The latest edition of INSIDE THE FORT, featuring football, basketball and recruiting info ...
First things first – what we report here is not our opinion (for the most part). If we report that John O’Korn had a good week of practice, last week (“was really ballin’” was the quote), it means we got it from a great source. That he didn’t play well in the game doesn’t change the fact that he practiced well.
That said …
There was a quiet confidence in Schembechler Hall this week, especially among the seniors. Former Michigan coach Bo Schembechler used to challenge his players and say, “are you going to outplay their great All-American, Rex Kern (for example)?” and go down the list.
And U-M’s seniors – some Ohioans – realize that their matchups, going head to head with some more inexperienced players, could be the difference in this game, and that their positions of strength NEED to be positions of strength this week in order to win. And they fully expect to, and to win this game.
They have some advantages Saturday that are pretty obvious if you look at it closely.
The staff, meanwhile, practically lived in the building this week. Head coach Jim Harbaugh sounded tired Wednesday morning on the Jamie and Stoney show (97.1 The Ticket), because he was. Ditto defensive coordinator Don Brown Wednesday at noon. He knows slowing Ohio State’s offense has always been one of Harbaugh’s top priorities for him.
We can talk about the good week of practice. It has been. We can tell you that they feel they’re as prepared as they can possibly be going in. They do.
That doesn’t guarantee anything on Saturday, any more than it guaranteed John O’Korn would play well against Indiana just because he had a good week of practice.
It appears Michigan needs redshirt sophomore Wilton Speight to play in order to have a good shot to win this game … and the good news is we expect him to get the call Saturday. Speight is not 100 percent, but he was out there this week and throwing well, finding senior tight end Jake Butt for a touchdown on one strong throw Wednesday.
The o-line has been challenged the way the 1980 line was when a gimpy John Wangler, still recovering from a knee injury, was thrown out there when U-M wasn’t moving the ball with the back-ups. Schembechler challenged them and said, ‘now you listen to me. Nobody touches our quarterback this game! Am I clear? Nobody so much as lays a hand on him!”
And his linemen loved ‘Johnny Wangs,’ Schembechler said, and they protected him and helped parlay it into a No. 4 national finish, capping the regular season with a 9-3 victory at OSU.
This year’s team views Speight in much the same light. He emerged as a leader this spring and summer, and his teammates loved the fact that he stuck it out and chose to battle for the position after he had all but signed his transfer papers.
It’s entirely possible that all three of Michigan’s top trio of quarterbacks –Speight, O’Korn and redshirt sophomore Jabrill Peppers – could all see the field against the Buckeyes. The Wolverines will continue to be creative with Peppers, and likely add to the package he’s run so far.
The Wolverines have gone light on contact this week, Jim Harbaugh and his staff wisely saving Michigan’s best effort and most intense contact for the Buckeyes. U-M knows what it’s doing on both sides of the ball, and the lessons are certainly coming with high focus – just not high impact.
Expect some different formations in this one, or ones that haven’t been seen for a while.
In terms of individual personnel, redshirt freshman tight end Tyrone Wheatley has been tearing it up in practices last in the season. True freshman tight end has moved through his bumps and bruises and should be fully ready to go for this one.
Expect Peppers to refuse to come out of the game on Saturday. That’s been his MO recently, and there’s no reason to hold back now, and no reason for Michigan’s coaches to try and put a hard cap on his contributions.
Stopping the run will be a high priority for the Wolverines, since OSU will control the game if U-M can be bled. The Buckeyes will also target certain personnel, and Michigan knows who, and has to responded – individually and collectively – accordingly.
It’s past time Michigan played its best game in all three phases in this rivalry. No guarantees, but they seem ready to respond this year.
***
To football recruiting …
Michigan has commitments from both Florence (Ala.) three-star safety J’Marick Woods and Montreal (Quebec) Vieux four-star cornerback Benjamin St-Juste, but are the two rangy DB’s solid? Both prospects have taken, or will take, official visits to other schools to see if Michigan is indeed the spot for them.
Woods committed to U-M back in March and St-Juste is the longest tenured future Wolverine with a commitment date of June 23, 2015. Both measure 6-3 and are around 200 pounds and are billed as being high-upside talents. Hanging onto them is a priority for Michigan’s staff, but both are still looking to make a final decision on which school they’ll attend. Both are also early enrollees as well so they’ll be making their final decisions quite soon.
