The Michigan football team is entering its final two weeks of practice before the April 1 spring game under the lights. Leading up to the game, the Wolverines will host a “Draft” this week to divide the two teams.
While the media will not be allowed at Thursday’s selection process, we should be able to provide updates to you (Michigan might actually do this, official details have not been made available yet, though, so everything we’ve gleaned has been from our sources).
We have also been told that U-M will hold a spring practice at Ford Field in Detroit this Saturday. We do not expect the practice to be open to fans or the media, however.
Moving on to the actual practices, and this is what we’ve gleaned from reliable accounts.
We start at quarterback, where we continue to be told the job is redshirt junior John O’Korn’s to lose. However, a challenger is emerging and it’s not who you think
Continued chatter from multiple sources informs us that redshirt sophomore Wilton Speight has been the most impressive QB outside of O’Korn and that the coaches feel he could develop into a Jake Rudock-type that makes very good decisions, doesn’t turn it over, runs the offense with the steady hand of a high IQ/calm demeanor player, and throws an accurate deep ball.
Redshirt junior Shane Morris, our sources share, is still trying to find his way. O’Korn, meanwhile, has the best ball skills. He’s not perfect and can still force a few throws, which has led to interceptions, but he makes plays most consistently and doesn’t get rattled when rush is bearing down on him.
We’re not saying Speight will be the opening-day starter – every indication remains that it will be O’Korn – but there is considerable confidence that Speight will be a contributor as a very reliable No. 2 and maybe more some day.
At offensive line, the starting five remains unchanged from the first week of practice: sophomore Grant Newsome at left tackle, fifth-year senior Ben Braden at left guard, junior Mason Cole at center, fifth-year senior Kyle Kalis at right guard and fifth-year senior Erik Magnuson at right tackle.
Cole has had a few tough moments with shotgun snaps this spring but is improving, and there is no real competitor at the center position. Kalis is probably the most vulnerable as he continues to make the mistakes that where part of his game in 2014 and 2015.
Michigan feels it has greater depth along the line but still doesn’t have experienced talent that can push Kalis, so much so that both freshmen Michael Onwenu and Ben Bredeson could be players that get long looks in preseason camp. U-M wants to put the best five on the field, and because Magnuson is versatile enough to play guard, U-M is looking at all possibilities on the right side of the line.
No surprise at wide receiver, tight end or running back where seniors Amara Darboh, Jehu Chesson (who is out for spring with a previously-announced injury), Jake Butt and De’Veon Smith all have firm locks on starting positions.
Among the reserves, redshirt sophomore Maurice Ways and sophomore Grant Perry continue to separate themselves at wide receiver, showing off good hands, an ability to get open and the passion and fundamentals for blocking. It’s the latter that endears them to the coaching staff and gives them a better chance to play than redshirt sophomore Drake Harris or early-enrollee freshman Ahmir Mitchell (who is still working on consistently catching the ball with his hands, rather than his body).
The tight end position "isn’t even fair," one practice observer noted, believing coach Jim Harbaugh and coordinators Tim Drevno and Jedd Fisch are giddy over the prospects of employing two or three tight ends on the field at the same time, feeling in redshirt sophomore Ian Bunting and redshirt freshman Tyrone Wheatley Jr., that Michigan has the best tight end trio in the country (and maybe, it will bear out, the best in program history).
Redshirt freshman Zach Gentry is a great athlete but has been up and down this spring.
“The kid is such a hard worker that he could have a great summer and be someone to watch next fall, but he has to put on about 10-15 pounds and he has to catch 200 balls a day – do that, and look out,” a source said.
At running back, fifth-year senior Drake Johnson and redshirt junior Ty Isaac have had very good springs so far, and are poised to take carries away from Smith. But then Smith is such a competitor that every time he feels his teammates on his heels, he digs in deeper.
“He has the attitude and the effort of the all-time greats,” our source said. “And he’s getting closer and closer with the vision. I’m not sure it will ever click into place 100 percent for him, but my goodness, if it did, I think you’re looking at a kid that could have a 1,500-yard season.”
