Recruitaholics: Size Matters Everyone

This week: 2013 7on7 Tournament Results, Ranking Updates, and Other news, 2014 News, A Lone Visitor, and of course, Sayonara Suckas

2013 7on7 Tournament Results

Two commits took place in the Indianapolis 7on7 Tournament over the weekend in top S Dymonte Thomas and 3-star TE Khalid Hill.  Thomas was a human highlight reel during the weekend.  Playing (and dominating) both sides of the ball, he proved once again how athletic and versatile he is going to be when he makes it up to Ann Arbor next fall.  This to no surprise, as you can see in the picture below, Dymonte looks a little out of place; like he's the coach of all these kids or already a college athlete who came back to teach.  Grown man problems!  He's really bulked up in the last 6 months or so and hasn't lost a step, also great news for the future of the Wolverines.  Hill continues to impress throughout the off-season and took away team MVP honors. 


Image via here
 
The Massillon Tigers, a prominent high school in the state of Ohio, took part in a 7on7 showdown with Louisville last Thursday.  A main ingredient to their success this season will be Michigan commit 6'2" CB Gareon Conley and he put on a clinic as to why he is being regarded as "one of top overall prospects in Ohio for the class of 2013."  Bill Green of Scout.com also added a little more analysis of the talented defensive prospect:
"Senior cornerback/wide receiver. Committed to Michigan. The speedster locked down every receiver he covered, which is to be expected, but he was very impressive at wide receiver on offense. Conley will play cornerback at Michigan, but will be the main deep threat for Massillon this season. He had two long catches Thursday where he simply blew by the defenders. Just an impressive athlete..."
I just love how this staff is adapting to the changes of college football (and human evolution for that matter) and bringing in kids with some height paired with athletic ability.  Size matters everyone!


Ranking Updates

Three separate sites, ESPN, Scout.com, and 247Sports.com gave us an updated list of their top rankings this past week.  Mgoblog put this chart together to give you a look at where all the current commits stand and how far they dropped (-) or moved up (+) in the new released rankings of the three different sites. 
Scout 247 ESPN
Shane Morris 29 (-1) 19 (+2) 26 (+6)
Patrick Kugler 30 (+1) 158 (-4) 116 (-4)
Dymonte Thomas 35 (—) 52 (-1) 94 (+4)
Kyle Bosch 48 (+1) 75 (-23) 126 (-6)
Deveon Smith 60 (-7) 222 (+4) NR
Chris Fox 134 (+5) 100 (-27) 112 (-4)
Henry Poggi 136 (-1) 107 (-2) 259 (-9)
Jake Butt 137 (+15) NR 171 (+61)
Ben Gedeon 155 (-2) 177 (-2) 278 (-8)
Jourdan Lewis 168 (+5) NR 92 (—)
David Dawson 179 (-1) 138 (+19) 89 (—)
Logan Tuley-Tillman 194 (-4) 95 (-6) 102 (-8)
Maurice Hurst Jr. 215 (-2) NR NR
Mike McCray 216 (-2) 178 (-2) 108 (-4)
Gareon Conley 233 (-1) 229 (-7) 63 (+1)
Taco Charlton 269 (NR) 90 (—) 120 (-6)
Wyatt Shallman 268 (-5) NR NR
Jaron Dukes 296 (-1) NR 222 (-6)

A couple to note: TE Jake Butt leads the way as your biggest gainer, moving up 15 spots on Scout and a whopping 61(!!!!) on ESPN.   I'm really starting to get excited about how good of player this kid could end up once he is sporting the (coveted) winged helmet.  Shane Morris is another to note.  The talented QB is now sporting a 5 star rating according to 247Sports (already has one on Scout) and was the only top 4 QB to have his stock rise in the ESPN150.  He is taking part in the Elite 11 in a week or so, trying to earn a 5th star accross the board.  Taco Charlton was bumped up to a 4 star on Scout, which now gives him a 4 star sweep across the board.  Kind of unfair if you ask me on Kyle Bosch's decline.  Kid gets sick, can't perform, forced to go home, and plummets the 247Sports rankings.  Doesn't make sense that one site would drop his stock so much, yet the others don't change much at all.


