Tag: Jason Forcier

Ex-Wolverines: Class of 2005

Marques Slocum (image via Scout)

TRANSFERS/RETIREES

Jason Forcier – Quarterback – San Diego (CA) St.Augustine
Forcier, the older brother of Tate (Class of 2009), arrived in the fall of 2005 as a bit of a departure from the standard mold of Michigan quarterbacks; he was more mobile and elusive than the standard 6’4″ to 6’6″, 220 lb. passer that seemed to gravitate toward Ann Arbor.  He redshirted in his first season on campus and was a backup quarterback on the 2006 team; he completed 3-of-3 passes for 30 yards.  With the arrival of highly touted freshman Ryan Mallett and still more competition in Steve Threet, Forcier transferred to Stanford and sat out the 2007 season due to transfer rules.  As a redshirt junior at Stanford in 2008, Forcier went 5-for-13 for 62 yards and 1 interception.  He tried to return to the University of Michigan in 2009 as a grad student and play for the Wolverines, where younger brother Tate Forcier was a freshman QB, but his attempts were unsuccessful.
Current status: Out of football

Hit the jump for several more former Wolverines.

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Review of 2005 Recruiting: The Quarterbacks

Left to right: Tate Forcier, Jason Forcier, Some Guy, Chris Forcier (image via MGoBlog)

The Offerees
Jason Forcier
High school: San Diego (CA) St. Augustine
Ratings: Rivals 3-star, #15 dual-threat QB; Scout 4-star, #8 QB
College: Michigan Stanford
Other notable offers: Arizona State, Colorado, Oregon, Wisconsin
Scoop: Jason Forcier became more famous for his younger brother Tate’s starts at Michigan than anything the elder Forcier did in college.  Jason redshirted in 2005.  As a redshirt freshman in 2006, he appeared in mop-up duty and completed 3/3 passes for 30 yards and rushed for 14 yards.  However, prior to the 2007 season, he transferred to Stanford because Chad Henne had nailed down the starting job and Ryan Mallett, who had enrolled in January 2007, seemed to be the heir apparent.  Forcier sat out the 2007 season due to NCAA transfer rules.  As the #3 quarterback in 2008, he went 5/13 passing for 62 yards with 1 interception.  He transferred back to Michigan for graduate school in 2009 and tried to get a waiver to join the football program, but failed to do so.  He was not drafted.

Harrison Beck
High school: Clearwater (FL) Countryside
Ratings: Rivals 4-star, #3 pro-style QB; Scout 4-star, #11 QB
College: Nebraska North Carolina State North Alabama
Other notable offers: Florida, Florida State, Miami
Scoop: As a true freshman in 2005, Beck played in two games and went 1/10 passing for 21 yards and 1 interception.  After the season he transferred to North Carolina State, where he was forced to sit out the 2006 season due to NCAA transfer rules.  In 2007 he started for half a season, finishing the year 85/160 (53.1%) for 903 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions.  He was demoted in 2009, when he completed just 34/80 passes (42.5%) for 592 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions.  He transferred to North Alabama, an FCS school, for the 2009 season.  As the starting quarterback, he went 293/505 (58%) for 31 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.  He went undrafted in the 2010 NFL Draft and his football career appears to be finished.

Rob Schoenhoft
High school: Cincinnati (OH) Xavier
Ratings: Rivals 4-star, #6 pro-style QB; Scout 4-star, #17 QB
College: Ohio State Delaware
Other notable offers: Florida, Michigan State, Notre Dame
Scoop: Schoenhoft redshirted as a true freshman in 2005.  As a redshirt freshman in 2006, Schoenhoft played in two games and went 1/1 for 5 yards.  In his 2007 redshirt sophomore season, he backed up Todd Boeckman and completed 17/25 passes (68%) for 129 yards.  He then transferred to Delaware of the Football Championship Subdivision, where he completed 83/160 passes (51.9%) for 6 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

Conclusions
Biggest bust: None of these guys did anything of note. Forcier at least remained anonymous throughout his career, at least to the general population.  Schoenhoft couldn’t get on the field at the FBS level, then proceeded to throw 10 picks and only 6 touchdowns for a solid FCS program.  All three guys were moderately ranked recruits, but none were high enough ranked to be monstrous disappointments.

Biggest miss: None.  Forcier was probably a decent enough backup who was never needed because of the presence of Chad Henne and Ryan Mallett.  Even if Michigan had pulled in Beck or Schoenhoft, neither one would have been able to run Rich Rodriguez’s zone read option offense.  In fact, the biggest miss was losing Forcier to a transfer, because he was the most mobile of the three and would have had the best chance to succeed under Rodriguez.  He very well could have been Michigan’s starter in 2008 and 2009.

Best in class: Mark Sanchez?  There weren’t many great quarterbacks in the class of 2005, but Sanchez had a very solid college career.  It was good enough for him to leave USC early for the NFL and get picked by the New York Jets.  He’s just a mediocre NFL quarterback, but NFL success is somewhat secondary to this blog’s interest.