One last mention offensively before we jump sides of the ball, fifth-year senior Bobby Henderson has a real shot at fullback. He’s put redshirt juniors Henry Poggi and Khalid Hill on notice to dial it up or risk being passed over.
Defensively, the talk of the spring from those that have attended practices is all about new coordinator Don Brown.
“Man is that guy a football coach,” an observer noted. “He is fired up, intense, and maniacal all at the same time. He’s always loud, always coaching, and always teaching. He makes calls with a lot of intensity and expects and demands that his players know where to be and what to do.
“He doesn’t care if it is senior Ben Gedeon or early-enrolled freshman Devin Bush, if they make a mistake he is letting them hear about it. The guy is passionate about what he does and it spills into the way he coaches and calls plays. That defense is going to be fun to watch and a lot of that is because of the way Brown uses his talent.”
He may be hard on them but senior cornerback Channing Stribling said that he is also their biggest fan, telling the media recently how after every interception, Brown is the first one to chest bump his players, racing out to the field to give them recognition.
The players love his enthusiasm, and they can’t hide their excitement over how he plans to employ them.
Perhaps no position will benefit as much as linebacker, where senior Gedeon and redshirt junior Mike McCray are poised for breakout seasons. Both have been put in position to react quickly and come downhill, bringing 240-pound frames to contact, and it shows.
Bush, redshirt freshman Reuben Jones and early enrollee Carlo Kemp are all jockeying for snaps among the second-team inside linebackers and will certainly play but are significantly behind Gedeon and McCray.
“Devin Bush is a little small but moves extremely well and looks like he’ll get a lot of playing time this season,” our practice observer said. “Carlo Kemp and Reuben Jones, while very different physically, are very impressive to look at.
“Kemp is thick and strong while maintaining good movement skills where Jones almost looks like a running back. He is very athletic and has the ability to do a lot of things because of the way he can move in space and off the edge.”
In the secondary, senior Jourdan Lewis and Stribling are the top two cornerbacks while redshirt freshman Keith Washington is progressing to the point where he could be a factor as the No. 3 corner, pushing fifth-year senior Jeremy Clark.
The hype for Stribling is growing after he’s put together “a dominant spring. Maybe the best defensive player of the spring so far” one of our sources said.
Seniors Dymonte Thomas and Delano Hill remain the starting safeties while fifth-year senior walk-on AJ Pearson is getting a lot of run and appears to have passed sophomore Tyree Kinnel by.
Fifth-year senior Kenny Allen and redshirt freshman Andrew David are handling the kicking and punting chances, but Allen would be entrusted to do both if the season started today. David appears to be figuring out his role on the team going forward.
One final note on football, first-year linebackers coach Chris Partridge will be one to watch in the long term. He’s very active in practices and was running Michigan’s football coach’s clinic March 11. He’s not just a recruiting guy thrown into the assistant coach mix so the Wolverines didn’t lose him. It is very clear that he has a bright future in the profession.
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Moving on to football recruiting …
We meant to report this a couple weeks ago, but better late than never, yeah? There have been plenty of questions about 2016 commitment Dytarious Johnson. The lone unsigned pledge, what’s his status?
He’s still expecting – and Michigan is still expecting him – to be in Ann Arbor this fall. However, there’s also an expectation that he won’t be able to clear up his status with the NCAA’s Clearinghouse by the time the signing period ends in 10 days. That would mean he doesn’t sign a letter of intent, but simply shows up on-campus when the time comes.
The delay does mean that his class standing could be up for a bit of interpretation. If he’s unable to arrive in town until after fall camp has begun, would it make more sense for him to be a greyshirt, and effectively join Michigan’s 2017 class? If the NCAA Clearinghouse doesn’t play out like player and program are expecting, will he end up in prep school for a year?
With plenty to play out still, the questions themselves assume hypothetical scenarios, and the answer to either is probably “yes” depending on timing.
U-M is planning to stick with him though, unless another school – say, a UAB program that’s just re-starting – has the opportunity to hurry him through admissions a little faster than U-M if the Clearinghouse approves him late in the process. If he doesn’t end up a Wolverine, it’ll be his choice, not Michigan’s.
