Michigan Wolverines Football: Breaking Down the 2009 Class

With the commitment of DE Anthony Lalota, the pending commitment of DE Craig Roh, all the junk with DT Will Campbell and the Kevin Newsome drama, Michigan's 2009 recruiting class has changed it's look a bit. I'm going to break down the current crop of commits, what impact they may have as Wolverines and what lies ahead for the rest of recruiting.

Quarterbacks

CA Tate Forcier & TX Shavodrick Beaver. Note: Beaver may or may not have gained an extra star for having the best name in the class.  I'll have to look into this.

So, ok, first thing's first. Kevin Newsome is gone.  Big deal? Maybe.  He's got a ton of talent and could potentially be Donovan McNabb.  Then again, he has to work on his mechanics and accuracy so he could end up being Tavares Jackson.  He left because Rich Rod's style of offense isn't an NFL machine. Torches and pitch-forks and all that.

So where does his departure leave Michigan? Well, thankfully, Tate Forcier was still hot and heavy on M while Newsome was still in house.  Not longer after big Kev's departure, Tate signed on.  We lost a potential super-duper star, but we gained a very mobile, extremely accurate quarterback who is not much of a step down.  That worked fine.

Beaver, meanwhile, is Newsome lite.  Smaller than Newsome, the Beav is still quick as hell and has tons of potential. Hopefully, coaching will do him wonders.

M is still recruiting four-star FL Eugene Smith, apparently.  I don't see M landing him with two QB's in tow, but stranger things have happened. Would rather see them land an OL or a high-quality DB or LB, but it wouldn't be terrible.

So what does this mean in terms of on-field stuff? Well, with the somewhat emergence of Steven Threet as a legitimate collegiate quarterback, Force can presumably come in next year, redshirt and learn the offense before hopefully starting in 2010 with the Beav improving and keeping Force and Threet on their toes.

Running back/Slot

FL Jeremy Gallon, FL Vincent Smith, OH Fitzgerald Toussant, MI Teric Jones

So, apparently, Rich Rod loves these little dreaded, electron-sized guys who can disappear at the snap of your fingers. See: Odoms, Martavious; Shaw, Michael.  Gallon & Smith are your standard "three-stars because I could squish them with my shoe" guys.  Not much is known about Teric other than his name is awesome and that he and Beav should be close pals.

Then there's Toussant. Originally thought of as a throw-in of sorts with Liberty OH teammate Isaiah Bell (more on him later), Toussant has been showing signs of making a huge climb up the rankings ladder.  Signs like 843 yards rushing in four games. Oh, and touchdowns. Like, a lot of them. If he maintains this pace, he should be a high four-star, potentially a five. So, that's pretty good, right?

Michigan is always looking at tiny, electron sized dreadheads, so you never know who could be next. I would hope that this is it and the attention goes elsewhere. 

All could be contributors either in the slot or in a back-by-committee role, with "Slayer of Worlds" Fitzgerald Toussant as a potential star. Depth isn't an issue here with these guys being added to McGuffie, Shaw, etc.  Feeling good here.

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