Michigan Football Weekly Recruiting Update: Nov. 24

It has been an exciting past two weeks for Michigan football recruiting, and the upcoming weeks look to be just as fruitful. Sorry I missed last week's update, as I had finals and no time to write anything, but here is what has happened.

In the past week Michigan has filled another of one of their biggest needs of this year, another big recruiting weekend is on the way, a couple of Michigan's prospects have pledged their services elsewhere, and a couple of Michigan targets will announce soon and are expected to go blue.

Other than the Defensive Line, Michigan has had no greater need than at kicker this year, and that was filled as they picked up a kicker on Nov. 13. Brendan Gibbons became the 18th member of the 2009 class and is a great pickup.

Michigan had expressed interest in Gibbons since he attended their camp this summer, but their interest died down when Michigan received a pledge from Anthony Fera. Fera later decommitted and committed to Penn State, as he believed their business school would be much easier to get accepted into.

Gibbons had not been offered yet because he had yet to send out senior film, but Michigan didn't wait a day after receiving it as it showed Gibbons hitting field goals from 60, 61, and 65 yards. Gibbons is ranked as the seventh-best kicker in this class and should be consistent for the Wolverines for the next four years. 

Gibbons was not the only one to pledge his services in these past two weeks to the maize & blue, as Pearlie Graves became the 19th member of this class last Wednesday. For more information on Graves, check out my article.

Michigan's final recruiting weekend is just around the corner as the Wolverines will host over half a dozen recruits on Dec. 6. Taylor Lewan, Mywan Jackson, Angelo Hadley, Donovan Tate, Jamall Patterson, Fitzgerald Touissant, Isaiah Bell, and William Campbell will all be in town for their officials as Michigan basketball will take on Duke.

This weekend will be key as current pledges Touissant and Bell will have a chance to work on the others. Campbell will be key as he is a five-star defensive tackle from Detroit who was Michigan's first pledge of 2009, but he later decommited because his mother said she wouldn't mind if he went somewhere further from home, and Campbell wished to explore other options.

Campbell has already visited Alabama and loved it and has another visit scheduled for Miami. This will be Michigan's last chance to keep him in-state as he is set to announce at the Army All-American game.

Michigan was not the only team to receive some commitments the past couple weeks, and a couple were Michigan targets. Two South Carolina prospects pledged their services elsewhere, as OT Chris Bonds and S D.J. Swearinger committed to Alabama and South Carolina respectively.

Michigan may add a couple more to their class this week as Lauderhill (Fla.) Plantation High School teammates Vladimir Emilien and Josh Robinson are set to announce soon.

Vlad was supposed to announce Sunday afternoon but will now announce early Monday morning. He is deciding between Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Stanford, although sources close to him say it is down to Michigan and Wisconsin and is considered a heavy Michigan lean.

Robinson, meanwhile, will announce Sunday and is deciding between South Florida, Florida International, Central Florida, and Michigan. Robinson has stated in the past that he would like to stay in-state but last night stated that that would not weigh into his decision.

That's all for this week. I will only be continuing this for two more weeks as recruiting tends to die down in middle to late December. A couple weeks before signing day in February I will pick it up again, as recruiting gets hottest then.