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Michigan’s coaching staff – or more specifically, the non-coaching support staffers – has already seen plenty of turnover after one year in the Harbaugh era. Partridge was promoted to a full-time staff job, and recruiting assistants Matt Doherty (returned to his alma mater, Miami) and Erik Campbell (named UConn’s wide receivers coach) moved on, as well.
The replacements are Director of Player Personnel (top dog on the recruiting staff) Tony Tuioti, and analysts Bam Richards and Devin Bush, respectively.
Tuioti’s contract status is unclear, but the other pair signed just one-year contracts. They have a chance to prove themselves and extend their stay in Ann Arbor, or use it as a stepping-stone to a bigger job in the Michigan program or elsewhere, but for the time being, the job security is limited.
That is aligned with Harbaugh’s philosophy of competing and earning things every day, but it can also be a deterrent to short-term success, according to one long-time follower of recruiting across the nation.
“They have no continuity there,” he said. “Those new staffers might be good in the long run, but they’re high school guys; this is a different job than they’re used to. They have to learn on the job, and without somebody there to teach them the ropes.”
Tuioti has been a Director of Player Personnel before (at Hawaii, his alma mater) but the situation at Michigan is very different, so while he knows the big picture of the job, even he has to learn it as well – and therefore can’t spend as much time getting the others up to speed.
We saw Michigan have tons of success with a similar situation last year, Partridge learning on the job a bit, so we don’t share the doom-and-gloom view of this source, but it is still a minor concern.
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We’re expecting Michigan to add some new commitments soon, after a bit of a lull since quarterback Dylan McCaffrey joined in mid-February.
We talked about Alabama safety AJ Harris Sunday night, and it is likely just a matter of timing for him. He’s trying to make a splash for the program he picks – and yes, we still believe that’ll be Michigan – to help continue building the class.
He’s never had a specific timeline in mind (which is why the “commit watch is off” sky-is-falling posts needed to be scaled back), but barring HUGE changes in the immediate short-term, he’ll be a Wolverine.
A couple editions ago in ITF, we mentioned that a player who had long favored U-M could be getting close to his pledge. The timeline remains even more vague than Harris’ but we expect this player to make his choice soon, as well. Those who read the tealeaves should be able to figure out who it is within the next couple days (if they haven’t already).
Many have penciled him in to the class for multiple years now, and things seem to be trending toward the end of the process (finally).
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Some have asked about Ann Arbor Pioneer athlete Antjuan Simmons visiting U-M Saturday, but we encourage not reading much into it at this point. We were with Simmons – at the Tom Lemming photo shoot – up until the time that the visit began, and it’s one that was simply a matter of convenience, not really an indication that he’s already wavering on his Ohio State commitment.
He was reluctant to even head over to Michigan’s practice, but tagged along with friends Ja’Raymond Hall (a Michigan pledge, of course) and Marquan McCall. He was hanging with friends, not giving the Maize and Blue another serious look.
As we’ve said before, the plan at this point is not for Michigan to give him a serious push, so things are lukewarm at best on both sides.
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The Spring Game is becoming a big-time recruiting event for Michigan. That’s not a surprise – it traditionally is – but there’s been a bit of a slow build toward the impressive visitors list.
Bradenton (Fla.) IMG teammates Cesar Ruiz and Rob Hainsey have long been RSVP’d, along with some top prospects from New Jersey (including Rivals100 linebacker Drew Singleton). Add Alabama wideout Nico Collins tentatively locking down that date for a trip, a potential trip from 2018 Texas TE Mustapha Muhammad (one of the first 2018 tight ends with a U-M offer), and it’s developing some buzz.
Of course, local prospects will be in attendance – though many of them make final decisions closer to the date, since their travel arrangements are easier – headlined right now by Hall and McCall. We’ll see who else (perhaps a five-star wideout from Cass Tech) makes the quick trip.
