The latest edition of INSIDE THE FORT, including plenty of football, basketball and recruiting information.
Starting with football …
It’s been an interesting week, to say the least. Coming off a loss to a poor Michigan State team, the Wolverines spent the week looking for their mojo … and for some replacements for injured players.
As some have alluded to this week, there are going to be some changes up front. There are injuries (one significant) at two spots, including a high ankle sprain for one — as many know, those take time to heal. On the opposite side, a case of turf toe will slow another.
We’d expect true freshman Zak Zinter to be in the lineup, as well as redshirt frosh Karsen Barnhart. Redshirt frosh Trevor Keegan is another to watch if things get dicey on the interior. All of these guys play with an edge, and all were given shots before the season and were right there.
One of the young linemen didn’t handle it well when he learned he wasn’t in line to start, but in Hoosiers fashion, they were talked off the ledge.
So … there will be some learning going on between new pieces on the line, and we believe short leashes for some guys who might get another crack.
On a positive note, we expect both linebackers to play, Michael Barrett and Cam McGrone, after leaving last week’s game early with injuries.
We also expect there to be significant changes in the secondary … not necessarily in personnel (though we do expect more at corner from sophomore Daxton Hill, meaning frosh Makari Paige will be thrown into the fire again). They are also still bullish on redshirt sophomore Gemon Green, who had some rough moments against MSU but has played pretty well a lot of the time he’s been on the field.
But there were some words and some hurt feelings over the weekend about the secondary’s performance and kids being left on an island, etc. There will be more input from many this week on how to help the corners so a repeat doesn’t happen against Indiana’s outstanding receivers and tight end group.
That’s our story, we strongly believe it and we’re sticking to it.
As we reported, Bob Shoop hasn’t been coaching on the field for some time, and there’s prevailing sentiment that he won’t again. We will say that young man and former analyst Aashon Larkins has impressed some close to it in that role — not that he’s a frontrunner to take over permanently.
We’re not trying to make chicken salad out of chicken droppings, but we thought that was a positive in an otherwise bleak week.
****
More football …
Michigan isn’t the only one with injury concerns. Indiana could be without two offensive threats at wide receiver for tomorrow’s game, in redshirt sophomore Miles Marshall and sophomore David Ellis.
“David Ellis has not played in either game this season and Miles Marshall has been in concussion protocol after taking a hit against Penn State,” Paul Gable — an Indiana insider at TheHoosier.com — revealed. “As for whether or not they will play Saturday remains a question. Coach Tom Allen did not offer an update earlier this week. I would anticipate them to be game day decisions.”
Marshall reeled in 16 catches for 196 yards last year and Ellis 16 grabs for 173 yards. The two were expected to step into a much larger role in 2020 following the graduation of wideouts Nick Westbrook (572 yards last season) and Donovan Hale (373), but freshman Javon Swinton has been thrust into a starting role instead as a result of their injuries. Marshall, in particular, was off to a respectable start, hauling in four catches for 46 yards against Penn State in the season opener before departing with injury.
Mike Hart has served as Indiana’s running backs coach since 2017 and, as Michigan fans are well aware, has done a phenomenal job. Hoosier starting running backs have compiled at last 704 yards in each of his three full seasons there, with Morgan Ellison rushing for 704 yards in 2017, Stevie Scott compiling 1,137 yards in 2018 before registering 845 yards last year. Both players were rated as three-star prospects, with the former not even holding another Power Conference offer (other than Indiana) out of high school.
Some U-M fans have expressed a desire for Hart to someday coach at Michigan. Gable provided some perspective on how Hart is viewed among the Indiana faithful in Bloomington.
“Coach Hart has done a tremendous job with the Hoosiers,” the insider explained. “He has been outstanding at filling the running backs room with players capable of producing and there are some great backs that have not touched the field yet that will help in the future. Coach Allen thinks highly of Coach Hart, as does the rest of the coaching staff and the locals are very pleased with the former Michigan standout.”
Finally, we are losing hope that Michigan’s night game with Wisconsin next Saturday night will be played.
“It’s a (crap) show right now with COVID,” one of our Badgers friends in the media told us. “They are going to make every effort because they know they can’t miss another game and still be eligible for the Big Ten championship game. Right now, that’s the only hope.”
And finally, finally, some in Schembechler Hall still believe an extension is in the works for Jim Harbaugh.
"It was exactly what people have said the situation was. It was ready to go before COVID hit," one source said.
