If I have said it once, I have said it a thousand times: If Brady Hoke wrote a Michigan football rumors article
every week under the pen-name Grady Hoke, he would be wrong 20% of the time.
Those of you who have read "Three and Out" can surely to relate to what I am referring to. John Bacon discusses 2010 signing day and how there are several kids that have told Rich Rodriguez and other coaches "I'm coming" only to flip on them last minute and sign with another school...
Well, looks like we have another case of this happening in fall 2011 for the 2012 class. I took a little heat for Dan O'Brien switching up from what he told current Michigan players and fellow 2012 recruits in early September - "I'm coming to Michigan." When O'Brien wasn't 'feeling the love' from Michigan coaches down the stretch, he took his talents to Knoxville and committed to Tennessee. Now, it seems that this same occurrence is happening again.
Zack Banner: "For those of you not familiar with recruiting, Banner is an OL from Washington state is listed as the #38 player in the nation by Rivals.com and has strong potential to be listed as a 5 star player in the next set of rankings. O’Brien is a DT from Michigan and is listed as the $154 player nationally by Rivals."
4-star OL from Washington Zach Banner has seemingly switched up his intentions from a month ago when he told several teammates, his coach and a fellow west-coast OL recruit that he was going to commit to Michigan before his season was over. After getting several email tips about this over the weekend, I went back to my sources to see if anything had changed recently with Banner . . . well, it has. The source spoke to a couple of folks close to Banner over the weekend and it looks like although he has a special place in his heart for Michigan, Banner will ultimately decide between Oklahoma, USC or Washington. For all intents and purposes, he is no longer viewing Michigan as a viable option.
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There doesn't seem to be much that was done by Michigan coaches to sway his mind negatively, in fact, we have been told that the staff and the current players/recruits were the ones that swayed him so close to verbally committing in the first place. It seemed like a perfect match, with the 6'9" lineman fitting a glaring need and he and his mother enjoying everything about their Michigan experience for the Sept. 10 Notre Dame game. But, it looks like it the intangibles of a GREAT visit to Ann Arbor won't get the job done in securing Banner.
Where does Michigan go from here?
We have been told by a source close to the situation that Michigan is going to put the full court press on Rivals #24 player overall and $5 OL Josh Garnett. Garnett, a fellow Washington resident, is visiting for the OSU 
game on November 26. Garnett is one I would put at less than 50% chance to come to Michigan based on what I know today. But, the fact that he is visiting during Thanksgiving weekend and will get the best sales push from Borges, Mattison and Hoke means that anything is possible.
A guy that has been put on the back burner that may reappear in Michigan's radar is Chicago OL Jordan Diamond. As I have said before, Diamond is not a guy that the coaches, nor I, consider a high ceiling talent, but as Hoke mentioned in today's press conference, Oline talent is at an all time low and at the end of the day, Michigan needs bodies. If Michigan strikes out with Garnett, I would say it is very likely that Diamond ends up blue.
Now, on to other recruiting notes:
The fact that CA WR Jordan Payton didn't commit as expected last Tuesday is not a bad thing. Payton returned from a visit to Notre Dame the previous weekend and needed time to think things through. We are told by a source at Payton's HS that he has had time to review all options and the source says that all signs are that Payton pledges to Michigan in the next few weeks.
Ohio RB Bri'onte Dunn is a guy that I am still hearing good things on. Although he was actively rooting for OSU while attending the OSU vs. Wisconsin game Saturday, some close to Dunn think that their is too much negativity surrounding OSU for Dunn to not eventually switch up and go to Michigan. There are 3 factors that I believe will end up deciding where Dunn ends up:
1. Who will coach OSU? If Fickell, count Dunn out.
2. Will OSU lose 5+ games? If they do, don't expect him to go to OSU.
3. Will OSU get a 2 year bowl ban? This is the 'deal breaker'. If it is one year, he may not give too much though about this in his decision, but if Ohio State gets 2 year bowl ban ala USC, Dunn will take his talents to Ann Arbor.
In my informed opinion, 2 of the 3 factors above need to go against OSU and Dunn will end up wearing maize and blue next year.
What's the latest on the Michigan team?
Where do we start? The receivers are getting a tad frustrated with the lack of a passing game with Denard Robinson behind center and 2 of the starters have actively lobbied OC Al Borges to get Devin Gardner 10+ down field passes in upcoming games. We saw more of Devin than we have in previous weeks against Purdue, and expect that to continue. While Devin hasn't had the best results throwing the ball in games, he has performed well enough in practice with the 1's to deserve the snaps he has gotten and will continue to get behind center for Michigan.
Guys that I expect to see more of in the next four weeks on offense:
Brandon Moore - not due to Koger, but as the OC wants to get 2 TE sets into the game plan more often.
Stephen Hopkins - given that he is now the #1 FB, I expect the team to run 3X more FB 
sets this week vs. Iowa than they have in any other game in 2011. A FB led i-form is what Hoke and Borges have been wanting to run, though they haven't had anyone step up until Hopkins fully picked up the playbook in the past few weeks.
Desmond Morgan and Frank Clark - these freshman practice all stars have finally gotten 100% healthy and got a chance to shine on Saturday, albeit in limited roles. If I was predicting, which I am, I would call for Morgan to be starting LB and Clarke to be starting DE by Illinois game.
Devin Gardner - I have been told, as mentioned above, that Gardner is going to throw more, and might be splitting passing attempts with Denard by seasons end.
Prediction for this weeks game?
While I expect Iowa to fully commit all resources to stopping Denard Robinson running at ALL costs, I don't think they will be able to do much against the suddenly stout Michigan defense. It's early in the week, and I can change this if I get new info, but my early call is Michigan 20 Iowa 10.
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