Tag: Kai-Leon Herbert

Ex-Wolverine Updates: 2018 Pre-Season

Vic Viramontes is going to row the boat…at Riverside City College (image via Twin Cities)

TRANSFERS

Devin Asiasi, TE (UCLA): Asiasi sat out the season due to NCAA transfer rules. From what I can gather, he’s pegged to be the #2 tight end this season.

Ian Bunting, TE (California): Bunting will be a fifth year senior at Cal this fall.

Brian Cole, S (Mississippi State): Cole is listed as a 6’2″, 210 lb. redshirt junior safety at Mississippi State and is projected to be the Bulldogs’ starting nickel player. He spent last season at East Mississippi Community College.

Kekoa Crawford, WR: Crawford will transfer, though his destination is unknown.

Kingston Davis, RB (UAB): Davis is a 6’0″, 245 lb. running back at UAB after spending last season at Independence Community College in Kansas. He looks to be one of the featured players on the upcoming season of Last Chance U on Netflix.

Ja’Raymond Hall, OG (Central Michigan): Hall announced that he would transfer to Central Michigan in the off-season, which means he will have to sit out 2018 due to NCAA transfer rules.

Elysee Mbem-Bosse, LB: It’s unknown at this point whether Mbem-Bosse will continue his football career.

Kareem Walker, RB: Walker will transfer, though his destination is unknown.

Keith Washington, CB (West Virginia): Washington, who played this past season at Co-Lin, has transferred to West Virginia, where he’s listed as a 6’0″, 173 lb. redshirt junior cornerback.

Maurice Ways, WR (California): Ways will be a fifth year senior at Cal this fall.

Hit the jump for news on former commitments and coaches.

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Ex-Wolverine Updates: 2017 Pre-season Edition

Shane Morris (image via Twitter)

TRANSFERS

OG Kyle Bosch: Bosch is expected to start at offensive guard for West Virginia. He’s currently ranked as the #11 offensive guard in the 2018 draft class by NFL Draft Scout.

WR/S Brian Cole: Cole spent the 2016 season at East Mississippi Community College, the school that’s the subject of the Netflix docuseries Last Chance U. Cole isn’t featured prominently, though he makes a couple cameos. Anyway, he made 54 tackles, 1 sack, 3 forced fumbles, and 2 fumble recoveries at safety. He enrolled at Mississippi State in January but he will have to redshirt this year to get in compliance with academic requirements.

RB Kingston Davis: Davis ran 2 times for 17 yards against Hawaii in last year’s season opener, and now he’s transferring to Independence Community College in Kansas. The assumption is that he’ll try to transfer back up to an FBS program in 2018.

Hit the jump for many, many more updates.

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2017 Recruiting Grades: Offense

Donovan Peoples-Jones (image via Rivals)

QUARTERBACK: A-
Commits (1): Dylan McCaffrey
Decommits (0): N/A
Why? McCaffrey was a U.S. Army All-American and there have been whispers that Jim Harbaugh believes McCaffrey is the best high school quarterback prospect he’s seen in a long time, maybe going back to Andrew Luck. So there’s that. McCaffrey has the height, the bloodline, and the athleticism to be a very good quarterback. However, there are questions about his arm strength and mechanics. So while Harbaugh really likes him, I would have preferred someone like Davis Mills, who chose Stanford instead.

Hit the jump for the rest of the offensive grades.

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2017 Recruiting Update: January 27, 2017

Antjuan Simmons (image via Eleven Warriors)

ADDED TO THE BOARD: 2017

Ft. Lauderdale (FL) St. Thomas Aquinas wide receiver Mike Harley decommitted from West Virginia. He’s a 4-star, the #42 wide receiver, and #303 overall. Michigan had an in-home with him a few weeks ago, but he’s now favored to go to Miami.

OFF THE BOARD

Warren (OH) Harding safety Lynn Bowden committed to Kentucky. Bowden had put Michigan on his top list at one point, but there wasn’t a ton of contact between the two parties.

Clearwater (FL) Central Catholic wide receiver C.J. Cotman committed to North Carolina. He had previously been committed to Tennessee.

Hit the jump for several more players who committed elsewhere recently.

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Kai-Leon Herbert, Ex-Wolverine

Kai-Leon Herbert isn’t a guy who does hats

Plantation (FL) American Heritage offensive tackle Kai-Leon Herbert decommitted from Michigan on Sunday. Herbert is a 6’5″, 284-pounder who’s a 4-star, the #28 offensive tackle, and #252 overall.

Herbert committed to Michigan in July of 2016 (LINK). If you follow recruiting closely, you may remember that he made a The Walking Dead spin-off video for his commitment. It was one of the more creative commitment videos I’ve seen. I gave him an 86. Not for the video, but as a TTB Rating. He’s a legitimate left tackle prospect, though he could play guard as well. But in the months since, his commitment has been viewed as very soft. I said several months ago that I didn’t think he would stick with Michigan, and I even put in a Crystal Ball in on January 11 for him to commit to Florida. I don’t know all the reasons behind his choice, but there have been rumors that he was not comfortable with the number of commitments Michigan had on the offensive line and their continued pursuit of linemen.

Frankly, I don’t know why linemen aren’t pounding down the door to play offensive line at Michigan, especially to play offensive tackle. Michigan has limited options at both tackle spots, and they lose three senior starters from 2016. In fact, Michigan’s best option at left tackle might be to bump center Mason Cole out there and let an unproven player snap the ball. Playing time is right there for the taking if you put in the work to beat out some . . . unheralded options.

Michigan now has 26 commits in the 2017 class, including potential tackles Joel Honigford, Chuck Filiaga, Andrew Stueber, Ja’Raymond Hall, and potentially even James Hudson III, the last of whom was primarily recruited as a defensive tackle. Honigford is almost certainly destined for a redshirt, Filiaga won’t be ready to play left tackle, and Hall probably needs some time, too. Out of the incoming freshmen currently committed, Stueber might be the most ready to step in immediately and play.

I posted an If I Had My Druthers piece on the offensive line last week (LINK), and Mekhi Becton seems the most likely to join the class. However, he took an official visit to Virginia Tech this weekend, and a flurry of nine Crystal Balls have come in so far today for the Hokies, who now hold 75% of the picks. It will be interesting to see if Michigan expands its offer board in an attempt to get another linemen to take an official visit before National Signing Day, since only one visit weekend remains.