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Michigan’s basketball season has ended, and we’re looking forward to next year …
The sudden end wasn’t wholly unexpected, although a 12-point lead at the half certainly gave hope that Michigan’s season would last longer than it did. But the ouster against Notre Dame in first-round NCAA action has plenty of people talking about next year already.
So here are some educated guesses – nothing in stone yet, it should be noted. First off, it would be a surprise to see senior Spike Albrecht back in a Michigan uniform, although he still has a year of eligibility. He has a ways to go before he could be up to any kind of basketball speed, and the Wolverines do not presently have the roster spot to accommodate him.
Again, this isn’t a hard-and-fast goodbye. It’s a reasonable expectation of outcome, though.
None of the freshmen are likely to prep in the coming year, so it stands to reason that someone on the present roster moves along prior to the 2016-17 season. We’re not ready to speculate on who that might be at this point but will keep you informed when we feel comfortable with the process.
We’re expecting incoming freshman Austin Davis to play, and classmate Jon Teske to redshirt, with an eye toward gaining strength. As one close Michigan observer noted, the Wolverines will have five centers next year, and that’s too many.
One of them, freshman Moritz Wagner, showed excellent growth in the latter portion of the season. He’s gotten better on defense, although head coach John Beilein wants him to eliminate some of the unnecessary fouls that get him pulled from the game.
Beilein also loves Wagner’s pick-and-roll game, and what his movement potentially brings to the offense. One observer insisted Wagner stands a very good chance of taking over the No. 1 spot at the five next season.
Meanwhile, sophomore guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman solidified his status as one of Michigan’s most consistent performers, and certainly its best at driving to the hole. It will be interesting to see if he can spell rising senior Derrick Walton, Jr. at point guard at times next year. That would involve Abdur-Rahkman gaining a deeper understanding of running plays from that position.
Of course, there will be a new challenge from incoming freshman Xavier Simpson, which will change the guards’ dynamic. Beilein is absolutely looking forward to having more depth there, after it got wiped out by injury this season.
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Finally, we finish with hockey …
The tide has turned for this Michigan program, it appears, following the Wolverines’ Big Ten Tournament Championship on Saturday, and U-M is a popular pick among college hockey pundits to advance to the Frozen Four.
A Frozen Four run culminating in a national title would be the perfect way for Red Berenson to exit, and it might take that for him to go after multiple sources have told us that new Athletic Director Warde Manuel has asked Berenson to return for one more season so that Manuel can navigate the athletics landscape at U-M without a major coaching change in his first three months.
It would also allow Manuel to put together a team to do research on hockey coaches that they could study throughout all of next year.
We’ve been told that Manuel is very thorough and likes the idea of being able to scout other coaches over a season as he understands that while hockey is not the money-maker that football and basketball are, it is the third-most visible sport on this campus, one with an immense tradition, and it is imperative he gets the right man for the job.
That man, however, could be as easy as driving up to Houghton to scoop up Mel Pearson.
With Michigan Tech finishing 23-9-5 this season, with a WCHA regular-season championship (though they missed out on an NCAA berth, missing out by two spots in the Pairwise), and Pearson now producing back-to-back winning seasons with the Huskies, he is the clear choice to succeed Berenson.
There are others that should and would be considered – current assistants Brian Wiseman and Billy Powers, Providence coach Nate Leaman, and current AHL coach Ron Rolston – but Pearson is the slam-dunk hire according to numerous sources inside and outside the U-M program.
Still, he might have to wait another year if Berenson says yes to Manuel. And that’s a distinct possibility, thanks in large part to the play of the Wolverines down the stretch and Berenson’s belief that he still knows how to run a successful program. Not that he ever wavered in his own confidence, but he has repeatedly said that if the program was faltering on his watch, and he felt like new blood was needed, he would step aside.
That is where Michigan was entering the season, with Berenson seeming to understand that and willing to walk away for the good of U-M, but the feeling inside Yost is the ship has been righted and that the coming years could be a return to conference championships and Frozen Four runs, especially with juniors JT Compher and Tyler Motte expected back for their senior years and a hotshot goalie set to arrive.
