The latest edition of INSIDE THE FORT, including the backstory on the Aubrey Solomon signing and more …
Starting with football recruiting …
Michigan received a surprise National Signing Day commitment from Westerville (Ohio) Westerville South two-star punter Brad Robbins but it’s not quite official yet. Because everything developed at the last minute, Robbins and his family have never visited Michigan, so they have decided to check things out this weekend before signing anything.
As of right now, the plan is to come on a visit, give Ann Arbor a once over and sign a letter of intent while in town. There are no signs of things not going that way, and Robbins should officially be a Wolverine before the weekend is over.
Another interesting angle of Robbins’ recruitment involves other schools trying to keep him from ending up at Michigan. Both of Robbins’ parents are Ohio State alums, and the Buckeye coaching staff is well aware. The staff in Columbus was extremely high on Robbins, but after using a scholarship on Cincinnati La Salle three-star kicker Drue Chrisman last year, the Buckeyes coaches weren’t in a position to pursue Robbins this year.
People at Ohio State actively tried to turn other programs onto Robbins to keep him from taking a look at Michigan and Rutgers was also involved … shocker, right? In the end, it’s going to be wasted effort because Robbins will be a Wolverine barring some unforeseen, massive breakdown during the visit this weekend.
To the story on five-star defensive tackle signee Aubrey Solomon of Lee County (Ga.) Leesburg …
There was plenty of confidence on the Michigan end up until Signing Day that the Wolverines would be able to pull Solomon back in … one of our sources told us “Jim Harbaugh is 99.9 percent certain,” and that was a result of the kid essentially re-committing about three weeks early.
Someone extremely close to Solomon had a conversation with someone close to our board saying it was a “done deal” for Michigan, as well, days before the kid committed.
This is a coup for a number of reasons. First off, five-star kids in the South are under enormous pressure to stay home. We’d heard (haven’t confirmed) that he and his family received threats from fans after eliminating one school from his list. Some close to it were convinced Michigan sophomore defensive lineman Rashan Gary (though from New Jersey, not from the south) was going to pick Clemson on Signing Day last year, and said he changed his mind a few times on the way to the studio to announce last year.
The point — these kids and their families are being pulled in several different directions, and what’s being offered these days is “astronomical.” It takes a special mom, running backs coach Fred Jackson once said, to be able to pull in a kid like that, and the number they’ve lost then night before over the years … well, it’s almost too many to count.
A lot of elite recruits still aren’t recruitable, including some who seem like they are. That brings us to this year’s “Tale from the Trail” story about a southern school that paid (illegally, of course) to have an elite prospect visit unofficially a few times. They sent him money for another weekend visit, but he didn’t show up.
They made a few phone calls and found out that the kid had used the money to take a trip to a different school. The man in charge of setting up the visit — a high-ranking coach — was livid, of course. But what was he going to do? Turn him in?
Regardless, his school ended up landing the kid, so it all worked out for them in the end as money well spent. And to be sure, that wasn’t the only money they dished out to land him.
This was a kid U-M was looking at, too, so that shows what they’re up against.
So Michigan was waiting patiently for 10:30 to come Wednesday morning, and there wasn't an air of complete confidence among some close to it. But it worked out, and for the second year in a row the Wolverines nabbed a unicorn with a strong mother.
More recruiting postscript — today we posted Brad Hawkins’ prep school video, and it is impressive. He’s a big wideout with great hands and body control.
While he might be more prepared to play wide receiver, however, there’s lots of talk that he’ll still be moved to safety. Sophomore Khaleke Hudson simply doesn’t have the cover skills right now — he’ll likely have to move closer to the line of scrimmage — and flat out, they need bodies at the position. As freshman J’Marick Woods said yesterday, the coaches have told the young guys they have no choice but to play them.
Head coach Jim Harbaugh, meanwhile, said after the Signing of the Stars event that he and his staff would be looking for some grad transfer offensive linemen, and they’ll look for help at the safety position, too. For those wondering where the scholarships will come from … well, there’s almost always attrition.
In one case, it appears a scholarship could well open up due to a kid’s family circumstances (and he loves it here). This one would be a real shame, but it’s likely to happen. We are not at liberty to say who until it’s confirmed, for a number of reasons (those who have been here long enough will understand), but the program will continue to thrive and survive.
To football …
Former Michigan director of player personnel Tony Tuioti was instrumental in the recruitment of Aledo (Texas) High four-star offensive tackle Chuck Filiaga and South Jordan (Utah) Bingham four-star defensive tackle Jay Tufele. Obviously it worked out with Filiaga but not with Tufele. The news around their recruitments isn’t necessarily in the results but more the approach.
