Michigan: Pre-Camp Recruiting Update, Part 1

I still feel that Michigan's class will get up to 25 spots. It will at least be in the lower 20s but we have several 5th year to be players who I think won't be back for a final year of eligibility (EGs- OL Grant DeBenedictis, DL Brett Gallimore, & CB Doug Dutch), WR Antonio Bass will likely finally call it a career and Michigan will get a medical exemption, and WR Mario Manningham (and maybe more) will probably go pro early. Plus there is always a surprise or two (like Cobrani Mixon transferring to Cincinnati maybe???).

QB: It's very hard to get a good QB to commit the year after Mallett. However, Mike Glennon of Virginia (who is a Rivals 4-star and an Elite 11 invitee) said literally all the right things in a Rivals article posted today (including dealing with the Mallett issue) and now I'm actually feeling pretty good about him. Virginia Tech is the main competition because his older brother is currently their starting QB and they are the home team, however, Mike was a huge Michigan fan growing up and VA Tech also got a 5-star QB commit last year so we'll see. And I'm also not saying that nobody else has a chance with him.

No Michigan fan thinks we can get Pryor. The pitch is: come to UM and play b-ball (we were apparently the first to offer him the ability to play both) while red-shirting as a freshman in football and become more polished. Then backup Mallett for a year and start as a third year sophomore when Mallett leaves a year early for the pros.

Option 3- Offer the best of the QBs at camp.

RB: Sam McGuffie (Scout #42 and Rivals 250- and he will be climbing) should be a wolverine and I think he'll commit before July. Michigan thinks he is the star back that will restore the roar along with fellow Texans Ryan Mallett (QB) and Darryl Stonum (WR)...with help from some non-Texans as well. The other RBs are backup plans to McGuffie even though you can make good arguments for a couple of them being as or more talented than Sam. As for taking a second RB, it's possible that Jonas Grey (Detroit) gets an offer but not likely. It's more likely that a RB/ATH such as Ray Polk (AZ) or Michael Shaw (OH) (both Rivals 4-stars) get teamed with McGuffie. Also, the state of Michigan is deep at RB next year and has two top 100 types so there is no pressure to take 2 in this class.

WR: Darryl Stonum (TX) (Scout #41 and Rivals #54) should be a wolverine and I think he'll commit before July. He is the deep threat to follow last year's deep threat Tony Clemons. Michigan also wants a possession receiver to follow last year's possession receiver JR Hemmingway. Michigan should get either Jonathan Baldwin (PA) (Scout 4-star and Rivals #28) who they currently lead for but with ND right behind or Fred Smith (Detroit) (Rivals top 250) who many people feel will be blue but I'm not one of them. Also look for Michigan to get a WR/ATH (like Zion Babb last year) and they lead (big?) for Vaughn Carraway (PA) (Scout 4-star) who may be a commitment before July as well.

There are lots of other WR offers out there but I really feel like it will come down to these guys mentioned above. Of course, as with every position there is always a possibility for a surprise.

TE: We already got our man in Brandon Moore (OH). He's fits the mold of current Michigan TEs (See Tim Massaquoi and last year's 4-star Martell Webb). A block first, catch second guy would be a great complement. Kevin Koger (OH) is an OSU battle and he provides versatility by being able to play DE as well. I say 51/49 UM. If Michigan got Koger or Graham (PA) (Rivals 4-star) I would be thrilled with this year's TE class. I would be pretty darn happy if we got fast-climbing NJ boy Chris Pantale as well. Overall I'm feeling like we will end up having two pretty good TE classes in a row with each class containing 1 solid four star and 1 high three star.

OL and Defense coming soon...