'10 OH ATH D.J. Williamson (Michigan Verbal)

[3074326]

Originally Posted by BlueRoses

I think Michigan's early class is pretty decent so far.

Devin Gardner, QB (complete stud, Top 100 type player)
Ricardo Miller, WR (see Gardner)
Jeremy Jackson, WR (maybe not Top 100, but he's definitely one of the better WR prospects in the nation, I'd compare him to a Brian Robiskie type, as he is the son of a coach and has grown up around football his entire life)

Then the three Ohians;

DJ Williams, ATH (probably a 3* player to start off, but his athletic ability is supposedly off the charts, can never have enough good athletes IMO)
Antonio Kinard, DE/OLB (probably a 3* that will wind up at DE, a position of great need for U-M)
Jerald Robinson, WR (this is the one that makes the least sense to me, because UM has enough receivers and receiver prospects, what they need are some DB's, so unless this guy plays Safety as well he probably doesn't even fit into the class)

It's certainly good, but there are some pretty huge holes that are not going to fill without a change in recruiting philosophy..

[BlueRoses]

Originally Posted by 3074326

It's certainly good, but there are some pretty huge holes that are not going to fill without a change in recruiting philosophy..

What are the pretty huge holes you are speaking of?

I think the class is pretty good so far, and if Marvin Robinson, Lo Wood, and Dior Mathis both Go Blue (which is very likely IMO) that is a very good start to the secondary.

I think what Michigan needs most right now is;

another QB to compliment Gardner (weakest area on the roster in terms of depth)
DT's (they only took one in '09 class)
DE's (Brandon Graham is a Senior this season)

[southcampus]

Originally Posted by BlueRoses

What are the pretty huge holes you are speaking of?

For starters, we can point to the entire offense and then gradually look towards the entire defense. Then, we will count the number of skinny slot receivers and determine your wins to be inversely proportional to that number. But, and I mean but, your helmets gots wings.

[3074326]

Originally Posted by BlueRoses

What are the pretty huge holes you are speaking of?

I think the class is pretty good so far, and if Marvin Robinson, Lo Wood, and Dior Mathis both Go Blue (which is very likely IMO) that is a very good start to the secondary.

I think what Michigan needs most right now is;

another QB to compliment Gardner (weakest area on the roster in terms of depth)
DT's (they only took one in '09 class)
DE's (Brandon Graham is a Senior this season)

Well, defense is a pretty big hole.

[OSUBuckeye4Life]

Originally Posted by BlueRoses

What are the pretty huge holes you are speaking of?

I think the class is pretty good so far, and if Marvin Robinson, Lo Wood, and Dior Mathis both Go Blue (which is very likely IMO) that is a very good start to the secondary.

I think what Michigan needs most right now is;

another QB to compliment Gardner (weakest area on the roster in terms of depth)
DT's (they only took one in '09 class)
DE's (Brandon Graham is a Senior this season)

You pointed out some.

QB. You have Sheriden and then a true freshman in Tate. Gardner is a nice get but is a COUPLE/FEW years from being "ready" from a few accounts.

DT. You have two good young ones in MM and now Campbell but if Campbell proves to be more effective at the OL he could be moving and there really is no quality depth that we know of.

S. Turner is a good one, although his position isn't determined between CB and S. Either way saftey play has been pretty bad.

OL. They can only get better, but there is still PLENTY of work to be done.

[scott91575]

Originally Posted by NFBuck

Under normal circumstances, I'd say D.J. is an intriguing prospect and could be a good pickup foryou guys, but DR's recruiting strategy continues to baffle me. Very slanted to the offensive side of the ball again. Why he continues to just load up on athletes and slots/WRs makes no sense to me. I'm sure he'll end up moving some of them to DB, but why not focus on actual DBs? Why not focus on elite position players? As far as never having enough athletes, that's true to an extent, but when you have a number of clones that don't have a true position, it can be. Like I said earlier, he's still recruiting like he's at wvu, not one of the name universities in CFB. Miller looks like a stud, but a lot of questions are swirling around Jackson from a camp last week. Williams and Robinson seem interchangeable to me. Gardner was a big get, I'll give that. Kinard looks like another defensive project. These kinds of players could run over Big East defenses, I don't see it happening in the Big-10. Defensively, maybe he could get away with making athletes DBs and taking other project defensive players, but he's at um now and playing in the Big-10. It doesn't add up to me.

