Tuesday Morning Brews: Recruiting roundup

Happy Tuesday, folks. Welcome to Morning Brews. This morning we’re doing a link roundup primarily focussed on recruiting. With the regular season over, the coaches will be on the road recruiting again and we’ll see a push to line up commitments with the early signing period a little more than two weeks away (Dec. 20-22). It’s not yet clear how the early signing period will affect college football recruiting, but we’ll find out soon enough.

As a scheduling matter, I’ll be traveling during the middle part of this week so there won’t be any Brews on Thursday. We’ll resume a normal schedule next Tuesday.

Let’s get to it:

Jim Harbaugh was out west on Saturday, as evidenced by the clip above. Harbaugh was attending the California Division II state final between Oaks Christian and Valencia. He was apparently there to watch 2019 target Kayvon Thibodeaux. Thibodeaux is a 5* DE prospect and the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2019 cycle. He checks in at 6’5” and 235 lbs. He holds offers from many of the top programs in the FBS and currently the Crystal Balls favor USC.

Our friends over at Tomahawk Nation are having a tough go of it in recruiting due to Jimbo Fisher’s departure and his ‘should I stay or should I go’ routine before that. The Seminoles have lost seven commitments in as many days, and we feel for them, but coaching turmoil creates opportunities for other schools. Of the seven players who have decommitted from FSU, Jashaun Corbin (4*, No. 250 overall, No. 6 APB), Houston Griffith (4*, No. 60 overall, No. 11 CB), Verdis Brown (4*, No. 234 overall, No. 4 OC), and Wanya Morris (4*, No. 62 overall, No. 5 OT) hold offers from Michigan. Keep an eye on these recruits going forward.

Last Friday, Greg Mattison and Chris Partridge were down in Georgia watching 2018 Lee County 4* OLB Otis Reese. Reese has been committed to Michigan since June 2016 and he’s the No. 131 prospect in the cycle. Unfortunately, Georgia has come on strong with Reese and Michigan may not be able to hold them off. There’s still plenty of time until National Signing Day, but 11 Crystal Balls have flipped to the Dawgs since September. We’ll have to wait and see what happens with this one, but right now the momentum appears to be against the Wolverines.

Much like the Glasgows, the McCaffrey’s just kinda seem to keep on coming. 2019 prospect Luke McCaffrey’s recruitment is starting to heat up and Michigan will probably be playing a role. Of Harbaugh, the youngest McCaffrey told The Michigan Insider ($), “He's such a good coach. He's able to do so much with so many different players, which I think is one of the things that makes him one of the greatest coaches.” McCaffrey is a 4* dual-threat QB prospect ranked No. 164 overall. In addition to Michigan, he holds offers from Colorado, Ohio State, UCLA, Ole Miss, and others.

Since I last talked about hockey, the team has struggled a bit. On November 24th, the Wolverines lost to Ohio State by the score of 3-2. The Buckeyes jumped out to a 3-1 lead before Michigan netted its second goal. Unfortunately, it didn’t come until there were 16 seconds left in the game and there was no time to score an equalizer. The next night Michigan again lost to Ohio State by the score of 5-1. On Saturday, Michigan played the USNT U-18 developmental program team in an exhibition. The Wolverines won that matchup 7-3. Michigan is now 6-6-2 (2-4-2) on the season. Their next game is Thursday against Michigan State.

Women’s basketball has notched a pair of wins since last week. On Saturday, the Wolverines traveled to New York to take on LIU Brooklyn. En route to an 86-49 victory, Hallie Thome scored 19 pts., Nicole Munger scored 16 pts., and Katelynn Flaherty scored 16 pts. Last night, the Wolverines played Detroit Mercy. Michigan was again victorious, 86-50. The Wolverines were led by Flaherty with 26 pts. and Munger with 13 pts. Hallie Thome contributed 11 pts. to the effort. The Wolverines will be back in action on Thursday when Marquette comes to town.