****
To football recruiting now …
We got in touch with an opposing coach to get his perspective on Cambridge (Mass.) BB&N 2022 Rivals250 Michigan linebacker commit Tyler Martin and what he brings to the table on the field. Martin and the rest of the state of Massachusetts were not able to participate in a fall season, but St. Sebastian’s (Mass.) High head coach Daniel Burke (Michigan tight end pledge Louis Hansen’s coach) got an up close and personal look at Martin last season, when his team fell to Martin’s, 30-24.
Burke explained that he’s watched Martin throughout his high school career, and has seen his trajectory trend upwards the entire time. Martin is a big body at 6-2, 249, but Burke said the most impressive thing about his game is the way he’s able to move at that size.
“He’s an incredibly physical player, and initially, earlier on in his career, that was his thing — he could plug the hole and it was hard to run anywhere that he was,” Burke said. “But now he’s gotten even better mobility. Now, he can cover guys and track down a play laterally as well — incredibly well.”
A significant portion of St. Sebastian’s game plan that week heading into the tilt was focused on stopping Martin.
“It’s hard to game plan to deal with him,” Burke said. “He can run through some of our linemen, and certainly our running backs try to block him and then the fact that he can move well in space … that makes him a special player.”
St. Sebastian’s was a passing team, due in part to Hansen’s pass-catching prowess, but they still liked to establish the run, Burke insisted.
“Most of the time, we were trying to hit the correct routes on the outside,” Burke continued. “We were more of a passing team anyway, and he’s on the inside, so it’s sort of easier to try to throw the ball outside, away from where he was. But they have a lot of good players, too, so we were game planning away from him, but it’s not easy to game plan for everything.
“We were keeping the ball away from him, certainly. We tried to do quick routes to the outside and get what we could get there.”
More football recruiting ...
We checked in with Rivals.com midwest recruiting analyst Josh Helmholdt to get his perspective on the impact Michigan’s loss to Michigan State last week has on the recruiting trail.
“The outcome of an individual game impacts recruiting only if it says something about the future of one or both programs,” Helmholdt said. “You could certainly make a case that last weekend's game does have that effect. Uncertainty is a killer in recruiting, and the increasing discussions about Jim Harbaugh's future in Ann Arbor has surrounded the Michigan program with that type of uncertainty. Conversely, Mel Tucker is at the beginning of his tenure at Michigan State, and a big win over its rival this early in that tenure will generate greater enthusiasm for the future of the Spartan's program.”
How will this play out in the state of Michigan? As our EJ Holland reported this week, many in the know believe MSU will land 2021 Oak Park (Mich.) High Rivals100 defensive tackle Rayshaun Benny when he decides Nov. 9.
“There is a perception that they do not recruit in-state prospects much different than they recruit out-of-state prospects, and that is one of the reasons they have more commitments from New England than from Michigan these last two years,” Helmholdt said. “In-state prospects expect their home-state schools to value them more than out-of-state schools. When they do not feel that is the case, well, that's when you have a situation like these last few classes where Michigan is watching 3/4 of the four and five-star talent leave the state.
“Michigan State has their challenges in-state as well, and there are important people in Detroit who wish there was more local representation on the Spartans’ staff. But, by and large, the players and coaches in-state are going to be more ready to give Mel Tucker a chance than Jim Harbaugh right now.”
Finally, plenty of rumors have been flying lately surrounding Michigan’s 2021 recruiting class, and the commitment status of several prospects in the wake of U-M’s disheartening loss to MSU last weekend. Harbaugh’s lack of a contract extension is another tool other schools are using to negatively recruit against the Wolverines and potentially poach some of their pledges.
We recently spoke with one commit, however, who revealed that one of the main reasons he committed to Michigan was because of the message Harbaugh preaches off the field and about future success in life.
“I’ve actually been talking to [current Michigan freshman safety] Makari Paige [who has averaged 34 snaps per game through U-M’s first two outings] about what made him commit to Michigan in the first place,” Clayton (Ohio) Northmont three-star safety and U-M commit Rod Moore said to us. “He talks to me about the way Coach Harbaugh is. One of the most appealing things is how Coach looks a lot further down the road — he talks about so much more than just football, and how he wants his players to have success in life. You don’t know when football will leave you. That was big for me to hear him say that.”
Moore revealed other schools have finally stopped pursuing him, though the pursuit from one school in particular continued for a while after he pledged to U-M.
“The only other school who kept hitting me up was Georgia Tech, but they’ve finally stopped,” Moore explained. “They were trying to get me to flip. I just told them no and eventually stopped responding at a certain point.”
The Ohio native also revealed he will not be enrolling early at Michigan, simply because he wants to run track during his final year at Northmont High School.
