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Friday Michigan Football Recruiting Roundup Hits the Road

FRR updates you on the very latest Michigan football recruiting rumblings. Who are the coaches visiting during the bye week? Is it possible to falsely accuse Urban Meyer of being shady? That and more.

By Anthony Mammel
David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

Coaches on the Road During Bye Week

Bye weeks give college football coaches a chance to hit the recruiting trail, usually working their normal stomping grounds in an attempt to shore up commitments and see future prospects play in person. The Michigan staff is all over the Midwest, as one would expect:

The 247 Wolverine staff has confirmed that Michigan will also visit Brian Cole, the Glenville duo of Marshon Lattimore and Erick Smith, and many others($). Don't expect the staff to turn the Glenville kids around, especially considering the little amount of room left in the class.

Shady Recruiting by OSU?

Four-star tight end prospect Tyler Luatua no longer has nice things to say about Ohio State:

His tweet has since been deleted, hence the embedding of a tweet by Steve Lorenz.

The "shady" business was simply Ohio State moving Luatua's visit in order to get their top tight end prospect Mike Gesicki on campus instead of him, which isn't exactly shady. Gesicki is rumored to be a silent verbal to the Buckeyes, who tried to move Luatua back while keeping him as a safety net in case Gesicki somehow went elsewhere. Luatua clearly didn't approve.

Mandatory Damien Harris Statistics

Damien Harris seemingly breaks the world record for rushing yards in the history of the world every single week. Here are his scoring statistics through five games:

He's averaging three touchdowns a week despite being removed from half of his games for bludgeoning opponents to death. The young running back will be itching for a real challenge when he graduates.

General Notes and Multimedia Items

Five-star 2015 DT Tim Settle relies heavily on the advice of 2014 DE Da'Shawn Hand:

"Da'Shawn tells me the rights and wrongs and what I need to watch out for in recruiting. He's giving me advice like a big brother, or mentor," Settle said. "He told me to just go somewhere that fits me. He said it's going to be me going there for four years so it has to be where I want to be."

Settle visited Ann Arbor with Hand, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's following Da'Shawn to the same school:

"I tell this to everybody," Settle said. "Da'Shawn is Da'Shawn and I'm Tim. He has even told me I need to go somewhere where I fit in, for me."

The two are definitely close enough to consider going to school with each other. Michigan still has work to do in Settle's recruitment, but the Wolverines look to be on the rise for the five-star prospect, and much of that is due in part to Da'Shawn Hand. I highly recommend checking out the Washing Post's video covering the duo's game against each other this year.

It seemed impossible before, but Jabrill Peppers' hype is reaching new heights:

Current 2014 prospect with Heisman potential:

VanHaaren: The only Big Ten commit I would feel somewhat comfortable in this category is probably Peppers. Even for him that's going to be a stretch, but he is the only commit who I think could fall in this category.

Bournival: Like VanHaaren said, this is a tough one as the top-ranked players are Da'Shawn Hand (Woodbridge, Va./Woodbridge), McMillan, Peppers and Damon Webb (Detroit/Cass Tech) coming in. That said, defense isn't that sexy to Heisman voters. If Marshon Lattimore (Cleveland/Glenville) picks a Big Ten team and IF he plays offense, he might be the best bet. But that's a lot of ifs.

Peppers is and will remain the most talented commitment in the conference for 2014.

Michigan is still in pursuit of five-star outside linebacker($) Malik Jefferson, but don't expect the Wolverines to make a surprise jump into the young defender's top group. The Michigan staff is also giving 2015 QB Nick Johns a hard look($).

Tom VH of ESPN continues his Fourth and One series on WXYZ, this time covering why it's so difficult for offensive lineman to come in and contribute right away:

Kyle Kalis is an exception to the rule.

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