29Mar 2011
Maize ‘n’ Brew: Recruiting Visitors – March 25-27, 2011
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| New York defensive back Wayne Morgan |
I put up my weekly post over at Maize ‘n’ Brew, this time about Michigan’s recruiting visitors from this past weekend.
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| New York defensive back Wayne Morgan |
I put up my weekly post over at Maize ‘n’ Brew, this time about Michigan’s recruiting visitors from this past weekend.
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| Caleb Stacey (#71) leads the way for running back Tommy Konkoly |
Caleb Stacey, an offensive lineman from Cincinnati, OH, committed to Michigan on Saturday. He earned an offer a couple weeks ago and visited Ann Arbor. After visiting West Virginia this weekend, he called Michigan’s coaches and informed them that he wanted to be a Wolverine.
Stacey is listed at 6’4″, 275 lbs. and has offers from Boston College, Bowling Green, Cincinnati, Illinois, Indiana, Miami-OH, North Carolina State, Ohio, South Florida, Toledo, Wake Forest, and West Virginia. His other two favorite schools were Illinois and West Virginia, but we all know those schools don’t compare. None of the three major scouting services have ranked him yet, but it’s still early. His offer list at this point suggests perhaps a high 3-star or low 4-star ranking.
Though he plays offensive tackle in high school, Michigan is recruiting him as a guard. Just like Ben Braden, there’s not much film out there on Stacey. Four clips exist from ScoutingOhio, which is embedded below. As with every high school lineman, he will need to get bigger and stronger. But he’s kind of the opposite of Braden, who plays low and is a good drive blocker. Stacey plays a little high and needs to work on keeping leverage, especially when he’s going to be playing against much bigger guys than himself. Even in what little film there is below, there are instances where he gets stalemated initially due to his pad level, although his size and strength eventually win the battle. Regardless, he seems to have good footwork, finishes his blocks, and looks good on the run, which will be important for Michigan’s guards under Hoke.
This is Michigan’s second commitment of the 2012 recruiting class; both happen to be linemen. As I wrote in Braden’s commitment post, Michigan’s coaches have stated that they want to sign six linemen in this class. Interesting to me is the fact that, in Rich Rodriguez’s first year on the job, his first commitments came at almost an identical time. Braden committed on March 24, then Stacey on March 26. From the class of 2009, Justin Turner, Teric Jones, and Isaiah Bell committed on March 28, 29, and 31, respectively. (Note: Will Campbell had committed to Lloyd Carr’s staff the summer before that, then decommitted in September, then recommitted in January 2009).
TTB Rating: 77
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| Rockford offensive lineman Ben Braden |
Ben Braden, an offensive tackle from Rockford High School in Rockford, MI, committed to Michigan on Thursday during a visit to campus with his head coach. Braden is a 3-star prospect to Scout, but is so far unranked (along with most prospects) by Scout and ESPN. He also had offers from Michigan State, Syracuse, and Wisconsin.
Braden is listed at 6’6″ and 285 lbs., which doesn’t seem like much of a stretch. He’s solidly built in the lower and upper body. He looks like the Michigan linemen of the ’90’s and early ’00’s. He will certainly need to add weight before he plays at the next level, but physically he’s more ready than several of Michigan’s recruits over the past couple seasons (Christian Pace, Taylor Lewan, Michael Schofield, etc.).
Athletically, I’m not so sure that Braden will be ready early on. No public film on Braden is currently posted on the internet, but I did see some of his junior highlights on Scout. He plays with good body lean. However, he’s not the most gifted athlete and doesn’t seem to move well laterally. Rockford’s offense is run-heavy, and therefore, he puts a little too much weight on his hand to give himself forward moment; this is a habit that will likely need to be coached out of him at the next level, giving him a more balanced stance. I would also like to see Braden finish his blocks a little better. There are times where he stops blocking and looks back at the play, another habit that will need to be broken. I don’t think it’s due to a lack of aggression, but more a lack of maturity as a football player. Lots of high school linemen are guilty of the same thing.