Even after Tuioti had taken the defensive line-coaching job at Fresno State, he was still involved in recruiting both Filiaga and Tufele to Michigan. He felt loyal to Jim Harbaugh and wanted to finish what he started with those two, specifically. He was still speaking with both families and worked hard to try and seal the deal.
There’s also a very strong belief that Tuioti will return to Michigan at some point. As soon as it was known that he was heading to Fresno, he informed The Wolverine that his new job was “not the last destination.”
Whenever there’s an opening, Tuioti will instantly become a candidate to return to U-M and replace the veteran defensive coach. His work with Polynesian players on the recruiting trail was very apparent and after a few years of coaching the d-line at a smaller program like Fresno, a return to Michigan in the same capacity would make a lot of sense.
Something to keep an eye on, for sure.
Michigan loaded up on receivers in the 2017 recruiting class, and arguably boasts the top incoming group in the nation. The Wolverines needed that injection of talent, especially with starters Amara Darboh and Jehu Chesson finishing up their fifth years and hopefully heading on to the NFL.
Meanwhile, there’s another question mark on the returning receivers that has to be cleared up. It involves rising junior Grant Perry, and his brush with the legal system. According to our sources, it’s so far, so good from his standpoint in that arena.
In late January, the judge involved in his case involving an incident last fall in East Lansing issued a stipulation order for his preliminary exam, which could lead to a plea agreement putting him into an alternative program.
He has not faced any charges in District Court on the original felony citation. If that charge is dropped, or diverts him into the alternative program, he is expected to return to the Michigan roster in the fall of 2017.
He was suspended from all team activities prior to the Orange Bowl, and the in-house punishment will be greater than usual, especially this year. He could miss the team’s initial study abroad experience, meaning staying home while classmates head for Rome.
He’ll also likely sit out at least one game next season. If it involves the opener, Perry would miss another highlight trip for the Wolverines, the excursion to Arlington, Texas, for the opener against Florida in Cowboys Stadium.
****
To basketball and recruiting now …
Michigan is 4-5 at the halfway point and needs to get to at least nine Big Ten wins to have a shot at the NCAA Tournament. They know they let some get away, but wins over Marquette and SMU are very good wins right now, and there’s a sense that this team can still get there.
They realize that these next two games aren’t the season, but they also understand that beating rivals is an expectation at Michigan, not a hope. Losing to Ohio State or MSU (which would be a sixth straight loss to the Spartans) would not sit well.
Bottom line – the expectation is to compete for championships. It won’t happen this year, but it’s happened in the recent past and it needs to happen again.
On the recruiting trail, Michigan will have one or two scholarships to give still in the 2017 class, and on of the big targets remains Westtown (Pa.) five-star big man Mohamed Bamba. Again, U-M likely has to make the tournament to have a shot, but those close to it insist the Wolverines remain right in the mix with Texas, Duke and Kentucky.
We’re the first to tell you when there’s no shot at an elite recruit, and we’ve heard folks say “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Fair enough. But this is not an unrecruitable kid.
Head coach John Beilein was in to see three-star shooting guard Greg Elliott recently following Elliott’s 42-point game against DEPSA, a game in which U-M 2018 pledge David DeJulius was forced to sit due to eligibility questions stemming from a transfer (which have since been resolved).
The rumblings were that the dynamics of Elliott’s recruitment would change if Michigan offered — the Wolverines didn’t, but Elliott remains on the radar. It could be a case of too little, too late if he continues to blow up, however, and it might be already. MSU has offered, and he really likes Marquette.
U-M might also dip a toe in the grad transfer guard waters, but as of now there’s nothing seriously brewing on that front.
In the 2018 class, assistant Jeff Meyer was down to see Katy (Texas) Tompkins wing Jamal Bieniemy recently, a lanky standout with great upside. The No. 132 junior (Rivals.com) has been compared to a Caris LeVert type, and he’ll be one to watch … particularly because the Wolverines have significant ties here.
Bieniemy has offers from Oklahoma State, Houston, Texas A&M and others but U-M is in a good spot here (though not ready to offer).
Milton (Mass.) Academy shooting guard Cormac Ryan has visited Stanford, Villanova, Yale and Pennsylvania earlier this winter, and recently took in Northwestern's home win over Indiana. Notre Dame and Michigan have been on him extremely hard, and U-M remains up there. Some, though, have said the recent DeJulius commitment raised an eyebrow with him, though he’s been assured he’s a priority and it certainly wasn’t a deal-breaker.
