Tag: 2013 recruiting

Recruiting Update: May 28, 2012

St. Clairsville (OH) St. Clairsville linebacker Michael Ferns

ADDED TO THE BOARD: 2013
Tampa (FL) Spoto athlete Eric Moate was offered by Michigan.  Moate is a very productive high school running back (111 carries, 1224 yards, 14 touchdowns), but at 5’11” and 170 lbs., Michigan probably prefers him for the cornerback position.  He’s a very quiet recruit and doesn’t talk much to the media.  Iowa, Purdue, South Florida, West Virginia, and others have also extended offers.



ADDED TO THE BOARD: 2014
Charlotte (NC) Christian tight end Jeb Blazevich received a Michigan offer.  Blazevich is a 6’5″, 240 lb. tight end who had 32 catches for 513 yards and 6 touchdowns as a sophomore.  He already holds offers from Georgia, LSU, North Carolina, Ohio State, and South Carolina, among others. (Highlights here.)

Tarpon Springs (FL) East Lake offensive tackle Mason Cole was offered by Michigan.  He’s 6’5″, 267 lbs. and has offers from Florida State, Ohio State, and South Carolina, among others.  Most of his interest seems to lie in the south, so I wouldn’t get my hopes up for him.

St. Clairsville (OH) St. Clairsville linebacker Michael Ferns was offered by Michigan.  He’s 6’3″, 235 lbs. and has been offered by Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, Stanford, and several others.  As a sophomore in 2011, Ferns had 130 tackles.  He also plays tight end and could play there in college.

Florissant (MO) Hazelwood Central offensive tackle Roderick Johnson was offered by Michigan.  He’s a 6’7″, 310 lb. tackle with offers from Iowa and Missouri. (Highlights here.)

Wiley (TX) Wiley safety T’Kevian Rockwell received a Michigan offer.  The 6’1″, 190 lb. defensive back already has offers from Nebraska and Virginia.

OFF THE BOARD
Ashburn (VA) Stone Bridge defensive end Jonathan Allen committed to Alabama.  I did a scouting report on him a few months ago, and I wasn’t particularly impressed with what I saw.

Wayne (NJ) Wayne Hills quarterback Kevin Olsen committed to Miami.  I stopped paying much attention to Olsen a long time ago since Michigan has Shane Morris in the fold, but he does look like a capable quarterback.  If you look at the list of the top quarterbacks in the country for 2013, the vast majority of them have already committed somewhere.  That often seems to be the case, since once a quarterback – frequently the leader of a team – gets on board, he can start recruiting other guys.

Ashburn (VA) Briar Woods linebacker Matt Rolin committed to South Carolina.  Rolin never strongly considered Michigan, and the Wolverines are supposedly done with linebacker recruiting, anyway, so it’s not a significant loss.

Video: Oakland NFTC invites seven to The Opening

Mini Scouting Report: Derrick Green

Richmond (VA) Hermitage running back Derrick Green

I attended a 7-on-7 tournament on Saturday in which Michigan target Derrick Green participated.  Green is a 6’0″, 215 lb. running back from Richmond (VA) Hermitage.  He has offers from Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Clemson, Miami, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, USC, Virginia Tech, etc.

A 7-on-7 setting is not the best opportunity for him to show off his skills.  First of all, he plays running back, a position that’s usually just used for checkdown purposes in 7-on-7.  Hermitage was running a lot of plays out of the Pistol formation, which means Green was aligned behind the shotgun quarterback.  They must be planning to use the Pistol this season because they were incorporating play action, even though you can’t run the ball in 7-on-7.  On most plays Green would just sit and “block” at the line of scrimmage, so he wasn’t targeted very often.  As far as I saw, Green didn’t play a single down of defense.

Green is not very adept at catching the ball.  He dropped three passes that I saw, all of which were in the end zone – a flare, an out, and a wheel.  He fought the ball all the way in each time, too.  The balls were pretty well placed for him to catch, and he just bobbled them and eventually dropped them.  It wasn’t a case of him letting them slip through his hands or turning his head upfield to run before he caught the ball; he just looked very clumsy.

He did, however, catch a couple flare routes later in the day.  One he caught just in front of a linebacker and was touched down after a couple yards.  On another he caught the ball with some room to run, and I can tell you that nobody would have wanted to jump in front of him once he got going.  It’s clear that once he gets his 215 lbs. going upfield, he’s going to be a force.

