The latest edition of INSIDE THE FORT, including football recruiting, football, basketball and recruiting news.
Starting with football this week, and the offense.
Changes might be in store, but it’s not the ones you think. Some close to the program weren’t exactly pleased with the offensive line play, despite what head coach Jim Harbaugh said publicly. We said earlier in the week that the battles on the right side would continue for the next several weeks, and we weren’t just talking about right tackle.
Despite what Harbaugh said about sophomore right guard Mike Onwenu being near the level of fellow sophomore and left guard Ben Bredeson (and he meant it in a good way, even though Bredeson has had better games than he did against Florida), there are some who feel redshirt sophomore Jon Runyan Jr. could be better at right guard … and that he needs to be given more of an opportunity to prove it.
We saw Runyan in there at times Saturday, and he performed pretty well. We expect to see more of him at both right guard AND right tackle this week given the opponent. Redshirt sophomore Nolan Ulizio came out of nowhere to earn the start, but he struggled at times — pretty badly, in fact — and has not solidified his starting spot by any means.
That’s one thing to watch this week in what should be a complete blowout over a bad football team.
We also expect sophomore Chris Evans to be the first running back on the field despite fifth-year senior Ty Isaac’s big game. Evans was anxious in his first start, tripping over himself a bit and impatient with his reads a few times, but that’s not indicative of the fall camp he had. He is still U-M’s most elusive running back, and while all three backs (probably even four with redshirt frosh Kareem Walker) will get their carries Saturday, Evans should be No. 1 unless something changes.
Expect more opportunity for freshman Donovan Peoples-Jones Saturday, as well, and not just because of the opponent. He’s continued to get better and better, and though fellow frosh Tarik Black has been lights out, Peoples-Jones hasn’t been far behind. The battle at receiver will continue, and it’s possible one or two more will burn their redshirts against the Bearcats.
Finally, though encouraged by much of what they saw Saturday, those close to it were surprised that the Gators weren’t at least a bit better, especially on defense.
“They didn’t have the athletes Ohio State has, for example,” one close to the program said. “And that’s the bar. They know how important that game is, and they’re still not 100 percent sure what they’ve got.”
But they loved the speed on defense, and the discipline. They thought this could be a special group … “and they were right.”
Finally, it’s been well documented how serious Jim Harbaugh is when it comes to the privacy of his football team, hence the “submarine” we’ve seen his team submerge into every fall camp since he’s been here.
However, Harbaugh isn’t just serious about the privacy of football practice — he wants everything around Schembechler Hall to be secure. Reports had surfaced lately that he felt the security wasn’t as tight as it needed to be there, and it was dealt with.
Someone who recently applied for a job at Schembechler Hall was interviewed by … Harbaugh himself. It’s obvious he wants to make sure the people who are being brought on board can live up to his expectations, and that he approves of them.
It’s also amazing how quickly the culture has changed during his time here. Harbaugh’s confidence, energy, cockiness — call it whatever you want — has rubbed off on his players in a big way. As one player noted after Saturday’s win, beating Florida in Arlington was nice, but it would have been better “if they would have come up here to get their ass-whooping.”
****
To football recruiting now …
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh has hired a few new people over the past few months to keep the recruiting machine humming and with them come some new approaches.
Harbaugh originally hired Sean Magee away from Navy to serve as the Director of Player Personnel but he’s now listed as the Associate Athletic Director for Football. Whatever Magee’s title, he’s partially involved in recruiting and brings with him years of organizational experience.
Just a few months after bringing in Magee, Harbaugh then hired Cooper Petagna to serve as Recruiting Coordinator. Petagna had previously worked at LSU and Alabama in their recruiting departments and brings with him a very systematic approach to identifying and evaluating prospects well before their junior seasons. He also emphasizes the relationship-building process and ultimately believes that coaching staffs need around two years, especially for out-of-region prospects, to earn enough trust to convince them to venture far away from home for their college careers.