Starting with football recruiting …
Michigan received a surprise National Signing Day commitment from Westerville (Ohio) Westerville South two-star punter Brad Robbins but it’s not quite official yet. Because everything developed at the last minute, Robbins and his family have never visited Michigan, so they have decided to check things out this weekend before signing anything.
As of right now, the plan is to come on a visit, give Ann Arbor a once over and sign a letter of intent while in town. There are no signs of things not going that way, and Robbins should officially be a Wolverine before the weekend is over.
Another interesting angle of Robbins’ recruitment involves other schools trying to keep him from ending up at Michigan. Both of Robbins’ parents are Ohio State alums, and the Buckeye coaching staff is well aware. The staff in Columbus was extremely high on Robbins, but after using a scholarship on Cincinnati La Salle three-star kicker Drue Chrisman last year, the Buckeyes coaches weren’t in a position to pursue Robbins this year.
People at Ohio State actively tried to turn other programs onto Robbins to keep him from taking a look at Michigan and Rutgers was also involved … shocker, right? In the end, it’s going to be wasted effort because Robbins will be a Wolverine barring some unforeseen, massive breakdown during the visit this weekend.
To the story on five-star defensive tackle signee Aubrey Solomon of Lee County (Ga.) Leesburg …
There was plenty of confidence on the Michigan end up until Signing Day that the Wolverines would be able to pull Solomon back in … one of our sources told us “Jim Harbaugh is 99.9 percent certain,” and that was a result of the kid essentially re-committing about three weeks early.
Someone extremely close to Solomon had a conversation with someone close to our board saying it was a “done deal” for Michigan, as well, days before the kid committed.
This is a coup for a number of reasons. First off, five-star kids in the South are under enormous pressure to stay home. We’d heard (haven’t confirmed) that he and his family received threats from fans after eliminating one school from his list. Some close to it were convinced Michigan sophomore defensive lineman Rashan Gary (though from New Jersey, not from the south) was going to pick Clemson on Signing Day last year, and said he changed his mind a few times on the way to the studio to announce last year.
The point — these kids and their families are being pulled in several different directions, and what’s being offered these days is “astronomical.” It takes a special mom, running backs coach Fred Jackson once said, to be able to pull in a kid like that, and the number they’ve lost then night before over the years … well, it’s almost too many to count.
A lot of elite recruits still aren’t recruitable, including some who seem like they are. That brings us to this year’s “Tale from the Trail” story about a southern school that paid (illegally, of course) to have an elite prospect visit unofficially a few times. They sent him money for another weekend visit, but he didn’t show up.
They made a few phone calls and found out that the kid had used the money to take a trip to a different school. The man in charge of setting up the visit — a high-ranking coach — was livid, of course. But what was he going to do? Turn him in?
Regardless, his school ended up landing the kid, so it all worked out for them in the end as money well spent. And to be sure, that wasn’t the only money they dished out to land him.
This was a kid U-M was looking at, too, so that shows what they’re up against.
So Michigan was waiting patiently for 10:30 to come Wednesday morning, and there wasn't an air of complete confidence among some close to it. But it worked out, and for the second year in a row the Wolverines nabbed a unicorn with a strong mother.
More recruiting postscript — today we posted Brad Hawkins’ prep school video, and it is impressive. He’s a big wideout with great hands and body control.
While he might be more prepared to play wide receiver, however, there’s lots of talk that he’ll still be moved to safety. Sophomore Khaleke Hudson simply doesn’t have the cover skills right now — he’ll likely have to move closer to the line of scrimmage — and flat out, they need bodies at the position. As freshman J’Marick Woods said yesterday, the coaches have told the young guys they have no choice but to play them.
Head coach Jim Harbaugh, meanwhile, said after the Signing of the Stars event that he and his staff would be looking for some grad transfer offensive linemen, and they’ll look for help at the safety position, too. For those wondering where the scholarships will come from … well, there’s almost always attrition.
In one case, it appears a scholarship could well open up due to a kid’s family circumstances (and he loves it here). This one would be a real shame, but it’s likely to happen. We are not at liberty to say who until it’s confirmed, for a number of reasons (those who have been here long enough will understand), but the program will continue to thrive and survive.
To football …
Former Michigan director of player personnel Tony Tuioti was instrumental in the recruitment of Aledo (Texas) High four-star offensive tackle Chuck Filiaga and South Jordan (Utah) Bingham four-star defensive tackle Jay Tufele. Obviously it worked out with Filiaga but not with Tufele. The news around their recruitments isn’t necessarily in the results but more the approach.