****
Finishing with basketball and recruiting …
We told you last week that Michigan would likely begin basketball season on Nov. 25 with a handful of non-conference games. We have confirmed with several sources that two will be against MAC schools, one of them Bowling Green, one will be an in-state school Michigan has played frequently over the last few decades and another will be a Florida school. Then comes the ACC/Big Ten Challenge with N.C. State, followed by 20 Big Ten games.
Practice has been fantastic in the early going. There are a lot of scoring options, and now that senior Chaundee Brown is eligible, it’s only gotten better.
“He’s a flat-out scorer,” one source said. “His three-point numbers are going up, but he gets into the lane, has a nice mid-range game and can finish.”
Grad senior Mike Smith continues to shoot the heck out of the ball, and Eli Brooks has really played with confidence. The big man situation will continue to work itself out, but fifth-year senior Austin Davis will likely get first crack at center while frosh Hunter Dickinson continues to learn.
Dickinson is getting better and better, and there’s hope that he’ll be really, really good by the middle of the season.
“His IQ is off the charts,” one source said. “And you can see Juwan’s teaching already running off on him. His passing out of the post is some of the best I’ve seen at his age and position.”
Defense still has a long way to go. Smith, in particular, was never asked to defend in the Ivy League because he was too valuable as a scorer, so he’s learning.
Franz Wagner, though, continues to be the most improved player.
“He showed flashes of it and the end of last year, but he’s taken his game to another level,” our observer said. “He’s so much better getting to the rim, and he’s shooting it the best he has since he’s been here.”
On the recruiting front, the Caleb Houstan news (five-star wing pledge) was obviously huge and indicative of the work Juwan Howard has put in on the recruiting trail. Parents we’ve spoken with have been blown away by his presentation and his down-to-earth nature, and we predict he will land another recruitable five-star in the 2022 class.
It’s not just Howard, of course. Phil Martelli has been heavily involved with four-star center Efton Reid, and U-M is right there with Ohio State. We believe it’s those two, and Michigan is really pushing the fact that he can be part of a special, special class that currently ranks No. 1 nationally. He’s also involved with top 2022 point guard Jaden Bradley, with whom U-M is very strong.
We won’t say Michigan leads there … but we won’t say they don’t.
And junior Jett Howard, Juwan’s son, is around a number of elite players in Florida and is putting in the work, too. We strongly expect him to be part of what is going to be a special (we predict) 2022 class.
As always, thanks for visiting TheWolverine.com!
Starting with football …
It’s been an interesting week, to say the least. Coming off a loss to a poor Michigan State team, the Wolverines spent the week looking for their mojo … and for some replacements for injured players.
As some have alluded to this week, there are going to be some changes up front. There are injuries (one significant) at two spots, including a high ankle sprain for one — as many know, those take time to heal. On the opposite side, a case of turf toe will slow another.
We’d expect true freshman Zak Zinter to be in the lineup, as well as redshirt frosh Karsen Barnhart. Redshirt frosh Trevor Keegan is another to watch if things get dicey on the interior. All of these guys play with an edge, and all were given shots before the season and were right there.
One of the young linemen didn’t handle it well when he learned he wasn’t in line to start, but in Hoosiers fashion, they were talked off the ledge.
So … there will be some learning going on between new pieces on the line, and we believe short leashes for some guys who might get another crack.
On a positive note, we expect both linebackers to play, Michael Barrett and Cam McGrone, after leaving last week’s game early with injuries.
We also expect there to be significant changes in the secondary … not necessarily in personnel (though we do expect more at corner from sophomore Daxton Hill, meaning frosh Makari Paige will be thrown into the fire again). They are also still bullish on redshirt sophomore Gemon Green, who had some rough moments against MSU but has played pretty well a lot of the time he’s been on the field.
But there were some words and some hurt feelings over the weekend about the secondary’s performance and kids being left on an island, etc. There will be more input from many this week on how to help the corners so a repeat doesn’t happen against Indiana’s outstanding receivers and tight end group.
That’s our story, we strongly believe it and we’re sticking to it.
As we reported, Bob Shoop hasn’t been coaching on the field for some time, and there’s prevailing sentiment that he won’t again. We will say that young man and former analyst Aashon Larkins has impressed some close to it in that role — not that he’s a frontrunner to take over permanently.
We’re not trying to make chicken salad out of chicken droppings, but we thought that was a positive in an otherwise bleak week.
****
More football …
Michigan isn’t the only one with injury concerns. Indiana could be without two offensive threats at wide receiver for tomorrow’s game, in redshirt sophomore Miles Marshall and sophomore David Ellis.
