It's a Friday, so that means real news is going to be tough to come by. It also means I'm tired. But since the football seasons hasn't really started yet there's room for all kinds of speculation for all kinds of things. In particular, college football recruiting. National Signing Day may well be six months out, but that isn't going to stop any bored journalist worth his salt from ranking things! CBS and Tom Lemming have Michigan ranked #1 overall for recruiting the 2012 class. And if you peruse the rankings on any of the other recruiting site, Michigan's ranked in the top five. Sure a lot can happen between now and when the kids sign on the dotted line, but like I said before, there ain't a lot going on today.
So, Maize n Brew is unveiling its first and only 2012 recruiting board to track the Michigan football team's 2012 commitments. We're going to try to keep this updated and keep you up to speed on Michigan's recruiting efforts gong forward. Here it is, the 2012 Michigan Football Recruiting Board!
Name |
Position |
HS |
Rivals |
Scout |
ESPN |
247Sports |
TTB |
Kyle Kalis |
OT/OG |
Lakewood,OH |
4*/6.0 |
5* (#8) |
4*/80 |
4*/96 |
95 |
Terry Richardson |
CB |
Cass Tech, MI |
4*/5.8 |
4* (#13) |
4*/81 |
4*/97 |
85 |
Royce Jenkins-Stone |
MLB |
Cass Tech, MI |
4*/5.9 |
4* (#3) |
4*/80 |
4*/93 |
86 |
Joe Bolden |
LB |
St. Edwards, OH |
4*/5.8 |
4* (#23) |
4*/80 |
4*/90 |
77 |
Chris Wormley |
DE |
Whitmer, OH |
3*/5.7 |
4* (#20) |
4*/80 |
4*/96 |
73 |
Devin Funchess |
TE |
Harrison, MI |
3*/5.7 |
4* (#8) |
4*/80 |
4*/90 |
75 |
James Ross |
MLB |
St. Marys, MI |
4*/5.8 |
4* (#2) |
4*/80 |
4*/95 |
92 |
Jarrod Wilson |
S |
Akron Buchtel, OH |
4*/5.8 |
4* (#10) |
4*/80 |
4*/91 |
89 |
Mario Ojemudia |
DE |
Harrison, MI |
3*/5.6 |
4* (#32) |
4*/80 |
3*/89 |
67 |
Erik Magnuson |
OT |
La Costa Canyon, CA |
4*/5.9 |
4* (#20) |
4*/79 |
4*/95 |
87 |
Blake Bars |
OT |
Bell Academy, TN |
4*/5.8 |
3* (#53) |
3*/79 |
3*/86 |
71 |
Ben Braden |
OT |
Rockford, MI |
4*/5.8 |
3* (#40) |
3*/79 |
3*/88 |
65 |
Pharaoh Brown |
DE |
Brush, OH |
4*/5.8 |
3* (#49) |
3*/79 |
4*/92 |
82 |
Matt Godin |
DT |
Catholic Central, MI |
3*/5.7 |
3* (#32) |
3*/79 |
4*/92 |
65 |
Tom Strobel |
DE |
Mentor, OH |
3*/5.8 |
4* (#16) |
3*/78 |
4*/93 |
79 |
Caleb Stacey |
OG |
Oak Hills, OH |
3*/5.7 |
3* (#49) |
3*/78 |
3*/85 |
77 |
Kaleb Ringer |
MLB |
Northmont, OH |
3*/5.7 |
4* (#10) |
3*/78 |
3*/88 |
64 |
A.J. Williams |
TE |
Sycamore, OH |
3*/5.7 |
3* (15) |
3*/77 |
3*/86 |
INC |
Anthony Standifer |
CB |
Crete Monee, IL |
3*/5.7 |
3* (28) |
3*/77 |
3*/87 |
83 |
Allen Gant |
S/WR |
Southview, OH |
3*/5.7 |
3* (53) |
3*/75 |
3*/84 |
59 |
Sione Houma |
FB |
Higland, UT |
NR |
3* (#6) |
2*/74 |
NR |
69 |
Jeremy Clark (Gray Shirt) |
S |
N. Hopkins, KY |
3*/5.5 |
NR |
3*/76 |
NR |
49 |
commentary after the jump.....
First, the ranking services. I tried to include most of the premier rankings I could in this. Scout, Rivals, and (now) ESPN expend a considerable amount of time and money tracking and evaluating high school recruits. So, obviously, they were the first three I included. Next, 247Sports is a spin off of one of the major recruiting services so i figured, what the hell, include them, they've got a lot of the same experience and sources. Finally, there's our buddy Thunder over at Touch The Banner. As a high level HS football coach I trust his judgment on players and I think he's got a great method of evaluating Michigan's incoming players. Of the four rankings, his is easily the stingiest, which also serves to give everyone a little perspective on things. Finally, I excluded the CBS/Lemming rankings because unless you're willing to fork over some cash you're not going to get the full rankings from the top 100 down. (That said, Michigan does have 5 of Lemming's top 100).
The headliners of the class so far are obviously Kalis, Richardson, Jenkins-Stone, James Ross, Erik Magnuson Joe Bolden, and Jarrod Wilson. All seven of these players are loved in equal measure by all of the services and the unanimity of their appraisals speaks well toward their success in Ann Arbor.
There are, however, plenty of recruits that have a wide spread in their recruiting rankings. Chris Wormley, Mario Ojemudia, Pharaoh Brown, and Tom Strobel all seem to have a wide spread of reviews on their ability to contribute. I don't necessarily see this as a bad thing. Mostly I see it as the possibility that a couple of kids are going to have to red-shirt while their bodies catch up to the rigors of playing Big Ten football.
The needs for the 2012 class are fairly obvious at this point. Michigan needs at least two Defensive Tackles, a wide receiver (or two), and a quarterback. They'll take a running back if he's an elite one, but I don't see them buck-shotting offers out for a back considering the stable of backs Michigan already sports. That's kind of where we are. With a 21player class already committed, you can expect that the coaching staff will be very selective with who else comes on board.