Woods has taken official visits to Arkansas and Mississippi State, along with Michigan, and recently announced on Twitter that he’ll be “Signing them papers” on Dec. 2 at 8:45 a.m. in his high school auditorium. The Razorbacks and Bulldogs both received visits and a lot of interest from Woods and he went on the visits with a business-like mentality.
“I’m making sure I give everyone their chance,” he said. “My Mississippi State visit was great. I’m still committed to Michigan but I don’t know if it’s 100% right now.”
Woods may be building some excitement to create a bit of drama around his “announcement” according to someone close to Michigan’s program.
“He’s not being pushed out or anything at all,” our source said. “He’s just enjoying his recruitment. Recruiting is wild these days but there’s nothing to be worried about with him.”
Woods is considered the No. 40 safety nationally and ranks as the No. 16 player out of the state of Alabama. His rankings won’t blow anyone away but his length, athleticism, and upside make him intriguing. He’s also close friends with one of Michigan’s top overall targets, Pinson (Ala.) Clay five-star wide receiver Nico Collins.
Combine all of that with the fact that landing him creates another in road into SEC country, and Woods is a valuable part of U-M’s 2017 class.
The situation is similar for St-Juste. The No. 21 cornerback and No. 215 overall prospect in the country is solid to Michigan but wants to see what Virginia Tech is all about.
“I’m 100 percent Michigan until this visit,” St-Juste said. “I will make a final decision on Dec. 1 if there is a change of plans. If I don’t like Virginia Tech then there won’t be a need for a decision on Dec. 1.”
St-Juste said that he felt like a king during his official visit to Michigan last week so the Hokie staff will certainly have to roll out the red carpet if they wish to flip the lengthy Canadian DB.
A person very close to St-Juste’s commitment doesn’t think the visit to Blacksburg will be nearly enough to make him rethink his pledge to the Wolverines.
“The last time I talked to him, he wasn’t going anywhere as long as he didn’t think Michigan was going to drop him,” our source said. “Virginia Tech doesn’t even really think they have a shot but they don’t see the harm in bringing him on a visit.”
That certainly bodes well for St-Juste’s chances of ending up in Ann Arbor as he’s a definite take and an early graduate.
We fully expect St-Juste and Woods to be in Ann Arbor come January.
Nothing has changed in respect to Michigan’s top targets over the last week. The pledges will start to roll in soon.
****
Finishing with basketball and recruiting …
Michigan head coach John Beilein wasn’t pleased, obviously, with U-M’s showing at South Carolina, but taking two out of their three last games – two in convincing fashion – has this team in decent position. He understands – and has preached to his team – that the Wolverines won’t shoot that poorly in a game this year.
“Our guys coming off the bench are going to grow and our starters have to just understand a little bit better how to attack teams like this,” he said. “I see us practice every day. I know we’ve got to grow. New York was good. We’re 4-1 … the sky is not falling. But we do have weaknesses we’ve got to get better at.”
And they expect to. They impressed many in winning the 2K Classic in New York, and some of them weren’t in it mentally in South Carolina. Sophomore Moe Wagner (again) remains an enigma, and they need him to be better if they’re going to reach their potential.
But they aren’t ignoring all the good things they accomplished in New York and realize their ceiling is pretty high. So have some of the recruits that reached out to them after NYC, including five-star Mohamed Bamba of Westtown (Pa.) School. Those close to him have been collecting film on U-M for him and he has been impressed, USC game notwithstanding.
We don't expect Bamba to end up in Ann Arbor, but his previous favorite – Texas, under the genius of coach Shaka Smart – has been bad in the early going, getting throttled by Northwestern and Colorado.
Milton (Mass.) Academy’s Cormac Ryan, too, is another who has watched the Wolverines in the early going and been impressed. He is a priority in the 2018 class.
But again, with Charles Matthews practicing extremely well and set to assume Zak Irvin’s role next year, those close to it are confidence this team will continue to ascend. They could use another player or two with some swagger … enter 2017 signee Jordan Poole, who has started strong for LaPorte (Ind.) LaLumiere and could fill that role next season.
