The latest edition of INSIDE THE FORT, including plenty of football and recruiting information heading into the annual grudge match with Michigan State.
Starting with football recruiting …
Michigan is heavily pursuing Tampa (Fla.) Berkeley Prep four-star offensive tackle Nick Petit-Frere, and it may end up paying off. The 6-5, 265-pounder is definitely interested in Michigan and will put the Wolverines in his top group when the time comes.
Former Michigan kicker Garrett Rivas is on staff at Berkeley Prep and tries to answer questions in an unbiased fashion whenever Petit-Frere has them, but he admitted he’d love to see a great kid and a great player like Nick at U-M. Rivas obviously isn’t pressuring the talented senior tackle, but any former college football player would love to see a great player attend their alma mater.
So just how talented is Petit-Frere? Rivas said that he’ll often record clips of Petit-Frere going through drills or competing in one-on-one drills and send them to his former teammate Jake Long and other former Michigan offensive linemen, and they’re blown away. Long has commented on how athletic and impressive Petit-Frere is, and he’d also love to see the four-star in the winged helmet.
Petit-Frere and his head coach Dominick Ciao are planning to sit down and weigh things out in order for a top 10 or more list to be released. Expect Michigan to make that list and also expect Michigan to be in the upper tier of that list.
There has been a TON of discussion surrounding the future of current Michigan commit Emil Ekiyor. The four-star offensive guard out of Indianapolis Cathedral has been committed to the Wolverines for a long, long time but committed may not be the best word to describe his status. On paper and on recruiting websites, he’s committed, but his actions indicate that he’s interested more than he is committed. He’s been to Alabama multiple times and has also checked out Florida State and Georgia while being committed to U-M.
Alabama is pushing extremely hard for Ekiyor to flip, and Ekiyor is certainly considering it. He hasn’t publicly declared that he’s back on the market at this time, but the Michigan coaching staff is moving forward as if they’ll have an opening where Ekiyor currently sits.
There are a lot of reports floating around out there, but one thing is certain — some of the Michigan staff doesn’t love how all of this is going, and it’s a very fluid situation right now. It feels like an eventual change is on the horizon .... but that’s recruiting.
While one offensive lineman may be trending in the wrong direction for Michigan, another is trending in a very positive direction. Grand Rapid (Mich.) Catholic Central three-star offensive tackle Jalen Mayfield is developing very well physically (now 6-6, 277 pounds,) and other staffs are really paying attention.
Mayfield is as solid as can be to U-M and doesn’t plan on entertaining other programs but that hasn’t kept other schools from giving him a lot of attention. Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon, Tennessee and USC are all begging Mayfield to come in for a visit. In fact, Ekiyor has even talked to Mayfield about taking a visit to Tuscaloosa — what does that tell you?
Mayfield respectfully declines to have much conversation with other coaching staffs and couldn’t be happier to be a Wolverine. He’ll be in Ann Arbor this weekend for the Michigan State game and plans to wear a BIG recruiting hat.
Mayfield has also been talking to Petit-Frere a lot via direct message on Twitter and thinks he’s made a lot of progress with him.
While down in Florida, we were able to spend a lot of time at Cardinal Gibbons High School with four-star weakside defensive end Khris Bogle and one of his coaches and it seems like Michigan will have a very, very good chance at landing him. The 6-5, 215-pounder is getting close to releasing a top ten and admitted that Michigan will make the cut.
“Michigan checks a lot of my boxes,” Bogle said. “Academics is a big part of my decision because you just never know when football is going to go away. Being at a Catholic school they really drill that into your head. It’s school, school, school so that’s something that I really look at.”
Everyone knows about Don Brown’s recruiting prowess in New England, but he also has a strong presence at Cardinal Gibbons. Defensive coordinator Dave Montiel is originally from Pennsylvania and has known Brown for a long time. The two of them used to work camps together for years up in the northeast.
Once Brown became the head coach at Northeastern he inked one of Montiel’s players giving them another level of comfortability with each other. Montiel considers Brown a very close friend and knows what his defenses are capable of. He’s relayed that to Bogle, and that has Bogle very interested in U-M.
****
To football now, where plenty has already been said by our John Borton: https://michigan.forums.rivals.com/...ential-contributors-back.224738/#post-3581142
The bye week proved to be a blessing for this team in terms of healing bumps and bruises, etc. It also allowed them to work on things they need to improve in preparation for the better teams on the schedule.
First things first … MSU is not the best team U-M will have played this year ... not better than Florida, a team Michigan handled in Dallas to start the year. The Gators were in that game because of U-M’s miscues, and the Spartans can hang around should the Wolverines play poorly or help them out.
