Tag: Joe Bolden

2012 Rivals 250 Released

Michigan commit James Ross is the second-highest Wolverine on the list at #143

Yesterday Rivals released the Rivals 100.  Today just before noon, they released their top 250 prospects.  This puts five state of Michigan players in the country’s top 250, including Royce Jenkins-Stone at #87.  Altogether, 108 of Michigan’s 153 offers (or 70.6%) are to the top 250 recruits in the nation.  Michigan offerees on today’s list are:

101. Peter Jinkens – LB – Texas (Texas)
103. Max Tuerk – OT – California
107. LaDarrell McNeil – S – Texas
108. Deontay McManus – WR – Maryland
112. Elijah Shumate – S – New Jersey
118. Ty Darlington – C – Florida
123. Connor Brewer – QB – Arizona (Texas)
124. Bri’onte Dunn – RB – Ohio (Ohio State)
126. Raphael Kirby – LB – Georgia
129. Dalvin Tomlinson – DT – Georgia
130. Evan Boehm – OG – Missouri
133. Bryce Treggs – WR – California
134. Aaron Burbridge – WR – Michigan
137. Paul Thurston – OT – Colorado
139. Wayne Morgan – CB – New York
140. Jaleel Johnson – DT – Illinois
143. James Ross – LB – Michigan (Michigan)
147. Devonte Fields – DE – Texas (TCU)
148. Michael Starts – OT – Texas
152. Kyle Dodson – OG – Ohio
154. Dan Voltz – OT – Illinois (Wisconsin)
156. Brent Wilkerson – DE – Maryland (Penn State)
157. Matt Jones – RB – Florida (Florida)
165. Brock Stadnik – OT – North Carolina (South Carolina)
167. Joe Bolden – LB – Ohio (Michigan)
170. Jonathan Williams – RB – Texas (Missouri)
176. Michael Moore – DE – Maryland
184. Greg Garmon – RB – Pennsylvania
185. Ken Ekanem – DE – Virginia
187. Armani Reeves – CB – Massachusetts
190. Sean Price – TE – Florida
191. Shane Callahan – OT – Colorado
192. Jarontay Jones – DT – Georgia
194. Amara Darboh – WR – Iowa
195. Terry Richardson – CB – Michigan
198. Ryan Watson – DE – Maryland
209. Jordan Diamond – OT – Illinois
210. Jody Fuller – WR – North Carolina
211. Leonte Carroo – WR – New Jersey
214. Reginald Davis – WR – Texas (Texas Tech)
215. Troy Hinds – DE – Utah
221. I’tavius Mathers – RB – Tennessee
222. Danny O’Brien – DT – Michigan
224. Cyrus Jones – CB – Maryland
230. Mike Madaras – OG – Maryland (Maryland)
231. Tom Strobel – DE – Ohio
232. Dillon Lee – LB – Georgia
238. Darius Powe – WR – California
240. Latroy Pittman – WR – Florida (Florida)
242. J.J. Denman – OT – Pennsylvania
243. Camren Williams – LB – Massachusetts (Penn State)
246. Ondre Pipkins – DT – Missouri
247. Deaysean Rippy – LB – Pennsylvania

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Joe Bolden, Wolverine

Joe Bolden has some unfortunate team colors, but we’ll forgive him.

Joe Bolden, a linebacker from Colerain High School in Cincinnati, OH, has committed to Michigan.  He chose the Wolverines over offers from Arizona, Boston College, Cincinnati, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Northwestern, Penn State, South Florida, Stanford, Syracuse, Tennessee, and West Virginia, among others.

Bolden stands 6’2″ tall and weighs 225 lbs.  As a junior, he had 90 tackles, 4 sacks, and 2 interceptions.  According to Scout and 247 Sports, he’s a 4-star prospect.  Rivals and ESPN, both of whom are lagging behind in rankings, have not bothered to rank many prospects yet.  ESPN thought about it briefly and put him on the 150 watch list, and Rivals put him on the 250 to Watch list, which indicates he’ll be no lower than a 4-star prospect to them, either.

Athletically, Bolden isn’t out of this world.  He’s not extremely big or fast, he’s not particularly sudden, and not every play ends with an explosive tackle.  However, he seems to have exceptional play recognition skills.  He takes his one read step and then goes to the ball.  While he’s not exactly a quick-twitch athlete, he has above average coverage skills because of his instincts and awareness.  Bolden also seems to have a top-quality motor with the willingness to chug back into plays that others would give up on.  He flies to the football, makes solid contact, and wraps up ballcarriers.

The more I’ve seen of Bolden, the more I like him.  He seems like a good kid and nearly has a 4.0 grade point average.  He’s just a good all-around football player.  With his play recognition skills, I would like to see him play MIKE linebacker at 240-245 lbs.  I think he has the size and athleticism to play SAM, but quick diagnosis is key for a MIKE.

Colrain High School has produced a fair amount of talent for Michigan.  The most notable player for Michigan fans is probably B.J. Askew, a tailback/fullback who has played in the NFL with the Jets and Buccaneers.  The Cincinnati school also sent running back Mister Simpson and linebacker Cobrani Mixon, but both players transferred after one year.  Simpson is out of football, but Mixon was an all-conference player at Kent State and is hoping to get drafted this weekend.

Bolden is the third linebacker commit in the 2012 class, following Kaleb Ringer and Royce Jenkins-Stone.  There has been some talk that Jenkins-Stone – originally reported to be headed for MIKE – will end up playing SAM, and Bolden might give the coaches that flexibility.

Bolden gives the Wolverines seven commitments now, plus an additional player reported to be a silent commit.  The class is scheduled to be approximately 17 players strong, but that will surely grow in the months to come.

TTB Rating: 77

Maize ‘n’ Brew: Recruiting Visitors – March 18-20, 2011

The key to today’s game.

Nobody really cares about football right now, but I put up a post over at Maize ‘n’ Brew about this weekend’s recruiting visitors.

But in case you didn’t know, Michigan is playing Duke in the third round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament this afternoon.  It will be on CBS beginning at 2:30 p.m.

I think the key to the game (aside from Darius Morris, who’s the team’s most important player) will be Zack Novak.  He needs to have one of his great shooting days in order to pull off the upset.  If Novak has an off day, I don’t think Michigan will have a chance.

I think the game will be competitive, but Duke will end up with about a seven-point victory.  I’ll guess 65-58.

Here’s hoping for an upset, though . . .   Go blue!