“David Ellis has not played in either game this season and Miles Marshall has been in concussion protocol after taking a hit against Penn State,” Paul Gable — an Indiana insider at TheHoosier.com — revealed. “As for whether or not they will play Saturday remains a question. Coach Tom Allen did not offer an update earlier this week. I would anticipate them to be game day decisions.”
Marshall reeled in 16 catches for 196 yards last year and Ellis 16 grabs for 173 yards. The two were expected to step into a much larger role in 2020 following the graduation of wideouts Nick Westbrook (572 yards last season) and Donovan Hale (373), but freshman Javon Swinton has been thrust into a starting role instead as a result of their injuries. Marshall, in particular, was off to a respectable start, hauling in four catches for 46 yards against Penn State in the season opener before departing with injury.
Mike Hart has served as Indiana’s running backs coach since 2017 and, as Michigan fans are well aware, has done a phenomenal job. Hoosier starting running backs have compiled at last 704 yards in each of his three full seasons there, with Morgan Ellison rushing for 704 yards in 2017, Stevie Scott compiling 1,137 yards in 2018 before registering 845 yards last year. Both players were rated as three-star prospects, with the former not even holding another Power Conference offer (other than Indiana) out of high school.
Some U-M fans have expressed a desire for Hart to someday coach at Michigan. Gable provided some perspective on how Hart is viewed among the Indiana faithful in Bloomington.
“Coach Hart has done a tremendous job with the Hoosiers,” the insider explained. “He has been outstanding at filling the running backs room with players capable of producing and there are some great backs that have not touched the field yet that will help in the future. Coach Allen thinks highly of Coach Hart, as does the rest of the coaching staff and the locals are very pleased with the former Michigan standout.”
Finally, we are losing hope that Michigan’s night game with Wisconsin next Saturday night will be played.
“It’s a (crap) show right now with COVID,” one of our Badgers friends in the media told us. “They are going to make every effort because they know they can’t miss another game and still be eligible for the Big Ten championship game. Right now, that’s the only hope.”
And finally, finally, some in Schembechler Hall still believe an extension is in the works for Jim Harbaugh.
"It was exactly what people have said the situation was. It was ready to go before COVID hit," one source said.
****
To football recruiting now …
We got in touch with an opposing coach to get his perspective on Cambridge (Mass.) BB&N 2022 Rivals250 Michigan linebacker commit Tyler Martin and what he brings to the table on the field. Martin and the rest of the state of Massachusetts were not able to participate in a fall season, but St. Sebastian’s (Mass.) High head coach Daniel Burke (Michigan tight end pledge Louis Hansen’s coach) got an up close and personal look at Martin last season, when his team fell to Martin’s, 30-24.
Burke explained that he’s watched Martin throughout his high school career, and has seen his trajectory trend upwards the entire time. Martin is a big body at 6-2, 249, but Burke said the most impressive thing about his game is the way he’s able to move at that size.
“He’s an incredibly physical player, and initially, earlier on in his career, that was his thing — he could plug the hole and it was hard to run anywhere that he was,” Burke said. “But now he’s gotten even better mobility. Now, he can cover guys and track down a play laterally as well — incredibly well.”
A significant portion of St. Sebastian’s game plan that week heading into the tilt was focused on stopping Martin.
“It’s hard to game plan to deal with him,” Burke said. “He can run through some of our linemen, and certainly our running backs try to block him and then the fact that he can move well in space … that makes him a special player.”
St. Sebastian’s was a passing team, due in part to Hansen’s pass-catching prowess, but they still liked to establish the run, Burke insisted.
“Most of the time, we were trying to hit the correct routes on the outside,” Burke continued. “We were more of a passing team anyway, and he’s on the inside, so it’s sort of easier to try to throw the ball outside, away from where he was. But they have a lot of good players, too, so we were game planning away from him, but it’s not easy to game plan for everything.
“We were keeping the ball away from him, certainly. We tried to do quick routes to the outside and get what we could get there.”
More football recruiting ...
We checked in with Rivals.com midwest recruiting analyst Josh Helmholdt to get his perspective on the impact Michigan’s loss to Michigan State last week has on the recruiting trail.
“The outcome of an individual game impacts recruiting only if it says something about the future of one or both programs,” Helmholdt said. “You could certainly make a case that last weekend's game does have that effect. Uncertainty is a killer in recruiting, and the increasing discussions about Jim Harbaugh's future in Ann Arbor has surrounded the Michigan program with that type of uncertainty. Conversely, Mel Tucker is at the beginning of his tenure at Michigan State, and a big win over its rival this early in that tenure will generate greater enthusiasm for the future of the Spartan's program.”