But if Michigan wins its next four, and Berenson claims his third national title, it will be very hard not to walk away on top.
While the media will not be allowed at Thursday’s selection process, we should be able to provide updates to you (Michigan might actually do this, official details have not been made available yet, though, so everything we’ve gleaned has been from our sources).
We have also been told that U-M will hold a spring practice at Ford Field in Detroit this Saturday. We do not expect the practice to be open to fans or the media, however.
Moving on to the actual practices, and this is what we’ve gleaned from reliable accounts.
We start at quarterback, where we continue to be told the job is redshirt junior John O’Korn’s to lose. However, a challenger is emerging and it’s not who you think
Continued chatter from multiple sources informs us that redshirt sophomore Wilton Speight has been the most impressive QB outside of O’Korn and that the coaches feel he could develop into a Jake Rudock-type that makes very good decisions, doesn’t turn it over, runs the offense with the steady hand of a high IQ/calm demeanor player, and throws an accurate deep ball.
Redshirt junior Shane Morris, our sources share, is still trying to find his way. O’Korn, meanwhile, has the best ball skills. He’s not perfect and can still force a few throws, which has led to interceptions, but he makes plays most consistently and doesn’t get rattled when rush is bearing down on him.
We’re not saying Speight will be the opening-day starter – every indication remains that it will be O’Korn – but there is considerable confidence that Speight will be a contributor as a very reliable No. 2 and maybe more some day.
At offensive line, the starting five remains unchanged from the first week of practice: sophomore Grant Newsome at left tackle, fifth-year senior Ben Braden at left guard, junior Mason Cole at center, fifth-year senior Kyle Kalis at right guard and fifth-year senior Erik Magnuson at right tackle.
Cole has had a few tough moments with shotgun snaps this spring but is improving, and there is no real competitor at the center position. Kalis is probably the most vulnerable as he continues to make the mistakes that where part of his game in 2014 and 2015.
Michigan feels it has greater depth along the line but still doesn’t have experienced talent that can push Kalis, so much so that both freshmen Michael Onwenu and Ben Bredeson could be players that get long looks in preseason camp. U-M wants to put the best five on the field, and because Magnuson is versatile enough to play guard, U-M is looking at all possibilities on the right side of the line.
No surprise at wide receiver, tight end or running back where seniors Amara Darboh, Jehu Chesson (who is out for spring with a previously-announced injury), Jake Butt and De’Veon Smith all have firm locks on starting positions.
Among the reserves, redshirt sophomore Maurice Ways and sophomore Grant Perry continue to separate themselves at wide receiver, showing off good hands, an ability to get open and the passion and fundamentals for blocking. It’s the latter that endears them to the coaching staff and gives them a better chance to play than redshirt sophomore Drake Harris or early-enrollee freshman Ahmir Mitchell (who is still working on consistently catching the ball with his hands, rather than his body).
The tight end position "isn’t even fair," one practice observer noted, believing coach Jim Harbaugh and coordinators Tim Drevno and Jedd Fisch are giddy over the prospects of employing two or three tight ends on the field at the same time, feeling in redshirt sophomore Ian Bunting and redshirt freshman Tyrone Wheatley Jr., that Michigan has the best tight end trio in the country (and maybe, it will bear out, the best in program history).
Redshirt freshman Zach Gentry is a great athlete but has been up and down this spring.
“The kid is such a hard worker that he could have a great summer and be someone to watch next fall, but he has to put on about 10-15 pounds and he has to catch 200 balls a day – do that, and look out,” a source said.
At running back, fifth-year senior Drake Johnson and redshirt junior Ty Isaac have had very good springs so far, and are poised to take carries away from Smith. But then Smith is such a competitor that every time he feels his teammates on his heels, he digs in deeper.
“He has the attitude and the effort of the all-time greats,” our source said. “And he’s getting closer and closer with the vision. I’m not sure it will ever click into place 100 percent for him, but my goodness, if it did, I think you’re looking at a kid that could have a 1,500-yard season.”
