Tag: Scout rankings

Scout watch list for 2016 released

Scout released its 2016 watch list, and it includes some notable players for Michigan fans:

Sam Bruce – WR – Florida (offered)
Messiah DeWeaver – QB – Ohio (visited Michigan several times)
Trevon Diggs – WR – Maryland (younger brother of Maryland WR Stefon Diggs)
Bryan Edwards – WR – South Carolina (attends alma mater of Junior Hemingway)
Liam Eichenberg – OG – Ohio (attends alma mater of Jake Ryan)
Matt Falcon – RB – Michigan (attends same school as Lawrence Marshall, Malik McDowell)
Brendan Ferns – LB – Ohio (younger brother of Michael Ferns)
Desmond Fitzpatrick – WR – Michigan (visited Michigan several times)
Rashan Gary – DT – New Jersey (offered)
Dele’ Harding – LB – Maryland (teammate of 2014 commits Freddy Canteen, Brandon Watson)
Lavert Hill – CB – Michigan (younger brother of Delano Hill)
Keandre Jones – WR – Maryland (attends alma mater of Blake Countess)
Sulaiman Kamara – DT – Virginia (attends alma mater of Derrick Green)
Thiyo Lukusa – OT – Michigan
Jalen Martin – WR – Michigan (attends alma mater of Csont’e York)
Isaac Nauta – TE – Georgia (offered)
Michael Onwenu – DT – Michigan (attends alma mater of Thomas Gordon, Delano Hill, Jourdan Lewis, etc.)
Martell Pettaway – RB – Michigan
Kaden Smith – TE – Texas (attends alma mater of Stephen Hopkins)
Erik Swenson – OT – Illinois (offered, Michigan lean)

Scout 300 released for 2015

Tyrone Wheatley (left) and Wheatley, Jr. (image via Scout)

I posted the list of top 100 players for Scout the other day, and now they’ve released their top 300. Here’s a look at the rest of that list, particularly players of note for Michigan fans; all players have been offered unless otherwise noted.

112. Anthony McKee – OLB – Ohio*
118. Jaason Lewis – WR – Virginia
120. Darian Roseboro – DE – North Carolina
125. Chuma Edoga – OT – Georgia*
131. C.J. Conrad – TE – Ohio**
136. Matt Jones – OG – Ohio**
140. Tyrone Wheatley – DE – New York
168. David Dowell – WR – Ohio*
173. Kyonta Stallworth – OT – Michigan**
182. Cassius Peat – OLB – Arizona*
186. Tyson Smith – CB – Michigan**
200. Chris Green – MLB – Ohio*
215. Chris Fobbs – CB – Ohio**
220. Tyree Kinnel – CB – Ohio**
239. Mike Weber – RB – Michigan
252. Joshua Alabi – DE – Michigan
265. Tyriq Thompson – OLB – Michigan*
268. Garrett Taylor – CB – Virginia*
272. David Edwards – QB – Illinois*
279. Andrew Dowell – RB – Ohio**
286. Christopher Young – S – Ohio**

*Player has visited or camped at Michigan.
**Player has not visited or been offered, but comes from Michigan’s heavy recruiting area.

Scout 100 for 2015 released

Tarpon Springs (FL) East Lake wide receiver George Campbell, a 5-star to Scout

Scout released its top 100 players for the class of 2015. There are lots of Michigan offers on the list, including a couple current commits. I also included a couple unoffered players of note. (All players listed have been offered unless otherwise noted.)

5-stars:
1. Tim Settle – DT – Virginia*
2. Malik Jefferson – OLB – Texas
4. Mitch Hyatt – OT – Georgia
5. Kevin Tolliver – CB – Florida (LSU)
7. Sotonye Jamabo – RB – Texas
10. Ricky DeBerry – OLB – Virginia#
13. George Campbell – WR – Florida (Michigan)
14. Josh Rosen – QB – California
17. Iman Marshall – CB – California

4-stars:
22. Damien Harris – RB – Kentucky (Michigan)
30. Shy Tuttle – DT – North Carolina
33. Jeffrey Holland – OLB – Florida
34. L.J. Scott – RB – Ohio**
40. Terry Beckner – DE – Illinois
47. Jashon Cornell – DE – Minnesota
48. Osa Masina – OLB – Utah
53. Kamonte Carter – DE – Maryland
54. Justin Hilliard – OLB – Ohio
55. Chris Warren – RB – Texas#
59. Brian Cole – WR – Michigan
62. Sterling Jenkins – OT – Pennsylvania
67. Eric Glover-Williams – RB – Ohio**
68. Devonaire Clarington – TE – Florida
73. Hjalte Froholdt – DE – Ohio (but moving back to Denmark)
86. Jacques Patrick – RB – Florida
87. Jerome Baker – OLB – Ohio
88. Anthony Wheeler – MLB – Texas
90. Kevin Dillman – QB – California^
98. Shaun Crawford – CB – Ohio
99. Cameron Townsend – OLB – Texas

*Plans to visit for the Notre Dame game this fall with his friend Da’Shawn Hand.
**Not offered, but from Ohio which Michigan recruits heavily.
#Not offered, but visited Michigan this spring.
^Not offered, but is reportedly high on Michigan’s list of potential offerees.