Given the questions about his athleticism and pass blocking, I think Braden is best suited for right tackle or perhaps even the offensive guard position. Getting too tall can be problematic at guard, but if he maintains his current height, his thick build should make him a solid run blocker.
I doubt whether Braden would have been recruited by Michigan if Rich Rodriguez were still the coach. Rodriguez pursued a different sort of lineman, so this represents a change in philosophy. Whereas Michigan’s former coach recruited quicker, more agile linemen, the current one has predictably started searching for road graders to pave the way for his running attack.
This is Michigan’s first commitment for the class of 2012. The coaches have reportedly told recruits that they expect to take six linemen in this class, so expect many more of these monsters to jump on board between now and next February.
TTB Rating: 65
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| Pennsylvania running Back Drew Harris |
The 2012 Offer Board has been updated:
Georgia DT JaFar Mann committed to Florida.
Maryland LB Camren Williams committed to Penn State.
Michigan OT Ben Braden committed to Michigan.
Moved North Carolina’s Mark Harrell from OT to TE.
Added Georgia DE James Deloach.
Added Pennsylvania RB Drew Harris.
Texas LB Jeremiah Tshimanga committed to Oklahoma State.
Added Florida CB Brian Poole.
Added Alabama LB Kwon Alexander.
Added Texas OT Kyle Marrs, who is committed to Oklahoma.
Added Texas OT Trey Keenan.
Texas DE Mario Edwards committed to Florida State.
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| 5-star receiver Stefon Diggs |
Many Michigan fans seem worried that the new coaching staff has thrown out offers with what fans deem to be reckless abandon over the last couple months. At last count Michigan has verbally offered 130 prospects from the class of 2012.
The key word there is “verbally.” Due to a new rule for this recruiting cycle, high schoolers cannot receive official, written offers until August 1 of their senior year. That means someone like Stefon Diggs (pictured above) won’t be 100% sure of who’s recruiting him until a little over four months from now. In the olden days, kids could receive written offers on September 1 of their junior years, meaning Diggs would have been offered several months ago.
One thing to watch is how many kids actually accept offers this early in the process. Since they can’t have official offers in hand for another several months, kids may be feeling out the process a little longer. It seems that there have been fewer early commitments in the class of 2012 overall. Only 19 of the 130 offered have already committed to a particular program.
While offers are coming at a much faster rate this year, they seem to be going to higher level athletes. Of the 130 offers, 84 of them (56%) are on the Rivals 250 to Watch list, which means they are likely to be 4-stars or higher. In my opinion, many of the other 46 players have a very good chance of being 4-stars, as well.
By about this time in the past few recruiting classes, Michigan not only had offers out to some lower level guys, but actual commitments from guys like Teric Jones (buried on the bench at RB), Antonio Kinard (a non-qualifier who ended up at Miami), Isaiah Bell (buried on the bench at LB), and Delonte Hollowell (who ended up as a middling 3-star prospect). This is not to say that those guys won’t end up being solid players at some point, but early offers and commitments should be elite kids. You can find the Teric Joneses and Antonio Kinards of the world late in the recruiting game, like Michigan has with Ray Vinopal, Jake Ryan, and Russell Bellomy.
Additionally, Michigan’s midwest recruiting base is pretty talented this season, which means the coaches – and recruits – don’t have to travel far. Forty-four of the 130 offers (34%) are to kids from Big Ten states.
I was not a huge fan of the Brady Hoke hire, so this is not coming from the we-need-a-Michigan-Man-to-right-the-ship perspective: I am legitimately not concerned with the number of offers the Wolverines have put out there. This coaching staff seems to have a better grasp on the type of talent Michigan can and should recruit. I will voice my concern if and when Hoke starts tossing out offers like candy to MAC-level and Big East-level talent, but so far that’s not the case.