I tried to post some of this material the other day, but it was zapped when my browser crashed. So here goes with the new additions:
The thing about satellite camps isn’t necessarily targeting the Class of 2017 prospects, few of whom have yet to be discovered, but in identifying and starting to build relationships with younger prospects. In my view, in putting together a 2017 satellite camp tour, instead of scheduling events at schools that have outstanding Class of 2018 prospects (such as at Antioch High where this year’s camp stop features Alabama commitment and stud ’17 RB Naje Harris), Michigan should schedule stops at schools with outstanding class of 2019 and 2020 prospects. Why? Simply because, just as the case with Harris in the class of 2017, by next June many of the elite 2018 prospects will have already committed or narrowed down their target lists substantially. Michigan is now playing “catch-up” with Alabama in camping at Antioch. Next spring they should stay a step ahead and schedule camps where there are national elite younger kids.
Speaking of younger kids, Michigan has handed out their first offer (as far as I am aware) to a Class of 2020 prospect (just finished 8th-grade). Future Miami Columbus OLB/SS Courtney Holmes received the offer after shining at one of the south Florida camps the other day. Courtney has been on my radar for some time as he has starred for the Palmetto Raiders youth team and is considered to be one of the top young prospects in Dade County. Offering a kid like Courtney so early, and starting to develop a relationship with him before he even enters high school, is an example of where these camps will pay HUGE dividends for Michigan down the road.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCisPclbINWhnHauXfRToIVQ
Speaking of satellite camps, ESPN’s Gene Wojiechowski attended the Michigan camp in Australia last week and for those who missed Chris Balas’s article which included several of Gene’s tweets here is a link to his twitter feed:
https://twitter.com/GenoEspn
Of particular note is the “instruction” that was going on at the camp. Perhaps someone should send these tweets, from an employee of a network that owns the SEC network, to SEC commissioner Sankey.
Speaking of south Florida talent at the satellite camps, Michigan offered another two wide receivers from Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas: ’17 Michael Harley and ’18 Elijah Moore. Three returning ’17 Aquinas receivers already had offers: Trevon Grimes, Canadian transplant Joshua Palmer and Jordan Merrill. I find it amazing that Michigan has offered five wide receivers from one school. We are talking about high school third stringers receiving Michigan offers. Just think about it for a sec. Of course, those five offers are not currently committable. In my view Grimes, who is right up there with DJP, is a clear take while Elijah Moore is as well. The other three? I doubt it.
Better late than never. Late in May Michigan finally came around to offering Brooklyn Erasmus Hall stud ’18 two-way lineman Matthew Jones. Ohio State is considered the prohibitive leader, in part because Curtis Samuel is already there and Jahson Wint just signed with the Buckeyes. There has not been so much talent walking the halls of Erasmus Hall since the late 1950s when the likes of Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand and chess great/wacko Bobby Fischer were seen walking the “Hall”. Perhaps Michigan can make a push with Jones. I suspect, however, that he will wind up joining the two previous Hall stars at OSU, becoming that last piece in a troika that I will affectionately refer to as “The Three Stooges” in honor of another former Erasmus Hall student, former Three Stooge Moe Howard.
A few under-the radar youngsters to keep an eye on in the years ahead:
LaGrange Park Nazareth Academy has a strong class of ’19. One of their players, 6-2, 198, 4.5 WR/SS Jermaine Baker, says that Michigan is his dream school.
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/6225969/jermaine-baker
A lineman who recently looked pretty good at the Seattle Nike The Opening camp is Class of 2018 Lake Washington (WA) OL William Pliska. He measured in at 6-4.5, 277 and ran a 5.64 forty. His measurable are certainly more impressive than his older brother, just graduated Michigan walk-on OL Ben Pliska (school of engineering). It will be interesting to see if the younger Pliska develops into a Michigan-caliber recruit.
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/4010281/will-pliska
2019 Isaiah Foskey (6-4, 215, 4.85) is the heir-apparent to Devin Asiasi as the next stud TE at Concord DeLaSalle. Michigan has already offered (quite a while ago, second offer after Kansas) so should be well-positioned to land this stud TE who recently shined at the Oakland Nike The Opening camp.
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/5649438/
2018 Cam Taylor (WR/ATH, 5-10, 193, 4.56) is a hidden gem at Prattville who was offered very early by Michigan despite seeing limited time as a sophomore. He has started to explode on the camp scene (impressive at Georgia Satellite camp and had a great 101.37 SPARQ at March 2016 Atlanta Nike The Opening).
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3776586/cam-taylor
Kids in California are often offered later in the recruiting cycle than prospects in the rest of the country. One such prospect, yet to be offered but with huge upside, is 2018 Fresno McLane WR Ricardo Arias (6-4, 195, 4.51). As a sophomore WR on a 5-6 team he had 79 receptions for 1,428 yards (18.1 avg) and 17 TDs in earning first team sophomore all-state honors. He is tall, fast and has good ball skills. The Michigan staff is following him closely. So should you.