2005 Offer Board

56 total offers

QUARTERBACK (3)
Jason Forcier – San Diego, CA (Michigan)
Harrison Beck – Clearwater, FL (Nebraska)
Rob Schoenhoft – Cincinnati, OH (Ohio State)

RUNNING BACK (4)
Andre Criswell – Detroit, MI (Michigan)
Kevin Grady – Grand Rapids, MI (Michigan)
Mister Simpson – Cincinnati, OH (Michigan)
Rashawn Jackson – Jersey City, NJ (Virginia)

WIDE RECEIVER (10)
Antonio Bass – Jackson, MI (Michigan)
Mario Manningham – Warren, OH (Michigan)
LaTerryal Savoy – Mamou, LA (Michigan)
Rendrick Taylor – Bennettsville, SC (Clemson)
Nate Boateng – Brooklyn, NY (Florida)
Mohamed Massaquoi – Charlotte, NC (Georgia)
Andre Amos – Middletown, OH (Ohio State)
Eric Huggins – Conway, SC (Oklahoma)
Kevin Cousins – Richmond, VA (Penn State)
Selwyn Lymon – Fort Wayne, IN (Purdue)

TIGHT END (2)
Carson Butler – Detroit, MI (Michigan)
Ed Dickson – Bellflower, CA (Oregon)

OFFENSIVE TACKLE (5)
Justin Schifano – Webster, NY (Michigan)
Andy Kuempel – Marion, IA (Iowa)
Dace Richardson – Wheaton, IL (Iowa)
John Jerry – Batesville, MS (Mississippi)
Alex Boone – Lakewood, OH (Ohio State)

OFFENSIVE GUARD (5)
Tim McAvoy – Bloomington, IL (Michigan)
David Moosman – Libertyville, IL (Michigan)
Cory Zirbel – Murray, KY (Michigan)
Ronnie Wilson – Pompano Beach, FL (Florida)
Hivera Green – Conway, SC (Virginia Tech)

DEFENSIVE END (5)
Eugene Germany – Pomona, CA (Michigan)
Chris McLaurin – Orchard Lake, MI (Michigan)
Allan Smith – Kansas City, MO (Boston College)
Kyle Moore – Warner Robins, GA (USC)
William Wall – Chatham, VA (Virginia Tech)

DEFENSIVE TACKLE (4)
James McKinney – Louisville, KY (Michigan)
Marques Slocum – Philadelphia, PA (Michigan)
Terrance Taylor – Muskegon, MI (Michigan)
Craig Bokor – Bedford, PA (Pittsburgh)

LINEBACKER (2)
Brandon Logan – Lexington, KY (Michigan)
Jerome Hayes – Bayonne, NJ (Penn State)

CORNERBACK (11)
Brandon Harrison – Dayton, OH (Michigan)
Chris Richards – North Hills, CA (Michigan)
Johnny Sears – Fresno, CA (Michigan)
Lionel Mitchell – Chatham, VA (Alabama)
Avery Atkins – Daytona Beach, FL (Florida)
Anthony Wiseman – Hyattsville, MD (Maryland)
Demetrice Morley – Miami, FL (Miami)
Kendell Davis – Alliance, OH (Michigan State)
Jamario O’Neal – Cleveland, OH (Ohio State)
Justin King – Pittsburgh, PA (Penn State)
Kevin Thomas – Oxnard, CA (USC)

SAFETY (4)
C.J. Byrd – North Augusta, SC (Georgia)
Chris Rowell – Warrensville Heights, OH (Iowa)
Nic Harris – Alexandria, LA (Oklahoma)
Victor Harris – Highland Springs, VA (Virginia Tech)

KICKER/PUNTER (1)
Zoltan Mesko – Twinsburg, OH (Michigan)

Kevin Sousa, ex-Wolverine

Lake Nona, FL quarterback Kevin Sousa

Quarterback Kevin Sousa, who had been committed to Michigan since June 2010, has decommitted in favor of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.  Sousa is 6’2″, 213 lbs., and the #22 dual-threat quarterback to Rivals.  Here’s the commitment post I wrote for him a few months ago.

Sousa started to hint that he might be re-opening his recruitment last month when he showed a bit of disappointment that the Michigan coaches were continuing to recruit other quarterbacks, namely Marquise Williams (who was committed to North Carolina and now is a Virginia Tech commit).  While Sousa didn’t seem to mind the highly touted quarterbacks already on Michigan’s roster, he was clearly agitated that Michigan didn’t seem to be fully devoted to him as their future quarterback. 

So while Michigan’s coaches didn’t seem convinced that Sousa was their guy, they also seem to have struck out on all or most of the quarterbacks ahead of him on their wish list (and mine).  The two remaining uncommitted quarterback prospects on Michigan’s board are Cardale Jones (Cleveland, OH) and Tanner McEvoy (Oradell, NJ).  Jones hails from Glennville High School, a program helmed by Ohio State-loving Ted Ginn, Sr.  He’s a bit of a poor fit for Michigan’s system, and I can’t see him succeeding in an offense predicated on the zone read option.  Meanwhile, McEvoy spent his high school career as a receiver before switching to quarterback prior to his senior season.  He did enjoy some success this past fall (26 passing touchdowns, 11 rushing touchdowns at last count), but one can only assume that he would be a bit of a project as a quarterback.

In my opinion, Michigan needs to bring in a quarterback prospect in the 2011 class.  Some fans think the Wolverines can get away with avoiding the quarterback position for 2011 and going after some players in 2012.  I think that would be a mistake.  It’s entirely possible that the coaching situation at Michigan could cause one or more transfers.  If Rich Rodriguez remains at Michigan, the chance exists that Tate Forcier might want to go elsewhere; he’s good enough to start at many places in the country.  If Jim Harbaugh is hired, I’m not sure how Denard Robinson fits.  Meanwhile, it’s unclear how Tate Forcier would feel about playing for Harbaugh.  Forcier would seem a better fit for Harbaugh’s system, but Tate’s older brother Jason (also a Michigan Wolverine back in 2005-2006) threw a total of 13 passes under Harbaugh after transferring to Stanford.  Even if each of the quarterbacks remains, that gives Michigan only three on the roster (the aforementioned Forcier and Robinson, plus freshman Devin Gardner).  One or more transfers would obviously leave Michigan perilously thin at the position.

The decommitment of Sousa leaves Michigan with 13 commitments in the Class of 2011, and Michigan should have 22 to give.  Approximately nine slots remain open.