Norco (CA) Norco quarterback Victor Viramontes decommitted from Michigan on Sunday night. He committed to Michigan in June (LINK). The Wolverines had offered him after seeing him at one of their satellite camps.
I had given Viramontes a TTB Rating of 75. He’s a 247 Composite 3-star, the #25 athlete, and the #427 player in the 2016 class. He was a standout quarterback and linebacker at Norco, but his college position was in flux because he was a bit of a project as a passer. He could end up playing quarterback, running back, fullback, tight end, linebacker, or strong safety at the next level.
Viramontes has reported offers from Colorado, Colorado State, Georgia Tech, Nebraska, Nevada, San Diego State, San Jose State, UNLV, Washington State, and Wisconsin. Now that he has decommitted, I would expect more offers to come through shortly. Before he committed to the Wolverines, Nebraska seemed a strong possibility, though they have Patrick O’Brien committed at QB. Based on Viramontes’s statement, it does not appear that Michigan will be an option moving forward.
As for Michigan, it’s unclear whether they will pursue other quarterbacks to replace Viramontes. Avon (IN) Avon quarterback Brandon Peters is already committed, and Viramontes was the type who would get a shot at QB before potentially moving to another spot. Michigan now has 21 commitments in a class that is supposed to be around 27 players strong.
UPDATE: I had to write this post quickly before I went to work, so I did not get a chance to offer much analysis. However, I thought since Viramontes committed that he would be one of the biggest flight risks in the class. As a talented athlete with a decent offer sheet, he’s not the type of kid who probably wants to sit behind Brandon Peters – who is recognized as an elite national QB – and other guys for four years. In my opinion, he’s the type of player who could go to Colorado or Nebraska and start for two or three years. There’s a good chance that he would have come to Michigan and ended up playing linebacker or H-back.
I think Michigan should continue to recruit quarterback/athlete types and perhaps look at players like Lansing (MI) Catholic Central QB/TE/OLB Tony Poljan or Ypsilanti (MI) Ypsilanti QB/WR/CB Marquis Smith as late offer candidates. Poljan recently decommitted from Minnesota, and Smith decommitted from Kansas. It’s good to have talented, all-around athletes on your squad, and while they’re not on the same level as Viramontes, they do offer some value and are within reach if the Wolverines want them.
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This one hurts. The kid is going to be a good one. Better than average athleticism coupled with a motor that does not stop.
This is a major bummer.
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This makes me wonder if this was a result of Harbaugh (and staff) looking at the numbers, knowing who’s coming in, and deciding that Viramontes won’t play QB so it’s better to let him know now rather than at the last minute. I have no inside knowledge … I’m just wondering if the coaches are helping Viramontes out here by quietly signalling he’d be better off decommitting and pursuing other options.
(I also wonder if red-shirting Morris this year was something like that — give Morris an extra year of eligibility to use somewhere else.)
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I don’t have inside knowledge on this. But I read somewhere that John Baxter came to visit him 2 days before he decommited. It seems more likely that a coach check in on their players to convince them to stay rather than tell them they r better else in another college. But it is a loss for Michigan nonetheless.
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id be very surprised if morris plays out his eligibility at m – i doubt he wants to sit on the bench for the next few years with little shot of playing and i doubt the coaches would bring him back for his 5th year if they dont anticipate him playing.
he hasnt had the best coaching to date or best situation overall but he also hasnt shown any signs of being able to lead teams to championships and wins in big games. regardless of whatever some might want to believe, even harbaugh and fisch will have trouble developing morris into a consistent, winning, big ten QB. and thats not a big knock on morris, just hard facts and reasonable projections – its one of the toughest gigs in sports, not many guys can compete and excel at this level. and harbaugh wants excellence from his players, particularly QBs
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I’ll speculate that Harbaugh saw Vic as an eventual LB (or maybe FB), but was originally willing to let him experiment at QB for a year. But with the LB/FB depth charts so lean/dodgy, UM may need true freshmen to step in the rotation in both spots next year. And with OL/DL/WR recruiting numbers looking strong, they need to target LB’s who can potentially contribute early.
I really like Vic too. Unfortunately, JH is attempting to stock a bunch of positions with this ’16 class and he is getting a lot of traction with recruits. He does not have spots in this cycle for experimental QB’s. And if Vic is truly set on being a QB (which is understandable), best to look elsewhere. This guy could be really good in a running-spread offense.
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I’m sad about this. I loved his video. He seems like a football player who could play multiple positions. Maybe, he didn’t think he would have a good chance at QB and that’s what he really wanted. Good luck to him. If he sticks at QB at California, then I’ll be interested to see how that works out at this level. I’m rootin’ for him to do well and to see a continuation at the college level of his many highlights.
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yeah its def one of those situations where itd be interesting to see how it played out on both sides behind the scenes.
these coaches seem pretty open with prospects regarding future vision and where theyre projected so im guessing they did not mislead him. they could have said they envision him competing for snaps at QB even if they really wanted to transition him to LB or FB soon after his arrival.
maybe the coaches told him they dont see him at QB and he bucked? the coaches and viramontes mutually decided to part ways? maybe viramontes was eased out? maybe he just decided he wanted to go elsewhere? or he couldve simply decided he wanted to stay on west coast. we may never know.
viramontes might not project as one of the top pure LBs on the coaches board (and obviously bodies at LB seem to be a priority) but i love the potential versatility. hes a solid athlete at like 6’1″ 220 or whatever and obviously loves to play the game and enjoys its physical nature – with his reported work ethic, its pretty easy to see him developing into a player and quickly earning time at FB / RB / HB or LB or some situational role on D. but QB is a position where athleticism and those type traits only go so far, at least in pro style O. in my opinion he had some work to do before attempting to compete for QB snaps – similar to gentry, some mechanical flaws must be addressed in order to attempt all the reads and throws in harbaughs system (were not talking mostly zone read RPO stuff with easier reads and routes).
its unfortunate though bc i agree with thunder – i think they should recruit several athlete types every cycle (whether theyre 5’11” 180 lb DB / WR types, 6’1″ 215 lb RB / LB types, 6’3″ 240 lb DE / TE types, etc) and i think viramontes was a nice prospect. versatility is huge and he has it
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I’m not really thinking this is a big deal, frankly. Yeah, good athlete, intriguing prospect, but certainly not a guy who’s going to make or break the class. We’ve had far better players decommit, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we replace him with someone just as good. I would rather get someone at a position of greater need than QB in the pipeline now, rather than have a guy like this bail after two years because he thought he was going to get to play at a position we have too many guys for.
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Thought the same thing. An interesting prospect, could play multiple positions but not a must-have.
I guess he is exploring more options, perhaps exclusively at QB and we know that California just offered him.
We have much more important targets
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