Belleville (MI) Belleville DE Tyrece Woods (image via Rivals)
Belleville (MI) Belleville defensive end Tyrece Woods committed to Michigan on Sunday night. He actually has yet to play a down at Belleville, but he transferred there from Detroit (MI) Martin Luther King, Jr. following his junior year. Woods picked the Wolverines over offers from Air Force, Cincinnati, Fresno State, and a bunch of MAC programs.
Woods is listed at 6’2″ and anywhere from 240 to 255 lbs. He claims a 4.78 forty, a 315 lb. bench press, a 365 lb. squat, and a 405 lb. deadlift.
RATINGS
ESPN: 3-star, 74 grade, #133 DE
Rivals: 3-star OLB
247 Sports:
Hit the jump for more on Woods’s commitment.
If you’re an avid reader of this blog, you have seen Woods’s name popping up over and over again for several years. When he was going to Detroit (MI) King, he would tag along with teammates (Donnie Corley, Lavert Hill, etc.) to Michigan quite frequently for underclassman days, the BBQ at the Big House, etc. I’ve been posting about him since he was in eighth grade. He was dying for an offer from Michigan, and it was clear to me that if Michigan ever offered, they would be almost impossible to beat. He camped at Michigan in mid-June, got an offer on June 18, and the rest is history.
First of all, it’s nice to see a kid who is such a big fan and has worked really hard at this goal to be able to achieve it. There’s a lot to be said for desire and hard work, and you need those “program guys” who can bust their tails for Michigan. He wants to be in Ann Arbor. Woods mostly played a wide-9 technique at King, where he was tilted toward the offensive tackle. He has a decent get-off for a strongside end or interior lineman, and his speed is adequate. There’s a little bit of nastiness in him, and he can be physical at times.
On the negative side, Woods is not a freak athlete. He claims a 4.78 forty, which I do not believe to be accurate. At 6’2″ and 240-255 lbs., there’s only a certain amount of growth to be expected before he will max out. Woods does not change direction extremely well, and there are times where he lacks the “killer instinct” to finish plays. I have issues with his stance (his butt is too low), but that can be corrected. I also don’t think he’s violent enough with his hands; he doesn’t strike offensive linemen.
Overall, Woods looks like a program guy to me based on his junior film. He lacks the explosiveness to play on the edge, and he will probably need to convert to defensive tackle sooner or later. His get-off can be a plus on the interior, so it will depend on how well he can learn to strike and how strong he can get in the weight room. Otherwise, I see the college game moving too fast for him. He reminds me of Ken Wilkins (see: “Ken Wilkins, Wolverine” from June of 2009), a guy who started out as an edge guy before outgrowing the position.
Michigan lost defensive end Stephen Herron to Stanford not long ago, and they have now replaced him with Woods, though Herron was a WDE and Woods is probably more of a strongside or interior guy. The Wolverines now have 20 commitments in the class of 2019. After a long stretch of being unable to successfully recruit Belleville, Michigan currently has two commitments from Tigers: Woods and 2020 cornerback Andre Seldon.
TTB Rating: 49 (ratings explanation)
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Agree with the assessment. He does seem to have a pretty good knack for finding the ball-carrier and he is quick off the snap (sometimes). But he does not use his hands and just needs a lot of technical work. Tyrece supposedly earned the offer at UM’s camp in part by running a 4.65 forty and 4.2 shuttle at 230+ lbs. If that is legit, he has a shot. Like Velasquez, Woods’ senior film will be one to keep an eye on.
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It’s now getting to the point of embarrassment that UM has to offer a player like this. Once again, could have offered him in Mid-December and he would have taken it… if you’re that desperate. Which makes me think this is more about establishing Belleville than it does about the talent of the kid. Regardless, this is another low-ceiling, under-sized player that is taking up a spot on a previously elite recruiting class. The kid has 1 pass rush move, push. He’s not fast and his tape is average at best. Prove me wrong, but I think odds are in my favor.