How will this play out in the state of Michigan? As our EJ Holland reported this week, many in the know believe MSU will land 2021 Oak Park (Mich.) High Rivals100 defensive tackle Rayshaun Benny when he decides Nov. 9.
“There is a perception that they do not recruit in-state prospects much different than they recruit out-of-state prospects, and that is one of the reasons they have more commitments from New England than from Michigan these last two years,” Helmholdt said. “In-state prospects expect their home-state schools to value them more than out-of-state schools. When they do not feel that is the case, well, that's when you have a situation like these last few classes where Michigan is watching 3/4 of the four and five-star talent leave the state.
“Michigan State has their challenges in-state as well, and there are important people in Detroit who wish there was more local representation on the Spartans’ staff. But, by and large, the players and coaches in-state are going to be more ready to give Mel Tucker a chance than Jim Harbaugh right now.”
Finally, plenty of rumors have been flying lately surrounding Michigan’s 2021 recruiting class, and the commitment status of several prospects in the wake of U-M’s disheartening loss to MSU last weekend. Harbaugh’s lack of a contract extension is another tool other schools are using to negatively recruit against the Wolverines and potentially poach some of their pledges.
We recently spoke with one commit, however, who revealed that one of the main reasons he committed to Michigan was because of the message Harbaugh preaches off the field and about future success in life.
“I’ve actually been talking to [current Michigan freshman safety] Makari Paige [who has averaged 34 snaps per game through U-M’s first two outings] about what made him commit to Michigan in the first place,” Clayton (Ohio) Northmont three-star safety and U-M commit Rod Moore said to us. “He talks to me about the way Coach Harbaugh is. One of the most appealing things is how Coach looks a lot further down the road — he talks about so much more than just football, and how he wants his players to have success in life. You don’t know when football will leave you. That was big for me to hear him say that.”
Moore revealed other schools have finally stopped pursuing him, though the pursuit from one school in particular continued for a while after he pledged to U-M.
“The only other school who kept hitting me up was Georgia Tech, but they’ve finally stopped,” Moore explained. “They were trying to get me to flip. I just told them no and eventually stopped responding at a certain point.”
The Ohio native also revealed he will not be enrolling early at Michigan, simply because he wants to run track during his final year at Northmont High School.
****
Finishing with basketball and recruiting …
We told you last week that Michigan would likely begin basketball season on Nov. 25 with a handful of non-conference games. We have confirmed with several sources that two will be against MAC schools, one of them Bowling Green, one will be an in-state school Michigan has played frequently over the last few decades and another will be a Florida school. Then comes the ACC/Big Ten Challenge with N.C. State, followed by 20 Big Ten games.
Practice has been fantastic in the early going. There are a lot of scoring options, and now that senior Chaundee Brown is eligible, it’s only gotten better.
“He’s a flat-out scorer,” one source said. “His three-point numbers are going up, but he gets into the lane, has a nice mid-range game and can finish.”
Grad senior Mike Smith continues to shoot the heck out of the ball, and Eli Brooks has really played with confidence. The big man situation will continue to work itself out, but fifth-year senior Austin Davis will likely get first crack at center while frosh Hunter Dickinson continues to learn.
Dickinson is getting better and better, and there’s hope that he’ll be really, really good by the middle of the season.
“His IQ is off the charts,” one source said. “And you can see Juwan’s teaching already running off on him. His passing out of the post is some of the best I’ve seen at his age and position.”
Defense still has a long way to go. Smith, in particular, was never asked to defend in the Ivy League because he was too valuable as a scorer, so he’s learning.
Franz Wagner, though, continues to be the most improved player.
“He showed flashes of it and the end of last year, but he’s taken his game to another level,” our observer said. “He’s so much better getting to the rim, and he’s shooting it the best he has since he’s been here.”
On the recruiting front, the Caleb Houstan news (five-star wing pledge) was obviously huge and indicative of the work Juwan Howard has put in on the recruiting trail. Parents we’ve spoken with have been blown away by his presentation and his down-to-earth nature, and we predict he will land another recruitable five-star in the 2022 class.
It’s not just Howard, of course. Phil Martelli has been heavily involved with four-star center Efton Reid, and U-M is right there with Ohio State. We believe it’s those two, and Michigan is really pushing the fact that he can be part of a special, special class that currently ranks No. 1 nationally. He’s also involved with top 2022 point guard Jaden Bradley, with whom U-M is very strong.
We won’t say Michigan leads there … but we won’t say they don’t.
And junior Jett Howard, Juwan’s son, is around a number of elite players in Florida and is putting in the work, too. We strongly expect him to be part of what is going to be a special (we predict) 2022 class.
As always, thanks for visiting TheWolverine.com!
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