up.”

Well . . . that’s probably a good thing for Clark.  He seems to be a decent athlete (a reported 4.52 in the forty, which is a good time but probably a bit of a lie), but he’s about as raw as raw can be.  As a defensive end, he gets his shoulders turned regularly.  He’s not an extremely aggressive tackler.  He doesn’t wrap up ballcarriers.  Maybe Glenville doesn’t employ a defensive line coach.  I don’t know.

To be honest, I can’t really project Clark anywhere.  He could be a strongside linebacker, where he would be rushing the quarterback off the edge.  He could be a weakside linebacker, too, but I haven’t seen him take on any lead blocks from fullbacks, fill any running lanes, etc.  He could be a career special teamer, since he’s decently fast and might be able to hit hard. 

Regardless, he’ll probably need a few seasons to bulk up and learn whatever position he plays.  My expectations are low, but Ed Orgeron probably has a lot of deep thoughts about a kid like Clark, thoughts that are unintelligible to northerners.  If you’re a fan of The Office, take Andy Bernard’s accent when he was playing Belles, Bourbon, and Bullets; lower his voice an octave; speed him up by 50%; and toss some kitty litter down his throat.  That’s a pretty close approximation of Orgeron.

Or you can Youtube him.  That would probably be easier.

Yep, it was.

TTB Rating: 59

Signing Day Updates

I’ll do my best to track the commitments of recruits of interest to Michigan fans throughout the day:

Darien Bryant (TE) committed to Vanderbilt.

Kevin McReynolds (DT) committed to UCLA.

Branden Jackson (DE) and Desimon Green (DE) committed to Texas Tech.

Shane Wynn (WR) committed to Indiana.

Cardale Jones (QB) committed to Ohio State.

Keith Heitzman (DE) has officially signed with Michigan.

Matt Wile (K) has officially signed with Michigan.

Chris Barnett (TE) has officially signed with Michigan.

Justice Hayes (RB) has officially signed with Michigan.

Darius Jennings (WR) has committed to Virginia.

Delvon Simmons (DT) has committed to North Carolina.

Antonio Poole (LB) has officially signed with Michigan.

Desmond Morgan (LB) has officially signed with Michigan.

Timmy Jernigan (NT) has committed to Florida State.

Darian Cooper (NT) has committed to Iowa.

Kellen Jones (LB) has officially signed with Michigan.

Chris Bryant (OG) has officially signed with Michigan.

Chris Rock (DE) has officially signed with Michigan.

Tony Posada (OG) has officially signed with Michigan.

Blake Countess (CB) has officially signed with Michigan.

Raymon Taylor (CB) has officially signed with Michigan.

Lamar Dawson (LB) has committed to USC.

Aundrey Walker (OT) has committed to USC.

Thomas Rawls (RB) has officially signed with Michigan.

Brennen Beyer (DE) has officially signed with Michigan.

Jack Miller (C) has officially signed with Michigan.

Greg Brown (CB) has officially signed with Michigan.

Tamani Carter (CB) has officially signed with Michigan.

Russell Bellomy (QB) has officially signed with Michigan.

Frank Clark (OLB) committed to Michigan.

Delonte Hollowell (CB) has officially signed with Michigan.

Jake Fisher (OT) committed to Oregon.

Why “Blue Chip Players” Chose Their Schools



Why am I including a picture of myself?  Shut up, that’s why.



1. Lawrence Thomas, LB – Renaissance High School (Detroit)

Interpretation: Some of the coaches at Renaissance think former Renaissance players were treated poorly at Michigan, even though TE Carson Butler was constantly in trouble and FB/DE Andre Criswell couldn’t cut it on the field.  I can’t stand it when troublemakers and subpar athletes aren’t treated like royalty!

Interpretation: Michigan’s coaches didn’t recruit me, and the fans were jerks because they had no clue who I was.

Notice that when asked “Why not Michigan State?”, the Michigan commits – Brennen Beyer, Justice Hayes, and Delonte Hollowell – essentially said “I just didn’t see myself at Michigan State.”

Perhaps the cruelest part of the entire article is when they ask recruits who were never really contacted by the Wolverines, “Hey, why didn’t you choose the most successful program in the state?”  As if they even had a choice.

It would be like asking Halle Berry, “Why aren’t you dating Thunder from Touch the Banner?”  What would they expect her to say?  The truth?  She wouldn’t want to be dragged down into that pit of misery, not again.  To save face she would have to say that she wasn’t interested. 

But in reality, I think Halle Berry is a little old for me.  She’s probably got stretch marks from having a baby.  And frankly, I saw Monster’s Ball – I don’t want to touch anything that’s come in contact with Billy Bob Thornton.  Sister, please. 

Emanuela de Paula and I are doing just fine, thank you very much.