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3249644/ricardo-arias
Michigan recently received a verbal from Class of 2018 OL Jalil Irvin. Jalil measured in a 6-3, 273, 5.61 forty and 55.92 SPARQ at the March 2016 Atlanta Nike The Opening. Not really great numbers, but okay. He is originally from Detroit and plays basketball and has quick feet but needs to get a lot stronger. His other early offers were from Illinois and Tulane. He plays for a program, Stone Mountain Stephenson, that regularly churns out DI talent. In fact, he is not even the most heavily recruited OL on his team as classmate Dylan Wonnum (6-5, 291) was actually named the overall OL MVP at the April 2016 Atlanta Rivals Camp and has offers from Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois and Wake Forest.
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/4632096/jalil-irvin
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/4632098/dylan-wonnum
With all the talk about impressive Michigan 2017 QB verbal Dylan McCaffrey, people should be aware that his school, Valor Christian has two other future stud QBs sitting behind him.
First comes 2018 Blake Stenstrom (6-3, 195, 5.06), the son of former Stanford QB Steve Stenstrom (Interestingly Steve was redshirting as a freshman QB at Stanford while Ed McCaffrey was a star senior WR). Blake saw limited action behind Dylan but was offered by Colorado even before wowing onlookers at the recent Oakland Nike Elite 11, where he was the only underclassman selected to the final 5).
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1869250/blake-stenstrom
The other stud young QB is Luke McCaffrey, the youngest son of Ed and younger brother of Dylan and, of course, Stanford stud Christian McCaffrey. Luke will be stuck down on the JV team as a sophomore given the presence of the two stud upperclassmen, but he is one to watch. His official HUDL page has no highlights, but I have discovered his youth league highlights snuck into his sister Lisa’s HUDL page, so here is the link for those wanting to get an early glimpse at the next McCaffrey. He seems to combine elements of Dylan (passing skills) and Christian (not as tall as Dylan but quicker feet):
Turning back to satellite camps, another thought crossed my mind. Today in Baltimore the football team is teaming up with the lacrosse and cheerleading programs for a satellite camp. Next year, why not take it even a step further? Take a more “holistic approach” to the entire notion. Transcend sports and use this as a marketing opportunity for the University of Michigan as an Academic institution. As these camps are taking place at high schools, after the camps end send the kids over to the school gym or auditorium where Michigan can make an academic presentation, not only to the athletes but for ALL students interested in attending. In other words, for a select number of these camps build off the satellite camps and the critical mass that they will produce in order to provide prospective student-athletes AND students with information about Michigan. This would be a win-win for athletics, academics and help get the Sec to shut-up.
A year ago Michigan hired Chris Partridge from Paramus Catholic. This year Devin Bush Sr. from Flanagan High. What about next year? I don’t know whether everything this guy is doing is kosher or not, but the high school assistant coach who is making the most noise when it comes to talent procurement is Loganville Grayson assistant coach Kenyatta Watson.
Last year I first noticed that an unusual number of talented 8th-graders were saying that they would be attending Grayson, including superstar Owen Pappoe. About ten of the fifty in-state Class of 2019 prospects invited to a Georgia in-state freshman day this past winter were from Grayson. This included Watson’s son, Kenyatta Jr., who already has an offer from Boston College.
Now Grayson already had a few talented upperclassmen on the roster, including ’17 Clemson QB verbal Chase Brice, but this winter and spring several superstar area 2017 prospects have transferred to Grayson. This includes Jamyest Williams, DeAngelo Gibbs, Breon Dixon and Tony Gray (the lineman who Harbaugh unintentionally violated NCAA regs with by signing an autograph). Also, the poorest kept secret in Georgia high school footb all ranks is the imminent transfer of Michigan verbal Kurt Taylor to Grayson (Sort of wonder how quick to cut him loose Michigan would be as he is at a program that will be one of the 4-5 big national talent-producers along with IMG, Aquinas, Bishop Gorman and St. John Bosco?).