As for his size, I wouldn’t bat an eyelash if you told me he was 220 or 225.  He’s built like a Mack truck.  I was standing next to him at one point and 5’11” or 6’0″ seems pretty accurate.  He’s not any taller than 6’0″.  There were spectators around who had no clue that Green was an elite recruit, and I heard whispers saying, “Let’s go watch that #27.”  He’s quite a physical specimen.

Overall, nothing really surprised me about him.  He’s huge, lean, and fast in a straight line.  He’s not going to juke many people, and he doesn’t appear to be a threat out of the backfield.  He was a pretty quiet kid.  He wasn’t brash or cocky and genuinely seemed to fit in with his teammates.

Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge

In what appears to be Rivals’ response to ESPN’s “The Opening,” the Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge will take place in Atlanta from June 22-24.  The recruiting service is inviting 80 prospects for the class of 2013 and 20 prospects for the class of 2014.

Here are the participants that Michigan is targeting:

Montravius Adams – DT – Georgia
Adam Breneman – TE – Pennsylvania (Penn State)
Cameron Burrows – CB – Ohio (Ohio State)
K.C. Crosby – LB – South Carolina*
Antwuan Davis – CB – Texas (Texas)
Justin Davis – RB – California (USC)
David Dawson – OG – Michigan (Michigan)
Chris Fox – OT – Colorado (Michigan)
Derrick Green – RB – Virginia
Da’Shawn Hand – DE – Virginia*
Chris Hawkins – CB – California (USC)
Sebastian LaRue – WR – California
Demetrius Knox – OT – Texas*
Brendan Mahon – OT – Massachusetts (Penn State)
Eldridge Massington – WR – Texas (USC)
Joe Mathis – DE – California
Mike McCray – LB – Ohio (Michigan)
Malik McDowell – DE – Michigan*
Leon McQuay – S – Florida
Marquez North – WR – North Carolina
Dorian O’Daniel – LB – Maryland (Clemson)
Jake Raulerson – OT – Texas (Texas)
Bo Scarbrough – WR – Alabama*
Jaylon Smith – LB – Indiana
Demorea Stringfellow – WR – California
Jalen Tabor – CB – Washington, D.C.*
LaQuon Treadwell – WR – Illinois
Casey Tucker – OT – Arizona*
Eddie Vanderdoes – DT – California
Shaq Wiggins – CB – Georgia (Georgia)
Ishmael Wilson – OT – Texas (Texas A&M)
Eli Woodard – CB – New Jersey (Ohio State)

*Denotes 2014 prospect

Scouting Report: Jordan Wilkins

Jordan Wilkins

Name: Jordan Wilkins
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 200 lbs.
Position: Running back
Class: 2013
School: Cordova (TN) St. Benedict

Notes: Holds offers from Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Cincinnati, Memphis, Michigan, Middle Tennessee State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Notre Dame, Purdue, Tennessee, Texas Tech, Vanderbilt, and Wisconsin . . . ESPN 4-star RB, 83 grade, #17 RB . . . Rivals 4-star RB, #18 RB, #209 overall . . . Scout 3-star RB, #34 RB . . . 247 Sports 4-star RB, 93 grade, #4 APB, #147 overall . . . As a junior in 2011, rushed for 1,800 yards and 24 touchdowns

Strengths: Wilkins has good size and a solid frame . . . Should be able to handle the pounding of a big conference . . . Smooth pass catcher out of backfield . . . Shows nimble feet and pretty good lateral movement . . . Good acceleration through the hole . . . Gets to top speed quickly . . . Gets low in traffic . . . Does not go down easily on contact

Weaknesses: Not a true burner . . . Does not have a second gear to pull away from high level defensive backs . . . Carries ball a little loosely at times . . . Does not consistently keep ball in his outside hand, so there is a bit of a concern about ball security

Projection: Running back.  Wilkins looks a little like a poor man’s Ty Isaac, which is interesting because Isaac was the #1 target on Michigan’s board.  Wilkins’s feet aren’t quite as quick and he doesn’t have the same top-end speed, but they’re similar runners with good size and can catch the ball out of the backfield.  Wilkins could develop into a solid starter at a Big Ten-level school, but he doesn’t appear to have an extremely high ceiling.

Reminds me of: Jason Ford (Illinois)