[Makes Roadrunner Noises]
meep meep
The above are highlights from Michigan commit O'Maury Samuels's first three games of the 2016 season, courtesy of Scout's Greg Biggins, who also provided an updated evaluation:
Looking at Samuels early season game film, it's obvious he's a man among boys at this level. He's just simply bigger, stronger and faster than everyone he's going up against and all of his physical tools project very well to the college level.
He has a great running back frame at 5-foot-10, 190 pounds, strong and compact. He runs with great balance and has the ability to take a hit, spin off a defender and keep going or just run right through a would be tackler. He has a very strong lower body, is a decisive runner with no wasted motion and can hit full speed after just a few strides.
In addition to turning the entire population of New Mexico into a band of Wile E. Coyotes, Samuels apparently displayed a "little more wiggle" than he did as a junior.
Biggins had little to report on the recruiting front, which is great news. Samuels said this summer that he planned to look around on some visits but there isn't even a clear picture of who's in pursuit of Michigan at this point. Even when accounting for competition level, it's obvious why M got in on him early, and that looks like it'll pay off.
Along those lines, cornerback commit Benjamin St-Juste will take an official visit to Virginia Tech in November. Given he said this to VT's Scout site, they don't sound like much of a threat:
“Through the year after I committed, I didn’t get any more offers,” he said. “I got one more from Virginia Tech and interest from Rutgers, but there’s no other team that’s offering me something better or bigger than Michigan. I don’t feel the pressure to decommit or anything. I only saw Michigan, so I need to take other visits.”
While you never know with recruiting, St-Juste doesn't sound like a serious flight risk.
[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]
Irving-Bey Torn Between M, MSU
247's Steve Wiltfong has the latest on four-star Flint DL Deron Irving-Bey, who seems genuinely torn between the two in-state powers:
Irving-Bey attended Michigan’s Barbecue at the Big House at the end of summer and was back for the season opener.
“I love the community, I love the vibe they give out,” Irving-Bey said. “The players there are real cool Most of all it was a great feeling that I could be there for the next four or five years. Same as Michigan State.
“I don’t know who to choose right now.”
Irving-Bey has an official visit set for Tennessee in October; he has no other visits planned. The momentum here appears to favor Michigan—MSU got on him earlier and jumped out to a lead, and M has evened it up with their two recent visits. He'll feature on this site next week; Adam and Dave are scouting his game this evening.
Singleton: Bad News, Possibly More Bad News
This is a bummer: four-star Paramus Catholic OLB Drew Singleton is out for the season with a torn ACL, one that he may have actually sustained back in the spring:
Singleton’s knee injury may have originated in the spring when he was competing in the high jump for the Paramus Catholic track team. He raised eyebrows when he missed the Paladins’ last quad scrimmage against Timber Creek, Brick Memorial and Woodrow Wilson. But at the time, the injury was deemed nothing serious.
Sabella said after Singleton didn’t play against DePaul last week that “knees were tricky,” and that “right now, there is a lot of uncertainty” before announcing the linebacker would undergo an MRI.
That would make his Big House performance against St. Frances, in which Adam called him a "souped-up electric carving knife," even more impressive than it first appeared.
I'm going to preface this part by saying we've heard this before and Michigan insiders have steadfastly maintained they'll be surprised, if not downright shocked, if Singleton doesn't end up in Ann Arbor. With that said, here's what he told 247's Ryan Bartow:
Clemson and Michigan are back at it fighting over four-star Drew Singleton (Paramus, N.J./Catholic).
Singleton said Clemson still has the slight edge. He said he’s still hearing from Michigan, Auburn, Alabama, Pitt, Cal and Tennessee.
Singleton still plans to take all five of his official visits before making his public choice on National Signing Day.
As we learned with Artavis Scott and thankfully didn't have to learn again with Rashan Gary, you can never rule out Clemson. Until guys like Sam Webb and Steve Lorenz change their tune on Singleton, though, I'm remaining cautiously optimistic.
Official Visit Updates: Holmes Reschedules, Tufele Set
Five-star ATH Darnay Holmes was initially set to take his official visit to Ann Arbor this weekend, but his father told Scout's Brandon Huffman he's pushing all his officials back, including a previously planned trip to Nebraska:
"Darnay is not taking any officials until November," said his father, Darick. "We want him to take them when a lot of those games count more."
While it would've been nice to have Holmes in town for Colorado, as long as he reschedules this doesn't seem like it'll affect Michigan's chances.
Meanwhile, one of M's top overall targets has set his OV:
Hearing South Jordan, Utah 4-star DT Jay Tufele to visit #Michigan 10/22 for Illinois game https://t.co/AgxX3ydLXKpic.twitter.com/L44ms4NkX9
— Sam Webb (@SamWebb77) September 16, 2016
Ohio State and Utah join M in Tufele's top group.
Sam also posted on the Victors Board that the official visit list for Wisconsin is adding some big names, including one previously thought to be off the board: five-star KY OT Jedrick Wills, who recently looked like he was down to Alabama and Kentucky. Allen Trieu noted that M is "creeping back in" to Wills's recruitment.
The outlook isn't so good for four-star DT Aubrey Solomon, the one-time M commit. 247's Kipp Adams ran down his list of official visits, and at this point Michigan isn't even sure to get one:
Expect Alabama, Clemson, and Georgia to get official visits. Florida, Auburn, Ohio State, and Michigan are programs with a chance to land one of the final two official visits at this time.
This isn't exactly a surprise: Michigan has picked up pursuit of other DTs in the wake of Solomon's decommitment; they don't seem to expect him back.
Well, Sure, That Sounds Nice
Scout's Greg Biggins provides an evaluation of 2018 NV QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson, M's top target at the position, and mentions a top group of sorts:
Physically, he has all the tools you could want, is strong mechanically, a natural leader, tough and has the ability to hurt a defense with his arm or his legs. He looks like a young Donovan McNabb in terms of his frame, skill set and playing style and it should be a lot of fun to watch him take over the Gorman offense next fall.
On the recruiting front, Thompson-Robinson said he would like to make a May decision and said the main schools he's talking with are the Arizona State Sun Devils, Colorado Buffaloes, Michigan Wolverines, UCLA Bruins and UNLV Rebels.
Michigan fans my age and older would be very, very cool with having a young McNabb on their side; M and UCLA are thought to be the main contenders from that group.
Etc.
Four-star IMG OC Cesar Ruiz will announce his commitment on December 18th. With Alabama out of the picture, Michigan has the inside track.
Wiltfong on the disproportionate attention paid to Michigan's decommitments; turns out this Harbaugh guy gets a lot of headlines.
Brian updated the 2017 recruiting board last week.