Football Recruiting: The Class of 2010, Skill Player Edition

Same drill as before, this time with the skill players. I define skill players as Quarterbacks, Running Backs, Wide Receivers, Defensive Backs and Athletes, of which there are none according to the signing day announcement made by Butch Jones himself..

Deven Drane – DB – 5’11’ 180 – Plantation, Florida – Plantation – 40; 4.5

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Drane will be playing on the corner for the Bearcats. He has the build to be a boundary corner and I think that is where he will wind up playing. He has adequate height for a corner at 5’11’ but has the ideal build for the position. Plays with very high hips which is not ideal for a DB, but he does have fantastic ball skills. Hails from Broward County in Florida, where they play a very high level of Football. UC took 5 defensive backs in this class and it is hard to guess where in the secondary each will wind up. Drane is one of the most versatile and can play either corner position or free safety. Is a willing and able tackler in run support.

Jorian Hudson – DB – 6’3″ 175 – Cincinnati – Roger Bacon – 40; 4.5

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Hudson is a big rangy athlete. He could potentially play at corner but I think he is better suited at safety because of his size. By the time he is done at UC he could move down to linebacker as well. He has the frame to play at 225 to 230 if the coaches wish to put him in that position. He is not nearly as polished as his team mate Solomon Tentman is but there is a ton of upside based on sheer athletic ability. It will be up the coaches to find a home for him though.

Demitri Beal – DB – 5’10” 170 – Hollywood, Florida – Chaminade Madonna – 40; N/A

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I really do not know much about Beal. He doesn’t have videos posted on either rivals or scout. There is nothing to be found on youtube either. His physical numbers look good, but there is only so much info that can be gleaned from numbers on paper. I don’t want to make a judgment on a kid I haven’t seen so until he gets on campus so I can watch one of the practices before they head to higher ground, or read a practice report at the very least I will leave the matter alone.

Adrian Witty – DB – 5’9″ 175 – Deerfield Beach, Florida – Deerfield Beach – 40; N/A

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Witty is an interesting story,similar in some respects to Rueben Johnson last year. Witty was a member of the 2009 class for Michigan. Most Wolverine fans regarded him as something of a throw in. The proverbial offer one kid so that he can convince his better more talented friend to come here too situation. In this case the more coveted prospect was Denard Robinson, the sans shoelaces speedster. Witty is a good player in his own right, but he was injured for his Junior year of high school, by far the most important year for any recruit. He was an academic casualty of the NCAA Clearinghouse in the fall, but he passed muster in January with the NCAA, but was unable to gain admission to Michigan. He is listed as a safety on scout, but he will almost certainly be a corner here. I think that he is a very talented kid, but will be a special teams player for the first few years in Clifton before he get a chance to start. He is also a hell of dresser in case you were interested. As a former Michigan signee mgoblog has more info on Witty than I do.

Arryn Chenault – DB – 6’1″ 190 – Fairfield, Ohio – Fairfield – 40; 4.51

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Chenault was the best DB prospect in the area last year. He was one of the guys that I thought were imperative to hang onto during the coaching change. Illinois, Michigan State and Indiana took very strong runs at him when Kelly departed for Notre Dame. I think that of the defensive backs in this class Chenault is the only one that you can just pencil in at a position, Free Safety in his case, and just leave him there for the remaining 4 years. Ohio Varsity has him as the number 4 ranked safety in the state this past year. He reminds me of Dominic Ross. Physical player, very good at tracking down ball carriers, quick to identify and disrupt routes in man coverage, plays the ball very well in the air. The most likely Freshman to make an impact in the secondary this season. Video here.

Montrel Robinson – WR – 6’0″ 190 – Lanthrup Village, Michigan – Southfield-Lanthrup – 40; 4.5

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Robinson is one of the few recruits who followed Butch Jones over from Central Michigan. That act in and of itself tends to result in slight groans from fans. However I do think that Robinson has BCS athletic ability. He can compete for playing time down the line at one of the outside receiver positions. In high school he played in a flexbone offense. As such his opportunities to show his ability as a pass catcher were few and far between. They lined Robinson up at the following positions at various points in time; B-Back (FB), Wingback, Tight End, WR, Slot and finally as a wildcat QB. He was clearly the best athlete on his team and they moved him around to take advantage of that. However it is going to take him some time to learn the position. I could be wrong but I think it will be very difficult for him to crack to two deep before his Junior year. Best candidate for a red shirt year among the receivers.

