1. Farewell Brian Jean-Mary
The writing seemed to be on the wall. Brian Jean-Mary is out as Michigan's linebackers coach and is off to Tennessee. Remember, U-M tried to replace him earlier this offseason, and he interviewed with the Jacksonville Jaguars, so this shouldn't come as a big surprise. Jean-Mary was only on staff for one year, but he did a really nice job helping the Wolverines with their linebacker lands this past cycle. Jean-Mary really bonded with Rivals100 signee Junior Colson. Both are of Haitian decent and connected on a personal basis. Colson expressed frustration with the dismissal of Don Brown, and I can't imagine he's excited about Jean-Mary heading south. Jean-Mary also used his Florida ties to help Michigan land Jaydon Hood, who surprisingly signed early. Like with Colson, Jean-Mary was able to relate to Hood on a personal level. It was tough to see him leave so soon since he was just starting to get acclimated to Michigan. I believed Jean-Mary was really going to turn it up notch on the trail this year.
2. So What Does This Mean?
Jean-Mary is out, but Michigan is not bringing in another linebackers coach. Instead, the Wolverines will reportedly hire Matt Weiss of the Baltimore Ravens to coach quarterbacks. We'll get to more on that in a second. Right now, let's focus on linebacker recruiting. Michigan is, however, reportedly replacing Jean-Mary by moving new safeties coach George Helow. This one is completely fine as Helow coached linebackers at Maryland. He should hit the ground running with guys in the southeast and be heavily involved with the big fish at the position — Rivals250 prospect Joshua Burnham. Helow is an effective recruiter and should do as well as Jean-Mary did luring talent at the position based on what I've learned about him over the last few weeks.
3. What Does This Mean? Pt. 2
The other ramification of the Weiss hire is Ron Bellamy reportedly moving from wide receivers coach to safeties coach. I kind of feel bad for Bellamy. He played the position, spent time getting to know the playbook and was doing a really good job recruiting wide receivers. I just talked to guys like Tyler Morris, Antonio Williams and Kojo Antwi and all had really positive things to say about him. On top of that, he offered Texas wide out Nicholas Anderson and already had him lined up to visit campus on his own. Other than Morris, those other receiver prospects mentioned just lost their point of contact. Safety prospects will also have a new point of contact. Some like Keon Sabb have now been recruited by three different safeties coaches — Shoop, Helow and Bellamy — which is nuts. All the movement can't help, but it's still early in the cycle.
4. New Hire
It was a little bit of a puzzler that Michigan opted to bring in Weiss, who doesn't really have much experience recruiting, and not add another coach on the defensive side of the ball. Remember, Harbaugh was basically supposed to lead the way at the quarterback position this offseason. From a quarterback recruiting standpoint, I still believe Harbaugh will serve as the primary evaluator of talent at the position. The 2022 class is weak at quarterback, and there are no clear frontrunners to land at Michigan, so it will be interesting to see how it shakes out. Weiss is young and energetic with NFL experience, so that may translate well to recruiting. But he's an unknown in that area and as Clayton pointed out in his post about Weiss, he's big on analytics/management.
5. Decision Time
Five-star 2022 Grosse Pointe (Mich.) South cornerback Will Johnson is set to make his decision a week from today. At this point, I really have no further update. I still feel good about my pick for Michigan despite an all out rally from USC. New Michigan Co-DC Maurice Linguist has made Johnson a priority since taking the job, and the entire staff has been involved here. New assistants Rob Bellamy and Mike Hart have also been pluses here as they are both well-liked in the Detroit-metro. As I mentioned a couple of days ago, Will is doing everything possible to play things close to the vest and prevent leaks. I actually texted his father, Deon, two days ago, and he said Will has barred him from talking to media this week lol. Deon did tell me Will is just tired of the process and wants to get his decision out of the way ASAP.
6. Decision Time Pt. 2
Which obviously makes sense. Will told me off the record a couple of weeks ago that he was going to make his decision on the last weekend of March. His timeline has obviously accelerated to the last weekend in February. I've always said that Will doesn't care for the recruiting process and wants to be a leader for his class. If Michigan does land Will, they will not only get a supreme talent but a guy that commands respects from his peers. Will isn't super vocal. He's actually pretty quiet until you get to know him, but all the in-state recruits and beyond that I've talked to respect the hell out of him. He's the perfect prospect to be the face of this class much like JJ McCarthy was last cycle.
7. Myrtle Beach
I've traveled to almost every state in America over the last eight years (I didn't leave Texas until I was 21). I can now check another one of the list as I made my first trip to South Carolina this weekend. Unfortunately, the coolest thing I did in Myrtle Beach was eat some pancakes at a local breakfast spot. I flew out of Chicago at 5 a.m. on Saturday and am typing this as I get ready to board my flight to Charlotte (I have a connection). This trip was last minute and all came together late. I was originally supposed to be in Las Vegas, but that tournament had a lot of moving parts, and we decided it would be best for me to head to Myrtle Beach for the NFA 7v7 tournament. Honestly, though, I grew up in South Padre Island, Texas and hate the beach — unless I'm snorkeling in the Caribbean — so I don't think I missed too much. I love the city, and I'm ready to get back to snowy Chicago.
