Commits #9 and #10

Another weekend in the books and another pair of recruits at the same position decide in favor of Michigan.  I love this crazy trend but it sure is strange.  The pair this time comes from another position of huge need in this class, defensive end.  Hopefully the next pair will be at defensive tackle.

The first to drop on Saturday was Farmington Hills Harrison's Mario Ojemudia (6'3" 215).  He joins his teammate, TE Devin Funchess, as a Michigan commit from a program historically prone to send their kids to East Lansing.  Here is his Rivals profile and here is his highlight reel.  Another Junior year reel:

Mario obviously needs to add some weight to play DE at the next level and needs to get stronger as well, but he shows excellent quickness and very good speed for a DE.  Scout lists Ojemudia as a 4-star and the #17 DT(?) in the country.  Rivals rankings come out this week so we'll see then what they think.

Pharaoh Brown became the second commit of the day on Saturday as the Lyndhurst, OH native gave his pledge to Brady Hoke.  Brown stands 6'6" and is also pretty slender at 220 pounds.  Rivals profile.

You will notice form his film that he is an unusual combination of a DE and QB!  Even if you're not the type of person that can get much from watching film, the fact that he was also the QB should tell you something about his athleticism.  Scout lists Brown as a 3-star and the #45 DE in the country.  Defensively, I think Brown looks to have pretty decent instincts and a lot of raw ability.  Like Ojemudia, he needs to add weight and strength to be able to go to battle with Big Ten offensive linemen.

I think a redshirt year may be in order for both of these guys, but then again the depth chart is pretty shallow at the DE spot.  The good news is they have plenty of time to get bigger and stronger before they hit campus.  These two guys are a very good start at the DE position for this class.  I've been seeing more and more class projections from people that think Michigan needs to have four DEs in this class but I think one more will do with the number of scholarships available in this class.  I would like that last spot to go to rumored long time Michigan lean Chris Wormley from Toledo.  That is one kid I want in this class badly.

Getting a couple of commits at the DE position was huge at this point as that is a position of major need.  There should be at least 3 more OL in the class, at least 2 DT, a QB, a RB, a WR or two, a corner, and a safety.  That's still comes out to about 20 or so for the class as a whole.  I intend to post an updated class projection in the next few days as well as a look at the initial Rivals rankings that come out starting tomorrow.  Stay tuned and Go Blue.