Commits #15 and #16

It's been an excellent day for Michigan recruiting.  The trend of commits coming in pairs continues, but not at the same position this time.  The first one came as a surprise to most, if not all, outside of the coaching staff.  Tom Strobel, a DE from Mentor High in Ohio, made his commitment public through a press release to several media outlets.  Rivals profile.  Tom is a four star to both Rivals and Scout, with the former ranking him as the #231 overall prospect in the country and the latter tabbing him as the 24th best DE in the land.  Strobel committed to Michigan over some pretty impressive other offers from the likes of Ohio State, Nebraska, Pitt, MSU, Stanford, West Virginia, and Wisconsin among others. 

In looking at his film, the first thing that jumps out at me is his balance and athleticism.  He is able to change direction quickly and is athletic enough to stay with Quarterbacks and Running Backs spinning and juking to get away from him.  He also shows decent speed for a kid his size running down a few plays from the back side.  He has been categorized as a WDE, but I see him more as a SDE with the potential to bulk up and even slide inside to a three-tech down the road if that is what the coaches want him to do.  Ultimately, I think he probably redshirts and stays at SDE. 

I like this pickup and you certainly don't turn away a kid with the talent of Tom Strobel, but things are getting awfully tight at the DE position.  It will be very interesting to see how this plays out with several top end kids at the position still very high on Michigan and at least three possibly four guys already committed at the position (the fourth would be Godin depending on if you see him as a DE or DT).  At some point you have to be full at that spot and turn guys away, but if you hypothetically have Chris Wormley, Se'Von Pittman, Adolphus Washington, and Ifeadi Odenigbo all wanting to commit, what do you do?  And then what happens if a guy like a Noah Spence decides on signing day he wants to come?  These are wonderful problems to have, no doubt, but problems nonetheless. 

I have been hearing some lately chime in with the opinion that some take towards the NFL Draft, namely take the best available player and don't worry so much about what your needs are.  There is something to that, but you can't just blindly ignore blatant holes that must be filled on your football team.  Otherwise, you end up with a million DE's and no one to play DT.  With the poor numbers at DT recruiting the last few years, there is only going to be four guys (Campbell, Washington, Talbott, and Ash) to fill those two spots in 2012.  Campbell has yet to prove he can play consistently, Washington is a former OG that is still learning the position, and Talbott and Ash are unknowns that weren't all that highly rated as recruits.  I'm not saying those four guys aren't going to be great players, but it rarely turns out that way and injuries are too common to boot.  I've rambled longer than I intended about this.  I'm sure the coaches have gone through this scenario and have a plan in mind.  They know what they are doing.

The second commit of the day came right on the heels of the first when California OT Erik Magnuson gave his pledge while on his unofficial visit.  Magnuson is also a four star to both sites.  Rivals thinks very highly of him, ranking him the #34 overall prospect at any position.  Scout lists him as the #16 OT prospect nationally.  Rivals profile.  This is a very big pickup for the Wolverines as Magnuson is a very highly rated prospect at a position of great need.  This is the type of kid that can be plugged in at left tackle in a couple of years and could potentially have several All Big Ten+ caliber seasons. 

Erik had offers from everyone in the Pac-12 (still weird to type that) except USC, Boise St., Miami, and ND.  Pretty solid offer sheet. 

Some things I take away from Erik's film are his athleticism, footwork, and mean streak are all ideal in what you look for in your prototypical LT.  He can pull and get to the second and third level in his run blocking.  He looks to have very good technique in his pass pro for a high school kid.  The mean streak may be his best asset though.  That's something you can't teach.  Either you have that kind of temperment and mentality or you don't and all the best OL have it.  This kid has it too.

You would expect that as an incoming freshman Erik would take a redshirt year to get bigger and stronger, and that would be ideal, but Erik has expressed a desire to enroll early and there could be an opportunity for him to crack the two deep after a good spring showing.  He seems to have the reputation as a hard worker so he might be one of the few that could pull that off.  Either way, this kid shows every promise of being a very good one.

Going forward

As usual, I am working off the idea that this will be a class of 25.  So, that means there are nine spots left.  There MUST be two DT's included in there, even if you consider Godin a DT like I do.  That leaves seven spots.  The staff has said they want to take a QB in every class and I would think RB is probably the same deal.  That leaves five.  I'm thinking two more OL, a WR or two, and a true FS.  The RB spot will probably be reserved for a homerun type kid like Dunn or Marshall.  Otherwise I think they could use that scholarship on a FB like E.J. Fatu or Sione Houma. 

Solid day today for the Maize and Blue.  Two highly regarded commits at two positions of need.  This coaching staff continues to knock it out of the park as shown by the initial ESPN team recruiting rankings that currently have the Wolverines at #6.  And that was before the two guys today.  Keep up the great work coaches and Go Blue.