Fifth-year senior John O’Korn has been sharp. Really sharp. He has an air of confidence knowing this is his team, now … however, he needs to continue to prove it in games, of course, and Michigan State will throw plenty at him. Without going into detail, U-M has spent plenty of time countering what the Spartans will throw at them, and you’ll see some new wrinkles Saturday.
The defense has worked diligently on the misdirection plays Purdue burned them with, battling a scout team offense that did a lot of what MSU likes to do. The ‘D’ has also had a very good, swarming two weeks, and there’s plenty of confidence on that side of the ball, too.
Michigan planned to practice under the lights at the Big House Thursday night in preparation for the game to add to the preparation.
Again … this is a really confident bunch. This is not one of MSU’s better teams to have traveled to Ann Arbor in the last 10 years. We’ll leave it at that.
****
Finishing with basketball and recruiting …
After speaking with a coach of one of the committed recruits in Michigan’s 2018 basketball class, he explained that he was blown away by how much John Beilein cares about his players — both current and future. Make no mistake, the coach already knew Beilein cared immensely, but was impressed by how much.
He said the player participated in a tournament few months ago, and Beilein called him immediately after to see how that player performed. However, Beilein was only interested in hearing about how he performed defensively, and had several questions regarding that aspect of his game.
The coach said he couldn’t feel more comfortable sending his player to play for Beilein, and has no doubt he’ll flourish during his time at Michigan — he also added that his respect for Beilein and the work he has done in Ann Arbor is through the roof.
The same could be said of many, of course. That’s the way Beilein runs his program … always has, always will. Just weeks before the FBI revelations came out (and believe us, there’s much more to come beyond Louisville, etc.), he literally said, “Doesn’t every one do it this way?” when told he’d won a ‘cleanest coach’ poll of his peers in a landslide.
They don’t and haven’t, of course. The list of players they thought might be recruitable (but actually weren’t) is long … and yet he’s been able to win titles, make it to Final Fours and send kids with clean consciences to the pros regularly.
“Now that it’s out there, what’s been going on … people should see he might just be the best coach in the country,” another high school coach told us. “I’ve had less and less influence over my kids through the years. Many have cut us (high school coaches) out of the process.
“Coach has always — always — checked in with me about my players. We aren’t stupid. We know what’s been going on, and that’s why I have always, will always, encourage my kids to take a close look at Michigan.”
Powerful stuff, and hopefully it pays off with the playing field at least a bit more level today.
That has led to what’s currently a top five 2018 class, with the Wolverines having landed four, four-star prospects in point guard David DeJulius, forwards Ignas Brazdeikis and Brandon Johns and power forward/center Colin Castleton. Castleton started leaning toward Michigan after meeting with Beilein a few weeks ago.
“Just everything, really,” he said when asked what made the different. “It felt right, and just being with the guys felt like I was a part of the team. Coach B. and I clicked right off the start.”
His parents loved everything about it, too. The same was true for three-star Adrien Nunez of Brooklyn (N.Y.), the fifth pledge in the class, who broke out with nine triples in one game and had several of six or seven in July and afterward. He might well be the top shooter in the country, Rivals analyst Corey Evans said, and could be another of the ‘Plan B’ kids who turn out to be steals.
Four-star Noah Locke was the Plan A, and many believed he was Michigan bound. The longer it went, however, the more it became apparent he was looking for something else, whether it be early playing time, whatever. He knew last Wednesday (was made very aware) that Michigan was looking at Nunez and would probably offer, that Nunez wouldn’t wait long to accept, but he went to Florida on a visit and pledged to the Gators Tuesday.
Make no mistake, though … the U-M coaches are thrilled with their class and have absolutely zero regrets.
It’s on to 2019 now, and the Wolverines will host Southfield (Mich.) Christian’s Harlond Beverley this weekend. Beverly picked up an MSU offer in late August after a great summer, but he really likes U-M. He averaged 12.9 points per game, shot 50 percent from the floor and 37 percent from three-point range and helped the Eagles reach the state semifinals last year.
As for the current team — it’s early, but there’s a lot to like about this group. They are tight knit, but unbelievably competitive with one another. The point guard position, as Beilein said Wednesday, has been ridiculously competitive, and there’s been great improvement by sophomore Zavier Simpson to make it that way.
Eli Brooks is as elite an athlete as they thought, and probably one of the most underrated players in the 2017 class. He can play point or shooting guard. But Jaaron Simmons is the player they thought he was when they took him as a grad transfer, and he’s the favorite to run the show.
Wing Charles Matthews is a future pro, as is center Moritz Wagner. There are a lot of pieces here, and many close to it believe this team, with its defensive ‘want to,’ could be a contender. It’s certainly one of the toughest Beilein has ever had.