Harbaugh also hired Matt Dudek away from Arizona to serve as the Director of Recruiting. Once Dudek was brought on board Magee was able to slide into a more administrative role. That allowed Dudek and Petagna to really focus on the organization and streamlining of the entire recruiting process and will ultimately result in less snafus like the one that occurred with Aubrey Solomon last year, and the seemingly ongoing situation with current pledge Emil Ekiyor.
Random errors and recruits feeling neglected should never happen at a place like Michigan and Magee, Petagna and Dudek are on a mission to make sure those types of things don’t happen again.
Tom Gamble is also now on board and is listed as an Administrative Specialist. He’s involved with the previously mentioned trio in some form of on-campus recruiting. Between the four of them, Harbaugh has brought in several people who are considered the best at what they do. Now the identifying, evaluating, offering and recruiting processes will match what fans see on the field each week which is expected to take Michigan to even higher heights. What goes on inside Schembechler Hall isn’t broadcast like football games are, but it’s just as, if not more, important in putting a quality product on the field. Things are in good hands and in the best shape since Harbaugh arrived.
One thing that is going to be different is the timing of official visits. Getting kids on campus super early for an official visit isn’t always the best move. It worked out with Tarik Black in last year’s cycle after he visited for the Hawaii game but don’t expect many, if any, official visits to take place until the Michigan State game this year. The staff sees a huge opportunity to make official visit bigger events and hopes to utilize a couple of big rivalry games to their fullest during the 2018 cycle.
Jim Harbaugh is definitely a calculated coach, and now he’s surrounded himself with several other calculated people to run Michigan’s recruiting. Obviously Harbaugh, along with the rest of the on-field coaching staff, plays a huge role in how recruiting plays out but Magee, Petagna, Dudek and Gamble, along with their assistants and GAs are already making improvements to how things are done inside Schembechler Hall, and it will play out in the 2018 cycle and even more in 2019 and beyond.
Things are already good, and they’re only getting better.
****
Finishing with basketball and recruiting, starting with the former …
This team might have been a Final Four contender if D.J. Wilson had come back, but one very familiar with the Big Ten, who has seen the Michigan team practice extensively, believes U-M is still going to be very formidable … much better than the fifth in the Big Ten predicted by some of the preseason magazines like Athlon.
“They are stacked,” our observer said. “Stacked. If you go Simmons, (senior) Muhammad Ali Abdur-Rahkman), (redshirt sophomore) Charles Matthews, (fifth-year senior) Duncan Robinson and (junior) Moritz Wagner … that’s a great lineup.”
All of them … every one … had great summers, strength coach Jon Sanderson told us recently, and put in the time to get better in the weight room. They all made tremendous gains.
Robinson will share time at the four with freshman Isaiah Livers, who was one of the pleasant surprises of the summer the way he shot the ball.
“Lights … out,” our observer said. “He is going to be a great fit. That whole freshman class is something.”
And that was with shooting guard Jordan Poole not shooting the ball as well as he could in game situations. There’s no concern there (at all), because they know he can and believe he will once he gets to practice more within the flow of the offense.
One of the biggest challenges will be paring the roster to the eight or nine who can play. Freshman Eli Brooks is extremely athletic and has played well. Sophomore Ibi Watson is much improved and put in as much time this summer as anyone, and according to our observers, sophomore point guard Xavier Simpson might be the most improved player on the team. He made huge leaps.
Those writing off sophomore Jon Teske, shouldn’t. Both Teske and redshirt freshman Austin Davis have made gains and will split minutes behind Wagner at the five.
Wagner and Robinson remain the team’s two top shooters, to the point that they now move back to NBA range for their three-point drills. Robinson made 67 during the drill and Wagner 61 to lead the team, and the guards have done a great job getting them looks in game situations.
The most encouraging thing we heard from someone close to the team, though …
“This is a really tough group, tougher than we’ve seen,” he said. “Some of these guys really defend and take it personal.”
It will be interesting to see how Beilein mixes and matches them this year.
On the hoops recruiting front, it’s a big visit weekend with four-star forward Ignas Brazdeikis of Mono (Ontario, Canada) Orangeville and three-star wing Justin Ahrens of Versailles (Ohio) on campus. Brazdeikis is one the Wolverines have been working on for quite some time, and they’ve always seemed to be in good shape.
