Lucier-South to get In-Home Visit
Michigan has been in contact with four-star California defensive end Keisean Lucier-South for months now, and it has been assumed that the Wolverines are in a great spot despite not having offered yet. The Michigan staff will fly out to see him in early January, and such long trips often end with an offer. An offer would most likely get them a visit in return($):
"I wouldn't say they would be the favorite at this point, but it's still really early," he said. "I don't have any favorites. Michigan would be up there for sure though. Depending on how my spring goes, I would like to go to a spring practice. I may not be able to because of camps though. After that, I would take an official there too."
Michigan fans have been clamoring for KLS to receive an offer ever since they found out that he had legitimate interest in the program; I'm betting that he receives that offer when the staff comes out. Michigan is in on the recruitment of five-star end Jashon Cornell, and they've been selling the fact that he's their only WDE offer of the class, but that pitch is only effective for so long and will go out the window with an offer to KLS.
I really like Michigan's chances if they do indeed offer, and I like them even more if Michigan finds a way to beat Kansas State in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl. Lucier-South is looking for a strong combination of academics and athletics, and Michigan obviously offers that. The California powers and Texas will all give UM a challenge for his services.
Mailbag!
A man by the name of Nicholas emailed me a question this week -- something I strongly encourage all of you to do. The question:
Predicting college success for recruits is obviously really difficult. But what position do you think is the easiest to predict college success based on high school performance? And what's the hardest to predict?
I'm assuming that Nicholas was alluding to prospect rankings when he mentioned high school performance, but I'll go ahead and address the question from both angles.
Great high school performance, usually indicated by gaudy statistics, is the worst way to predict a high school player's success at the college level and beyond, regardless of position. As we all know, there are countless college players who put up amazing stat lines in college but will never go on to play in the League; the same principal holds true for high school players looking to play division one college football. For example, a running back who attends my former high school recently broke many state rushing records. The catch: He plays in a system that sees its feature back touch the ball forty or more times per game, and he's doing it against poor competition. He rushes for massive amounts of yards, but his tape shows a player that simply wouldn't create separation or break tackles against high-level football prospects.
Star ratings and national rankings are definitely more reliable when trying to project a player to college. Yes, we're all aware that Braylon Edwards and Darqueze Dennard weren't rated highly at all, but they remain outliers. Positions that translate well based on star rating are usually further from the ball -- wide receivers, running backs, corners and other speed-based positions often meet their star ratings in college. On the other side, offensive lineman, interior defensive lineman and quarterbacks often fail to meet their ratings, all for different reasons. Lineman often have less of a gap between them when it comes to pure physical talent, and their positions are much more based on technique as a result of it. Many five-star lineman don't ever develop consistent hand use or pad level and watch as they fail to live up to their ratings. Casual fans who don't know the game of football will tell you that lineman are usually the locks to pan out, but it's actually the complete opposite.
General Notes and Multimedia Items
Michigan CB commitment Shaun Crawford is part of his area's All-Star team. He played well at both corner and running back, although ball security was an issue at times for the Ohio native.
Northwestern picked up four-star cornerback Parrker Westphal this week, and Iowa grabbed four-star quarterback Tyler Wiegers. Westphal was once thought to be a Michigan lock, but his recruitment ended up taking a very different path.
Scout's Michigan team talks about UM commitments and targets set to rise in their new rankings. Wide receiver Maurice Ways and quarterback Alex Malzone are both mentioned. Ways put on a solid amount of muscle this year and looked much more explosive, putting up well over 1,000 yards receiving.
--
Have recruiting-related questions? Shoot them to me at afmammel@umich.edu and I'll make sure to answer them in one of my roundups.