I don't get it either. This is 2nd tier recruiting tactics. Take athletes and try and teach them new positions without any clue how they could turn out. With 85 scholarships, a top level team cannot afford that risk. Michigan should be competing for the top level guys at every position, not taking athletes in hope they can be taught something new.

Yes, you may hit on a few, but it will lead to some big down years also when it doesn't work out.

[Scoopfan]

Originally Posted by BlueRoses

I think Michigan's early class is pretty decent so far.

Devin Gardner, QB (complete stud, Top 100 type player)
Ricardo Miller, WR (see Gardner)
Jeremy Jackson, WR (maybe not Top 100, but he's definitely one of the better WR prospects in the nation, I'd compare him to a Brian Robiskie type, as he is the son of a coach and has grown up around football his entire life)

Then the three Ohians;

DJ Williams, ATH (probably a 3* player to start off, but his athletic ability is supposedly off the charts, can never have enough good athletes IMO)
Antonio Kinard, DE/OLB (probably a 3* that will wind up at DE, a position of great need for U-M)
Jerald Robinson, WR (this is the one that makes the least sense to me, because UM has enough receivers and receiver prospects, what they need are some DB's, so unless this guy plays Safety as well he probably doesn't even fit into the class)

Let's not get ahead of ourselves here....

Gardner didn't make the Rivals100.
Ditto Miller.
Not sure what you look for in evaluating receivers such that you dubbed Jackson "one of the better WR prospects in the nation," but I don't typically look for 5.3+ forty times.

And 3 Ohio kids that didn't have a chance of an OSU offer.


Kind of puts things into perspective, huh?

[cincibuck]

1. Michigan being so far down drags down the rest of the Big 10.

2. They're still Michigan. Great tradition, great resources and a revenue stream other places lack.

3. OSU and the rest of college football benefits when Michigan beats Notre Dame.

4. Maybe one more season to get a QB that can play Rod Ball up to speed. Skinny wide receivers? Ted Ginn and Steve Breaston looked pretty skinny to me, so did Pat White and Steve Slaton. If you can move fast enough it doesn't matter.

5. What I would worry about is developing a QB who can play spread and then getting hit with an injury. WVU without White was a pretty ordinary team.

[OH10]

RR's recruiting strategy seems to be locking in some mid-level Ohio players early to loosen the fence around the state.

The problem is, five years ago, these kids were going to Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana or a MAC school. I'm not sure that bodes well for the future of Michigan football.

[Worm02]

Originally Posted by OH10

RR's recruiting strategy seems to be locking in some mid-level Ohio players early to loosen the fence around the state.

The problem is, five years ago, these kids were going to Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana or a MAC school. I'm not sure that bodes well for the future of Michigan football.

Try to guard D.J. Williamson and see just how "mid-level" he is. Just because you don't hear much about a player doesn't mean that he isn't good. Remember how good Jamario O'Neal was supposed to be?

In fact, I went to school with a guy (my friend) named Antwaun Molden. He caught one touchdown, 1, in his whole career at Harding. After his senior football season, he transfered to Glenville and ran track. Ted Ginn Sr. helped him get a football schoalrship to Toledo, but he ended up finishing at Eastern Kentucky. Now, he's the nickelback for the Houston Texans.

Once again, don't judge somebody that you don't know anything about, because you never know where he may end up.

[jwinslow]

Where do you see DJ playing? If it's WR, why were his stats fairly pedestrian last year? Bad QB play? Run heavy O?

Remember how good Jamario O'Neal was supposed to be?

Nope, never had that brought up before in a UM recruiting thread.

[Worm02]

Originally Posted by jwinslow

Where do you see DJ playing? If it's WR, why were his stats fairly pedestrian last year? Bad QB play? Run heavy O?

Nope, never had that brought up before in a UM recruiting thread.