We don’t expect a commitment. Some of his coaches seem to be running the show a bit here, and it appears they’d like to see him take his trips. Vanderbilt and Florida are up next. He continues to say all the right things about the Wolverines, and if it’s up to him, we really like U-M’s chances. He’s a perfect fit, and he knows it. It’s also relatively close to home.
As for Ahrens, he came out of nowhere this summer to earn offers from Ohio State (initially committing) and others, but one analyst we trust believes he ends up in Ann Arbor.
“I think Ahrens goes to Michigan, honestly,” he said. “First one to commit gets it.”
Meaning the first to pledge between Ahrens and, likely, four-star shooting guard Noah Locke out of Maryland. It will likely be Michigan, Ohio State or Florida for Rivals.com’s No. 63 player, we’re hearing, and he won’t decide until October.
"I'd be surprised if one of those two didn't end up in Ann Arbor," he said.
That would give Ahrens a chance to see OSU Sept. 23 as he promised and still have the opportunity to pledge … if that holds true. Michigan wants to add one ASAP, and remember, the Wolverines are still in the top five for Montverde (Fla.) Academy’s R.J. Barrett, the top player in the 2018 class. He’ll visit at the end of the month.
We believe it’s highly unlikely Barrett ends up in the class, but it gives Beilein one more thing to navigate. We also strongly believe U-M takes two more in this class.
Should U-M make it to its plan B targets, Texas product Keonte Kennedy is a big possibility to pledge on the spot when he visits Oct. 8. The three-star loves Michigan and can’t wait to visit. Arkansas and Memphis are also in the running.
Beilein will also go in home with four-star forward Miller Kopp (No. 97) out of Houston next week. Kopp visited Butler and loved it, but Northwestern seems to have made a move here and could be the team to beat. Those close to it don’t believe he makes it out of September without committing somewhere … we thought he might join his brother at Vanderbilt, but now it appears as though the Commodores might be out of the running.
Starting with football this week, and the offense.
Changes might be in store, but it’s not the ones you think. Some close to the program weren’t exactly pleased with the offensive line play, despite what head coach Jim Harbaugh said publicly. We said earlier in the week that the battles on the right side would continue for the next several weeks, and we weren’t just talking about right tackle.
Despite what Harbaugh said about sophomore right guard Mike Onwenu being near the level of fellow sophomore and left guard Ben Bredeson (and he meant it in a good way, even though Bredeson has had better games than he did against Florida), there are some who feel redshirt sophomore Jon Runyan Jr. could be better at right guard … and that he needs to be given more of an opportunity to prove it.
We saw Runyan in there at times Saturday, and he performed pretty well. We expect to see more of him at both right guard AND right tackle this week given the opponent. Redshirt sophomore Nolan Ulizio came out of nowhere to earn the start, but he struggled at times — pretty badly, in fact — and has not solidified his starting spot by any means.
That’s one thing to watch this week in what should be a complete blowout over a bad football team.
We also expect sophomore Chris Evans to be the first running back on the field despite fifth-year senior Ty Isaac’s big game. Evans was anxious in his first start, tripping over himself a bit and impatient with his reads a few times, but that’s not indicative of the fall camp he had. He is still U-M’s most elusive running back, and while all three backs (probably even four with redshirt frosh Kareem Walker) will get their carries Saturday, Evans should be No. 1 unless something changes.
Expect more opportunity for freshman Donovan Peoples-Jones Saturday, as well, and not just because of the opponent. He’s continued to get better and better, and though fellow frosh Tarik Black has been lights out, Peoples-Jones hasn’t been far behind. The battle at receiver will continue, and it’s possible one or two more will burn their redshirts against the Bearcats.
Finally, though encouraged by much of what they saw Saturday, those close to it were surprised that the Gators weren’t at least a bit better, especially on defense.
“They didn’t have the athletes Ohio State has, for example,” one close to the program said. “And that’s the bar. They know how important that game is, and they’re still not 100 percent sure what they’ve got.”