8. Myrtle Beach Pt. 2
I've posted no content from my trip because it literally hasn't come to an end. I'll have a ton of stuff up over the next several days, including a ton of scoop in Into The Blue tomorrow. So who all did I see? This weekend gave me my first look at Rivals250 tight ends and top targets Oscar Delp and Jaleel Skinner, new wide receiver offer Antonio Williams, new safety offers Terian Williams and Christian Peterson and new cornerback offer Marcus Allen. I also got another look at the aforementioned Jaron Willis. I actually saw him at Pylon Orlando last month and wrote that Michigan should offer. Of course, I saw the Chicago duo of Kaleb Brown and Tyler Morris for the 36th time. Overall, there was a lot of talent, and I'm excited to give y'all some updates on prospects I haven't focused in on.
9. Tough Tyler
I'll have thoughts on every Michigan target I saw this weekend first thing in the morning. However, my favorite story from the weekend was seeing Rivals100 wide receiver Tyler Morris show some toughness. Kaleb Brown is the gritty city kid from south side Chicago, while Morris is the more mild mannered suburban kid. This weekend, however, Morris had a breaking point. Before his team's game against Cam Newton — we'll get to him next — a coach from Newton's staff was upset about something (it was unclear) and punch shoved Morris. I probably overstepped and got in the crowd that shoved him off. Tyler is one of my favorite kids, and it was just an instinct to react. Anyway, Tyler responded by saying it was a 'b*** move' and endured taunting and rough play throughout the game. I even tweeted the photo of his shirt below because he was being held like crazy. Morris shoved back but was smart about and more importantly, took over the game. He caught the game-tying touchdown and scored the game-winner in overtime. It was a gutsy performance from Morris and the best I've seen from him throughout my time covering him. He's an elite talent, great kid and a must-land for Michigan this cycle.
10. Cam Newton
In the offseason, NFL quarterback Cam Newton runs his own 7v7 organization. Cam does a lot of great charity work, and the kids love seeing him on the 7v7 circuit. But I was a little disappointed with his actions this weekend. He did nothing to the coach that came over and got physical with Tyler. NFA, the organization that ran this tournament, did nothing either, and the coach remained on the field, which was absolutely ridiculous. There is a video of a young kid taunting Cam that went viral from the event. Instead of using it as a teaching moment, Cam responded by saying 'I'm rich.' And he also berated the refs. I was a Cam fan as a kid and even had his jersey. Again, he does great community work, and it's awesome that he personally goes out to 7v7 events,. I'm not anybody to judge, but I expected better.
The writing seemed to be on the wall. Brian Jean-Mary is out as Michigan's linebackers coach and is off to Tennessee. Remember, U-M tried to replace him earlier this offseason, and he interviewed with the Jacksonville Jaguars, so this shouldn't come as a big surprise. Jean-Mary was only on staff for one year, but he did a really nice job helping the Wolverines with their linebacker lands this past cycle. Jean-Mary really bonded with Rivals100 signee Junior Colson. Both are of Haitian decent and connected on a personal basis. Colson expressed frustration with the dismissal of Don Brown, and I can't imagine he's excited about Jean-Mary heading south. Jean-Mary also used his Florida ties to help Michigan land Jaydon Hood, who surprisingly signed early. Like with Colson, Jean-Mary was able to relate to Hood on a personal level. It was tough to see him leave so soon since he was just starting to get acclimated to Michigan. I believed Jean-Mary was really going to turn it up notch on the trail this year.
2. So What Does This Mean?
Jean-Mary is out, but Michigan is not bringing in another linebackers coach. Instead, the Wolverines will reportedly hire Matt Weiss of the Baltimore Ravens to coach quarterbacks. We'll get to more on that in a second. Right now, let's focus on linebacker recruiting. Michigan is, however, reportedly replacing Jean-Mary by moving new safeties coach George Helow. This one is completely fine as Helow coached linebackers at Maryland. He should hit the ground running with guys in the southeast and be heavily involved with the big fish at the position — Rivals250 prospect Joshua Burnham. Helow is an effective recruiter and should do as well as Jean-Mary did luring talent at the position based on what I've learned about him over the last few weeks.
3. What Does This Mean? Pt. 2
The other ramification of the Weiss hire is Ron Bellamy reportedly moving from wide receivers coach to safeties coach. I kind of feel bad for Bellamy. He played the position, spent time getting to know the playbook and was doing a really good job recruiting wide receivers. I just talked to guys like Tyler Morris, Antonio Williams and Kojo Antwi and all had really positive things to say about him. On top of that, he offered Texas wide out Nicholas Anderson and already had him lined up to visit campus on his own. Other than Morris, those other receiver prospects mentioned just lost their point of contact. Safety prospects will also have a new point of contact. Some like Keon Sabb have now been recruited by three different safeties coaches — Shoop, Helow and Bellamy — which is nuts. All the movement can't help, but it's still early in the cycle.