First things first – what we report here is not our opinion (for the most part). If we report that John O’Korn had a good week of practice, last week (“was really ballin’” was the quote), it means we got it from a great source. That he didn’t play well in the game doesn’t change the fact that he practiced well.
That said …
There was a quiet confidence in Schembechler Hall this week, especially among the seniors. Former Michigan coach Bo Schembechler used to challenge his players and say, “are you going to outplay their great All-American, Rex Kern (for example)?” and go down the list.
And U-M’s seniors – some Ohioans – realize that their matchups, going head to head with some more inexperienced players, could be the difference in this game, and that their positions of strength NEED to be positions of strength this week in order to win. And they fully expect to, and to win this game.
They have some advantages Saturday that are pretty obvious if you look at it closely.
The staff, meanwhile, practically lived in the building this week. Head coach Jim Harbaugh sounded tired Wednesday morning on the Jamie and Stoney show (97.1 The Ticket), because he was. Ditto defensive coordinator Don Brown Wednesday at noon. He knows slowing Ohio State’s offense has always been one of Harbaugh’s top priorities for him.
We can talk about the good week of practice. It has been. We can tell you that they feel they’re as prepared as they can possibly be going in. They do.
That doesn’t guarantee anything on Saturday, any more than it guaranteed John O’Korn would play well against Indiana just because he had a good week of practice.
It appears Michigan needs redshirt sophomore Wilton Speight to play in order to have a good shot to win this game … and the good news is we expect him to get the call Saturday. Speight is not 100 percent, but he was out there this week and throwing well, finding senior tight end Jake Butt for a touchdown on one strong throw Wednesday.
The o-line has been challenged the way the 1980 line was when a gimpy John Wangler, still recovering from a knee injury, was thrown out there when U-M wasn’t moving the ball with the back-ups. Schembechler challenged them and said, ‘now you listen to me. Nobody touches our quarterback this game! Am I clear? Nobody so much as lays a hand on him!”
And his linemen loved ‘Johnny Wangs,’ Schembechler said, and they protected him and helped parlay it into a No. 4 national finish, capping the regular season with a 9-3 victory at OSU.
This year’s team views Speight in much the same light. He emerged as a leader this spring and summer, and his teammates loved the fact that he stuck it out and chose to battle for the position after he had all but signed his transfer papers.
It’s entirely possible that all three of Michigan’s top trio of quarterbacks –Speight, O’Korn and redshirt sophomore Jabrill Peppers – could all see the field against the Buckeyes. The Wolverines will continue to be creative with Peppers, and likely add to the package he’s run so far.
The Wolverines have gone light on contact this week, Jim Harbaugh and his staff wisely saving Michigan’s best effort and most intense contact for the Buckeyes. U-M knows what it’s doing on both sides of the ball, and the lessons are certainly coming with high focus – just not high impact.
Expect some different formations in this one, or ones that haven’t been seen for a while.
In terms of individual personnel, redshirt freshman tight end Tyrone Wheatley has been tearing it up in practices last in the season. True freshman tight end has moved through his bumps and bruises and should be fully ready to go for this one.
Expect Peppers to refuse to come out of the game on Saturday. That’s been his MO recently, and there’s no reason to hold back now, and no reason for Michigan’s coaches to try and put a hard cap on his contributions.
Stopping the run will be a high priority for the Wolverines, since OSU will control the game if U-M can be bled. The Buckeyes will also target certain personnel, and Michigan knows who, and has to responded – individually and collectively – accordingly.
It’s past time Michigan played its best game in all three phases in this rivalry. No guarantees, but they seem ready to respond this year.
***
To football recruiting …
Michigan has commitments from both Florence (Ala.) three-star safety J’Marick Woods and Montreal (Quebec) Vieux four-star cornerback Benjamin St-Juste, but are the two rangy DB’s solid? Both prospects have taken, or will take, official visits to other schools to see if Michigan is indeed the spot for them.
Woods committed to U-M back in March and St-Juste is the longest tenured future Wolverine with a commitment date of June 23, 2015. Both measure 6-3 and are around 200 pounds and are billed as being high-upside talents. Hanging onto them is a priority for Michigan’s staff, but both are still looking to make a final decision on which school they’ll attend. Both are also early enrollees as well so they’ll be making their final decisions quite soon.