One last mention offensively before we jump sides of the ball, fifth-year senior Bobby Henderson has a real shot at fullback. He’s put redshirt juniors Henry Poggi and Khalid Hill on notice to dial it up or risk being passed over.
Defensively, the talk of the spring from those that have attended practices is all about new coordinator Don Brown.
“Man is that guy a football coach,” an observer noted. “He is fired up, intense, and maniacal all at the same time. He’s always loud, always coaching, and always teaching. He makes calls with a lot of intensity and expects and demands that his players know where to be and what to do.
“He doesn’t care if it is senior Ben Gedeon or early-enrolled freshman Devin Bush, if they make a mistake he is letting them hear about it. The guy is passionate about what he does and it spills into the way he coaches and calls plays. That defense is going to be fun to watch and a lot of that is because of the way Brown uses his talent.”
He may be hard on them but senior cornerback Channing Stribling said that he is also their biggest fan, telling the media recently how after every interception, Brown is the first one to chest bump his players, racing out to the field to give them recognition.
The players love his enthusiasm, and they can’t hide their excitement over how he plans to employ them.
Perhaps no position will benefit as much as linebacker, where senior Gedeon and redshirt junior Mike McCray are poised for breakout seasons. Both have been put in position to react quickly and come downhill, bringing 240-pound frames to contact, and it shows.
Bush, redshirt freshman Reuben Jones and early enrollee Carlo Kemp are all jockeying for snaps among the second-team inside linebackers and will certainly play but are significantly behind Gedeon and McCray.
“Devin Bush is a little small but moves extremely well and looks like he’ll get a lot of playing time this season,” our practice observer said. “Carlo Kemp and Reuben Jones, while very different physically, are very impressive to look at.
“Kemp is thick and strong while maintaining good movement skills where Jones almost looks like a running back. He is very athletic and has the ability to do a lot of things because of the way he can move in space and off the edge.”
In the secondary, senior Jourdan Lewis and Stribling are the top two cornerbacks while redshirt freshman Keith Washington is progressing to the point where he could be a factor as the No. 3 corner, pushing fifth-year senior Jeremy Clark.
The hype for Stribling is growing after he’s put together “a dominant spring. Maybe the best defensive player of the spring so far” one of our sources said.
Seniors Dymonte Thomas and Delano Hill remain the starting safeties while fifth-year senior walk-on AJ Pearson is getting a lot of run and appears to have passed sophomore Tyree Kinnel by.
Fifth-year senior Kenny Allen and redshirt freshman Andrew David are handling the kicking and punting chances, but Allen would be entrusted to do both if the season started today. David appears to be figuring out his role on the team going forward.
One final note on football, first-year linebackers coach Chris Partridge will be one to watch in the long term. He’s very active in practices and was running Michigan’s football coach’s clinic March 11. He’s not just a recruiting guy thrown into the assistant coach mix so the Wolverines didn’t lose him. It is very clear that he has a bright future in the profession.
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Moving on to football recruiting …
We meant to report this a couple weeks ago, but better late than never, yeah? There have been plenty of questions about 2016 commitment Dytarious Johnson. The lone unsigned pledge, what’s his status?
He’s still expecting – and Michigan is still expecting him – to be in Ann Arbor this fall. However, there’s also an expectation that he won’t be able to clear up his status with the NCAA’s Clearinghouse by the time the signing period ends in 10 days. That would mean he doesn’t sign a letter of intent, but simply shows up on-campus when the time comes.
The delay does mean that his class standing could be up for a bit of interpretation. If he’s unable to arrive in town until after fall camp has begun, would it make more sense for him to be a greyshirt, and effectively join Michigan’s 2017 class? If the NCAA Clearinghouse doesn’t play out like player and program are expecting, will he end up in prep school for a year?
With plenty to play out still, the questions themselves assume hypothetical scenarios, and the answer to either is probably “yes” depending on timing.
U-M is planning to stick with him though, unless another school – say, a UAB program that’s just re-starting – has the opportunity to hurry him through admissions a little faster than U-M if the Clearinghouse approves him late in the process. If he doesn’t end up a Wolverine, it’ll be his choice, not Michigan’s.