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And as happens every time, the defenders of low rated recruits miss the point. It’s not whether our coaching staff can possibly make a good player out of someone. It’s whether they can make a BETTER player out of him than our opponents’ coaches can make out of more highly regarded recruits. It’s all very well to say “I love his film!” or “He’s got a great upside!”, but I’ll wager the three star warriors would be raving even more about a top 100 guy at the same position.
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I think you’re on to something, WCB! Let’s start recruiting the top-100 guys. I bet if we have a class of 25 guys in the top-100, we’ll be pretty good at football.
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It’s not the rating, it’s the average tape he produced and lack of interest from any relevant college program. Plus, the fact that you can sit and wait on this kid for basically the whole season and he would have accepted. Instead, other programs are pointing out to the players that UM are taking lower rated kids over them. A form of disrespect to the higher ranked player and thus less likely to commit, especially with less scholarships.
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Wiltfong says he ran two at 4.65 in camp. He also claims to squat at 500. If true that would give me a different opinion than the one I get from his film. Sometimes, after a lot of effort, we explode through a plateau. Especially when we’re kids.
So, Maybe.
Kid does the books with an offer to Air Force. Thats a good sign
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You’re right. I’ll say this: If this offer came after three weeks of his junior season and we saw that film, I would be down on Woods more. Since the offer came about 7 or 8 months after his junior season ended, there’s a lot that could have changed in that time.
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I certainly understand the skepticism and being a bit frustrated with some of the recruiting. I am not one to always say “trust the coaches” but (1) we have seen some guys climb the recruiting board after being “unearthed” by this coaching staff, especially on defense, and (2) if there is one position where we give the coaches the benefit of the doubt, it’s the DL. I think we can better judge this commitment at the end of the cycle.
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I am baffled and disappointed with this offer. This is an athlete with zero Power 5 offer. However, when I went and look back at Harbaugh’s first recruiting class and check Harbaugh’s hit/miss track record with 2-3 stars recruit, the hit rate is pretty good. 6 out of 12 turned out to be good to great players for Michigan whom we would take again in hindsight. The misses seem to come on offense and this can be attributed to system, development or QB/OL recruitment.
Hit: Hudson, Metellus, Dwumfour, McKeon Evans and Nordin
Miss: McDoom, Johnson, Davis
TBD: Spanellis, Gil, Uche
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I think what we are talking about are guys that don’t show much on tape AND have almost zero power 5 offers. I think we can all agree Hudson looked like a stud. McKeon looked good on film and was lightly recruited but still made some lists as a good prospect (I remember voting for him online for an All Star game). Nordin had committed to Penn State and a 3 star kicker is like the highest you can be. I’ll agree on Dwumfour (friend of R. Gary), Metellus (who I always thought was overrated) and Evans.
As for TBD, Uche showed up on tape. You could see his potential at least. Gil is blah and Spanellis is a true TBD.
You don’t have to be top 100 Mags, but you gotta be in the top 1000 by August of your senior year.
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Spanellis would start on a handful of B1G teams. So what? Well, in the last 10yrs we haven’t had many OL to say that about, especially depth underclassmen…
Gil started the opener as a RSFr for the eventual #3 D, and is in contention to start on what could be the most talented D we’ve had in years
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To Extra above. At the time of the commitment by McKeon, I really liked what I saw on film. It was limited but you could tell he was a natural pass catcher and seemed to have a fluid sense to him. I vaguely remember thinking of someone like Kattus back in the day.
I don’t focus on the star thing which is flawed but when I saw the film of Mr. Woods I couldn’t really see the justification of the offer. He wasn’t playing his future position which was in the interior and the guy is pretty slight, had pretty poor technique from what I could see whereas other lower rated recruits I could see the talent and potential.
I just don’t see it. Glad to hear he is a hard worker and possibly an overachiever. By the way, the one guy I saw on film originally who really caught my eye was Hutchinson who I don’t think was as hyped as he is now. Usually you can see and sense an underrated player. Not here.
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