Monday Recruitin'

[EnviedOne]

Update 9/1: Linked to articles on MI WR Dion Sims, NJ DE Anthony LaLota, CA QB Tate Forcier (second), FL LB Brandin Hawthorne, SC DE Chris Bonds, FL CB Mywan Jackson, SC DE Sam Montgomery, AZ DE Craig Roh, CA OL Michael Philipp, TN CB Marsalis Teague, MI WR Cameron Gordon, video of OH RB Fitzgerald Toussaint, picture I am going to use whenever MI DT Will Campbell is mentioned. Moved FL LB Brandin Hawthorne and FL RB Vincent Smith to committed. Moved CA QB Tate Forcier to committed. Some links from Varsity Blue.
Video flood: FL WR Jeremy Gallon smokes Seabreeze, Fitzgerald and Toussaint against Niles, Bryce McNeal and DeDe Lattimore. Varsity Blue rounds up the high school action from Michigan commitments.
Do we really have an offer out to this guy?
Removed SC S DJ Swearinger (Tenn), MD CB Travis Hawkins (dropped us), MA OL Brennan Williams (dropped us), FL RB Jamaal Berry (OSU).

Editorial Opinion: Recruiting board lives here. I?ll cover the commitments in separate googlestalking posts over the next few days. As far as the guys who are uncommitted or already in the fold?
This is the most important thing you?ll see in this post:

That?s wholly shirtless DT commit Will Campbell dressed up like Thor. I wish I could say this was some sort of surprise, but prep photographers get super bored from time to time and take the opportunity to make athletic guys who get all the girls dress up like goofs.
Meanwhile, my optimism re: MA OL Brennan Williams was ill-founded as he?s dropped M and plans to stay on the east coast?Varsity Blue wins this round. That?s a damaging blow for Michigan?s hopes for another high profile offensive lineman in the class; at the moment there is no one on the board that seems particularly likely to end up at Michigan. Michigan?s not graduating any OL this year and just took six, so the need is not critical; another decent prospect would be nice.
Elsewhere, there?s been some movement on the defensive ends we all crave. CA DE Craig Roh made an official visit for the Utah game and now Scout has an article indicating in the header that his decision will be coming shortly($). He likes Barwis, as all defensive ends should:

"He's out-of-this-world good," Roh said of Michigan's new conditioning guru. "He was the most impressive strength and conditioning coach I've seen. He's very outside the box. They don't just do ordinary lifting, and that really impressed me."
Roh explained the strength gains of one of Michigan's defensive ends.
"He weighed like 280 and benched like 300," Roh said. "(Barwis) stripped him down to 240 and built him up back to 270. Then he could bench 400 or something like that. That was just in five months! If you make those kinds of gains you are obviously doing something right."

Roh?s taken a second visit and is now accelerating his timetable, which either indicates 1) Michigan is it or 2) Michigan was the only school that might hypothetically snatch him from USC?s clutches and they didn?t quite get it done. They?re definitely in his top two. The premium sites have differing levels of optimism here; we?ll see.
Meanwhile, NJ DE Anthony LaLota was impressed by his visit and has decided to push out his commitment timeline until he takes in some official visits. Previously, he was planning to commit immediately after his unofficial to Michigan. Thoughts on his trip:

"It's a great place," he said of Ann Arbor. "The Big House is great and the atmosphere there is a lot of fun. I also love their tradition and history of winning.
"They are known for winning and I think they'll be great under coach Rich Rodriguez," LaLota said. "He's been a very successful coach and did great at West Virginia and I think he'll continue at Michigan. I don't think they'll have a bad season."
LaLota also plays on the offensive line, but says the Wolverines and others are recruiting him for defensive end. "They said that I need to come prepared because there's a good chance I could play early there," he said. "I really like how they always seem to prepare their players well for the next level."

Elsewhere in that article he has nice things to say about Rutgers and Notre Dame; Boston College, Michigan, Notre Dame, and Penn State are noted as the best campuses he?s been to; previous Virginia was thought to be in strong position for him. Add it up and LaLota?s future destination remains extremely murky.
SC DE Sam Montgomery is close to narrowing down his favorites and Michigan didn?t get a mention in the Kornblut article detailing his process. But hey, he likes Yankee talkin?:

I like to keep you guys guessing," he said. He did say that he is getting a better idea of where he plans to take his official visits and that South Carolinians may be pleased with his choices. This summer, Montgomery visited UNC and NC State. He liked both schools. "North Carolina is a great school. They really impressed me. They have a great atmosphere and I fell in love with John Blake." He also spoke highly of NC State. "I liked their coaches and their accents. They talk like people from up north. They acted like really want to win." Sam says he still wants to visit LSU and Miami but has not decided if these will be official or unofficial visits.

Paging Scott Shafer?s Midwestern brogue on line one. Montgomery?s previously claimed Michigan was an official visit on the docket. Optimism here is low; he appears ticketed for somewhere closer to home even with the weird affection for northern non-accents.
Fellow SC DE Chris Bonds has Michigan in his top six along with USC, the other USC, ND, Alabama, and Tennessee and looks upon Michigan junior Adam Patterson as something of a role model:

Bonds remembers watching Patterson choose Michigan over South Carolina in January 2006.
?Adam, he was a cool dude,? Bonds said. ?I was a young guy. He was an old guy. Good role model. Adam would always tell me, ?Just don?t let it get to you. No matter where you go, if it?s here or its Alaska or Hawaii, just don?t let it get to you.? ?

That list looks set up for a full slate of official visits plus some unofficial ones to the local school; Bonds has yet to tip his hand about where he?s leaning. He?s also got former teammates at Notre Dame and South Carolina.
Meanwhile, FL CB Mywan Jackson seemed on the verge of a commitment before a visit to Auburn with teammates gave him pause. He now plans a full slate of official visits; Michigan appears to be the team to beat:

Jackson took unofficial visits to all of his finalists except Illinois and South Carolina this summer. His trip to Michigan is the one that stood out. Jackson described the school as being "a wonderful place."
A versatile talent, Jackson (6-foot, 178 pounds) said Auburn and Michigan have told him they would give him a shot to play quarterback. His other finalists have him projected to play cornerback. Either scenario is fine with Jackson.
"I'd give (QB) up," he said. "I just want to get on the field."

UNC and Louisville are the other two finalists along with M, Auburn, Illinois, and the Other USC.
Video! Plenty of highlights from the first week of high school action. Liberty crushed Niles behind impressive performances from Fitzgerald Toussaint and Isaiah Bell:
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FL WR Jeremy Gallon went flapjack nuts against a Seabreeze team that was 12-1 last year and features Michigan safety prospect Jonathan Scott, though Scott didn?t play, running for 304 yards and four touchdowns in Apopka?s blowout opening night win. (Video.)
There?s also this fluffy bit on GA LB Devekeyan ?DeDe? Lattimore:












I think Michigan will fade for Lattimore, as they already have 3 or 4 linebacker commits in the class with the recent addition of Brandin Hawthorne and the potential moves of either or both of their safety commits.

















Etc.: Michigan and MI LB/WR Cameron Gordon appear to have little mutual interest. MI TE Dion Sims is still leaning towards college basketball; he just tore his ACL and is done for the year.






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