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Michigan’s coaching staff – or more specifically, the non-coaching support staffers – has already seen plenty of turnover after one year in the Harbaugh era. Partridge was promoted to a full-time staff job, and recruiting assistants Matt Doherty (returned to his alma mater, Miami) and Erik Campbell (named UConn’s wide receivers coach) moved on, as well.
The replacements are Director of Player Personnel (top dog on the recruiting staff) Tony Tuioti, and analysts Bam Richards and Devin Bush, respectively.
Tuioti’s contract status is unclear, but the other pair signed just one-year contracts. They have a chance to prove themselves and extend their stay in Ann Arbor, or use it as a stepping-stone to a bigger job in the Michigan program or elsewhere, but for the time being, the job security is limited.
That is aligned with Harbaugh’s philosophy of competing and earning things every day, but it can also be a deterrent to short-term success, according to one long-time follower of recruiting across the nation.
“They have no continuity there,” he said. “Those new staffers might be good in the long run, but they’re high school guys; this is a different job than they’re used to. They have to learn on the job, and without somebody there to teach them the ropes.”
Tuioti has been a Director of Player Personnel before (at Hawaii, his alma mater) but the situation at Michigan is very different, so while he knows the big picture of the job, even he has to learn it as well – and therefore can’t spend as much time getting the others up to speed.
We saw Michigan have tons of success with a similar situation last year, Partridge learning on the job a bit, so we don’t share the doom-and-gloom view of this source, but it is still a minor concern.
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We’re expecting Michigan to add some new commitments soon, after a bit of a lull since quarterback Dylan McCaffrey joined in mid-February.
We talked about Alabama safety AJ Harris Sunday night, and it is likely just a matter of timing for him. He’s trying to make a splash for the program he picks – and yes, we still believe that’ll be Michigan – to help continue building the class.
He’s never had a specific timeline in mind (which is why the “commit watch is off” sky-is-falling posts needed to be scaled back), but barring HUGE changes in the immediate short-term, he’ll be a Wolverine.
A couple editions ago in ITF, we mentioned that a player who had long favored U-M could be getting close to his pledge. The timeline remains even more vague than Harris’ but we expect this player to make his choice soon, as well. Those who read the tealeaves should be able to figure out who it is within the next couple days (if they haven’t already).
Many have penciled him in to the class for multiple years now, and things seem to be trending toward the end of the process (finally).
---
Some have asked about Ann Arbor Pioneer athlete Antjuan Simmons visiting U-M Saturday, but we encourage not reading much into it at this point. We were with Simmons – at the Tom Lemming photo shoot – up until the time that the visit began, and it’s one that was simply a matter of convenience, not really an indication that he’s already wavering on his Ohio State commitment.
He was reluctant to even head over to Michigan’s practice, but tagged along with friends Ja’Raymond Hall (a Michigan pledge, of course) and Marquan McCall. He was hanging with friends, not giving the Maize and Blue another serious look.
As we’ve said before, the plan at this point is not for Michigan to give him a serious push, so things are lukewarm at best on both sides.
---
The Spring Game is becoming a big-time recruiting event for Michigan. That’s not a surprise – it traditionally is – but there’s been a bit of a slow build toward the impressive visitors list.
Bradenton (Fla.) IMG teammates Cesar Ruiz and Rob Hainsey have long been RSVP’d, along with some top prospects from New Jersey (including Rivals100 linebacker Drew Singleton). Add Alabama wideout Nico Collins tentatively locking down that date for a trip, a potential trip from 2018 Texas TE Mustapha Muhammad (one of the first 2018 tight ends with a U-M offer), and it’s developing some buzz.
Of course, local prospects will be in attendance – though many of them make final decisions closer to the date, since their travel arrangements are easier – headlined right now by Hall and McCall. We’ll see who else (perhaps a five-star wideout from Cass Tech) makes the quick trip.
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Michigan’s basketball season has ended, and we’re looking forward to next year …
The sudden end wasn’t wholly unexpected, although a 12-point lead at the half certainly gave hope that Michigan’s season would last longer than it did. But the ouster against Notre Dame in first-round NCAA action has plenty of people talking about next year already.