Anthony McClung – WR – 6’0″ 160 – Indianapolis, Indiana – Pike – 40; 4.4

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Very, very, very quick player. As we all know by now Butch Jones is a purveyor of the spread offense, and every spread offense needs a Wes Welker. McClung has the potential to do just that. Is a smallish, exceedingly quick receiver who runs good routes and has good hands. Also in this offense Jones likes to get his receivers involved in the running game and McClung looks well suited to do just that, despite weighing in at just 160 pounds. He does need to put some weight on, but I wouldn’t expect him to exceed 180 pounds at any point in his time at UC. For some added value he can also be a threat in the return game. McClung had Louisville and West Virginia make runs at him, but Jones got Anthony in the end. A sneaky good get.

Dyjuan Lewis – WR – 6’2″ 187 – Indianapolis, Indiana – Pike – 40; 4.5

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Arguably the best recruit in program history. For starters he is a phenomenal athlete, he can do just about anything he wants on the Football field.Prototypical downfield threat, but also adept working underneath coverage on drags and what not. Dyjuan is faster than he is quick, but still runs good routes and gets in and out of breaks easily. Very smooth runner, a true two stepper. Good with the ball in his hands, doesn’t avoid contact running after the catch. Physical player, good stalk blocker on the perimeter. Great body control on jump balls honed from playing basketball, more on that latter. Has a chance to come in and compete for the 4th WR position right away. Although with the depth this team has at WR I wouldn’t mind using a red shirt year on him with Armon Binns and Vidal Hazelton both graduating after this year opening up a ton of balls to be caught in 2011.

For a more personal view of just how explosive an athlete Lewis is watch this. And this. And this. Dyjuan is number 1 in the horrendous imitation of the terrible Wizards alternate jersey.

Kenbrell Thompkins – WR – 6’2″ 185 – Torrance, California – El Camino Community College – 40; 4.4

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The top JUCO WR in this class. In this cycle he signed with Tennessee and planned to enroll in January but when Lane Kiffen took the job with The Men of Troy Thompkins reevaluated his situation and opened it back up picking UC in March. Thompkins is another explosive athlete in this wide receiver group. He is probably the best of the bunch in terms of athleticism. I have not made my admiration of Thompkins much of a secret. As a receiver Thompkins has it all, great hands, good speed, he runs good routes, is elusive in the open field. Can’t ask for much more than that. I can ask for Tennessee to release him from his LOI so he can gain eligability for the fall. But that is a wait and see situation.

Cody Kater – QB – 6’4″ 195 – Montague, Michigan – Montague – 40; N/A

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Very cerebral player. Does not have an abundance of physical gifts but maximizes what he does have. Butch Jones has shown his penchant for using his quarterbacks as power runners in a spread attack. He did it quite often with Dan LeFevour at Central Michigan, odds are quite good that he will do it quite a bit this year with Zach Collaros. Kater is perfectly suited for that role. He is a solid 200 pounds right now and has the potential to play at 230 or 240 pounds. The level of competition he faced as not the greatest so that is of some cause for concern. Another thing I don’t like is his throwing motion, which is almost a 3/4 delivery and I think is a major contributing factor to the lack of velocity on his throws. Cody seems to throw every ball with touch, even when trying to force a ball into a tight window. He can defiantly contribute to a BCS program, but he is going to need a couple of years to mature, and an overhaul of his throwing motion.

Benton “Munchie” Legaux – QB – 6’4″ 185 – New Orleans, Louisiana – Edna Karr – 40; 4.7

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This was hands down the most out of nowhere development in the last week or so before signing day. For most of the recruiting process Munchie Legaux was a commit to the University of Colorado. He was in attendance at the Sugar Bowl and that is where his interest in UC first began to develop, so it’s good to know that the crowd at the Sugar Bowl had a positive effect on something. Butch Jones made contact with him shortly after officially taking the reigns, and eventually got him to come to Clifton. I like him quite a bit as a player. While Cody Kater will draw comparisons to Dan LeFevour because of the similar builds coming out of high school. The nearest analog I can find for Munchie is Dennis Dixon when he was coming out of San Leandro California. Dixon was a much more coveted prospect than Legaux was, but the playing styles are quite similar.