But they loved the speed on defense, and the discipline. They thought this could be a special group … “and they were right.”
Finally, it’s been well documented how serious Jim Harbaugh is when it comes to the privacy of his football team, hence the “submarine” we’ve seen his team submerge into every fall camp since he’s been here.
However, Harbaugh isn’t just serious about the privacy of football practice — he wants everything around Schembechler Hall to be secure. Reports had surfaced lately that he felt the security wasn’t as tight as it needed to be there, and it was dealt with.
Someone who recently applied for a job at Schembechler Hall was interviewed by … Harbaugh himself. It’s obvious he wants to make sure the people who are being brought on board can live up to his expectations, and that he approves of them.
It’s also amazing how quickly the culture has changed during his time here. Harbaugh’s confidence, energy, cockiness — call it whatever you want — has rubbed off on his players in a big way. As one player noted after Saturday’s win, beating Florida in Arlington was nice, but it would have been better “if they would have come up here to get their ass-whooping.”
****
To football recruiting now …
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh has hired a few new people over the past few months to keep the recruiting machine humming and with them come some new approaches.
Harbaugh originally hired Sean Magee away from Navy to serve as the Director of Player Personnel but he’s now listed as the Associate Athletic Director for Football. Whatever Magee’s title, he’s partially involved in recruiting and brings with him years of organizational experience.
Just a few months after bringing in Magee, Harbaugh then hired Cooper Petagna to serve as Recruiting Coordinator. Petagna had previously worked at LSU and Alabama in their recruiting departments and brings with him a very systematic approach to identifying and evaluating prospects well before their junior seasons. He also emphasizes the relationship-building process and ultimately believes that coaching staffs need around two years, especially for out-of-region prospects, to earn enough trust to convince them to venture far away from home for their college careers.
Harbaugh also hired Matt Dudek away from Arizona to serve as the Director of Recruiting. Once Dudek was brought on board Magee was able to slide into a more administrative role. That allowed Dudek and Petagna to really focus on the organization and streamlining of the entire recruiting process and will ultimately result in less snafus like the one that occurred with Aubrey Solomon last year, and the seemingly ongoing situation with current pledge Emil Ekiyor.
Random errors and recruits feeling neglected should never happen at a place like Michigan and Magee, Petagna and Dudek are on a mission to make sure those types of things don’t happen again.
Tom Gamble is also now on board and is listed as an Administrative Specialist. He’s involved with the previously mentioned trio in some form of on-campus recruiting. Between the four of them, Harbaugh has brought in several people who are considered the best at what they do. Now the identifying, evaluating, offering and recruiting processes will match what fans see on the field each week which is expected to take Michigan to even higher heights. What goes on inside Schembechler Hall isn’t broadcast like football games are, but it’s just as, if not more, important in putting a quality product on the field. Things are in good hands and in the best shape since Harbaugh arrived.
One thing that is going to be different is the timing of official visits. Getting kids on campus super early for an official visit isn’t always the best move. It worked out with Tarik Black in last year’s cycle after he visited for the Hawaii game but don’t expect many, if any, official visits to take place until the Michigan State game this year. The staff sees a huge opportunity to make official visit bigger events and hopes to utilize a couple of big rivalry games to their fullest during the 2018 cycle.
Jim Harbaugh is definitely a calculated coach, and now he’s surrounded himself with several other calculated people to run Michigan’s recruiting. Obviously Harbaugh, along with the rest of the on-field coaching staff, plays a huge role in how recruiting plays out but Magee, Petagna, Dudek and Gamble, along with their assistants and GAs are already making improvements to how things are done inside Schembechler Hall, and it will play out in the 2018 cycle and even more in 2019 and beyond.
Things are already good, and they’re only getting better.
****
Finishing with basketball and recruiting, starting with the former …
This team might have been a Final Four contender if D.J. Wilson had come back, but one very familiar with the Big Ten, who has seen the Michigan team practice extensively, believes U-M is still going to be very formidable … much better than the fifth in the Big Ten predicted by some of the preseason magazines like Athlon.