Poll results: Which recruiting site do you prefer overall?

This has been an issue brought up more often recently now that 247 Sports seems to be making a strong push in the recruiting world. I have to admit that I used to be strongly entrenched in Rivals’ camp, at least as far as Michigan-related sites go. Lately, I have been looking to 247 Sports more and more. Underneath the votes I have some pros and cons for each sites:

Rivals: 34%
Rivals has shown to be the best when it comes to recruiting rankings. The guys who go on to NFL careers were generally rated higher by Rivals than ESPN or Scout (247 Sports is too new for this to be relevant). The site is also easily navigable, and it’s simple to sort through positions, recruiting classes, schools, cities, etc. The Wolverine, which is the Michigan-specific site, lost a lot when Josh Helmholdt got promoted to midwest analyst. His replacement, Tim Sullivan, doesn’t have the contacts or the football acumen to fill Helmholdt’s shoes, so content on The Fort (the premium message board) has been lacking and/or slow.

247 Sports: 30%
247 Sports popped onto the scene with some technological advancements that sped past its competitors. If you go to a recruit’s profile, it has a timeline that reports dates of offers, camp visits, campus visits, official visits, commitments, etc. It also links highlights from various other sites (Youtube, Hudl, etc.) and shows a Twitter feed with mentions about that particular player. The two newest features are the 247 Composite ranking (which averages together a recruit’s rankings from the four major sites) and the Crystal Ball, which shows updated predictions on where the prospect will go. The message board can be a little unwieldy, but writer/moderator Steve Lorenz does a good job of keeping up with recruits, even some that are just barely on the fringe of Michigan’s radar.


Scout: 15%
Scout seems to have been most affected by the arrival of 247 Sports. The website is very difficult to navigate and looks like it was designed by amateurs. (By the way, I freely admit that I’m an amateur when it comes to site design, so I’m not handing out criticism I’m unwilling to take – but this is a hobby for me, and it shouldn’t be for them.) The best thing Scout’s Michigan site has going for it is Sam Webb, who seems to be the guy most plugged in to Michigan’s coaching staff and the program. Finding rankings by position, state, etc. can be difficult with Scout, so I mostly avoid the site, except when a) a player commits and I need his Scout ranking or b) they update their top 300.

None of the above: 11%
These people probably either don’t care about recruiting or they just care about the free stuff that filters over to free sites, message boards, etc. To each his own.


ESPN: 8%
As far as recruiting goes, Wolverine Nation’s Tom VanHaaren does a great job of keeping up with recruiting news. He and 247’s Lorenz both seem to be on a fairly even plane. The message board gets updated regularly, and the moderators spend plenty of time online. Chantel Jennings adds some feature-like items and Michael Rothstein handles mostly basketball recruiting stuff and then some features on current and former Michigan players, so it’s pretty much VanHaaren’s show. ESPN is slower to rate players and updates its rankings less often; whether that’s good or bad might be up to its audience to decide. Personally, I think rankings are updated too often by some other sites (especially 247), but ESPN could probably start earlier with their initial rankings. Individual recruiting profiles lack highlights or links to highlights, so the site relies solely on ESPN videos of camps and such, which load slowly and are full of commercials. I would expect a better product for all the money ESPN has to throw around.

Full disclosure: I currently have Rivals and 247 Sports subscriptions. I let my ESPN subscription expire. I have never been a member of Scout.

Scout 300 updated for 2014

Jabrill Peppers is now the #6 player in the nation

Scout released its updated top 300 prospects for the class of 2014. Here’s what it looked like in June.