Other News

'13 CO OL commit Chris Fox was named one of the "Top Hogs" in Colorado.  This is an annual tradition of the Rocky Mountain State and a big honor to be named to this group.  And when I say big I mean quick, heavy, and mean, as a hog would be (you can stop wondering why they call it top hogs now, I figured it out for you - your welcome).

'13 prospect FL S Leon Mcquay has stated he will likely make his decision in November sometime.  We will see an official visit from him as well sometime next fall.  He still maintains a top 3 of Michigan, Vandy, and USC.

Another intriguing prospect that came out of nowhere included Michigan in his top 16, hails from Arizona, which could play a huge factor into the Wolverines chances.  I'm talking about 5 star(!!) '13 S Priest Willis who is highly regarded as a top DB of this class.  He is thinking of narrowing his list to 8 soon, and Tremendous was there to get the lowdown:
"I was able to talk with Priest the other day, who recently named a top 16. He said he was going to cut it to 8 pretty soon. My assumption was Michigan would not make this second cut, but I was wrong. Priest gave me the following schools (again, huge grain of salt, as I was shocked Michigan was in his group): USC, LSU, Arizona State, UCLA, Florida, Florida State, Notre Dame and Michigan. He also said he wants to set up an official visit to Michigan because of its distance from his hometown of Tempe, Arizona. Priest told me this even after he acknowledged that he hadn't heard from the Michigan coaches in a while. Again, I'm just giving you what I'm told and wouldn't expect anything serious to come out of this unless by chance he does visit."
This still doesn't put to much hope into landing this kid, but hey it cant hurt this staff's chances of maybe stealing one away here.  But with just a few spots left, its nice to know that there are so many top prospects with which the staff could literally pick who they want to bring aboard this miraculous '13 class.

'13 top kicker target J.J. McGrath will make his decision on Sept. 1.  He confused everyone a month ago or so saying he was offered by Michigan.  It is simply a preferred walk-on offer but should he choose the Wolverines, they would be getting a quality in-state player in McGrath.

Tim Sullivan of TheWolverine.com put together one last take on the performances of Michigan commits at the Opening which was featured in the Detroit Free Press (Freep) last weekI promise this is the last you will hear about The Opening (from me at least).  


2014 News

Michigan is very high on '14 Cass Tech HS DB Damon Webb and the interest seems mutual.  Webb and his parents have been Michigan fans their whole life and recently caught up with Scout's Sam Webb (any relation here maybe?) to share more about how he is handling the recruiting process.

'14 OH LB Michael Ferns has been a hot name as of lately.  He recently stated that Michigan is definitely in his top 3 schools (ND and PSU the other 2) and check out the rumblings Chris Balas of TheWolverine is hearing:
I definitely love our chances with this kid.  Most signs are pointing towards him ending up a Wolverine and that is the story(ever since my first post) and I'm sticking to it!

Bo Scarborough, a top '14 ATH prospect, recently de-commited from Alabama a few weeks back and was set to make a pledge to his new school on July 23, but now has changed his mind and will continue making visits and wait it out.  Michgan was a part of his top 4 a month or so ago but recently I've heard its down to 4 SEC schools.  Scarborough seems very indecisive and it's hard to tell what he is thinking now.  I'm not sure if Michigan has a good chance with this one, but it can only help out the Wolverines that he is waiting longer to make his commitment.  


A Lone Visitor

'14 OH WR Derek Kief visited over the past weekend and here's a reaction put together by Tremendous.  This was Kief's first visit up to see Ann Arbor and it seems as though the first impression went very well.  He fit's the mold of what this staff is trying to transition to in tall, athletic receivers while Kief is more of a possession type receiver.  Although he doesn't have an offer as of yet, I see it coming in the future taking into consideration the length and skill set of this young prospect.


Sayonara Suckas'

'13 5 star DL Eddie Vanderdoes commited to USC (who hasn't in the past week).  He had Michigan in his final top 10, but a few weeks back was told that Michigan was no longer recruiting defensive lineman.  Michigan missed out on a good one here.

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