“They are stacked,” our observer said. “Stacked. If you go Simmons, (senior) Muhammad Ali Abdur-Rahkman), (redshirt sophomore) Charles Matthews, (fifth-year senior) Duncan Robinson and (junior) Moritz Wagner … that’s a great lineup.”
All of them … every one … had great summers, strength coach Jon Sanderson told us recently, and put in the time to get better in the weight room. They all made tremendous gains.
Robinson will share time at the four with freshman Isaiah Livers, who was one of the pleasant surprises of the summer the way he shot the ball.
“Lights … out,” our observer said. “He is going to be a great fit. That whole freshman class is something.”
And that was with shooting guard Jordan Poole not shooting the ball as well as he could in game situations. There’s no concern there (at all), because they know he can and believe he will once he gets to practice more within the flow of the offense.
One of the biggest challenges will be paring the roster to the eight or nine who can play. Freshman Eli Brooks is extremely athletic and has played well. Sophomore Ibi Watson is much improved and put in as much time this summer as anyone, and according to our observers, sophomore point guard Xavier Simpson might be the most improved player on the team. He made huge leaps.
Those writing off sophomore Jon Teske, shouldn’t. Both Teske and redshirt freshman Austin Davis have made gains and will split minutes behind Wagner at the five.
Wagner and Robinson remain the team’s two top shooters, to the point that they now move back to NBA range for their three-point drills. Robinson made 67 during the drill and Wagner 61 to lead the team, and the guards have done a great job getting them looks in game situations.
The most encouraging thing we heard from someone close to the team, though …
“This is a really tough group, tougher than we’ve seen,” he said. “Some of these guys really defend and take it personal.”
It will be interesting to see how Beilein mixes and matches them this year.
On the hoops recruiting front, it’s a big visit weekend with four-star forward Ignas Brazdeikis of Mono (Ontario, Canada) Orangeville and three-star wing Justin Ahrens of Versailles (Ohio) on campus. Brazdeikis is one the Wolverines have been working on for quite some time, and they’ve always seemed to be in good shape.
We don’t expect a commitment. Some of his coaches seem to be running the show a bit here, and it appears they’d like to see him take his trips. Vanderbilt and Florida are up next. He continues to say all the right things about the Wolverines, and if it’s up to him, we really like U-M’s chances. He’s a perfect fit, and he knows it. It’s also relatively close to home.
As for Ahrens, he came out of nowhere this summer to earn offers from Ohio State (initially committing) and others, but one analyst we trust believes he ends up in Ann Arbor.
“I think Ahrens goes to Michigan, honestly,” he said. “First one to commit gets it.”
Meaning the first to pledge between Ahrens and, likely, four-star shooting guard Noah Locke out of Maryland. It will likely be Michigan, Ohio State or Florida for Rivals.com’s No. 63 player, we’re hearing, and he won’t decide until October.
"I'd be surprised if one of those two didn't end up in Ann Arbor," he said.
That would give Ahrens a chance to see OSU Sept. 23 as he promised and still have the opportunity to pledge … if that holds true. Michigan wants to add one ASAP, and remember, the Wolverines are still in the top five for Montverde (Fla.) Academy’s R.J. Barrett, the top player in the 2018 class. He’ll visit at the end of the month.
We believe it’s highly unlikely Barrett ends up in the class, but it gives Beilein one more thing to navigate. We also strongly believe U-M takes two more in this class.
Should U-M make it to its plan B targets, Texas product Keonte Kennedy is a big possibility to pledge on the spot when he visits Oct. 8. The three-star loves Michigan and can’t wait to visit. Arkansas and Memphis are also in the running.
Beilein will also go in home with four-star forward Miller Kopp (No. 97) out of Houston next week. Kopp visited Butler and loved it, but Northwestern seems to have made a move here and could be the team to beat. Those close to it don’t believe he makes it out of September without committing somewhere … we thought he might join his brother at Vanderbilt, but now it appears as though the Commodores might be out of the running.
