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Friday Recruiting Roundup Makes A Fist

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FRR updates you on the very latest Michigan football recruiting rumblings. Who's putting on their recruiting hat, and who plans to be back on campus soon?

By Anthony Mammel
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Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE

Michigan Adds Mason Cole

The staff has hauled in yet another lineman who held offers from the likes of Alabama, Ohio State, USC and many more. He shared his commitment via Twitter:

Wilton Speight definitely played a role in this; Cole's 2015 teammate George Campbell attests to Speight's recruiting abilities:

Cole is part of a triumvirate of elite players at Tarpon Springs, including himself, George Campbell and Artavis Scott.

What does Mason bring to the table? Watch his tape first, then I'll tell you what I think:

Cole doesn't have the height or length to be a blind-side tackle in college, so I think he ends up at right tackle or guard. He needs to add thirty pounds or so, but he definitely has the frame to hold the weight. His power base is great, often throwing players down and showing decent mobility in pass protection, although run blocking seems to be his strength. He'll need time to get stronger and put on weight in college, but Michigan picked up another lineman who could go on to be an all-around guard.

Recruiting Sites Get It Right

CBS' Matt Hinton wrote a solid piece on recruiting rankings, and he takes a stance that seems to be becoming increasingly more popular: recruiting sites get their rankings right. I agree with Matt, and one small quote stuck out to me:

..it should go without saying that you never want to count on being one of the anomalies.

One sentence fragment kills the argument that 99.9% of recruiting fans use when disregarding rankings: "player X was a two-star and went on to be an all-pro, so recruiting rankings mean nothing!" The rankings aren't perfected by any means, but they produce data that can be used to predict team and individual success with decent accuracy.

Put Your Face Into This Really Fast

...is what my mother would say to me when I said something completely asinine; she would hold a tight fist in front of my face. Now you know what I'll say to you if you tell me that Derrick Green isn't enrolling because his grades are poor. All of these rumors are complete fabrications started by certain fans in a certain area of a certain state: you know that area because it smells so terrible that you're grossed out at the thought of even touching it on a map.

General Notes and Multimedia Items

Detroit Country Day wide receiver Maurice Ways has been invited to Michigan's camp. He's gaining momentum on the recruiting scene after picking up a solid offer from Iowa.

Five-star running back Elijah Hood has a new top three:

Michigan trails only Notre Dame and needs to get him back on campus if it wants to overtake them.

Defensive end Bryson Allen-Williams has a new top ten:

Yeesh, that's an impressive list.

Wide receiver Drake Harris talked to Scout about his recruitment:

A snippet of what he had to say:

Maintaining his commitment to Michigan State for football, Harris now has every intention of opening himself up to other avenues and opportunities from several college football programs.

"I'm committed there for football but I opened my recruitment back up," said Harris. "The reason I committed there was because I was going to play basketball too and I wanted to play for Izzo. But now that I'm not playing basketball anymore and I'm just playing football, I opened my recruitment back up and I'm giving a fair shot to all of the other schools too."

Sounds like someone knows the Spartans' football program is heading in a different direction than the other Midwestern powers. He'll be back for Michigan's basketball games against Indiana and Michigan State.

Maryland offensive lineman Sam Mustipher attends Olney Good Counsel, the same high school that Blake Countess attended. He's interested in Michigan and plans to visit:

"I'm planning to visit Michigan for the spring game," he said. "I get a message from Coach Mallory almost every day and am talking to him about once a week or so. On Signing Day, I got a conference call from the coaching staff also, which was unique and something I really appreciated."

"(Blake) is the reason I ended up coming to Good Counsel. When I visit for the Spring Game, I may be coming with his family," Mustipher said. "Blake is a talent not only on the field, but off the field as a person as well. He's somebody I would definitely say I look up to."

"I want to surround myself with players and people who have the same goals as I do, and that doesn't just apply to on the field," he said. "I want to be around people who go the extra mile to run sprints after practice, or study the extra hour for a calculus exam. I want to find a place I can excel in more than one facet."

Mustipher is one of the most sought-after lineman in the country, so Michigan will be in a battle. Still, having

Finally, Tom Luginbill talk about combine drills and what they can tell you about a prospect:

Forty-yard dashes and cone drills, yo.

Next Up In Michigan Football Recruiting

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