This Week's Obsession: Fruits of the Swarm

At any moment Ace could be forced to write a post on any of them. [Rapai]

The Question:

Seth: Which of the recent camp commits (Metellus, Viramontes, McKeon, Weaver, Richardson, Dytarious, Evans, Enis) are you most excited about?

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Responses:

Alex Cook: I feel like I have to pick Dytarious Johnson here. First of all, his name is Dytarious, which puts him in the 99th percentile as far as awesome names go, and you can't really discount the value that brings. Secondly, he's rangy and he hits hard, the type of hits where the ball-carrier has no chance of gaining any yards after contact, but he's still able to run really well for a guy his size -- as far as modern-day back seven prospects go, you need to have guys that can hit and run, not just one or another. Harbaugh seems to be loading up on position-less guys who have really good physical skills and attributes, with the hope that he'll find a spot for them somewhere. Johnson will find a spot.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that he was also the prospect that created an epic freakout on Alabama's SB Nation site, Roll Bama Roll. Accusations of cheating is one (hilarious) thing, but saying that these camps aren't for the good of the kids is something that's somehow more ludicrous. Add in the latent suspicion that the only reason we support these camps is because Saban doesn't, and Dytarious's commitment has made more waves than any former 2* I can remember.

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David Nasternak: ​I will go with Victor Viramontes. It has become clear that Harbaugh is looking for ​generic football players, instead of more specialized skill-specific athletes. When you can play quarterback and linebacker, you are definitely just a football player! That appears to be what Viramontes can do...not to mention that he is also listed as a dual-threat QB (GT offer to play QB accentuates that). Which is a little insane (hmmmm, that sounds familiar).

Viramontes was transported onto the planet SMSB Alpha 3, where an alien race made entirely of football coaches forced him to prove mankind's worthiness through a series of strenuous physical and mental tests. Captain Viramontes, of course, represented homo sapiens exquisitely.

After reading different reports on his abilities, it seems that Victor could end almost anywhere on the field. Obviously, he has some talents under center, played linebacker, even read about potential at safety, and given all of that -and his build- I wouldn't rule out some sort of 'blocky/catchy' sort of position. Maybe even in the Owen Marecic sort of role?

I think what excites me most about the whole Viramontes situation is that Harbaugh loves and craves players who are versatile and just want to find a way onto the field. In order to do this, an athlete must have quite the work ethic and a high football IQ...qualities that are reflective of Harbaugh himself. Also, knowledge of different positions paired with varied athletic skills gives the coaching staff flexibility in adding wrinkles to different play packages. Something else that is quint-essential Harbaugh.

Viramontes may blow up and become a star at some point which would obviously be ideal; however, it seems that his baseline is still a hard-working, versatile football dude who exemplifies the type of player that Harbaugh can mold into a team success.

[Jump for some differences of opinion, I hope]

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Brian: I am also going with Victor Viramontes. When taken as a whole his name exceeds "Dytarious." "Dytarious Johnson" is pretty good. "Victor Viramontes" sounds like Ricardo Montalban's mortal enemy, which makes him more or less Captain Kirk. That's a damn name right there. 

And you know me: spread zealot. Of course I'm going to go for the 220-pound ham-blaster of a quarterback. The success of glorified fullback spread QBs (Cardale Jones, Tim Tebow, even Blake Bell situationally) provides a high-durability model for 11-on-11 run games. Structured correctly, your offense lets your QB blast out short yardage in unfair situations and uses him mostly as a passer. When he is deployed as a runner, the impact is often devastating out of proportion to his raw running ability. Viramontes has a very fun highlight tape in which he does a lot of things that are hard to defend because of the dual threat he provides.

If it doesn't work out, whatever. Viramontes can play linebacker or H-back and Michigan can turn to one of its other 53 scholarship quarterbacks. If it does work out... Captain Kirk, man. It's a good gamble. It says good things about Harbaugh's flexibility when it comes to QBs--not that it was much in doubt. And it implies an offense that may kick all kinds of conventional ass but will not eschew screwing with you with spread stuff as well.

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Ace: I really like the Viramontes and Johnson pickups as well as Sean McKeon, but I'm going with Chris Evans here. His athleticism and versatility are apparent on his highlights, and he compiled those highlights against the top competition Indiana has to offer—Kiante Enis may have the more eye-popping numbers, but those came in one of Indiana's smallest classifications.

Evans has the type of fluid athleticism that could make him an impact player as a running back (unlikely, given the class and Harbaugh's preference for bigger backs), slot receiver, cornerback, or return man. I know it's a little boring to pick to highest-ranked guy out of this group, but if I had to pick the camp commit most likely to be a solid starter, it's Evans; with his combination of speed, agility, balance, and hands, he's going to be a playmaker.

(All of that said, I can hardly contain my excitement for Vicious Vic, sweatband enthusiast and destroyer of safeties.)

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Seth: You guys jumped all over the Vicious Vic I thought would be so clever about when I asked the question. When I did that two-parter on Harbaugh quarterback recruits going back to Western Ky I noticed the standard for a class was a 70% passer headliner and linebackerish dual-threat who put up monster stats. Viramontes is the new epitome of the latter.

Maybe there's something to be said for cashing in on an NFL coach plus the Michigan name recognition to enter the sweepstakes for national elites, but if Harbaugh likes him, right off that is almost a better endorsement than any single site rating him a 4-star. We've left out the fact that he had all the right schools interested him for another position of need. If he can slot right into a third such position besides, and has plenty of room left to grown into a body that can already do this:

(thanks Ace)

…I just fall down.

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Ace: Seth's surprise about our collective love of Vicious Vic may help explain some past Draftageddon decisions...

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Seth: Maybe the other guys should bear a mention because there's a method in all the madness. Gil and Metellus could end up somewhere between SS and either OLB position. If the job they've given Peppers is a permanent thing for this defense there's playing time available for a spacebacker, a more linebackey version of hybrid space player. Weaver projects to TE or DE, i.e. four potential starting positions. Evans can play RB, slot, or any kind of defensive back, and Enis could be a north/south back or safety, or fill out into something larger.

As for Richardson, find a defense that has success against the spread and it invariably will have a cornerback who can set the edge of a defense and take on tall WRs. Todd Howard put this on Facebook last week...

And captioned it "Apparently this is what corners look like now" with an emoji of exasperation. The film has me worried about his backpedaling, but I'd be happy to take one of these a year.