Woods has taken official visits to Arkansas and Mississippi State, along with Michigan, and recently announced on Twitter that he’ll be “Signing them papers” on Dec. 2 at 8:45 a.m. in his high school auditorium. The Razorbacks and Bulldogs both received visits and a lot of interest from Woods and he went on the visits with a business-like mentality.
“I’m making sure I give everyone their chance,” he said. “My Mississippi State visit was great. I’m still committed to Michigan but I don’t know if it’s 100% right now.”
Woods may be building some excitement to create a bit of drama around his “announcement” according to someone close to Michigan’s program.
“He’s not being pushed out or anything at all,” our source said. “He’s just enjoying his recruitment. Recruiting is wild these days but there’s nothing to be worried about with him.”
Woods is considered the No. 40 safety nationally and ranks as the No. 16 player out of the state of Alabama. His rankings won’t blow anyone away but his length, athleticism, and upside make him intriguing. He’s also close friends with one of Michigan’s top overall targets, Pinson (Ala.) Clay five-star wide receiver Nico Collins.
Combine all of that with the fact that landing him creates another in road into SEC country, and Woods is a valuable part of U-M’s 2017 class.
The situation is similar for St-Juste. The No. 21 cornerback and No. 215 overall prospect in the country is solid to Michigan but wants to see what Virginia Tech is all about.
“I’m 100 percent Michigan until this visit,” St-Juste said. “I will make a final decision on Dec. 1 if there is a change of plans. If I don’t like Virginia Tech then there won’t be a need for a decision on Dec. 1.”
St-Juste said that he felt like a king during his official visit to Michigan last week so the Hokie staff will certainly have to roll out the red carpet if they wish to flip the lengthy Canadian DB.
A person very close to St-Juste’s commitment doesn’t think the visit to Blacksburg will be nearly enough to make him rethink his pledge to the Wolverines.
“The last time I talked to him, he wasn’t going anywhere as long as he didn’t think Michigan was going to drop him,” our source said. “Virginia Tech doesn’t even really think they have a shot but they don’t see the harm in bringing him on a visit.”
That certainly bodes well for St-Juste’s chances of ending up in Ann Arbor as he’s a definite take and an early graduate.
We fully expect St-Juste and Woods to be in Ann Arbor come January.
Nothing has changed in respect to Michigan’s top targets over the last week. The pledges will start to roll in soon.
****
Finishing with basketball and recruiting …
Michigan head coach John Beilein wasn’t pleased, obviously, with U-M’s showing at South Carolina, but taking two out of their three last games – two in convincing fashion – has this team in decent position. He understands – and has preached to his team – that the Wolverines won’t shoot that poorly in a game this year.
“Our guys coming off the bench are going to grow and our starters have to just understand a little bit better how to attack teams like this,” he said. “I see us practice every day. I know we’ve got to grow. New York was good. We’re 4-1 … the sky is not falling. But we do have weaknesses we’ve got to get better at.”
And they expect to. They impressed many in winning the 2K Classic in New York, and some of them weren’t in it mentally in South Carolina. Sophomore Moe Wagner (again) remains an enigma, and they need him to be better if they’re going to reach their potential.
But they aren’t ignoring all the good things they accomplished in New York and realize their ceiling is pretty high. So have some of the recruits that reached out to them after NYC, including five-star Mohamed Bamba of Westtown (Pa.) School. Those close to him have been collecting film on U-M for him and he has been impressed, USC game notwithstanding.
We don't expect Bamba to end up in Ann Arbor, but his previous favorite – Texas, under the genius of coach Shaka Smart – has been bad in the early going, getting throttled by Northwestern and Colorado.
Milton (Mass.) Academy’s Cormac Ryan, too, is another who has watched the Wolverines in the early going and been impressed. He is a priority in the 2018 class.
But again, with Charles Matthews practicing extremely well and set to assume Zak Irvin’s role next year, those close to it are confidence this team will continue to ascend. They could use another player or two with some swagger … enter 2017 signee Jordan Poole, who has started strong for LaPorte (Ind.) LaLumiere and could fill that role next season.