Wide receiver. He hasn't been able to light up the stat sheet because Harding had an athlete at quarterback the last two years. His arm wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. Throw in scrambles, sacks, over/underthrows, etc., you have low production numbers. His film on Scouting Ohio is solid, but what you don't see is that in every game, even in Harding's big losses, Williamson got behind his defender the majority of the time. He's very difficulty to guard. Not as polished as Manningham, but he has a big upside.

BTW, the JO reference was necessary because Ohio State fans know about hyped up players who don't do much. Yet, some want to put down players that they know very little about because he doesn't have an Ohio State offer. In 2002, everybody just KNEW that Justin Zwick was going was going to be better than Troy Smith, but what happened? Hype & skill are two completely different things. Some have both, and some have just one, but all you need is the skill. The cream always rises to the top.

[billmac91]

Originally Posted by Worm02

Wide receiver. He hasn't been able to light up the stat sheet because Harding had an athlete at quarterback the last two years. His arm wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. Throw in scrambles, sacks, over/underthrows, etc., you have low production numbers. His film on Scouting Ohio is solid, but what you don't see is that in every game, even in Harding's big losses, Williamson got behind his defender the majority of the time. He's very difficulty to guard. Not as polished as Manningham, but he has a big upside.

BTW, the JO reference was necessary because Ohio State fans know about hyped up players who don't do much. Yet, some want to put down players that they know very little about because he doesn't have an Ohio State offer. In 2002, everybody just KNEW that Justin Zwick was going was going to be better than Troy Smith, but what happened? Hype & skill are two completely different things. Some have both, and some have just one, but all you need is the skill. The cream always rises to the top.

You're absolutely correct Worm. I don't want to rehash the debate, I'm just surprised someone trying to develop as a wide-receiver would want to play in Michigans system.

You just described DJ's lack of success at Harding, with what has historically been the case under Rodriguez. Athletic QB, lack of receiver production, lack of NFL interest in spread-option developed CFB players.

[blueinfla]

Originally Posted by billmac91

You just described DJ's lack of success at Harding, with what has historically been the case under Rodriguez. Athletic QB, lack of receiver production

Within his short history as the play caller, he's done both.

Shaun King - Tulane (RR - Offensive Coordinator)

• 1997: 199/363 (54.8%) for 2577 yards and 24 TD vs. 14 INT. 124 carries for 511 yards and 5 TD.
• 1998: 244/364 (67.0%) for 3495 yards and 38 TD vs. 6 INT. 156 carries for 633 yards and 11 TD.

And when he got an athletic qb that didn't have as good an arm, such as Pat White, he did run the ball more. If you look at the actual ratio of pass to run in the "pat white" era, every year they threw more as White grew as a passer. There's more evidence to suggest that RR will adapt his offense to the skills of the qb WITHIN HIS SYSTEM. Meaning, that UM may throw more with Forcier while still keeping the read option as the basis for which the offense runs. If Forcier is as good a passer as they say, I'd look for the UM offense to more resemble Tulane under King. However, there is always Denard Robinson, the speedster from Florida. He ran a 10.28 100 meter at an event this past weekend. If he can pick up a decent amount of the offense this summer, I'd look for him to get plenty of playing time.

[blueinfla]

Originally Posted by scott91575

I don't get it either. This is 2nd tier recruiting tactics. Take athletes and try and teach them new positions without any clue how they could turn out. With 85 scholarships, a top level team cannot afford that risk. Michigan should be competing for the top level guys at every position, not taking athletes in hope they can be taught something new.

Yes, you may hit on a few, but it will lead to some big down years also when it doesn't work out.

Here are the defensive recruits that TVH from mgoblog says were are in good shape for:

Lo Wood, Cullen Christian, Marvin Robinson, Spencer Boyd, LaTwan Anderson, Derrick Bryant, Sharrif Floyd, Caleb Lavey, Luke Muncie, AJ Cann, CJ Olaniyan (interview coming), Dior Mathis.

That doesn't mean UM will grab all of them, but that's a damn nice list of recruits that UM has a great shot at getting.