Shavodrick Beaver Joins Kevin Newsome in Wolverines 2009 Class

Texas Rider HS QB Shavodrick Beaver committed to Michigan today joining VA Western Branch HS QB Kevin Newsome in the Wolverines' 2009 QB class.

Beaver, currently a 3* QB in the Rivals 250, is an excellent athlete with a lot of room to improve as a quarterback.  Listed at 6'4 200, Beaver runs in the 4.5 range in the 40 and has a live arm.  His accuracy is questionable but with coaching will almost certainly improve.

A little tidbit about Beaver: he was originally a lock for TCU before Michigan swooped in with an offer.  TCU fans then imploded.  It didn't take long for Beaver to go from TCU lock to Michigan commit.

The verdict on Beaver seems to be that he's incredibly athletic, big and fast with a good arm and room to imrpove.  Coach Rod obviously saw something good here, so I trust his judgement and I expect the 3* rating to improve.

As for Newsome, well he seems to be like Beaver in most ways: big frame (6'3", 213), speed (4.5 40 time) and arm, but everyone seems to be a bit higher on Newsome as a passer.  I also would like to think he's a bit faster overall than Beaver, as Newsome is also a track star at Western Branch.

Newsome is a top 70 player and a top 5 QB at the moment. I wouldn't expect a ton of movement out of him as far as rankings go, unless of course he blows up and destroys everything in his path.

With Beaver's commitment comes a concern, at least for me.  Tate Forcier, who seemed to have us on the short list and even mentioned on Newsome's myspace page that they could wreak havoc ala Leak/Tebow seems to be a long shot now. This disappoints me as Forcier, who's brother Jason was a Wolverine before transferring, is the more polished passer between Newsome, Beaver and himself.  He's not totally out of the question, but a Michigan insider I spoke to thought it would be a huge coup to get 2 of the 3.

At the end of the day, I'm happy with both recruits and it puts me a bit at ease as far as the future of the quarterback position goes.

I'll try to keep updates going as far as recruiting goes, but nothing is guaranteed.