Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Michigan Recruiting Rumors

Well folks we are just about on the clock for National Signing Day.  Michigan picked up a quality running back this afternoon in Thomas Rawls and now awaits the decisions of 5 other players.  

  • TE/LB Frank Clark announces tonight at 7:30 or 8:00.  All Cleveland Glenville players are announcing together.  The answer for Frank is expected Blue.  Update: Due to the weather it looks like he will be moving his announcement to 10:00AM on Wednesday.

  • LB Leilon Willingham is expected to announce on Wednesday morning and he is also expected Blue.
Then it starts to get a little dicey. 

  • Jake Fisher is expected to announce at 8:00 AM in the morning.  5:00AM out west.  The word on the street is saying that it's Oregon and that he might have already committed.   Yikes, if this is true I hope he changes his mind.  Jake's parents could be at every Michigan home game vs flights to Oregon.  You always have to connect when you leave TC anyways! 

  • Darin Cooper is going to announce on ESPN U at Noon.  Some Scouts analysts are saying it's down to Iowa and Michigan State.  Michigan got Darin on campus late and DT is a huge need.   It amazes me how Iowa can pick up any recruits after that entire conditioning situation that last two weeks.  I would not trust my son to that program right now.  

  • TE Chris Barnett is expected to choose between Michigan and Arkansas on Saturday.   As an FYI, Arkansas has about 31 commits for this class but it's the SEC.
Could the Wolverines go 1-2 tomorrow?  They could and you would have to say that is a disappointing finish.   Michigan clearly wants and needs both Fisher and Cooper.  I still believe Willingham will announce for Michigan but being in Denver concerns me that other programs are in his ear about staying closer to home.

The Michigan coaches did well these past few weeks in getting some commitments but the potential/probable losses of guys like Frost, Zettel, Fisher, and Cooper are hard to take in my book.  Yes, I would have liked to have had Dee Hart and Dallas Crawford but I thought the Michigan coaches found nice replacements for those two guys.   Zettel and Fisher going out of state are big loses for the Wolverines and you can pretty much point to the coaching change or at least the timing of that change being the reason. 

With that said, lets hope for the best and maybe Michigan can grab some good luck on NSD.