4. New Hire
It was a little bit of a puzzler that Michigan opted to bring in Weiss, who doesn't really have much experience recruiting, and not add another coach on the defensive side of the ball. Remember, Harbaugh was basically supposed to lead the way at the quarterback position this offseason. From a quarterback recruiting standpoint, I still believe Harbaugh will serve as the primary evaluator of talent at the position. The 2022 class is weak at quarterback, and there are no clear frontrunners to land at Michigan, so it will be interesting to see how it shakes out. Weiss is young and energetic with NFL experience, so that may translate well to recruiting. But he's an unknown in that area and as Clayton pointed out in his post about Weiss, he's big on analytics/management.
5. Decision Time
Five-star 2022 Grosse Pointe (Mich.) South cornerback Will Johnson is set to make his decision a week from today. At this point, I really have no further update. I still feel good about my pick for Michigan despite an all out rally from USC. New Michigan Co-DC Maurice Linguist has made Johnson a priority since taking the job, and the entire staff has been involved here. New assistants Rob Bellamy and Mike Hart have also been pluses here as they are both well-liked in the Detroit-metro. As I mentioned a couple of days ago, Will is doing everything possible to play things close to the vest and prevent leaks. I actually texted his father, Deon, two days ago, and he said Will has barred him from talking to media this week lol. Deon did tell me Will is just tired of the process and wants to get his decision out of the way ASAP.
6. Decision Time Pt. 2
Which obviously makes sense. Will told me off the record a couple of weeks ago that he was going to make his decision on the last weekend of March. His timeline has obviously accelerated to the last weekend in February. I've always said that Will doesn't care for the recruiting process and wants to be a leader for his class. If Michigan does land Will, they will not only get a supreme talent but a guy that commands respects from his peers. Will isn't super vocal. He's actually pretty quiet until you get to know him, but all the in-state recruits and beyond that I've talked to respect the hell out of him. He's the perfect prospect to be the face of this class much like JJ McCarthy was last cycle.
7. Myrtle Beach
I've traveled to almost every state in America over the last eight years (I didn't leave Texas until I was 21). I can now check another one of the list as I made my first trip to South Carolina this weekend. Unfortunately, the coolest thing I did in Myrtle Beach was eat some pancakes at a local breakfast spot. I flew out of Chicago at 5 a.m. on Saturday and am typing this as I get ready to board my flight to Charlotte (I have a connection). This trip was last minute and all came together late. I was originally supposed to be in Las Vegas, but that tournament had a lot of moving parts, and we decided it would be best for me to head to Myrtle Beach for the NFA 7v7 tournament. Honestly, though, I grew up in South Padre Island, Texas and hate the beach — unless I'm snorkeling in the Caribbean — so I don't think I missed too much. I love the city, and I'm ready to get back to snowy Chicago.
8. Myrtle Beach Pt. 2
I've posted no content from my trip because it literally hasn't come to an end. I'll have a ton of stuff up over the next several days, including a ton of scoop in Into The Blue tomorrow. So who all did I see? This weekend gave me my first look at Rivals250 tight ends and top targets Oscar Delp and Jaleel Skinner, new wide receiver offer Antonio Williams, new safety offers Terian Williams and Christian Peterson and new cornerback offer Marcus Allen. I also got another look at the aforementioned Jaron Willis. I actually saw him at Pylon Orlando last month and wrote that Michigan should offer. Of course, I saw the Chicago duo of Kaleb Brown and Tyler Morris for the 36th time. Overall, there was a lot of talent, and I'm excited to give y'all some updates on prospects I haven't focused in on.
9. Tough Tyler
I'll have thoughts on every Michigan target I saw this weekend first thing in the morning. However, my favorite story from the weekend was seeing Rivals100 wide receiver Tyler Morris show some toughness. Kaleb Brown is the gritty city kid from south side Chicago, while Morris is the more mild mannered suburban kid. This weekend, however, Morris had a breaking point. Before his team's game against Cam Newton — we'll get to him next — a coach from Newton's staff was upset about something (it was unclear) and punch shoved Morris. I probably overstepped and got in the crowd that shoved him off. Tyler is one of my favorite kids, and it was just an instinct to react. Anyway, Tyler responded by saying it was a 'b*** move' and endured taunting and rough play throughout the game. I even tweeted the photo of his shirt below because he was being held like crazy. Morris shoved back but was smart about and more importantly, took over the game. He caught the game-tying touchdown and scored the game-winner in overtime. It was a gutsy performance from Morris and the best I've seen from him throughout my time covering him. He's an elite talent, great kid and a must-land for Michigan this cycle.
10. Cam Newton
In the offseason, NFL quarterback Cam Newton runs his own 7v7 organization. Cam does a lot of great charity work, and the kids love seeing him on the 7v7 circuit. But I was a little disappointed with his actions this weekend. He did nothing to the coach that came over and got physical with Tyler. NFA, the organization that ran this tournament, did nothing either, and the coach remained on the field, which was absolutely ridiculous. There is a video of a young kid taunting Cam that went viral from the event. Instead of using it as a teaching moment, Cam responded by saying 'I'm rich.' And he also berated the refs. I was a Cam fan as a kid and even had his jersey. Again, he does great community work, and it's awesome that he personally goes out to 7v7 events,. I'm not anybody to judge, but I expected better.
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