Movement for Michigan commits:

– Jabrill Peppers jumped from #7 to #6
– Drake Harris dropped from #28 to #30
– Bryan Mone dropped from #94 to #96
– Lawrence Marshall dropped from #103 to #105
– Michael Ferns dropped from #146 to #149
– Chase Winovich dropped from #230 to #232
– Mason Cole dropped from #251 to #259

5-stars:
1. Leonard Fournette – RB – Louisiana
2. Cameron Robinson – OT – Louisiana
3. Lorenzo Carter – DE – Georgia
5. Braden Smith – OT – Kansas
6. Jabrill Peppers – CB – New Jersey (Michigan)
7. Adoree’ Jackson – CB – California
8. John Smith – S – California
9. Jamal Adams – S – Texas
11. Da’Shawn Hand – DE – Virginia
15. Quin Blanding – S – Virginia (Virginia)
17. K.C. McDermott – OT – Florida (Miami)
18. Joe Mixon – RB – California
21. Casey Tucker – OT – Arizona
22. Andrew Brown – DT – Virginia (Virginia)
25. Malachi Dupre – WR – Louisiana

4-stars:
28. Jalen Tabor – CB – Washington, D.C.
30. Drake Harris – WR – Michigan (Michigan)
31. Solomon Thomas – DE – Texas
33. Damian Prince – OT – Maryland
34. Malik McDowell – DE – Michigan
35. Marshon Lattimore – WR – Ohio
36. Damon Webb – CB – Michigan (Ohio State)
37. Khairi Clark – DT – Florida (Florida)
41. Nyles Morgan – MLB – Illinois
45. Edward Paris – CB – Texas (LSU)
48. Kyle Berger – OLB – Ohio (Ohio State)
49. Jalen Brown – WR – Arizona
53. Jamarco Jones – OT – Illinois (Ohio State)
55. Myles Garrett – DE – Texas
57. Jalen Hurd – RB – Tennessee (Tennessee)
59. Nick Watkins – CB – Texas
64. Mark Andrews – WR – Arizona
66. Bo Scarbrough – RB – Alabama (Alabama)
70. Parrker Westphal – CB – Illinois
71. Sam Mustipher – OG – Maryland (Notre Dame)
76. Saeed Blacknall – WR – New Jersey
77. Elijah Hood – RB – North Carolina (Notre Dame)
82. Tyler Luatua – TE – California
85. Sam Hubbard – OLB – Ohio (Ohio State)
89. Christian McCaffrey – RB – Colorado (Stanford)
92. Dravon Henry – CB – Pennsylvania
94. Brandon Simmons – S – Texas (Stanford)
96. Bryan Mone – DT – Utah (Michigan)
97. Andy Bauer – OG – Missouri (Mississippi)
102. Roderick Johnson – OT – Missouri
103. Josh Malone – WR – Tennessee
105. Lawrence Marshall – DE – Michigan (Michigan)
112. Demarre Kitt – WR – Georgia (Clemson)
117. Shai McKenzie – RB – Pennsylvania
119. Demetrius Knox – OG – Texas
126. Dwight Williams – OLB – California
138. Artavis Scott – WR – Florida (Clemson)
140. Bryson Allen-Williams – OLB – Georgia (South Carolina)
141. Dante Booker – OLB – Ohio (Ohio State)
149. Michael Ferns III – MLB – Ohio (Michigan)
150. Montae Nicholson – S – Pennsylvania
152. Ja’Von Harrison – S – Florida (Virginia Tech)
154. Erick Smith – S – Ohio
165. Kiy Hester – S – New Jersey (Rutgers)
166. Steven Parker – S – Oklahoma
170. Bentley Spain – OT – North Carolina
173. Garrett Dickerson – TE – New Jersey
174. Daniel Helm – TE – Illinois (Tennessee)
177. Dexter Wideman – DT – South Carolina
188. Jay Hayes – DT – New York (Notre Dame)
189. Devon Thomas – RB – Oklahoma (Oklahoma State)
192. Richard Yeargin III – OLB – Florida
194. Wesley Green – CB – Georgia (South Carolina)
196. Alex Bars – OT – Tennessee (Notre Dame)
199. Adarius Pickett – CB – California
203. Lorenzo Featherston – DE – North Carolina
205. Corey Holmes – WR – Florida
207. D’Andre Payne – CB – Washington, D.C. (Tennessee)
217. Conor Sheehy – DE – Wisconsin (Wisconsin)
218. Marcus Allen – S – Maryland (Penn State)
221. Jacory Washington – TE – Louisiana (LSU)
224. Jeb Blazevich – TE – North Carolina (Georgia)
229. Petera Wilson – MLB – Tennessee
232. Chase Winovich – OLB – Pennsylvania (Michigan)
250. K.J. Williams – WR – Pennsylvania (Syracuse)
254. T’Kevian Rockwell – OLB – Texas (Baylor)
258. Juwann Winfree – WR – New Jersey
259. Mason Cole – OG – Florida (Michigan)
261. Jackson Barton – OT – Utah (Utah)
275. Troy Vincent, Jr. – CB – Maryland (Penn State)
294. Malik Hooker – WR – Pennsylvania