Even after Tuioti had taken the defensive line-coaching job at Fresno State, he was still involved in recruiting both Filiaga and Tufele to Michigan. He felt loyal to Jim Harbaugh and wanted to finish what he started with those two, specifically. He was still speaking with both families and worked hard to try and seal the deal.
There’s also a very strong belief that Tuioti will return to Michigan at some point. As soon as it was known that he was heading to Fresno, he informed The Wolverine that his new job was “not the last destination.”
Whenever there’s an opening, Tuioti will instantly become a candidate to return to U-M and replace the veteran defensive coach. His work with Polynesian players on the recruiting trail was very apparent and after a few years of coaching the d-line at a smaller program like Fresno, a return to Michigan in the same capacity would make a lot of sense.
Something to keep an eye on, for sure.
Michigan loaded up on receivers in the 2017 recruiting class, and arguably boasts the top incoming group in the nation. The Wolverines needed that injection of talent, especially with starters Amara Darboh and Jehu Chesson finishing up their fifth years and hopefully heading on to the NFL.
Meanwhile, there’s another question mark on the returning receivers that has to be cleared up. It involves rising junior Grant Perry, and his brush with the legal system. According to our sources, it’s so far, so good from his standpoint in that arena.
In late January, the judge involved in his case involving an incident last fall in East Lansing issued a stipulation order for his preliminary exam, which could lead to a plea agreement putting him into an alternative program.
He has not faced any charges in District Court on the original felony citation. If that charge is dropped, or diverts him into the alternative program, he is expected to return to the Michigan roster in the fall of 2017.
He was suspended from all team activities prior to the Orange Bowl, and the in-house punishment will be greater than usual, especially this year. He could miss the team’s initial study abroad experience, meaning staying home while classmates head for Rome.
He’ll also likely sit out at least one game next season. If it involves the opener, Perry would miss another highlight trip for the Wolverines, the excursion to Arlington, Texas, for the opener against Florida in Cowboys Stadium.
****
To basketball and recruiting now …
Michigan is 4-5 at the halfway point and needs to get to at least nine Big Ten wins to have a shot at the NCAA Tournament. They know they let some get away, but wins over Marquette and SMU are very good wins right now, and there’s a sense that this team can still get there.
They realize that these next two games aren’t the season, but they also understand that beating rivals is an expectation at Michigan, not a hope. Losing to Ohio State or MSU (which would be a sixth straight loss to the Spartans) would not sit well.
Bottom line – the expectation is to compete for championships. It won’t happen this year, but it’s happened in the recent past and it needs to happen again.
On the recruiting trail, Michigan will have one or two scholarships to give still in the 2017 class, and on of the big targets remains Westtown (Pa.) five-star big man Mohamed Bamba. Again, U-M likely has to make the tournament to have a shot, but those close to it insist the Wolverines remain right in the mix with Texas, Duke and Kentucky.
We’re the first to tell you when there’s no shot at an elite recruit, and we’ve heard folks say “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Fair enough. But this is not an unrecruitable kid.
Head coach John Beilein was in to see three-star shooting guard Greg Elliott recently following Elliott’s 42-point game against DEPSA, a game in which U-M 2018 pledge David DeJulius was forced to sit due to eligibility questions stemming from a transfer (which have since been resolved).
The rumblings were that the dynamics of Elliott’s recruitment would change if Michigan offered — the Wolverines didn’t, but Elliott remains on the radar. It could be a case of too little, too late if he continues to blow up, however, and it might be already. MSU has offered, and he really likes Marquette.
U-M might also dip a toe in the grad transfer guard waters, but as of now there’s nothing seriously brewing on that front.
In the 2018 class, assistant Jeff Meyer was down to see Katy (Texas) Tompkins wing Jamal Bieniemy recently, a lanky standout with great upside. The No. 132 junior (Rivals.com) has been compared to a Caris LeVert type, and he’ll be one to watch … particularly because the Wolverines have significant ties here.
Bieniemy has offers from Oklahoma State, Houston, Texas A&M and others but U-M is in a good spot here (though not ready to offer).
Milton (Mass.) Academy shooting guard Cormac Ryan has visited Stanford, Villanova, Yale and Pennsylvania earlier this winter, and recently took in Northwestern's home win over Indiana. Notre Dame and Michigan have been on him extremely hard, and U-M remains up there. Some, though, have said the recent DeJulius commitment raised an eyebrow with him, though he’s been assured he’s a priority and it certainly wasn’t a deal-breaker.