Starting with football recruiting …
Michigan is heavily pursuing Tampa (Fla.) Berkeley Prep four-star offensive tackle Nick Petit-Frere, and it may end up paying off. The 6-5, 265-pounder is definitely interested in Michigan and will put the Wolverines in his top group when the time comes.
Former Michigan kicker Garrett Rivas is on staff at Berkeley Prep and tries to answer questions in an unbiased fashion whenever Petit-Frere has them, but he admitted he’d love to see a great kid and a great player like Nick at U-M. Rivas obviously isn’t pressuring the talented senior tackle, but any former college football player would love to see a great player attend their alma mater.
So just how talented is Petit-Frere? Rivas said that he’ll often record clips of Petit-Frere going through drills or competing in one-on-one drills and send them to his former teammate Jake Long and other former Michigan offensive linemen, and they’re blown away. Long has commented on how athletic and impressive Petit-Frere is, and he’d also love to see the four-star in the winged helmet.
Petit-Frere and his head coach Dominick Ciao are planning to sit down and weigh things out in order for a top 10 or more list to be released. Expect Michigan to make that list and also expect Michigan to be in the upper tier of that list.
There has been a TON of discussion surrounding the future of current Michigan commit Emil Ekiyor. The four-star offensive guard out of Indianapolis Cathedral has been committed to the Wolverines for a long, long time but committed may not be the best word to describe his status. On paper and on recruiting websites, he’s committed, but his actions indicate that he’s interested more than he is committed. He’s been to Alabama multiple times and has also checked out Florida State and Georgia while being committed to U-M.
Alabama is pushing extremely hard for Ekiyor to flip, and Ekiyor is certainly considering it. He hasn’t publicly declared that he’s back on the market at this time, but the Michigan coaching staff is moving forward as if they’ll have an opening where Ekiyor currently sits.
There are a lot of reports floating around out there, but one thing is certain — some of the Michigan staff doesn’t love how all of this is going, and it’s a very fluid situation right now. It feels like an eventual change is on the horizon .... but that’s recruiting.
While one offensive lineman may be trending in the wrong direction for Michigan, another is trending in a very positive direction. Grand Rapid (Mich.) Catholic Central three-star offensive tackle Jalen Mayfield is developing very well physically (now 6-6, 277 pounds,) and other staffs are really paying attention.
Mayfield is as solid as can be to U-M and doesn’t plan on entertaining other programs but that hasn’t kept other schools from giving him a lot of attention. Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon, Tennessee and USC are all begging Mayfield to come in for a visit. In fact, Ekiyor has even talked to Mayfield about taking a visit to Tuscaloosa — what does that tell you?
Mayfield respectfully declines to have much conversation with other coaching staffs and couldn’t be happier to be a Wolverine. He’ll be in Ann Arbor this weekend for the Michigan State game and plans to wear a BIG recruiting hat.
Mayfield has also been talking to Petit-Frere a lot via direct message on Twitter and thinks he’s made a lot of progress with him.
While down in Florida, we were able to spend a lot of time at Cardinal Gibbons High School with four-star weakside defensive end Khris Bogle and one of his coaches and it seems like Michigan will have a very, very good chance at landing him. The 6-5, 215-pounder is getting close to releasing a top ten and admitted that Michigan will make the cut.
“Michigan checks a lot of my boxes,” Bogle said. “Academics is a big part of my decision because you just never know when football is going to go away. Being at a Catholic school they really drill that into your head. It’s school, school, school so that’s something that I really look at.”
Everyone knows about Don Brown’s recruiting prowess in New England, but he also has a strong presence at Cardinal Gibbons. Defensive coordinator Dave Montiel is originally from Pennsylvania and has known Brown for a long time. The two of them used to work camps together for years up in the northeast.
Once Brown became the head coach at Northeastern he inked one of Montiel’s players giving them another level of comfortability with each other. Montiel considers Brown a very close friend and knows what his defenses are capable of. He’s relayed that to Bogle, and that has Bogle very interested in U-M.
****
To football now, where plenty has already been said by our John Borton: https://michigan.forums.rivals.com/...ential-contributors-back.224738/#post-3581142
The bye week proved to be a blessing for this team in terms of healing bumps and bruises, etc. It also allowed them to work on things they need to improve in preparation for the better teams on the schedule.
First things first … MSU is not the best team U-M will have played this year ... not better than Florida, a team Michigan handled in Dallas to start the year. The Gators were in that game because of U-M’s miscues, and the Spartans can hang around should the Wolverines play poorly or help them out.
