GBMWolverine: Michigan Football Recruiting — 2013 Defensive Line Recruiting in the Midwest

Posted at 4:00pm — 3/8/2012

GBMWolverine: Michigan Football Recruiting — 2013 Defensive Line Recruiting in the Midwest

Big 10 recruiters must be singing the song “Where have all the defensive linemen gone” in the 2013 class. In the Rivals 100, in Big 10 territory (including PA), there are a total of 0 defensive ends and 0 defensive tackles – contrasted with 5 offensive linemen. The numbers exactly the same on 247 – 0 DE, 0 DT, and 5 OL.

This means for Hoke, Hecklinski and crew they’ll have to focus outside of their normal fertile Mid-West recruiting grounds for highly defensive line rated talent. Yes in other parts of the country there are defensive line players with a mutual “Michigan loves you” and “I love Michigan” stance, but as we know from the 2012 recruiting wars, the further from AA, the less likely Michigan is to get a commitment and LOI.

Guys like Josh Garnett and Alex Kozan play the mating dance, but go elsewhere. In the past 2 years Michigan did get 1 recruit each year from California, and the prior Hoke, Ferrigno contacts there seem to help. So the summary of 2013 defensive line candidates begins there.

Eddie Vanderdoes

The recruiting services disagree on his position, Rivals says he’s a DE whereas 247 says DT. Regardless, he’s a 6’4 285 lb defensive lineman from Placer HS in Auburn, CA . Arguably he’s the best DL on the West Coast. On Rivals he’s their 21st ranked player whereas on247 he’s #42. Either way, a darn good prospect and one with Michigan interests.

No official visit date is set.

His early offer list is impressive and includes Alabama, Nebraska, Cal, Penn State, Notre Dame, Washington, and Michigan. Being recruited by Dan Ferrigno. A Northern California kid, may be tough to overcome proximity advantages of Cal or Washington, although he seemed impressed with his Nick Saban call.

In high school he wears a winged helmet – let’s hope this continues for 4 years.

Henry Poggi

Clearly a DT, at 6’3 250 lbs he’s #43 on Rivals and #66 on 247.

Poggi is from Baltimore, MD and attends the Gilman School. So far he has 19 offers including: Alabama, Auburn, Stanford, Ohio State, and Michigan.

He’s getting some personal coaching – dad Biff is his head coach and older brother Sam s his DL coach.

Projects as a 3-technique DT .

Was unofficially at Michigan for the Purdue game. Academics are important, so UM has a decent shot. Being recruited by Curt Mallory.

Montravius Adams

Another clear DT at 6’3 290 lbs, Montravius is from Dooly County High School in Vienna, GA.

He might really be a tough sell since Michigan’s last Georgia recruit was Carlos Brown in 2006. He’s very highly rated, the #7 overall player on 247, and #33 on Rivals.

As one would expect, his offers are impressive and include: USC, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, and Michigan. If UM can get him to visit, who knows maybe he’d fall in love with Michigan.

I think he’d look great lined up next to Pipkens and then let’s see how many times Wisconsin runs the ball in a row!

Greg Webb

The # 102 recruit on 247 and #78 on Rivals, Greg is 6’2 290 lbs DT from Timber Creek High School in Sicklerville, NJ.

Greg has over 25 offers including:
Penn State, Ohio State, Rutgers, Oklahoma, Michigan State, and Michigan.

Michigan has not had a recruit from New Jersey since Anthony LaLota in 2009.

It would be good to reestablish some recruiting traction there since the Garden State annually produces surprisingly good high school talent.

Would like a package deal with school friend and 3-star 6’4 225 lb DE Dejaun Drennon who also has a Michigan offer.

Being recruited by Curt Mallory.

Michael Hill

A Rivals #70 and 247 # 197.

Michael is a 6’3 315 lb DT from Pendleton HS, in Pendleton SC.

As the #2 recruit in South Carolina, Michael has 8 offers including Michigan.

Seems most interested in southern schools like Clemson, South Carolina, and Georgia Tech.

May be a difficult sell for Michigan, but they did get Quinton Washington from SC in 2009.

Rod Crayton

The Scout #70 recruit, unranked 4-star on Rivals and 3-star on 247.

Rod is a 6’1 285 lbs DT from Dadeville High, in Dadeville, AL.

In 2 years of high school football Rod has 288 tackles and 22 sacks!

He has 9 offers including Michigan, and so far UM is the only northern school.

Visited Michigan in February.

Being recruited by Jerry Montgomery.

Seems like an LSU lean, but still awaiting offers from in-state Alabama and Auburn.

Darius Latham

Finally, a Midwest defensive line recruit.

Darius is 6’5 285 lb DT from North Central High in Indianapolis, IN.

He’s got 12 offers including Florida, Auburn, Michigan State, Iowa, and Michigan. Darius is being recruited by Curt Mallory.

On 247 he’s listed as an offensive tackle and their #57 overall recruit.

On Rivals, he’s an unranked 4-star DL.

If Darius really wants to play defense, Michigan should have a punchers chance.

GBMWolverine Defensive Line Recruiting Recap

So there you have it, 7 DT recruits with Michigan offers, and only 1 in Big 10 territory.

Kenton Gibbs

All have solid offers and all seem likely to take their time before committing. Given that Michigan has over 50% of their 2013 class committed, the staff can spend a lot of time showing these guys love. I would very much like to see UM take 2 DT recruits, on for 1-technique (a la Mike Martin) and on 3-technique (a al Van Bergen).

I think Latham as the 1 and Vanderdoes as the 3 would look great, although Poggi at 3 would not be bad either. We’ll see how this plays out in the coming months.

The DT discussion is not complete without 2 very long-shot dark horse recruits.

Kenton Gibbs is 6’2 290 lb DT from Cass Tech, basically a Michigan feeder High School with Thomas Wilcher (early 1980’s UM RB) as their head coach.

Kenton is unrated among the recruiting boards and currently has 4 MAC offers.

If he comes to camp and plays well, his size alone will open some eyes.

Wyatt Shallman

The other dark horse DT possibility is current commit Wyatt Shallman.

Yes, yes, I know you are all thinking Shallman at 6’3 255 lbs is the next coming of Aaron Shea (who can forget the 3 block play against Wisconsin) or Toby Gerhart of recent Stanford fame.

But Shallman is as good a DL as he is a running back. If he gains weight or doesn’t have the quickness required for H-back/FB/TB, he’d be an excellent 3-technique DL.

He’s a very good athlete as evidenced in his rankings by the Rivals/247/Scout services.

I believe the Michigan coaches have promised him a shot at H-back, but if that doesn’t go well don’t be surprised by a move to DL.

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Written by GBMWolverine Staff — Ray

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