Michigan Wolverines' Recruiting: "The Silly Season"

In golf they call the tournaments in between the Tour Championship and the first tournament of the new year "the Silly Season."

The reason is the tournaments don't count as PGA Tour wins, but there is a lot of money at stake and some of the best players in the world travel around the world, play a few rounds, and pocket big dollars.

Since the Michigan football team doesn't have to worry about preparing for a bowl game for the second season in a row, their second "Silly Season" is underway in Ann Arbor, and the coaches are getting a quick jump on things.

State of the Union: Michigan has 21/22 players committed for the 2010 class. The reason I have 21/22 is the question mark around Adrian Witty. He is going to enroll in January and there are some open questions if he can count towards the 2009 or 2010 class.

The usual limit per year is 25 scholarships (some programs bring in more kids if they have attrition and fall below the 85 scholarship limit).

All 21/22 seem solidly committed at this point, but there is a lot of time between now and signing day, so things can change quickly, like we learned last year.

Some recent updates:

•Florida four-star CB Rashard Knight missed his flight for his visit for the Ohio State game. He plans to reschedule.

•Johnathan Hankins has an interesting ride in his recruitment. He plays a position of need for the Wolverines, plays in state at Detroit Southeastern HS, and has offers from the likes of Florida, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and others. But no offer from the Wolverines, until this week.

He has visited Virginia and Florida and was in the Swamp for the the Florida State game and really enjoyed it. Now, the Michigan coaches are giving him the full court press and visiting him at his high school today. All along the Wolverine coaches have said they would re-evaluate his offer after the season was over. It's over and they have now offered.

•Mgoblog recruiting guru Tom VH says that Torrian Wilson, an offensive lineman from Miami and current Stanford commit, is planning an official Ann Arbor visit. Torrian was a strong Michigan lean until he visited Stanford and committed. We will see what happens after the Michigan visit.

•Tony Jefferson, one of the top rated safeties in the country from California, is planning to decide between USC, Oklahoma, and Michigan. ESPN reported it was between USC and OK, but Tom VH heard from Tony that Michigan was still in the running and equal to USC and OU.

If I had to guess, USC has to be in the driver's seat for Tony, who has already backed out of commitments with UCLA and Stanford.

•There have been reports that Jatashun "Big Tex" Beachum is solid with Arkansas, but many insiders are saying that Michigan is still in the race.

•There are reports that four-star safety from California Sean Parker will make his visit to Ann Arbor this weekend. He is considering Michigan, USC, Washington, Oregon, and Cal.

•California running back Dillon Baxter is staying with his USC commitment.

•Super QB Devin Gardner's team lost in the State finals and also does not plan on enrolling at Michigan in January.

•Tony Grimes and Clarence Murphy are still high on Michigan: "Michigan sticks out for both of us," Grimes said. "There, we feel we can come in and play as true freshmen."