Name: Levonta Taylor
Position: Cornerback
Ht/Wt: 5’11" / 178 lbs.
Location: Ocean Lakes - Virginia Beach, VA (2016)
Offers: Virginia, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Hawaii, LSU, Marshall, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, NC State, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Old Dominion, Penn State, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Wisconsin
Rating: ★★★★ .9805 (247 Composite)
Ranking: #44 NAT / #3 CB  (247 Composite)
FILM

Michigan has done well recruiting in Virginia plucking Derrick Green in 2013, Wilton Speight in 2014, and Garrett Taylor who is currently a verbal pledge from the 2015 class. With hopes of continuing that tradition, the Wolverines recently offered 2016 cornerback Levonta Taylor out of Virginia Beach.

Coach Roy Manning, who is the Virginia area recruiter as well as the cornerbacks coach, is heading up Taylor's recruitment and so far it is off to a great start.

I was at the Rivals 5-Star challenge getting registered for that and right when I first got there my coach just called me and told me that Michigan had offered. It was a great offer to get because I'm real cool with Coach Roy. He's the cornerbacks coach and it's good for me too because he's my area recruiter. That's a big plus for me that he's going to be recruiting me and would be my position coach too. 

Coach Manning isn't the only thing that Taylor likes about the Wolverines. One of the things that draws Taylor to Michigan has been there for almost 90 years and another hasn't been there at all yet.

Another thing that I love about Michigan is that they have the biggest stadium. I've always loved playing in front of a crowd. Plus they are going to have one of my favorite players from high school, Jabrill Peppers.

Taylor has taken notice of MIchigan's recruiting efforts but as a top 50 player many other schools are putting in work as well.

Virginia, Michigan State, and LSU are coming at me pretty hard. There's like a lot more that are coming at me but those two or three are coming at me the most. Clemson too.

As a rising junior, Taylor has two full seasons of high school football left but he already has a loose plan in place of how his recruitment will come to an end.

My parents want me to commit before or maybe during my senior season so I'll be coming out with a list probably after this upcoming season. I'm going to come with a top 10 and then probably two or three months after that release a top 5. Michigan will always be in my top group, no matter what. Whether it's 10 or 5, they'll be there.

Taylor says that a visit to Ann Arbor is definitely in his future plans but doesn't have anything on the calendar just yet. He has played in a 7 on 7 tournament before with his Virginia Thoroughbred's team in the state of Michigan, but has never been on campus. Taylor also mentioned his late aunt that graduated from Michigan and says he knows she'd love the idea of him sporting the maize and blue someday.

THE VIBE

5 – Trending Blue
4 – Solidly in a top 2-3 
3 – Contender in a top 3-7 
2 – Among large (8-15) group under consideration
1 – Let’s see if he visits before we talk
0 – Passing interest or none

Just after Taylor and I spoke he was invited to The Opening, a big deal for a 2016 prospect. He mentioned that he was waiting for that invitation so he could plan out his summer a little bit better as a multi-day trip to Oregon tends to chop up the calendar a bit. I will be in touch with Levonta to see if a trip to Ann Arbor materializes but his relationship with Roy Manning and the connections that the staff has made in Virginia already seem to have gone a long way with him.

Haitian-born and Canadian-raised 2016 CB/S Patrice Rene (Peterborough, ON/St. Peter's) has taken an unconventioanl route to becoming a coveted football prospect, but now that he's been identified, he's camping and peforming like everyone else to earn offers. He participated in the Sound Mind Sound Body camp in Detroit over the weekend and checked out Michigan's campus once it was over. Rene had great things to say about his trip to Ann Arbor.

It went really well! I enjoyed every second of it. I saw the whole campus, all of the facilities, and even The Big House. It was an overall great experience. I was able to speak with Coach Hoke, Coach Mallory, and Coach Manning. They are all very impressed with me and are willing to offer, but they want to see a bit more film now since they are looking at me as a corner or possibly a safety. I think personally, I'd like to play corner at the next level. 

Rene's recruitment has been made difficult by the fact that he plays north of the border, but that will change in August, as he's moving into the US for a chance at more exposure.

It has been a little tough getting recruited being in Canada, but this season I will be attending Episcopal High School in Virginia to better my recruitment and help me develop for the next level. My parents, coach, and I evaluated the option and it was the best fit. Episcopal has great academics and a decent football program. Also, a lot of schools that are recruiting me know that school already.

The schools that Rene referred to are familiar foes who will be competing with Michigan for his services. One being Ohio State who offered Rene over the weekend.

Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Michigan State are all familiar with that area and I thought that would be good for me. Ohio State just offered and that is a big offer! I've been talking to them for a while now. I've built a solid relationship with the coaches so I've been blessed to be offered by them. 

Rene mentioned that the Michigan coaches have already talked to him about a potential offer and it too would be a big one for his personal list.

An offer from Michigan would also mean a lot. I've been a Michigan fan for a long time. For right now though I honestly don't have any favorites. I'm open to any school willing to recruit me but Michigan would definitely be a school that I'd strongly consider. I'm very confident that I will be offered by them, I'm not worried. They'll be at my games and recruiting me hard they said, so yeah, I think it's coming.

I couldn't help but take note of Rene's one-of-a-kind upbringing that likely will have him playing football somewhere in the Big Ten so I asked him if it was realistic that he could travel from Haiti, to Canada, to Virginia, to Michigan, and he answered with a laugh, "That is a strong possibility."

Obviously Rene will have to be offered by the Wolverine staff before that can become a real possibility, but based on everything he told me and the way his visit went I think it's only a matter of time before that happens. At 6'2" and 190 lbs. Rene has the exact build that the Michigan coaches love in the secondary, whether it's at corner or safety. It sounds like the coaches are just waiting to see which spot they'd prefer him at before an offer materializes.

Michigan basketball holds off on offering juniors until June 15th, whereupon they send out a wave. June 15th was yesterday; the wave:

NV PG Derryck Thornton Jr.

Of course. Thornton's profile has been building for years, as he adds a little bit of hype to the pile every time he breaks someone's ankles. By now you probably know the details here: assistant Jeff Meyer coached the elder Thornton, they've been on campus multiple times, they convinced Battle to come along for a four-day visit that coincided with Michigan's elite camp.

Thornton's made some noises about an early decision, first telling UM Hoops that that it was a possibility and then Scout's Kyle Bogenschutz that he was thinking of pulling the trigger($) during the very conversation in which he found out he got his offer. With his dad describing the visit as a "15 out of 10," Michigan is the favorite. It seems like he wants to confirm things with an official visit in the fall… on which he would be on a commit watch unprecedented in the recent history of Michigan basketball.

Thornton does plan a Kentucky visit in the next week or two that should result in a UK offer. Memories of Devin Booker make that fairly ominous, but if Michigan's still in the lead after that it doesn't seem likely anything will displace them. I have added "Derryck" to my spell check, FWIW.

PROJECTION: Thornton commits to Michigan on his official visit, which I bet a dollar will be for the PSU football game.

MI PG Cassius Winston

Winston has received much less attention from the Michigan internets than Thornton largely because he seems less likely to end up in Ann Arbor. He is just about as talented as Thornton, and his rankings reflect that—he's top 50 everywhere and pushing for five-star status some places. Observers at the elite camp thought he outplayed Thornton slightly, even.

Winston is not likely to make an early decision:

In his two remaining years of high school, Winston has plenty to refine in his game and several goals that he’d like to accomplish before thinking ahead to Michigan. He insisted that even if he gets an offer, he’d like to take in the whole process and then gauge what the next move will be.

At the point Winston does get serious about a commitment Thornton will either be in the bag, off the board, or in that state where the supposed leader has led to long for it to be a good thing.

PROJECTION: If nothing changes with Thornton, drifts elsewhere. If Thornton's head gets turned, Michigan turns the jets on.

KY PG Quentin Goodin

In a bit of a surprise, Goodin did get his offer. He checked the visit box with his own appearance at the elite camp, and he is just a notch below Winston/Thornton to the guys doing the rankings. Michigan may have felt secure enough to offer because Goodin's made no bones about where he wants to go if the opportunity arrives…

"I would definitely take the opportunity to play at Kentucky if I got it.”

…and by the time that gets resolved Michigan will have a good idea about whether or not they're going to close out the Thornton sweepstakes. Goodin says he won't commit until next August, so offering now is relatively risk-free.

Kentucky and Louisville don't seem too enthused at the moment so Goodin is looking heavily at Indiana, which has offered. Tennessee and Ohio State are other possibilities.

PROJECTION: Commits to Indiana.

NJ SG Tyus Battle

Battle is a relatively new name, and a high-profile one with interest from Syracuse, Kentucky, Duke, etc. He visited with Thornton fro the duration of the elite camp, and that has put Michigan in excellent position, especially if they get a commitment from Thornton. Battle's dad:

“Michigan was awesome, we had a great time,” Gary said. “Tyus really enjoyed the visit. The coaching staff is very thorough. We really enjoyed their presentation and the campus and the way they would use Tyus. Obviously, academically Michigan is something we like a lot.”

This is not a slam dunk like Thornton seems, though: Battle went from Michigan to Villanova and will swing through Louisville and Kentucky in the near future. Thornton's top group appears to be Michigan and I guess some other guys; Battle is going to be a… battle. He gave Bogenschutz some positive quotes($), but nothing on the level of those Thornton is issuing.

PROJECTION: I don't know, man.

OH SF Seth Towns

yes that's Trey Burke's high school

Towns didn't have the best elite camp but Michigan still pulled the trigger anyway. Like Thornton, Michigan seems to be way out in front for Towns (Webb paraphrasing Towns($): Michigan "DEFINITELY number one"); like Thornton, Towns is not pulling the trigger immediately.

With the June 15 offer Towns's recruitment is a formality; as long as Michigan keeps their interest level high he'll be in the class. So expect a 6'7" or 6'8" shooter($)…

"As a player, his ability to shoot it is his strength, for sure," Always100 Ohio Warriors AAU coach Fred Moyer said in May. "He can get it off the dribble and go. His best attribute right now is getting it off the catch and a one-dribble pull-up jumper. That's money when it's on.

…Zak Irvin 2.0?

PROJECTION: Commits to Michigan by end of summer.

CA PF TJ Leaf

Leaf is a five star inside/outside big who could play the 4 or 5 at M. He's been on campus multiple times, with his most recent visit a brief trip up from Bloomington, where his AAU team was playing. Leaf's interest is sincere; he seems to have a relatively solid top four of Michigan, Indiana, UCLA, and Arizona. He told Scout recently that those were the teams recruiting him hardest, and dropped this quote on M:

"I just went to Michigan. I loved the coaches and liked the campus. It's a really good program."

That top four was the same in May, FWIW.

Leaf has previously said that one of the things that makes Michigan attractive is the certainty that Beilein be there for the duration of his career, something that is probably true at UCLA and Arizona as well. Indiana… maybe not.

Leaf plans a January decision after some official visits. The major question is "are Towns and Leaf mutually exclusive?" If so, Leaf will get pushed out of the class by Towns unless he changes his timetable. I don't think that's necessarily the case, as a 3/4 like Towns can coexist with a 4/5 like Leaf.

PROJECTION: No good feel for this one, but UCLA has a coach who isn't on the hot seat and Michigan is likely to have competition for his scholarship slot. So: UCLA.

OH C Jon Teske

Unless that's a small child I estimate Teske's height at 11 feet

Teske is the least-hyped of all the offerees. A consensus three-star, Teske fits the mold of Beilein big men: he's a developmental project with a soft shooting touch. Coach quote:

"The thing that he's got is that he can score and shoot the basketball," said Medina coach Chris Hassinger. "His skill development is maybe higher than the guys they have at the Division I level right now."

Teske may not be a three star for that much longer, as he picked up an Ohio State offer recently and is now being listed at 6'11"… and growing. Injuries have limited his exposure to date.

PROJECTION: If OSU goes after him hard they will probably get him, otherwise money is on M.

Note: With roundups of last weekend's Sound Mind Sound Body camp still being published, as well as various visit reactions from prospects currently on campus for Michigan's technique camp, I'm pushing back the recruiting roundup to tomorrow. Breathing into a paper bag in preparation for USA-Ghana may also have played a role here. Thankfully, I started writing this post last week.

Melanie Maxwell/MLive

Previously:2008 Offense, 2008 Defense, 2009 Defense

I started writing up the 2009 offensive recruits as a whole, but I couldn't get past the first paragraph of Tate Forcier's profile before realizing the two quarterbacks in the class needed their own post. Hell, I couldn't get past the first sentence [emphasis mine]:

Tate Forcier is the one who didn't get away, the one who was planning on committing even when Kevin Newsome and Shavodrick Beaver hadn't twirled their mustaches in dastardly fashion and tied Michigan football's hopes to the train tracks before effecting their getaways. His brother is my favorite Michigan player of all time who never played. He is a relentlessly trained quarterback prodigy ready to step in on day one—which was a month ago—and challenge Steven Threet for the starting job. God help us if he flames out.

When this post was written, Forcier had already enrolled at Michigan and subsequently dominated the Spring Game—back when it actually resembled real football—in a fashion that caused junior-in-college me to make this video, and I'll admit it was no small thrill to see my name on this here site:

Then, of course, came spring:

I just watched that thing again and it's pure sport porn; I sort of wish Ace had left in Forcier's three incompletions—one bad read, one Stonum drop, and one overthrown screen—so it wasn't a just a possibly-misleading highlight reel but was instead the whole spring performance. My favorite part is that little swing pass to Moundros on the rollout: Forcier's getting pressure from a defender, calmly positions himself, and puts a perfectly-led ball right in Moundros' arms, allowing him to turn upfield against the chasing linebacker. That is the sort of precision Michigan's offense was lacking last year.

After a season of the Threetsheridammit offense, the fawning over Forcier's readily apparent potential was more than understandable. His accuracy and YPA for a high school quarterback were off the charts, as evidenced by... a (chart?) chart:

The disconcerting rise in interceptions and drop in completion percentage as a senior was chalked up to a heavily increased workload and a sieve-like offensive line, the latter quite apparent to those who watched him play that season. This brought forth a foreboding aspect to Brian's eerily on-the-money comparison to former Iowa QB Drew Tate:

Forcier was often reduced to scrambling around and chucking it hopefully, which obviously led to the interceptions. Here's another piece of the Drew Tate comparison I've been beating into the ground for months now: Tate (Iowa Version) also saw a senior-year spike in interceptions as Iowa's offensive line regressed (they gave up an extra half-sack per game when Tate was a senior) and Tate took matters into his own hands more often. This tendency can be either wildly good or wildly bad, and threatens to do so on consecutive plays this fall. Only experience will teach Forcier what he can and cannot do at this level.

As it turned out, we'd never learn if added experience would've reduced the considerable "no no no YES"/"no no no AAAAAARRRGGHHHHH" aspect of Forcier's game. As we all well know, he left school after being ruled academically ineligible for the 2010 Gator Bowl, by which time he'd lost his starting gig to Denard Robinson. A certain aspect of Forcier's schooling, at the time noted as a positive—his home-school setup enabled him to work with QB guru Marv Marinovich for hours upon hours—was probably not so positive:

On Fridays in the fall, Tate Forcier doesn't feel like going to school. The night's game is on his mind, and the quarterback for Scripps Ranch High in San Diego can't imagine studying a textbook rather than studying a defense.

No big deal.

"I'll tell my teacher, 'I have a game today,'" Forcier said. "He'll say, 'That's fine; you don't have to come.' And I'll go to my football school and watch film all day."

Ability to shred a cover zero or no, this doesn't really fly at U-M.

I swear I'll get to Denard soon, but first a couple more blockquotes. Marinovich's scouting report of his pupil was so oddly poetic Brian turned it into actual poetry:

"Tate springs off his feet. He bounds from side-to-side to avoid the rush and then accelerates. His peripheral vision is key allowing him stay focused and scan downfield. But really, his mental attitude toward the position along with quick feet and hand-eye coordination blended together is ridiculous."

A haiku version of this:

Tate springs off his feet 
He bounds from side to side, and 
Then accelerates

Finally, Brian makes a most unfortunate typo:

Why Drew Tate? That's my go-to comparison and I'm sticking to it. Forcier is about 6', maybe 6'1". He's nimble and though he took off frequently in high school, in college he won't have as much of an athletic advantage and will mostly use his feet to buy time to throw downfield. He has the proverbial moxie, which occasionally gets him into trouble. The Tate comparison is eerily accurate, except maybe Forcier is better school and will be more accurate than the occasionally-erratic Tate.

Welp.

With that out of the way, DENARD ROBINSON HIGH SCHOOL HIGHLIGHTS AHOY:

Huh.

Oddly, Denard's otherworldly running abilty wasn't nearly as prominent in those clips as you'd expect. There isn't so much as a hint of a run until nearly the two-minute mark. In fact, there are only a couple plays in the whole reel that really show off what he was capable of doing, probably because his offensive coordinator ripped the "OBVIOUS ROLLOUTS" page from the Al Borges playbook and left the rest. Denard's highlights are way better in theory than they are in reality.

I'm not sure there's better evidence of how much football offense has evolved even in the last half-decade than Denard Effin' Robinson running every play on his high school highlight tape from under center. In 2008, this may have gone unquestioned. In 2014, there'd be a federal investigation.

Denard's passing stats fell well short of Forcier's, as would be expected. Less expected were the rushing stats:

Oddly, Robinson's rushing yards weren't spectacular. He had only 538, which was fewer than Forcier had, though Forcier wasn't going up against big schools in Florida at Scripps Ranch. Does this indicate a Drew Tate Forcier-like tendency to run around in the backfield and then launch it deep? A couple of throws above and that yards per completion number indicate "yes", but he also breaks contain several times and takes off and those are just highlights so maybe he got sacked a lot for ridiculous yardage after running around like a headless chicken and I guess what I'm trying to say is we just don't know, dude.

We just have to go on the universal heavy panting about this guy's ability to outrun a cheetah in a Porsche strapped to a jet engine and dropped out of a plane. Which, like, okay.

I'd say the first bit is explained by the highlight tape. About that last bit: Both the "cheetah in a Porsche..." and "Denard Robinson is made of dilithium" tags were fixtures on this site before Robinson ever got to campus. Even before he proved Mike Patrick's "broken plays are very dangerous" mantra in real time, this was totally justified.

Deerfield Beach's Denard Robinson got the near-perfect start he needed, motored down the straightaway and won the 100 meters in a personal-best 10.44 seconds at the BCAA Track Championships at Coral Springs on Saturday.

Robinson's personal-best … is the second-fastest high school time in the nation, according to Dyestat Elite 100 rankings.

Denard's reaction was even better:

''I was kind of disappointed in myself to run a 10.44, but I will accept that,'' Robinson said.

It comes as little surprise that a bolt of lightning recruited to play quarterback for Rich Rodriguez received comparisons to Pat White from everyone, Brian included. The excitement to see this athlete in that offense managed to rival the avalanche of Forcier hype even though Robinson didn't get the benefit of an early enrollment. Surely the blogger who set Sam McGuffie's general excitement level at "AAAAIIEEEE!" saw the nearly unlimited potential that would soon be realized in arguably the greatest QB rushing season ever:

General Excitement Level: Slightly under high.

We're no longer on speaking terms, boss.

A German coaches the US National team, and it's time for the World Cup. This combination results in people who don't know what they're talking about making big, sweeping generalizations about what it all means. The result: a rather spectacular 24 hours wherein the New York Times published a piece claiming Klinsmann was making US soccer less American and the Wall Street Journal published one claiming he was making it more so.

Meanwhile, Brits are whining that USA fans use their own lingo too much and shouldn't use correct lingo… in the same article. A classics professor is writing the de rigueur "Soccer is Un-American" article. (The premise of this brief piece is obvious, but if there is anything that is Un-American (there isn't), it's some fusty old twit in a tweed jacket getting the vapors about the Romans.)

This self-contradictory pile is all very American. One of my wife's most prized possessions is a keychain from the Eugene V. Debs Memorial Kazoo Night. The Eugene V. Debs Memorial Kazoo Night was held annually at Tiger Stadium until it was torn down. Labor people would show up at a baseball game to give each other trinkets and pay tribute to a guy who was locked up for protesting the USA's involvement in World War I. With kazoos, evidently.

The keychain created for this event at the national pastime of the most capitalistic society yet implemented reads "Lock Up Capitalist Lackeys." The United States contains multitudes.

------------------------

One of these multitudes last washed his hair in 1976, several years before he was born. He brought an acoustic guitar to the World Cup. Another is here because his family was fortunate enough to emigrate from Haiti. Clint Dempsey's parents sold some of their guns to finance their kid's soccer career. Jermaine Jones is here because his dad was still in Germany 30 years after World War II ended. Michael Bradley is the spear-bald son of a spear-bald soccer coach. Matt Besler's just a normal guy.

The confusion about just how American soccer is, and how American USA soccer is, is based on a conception of America that erroneously excludes things. The US soccer team is a bunch of second or third generation immigrants and Americans who fell in love with the weird kicky game, because who knows why but go to hell if you want to tell me what to do.

If we didn't invent it we stole it, or are in the process of stealing it, and putting it in ourselves. We are less advanced in our assimilation of soccer than we are pizza. We are nonetheless coming.

If you hate it, oh well. No one cares, because the most American thing is: don't tread.

----------------------------

LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Read Level I: The Defensive Line

Click to big. Right-click to open in a separate window so you can reference it as you go.

A few weeks ago I promised to finish this piece on the differences for Michigan's personnel in the 4-3 over. Sorry.

Refresher: What's a 4-3 Over? What you're looking at are alignments of the front seven. The "under" shifts the defensive line away from the strength of the defense and the linebackers swing the opposite way to compensate. Michigan would often align this to the hash rather than the offense, shifting the DL toward the sideline.

The "over" shifts the line the opposite way, but not to such an extreme. The linebackers wind up centered over the ball, and the DL spread across the formation. There is nothing 3-4 about it except the nose tackle.

Last time I talked about how going from a base under to a base over will demand the WDE and 3-tech play a little bigger, the SDE can play more like a rush end, and the nose's job stays pretty much the same except he's now the backside DT. Now on to the second level.

Strongside Linebacker (SAM): James Ross/Royce Jenkins-Stone

[Upchurch]

The 4-3 under is tough to run against—often they wind up blocking the backside DE in hopes of getting something from a cutback, since it's hard for the LT to get to anybody else. That meant the WLB could be a free hitter

On inside zone that strongside (right) tackle is trying to get a free release. The 3-tech could get aggressive and slow him up but the danger of playing aggressively on the DL against a zone running team is you open up the backside. The faster the OT gets out to the second level the more room there's going to be for the running back to dodge around the DT. A SAM who can read IZ quickly will be all up in that OT's face, able to affect both frontside gaps without opening up the backside cut. Every half-second of delay on the SAM's part is another yard for the offense.

But the SAM can't get crazy-aggressive attacking the OT or the C gap because that tight end is an eligible receiver, and there's another receiver on that side of the formation who could be slanting or dragging. Since the guess is Michigan wants Jake Ryan to be aggressive in the middle, Ross will end up in a lot of zone drops or in man-to-man on the tight end.

The fit: The WLB in the 4-3 under that James Ross played last year isn't hugely different, but it wound up playing differently because Ross was constantly having to take on blockers thanks to Michigan's Jibreel-Black-is-a-NT stunt-a-thon. His quick-twitch reads will be an asset, and his speed and coverage ability will be also. Michigan State's defense had Denicos Allen blitz a ton from this position, and got away with it because the handsy press coverage took care of the slant/drag passes that punish it, and because they had Max Bullough to read and react at MLB. Ross will get to blitz more than he did as the backside linebacker, but I'm guessing Michigan would rather he be the read-react-hit-spill dude so Jake Ryan can go viking.

[jump for the other two spots]

Middle Linebacker (MIKE): Jake Ryan/Joe Bolden

In the Under: The MLB lined up over the strongside guard. This again is where it's helpful to think of the 4-3 under as a 3-4, where the MLB is the strongside guy of the two middle linebackers. He split coverage duties with the WLB and really the only difference is he's a little bit more likely to take on a blocker in the run game due to the extra blocker over there. The MLB's job is to get off those blocks and plug up the run game. He also winds up having a lot of coverage duties, so he's got to read and react to the play. He's a guard-reader, since a pull by the backside guard means the MLB is going to have to get playside of that puller, while also making sure they're not going to whoop a pass behind him as he does so.

Michigan's didn't so much, but many 4-3 under and 3-4 defenses like to use a coverage middle linebacker to cover a "Tampa 2" zone, meaning the MLB will cover some of the deep centerfield so the safeties can be more aggressive on the outside or against the run. That staple play of a 4-3 even worked well in practice because the vertical seam threat it guards against usually comes from a strongside receiver. Notre Dame with Te'o is a case example of this. Penn State does it with Hull. Michigan used to do it with Demens. It's a good way to compensate for weakness at safety.

In the Over: The MLB is often the best defender in an Over defense. He lines up over the center, and goes wherever the ball does. Often he wracks up huge tackle totals. One defensive coach I talk to always speaks in terms of "spill" players versus "box" players. The 4-3 under SAM is a good example of a "spill" guy—his job is to control the direction of the play. The MLB in a 4-3 over is the consummate "box" guy—his job is to be there when the play comes his way.

On stretch plays he needs to go sideline to sideline, on power plays he needs to blow up the lead blocker—preferably where the blast radius takes out several other offensive players—and on zone runs he's got to sift through the madness and get to the ball. He's a bit more protected from blockers because he's got the nose tackle in front of him. He's in an excellent position to blitz the middle, but also can end up taking deep coverages.

The differences in the over versus under are not so major. Because he's literally the middle defender, I guess the defense can play to the MLB's strengths. If he's great in coverage you can play a lot of quarters defense and blitz the safeties, trusting your MIKE can still make the play. If he's a fantastic blitzer you can run a lot of frontside A-gap blitzes, which are particularly helpful to the DTs against zone running offenses since the guard and center have to start worrying about some knife coming through instead of concentrating on what the guy in front of him is doing.

The Fit: Well that's the big question isn't it? Jake Ryan was the perfect SAM for a 4-3 under, but now his DE-ness doesn't help him except in getting off of blocks, and he has to temper the aggression that made him such an effective player so that he isn't run out of the play. Let's take a look at a popular 4-3 over nemesis, the backside ISO:

Young RBs screw this up all the time because they'll see that WLB charging into their hole and try to bounce it outside. Outside is where the OT just put the WDE, and the MLB should be free and flowing. Follow your blockers, kids.

This is a quick-hitting play you can run out of all sorts of formations: single-back teams will use an H-back or  U-tight end as the lead blocker, while dual-threat QB offenses can send a running back as lead blocker. "ISO" is short for "Isolation." It was the base play of everybody when I was in high school in the mid-'90s. It's got very manly things going for it: the nose guard is double-teamed at the point of attack, the DE can get kicked, and there's no pulling to give away your play—just a lead blocker screaming into the hole in front of the ballcarrier (everybody wanted to play fullback for this reason). Then there's one defender who can stop it, and he is isolated against the running back. If your running back is a huge dude versus a small MLB, that collision is going to get three more yards after it occurs. If the MLB is a manbeast who rages into the gap, the play goes for zilch, impressively.

It's a great play to run against 4-3 over defenses because it checks the defense against getting too aggressive in attacking the frontside, and also attacks the rather wide gap between the nose tackle and the WDE. Space Coyote mentioned in the comments of Part I that teams will often move that WDE out further so he's not always in a 5-tech (over the OT's shoulder). That's true, and that you can do if you're not expecting a backside ISO. Widen that gap further though and it's an instant 5 yards for the offense.

Even with the WDE staying tight, MIKE linebackers have to react really quickly to stop this, and coming in the backside gap screws with them because they're always expecting the frontside first. Catch him waiting and it's the same result as a hesitant SAM. Catch him blitzing the frontside and it's the WLB versus two guys coming right at him.

So soundness in this defense is going to rely on Jake Ryan knowing where the play's going before he reacts, which is new to him. He's been fine against blockers in the past, but as a spiller, not a box. It's a rocky fit. If the defense is indeed aggressive though it can work, since it does put your best defensive player in the middle of every play.

As for Bolden, his job doesn't change much. He's a talker I believe, which is good for a position that's kind of the defense's quarterback. He wasn't good at taking on blocks last year or at coverage, so his weaknesses aren't mitigated by the over.

Weakside Linebacker (WILL): Desmond Morgan/Ben Gedeon/Joe Bolden

Morgan at MLB, Ross at WLB in a 4-3 under

In the Under: This is the MLB's fellow middle buddy who takes on fewer blockers because he's on the weak side. Traditionally he's been the more pass-defendy of the two because he winds up taking the zone between the hashes in a Cov 2 (the CB will have the flat next to him and the MLB takes the wide side of the field with more safety help). The WILL has to pick through the trash and make the tackle. He's usually a "box" guy except against weird formations that spread him out.

In the Over: This linebacker position changes the least. If anything he becomes a little bit more of a DE because offenses often balance their formations with a U-back to the WLB's side—he gets that guy and ends up kind of like the SAM in a 4-3 under.

In general though the WLB is a coverage linebacker. The 4-3 under will often use the WDE in short zones but the 4-3 over won't be doing that, else they give up too much running room to the backside. So the WLB's going to be in coverage a lot.

In the 4-3 under against a strongside run the MLB has to take on a blocker and the WLB is the free hitter. That will happen still but often in the 4-3 over the MLB will be a free hitter because the SAM took on a block (or the WLB did if it came backside). In the zone run I showed above, the WLB has to be there for the cutbacks. In the ISO the WLB has to defeat that lead blocker.

So the biggest difference is taking on more blockers because he isn't as protected. The WLB position in the 3-3-5 that Jonas Mouton played is probably the closest analogy. MSU's WLBs were often coverage dudes. Chris Norman was. Taiwan Jones won the position from Norman by being big enough (250 lbs) to take on blocks and getting his coverage up to adequate-plus. That should tell you what's valued here.

The Fit: Morgan is an ideal WLB in the 4-3 over, which made it weird when Bolden was starting over him in spring (spring things are meaningless tag deployed). He's historically been good in coverage—that was the first trait that appeared as a freshman starter—and a plugger, which is the difference between 3 and 5 yards on a play offenses can call all the time. He also demonstrated he's better at taking on blockers.

Gedeon looked pretty good at this stuff last year too, though I haven't seen him plug a guy yet. Bolden as starter, if that wasn't just a spring thing, could work for the same MLB-ness, especially if the coaches feel they need someone quarterbacking the defense from the LB group and the seniors aren't doing that.

6/16/2014 – USA 2, Ghana 1 – 1-0-0

HOW MANY EAGLES CAN INTIMIDATE ON THE HEAD OF A PIN

Clint Dempsey had just been kicked in the face, hard. He'd jumped to head a ball; the Ghana defender he'd made infamous 30 seconds into the game decided he'd challenge for it by kicking Dempsey really hard in the face.

It was obvious from the first shot that Dempsey's nose was broken, even more obvious in the post-game press conference. Someone asked him about it. He said he couldn't really breathe through the thing anymore.

At the time, though, Jozy Altidore had already done something bad to his hamstring and there was nothing for Dempsey to do but spit blood, shoot murder from his eyes, and carry on.

-----------------------

It turns out yesterday's post was unnecessary. All questions about how American USA soccer is under Klinsmann have been resolved in 90 minutes. The verdict: even when the guys still running when normal folk would be in a heap and pounding in the set piece goal are pretty much German, they are so, so American.

Anyone who's followed the US national team for a while can point to a game like that, a frustrating exercise in soaking pressure and trying to pop up on the counter. The US has a knack for bleeding profusely and winning games they have no business doing so via sheer doggedness. This game shoots to the top of that list, the blood and dogs list.

It'll take some doing to top it. They lost their main relief valve to injury 20 minutes in and were forced into a halftime substitution when Matt Besler tweaked his hamstring; by 70 minutes it seemed like half the roster was grasping a leg muscle when afforded the opportunity. When Ghana finally broke through ten minutes later, it felt like the floodgates were about to open.

Instead the US grinds out a corner by running real hard. I mean… if we are trying to move away from the cliché that national teams are avatars for their countries, trying to move away from the faintly ridiculous notion that a country that grows Michael Phelps in a lab is a plucky underdog… if we are attempting to have a straight-faced tactical conversation amongst serious people… I mean, you just can't. I can't.

I'm dying and Fabian Johnson manages to grit up a corner by being annoyingly effortful like he's the right back version of David Eckstein, and it doesn't matter that Fabian Johnson is pretty much German. I have been here before. I have seen this corner before in this game before; I know we've got some tall guys in there and even the guys who aren't tall, like Carlos Bocanegra, have a tendency to fling their head at the ball even if it's at a level where you could reasonably get kicked in the head.

I have been here before. I muster up every last bit of focus and try not to forget to stand. I have seen this on brutal Central American fields where batteries are flung out of the stands. Zusi stands over the ball. Zusi scored to tie Panama in stoppage time when doing anything but would have put Mexico out of the World Cup. They won that game a minute later, because what the hell, why not.

This is a thing they do. Frankie Hedjuk against El Salvador. Donovan against Algeria. The US played a friendly against Italy they won 1-0 because the ball refused to go in for the Italians and the US parlayed their moment into a goal. I have been here; they do this.

I am hoping against hope and remembering not to fall over; Zusi is kicking the ball, which is low enough and high enough and hard and curving into a dangerous area, and I have seen it before.

Highlights

Bullets

Must improve. The game got out of whack early because of the shocking goal and the Altidore injury, plus whatever the US screwed up to have big chunks of the team doing terrible things to their muscles. But they've got to do better in possession if the Ghana game is going to mean anything. Bradley in particular had a game far below his usual standard, tossing balls out of bounds.

When Bradley's off, the verve goes out of the US attack. Verve was almost beside the point here. I would have given a kidney for some extended spells of possession, but balls just kept getting plowed into the sideline. I don't know why. I do know that if they try to soak that much pressure in the next two games they're unlikely to get out of the group.

The goal. The bad one. It was mostly just one of those things that occasionally happen when you're watching the opponent have the ball most of the game; a good pass into the box and an excellent one-time backheel right into the path of a teammate, followed by an equal finish.

I've seen some people criticize Howard for getting beat at the near post. I'm not going to put any of that out Howard. Given the angle—Ayew was close to dead center—and the distance there was little he could do. Ayew's finish was brilliant as well. He hit it with the outside of his left foot, causing the ball to curl away from Howard from an unexpected starting spot.

Zusi should have tracked Ayew. That's the main problem. He's a sub; he should be tracking that run flat-out.

He did make up for it. Zusi's corner that led to the goal was perfect, driven, high enough to get over the guys he needs to get over, low enough for Brooks to get on top of it.

What in the flying hell. Pre-match I was thankful that a Swedish guy was the ref instead of someone from nowheresville who'd never taken on a match of that significance; not so much at halftime. Clint Dempsey's nose was broken by a flying boot applied to his face as he was three feet off the ground, an obvious straight red card for dangerous play. Boye, the same defender Dempsey turned into goo in the first minute, didn't even see yellow.

That in and of itself is unacceptable; then Jermaine Jones is hammered from behind mere minutes later and the guy who did it got an accidental boot to the head. That resulted in the same kind of aggressive physical action that saw Pepe sent off just a few hours before. Again, not even yellow.

Both the tackle and the reaction afterward are easily card-worthy. Ghana should have been down to nine men by halftime.

But hey, at least the US got totally boned by the refereeing in a game they won for a change.

Jones: the man. Tireless and active, Jones was the USA's best player on the night. He wasn't particularly helpful going forward, because he's generally not, but he was everywhere. Besler's first half was also excellent; hopefully he can return.

Obvious Ghana plan is obvious. Ghana spent most of the game isolating Christian Atsu on Beasley. For their troubles they got a bunch of crosses that didn't result in much.

There was that one terrifying Gyan header that Howard had to save despite the fact it was going wide, and then some shots that would have had to been as brilliant as the Gyan chance. Key passes were more balanced, with the Ghana breakthrough coming from the USA's right flank, at Zusi's expense:

please ignore the ones coming from the corners

Beasley coped, and only just. Here are defensive events from the outside backs and outside mids:

Tackles are green; Beasley(#7) had none; he had a pile of clearances and "recoveries," which are events when you get the ball after it's popped loose or someone sends it directly to you. He played off, didn't let Atsu by him, and let the crosses in. It was reminiscent of the Spain Confederations Cup game.

Looking ahead

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

What now? Altidore's World Cup is almost certainly over, leaving the US in a difficult situation. With Eddie Johnson and Terrence Boyd left off the roster, there is nothing approximating a like-for-like substitute. Johannsson's the closest thing and the Ghana game was a good indication he's not much of a target guy at a World Cup level.

The USA's options:

• Use Johannsson like Charlie Davies. IE, have him run onto long balls to the side of the field, hopefully outdistancing the centerback he's matched up against. With Pepe out and Germany relying on the enormous but a bit ponderous Per Mertesacker, this is a viable option.
• Use Dempsey as a target guy. In this situation Dempsey leads the line with Johannsson or Wondolowski playing off of him. I am not enthused about this possibility.
• False nine time. The "false nine" you hear so much about is a striker who isn't really much of a striker. He often comes back into the midfield and then plays balls at gentlemen running past him. Dempsey is a potential fit in that role; he can maintain the ball if it's played into his feet; then Johannsson and Bedoya can be runners past him. That's yet another tactical departure, though.

I'm guessing they go with the first option, but I'm afraid we're about to find out that Jozy does a bunch of things you don't appreciate until he's not out there doing them. Keeping possession better than they did against Ghana is even more critical.

Portugal situation. They've been whittled down by injuries, which momentarily made US fans giddy until Altidore and Besler went out. Pepe is out after taking a red card; left back Fabio Coentrao and striker Hugo Almeida left with injuries that will hold them out of the remainder of the group stage.

Almeida's replacement will (probably) be Eder, a strapping gentleman who plays in the Portuguese league. He is in the Jozy Altidore vein: a physical guy with flashes of brilliance who is maybe a little lacking on the technical side. Almeida wasn't exactly lighting the world on fire, and Eder has made some impact when he's gotten in recently. That dropoff won't be severe.

On the other hand, Coentrao's replacement is a major step down. Coentrao is a fixture at Real Madrid and has excellent chemistry with Ronaldo; he was replaced by Andre Almeida (not that Andre Almeida). The other Almeida plays for Benfica, mostly in the midfield, and only moonlights at outside back. He's only got six caps.

Pepe's replacement is likely to be 33-year-old Ricardo Costa of Valencia. Costa drew into the lineup during Portugal's pre-WC friendlies when Pepe was held out as a precaution. Costa played about half of his club's games as Valencia finished 8th in La Liga. He's no pushover, but neither is he first choice at Real Madrid.

Group situation. The US is in good shape as long as they don't lose to Portugal. Win and they are obviously all but in. A draw is still looking pretty good. If the US and Portugal tie, then the situation based on the result of Ghana-Germany:

• Germany win. Ghana is eliminated; US advances if they either get a point from Germany (who knows they are through) or they lose and Portugal does not make up the goal difference against Ghana. That would require making up five goals.
• Tie. US and Germany enter final game knowing a draw gets both through, and Germany knows they are top of group. Desultory 0-0 draw beckons.
• Ghana win. The US would be at the top of the group but this is the most dangerous situation. Ghana would enter the final game with an opportunity to advance with a win over Portugal, and Germany would have to go all out to beat the US. A US loss then puts them in danger.

So root for the Germans against Ghana.

What if the US loses? Not all is lost but then things are much tougher. A win against Germany would put them through; a tie then puts your fate in the hands of the Ghana-Portugal game.

The California Of The Midwest

OBVIOUS BUCKEYE PHOTOSHOPPED PROPAGANDA 5/5 FAKES

Between last weekend's Sound Mind Sound Body camp and the ongoing U-M technique camp, Michigan's had the opportunity to see many of their top recruits in person over the last few days. Among those prospects were two 2016 California quarterbacks, five-star dual-threat Malik Henry—who wowed at SMSB before making his way to campus on Sunday—and four-star pro-style QB KJ Costello, who also made it into town on Sunday. A beautiful spring weekend in Ann Arbor made Costello feel right at home:

Michigan is unreal... The weather feels like Cali

— kj costello (@kj_costello) June 15, 2014

NOBODY SAY A DAMN WORD.

SMSB: Malzone, Kirkland Stand Out

Michigan's two participating commits didn't disappoint in front of their future coaches at SMSB, as both Alex Malzone and Darrin Kirkland turned in outstanding performances. After not having his best showing on Thursday, Malzone came back with a standout showing on Friday that impressed GBW's Josh Newkirk ($):

Malzone came to work on day two. Maybe, just maybe, having his future coach Doug Nussmeier in attendance was an added incentive as well. The future Wolverine looked sharp in drills and listened closely whenever Nussmeier addressed him. In the one-on-one portion of the camp, Malzone excelled. He showcased his arm – like always – and made nice precise throws.He doesn’t seem to mind the added attention of being Michigan’s quarterback of the future, even when everyone is watching. An overall great performance by the four-star prospect.

247's Clint Brewster concurred, saying Malzone showed he could "make all the throws" with excellent accuracy and solid velocity. He sounded even more impressed with Kirkland, praising his coverage and blitzing ability after giving rave reviews of his play against the run ($):

Kirkland Jr. immediately stood out among the defensive players at the camp because of how well put together he is. Kirkland has an NFL linebacker type of body with a thick muscled frame. You can easily point him out among the linebackers there. Kirkland was able to overpower running backs in one-on-one coverage and he doesn’t wait to attack. He plays with good body-lean and pad level to get underneath ball carriers and gain leverage. Kirkland isn’t going to Wow you with his athleticism or quickness but he plays so hard. He closes on ball carriers and takes the right anglesbecause it seems like he wants to make the tackle more than the next guy. His intensity and technique is really what stood out to me.

Kirkland continues to sound like a prototype MIKE; it's gonna be fun seeing Brian try to come up with a YMRMFSPA for his recruiting profile that isn't David Harris.

[Hit THE JUMP for a couple happy trails, updates on a pair of 2015 running backs, where Michigan stands after offering Dele' Harding, a few camp offers, and more.]

Happy Trails: Jashon Cornell, Shaun Crawford

According to Sam Webb, Michigan is no longer recruiting top-50 MN DL Jashon Cornell, at one point considered their top defensive target. The reason is simple: U-M isn't taking any interior linemen in this class, and Cornell has bulked up to the point that the coaches now think he'll end up at tackle.

While that may surprise you, this probably won't: OH CB Shaun Crawfordcommitted to Notre Dame on Sunday, a move that's been expected since he and Michigan parted ways. Happy trails to both Cornell and Crawford; they may very well end up as college teammates.

Michigan didn't take too long to send out their first offer to a cornerback since Crawford's decommitment, extending one to four-star Virginia Tech commit Mook Reynolds, per Brewster ($):

"I talked to Coach (Roy) Manning on the phone and we were just talking about Michigan and stuff in general and then at the end of the conversation he told me I had an offer."

The Michigan offer also resonated with Reynolds Father.

"He was just really proud when I told him because Michigan is a prestigious program. He could barely hold it together. I know he would be ok with me going to Michigan."

Reynolds has been open to other schools for a while, and told Brewster that Michigan, Notre Dame, and Tennessee are making the strongest efforts to flip his commitment. He's planning to visit in August before making a final decision in the summer, so things should move relatively quickly in his recruitment.

Your Semiweekly Running Back Update

The Wolverine's Chris Balas gives us further evidence that U-M is on the verge of breaking back into Cass Tech RB Mike Weber's top group ($):

Ohio State and Michigan State are Michigan's main competition, while Wisconsin and Tennessee are in his top five. He'll also visit Miami soon, but U-M is making a move. 

"They're moving toward the top, and it's not going to take much to get up there, either," Weber said.

Meanwhile, Sam Webb's latest Detroit News article is on four-star FL RB Jacques Patrick, who visited Michigan for the second time last week and came away impressed. While Michigan should be in it until the end, I still think he ends up at Florida State.

Michigan Offers Dele' Harding

One prospect performed well enough at SMSB to pull in a Michigan offer, and he should be a familiar name: 2016 OLB Dele' Harding, who plays for Eastern Christian Academy, the program that produced Michigan freshmen Freddy Canteen and Brandon Watson. Per The Wolverine's Branden Hunter, that connection should prove critical ($):

Harding also has offers from USC, Tennessee, and Massachusetts, and figures to be one of the top players in the class of 2016. But Harding raved about the Wolverines, and his connection with current players Canteen and Watson, could play a huge factor in his decision.

"I'm really close to Freddy and Brandon," he said. "I talk to them almost everyday. They tried to get me to commit today, so that was funny. 

"I like everything about the Michigan program. It's like a family, and they have great academies. Plus the fact that I already have two teammates there too is always a good thing."

Those quotes, in conjuction with what his high school coach told Sam Webb, are very promising ($):

“He was happy (about the offer),” Thomas said of Harding.  “He thought that it was great! He was really happy.  Dele' is a kid that’s raised by a real good father and mother, and he is going to look at all of his options.  But I would say to me, Dele' is a Michigan type guy.”

Harding plans to make his choice after his upcoming junior season; I've put in a pick for Michigan on the 247 Crystal Ball. What would U-M be getting in Harding? A prospect who performed on par with any linebacker at SMSB, per Steve Lorenz:

Elkton (MD) Eastern Christian Academy 2016 linebacker Dele Harding is the only player in attendance to score a Michigan offer, after nearly getting one last year when camping in Ann Arbor. He was neck and neck with players like Darrin Kirkland Jr. and Tyriq Thompson on Friday as most impressive at the linebacker position, which was arguably the most loaded position at the camp. Harding is a multi-faceted linebacker that can potentially do it all.

Sounds good to me.

Camp Offers Coming In

A few 2016 prospects have already earned offers at the ongoing Michigan technique camp. Four-star IN WR Austin Mack earned one from Brady Hoke himself after properly answering a very important question, per 247's Steve Wiltfong ($):

“First thing he said to me, 115 000 people, you have a corner in the end zone, are you going to catch the ball or not,” Mack began recapping. “Are you going to choke? I said no, I’m going to catch it. He said you fit the system and you have scholarship here.”

Mack pulled in a camp offer from Ohio State last week, and told Wiltfong "it's going to be tough to decide between the two," saying both schools are even at this juncture.

The Wolverines offered a second receiver, La Cañada Flintridge (California, oddly) four-star Dylan Crawford, per Sam Webb. He's currently the #5 receiver on the 247 Composite, with early offers from Arizona State, Oregon State, Tennessee, UCLA, USC, and Washington, among others.

Michigan also offered their second four-star TE in a week, becoming the second team—after Illinois—to offer Perry (OH) TE Luke Ferrell, who told Lorenz he was very excited to earn an offer from the Wolverines ($):

"If you had told me two months ago I'd have an offer from Michigan, I probably wouldn't have believed you," he said. "It was really exciting to get one. Michigan is a great school with a lot of tradition. They are a school I will consider strongly until I end up making a decision down the road."

Ferrell is camping at Ohio State today; it'll be interesting to see if they throw their hat into the ring.

Etc.

If you missed it, Brandon posted updates on 2016 Ontario DB Patrice Rene and 2016 VA CB Levonta Taylor.

Even if they come through with an offer, Michigan has work to do if they want to catch Michigan State for top 2016 in-state RB Martell Pettaway, per GBW's Josh Newkirk ($):

“They would still be under Michigan State,” Pettaway said. “Because I have been in contact with [Michigan] longer than Michigan State, and I still haven’t got an offer. I went up there eight times, and still no [offer].”

Finally, Les Miles would "love" it if his son, 2015 prospect Manny Miles, got the chance to football at Michigan. Unfortunately, Miles is a 5'11" quarterback with no current offers, so if that's going to happen it'll almost certainly be via the walk-on route.

With the least amount of fanfare to ever accompany a 5-star athlete to Michigan, Ty Isaac committed here a few weeks ago. Where does Ty fit in among the RBs on the roster, in a zone running offense? What's the chances he has to redshirt his year? Are we, you know, rooting for this? What effect does this have on the RBs Michigan's pursuing for the 2015 class? Can he block a safety blitz? Can anyone?

---------------

BiSB: Well, any time you have someone transfer, that's going to hurt overall depth, but they still have...

...wait, really? TO Michigan? And this is permitted?

Cool.

We are way too good of a photoshopping community to get this few transfers.

If what John Infante and others have said is true, it seems unlikely Isaac will be eligible this season. Maybe the NCAA will try to show how SUPER DUPER FLEXIBLE AND PRO-STUDENT WE ARE YOU GUYS given the ongoing legal troubles and grant a waiver where they normally wouldn't, though this is the NCAA so who wants odds. But that works out just fine; Michigan retroactively took a five star back for the '14 class. And because neither DeVeon Smith nor Derrick Green redshirted (and neither destroyed the planet as a freshman), having now taken a running back last year is currently a good plan. Take THAT, space-time continuum.

I'm going to disagree with what Brian said shortly after Isaac committed; I think his game film looks really good. We're used to seeing recruiting tape against high schoolers, so you expect a certain amount of physical dominance and sending-home-of-competition-to-acquire-shinebox. And normally they are actual highlights, not every touch. But for a true freshman against real college competition, he showed flashes of the stuff you like to see from a freshman for whom you have high hopes:  he broke tackles, found extra yardage, fell forward, and showed good speed for his size. He also caught the ball well out of the backfield, which is something Michigan hasn't had in a back over 5'8" in quite some time. If any Michigan back looked like that last year, we would have all been much pleased. Okay, okay, that's probably not the best standard to use. But you get my point.

I think he's a great fit for an inside/outsize zone running scheme, because he's definitely a one-cut-and-go back but still a downhill guy. It's hard to know whether he's better suited than Green or Smith, largely because those two spent last year in a "run toward that pile of angry dudes" rushing scheme. Bottom line is that regardless of what happens with Damien Harris or Mikey Weber or Jacques Patrick, the running back depth chart looks pretty good for '15 and '16. We can worry about '17 later.

[jump. And run. And other superhuman abilities!]

--------------------------

Mathlete: Nice of you guys to keep me on the invitation seeing as I haven't showed up for a while, it's starting to hit summer and I figured it was time to emerge from hibernation.

While it's possible Isaac is substantially better than Michigan's current backs, I am firmly in the "a redshirt is a great thing" camp for Isaac. Not a having a back in this class and heavy competition for 2015 top targets means there could be a big gap if Isaac, Green and Smith (you can throw Drake Johnson in there too) all end up in the same class. Besides, I heard that Ty Isaac really looks up to Mike Hart and Mike Hart thinks the transfer waiver 100 mile radius rule should be strictly enforced, and ergo Ty Isaac should absolutely be ineligible this season.

Some cherries are nice.

As for the bigger picture, getting Isaac was definitely better than not getting him, but I don't think this moves the needle that much. A great running back can make a high school team go from mediocre to title contender, but higher up, the marginal value of a great running back diminishes. Look at the last few NFL drafts, where did all the running backs go? I don't see that trend changing. Unless you're Adrian Peterson or USC Reggie Bush, the game has evolved into a passing game so much that the highest levels of football are seeing fewer and fewer game changing running backs each year. Not counting fantasy football, if you were doing a Draftageddon for the NFL I don't think O know who would be the 2nd back taken and I don't know that they would be taken in the top 100 picks, are you getting that much more production from the 2nd best RB versus the 15th?

Obviously the Big Ten isn't the NFL (because obviously the SEC is the NFL), but the trend is still largely true. A running back is like the cherry on top for a great football team. The cherry by itself doesn't do much, especially if the ice cream in the sundae is 14 different flavors (running schemes) and mostly melted.

--------------------------

Ace:

Unless you're Adrian Peterson or USC Reggie Bush, the game has evolved into a passing game so much that the highest levels of football are seeing fewer and fewer game changing running backs each year.

This is actually why I'm quite excited about the pickup. I agree that even at the college level there's only so much impact a back can have in the running game—as we've learned, so much depends on the offensive line—but one way a back can raise the overall ability of an offense is by providing a bona fide receiving threat out of the backfield. There's a reason Brian nabbed Illinois' Josh Ferguson (50 receptions last year at 8.7 yards per target) in Draftagedden and the reaction was "oh, great pick" even though he plays for Illinois. Other than Justice Hayes, who will be a senior when Isaac is first allowed to see the field in all likelihood, none of Michigan's backs add that dimension to the offense, and Isaac has more potential than Hayes as a runner, too.

I'm with BiSB in that I thought his USC film was pretty impressive, although it's hard to get a great read based on a limited number of carries that often came well after the game was in hand. I believe, based on his high school tape, that he's a solid fit for a zone running scheme—as a wingback in a wishbone offense at Joliet Academy, he usually ran off-tackle and had to pick the correct hole quickly before bursting upfield, which he did with regularity. While it's a transition to go from wingback to tailback, that vision should carry over, and he's already spent a year working on that transition at USC.

It's tough to venture a guess as to where he'll land on the depth chart, mostly because the offensive line made it impossible to evaluate Michigan's freshman backs last season. He's certainly got the talent to compete for a starting role whenever the NCAA decides he's allowed to play in games.

Frankly, my dear, I've had enough of North.

--------------------------

Brian: I'm with Mathlete: even if Isaac was eligible this year there probably isn't going to be an enormous amount of difference between his production and that of Smith and Green, because all of them are in the same vein: they're north-south guys who can break some tackles if you get them a head of steam. A guy like Hart who could go WOOP in the backfield and turn a TFL into four yards would be very welcome at the moment. Isaac, for all his hype, is not that. 

What Isaac does provide is another bullet in the chamber. Recruits are lottery tickets and Michigan now has three excellent ones from the 2013 recruiting class. If someone gets injured, they're probably fine; if someone turns out to be not particularly good, they're probably fine.

Recruiting impact is this: where Michigan was looking at taking two backs in 2015 now they're definitely going to be fine with one. I don't think Isaac's presence is going to knock Michigan out of the box for anyone they're pursuing at the moment, as tailback is a place with a lot of platooning and it's not like a Damien Harris or Michael Weber is going to end up at a place without highly touted guys vying for carries next to him.

--------------------------

Ace: Weber has, in fact, directly stated that Isaac's commitment won't have an impact on him, for what it's worth.

--------------------------

Seth: You guys covered the basics. Michigan needs a 2015 bullet and I don't think anybody but Isaac will be upset if he has to redshirt to learn the offense, and even then he can't be too mad when he realizes he's not burning eligibility as Michigan tries to find a new offensive line.

Trent Richardson had 49 targets.

A couple things to add: 1) A back who's good at zone running isn't the same as a power back or an automatic juke machine. It takes time to get a feel for where things open up, and the good ones learn that time to make one cut after about half a year. The other guys are going to have to learn on the job; it's a luxury to get a season off to adjust.

2) When Green committed I looked at the history of 5-star RBs and the success rate was off the charts. These aren't shotgun bullets; they're rifle shots except when they have off-field issues or are Kevin Grady. A third of the backs had 3,000 career yards for their teams over their careers, and half went to the NFL. Misjudged talent at running back is rare.

3) Ace covered the receiving threat part. To add to that: Nussmeier likes to throw to his backs. The NCAA average has been 16-18% of targets to running backs. Nussmeier teams were 21%, 24%, and 22% in the years I have targeting data for. Michigan was 11%, 11%, 12% with Toussaint/Smith et al. A running back who can catch will be a big deal.

via ndmspaint

Yes, exactly. The usual round of soccer meta-backlash posts is underway—I had a contribution to the genre—after the usual round of soccer backlash posts. Will Leitch's is the best because it communicates the thing:

I don't know whether you like soccer, or whether you don't, whether you've been tracking USMNT for two decades or you just popped by the bar after work and oh hey look at the TVthat's the country I'm from. I just know that when John Brooks -- who is 21 years old, who was born nine days after Bill Clinton was inaugurated in 1993 -- scored that header for the United States to take a stunning 2-1 lead against Ghana on Monday, it is worryingly possible that I accidentally made it to second base with every person in the bar. No matter where I was looking, no matter what direction I was pointing … whatever was in front of me was my best friend. It was a collective gaggle of fists and elbows and screams.

I had fun! Lots of fun. That's why I like the soccering. I like it and find it fun. I guess it's cool if that makes you want to throw a shoe at my head, but you're missing out, man.

Game takes: Beasley edition. It is an infallible rule of soccer that no matter how unfathomable a post-game opinion is, someone will hold it with the ferocity of a thousand suns. I haven't quite found someone with a thunderous defense of Bradley's uncharacteristically poor play, but I'm sure he's out there, asserting that despite all available evidence he should just be a defensive mid.

The major point of contention seems to be about Beasley's performance. Some are like "let's try Chandler":

D DaMarcus Beasley (3) – To put it bluntly, Beasley was roasted on the left. Ghana identified him as a weakness and attacked him over and over again as a result. It’s worth wondering if an uncomfortable Timmy Chandler might even be better, especially since it will get no easier facing Nani against Portugal.

That guy gave Howard a 9 for fielding a large number of the harmless balls flung in by Atsu, which seems… unbalanced.

SI's Liviu Bird has a take that's kinder to Beasley that seems about right:

Ghana concentrated its attacks on the right side, trying to exploit Christian Atsu’s youth and athleticism against DaMarcus Beasley.

The Black Stars got into dangerous areas multiple times, but their service left a lot to be desired. Multiple crosses were overhit, blocked or poorly placed.

The strategy played to Ghana’s athletic strengths, but it also put the U.S. defenders in a situation they find most comfortable, as Geoff Cameron, Matt Besler and Tim Howard play in leagues where defending crosses is a necessity.

To me the key thing in Beasley's favor here is that Atsu plays his club football as a winger… a left winger. Dude is left footed, and the large number of crosses Beasley gave up were ineffectual because

1. Most of them were from the winger's weak foot.
2. They were shot in at a bracketed Asamoah Gyan and a bunch of 5'8" bros.

Putting Atsu on the right was a tactical move that wanted to get through-balls and other items in the box with an inverted winger. The US responded by packing the middle and leaving Beasley on an island… again, Spain redux. Matt Doyle:

But considering he was going 1-v-2, he did well because – and I'm going all caps here because I don't trust the weight of mere words – NOBODY GOT BEHIND HIM. The US can deal with crosses all day, but you don't want Geoff Cameron, Besler – most likelyJohn Brooks now – or especially Omar Gonzalez having to come out and meet attackers wide.

They hit 30 crosses from open play – seven more than anyone else this tournament! That's [recently fired ManU manager] David Moyes territory.

With Gyan limited by congestion in the middle all he could do was fire in that one brilliant header that was wide and Howard had covered anyway. Gyan's other moment of threat was a cut in from the USA's right that got him a shot from just outside the box that tested Howard. Do we want those, or do we want guys trying to get on the end of crosses? Seems obvious. FWIW, crosses per game are down from 32 to 27 compared to 2010. They're a bit passé.

Theory: Beasley getting his ankles broken early like he'd just experienced a Derryck Thornton crossover made everyone super nervous about what would happen for the rest of the game, and even though not much did that nervousness leaked into some evaluations.

How is this different from the Chandler performance against Turkey I ripped? Chandler ceded one free goal and allowed another shot from inside the six yard box; also his side of the field was exposed not only to crosses but to shots, lots of shots.

Game takes: tactics. The US got penned in and ate possession, but how much of that was poor tactics (or injury misfortune) and how much was just bad play? It seems like a big chunk of the problem was just bad play, particularly from Bradley. FourFourTwo:

Ghana dominated the ball from the first whistle, and Klinsmann's team didn't do a great job of protecting their early lead. They completed just 201 passes at a rate of 73%, and gave the ball away cheaply whenever they got sight of the opposition half. Ghana recovered possession a huge 56 times (to USA's 31): loose balls from poor play, effectively.

Opta "recoveries" are balls that get played to you without you having to go get it with a tackle. They're unforced errors, for the most part. In fact:

USA’s pass completion was 73% which is the second lowest seen in the World Cup so far (only Iran with 72% vs Nigeria have shown lower).

That obviously cannot continue if the US is going to do anything against even a depleted Portugal.

Zonal Marking points out that Johannsson's total lack of impact was expected and that a midfielder (Mix Diskerud?) may have been preferred.

In fact, when Altidore departed midway through the first half, the USA were already under heavy pressure. Klinsmann might have considered bringing on an extra midfielder at this stage, because his side simply weren’t covering the midfield ground effectively. Dempsey and Johansson were stuck upfront with little service, covering the responsibilities of one man, and it felt like the USA were playing with ten players at times.

However, Kinsmann was able to depend upon good performances at the back, while Kyle Beckerman was excellent at screening the defence – he protected the ‘red zone’ excellently, meaning Ghana always looked out wide for their route to goal. Tim Howard, meanwhile, claimed crosses well and swept off his line intelligently.

Whoops. In the column yesterday I said Zusi lost the run of Ayew on the goal; that was Johnson.

React video. As per tradition.

Not often that the best and most overwhelmed response is from the dude who actually put it in.

This is what it feels like to score a goal at the #WorldCup: https://t.co/lxPQKPVCDs

— Goal Posts (@TNRWorldCup) June 17, 2014

By Sunday, Portugal will be down to potted plants. Already down Almeida, Coentrao, and Pepe, Portugal is now saying their starting goalie could be out. Portugal's other options are a guy who seems on the downside who just signed for a Croatian team and Sevilla's starter, who's only got a few caps. That's not as big of a deal as their other losses, but it certainly doesn't help.

UPDATE: Ronaldo limps out of practice with an ice-packed knee. !!!

USA injury stuff. Klinsmann says that Besler should be good to go for Portugal, and that he is "full of hope" Jozy will be back "in this tournament." Still seems impossible that would mean by Sunday.

If Besler's ready, he should go. He's been working on chemistry with Cameron for a month now and played very well during his 45 against Ghana. Brooks can be our target forward.

Working it out of the back: more possible now. While the FIFA rankings think Portugal is a much better team than Ghana, the setup should be more comfortable for the US. Ghana's athleticism and youth (they're the youngest team at the tournament) allowed them to press the US high for big stretches of the game after the early goal and Altidore departure.

The results were pretty ugly. The game featured the second-fewest passes per possession since Klinsmann took over. While the results of these low-possession games haven't been too bad, life is easier when you have the ball.

Portugal isn't nearly as suited to press high. Ronaldo in particular does not work on D, and while I'm not sure about this Eder guy coming in for Almeida it doesn't seem like he did much to harry the Germans. Of course, by the time he got in Portugal was falling apart at the seams. So… yeah.

The weather also means that high pressing is probably not in the cards. The Italy-England game got really sloppy because of the heat; forwards are likely to conserve energy when not in possession.

This means that not having Jozy isn't as bad as it could be, since the US should be able to play it on the ground out of their defense.

Etc.: Prehistoric US soccer writing from 1982, all dusted off. Unhappy Socceroo fan doesn't know about Tim Cahill yet. Orson on the game.

2016 four-star Trotwood (OH) Madison quarterback Messiah deWeaver received some much-anticipated news this afternoon:

Just received an offer from the University of Michigan #GoBlue#Blessed

— Messiah deWeaver (@Siah_10) June 18, 2014

From there, the decision-making process took approximately three hours:

Officially committed to the University of Michigan #GoBlue#Blessed

— Messiah deWeaver (@Siah_10) June 18, 2014

DeWeaver* becomes Michigan's second 2016 commit, joining four-star OT Erik Swenson, and the clear-cut leading candidate for class NOTY honors.

[*Corrected—this will come in handy for the next several years.]

Let's Just Get This Out Of The Way

Obligatory.

GURU RATINGS

While deWeaver didn't make the initial Scout 300—they've only handed out stars to 25 quarterbacks in the class—he landed solidly in the four-star range on 247 (Rivals and ESPN have yet to release 2016 rankings). ESPN hasn't even done their initial evaluation. Based on the camp reports you'll see below, the guess here is deWeaver will move into consensus four-star range—though probably not to the very top of the QB position rankings—once he's fully evaluated.

The four sites are in almost exact agreement regarding his measurements, with all listing him at 6'3" and between 198 and 202 pounds. Per Scout, he may still be growing, too ($):

"As a player, he is extremely gifted with size," [Trotwood-Madison coach Maurice[ Douglass added. "He continues to grow everyday and keeps getting taller and bigger. His dad is 6-foot-5 and Messiah is already 6-foot-3 and 198 pounds. He's got the physical tools. He's a great kid who wants to learn and get better."

As it is, he already has the frame to be a college quarterback.

SCOUTING

Although ESPN didn't get the memo, there's no shortage of scouting reports on deWeaver, as he first appeared on the recruiting radar as an eighth-grade phenom camping at Michigan among several other top schools.  He came back to U-M's camp after his freshman season, in which he took the reins midway through the year and helped Trotwood-Madison to the state title game, and caught the eye of Al Borges ($).

That spring/summer saw deWeaver make a serious impact on the camp scene. He earned top underclassman honors from Woody Wommack at the Rivals camp in Cincinnati ($):

There's no doubt that DeWeaver was one of the best quarterbacks in attendance, showing tremendous consistency for a rising sophomore. He moves well for a player his size and could grow into a terrific prospect. 

Then, competing against a group that included top 2014 prospects, he turned heads at Ohio State's Friday Night Lights camp, garnering the #14 spot among all performers from Rivals' Josh Helmholdt ($):

This entire offseason, DeWeaver has stood toe-to-toe with quarterbacks two and three years older than himself and proven to be every bit as good, and in many cases better. He is a good-sized quarterback at 6-foot-2, 184 pounds, but what we have continually been impressed with is how the football jumps off his hand. And the rising sophomore never is out there trying to overthrow the football, so his accuracy is also impressive because of the way he spins the ball. 

ESPN's Brad Bournival was even more impressed, slotting deWeaver inside his top ten players at the camp ($):

8. 2016 QB Messiah DeWeaver (Trotwood, Ohio/Trotwood-Madison) 
6-2, 190 
ESPN rank: N/A 

What impressed: Every time DeWeaver camps he seems to get better. The pocket passer can throw the out route, zip in a heater on a slant or throw the fade. His arm strength was incredible again under the lights, as he hit one receiver after another. 

“I think I competed well against the upperclassmen,” DeWeaver said. “Whenever I go out on the field I feel like I’m the best quarterback on the field. I try to prove that every time I go out there.” 

He apparently doesn't lack confidence, either.

The starter from day one this time around, deWeaver had an excellent sophomore season, leading the Rams to their third straight state title game before falling to St. Vincent St. Mary's for the second year in row. Once again, he hit up a bunch of camps, and again, he stood out as one of the best in his class. Helmholdt ranked him fourth among underclassmen at the Columbus Nike camp ($):

DeWeaver was clearly among the best quarterbacks in a top-heavy group on Saturday. The 6-foot-3, 198-pound sophomore has good size for the position already and gets a lot behind his passes. His key over the next couple years will be to shorten his delivery, which not only will get the ball out of his hands more quickly but also improve his accuracy.

Then it was on to the Elite 11 regional, also in Columbus, where he was the first 2016 QB mentioned by BuckeyeGrove's Marc Givler ($):

DeWeaver continues to put himself firmly in the discussion for Ohio's top signal caller in the 2016 class. I thought he threw it better at the Nike Camp on Sunday than he did on Monday at Elite 11 which is understandable as that is a lot of football's to throw in a 30-hour window. Still, he spins it well and the velocity was still there on Monday even after a pretty heavy workload on Sunday. His throwing motion has steadily improved over the last 18 months, though I'd still like to see it become a little more compact. Just looking at Monday's performance, I thought he had a better time with the touch throws down the field.

After camping at Texas and Cincinnati, picking up an offer from the Bearcats after his camp performance, he also appeared at last weekend's Sound Mind Sound Body camp, earning praise from the 247 staff:

Trotwood (Ohio) Madison Top247 2016 quarterback Messiah deWeaver spun the ball well, has a powerful arm and has good mechanics. He still needs to speed everything up, his feet, his throwing motion but he was one of the top performers.Can really drive the football and had a couple nice touch throws in the back of the end zone. Early offers include Cincinnati, Kentucky and Louisville.

Helmholdt placed him behind only Malik Henry, the top 2016 dual-threat QB in the country, among day one performers at SMSB ($):

After camps at Cincinnati and Texas in the last week you would think DeWeaver's arm might be feeling some fatigue, but the rising junior was as sharp as we have seen him during Thursday's action. He went through position drills efficiently but really shined in the one-on-one session where he was varying his trajectory to put passes in windows that didn't appear to be there until the receiver caught the ball.

Finally, of course, came Michigan's camp, which ultimately earned him the offer. Sam Webb broke down his showing in front of his future coaches ($):

Sam’s Take: This kid has come a really long way in the last year. Gone are the days where he didn’t consistently throw spirals… where it looked like he would struggle making the “arm” throws… where his footwork was all out of whack.  His mechanics have tightened up significantly and the result is a kid that spun the ball extremely well during Michigan’s camps (and also at the Sound Mind Sound Body Camp last week).  He also showed really nice touch on deep ball over the middle.  He won’t fire out-routes from the far hash with as much velocity as Alex Malzone, but those plays no longer need to be eliminated from DeWeaver’s playbook.  In my opinion he has gone from being an unlikely offer to a kid that just picked one up from the Maize & Blue Wednesday afternoon.

247's Steve Lorenz also took in Tuesday's camp session and noted deWeaver's aptitude for putting the right touch on the ball ($):

2016 Top247 quarterback Messiah DeWeaver continues to build off the momentum he built during a strong showing at the Sound Mind Sound Body camp last week in Detroit. DeWeaver doesn't have a ton of zip on his throw, but he usually has enough. He throws an excellent deep touch ball and can throw it to any side of the field.He's also built himself up nicely in the weight room while being able to maintain his scrambling ability, which is apt.

Finally, let's kick it back to his high school coach for the traditional The Pattern™ quote ($):

"I think Messiah can be a top level prospect, without a doubt," said Douglass. "It's not just because of the talent he has. It's also because of how smart and dedicated he is in the classroom. Messiah has a 4.2 grade point average now. That kind of effort and maturity can translate to the football field."

I think he'll pass admissions.

OFFERS

DeWeaver also held offers from Cincinnati, Kentucky, Louisville, Toledo, and Western Kentucky at the time of his commitment. Georgia, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Stanford, and Tennessee were among the larger programs that showed interest but hadn't come through with an offer yet.

HIGH SCHOOL

You're likely familar with Trotwood-Madison, one of the powerhouse Division III programs in Ohio. In the Rivals era, they've produced four Michigan players: WR Roy Roundtree, TE Brandon Moore, DB Reon Dawson, and LB Mike McCray. Sophomore Ohio State corner Cam Burrows, one of the top-ranked recruits in the state in 2013, is also a former Ram.

STATS

The Greater Ohio Western Conference may keep the most detailed high school stats in the country, so click here to get a full game-by-game rundown of deWeaver's numbers. The short version:

Freshman year: 59/124 (47.6%), 831 yards (6.7 YPA), 13 TD, 4 INT
Sophomore year: 137/231 (59.3%), 2265 yards (9.5 YPA), 21 TD, 9 INT

The improvement is apparent.

FAKE 40 TIME

Despite all the camps, I can't find a fake 40 time for deWeaver. He's very much a pro-style QB, with negative rushing yards in each of his first two high school seasons (though that includes sacks); he's got the athleticism to make a play or two breaking the pocket, but he's not looking to run.

VIDEO

Sophomore highlights:

Yes, the mechanics are a bit wonky, and he doesn't exactly possess a cannon, but I'm quite impressed with his accuracy and ability to change speeds to fit the ball into the right window.

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

With two full seasons left in his high school career, the evidence is flimsy indeed, though it's not too difficult to project this: a freshman year redshirt, a probable apprenticeship behind Wilton Speight and/or Alex Malzone, and then deWeaver enters the conversation for starting quarterback. To remind you how far into the future we're looking here, Shane Morris will be a senior when deWeaver gets to campus.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

Michigan has two commits for 2016, and given how this coaching staff operates it's safe to assume they're done at quarterback. I can assure you they will add more prospects at other positions. Otherwise, class projection at this juncture is probably pointless.

Wat. All joke circuits shorted out, man.

Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl is new name of St. Pete Bowl, source told @ESPN

— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) June 18, 2014

I just can't, man.

I wish I could disagree. Michigan opens up as big dogs against Michigan State (they are +7.5) and Ohio State (+8). They're only +3 for Notre Dame, so we've got that going for us.

Michigan should be favored in the rest of their games; they're a touchdown favorite against Penn State and –3 against Northwestern.

O'Bannon stuff. The trial has been a bit odd, as scheduling issues have caused plaintiff and defense witnesses to come in a jumbled mess instead of a particular order. I think we can safely call this the low point (read tweets from bottom):

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ http://t.co/vRJp8wt7qapic.twitter.com/tTtUTGnnch

— SB✯Nation CFB (@SBNationCFB) June 13, 2014

Yesterday South Carolina president Harris Pastides had his turn on the stand, where he asserted that if athletes were granted rights to their image that South Carolina would shut everything except football and men's basketball down, because they can't find any more money.

Pastides said only way to raise $ would be get more from state (doubtful), raise from donors, raise tuition or cut sports programs

— Mark Schlabach (@Mark_Schlabach) June 18, 2014

I did not see any tweets to the effect of "plaintiff lawyer ask Pastides how many sports South Carolina had in 1990 and how much revenue they had then," unfortunately, but Kevin Trahan jumped on Pastides's ridiculous assertions anyway.

One dollar says Christine Plonsky sounds like Ben Stein

Meanwhile Texas women's AD Christine Plonsky, who we've pooped on in this space before, turned in the spectacularly tone-deaf performance you'd expect, claiming in a danged courtroom that players asking for a slice of the money they generate is a symptom of "entitlement." Plonsky seems to think everything is entitlement. From last April:

"Who gets a four-year, $120K deal guaranteed at age 17?" Christine A. Plonsky, women's athletic director at the University of Texas, wrote in an e-mail to The Chronicle. "The last thing young people need right now is more entitlement."

From September 2012:

"I view these cases as being the result of the entitlement attitude we've created in our revenue sports," Plonsky wrote. "We now have threatening s-a's -- many of whom, based on grad rates of the '80s and '90s, sucked a whole lot off the college athletics pipe -- and now want to buckle the system at the knees of the expense of today's s-a's."

Plonsky makes 350k a year supervising sports that lose piles and piles of money; a large chunk of her testimony worked its way around to the fact that the NCAA is protecting their athletes from commercial "exploitation."

It's remarkable how insane these arguments are once you put them in a legal setting. In the NCAA's eyes, it's only exploitation if someone gives you money for something. The people with inflated salaries preventing this transaction from happening are the heroes.

I leave the law-talkin' to BISB, but the immense amounts of double-speak being issued here would make me want to swing my gavel into the head of the people presenting them.

And today. Today is Mark Emmert day. He probably won't issue quite as many howlers as Plonsky, who has a real knack for sounding like the worst possible use of 350k. I wouldn't take a bet on that, though.

The latest "people are just in charge of things for no reason." KU's student government took a look at the athletic department's finances and recommended that KU's student athletics fee should be terminated. They ended up not quite doing that but cutting about a quarter of the completely unnecessary subsidy to the AD. The AD responds thusly: 

Kansas associate athletic director Jim Marchiony said Thursday that the KU athletic department has decided to re-allocate those seats for boosters, cutting out some of the KU students’ best real estate.

The decision, according to Marchiony, stems from a student government vote earlier this year that aimed to remove a student fee that channeled close to $1.1 million to the athletic department.

Kansas athletics revenues have almost doubled since 2005.

Nope, not yet. Zagsblog momentarily reported that Canadian PG Jamal Murray had gotten a Michigan offer, but corrected itself. Michigan called, but an offer is not on the table at the moment. Murray has been on an unofficial so he could get one at any time, and while he's mostly being recruited as a point guard he is 6'5" so there is some possibility he could coexist with Thornton or Winston.

In other basketball recruiting news:

• Michigan is poking around 2015 NY SG Matt Ryan. Ryan has a Notre Dame offer and is projected to end up there by the 247 Crystal Ball; he might be waiting for bigger offers.
• Another new name($) is 2015 FL combo guard Prince Ali, a former UConn commit who's around 50th most places. His named popped up out of nowhere when Rivals's Eric Bossi reported that Ali's top two are now UCLA and Michigan. Ali is a "hardcore driver and really athletic" who needs to work on his shooting; he'd be a departure from the Beilein mold. He should take an official this fall.
• 2016 CA PF TJ Leaf is thinking about moving up his thinking about moving up his timetable to March instead of taking officials next fall.

While Michigan appears to be looking at other options, Jalen Coleman is the top priority in 2015. Given the promising way the class of 2016 is looking Michigan may take a small 2015 class (they have one spot now but will probably get up to three or four) in order to take more of the 2016 guys.

A potentially large blow for Buckeyes. OSU was going to rely on freshman shooting guard D'Angelo Russell heavily, as he can shoot and such. OSU needs someone to do those things. But they may not have him; he still doesn't have the requisite test score:

The eligibility center is awaiting Russell’s score from a standardized test he took earlier this month, the source said. He needs a test score that, combined with his grade-point average in his high-school “core courses,” makes him eligible to play as a freshman.

If he doesn't get the number there he's just about out of chances.

Prepare for hits. USA Hockey has announced the 42 players invited to their WJC evaluation camp, including four Michigan players: D Michael Downing, F JT Compher, F Dylan Larkin, and F Tyler Motte. Recruit(!) Kyle Connor is also invited; he's the second-youngest player there.

Compher made the team last year before a broken foot sent him back to Ann Arbor for the GLI. Compher played anyway, because he is JT Compher, and this is the reason he's a holy lock for the WJC this year:

The group embodies what Johansson hopes to have with the group picked for the 2015 WJC: Strong, skilled and hard to play against.

"J.T. Compher embodies all of that," Johansson said. "We look at a player like that and a coach says I can use him in any and all situations. He's hard to play against."

Motte went last year and should go again this year. Downing probably won't make the team without a big leap from him; the US is stacked on D. I'd bet Larkin goes as well. The hockey roster's enormity will at least give Michigan options for the GLI.

Etc.: I would be super mad about this, but I am not perpetually aggrieved. Tyus Battle visits Louisville and Kentucky, says requisite nice things. David Sills, who committed to Lane Kiffin as an eighth grader, is not going to end up at USC. Surprise.

Name: Luke Farrell
Position: Tight End
Ht/Wt: 6’6" / 240 lbs.
Location: Perry - Perry, OH (2016)
Offers: Ohio State, Illinois, Michigan
Rating: ★★★★ .9084 (247 Composite)
Ranking: #290 NAT / #10 TE  (247 Composite)
FILM

One camper that caught the eye of the Michigan staff enough to earn an offer was 2016 tight end prospect Luke Farrell. Farrell was solid in all areas and showed enough to Coach Ferrigno that he tipped off the head man.

"Coach Ferrigno and Coach Mattison liked how I did the whole day and told Coach Hoke about me," Farrell said. "Coach Hoke was apparently interested too. After the one-on-one's at the end, Coach Hoke came and talked to me and offered me in person. It was awesome."

Once news hit Twitter that Farrell had been offered, a tweet surfaced from his girlfriend that read, "Michigan offered Luke. We don't like Michigan but still, #proudgf", making me wonder if Michigan even had a chance. Farrell laughed through his response.

"She was talking about people from my town, most of which are Ohio State fans," he said. "Playing for Michigan would be different but I really liked the coaches and the atmosphere. I also know how solid they are academically so I would have no problem playing there. I did grow up an Ohio State fan but I'm not going to let that factor into my decision."

Even though Ohio State has a place in Farrell's heart, scheme may actually be working against the Buckeyes. Farrell discusses what he's looking for in a school.

"I want a good atmosphere, coaches and player-wise," Farrell said. "Good academics and the type of play also. I think I would like to be a true tight end. I want to catch passes too, but I don't mind blocking. I think a pro-style offense would probably be best."

Farrell was just kicking off his tour of midwest powers checking out Michigan for their camp, then heading to Columbus on Tuesday and Wednesday, and closing it out with a three-day stint in South Bend for a visit on Friday followed by a 7-on-7 camp Saturday and Sunday. I expect Notre Dame to offer the young tight end prospect by the time the weekend rolls around and that will probably round out his current top 3.

Farrell did say that Michigan showing interest this early means a lot to him and he thinks a visit during the fall could be a possibility. The coaching staff told him they'd be in touch about setting up a visit as the season approaches.

THE VIBE

5 – Trending Blue
4 – Solidly in a top 2-3
3 – Contender in a top 3-7 
2 – Among large (8-15) group under consideration
1 – Let’s see if he visits before we talk
0 – Passing interest or none

Even though Farrell seems to appreciate what Michigan has to offer a student athlete, I just got the feeling that he's all Buckeye. He'll probably maintain that Michigan is in good shape with him, and they may very well stay near the top of his list, however I just don't see his lifelong affinity for the Buckeyes losing out to any one else. If Notre Dame offers they could become a wildcard but ultimately I think he'll sport the scarlet and gray.

Name: Austin Mack
Position: Wide Receiver
Ht/Wt: 6’2" / 205 lbs.
Location: Bishop Luers - Fort Wayne, IN (2016)
Offers: Michigan, Ohio State, Bowling Green, Cincinnati, Indiana, Ohio
Rating: ★★★★ .9787 (247 Composite)
Ranking: #50 NAT / #9 WR  (247 Composite)
FILM

Monday wasn't entirely about 2016 basketball offers as the football staff decided to offer touted wide receiver prospect Austin Mack after his impressive camp performance. Mack explained how and why the offer was extended.

"Man, I was super excited! After a workout in The Big House, Coach Hoke just came and talked to me and then offered me. Right there on the field. It was awesome!" Mack exclaimed. "He said that I fit the system. The coaches liked how I 'get big' when I catch. I caught the ball well and just made a scene."

Mack's excitment was easy to detect. The Michigan offer was obviously one that he wanted badly, but the Wolverines aren't the only big time Big Ten school that has offered him. The Buckeyes beat Michigan to the punch just five days prior and both schools are in good shape with him. Which offer did he enjoy more?

"You know I couldn't even tell you," He said. "Ohio State was like the first big one for me so the excitement was a little more, but Michigan has been a favorite for me so it's pretty even."

247Sports has Ohio State, Michigan, and Notre Dame in the "warm" stance with Mack, but that could be a little misleading according to what he said about the Irish.

"Notre Dame is my home-state school, but that's not an offer I'm necessarily wanting," Mack said. "I just haven't really heard much from them. I am too focused on Ohio State and Michigan."

It's safe to say that Michigan and Ohio State are running head to head for Mack's top spot, but they aren't the only schools he's interested in.

"I'd like to get an offer from Michigan State and something from the south," He said. "I think getting an offer from a southern school will just be better for my recruitment."

As for the remainder of his recruitment, Mack wasn't bashful about how Michigan and Ohio State will factor into his future plans.

"Michigan and Ohio State are even for me. Neither of them are my leader, but they are definitely both on top," He explained. "I hope to make a decision next summer hopefully, before my senior year. I'm going to visit Michigan and Ohio State for games this fall and hopefully a few more."

It's always interesting to ask a recruit if they have any "Michigan-centric" comments for readers and fans. Mack's was simple.

"I'm excited about Michigan! Hands down!"

THE VIBE

5 – Trending Blue
4 – Solidly in a top 2-3
3 – Contender in a top 3-7 
2 – Among large (8-15) group under consideration
1 – Let’s see if he visits before we talk
0 – Passing interest or none

Austin didn't leave much for the imagination when it came to who he likes. Michigan and Ohio State are his top two and probably will be until he decides. If some of the recent powers like Florida State, Alabama, or Auburn come calling I'm sure they'll be seriously considered, especially since he's interested in a generic southern school, but Michigan and Ohio State are "it" for him right now. He is a very real possibility to become part of Team 137 along with Erik Swenson and Messiah deWeaver.

via greenwichtime.com

2015 TE Chris Clark just called me to tell me had committed to #Michigan.

— Brandon Brown (@CoachBrown3) June 19, 2014

Despite initially planning to announce his decision at The Opening, four-star Avon (CT) Old Farms TE Chris Clark committed to Michigan today, choosing the Wolverines over Michigan State, North Carolina—where he briefly committed earlier in his recruitment—and Ohio State. Clark becomes the eighth member of Michigan's 2015 class and the first at tight end.

Clark committed while visiting campus today, one day after checking out Michigan State and two days removed from a trip to Columbus. Instead of choosing between those three schools at The Opening as planned, Clark will be recruiting for Michigan while he's there, per Steve Wiltfong:

"Just the fact I want to have the opportunity to recruit at The Opening," Clark said, "I want to let people know I'm at Michigan and I'd like to tell people they're building big things at Michigan and tell them to be part of it.

"I just feel so good at Michigan. I thought it would be a great day to do it with my mom and dad here."

Well played, young man.

GURU RATINGS

There's a pretty sizable disparity in Clark's rankings, but that isn't so much a concern when the disparity is between "very good" and "awesome"—ESPN's #191 overall ranking represents the former, Scout bestowing him a fifth star the latter. Average it all out and he comes in just one spot outside the composite top 100 overall, and second among tight ends.

Every site save Rivals lists Clark at 6'6", 247 pounds; Rivals gives him an extra six pounds. Unlike some other recent Michigan tight end recruits, Clark should have little problem playing with his hand in the dirt from day one with that size.

SCOUTING

Well, sure, I'll happily start this section with Bucknuts' Duane Long raving over Clark's game while listing him as Ohio State's third-most important 2015 target (behind only Justin Hilliard and Jashon Cornell) in an article published... yesterday ($):

3. Chris Clark, Tight End, Avon (Conn.) Old Farms: If I was building a tight end he would look like Clark. Great looking, big body. Hands are exceptional. Runs great. There is an argument that tight end is the biggest need in the class. Jeff Heuerman is a senior. Nick Vannett is a junior. Marcus Baugh is … Marcus Baugh. Three players at the position - one being a senior and another is one misstep from Coffeyville - says tight end is a real need in this class.

With that delicious morsel of schadenfreude out of the way, let's go to Scout's free evaluation, which contains considerable praise about an aspect of Clark's game that should excite Michigan fans:

Clark is a complete tight end who can block, get out and catch the ball and also be a factor in the red zone. He has very good hands and is a red-zone threat. He does a nice job running routes and he is a big, physical player. He also embraces the blocking portion of the game, and does a good job getting off the line of scrimmage cleanly. All around, Clark is a complete tight end who should havea big impact quickly in college. -- Brian Dohn

That "catch the ball" stuff is nice and all; as we've learned, having a tight end who's willing and able to hold up as a blocker is just as important. With Jake Butt and now Clark, Michigan has a couple very nice traditional tight end types set to man the position for a while.

ESPN's evaluation also praises Clark's blocking, albeit while noting he can improve technically in that regard, and goes in depth on his ability as a pass-catcher:

Flashes a good burst and not a true vertical threat, but enough speed to challenge downfield. Height and leaping ability make can make him a tough match-up and a red-zone target. Has experience lining up in various alignments. Needs to continue to develop as a route runner, but flashes good ability to work through traffic. Isn't overly elusive, but good size and runs hard and flashes some ability to make the first defender miss.

Good hands and confident pass catcher that displays ability to consistently snatch the ball away from him frame. Displays good body control and can adjust well to throws outside his frame.

That comes from an updated scouting report that's a good deal more positive than his junior year evaluation, which said he had good upside but was "not a top prospect" at the time. Now ESPN concludes that while Clark still has aspects of his game to develop (who doesn't?), he "can grow into a very good and well-rounded college TE."

Clark earned his invite to The Opening after a standout performance at the New Jersey NFTC; according to 247's Steve Wiltfong, linebackers simply couldn't stay with him:

The Avon (Conn.) Old Farms Top247 tight end certainly backed up the fact he’s one of the nation’s top players at his position, with a consistent performance during 1-on-1s. Linebackers didn’t stand a chance with his athleticism, and the sure-handed receiver knows how to get open.

Just a week after that performance, Scout bumped Clark into five-star territory, and their head of scouting gave an "eeeeeeeeee"-worthy report on his game:

“One of the best words I can use to describe a football player is 'tenacious', and Clark is absolutely tenacious,” Scout.com director of scouting Scott Kennedy said. “It doesn't matter if he's lining up at defensive end, outside linebacker, blocking tight end, or slot receiver, he does everything with the mindset of dominating his opponent.

“Looking at the combination of his size and athleticism, his non-stop ability to attack, and his skill of playing different positions from blocking, catching, disengaging from blockers, or occupying double teams, we're looking at a five-star college prospect, and the best tight end I've seen this year.”

Yes, I couldn't figure out what not to put in bold in the second paragraph, so ALL BOLD EVERYTHING.

Clark could be headed into similarly lofty territory on Rivals after excelling at their invite-only (and Rivals-reporters-only) Five-Star Challenge a couple weeks ago. He earned top tight end honors despite getting dinged up on the first day of camp, and after it was over Mike Farrell listed him as one of the ten prospects who most helped their stock ($):

Clark is a huge tight end who can move and catches the ball well. He has a rumbling running style and you can tell he's a load to bring down when he reaches top speed. He showed soft hands, he was a big target and he was tough coming back from an injury day one to be the most productive tight end on the event's second day.

In Farrell's post-camp awards column, Clark earned honorable mention for most physically impressive and best work ethic, and Farrell suggested he's in line to move up when Rivals updates their rankings.

Michigan's tight end recruiting has been focused in recent classes on three types of players: lanky receiver types (Devin Funchess, Ian Bunting), smaller fullback/H-Back types (Khalid Hill, Wyatt Shallman), and all-around guys who can hold up on the line while still providing plenty in the passing game (Jake Butt). Clark definitely falls into the last category.

OFFERS

In addition to his finalists, Clark held offers from Alabama, Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Auburn, Boston College, Cincinnati, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Maryland, Miami (YTM), Mississippi State, Mizzou, NC State, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Penn State, Pitt, Purdue, South Carolina, Syracuse, Tennessee, Texas Tech, UCF, Virginia, and Virginia Tech, among a few others.

Rather prestigious list, that.

HIGH SCHOOL

Avon Old Farms is a private school with a history of producing players who end up mostly at academically-inclined East Coast schools. You're familiar with one of the exceptions: former Michigan running back Mike Cox, who eventually transferred to UMass to finish out his career.

STATS

Clark caught 39 passes for 417 yards and six touchdowns in his junior season, breaking out as a receiver despite adding 40 pounds after his sophomore season.

FAKE 40 TIME

Rivals lists a pretty darn reasonable time of 4.72 seconds, which I'll give two FAKEs out of five.

VIDEO

Junior highlights:

Single game cut-ups from his junior and sophomore seasons are available on his Hudl page.

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

Clark looks like one of the likeliest candidates in the 2015 class to make an immediate impact when he gets to campus, as he already boasts the size to play tight end as a junior in high school. Jake Butt will be a junior when Clark is a freshman, so he should be able to slowly work his way onto the field as a freshman as he gets a grasp on Doug Nussmeier's offense and the college game as a whole. When Butt graduates after the 2016 season, Clark is the clear-cut candidate to take over as the every-down tight end.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

Michigan now has eight spots filled for the 2015 class; our best guess is this class will be around 16 players in total. Top priorities include running back, wide receiver, defensive end, outside linebacker, and a cornerback to replace Shaun Crawford in the class.

Thursday afternoon Michigan picked up a commitment from big time tight end prospect Chris Clark. Clark's recruitment has been a bit unorthodox but after his visit on Thursday, he knew that Michigan was the place for him.

"It's been crazy. As you know I've always liked Michigan a lot. Ever since they offered me back in January I've always thought of them as a school I could end up at," Clark said. "I mean it's Michigan and they are a school I liked a lot growing up so that was always in the back of my mind. Just the visit today, after I actually had really good visits at Ohio State and Michigan State, I was just hoping to see what it could really be like at Michigan. Honestly, if the visit didn't go how it went today, I was probably going to end up at Michigan State. Today just went so well. My mom and dad loved the coaches, as did I. I've known that for a while obviously, my relationship with them has been great for a long time, but today couldn't have went any better."

Clark's orginal plan was to commit at The Opening in a couple of weeks, but he just thought that he could serve a better purpose if he was comitted before he arrived in Oregon.

"Orginally I thought it would be cool to commit while I was there but I called the guys at The Opening and asked them if it was alright if I didn't and they said, 'Of course, it's your decision'." Clark explained. "I just want to get a head start on being able to recruit kids and these three weeks from now until The Opening a lot can happen for some of these recruits. I want to be able to let people know once I get out there that I'm committed to Michigan. In the most modest of ways I consider myself a pretty high-profile recruit, so other recruits might see that I'm committed and think about the opportunity to play with me and the other commits in our class. It's already a pretty stacked class."

Knowing that he can bring more talent into his class, Clark plans on putting a plan in place with the help of the coaches so he can maximize his abilities as a recruiter.

"I'm going to talk with the coaches and they are going to give me some guys to go after," Clark said. "I'm definitely going to talk to Damien Harris and try to get in his ear a little bit. I know he was once committed to Michigan and he's still considering them. I'd like to look at some wide receivers, maybe Miles Boykin. I would say maybe Justin Hilliard, but I'm not sure he's leaning toward Michigan or not but I'll definitely try. I'm going to talk to Coach Nussmeier and he's going to give me some names of kids so that's the plan." 

Recruits as highly touted as Clark all have dreams of playing in the NFL, but he knows that it's not realistic to bank on that alone. Life after football, specifically life after Michigan football, was something that he couldn't pass up.

"The things in place at Michigan for football players are amazing," Clark said. "I mean football is going to end at some point for everyone, some sooner than others, and playing in the NFL is such a small chance. Even if you make it, the average career doesn't last very long, maybe three years. Most people are done playing football in their mid-20's and you have to have a plan for something else. A lot of people go to college just to play football and don't really have a plan for afterwards. At Michigan they do a great job of having you set up after college and networking. They help you branch out and meet important people who can help you get into a great job. I mean I hope I get a chance to play in the NFL, but if I don't I know that Michigan will have me ready for life after football. I mean the combination of football and academics at Michigan, you just can't go wrong."

Michigan obviously won Clark over on his final visit, but is it for real? Perhaps the biggest concern surrounding Clark and his recruitment is the fact that he already committed and decommitted once from North Carolina. He also seems to fall in love after each visit to the point where a commitment seems possible. His explanation of all that should put Michigan fans at ease.

"When you look at recruiting, decommitting happens all the time. I'm not necessarily saying that it's the right thing to do, but when someone commits, later on sometimes it just doesn't feel right." Clark expressed. "I know because I've been there, but that's in the past for me. I'm very happy that it worked out like this and I ended up at Michigan. I'm sure people are going to be like, 'Well how is he not just going to do that again?' Well, I know now that I found the school that is right for me. I have now visited all of the schools that I'm interested in. There isn't another school out there that I'm interested in that I haven't seen. Michigan is the best school out of all of the schools that I really liked, that I was considering. Michigan's the spot, I'm not changing my mind. When I committed to UNC I hadn't visited Michigan, Michigan State, or Ohio State. Now that I've seen them all, Michigan is the spot for me."

Now that Michigan IS the spot for Clark, he already seems to understand exactly what that means. 

"I'm ready to win some championships and get Michigan back to the top," he said. "Especially starting to beat Ohio State, that's going to be big. I want to make sure that in my four years I don't lose to Ohio State once."

Everything that Clark said, he said with passion. He spoke about all of the things Brady Hoke preaches about when he talks about Michigan. Clark seems to understand the big picture at Michigan on and off the field. He also went on to speak about how close the recruits in his class already are as well, which is important for a small class. He said that Alex Malzone had been working on him for a while. Clark mentioned how close he already is with Grant Newsome. He's also already spent time with Tyree Kinnell at the Rivals 5-Star Challenge. Clark also spoke highly of Darrin Kirkland Jr. There's a chemistry building among this class which speaks to the character of each commit and the closeness that will hold the group together. Clark is definitely a big pickup for the class and provides some momentum moving into the rest of the summer as fall approaches.

THE ESSENTIALS

Via AO Augusta.

It's (probably) simple for the US: draw and don't get blown out by Germany and you're through. The best way to draw is to win, because then even if you don't win you still draw.

Now, about doing that…

THE THEM: RONALDO AND THE OTHER GUYS

Portugal fell apart like a Michigan running play against Germany, falling behind early, taking a straight red when Pepe lost his mind, and then slowly bleeding goals the rest of the 90. It was an hour and a half of a 3-yard TFL.

This means that Portugal will be desperate to go up early. They will attack like mad; the US has to weather that storm. The good news is that if the US gets a lead it seems likely that Portugal will deflate. They're a bit fragile, the Portugals.

From time immemorial Portugal has relied on a 4-3-3 in which the striker is more of a facilitator to Ronaldo than an elite threat himself; this means that forward surges from the USA fullbacks will seem promising until such time as the US doesn't have the ball, whereupon you'll be screaming GET BACK GET BACK at the teevee. With Portugal going balls to the wall for three points, a withering back and forth akin to the Turkey game beckons, albeit hopefully one with fewer free goals handed out.

GOALIE: If Rui Patricio, the designated starter is out, there will be another goalie who is probably slightly worse. But he's still a goalie.

yeah but "Beat It" was a hit

DEFENSE: Shot through the heart and various things are to blame. Pepe, the first-choice centerback who's real fast, took a red card and is out. Fabio Coentrao strained a groin and is out. Bruno Alves has some sort of hamstring issue and is "doubtful" for Sunday.

As a result, this looks rather appealing from a US perspective. Pepe's likely replacement is 33-year-old Diego Costa. If Alves plays this makes the Portugal CB pairing 1) old, 2) slow, and 3) forced to endure the punishing heat and humidity of the Amazon. They're good, of course. This is not an ideal situation for them. If Alves does not play, his replacement is Luis Neto, who plays in Russia and has nine caps to his name.

On the outside, Andre Almeida (not that Andre Almeida) is likely to replace Coentrao. A converted midfielder unsure about his positioning, he doesn't get forward that much… or at least hasn't in the last few games. That's a major downgrade from Coentrao.

Joao Pereira is the right back; he's the guy who dragged down the German dude to open the scoring in that route. He is a fixture at Valencia, and is more of a tough-tackling guy who won't do much surging forward.

MIDFIELD: Joao Moutinho and Raul Meireles are highly likely. Meireles is the biker Viking you may have seen extending his index fingers at the referee on twitter:

some people saw middle fingers and went omg

His main asset is running around tirelessly and annoying people, like Jones. Zonal Marking notes that he "does everything reasonably well without excelling in any one category."

Moutinho is the primary link between attack and defense:

Ronaldo was the obvious star of Portugal's 3-2 victory over Sweden in the second leg of the playoff, but Moutinho's role was vital. It was his perfect through ball that laid on the first (although it would be wrong to give him too much credit for his positioning, given he was only there because he'd been writhing in supposed agony trying to get the game stopped). Still, having received the ball, his awareness and the weight of pass were exemplary.

In what often seems a broken team with six defensive players and three forwards, Moutinho's capacity to link the two parts of the side, both with his running and his passing ability, is critical. Efficient rather than flashy, he is the central intelligence that binds Portugal together.

That is even more true now with Coentrao out; the US should focus on applying pressure to him as quickly as possible, allowing anyone but Moutinho the time and space to try an incisive ball.

Those guys are the higher-placed of the three midfielders; the defensive midfielder could be Miguel Veloso, who played against Germany, or the 22-year-old riser William Carvalho. Veloso got pulled out of position constantly in the first gmae, but the Portugal coach tends to ride or die with the same set of guys. Would he ride or die after a 4-0 defeat? I don't know. The soccer internets seem to think Carvalho is a much better idea, as he is clever on the ball and has attacking upside. Portugal needs that in a game they must win.

FORWARD: I'll list the three main attackers here even though Nani's more of a winger, as Portugal has steadfastly stuck to a 4-3-3 in which the front three don't put a ton of work in on defense.

don't let this happen much please

Ronaldo is Ronaldo. He will hang out on the left wing and try to cut in; he'll shoot from all angles; he will flip from time to time with Nani to see if he can annihilate the other side of the US lineup a bit easier. Ronaldo's been dealing with tendinitis and hasn't been able to practice much, often limping off the field after 15 or 20 minutes with an ice pack on his leg. His fitness is in question; he'll be considerably more dangerous early. Oh, and he's lethal on free kicks.

Nani is Nani, except when he's not, which is a lot of the time. You could be forgiven if you thought his full name was The Mercurial Nani. He's a much more traditional winger than Ronaldo; he'll try to get in dangerous crosses most of the time, with occasional forays inside. Beasley should get to be more aggressive because Nani's crosses are more dangerous than the left-footed Atsu, and if Portugal goes with the guy they probably will they'll have much more dangerous targets in the box. He is capable of moments of magic.

With Hugo Almeida out, Portugal has generally turned to the strapping, Altidorean Eder as their center forward. He's a hold-up guy and aerial threat, very physical. The aging, wily Helder Postiga is another option, but in the heat one dollar says the 26 year old coming on gets the nod over the 31-year old who's struggled to see the field for his club of late.

Eder's a pretty good matchup for the US, as they've always been an outfit that deals with crosses well, and that's' where Eder is at his best.

THE US(A)

The early goal and Altidore injury saw the US drop back into a 4-4-2 most of the night against Ghana instead of the diamond. A lot of that was just the USA's inability to keep possession. In a game that figures to feature the USA with more of the ball, I would expect something more diamond-y, but also more aggressive on the wings on offense as the US tries to pull Portugal out of shape. More about that in a bit.

GOALIE: Howard.

DEFENSE: Beasley, Besler, Cameron, Johnson.

No reason to change with the center backs turning in terrific performances, Cameron especially, and the backup options on the outside seeming scary. Chandler in particular has seemed to wilt when the temperature gets turned up. Though Beasley is much older he's used to he conditions as he plays in Mexico. He also weighs about 90 pounds and has never, ever seemed tired.

Alternatives include Brooks if Besler is not ready to go and a potential shakeup at one of the outside back spots. I think changes would be silly. They either involve exposing an untested player to Ronaldo or playing said player on the left, where they are uncomfortable.

MIDFIELD: Beckerman, Jones, Bedoya, Bradley

Bradley needs to be Bradley

Jones and Bradley are obvious; Beckerman is almost certainly going to be included as well, as the US can count on him to be in annoying positions when Ronaldo attempts to cut inside.

The fourth midfielder could be either Bedoya or Zusi. I think Bedoya will be preferred because he's more active defensively and has the pace to zip past Dempsey as he drops into the midfield, about which more later. Zusi would not be a huge surprise, as he quickly showed his quality once inserted with that corner. Zusi has a knack for long, defense-splitting passes that should be available. I expect both to play.

This might look more like a 4-2-3-1 as the US should be pressuring whoever Portugal's defensive mid is, especially if it is Carvalho. Meanwhile, expect Beckerman to shade towards Ronaldo's side with Jones providing more cover and less upfield surging than he has in the last couple games.

FORWARD: Johannsson, Dempsey

The "false nine" thing is popular because it drags center backs around. If Dempsey drops off the defensive line to collect the ball, Portugal is faced with a decision: give the USA's most creative player time and space or try to shut him down by running one of their CBs at him. Germany exploited this even when Pepe was available; without Pepe around it seems like the best way for the US to proceed is to have Dempsey drop back and flank him with two guys who can run past him when someone steps out to meet him.

Then you get things like this:

The biggest spot to attack Portugal is undoubtedly their left rear channel. This is the area of the field that is typically defended by Bruno Alves, Fabio Coentrão … and Miguel Veloso.

It’s the flaw of Bento’s system because Ronaldo tends to stay high and Moutinho tend to get pulled out to cover that space. This reverberates down the defense.

Germany incessantly attacked this area on Monday. (Has it been mentioned what a masterclass Jogi Low put on?). Thomas Muller’s haul-down came from there. The second goal (above) came from there and there was another quality chance knocked over the bar just by Götze.

Germany deployed this to good effect.

Low’s decision to play a 4-3-3 with a false 9 was incredibly insightful. While Pepe is fast, Alves is not, and Götze’s constant movement towards the midfield pulled Alves into a position that he could not recover from.

With Alves hurting, all the more reason to force Portugal players to step out into the midfield.

The wild guess here is that Dempsey is a striker who drops back and Johannsson comes in to dart past him; Johannson will also be the target of those long diagonal balls on which he should be able to outpace the center backs as Portugal's outside backs get forward. He's not a target forward but against a depleted Portugal back four he can have a similar effect as an outlet valve.

The other runner should rotate depending on the situation: Bradley, Bedoya/Zusi, and Johnson will all be candidates.

Wondo time

SUBS: Expect Wondolowski if the US needs a goal, and probably even if they don't. The combination of slowish, exhausted center backs and Wondo's evil, constant movement makes him a very attractive option. It's probably going to be a prematch plan for Johannsson to give his all for 60 minutes and then exit.

Whoever of Bedoya or Zusi does not start will probably replace the other as the US keeps its right flank fresh against Ronaldo.

The third sub would be context dependent: if the US needs a goal they would probably lift Beckerman for Diskerud. If they're in the lead they might not use it at all; if they do the introduction of Yedlin or Chandler would probably be the move.

THE REF

Argentine Nestor Quintana has been assigned the game. He did the 1-1 draw between South Korea and Russia in which there wasn't a whole lot to get wrong. He tends to issue a lot of cards, FWIW.

KEYS OTHER THAN SCORING MORE GOALPOINTS

winger stops tracking Johnson, and that happened

Get Fabian involved on offense. But Ronaldo? The thing is: Ronaldo don't do D, so you can find a lot of room behind him and pull Portugal out of shape. That requires covering, and the US can do that reasonably well by sliding Cameron over—EPL rightback, remember—and keeping Beckerman shaded to the right. That also means Beasley has to stay back, but that's okay.

It's not ideal for Johnson to get caught upfield. The risks are worth it. Johnson is one of the USA's most dynamic offensive players no matter where he is. This is an opportunity for him to find a bunch of room, as he tends to cut into the very right-hand channel that Germany exposed so ruthlessly.

The US can cover for him. If you squint, it actually looks like this was the plan from day one: Johnson isn't terrific defensively; Cameron is the most mobile central defender the US has. As long as the US is cognizant of Johnson's surges they will be fine.

Wear out the center backs. Long diagonal passes into the channels will pull those guys into uncomfortable positions and wear them down. The US can get its pressure relief from Johannsson thanks to the setup here. Then they can bring in a poacher in an ideal situation.

Keep possession. The US was pretty dire at this after Altidore went out, and large parts of the problem were due to nothing other than US players making crappy passes. A repeat of that is an alarming possibility. It should be easier against a team that won't be inclined to press.

Avoid issuing dangerous free-kicks. They are extremely, extremely dangerous against Portugal. Ronaldo is crazy good at shooting from them, and Alves (if he plays) is a major danger on crosses from them. Easier said than done with the king of stepovers, I know.

TIE THE GAME. #tiethegame

SECTION WHERE I PREDICT THE SAME THING KENPOM DOES

DIVBYZERO

Introducing The Kugler Scale™

slight mismatch here

After making a previous, short-lived commitment to North Carolina, newest Michigan commit Chris Clark wasn't taking any chances before making another pledge, checking out all of his top options before announcing yesterday he'll be a Wolverine. Clark ensured Brandon, in an interview posted here this morning, that this decision is final:

"When you look at recruiting, decommitting happens all the time. I'm not necessarily saying that it's the right thing to do, but when someone commits, later on sometimes it just doesn't feel right." Clark expressed. "I know because I've been there, but that's in the past for me. I'm very happy that it worked out like this and I ended up at Michigan. I'm sure people are going to be like, 'Well how is he not just going to do that again?' Well, I know now that I found the school that is right for me. I have now visited all of the schools that I'm interested in. There isn't another school out there that I'm interested in that I haven't seen. Michigan is the best school out of all of the schools that I really liked, that I was considering. Michigan's the spot, I'm not changing my mind. When I committed to UNC I hadn't visited Michigan, Michigan State, or Ohio State. Now that I've seen them all, Michigan is the spot for me."

That nearly wasn't the case, according to Clark. The Spartans made a strong push on Clark's visit to East Lansing, just a day before he committed on his unofficial in Ann Arbor:

Honestly, if the visit didn't go how it went today, I was probably going to end up at Michigan State. Today just went so well. My mom and dad loved the coaches, as did I. I've known that for a while obviously, my relationship with them has been great for a long time, but today couldn't have went any better."

That's a solid 8/10 on the Kugler Scale™.*

Clark's commitment caught the attention of one of Michigan's top 2015 targets, five-star CA WDE Keisean Lucier-South, who sent out a cryptic tweet when the news broke; he later elaborated to 247's Steve Lorenz ($):

One player who tweeted immediately regarding the commitment, and says it has an effect on his outlook with the Wolverines is five-star defensive end Keisean Lucier-South.

"That's great for Michigan," he said. "Right now it definitely makes them more attractive to me. Michigan is a great school though; it is not a surprise that big time players want to play there."

Getting talented commits helps recruiting in and of itself; Clark's also on the record as saying he committed yesterday so he can get a head start on recruiting for Michigan before The Opening, saying he plans to get in touch with such prospects as Damien Harris, Miles Boykin, and Justin Hilliard.

[*Current U-M center Patrick Kugler, if you don't recall, visited East Lansing several times, looked poised to become a Spartan, took a trip to Ann Arbor, and committed to Michigan one day before another scheduled MSU visit. State fans, as you can imagine, didn't take too kindly to this.]

U-M Camp Makes Huge Impact On 2016 Recruits

Michigan's technique camp already paid off in the form of an offer to, and subsequent commitment from, four-star 2016 OH QB Messiah deWeaver. DeWeaver's commitment post focused almost entirely on his ability as a pocket passer, so I'll add this bit from Tim Sullivan's extensive scouting report ($):

DeWeaver is a true pocket passer, but he is slightly underrated as an athlete on account of it. While he'll never be a scrambler first, he does have the wheels to escape pressure and throw on the run (or even pick up a few yards on the ground if his team needs him to). 

Meanwhile, after working closely with Darrell Funk and Brady Hoke during the camp, five-star 2016 Cleveland St. Ignatius OT Liam Eichenberg, whose recruitment is shaping up to be a battle of the Midwest powerhouses, told Lorenz he has a new leader ($):

"Michigan has the upper hand right now," he said. "They're a lot like St. Ignatius and I really liked working with the coaches yesterday at camp."

Notre Dame and Ohio State round out his top three. Encouragingly, Michigan's lead isn't a product of Eichenberg seeing them more than his other leaders; he camped at Ohio State last week for the second year in a row and took an unofficial to Notre Dame back in March, so he's had a chance to compare all three schools. Landing Eichenberg, who most experts peg as a future Buckeye, would be a coup.

Michigan also extended a couple new 2016 offers, including one to the son of the former boxing heavyweight champ Evander Holyfield, three-star GA RB Elijah Holyfield. The younger Holyfield gave his reaction to the offer to Tim Sullivan ($):

"Coach Hoke just told me that he looked over watching my film, and he looked at my film from camp," he said. "He said he really liked what I did, and that I could help out the program. Then he said that he wanted to offer me a scholarship.

"I was really excited. I told him thanks and everything like that. A Michigan offer is real big. It's always been one of the teams I grew up watching, and they have a long history that I know about. I'm really excited to have the chance to be a part of that."

While Holyfield isn't close to making a decision, Michigan has positioned themselves well to be in it until the end.

Speaking of famous names, Michigan offered a 6'6" prospect named... Michael Jordan. This MJ isn't a lanky shooting guard from North Carolina, however, but a 265-pound rising junior offensive lineman from nearby Plymouth High. Michigan is the first team to offer Jordan, who told Scout's Allen Trieu that it's too early to be thinking commitment ($):

With it being so early, making a commitment is not on his mind yet.

"Michigan has a very good program," he said, "but I have to decide that later. I haven't made any decisions yet."

If he eventually commits, that Hello post is going to be impossible to put together in a timely fashion.

ESPN 300 Updated

ESPN updated their top 300 prospects for the 2015 class, and the movement for Michigan commits was minimal:

• TE Chris Clark dropped from #104 to #108
• CB Garrett Taylor dropped from #106 to #110
• S Tyree Kinnel dropped from #182 to #188
• OT Grant Newsome dropped from #235 to #240
• MLB Darrin Kirkland moved up from #265 to #263

No change of more than six spots leaves little room for commentary.

In other news, 247's Ryan Bartow released a list of the 15 prospects who best fit the school to which they're committed, and Garrett Taylor came in at #10:

10. Garrett Taylor, CB, Michigan - High academics, storied tradition of producing big defensive backs, can play man and zone equally well. ... The fits don’t slow down for Taylor in Ann Arbor. He could develop into an All-Big Ten type of player for the Wolverines.

The list seems more focused on a school's reputation of putting players at certain positions into the NFL than anything else—playing man and zone concepts isn't exactly a signature scheme—so take it for what it's worth.

Weekend Visitors, 2015 Updates

Per Steve Lorenz, Michigan is hosting a few weekend visitors: commit Tyree Kinnel, 2015 four-star IN LB Asmar Bilal, and 2016 four-star DE Janarius Robinson. Kinnel should help the coaches try to close the gap between Michigan and Notre Dame, Bilal's (NTB) current leader, while Robinson will be seeing Ann Arbor for the first time.

Michigan's pursuit of five-star OH OLB Justin Hilliard looks like it'll be a fruitless one, unfortunately. Hilliard plans to make a decision within the next month or so, visited finalist Iowa—where his older brother will be a freshman in the fall—last weekend, and has final visits planned to Notre Dame and Ohio State, but he told Scout's Dave Berk that a Michigan unofficial is "possible but not planned" for now ($). Unless he finds his way to campus one more time, I highly doubt he commits to Michigan.

A visit to Tennesse allowed the Vols to replace Florida State in his top five, but four-star 2015 MD OL Pat Allen kept Michigan in his top group, per Rivals' Adam Friedman ($):

"My top five right now is Georgia, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Michigan and Tennessee," said Allen. "I wouldn't say Georgia is the leader but they're really high. Ohio State and Georgia are tied for the lead. Oklahoma, Michigan and Tennessee are third, fourth and fifth. I really think my decision is going to be based off my visits. There are still some schools I want to see like Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Michigan. Michigan might be my next visit."

That makes it sound like U-M has a decent shot to move up if they can get Allen on campus.

Talking to GBW's Kyle Bogenschutz, four-star Detroit King OLB Tyriq Thompsondenied rumors that Michigan State is his leader ($):

Some rumors circulating indicating Thompson could have a leader in the form of the Michigan State Spartans, the Detroit product denied a leader of any kind, unsure of where these reports are coming from.

“I don’t know,” Thompson said. “I really don’t know what to say because I’ve heard so much.

“Somebody told me that there’s a rumor going around that I’m committed to Michigan State so, I don’t know what to say.”

He added that he plans to wait until after his senior season to fully focus on his recruitment, so Michigan has a lot of time to make their pitch to the in-state legacy recruit.

I Guess I Have To Acknowledge This Is Happening 

I'm blessed to have received my second offer of the day from The University of Michigan!!!! #SoBlessed #42 pic.twitter.com/KNMf7CfiMx

— Anthony Hines III (@2017D1Prospect) June 18, 2014

In case you didn't gather this from his username, newly offered Anthony Hines is a class of 2017 prospect. Hines, an outside linebacker from Texas powerhouse Plano East, is currently a (very) early Mississippi State commit who, as you also may have deduced from the tweet, already holds 42 offers.

Michigan's camp produced another 2017 offer, as Tim Sullivan reported this morning that GA DB Jaymest Williams, a camp standout with early offers from Clemson and Georgia Tech, got the call from the coaches this morning ($).

The Wolverines have now sent out six offers to rising sophomores, including Orchard Lake St. Mary's LB Josh Ross, younger brother of current U-M LB James Ross.

Etc.

Happy trails to OH SDE Dre'Mont Jones, who surprised nobody by committing to Ohio State on Wednesday.

SBNation's Bud Elliott lists Michigan as the top school that needs to start winning more on the field if they'd like continued success on the recruiting trail, which... yeah. 

If you missed it, Brandon posted updates yesterday on 2016 four-star IN WR Austin Mack and four-star 2016 OH TE Luke Farrell, who both received offers recently.

Obligatory:

The rosters are here! The rosters are here! The big news is Blake Countess will be #2 cause…

(artist: Ted Watts)

That’s got to be a new legends number, right? Nobody got 11 or 21, FWIW.

Freshmen #s

The incoming freshmen were all bequeathed their digits as well. I give them here with a few notables to have worn the digit at that position in the past. I’ve chosen to include the freshmen who were here in spring; a list of just the fall arrivals is here, courtesy Wolverine Devotee. Burn these into your memory so that it will hurt more when they’re changed to Legends numbers in a few years.

Also:

Please only give this number to tiny safeties and huge running backs from now on forever kthx.

Heitzman Expansion Principle

This is the corollary to the Heininger Certainty Principle: a person, once removed from Hoke’s defensive line, will apparently grow 1 or more inches in height as his body adjusts to the difference in pressure. Heitzman is now listed 6’4”, one inch taller than he was in spring.

Other changes?

Didn’t spot any. Weights haven’t been updated yet.

6/22/2014 – USA 2, Portugal 2 – 1-0-1, Group G

I had an internship in Austin when I was in college, and fell in with some guys who played roller hockey in the parking lot. We were a motley crew; I was near but not quite at the bottom in terms of skill. This is always my critical point: I have to be obviously not the worst guy. I was at least fourth from the bottom here, which marks my personal athletic best.

We would take breaks because it was summer in Texas. During those breaks we would discuss how close we were to dying at that very moment, because we were engineers playing roller hockey in summer in Texas. But there was this guy. He had a ponytail and did not look like an engineer. He was not skilled either. When we took our breaks to pound water in our faces and discuss how narrowly we had avoided catastrophic death, this guy would be flying around the parking lot at top speed. He did nothing except take laps.

We looked at him like he was out of his mind. He kept skating. Endurance is rarely spectacular, but when it is, it really is.

-------------------------------------

Jermaine Jones probably doesn't know what hockey is, let alone the variety that comes on fake ice skates. He is nonetheless that guy, running and running and running even after he should fall over and expire. This has always been more or less true, but now that he's been well and truly released by the presence of Beckerman, he is something to marvel at. He's probably taking laps at halftime.

And then this gets into what it is to America. I read one of the pile of articles about how Klinsmann was or was not making American soccer more or less American and got irritated at various assertions but particularly this one…

"Largely due to an influx of continental players, the U.S. team has options now and is reaching beyond its previous identity, the way a toddler goes from a crawl to a walk. "

…because it just couldn't be more incorrect. The Influx Of Continental Players is basically Fabian Johnson and Jermaine Jones and the occasional substitute appearance, hardly unusual world-wide. Spain (Spain!) started a recently naturalized Brazilian striker. The US lost Giuseppe Rossi and Neven Subotic to Italy and Serbia, respectively. Meanwhile, the United States has long been on the lookout for anyone technically American, no matter how vague the connection. Having the son of a soldier stationed overseas on the team dates back to at least Earnie Stewart. The teams that won't poach a dubiously authentic Insert Nationality Here if given the opportunity start and end with Brazil.

But anyway I bristled at this assertion that the USA's surging fortunes were due to some unprecedented wave of educated foreigners to the point that I left a snotty comment, which was this:

There are all of two dual-nationals who are projected to start, and one of them is the most stereotypically American player in the 11: Jermaine Jones, a physical and endurance marvel who's about as creative as a brick.

And he is! You could not carve a more American defensive midfielder out of apple pie. He may as well be running around the field in a stovepipe hat, all industry and impossible running 80 minutes into a game played in a convection oven.

It's not often that you can see a guy playing sports and go "whoah" just because he's running in a straight line faster than the other guys around him. Those moments are usually reserved for the Denard Robinsons and Usain Bolts of the world. Even next to the indefatigable Bradley, though, Jones makes you marvel. When US shirts had descended into sheer, soaked clingfilm, Jones was still roaring around.

The US got their grip on the game, and this time it was Portugal dropping out exhausted as the US kept coming on. I said after the Ghana game that I had seen this before, and it does remain a real thing about this team: they will never stop coming.

Then friggin' Ronaldo had to go and do his Ronaldo thing—actually his un-Ronaldo thing—to spoil the party. If you had given me any odds that Ronaldo was going to doodle around and then fire in a shot from a bad angle that was still scary I would have taken it. Ronaldo doesn't cross. Are we rubbing off on people? I certainly hope not.

---------------------

After it was over I collapsed on a stool, wrung out. I had not been there, but my legs, stomach, and assorted other vaguely aching bits would disagree with this assertion. Jones had fired in a piledriver of a goal that felt like it was coming as he and Bradley took turns calibrating their rifles in the first half; I had done a series of involuntary squats at chances squandered on both sides.

Thirty seconds from freedom; instead another lap. Okay. We have legs yet.

Bullets

Highlights.

It happens. Stray into a comments section today and you'll get some dude screaming about how Bradley should be deported for overall suck, and I'm just like… no. Bradley managed to put a ball from two yards on to a defender's knee, sure. Here is The Best Player In The World afforded a chance from not quite the same range but not much further:

juuuuuust a bit outside

The number one rule of soccer is that it is hard and you mostly look dumb trying to do it.

The late turnover is also a thing that happens; Bradley had a poor first touch, then set up to wall off the Portugal player who was trying to get the ball off him. he found misfortune when that guy happened to be Eder, who is about 30 pounds heavier than anyone else on the field and made a play that was seemingly way out of his wheelhouse by deftly stripping the ball without fouling.

It still took three subsequent major errors and a perfect cross for anything to come of it.

If the above still had been the goal instead of the sad thing that transpired in the 95th minute people would be bitching about Dempsey and Beckerman, who conspired to turn it over and create a break. When you complain about something that happened after six more touches, none of which had anything to do with the initial turnover, you are just venting irrationally.

Bradley was much, much better in this game than against Ghana, opening up the Portugal defense with accurately placed balls down the wing and harrassing Moutino into a performance that lacked impact. A turnover well on the Portugal side of the field is just that: a turnover. Which happens.

The real question. What is even the point of Omar Gonzalez? Specifically brought in to deal with crosses late, Gonzalez ends up higher up the field than four other American players on the fatal break.

Gonzalez dead center, higher than Jones

If he is even with Besler in the center of a three-man back line he cuts that cross out well before it gets anywhere near Varela and everyone goes home happy. Instead he's somehow gotten dragged into the midfield. When Bradley loses the ball he is literally at the halfway stripe!

I don't get it. It makes sense to bring the guy in to clog up the box with about three minutes left. So why isn't he doing it?

Tactical shift, quicktime. The official lineup released by the US had Zusi on the left and Bedoya on the right, presumably because Bedoya's higher work rate and defensive ability would come in handy against Ronaldo. The fifth minute goal seemed to change that:

Bedoya left, Zusi right, after 5 minutes. Before that they were flipped.

After the US went down Zusi moved over to a spot where his right foot was better situated to have an impact. Note Zusi's tendency to stay tucked in so Fabian Johnson could bomb down the right, exploiting the space that Ronaldo refuses to track back on. For 94 minutes he was a liability.

Zusi then flipped back to the left when Yedlin came on, which is where the assist on Dempsey's goal came from, a sweetly hit short cross from his left foot.

Immense. Matt Besler just turned in one of the finest performances I've seen from a US center back in… ever? Possibly ever. Oguchi Onyewu has to get a mention here for battering out approximately a mole of crosses from Spain in the Confed Cup (oh man now I just thought about having Gooch in this game instead of Gonzalez and now sadness reins).

Other than that, Besler's high up there. Besler's positioning and instincts were impeccable here. The high point was probably the break he snuffed out at midfield just as everyone was getting their Ronaldo panic on. He was near flawless.

Immensely variable. Cameron, Besler's partner, had a major hand in shutting down Ronaldo all night. He also scuffed a clearance right to Nani for the opener and got beaten in the last minute. I don't know, man. Obviously both those things are very bad. But outside of those very bad things Cameron has been consistently good for the US, anywhere you put him. I think he'll put an admittedly game-wrecking performance behind him.

I mean, there's a poor clearance and there's a poor clearance that happens to be the absolute perfect ball to Nani. As with Bradley, I'm trying to chalk up Cameron's error on what it was instead of the result.

Are you five-foot-eight and fast as a guy with flaming pants? If so, stop playing basketball. Stop playing football unless you are Dennis Norfleet. You aren't making it big in either of those sports. Best-case scenario, the one in 300 million scenario, is that you are a role-playing freak show for a few years. It's not bad if you can get it, but you probably can't.

Soccer, though: DaMarcus Beasley is 5'8". DeAndre Yedlin is 5'8". All those terrifying buggers like Christian Atsu and various other Ghana midges are 5'8". Brazil brings on a 5'5" guy(!).If you can run all day and change directions quickly but tend to disintegrate on contact because you are a wee thing, get thee to the soccer field. For America.

Group Situation

The US wins the group with a win over Germany and finishes second with a tie. The prospect of a wink-wink draw with the Germans is there, as it would guarantee both teams advance and Germany would avoid (presumably) Belgium in the first knockout round. At the very least expect both teams to play defensively.

If the US loses things get into goal differential with the winner of the Ghana-Portugal game. Portugal would have to make up their 4-0 loss in the opener; Ghana just has to make up a one-goal loss. The US is out if they lose 1-0 and:

• Ghana wins by two goals, or
• Ghana wins by one in a goal blizzard (3-2 at least)
• Portugal wins by five

So root for Portugal in the other game. Barring unlikely outcomes, the US enters the final match with a two-and-a-half goal cushion on Ghana and a five-and-a-half goal cushion on Portugal.

That's still a pretty good situation.

Germany Situation

The Germans are close to healthy. Right back Jerome Boateng was lifted at halftime of the Ghana game with a hip injury of some variety and may or may not be available. Thomas Muller took a nasty collision right at the end of the Ghana game but is not seriously damaged and should be fine for Thursday. Everyone else is good to go.

After a German walkover of Portugal, they struggled against Ghana. The 2-2 draw was closer to a Ghana win than vice-versa as the Germany D struggled to keep pace with Ghana on counters. Germany's outside backs were particularly poor at both ends, and not unexpectedly: both the starting right back, Benedikt Howedes, and Boateng's replacement, Shkodran Mustafi, are center backs at club level. Boateng is a bit more versatile but is still primarily a center back. (Germany's using  Phillip Lahm as a holding midfielder for some reason—really makes you wonder if Germany would have both Jones and Johnson on their roster if they had not switched to the US.)

It's the offense bit that's worrying. Germany has about a half-dozen world-class attackers, and even though one's out with a pre-World Cup injury they've still got a pile of dudes more talented than anyone the USA's got.

Knowing they only need a draw, The US is likely to reprise their 4-2-3-1 from the Germany game in an attempt to keep possession for long stretches and remain compact at the back.