Fifth-year senior John O’Korn has been sharp. Really sharp. He has an air of confidence knowing this is his team, now … however, he needs to continue to prove it in games, of course, and Michigan State will throw plenty at him. Without going into detail, U-M has spent plenty of time countering what the Spartans will throw at them, and you’ll see some new wrinkles Saturday.
The defense has worked diligently on the misdirection plays Purdue burned them with, battling a scout team offense that did a lot of what MSU likes to do. The ‘D’ has also had a very good, swarming two weeks, and there’s plenty of confidence on that side of the ball, too.
Michigan planned to practice under the lights at the Big House Thursday night in preparation for the game to add to the preparation.
Again … this is a really confident bunch. This is not one of MSU’s better teams to have traveled to Ann Arbor in the last 10 years. We’ll leave it at that.
****
Finishing with basketball and recruiting …
After speaking with a coach of one of the committed recruits in Michigan’s 2018 basketball class, he explained that he was blown away by how much John Beilein cares about his players — both current and future. Make no mistake, the coach already knew Beilein cared immensely, but was impressed by how much.
He said the player participated in a tournament few months ago, and Beilein called him immediately after to see how that player performed. However, Beilein was only interested in hearing about how he performed defensively, and had several questions regarding that aspect of his game.
The coach said he couldn’t feel more comfortable sending his player to play for Beilein, and has no doubt he’ll flourish during his time at Michigan — he also added that his respect for Beilein and the work he has done in Ann Arbor is through the roof.
The same could be said of many, of course. That’s the way Beilein runs his program … always has, always will. Just weeks before the FBI revelations came out (and believe us, there’s much more to come beyond Louisville, etc.), he literally said, “Doesn’t every one do it this way?” when told he’d won a ‘cleanest coach’ poll of his peers in a landslide.
They don’t and haven’t, of course. The list of players they thought might be recruitable (but actually weren’t) is long … and yet he’s been able to win titles, make it to Final Fours and send kids with clean consciences to the pros regularly.
“Now that it’s out there, what’s been going on … people should see he might just be the best coach in the country,” another high school coach told us. “I’ve had less and less influence over my kids through the years. Many have cut us (high school coaches) out of the process.
“Coach has always — always — checked in with me about my players. We aren’t stupid. We know what’s been going on, and that’s why I have always, will always, encourage my kids to take a close look at Michigan.”
Powerful stuff, and hopefully it pays off with the playing field at least a bit more level today.
That has led to what’s currently a top five 2018 class, with the Wolverines having landed four, four-star prospects in point guard David DeJulius, forwards Ignas Brazdeikis and Brandon Johns and power forward/center Colin Castleton. Castleton started leaning toward Michigan after meeting with Beilein a few weeks ago.
“Just everything, really,” he said when asked what made the different. “It felt right, and just being with the guys felt like I was a part of the team. Coach B. and I clicked right off the start.”
His parents loved everything about it, too. The same was true for three-star Adrien Nunez of Brooklyn (N.Y.), the fifth pledge in the class, who broke out with nine triples in one game and had several of six or seven in July and afterward. He might well be the top shooter in the country, Rivals analyst Corey Evans said, and could be another of the ‘Plan B’ kids who turn out to be steals.
Four-star Noah Locke was the Plan A, and many believed he was Michigan bound. The longer it went, however, the more it became apparent he was looking for something else, whether it be early playing time, whatever. He knew last Wednesday (was made very aware) that Michigan was looking at Nunez and would probably offer, that Nunez wouldn’t wait long to accept, but he went to Florida on a visit and pledged to the Gators Tuesday.
Make no mistake, though … the U-M coaches are thrilled with their class and have absolutely zero regrets.
It’s on to 2019 now, and the Wolverines will host Southfield (Mich.) Christian’s Harlond Beverley this weekend. Beverly picked up an MSU offer in late August after a great summer, but he really likes U-M. He averaged 12.9 points per game, shot 50 percent from the floor and 37 percent from three-point range and helped the Eagles reach the state semifinals last year.
As for the current team — it’s early, but there’s a lot to like about this group. They are tight knit, but unbelievably competitive with one another. The point guard position, as Beilein said Wednesday, has been ridiculously competitive, and there’s been great improvement by sophomore Zavier Simpson to make it that way.
Eli Brooks is as elite an athlete as they thought, and probably one of the most underrated players in the 2017 class. He can play point or shooting guard. But Jaaron Simmons is the player they thought he was when they took him as a grad transfer, and he’s the favorite to run the show.
Wing Charles Matthews is a future pro, as is center Moritz Wagner. There are a lot of pieces here, and many close to it believe this team, with its defensive ‘want to,’ could be a contender. It’s certainly one of the toughest Beilein has ever had.