Interestingly, the 2015 head coach at Grayson, Mickey Conn, joined the Clemson staff after the season and after a few of the above-mentioned kids had already transferred in. the new head coach, Jeff Herron, won four football state championships at Camden County and Oconee County before taking the Prince Avenue Christian job in 2013. The constant, however, is Watson, and he seems to be be major force behind all of the talent procurement. The kids who transferred in before Conn left are remaining at Grayson, and other names, including Taylor, will soon be joining. I honestly don’t know to what extent what Watson is doing is on the up-and-up, but if things have been clean he is someone to watch out for as a possible future hire by Michigan or some other major program.
http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/high-school/transfers-go-to-grayson-looking-for-title/nrPwC/
The thing about satellite camps isn’t necessarily targeting the Class of 2017 prospects, few of whom have yet to be discovered, but in identifying and starting to build relationships with younger prospects. In my view, in putting together a 2017 satellite camp tour, instead of scheduling events at schools that have outstanding Class of 2018 prospects (such as at Antioch High where this year’s camp stop features Alabama commitment and stud ’17 RB Naje Harris), Michigan should schedule stops at schools with outstanding class of 2019 and 2020 prospects. Why? Simply because, just as the case with Harris in the class of 2017, by next June many of the elite 2018 prospects will have already committed or narrowed down their target lists substantially. Michigan is now playing “catch-up” with Alabama in camping at Antioch. Next spring they should stay a step ahead and schedule camps where there are national elite younger kids.
Speaking of younger kids, Michigan has handed out their first offer (as far as I am aware) to a Class of 2020 prospect (just finished 8th-grade). Future Miami Columbus OLB/SS Courtney Holmes received the offer after shining at one of the south Florida camps the other day. Courtney has been on my radar for some time as he has starred for the Palmetto Raiders youth team and is considered to be one of the top young prospects in Dade County. Offering a kid like Courtney so early, and starting to develop a relationship with him before he even enters high school, is an example of where these camps will pay HUGE dividends for Michigan down the road.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCisPclbINWhnHauXfRToIVQ
Speaking of satellite camps, ESPN’s Gene Wojiechowski attended the Michigan camp in Australia last week and for those who missed Chris Balas’s article which included several of Gene’s tweets here is a link to his twitter feed:
https://twitter.com/GenoEspn
Of particular note is the “instruction” that was going on at the camp. Perhaps someone should send these tweets, from an employee of a network that owns the SEC network, to SEC commissioner Sankey.
Speaking of south Florida talent at the satellite camps, Michigan offered another two wide receivers from Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas: ’17 Michael Harley and ’18 Elijah Moore. Three returning ’17 Aquinas receivers already had offers: Trevon Grimes, Canadian transplant Joshua Palmer and Jordan Merrill. I find it amazing that Michigan has offered five wide receivers from one school. We are talking about high school third stringers receiving Michigan offers. Just think about it for a sec. Of course, those five offers are not currently committable. In my view Grimes, who is right up there with DJP, is a clear take while Elijah Moore is as well. The other three? I doubt it.
Better late than never. Late in May Michigan finally came around to offering Brooklyn Erasmus Hall stud ’18 two-way lineman Matthew Jones. Ohio State is considered the prohibitive leader, in part because Curtis Samuel is already there and Jahson Wint just signed with the Buckeyes. There has not been so much talent walking the halls of Erasmus Hall since the late 1950s when the likes of Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand and chess great/wacko Bobby Fischer were seen walking the “Hall”. Perhaps Michigan can make a push with Jones. I suspect, however, that he will wind up joining the two previous Hall stars at OSU, becoming that last piece in a troika that I will affectionately refer to as “The Three Stooges” in honor of another former Erasmus Hall student, former Three Stooge Moe Howard.
A few under-the radar youngsters to keep an eye on in the years ahead:
LaGrange Park Nazareth Academy has a strong class of ’19. One of their players, 6-2, 198, 4.5 WR/SS Jermaine Baker, says that Michigan is his dream school.
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/6225969/jermaine-baker
A lineman who recently looked pretty good at the Seattle Nike The Opening camp is Class of 2018 Lake Washington (WA) OL William Pliska. He measured in at 6-4.5, 277 and ran a 5.64 forty. His measurable are certainly more impressive than his older brother, just graduated Michigan walk-on OL Ben Pliska (school of engineering). It will be interesting to see if the younger Pliska develops into a Michigan-caliber recruit.
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/4010281/will-pliska
2019 Isaiah Foskey (6-4, 215, 4.85) is the heir-apparent to Devin Asiasi as the next stud TE at Concord DeLaSalle. Michigan has already offered (quite a while ago, second offer after Kansas) so should be well-positioned to land this stud TE who recently shined at the Oakland Nike The Opening camp.
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/5649438/
2018 Cam Taylor (WR/ATH, 5-10, 193, 4.56) is a hidden gem at Prattville who was offered very early by Michigan despite seeing limited time as a sophomore. He has started to explode on the camp scene (impressive at Georgia Satellite camp and had a great 101.37 SPARQ at March 2016 Atlanta Nike The Opening).
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3776586/cam-taylor
Kids in California are often offered later in the recruiting cycle than prospects in the rest of the country. One such prospect, yet to be offered but with huge upside, is 2018 Fresno McLane WR Ricardo Arias (6-4, 195, 4.51). As a sophomore WR on a 5-6 team he had 79 receptions for 1,428 yards (18.1 avg) and 17 TDs in earning first team sophomore all-state honors. He is tall, fast and has good ball skills. The Michigan staff is following him closely. So should you.