So here are some educated guesses – nothing in stone yet, it should be noted. First off, it would be a surprise to see senior Spike Albrecht back in a Michigan uniform, although he still has a year of eligibility. He has a ways to go before he could be up to any kind of basketball speed, and the Wolverines do not presently have the roster spot to accommodate him.
Again, this isn’t a hard-and-fast goodbye. It’s a reasonable expectation of outcome, though.
None of the freshmen are likely to prep in the coming year, so it stands to reason that someone on the present roster moves along prior to the 2016-17 season. We’re not ready to speculate on who that might be at this point but will keep you informed when we feel comfortable with the process.
We’re expecting incoming freshman Austin Davis to play, and classmate Jon Teske to redshirt, with an eye toward gaining strength. As one close Michigan observer noted, the Wolverines will have five centers next year, and that’s too many.
One of them, freshman Moritz Wagner, showed excellent growth in the latter portion of the season. He’s gotten better on defense, although head coach John Beilein wants him to eliminate some of the unnecessary fouls that get him pulled from the game.
Beilein also loves Wagner’s pick-and-roll game, and what his movement potentially brings to the offense. One observer insisted Wagner stands a very good chance of taking over the No. 1 spot at the five next season.
Meanwhile, sophomore guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman solidified his status as one of Michigan’s most consistent performers, and certainly its best at driving to the hole. It will be interesting to see if he can spell rising senior Derrick Walton, Jr. at point guard at times next year. That would involve Abdur-Rahkman gaining a deeper understanding of running plays from that position.
Of course, there will be a new challenge from incoming freshman Xavier Simpson, which will change the guards’ dynamic. Beilein is absolutely looking forward to having more depth there, after it got wiped out by injury this season.
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Finally, we finish with hockey …
The tide has turned for this Michigan program, it appears, following the Wolverines’ Big Ten Tournament Championship on Saturday, and U-M is a popular pick among college hockey pundits to advance to the Frozen Four.
A Frozen Four run culminating in a national title would be the perfect way for Red Berenson to exit, and it might take that for him to go after multiple sources have told us that new Athletic Director Warde Manuel has asked Berenson to return for one more season so that Manuel can navigate the athletics landscape at U-M without a major coaching change in his first three months.
It would also allow Manuel to put together a team to do research on hockey coaches that they could study throughout all of next year.
We’ve been told that Manuel is very thorough and likes the idea of being able to scout other coaches over a season as he understands that while hockey is not the money-maker that football and basketball are, it is the third-most visible sport on this campus, one with an immense tradition, and it is imperative he gets the right man for the job.
That man, however, could be as easy as driving up to Houghton to scoop up Mel Pearson.
With Michigan Tech finishing 23-9-5 this season, with a WCHA regular-season championship (though they missed out on an NCAA berth, missing out by two spots in the Pairwise), and Pearson now producing back-to-back winning seasons with the Huskies, he is the clear choice to succeed Berenson.
There are others that should and would be considered – current assistants Brian Wiseman and Billy Powers, Providence coach Nate Leaman, and current AHL coach Ron Rolston – but Pearson is the slam-dunk hire according to numerous sources inside and outside the U-M program.
Still, he might have to wait another year if Berenson says yes to Manuel. And that’s a distinct possibility, thanks in large part to the play of the Wolverines down the stretch and Berenson’s belief that he still knows how to run a successful program. Not that he ever wavered in his own confidence, but he has repeatedly said that if the program was faltering on his watch, and he felt like new blood was needed, he would step aside.
That is where Michigan was entering the season, with Berenson seeming to understand that and willing to walk away for the good of U-M, but the feeling inside Yost is the ship has been righted and that the coming years could be a return to conference championships and Frozen Four runs, especially with juniors JT Compher and Tyler Motte expected back for their senior years and a hotshot goalie set to arrive.
But if Michigan wins its next four, and Berenson claims his third national title, it will be very hard not to walk away on top.
