Commit Updates: Look, Ma. No Tee.
2015 Michigan commit Andrew David connected on a 58-yard field goal over the weekend, breaking the school record for Ohio powerhouse Massillon Washington in doing so. I'm told that's quite a long way for a high schooler to kick a football accurately, let alone from off the ground instead of a tee. I'm sure there won't be any jokes about trying to sneak this kid onto the team this week. Nope. None at all.
Steve Lorenz has your free wrapup of the rest of Michigan's commits in action over the weekend. Some highlights:
- Alex Malzone finished 13-for-20 for 201 yards and three TDs in a dramatic 28-21 Brother Rice win over Warren De La Salle (Shane Morris' former school). Dave and I were at Wayne State for the game, and I'll have a full breakdown of the tape tomorrow.
- Chris Clark finally began his senior season and did so in style with 14 catches for 165 yards and a TD. Highlights from the game are on his Hudl page.
- Darian Roseboro had seven tackles as a defensive lineman. Oh, and 186 yards and four TDs as a jumbo running back. Sadly, no highlights of this yet.
After dispatching De La Salle on Friday, Malzone attended Saturday's game along with fellow commits Brian Cole, Jon Runyan Jr., and Mike Weber, and according to TomVH he's "confident" that group—and the other commits—will stick with Michigan. At least one anonymous uncommitted target, on the other hand, is reevaluating his stance on the Wolverines after Saturday's debacle ($):
One prospect who has been hearing from Michigan said the season has impacted how he feels about the Wolverines. He has had second thoughts about his interest, not just because of the wins and losses, but because of what he has seen on the field.
Of note: Tom mentioned specifically that 2015 five-star WDE Keisean Lucier-South and 2016 four-star OT Ben Bredeson haven't changed their opinion of U-M, though KLS attached a disconcerting "yet" to his statement.
[Hit THE JUMP for updates on a pair of 2015 targets, Brian Cole's early enrollment plans, yet another school interested in flipping Chris Clark, and more.]
2015 Updates: Jalen Bates, Asmar Bilal
The prospect who's been considered Michigan's backup plan should they miss out on Lucier-South, three-star LA DE Jalen Bates, is announcing his decision on Friday, per Scout's BJ Thompson ($):
"Yes sir, my plan is to announce my decision Friday for homecoming," Bates stated. "We get out of school early for the homecoming parade around 1pm. After the parade, I plan to make my announcement in our high school gym with the final school's hats, ESPN style. I will have three hats for sure, maybe another; Arizona State, Mississippi State and [Louisiana-Lafayette]."
Gonna go out on a limb and assume he's not going to Michigan.
The Wolverines will have a little more time, on the other hand, to convince four-star OLB Asmar Bilal to choose Michigan over Notre Dame, per Scout's Anna Hickey ($):
"Yeah, I've been thinking about that Stanford vs. Notre Dame game," Bilal said. "I'm just going to see if I'm available. I just really want to go out to both colleges and see a game for each. I'm still looking for that (Michigan) game I'll attend."
For Bilal, who once considered making a decision before the start of his senior year, now deems it necessary to experience each college in person one more time.
"I won't make a decision until I've seem them both (again)," Bilal said.
Optimism here mostly resides on the Notre Dame end of things, as you'd probably expect.
Etc.
Brian Cole received his Under Armour All-American jersey last week, and it gave The Wolverine's Brandon Brown a chance to talk with Cole's father about the four-star athlete's decision to enroll early at Michigan ($):
"It's exciting, it's a good opportunity for him and it was all his decision," Cole Sr. explained. "I told him, 'You only go to high school once, you really have to be sure because you can't get that time back.' We made sure that he was sure first of all.
..."As long as he was fine with it and he was willing to give up the other part of his senior year, we supported him and said, 'We are with you, we'll support whatever you want to do.' His mom and I checked with him a lot to make sure it was what he really wanted to do, but it was a personal decision for him."
Sounds like he's firm in his commitment. Meanwhile, we'll see about Chris Clark, who hasn't made any plans after mentioning the possibility of taking an official visit to another school a few weeks back; he's now receiving overtures from Notre Dame, per Lorenz ($).
Michigan is one of four schools that have stood out to 2016 four-star OT Clark Yarborough for making him "an early priority," per 247's Ryan Bartow ($). Yarborough visited Ann Arbor twice over the summer and plans to return for the Penn State game.