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3249644/ricardo-arias
Michigan recently received a verbal from Class of 2018 OL Jalil Irvin. Jalil measured in a 6-3, 273, 5.61 forty and 55.92 SPARQ at the March 2016 Atlanta Nike The Opening. Not really great numbers, but okay. He is originally from Detroit and plays basketball and has quick feet but needs to get a lot stronger. His other early offers were from Illinois and Tulane. He plays for a program, Stone Mountain Stephenson, that regularly churns out DI talent. In fact, he is not even the most heavily recruited OL on his team as classmate Dylan Wonnum (6-5, 291) was actually named the overall OL MVP at the April 2016 Atlanta Rivals Camp and has offers from Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois and Wake Forest.
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/4632096/jalil-irvin
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/4632098/dylan-wonnum
With all the talk about impressive Michigan 2017 QB verbal Dylan McCaffrey, people should be aware that his school, Valor Christian has two other future stud QBs sitting behind him.
First comes 2018 Blake Stenstrom (6-3, 195, 5.06), the son of former Stanford QB Steve Stenstrom (Interestingly Steve was redshirting as a freshman QB at Stanford while Ed McCaffrey was a star senior WR). Blake saw limited action behind Dylan but was offered by Colorado even before wowing onlookers at the recent Oakland Nike Elite 11, where he was the only underclassman selected to the final 5).
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1869250/blake-stenstrom
The other stud young QB is Luke McCaffrey, the youngest son of Ed and younger brother of Dylan and, of course, Stanford stud Christian McCaffrey. Luke will be stuck down on the JV team as a sophomore given the presence of the two stud upperclassmen, but he is one to watch. His official HUDL page has no highlights, but I have discovered his youth league highlights snuck into his sister Lisa’s HUDL page, so here is the link for those wanting to get an early glimpse at the next McCaffrey. He seems to combine elements of Dylan (passing skills) and Christian (not as tall as Dylan but quicker feet):
Turning back to satellite camps, another thought crossed my mind. Today in Baltimore the football team is teaming up with the lacrosse and cheerleading programs for a satellite camp. Next year, why not take it even a step further? Take a more “holistic approach” to the entire notion. Transcend sports and use this as a marketing opportunity for the University of Michigan as an Academic institution. As these camps are taking place at high schools, after the camps end send the kids over to the school gym or auditorium where Michigan can make an academic presentation, not only to the athletes but for ALL students interested in attending. In other words, for a select number of these camps build off the satellite camps and the critical mass that they will produce in order to provide prospective student-athletes AND students with information about Michigan. This would be a win-win for athletics, academics and help get the Sec to shut-up.
A year ago Michigan hired Chris Partridge from Paramus Catholic. This year Devin Bush Sr. from Flanagan High. What about next year? I don’t know whether everything this guy is doing is kosher or not, but the high school assistant coach who is making the most noise when it comes to talent procurement is Loganville Grayson assistant coach Kenyatta Watson.
Last year I first noticed that an unusual number of talented 8th-graders were saying that they would be attending Grayson, including superstar Owen Pappoe. About ten of the fifty in-state Class of 2019 prospects invited to a Georgia in-state freshman day this past winter were from Grayson. This included Watson’s son, Kenyatta Jr., who already has an offer from Boston College.
Now Grayson already had a few talented upperclassmen on the roster, including ’17 Clemson QB verbal Chase Brice, but this winter and spring several superstar area 2017 prospects have transferred to Grayson. This includes Jamyest Williams, DeAngelo Gibbs, Breon Dixon and Tony Gray (the lineman who Harbaugh unintentionally violated NCAA regs with by signing an autograph). Also, the poorest kept secret in Georgia high school footb all ranks is the imminent transfer of Michigan verbal Kurt Taylor to Grayson (Sort of wonder how quick to cut him loose Michigan would be as he is at a program that will be one of the 4-5 big national talent-producers along with IMG, Aquinas, Bishop Gorman and St. John Bosco?).
Interestingly, the 2015 head coach at Grayson, Mickey Conn, joined the Clemson staff after the season and after a few of the above-mentioned kids had already transferred in. the new head coach, Jeff Herron, won four football state championships at Camden County and Oconee County before taking the Prince Avenue Christian job in 2013. The constant, however, is Watson, and he seems to be be major force behind all of the talent procurement. The kids who transferred in before Conn left are remaining at Grayson, and other names, including Taylor, will soon be joining. I honestly don’t know to what extent what Watson is doing is on the up-and-up, but if things have been clean he is someone to watch out for as a possible future hire by Michigan or some other major program.
http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/high-school/transfers-go-to-grayson-looking-for-title/nrPwC/
Last edited:
