Future Maize n' Blue...sadly...

Welcome, todays post is brought to you by Drew Rosenhaus. Only he can smooth talk around the fact that Chad Johnson er…Ocho Cinco slept through a team meeting at 8:30 PM. Spot on buddy.

It has been made known to me that some readers may be interested in learning more about exactly what shape Michigan may be in concerning next years recruiting class. I want to start off by saying that I am in no way an expert on this matter, but I follow it closely. All the information that I have is researched through either rivals.com or espn in one way or another. Oh and my good ole buddy Brian at mgoblog also helps me form my opinions.

First a word about star ratings and what they mean. Kids can be rated anywhere from a 1 star to a 5 star prospect. How many stars kids get is strictly based upon how many different coaches are recruiting the specific prospect. 1 star prospects rarely happen and are generally equate to a walk on at a college. 2 star prospects are generally kids who have came on to the recruiting scene late in their football career and little information about them is widely known. 3 star prospects are very common and can mean a ton of different things. They can be very talented kids of whom little is known about or kids with a ton of speed or kids with a great body type who haven’t really “grown into” their body yet. Other times 3 star prospects can be very polished kids who play for very popular schools and may not have a large upside to them but simply have a lot of exposure because of their situation. These types of players make up a very large portion of D-1 college teams. 4 star players again are very similar to 3 star players but either have more hype about them or are the star of their current high school team. There are a lot less 4 star recruits than 3 star recruits that are available. 5 star recruits are what you would call uber recruits. Everyone in the nation wants them and you can be rest assured that USC is making a big run for them. Most years there are only about 3 dozen kids in the nation who get labeled a 5 star recruit. Michigan’s last 5 star recruit was Donovan Warren.

Star ratings by no means are a guarantee. For example, Kevin Grady was a 5 star “can’t miss” prospect and Mike Hart was a low 3 star recruit. Coaching is still the ultimate determining factor of success or failure, but having a highly rated recruiting class sure helps out a bit.

http://rivals100.rivals.com/commitlist.asp?Year=2009&School=44

Above is a link to Michigan’s current list of commits for 2009. I’m not going to go through every individual on that list, but I will highlight a few who are good and also a few that I want/hope ending up committing at a later date.

Shavodrick Beaver: A dual threat QB commit from the Friday night lights state of Texas. He played in a nationally televised game against Tyrik Rollison (Rivals 100 recruit) and completely outplayed him. He lists a 4.5 40 yd. dash so he has a ton of speed. Needs some work throwing the ball. My guess is that if at all possible he ends up redshirting his freshmen year because of….

Tate Forcier: Younger brother of ex Michigan QB Jason Forcier. He also is a great dual threat QB recruit out of San Diego. Aside from being very fleet of foot he also owns the nations highest completion percentage for high school QB’s. With a probable early enrollment (along with Beaver) he hopefully will be able to step right into the starting role next year with Threet as his backup.

Both QB’s are enrolling early. This is without a doubt the best news Michigan has in the offseason.

Justin Turner: A defensive back recruit out of Massillon, Ohio. Most likely projects as a safety which we are in dire need of. Right now he is our highest rated overall recruit. This guy is good and if all goes the way I see it he will start along side Stevie Brown next year at the SS position.

Craig Roh and Anthony Lalota: Both are DE recruits which we are also in dire need of. With the graduation of Tim Jaimison and the impending departure of Brandon Graham to the NFL, one if not both could see playing time next year. Craig Roh is the more polished of the two so my money is on Roh to see playing time next year. It would be nice to redshirt Lalota. Both are 4 star prospects and both are in the rivals 250.

Fitzgerald Toussaint: A 4 star RB recruit out of Youngstown, Ohio. Usually this city is pretty much dominated by OSU but somehow Fitz decided that Tressel is a d-bag and wanted to come up north where it smells less like old hot dog water. He is listed at 5-10 and every bit of video I have seen on this kid just screams athleticism. Unfortunately for him, he plays a position that Michigan actually has depth at. To make a bold comparison he would be similar to Felix Jones. Not a starting RB, but a significant change of pace back. Probable redshirt.

Jeremy Gallon: A 4 star WR from Apopka, Florida. He most certainly projects to the newly acquired slot WR spot on the team. This kid is ridiculously fast and athletic. He fits the RichRod style of offense perfectly. I really have no idea if he would redshirt or not but Michigan did take a few slot receiver types last year. Doubtful that they are as quick as he is though.

Brandin Hawthorne: A 3 star LB out of Pahokee, Florida. I know he is a 3 star prospect, but from what I have read I really think he will turn into a special prospect. He plays at a perennial powerhouse in football in the talent rich state of Florida and many kids have commented on how hard he hits people. Michigan’s linebacking core has been lacking recently and adding some intensity to it could really help. He attends the same school as current WR Martavious Odoms, and according to rivals, Pahokee is just loaded with potential for 2010 and 2011. Michigan getting their foot in the sand here could yield huge benefits for years to come.

Obviously other kids could have an impact, all of this is wild speculation by yours truly. That being said its also important to know that none of these kids have signed letters of intent yet because national signing day isn’t until next year. On the contrary, all these kids have expressed a verbal commitment to Michigan for 2009. DeQuinta Jones and Dewayne Peace are kids to watch out for a possible decommitment.

Other kids to look at who MAY commit to Michigan…

William Campbell: 5 star DT recruit from Detroit Cass Tech. Thomas Gordon and Teric Jones, two of his teammates, have already committed to Michigan. He is very likely to commit seeing how he already was committed at one point and has been at basically every Michigan home game this year. He projects to either offensive or defensive line, but I really see no reason why he wouldn’t want to remain at DT. Besides, Michigan needs another quality DT to play aside Mike Martin next year because of the departure of Will Johnson and Terrance Taylor.

Jelani Jenkins: 5 star OLB recruit out of Maryland and the number 4 recruit in all the land. This is somewhat a long shot, but he has maintained Michigan in his top five all year. The only real piece of info about what he wants out of a school was an article about what kind of city he wants to live in and what type of college fits him the best. He essentially described Ann Arbor to a T, but that really means nothing. He would be a HUGE addition to next years class because he plays a position of need and is an uber recruit.

Je’Ron Stokes: A 4 star recruit who is currently committed to Tennessee. He is an outside WR and with the decommitment of Bryce McNeal, this position is very weak in this class. Tennessee lost Phil Fulmer and as we all know coaching changes make a big difference to kids planning on attending that school. He has mentioned Michigan right along with Tennessee so he is a possible recruit, this may take a little bit of snake oil from RichRod.

There are more potential recruits on the horizon, but these are three of the big time ones. Right now Michigan is listed as having the number 8 overall recruiting class for 2009. Most likely adding Will Campbell and filling in the rest I would guess we finish right around that number, give or take 4 spots or so. Athleticism is a very big trend in this class and that trend is continuing into 2010 with the early commits from Ricardo Miller and Jeremy Jackson, both big time WR prospects.

Hopefully all that wasn’t too much for everyone but it was meant to be informative and to shine light on the fact that RichRod is out there getting great players to fit his system and to fill specific needs of the team. Help is on the way everyone!

Hopefully all these kids will be singing “Its Great to be a Michigan Wolverine” in the near future.