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It all comes down to common sense. It has never been said that raising children should be easy.
It has never been said that raising children should be easy.
Raising children should be easy. There I said it.
Our children are being exposed to the trash on the internet at younger and younger ages, and it is time to stop. Their bodies grow to unhealthy weights while their moral compasses shrivel. We must restrict their access to technology until they are old enough to handle it. Thankfully, our dual-party system has come together to propose government filtering of the internet in the form of SOPA. This will help parents who are too tech-illiterate to shield their kids from the dangers of the internet.
Your Brother,
The children should be learning from Church and sports coaches that their innocence may be preserved from the sinful intarwebs.
How much tech can a tech kid take, if a tech kid can take tech?
Well they would take as much tech as a tech kid takes, if a tech kid can take tech!
I'm not terribly worried. My kid is 8. She's a gamer. She loves getting email from grandma. And if she spends too much time in front of the screen, she eventually will get up and find a friend to play with. She's had her own PC since she was 3. She also plays softball, soccer, and chess. Generally, she only resorts to the tv or computer when she can't find a friend. She's an only child, so this is somewhat of a concern, but so far, hasn't been a problem.
She's had her own PC since she was 3. She also plays softball, soccer, and chess.
And I think that is the silver bullet right there. It's not so much a case of "technology is baaaaadddd!" but rather all things are good in moderation. This means it is excellent for kids to have some exposure to technology as this is a wonderful way to learn logical thinking and problem solving, but these two things alone do not make a person. Children need social interaction, and this means spending time with parents, siblings or other children and interacting with them. This will give them many other valuable life skills that they need.
When I was young, I was programming at the age of ten, but at the same time, my parents in their wisdom limited my time in front of the PC (okay, Amiga at the time) and I spent a lot of time with my father, with neighbourhood kids and doing simple things like taking the dog for a walk - or my favorite passtime back then, reading. I am very glad that I had access to technology from that young age, it has gave me the foundation that I have built my career on, but I am also very grateful that I wasn't allowed to utterly sink into my own little PC world. I see a lot of programmers or other IT professionals who are much better at what they do than I would be, but they lack the social skills to be able to truly thrive in the workplace. I think that due to these shortcomings many of these folks are doomed to live out the stereotypes that shows like the IT Crowd love to mock (in a nice way).
Children need social interaction
That depends on whether they want it or not (and, as far as I know, social interaction isn't absolutely necessary for anyone). "Valuable" is subjective.
That depends on whether they want it or not (and, as far as I know, social interaction isn't absolutely necessary for anyone). "Valuable" is subjective.
Being that humans are natually social beings (things like "cabin fever" erupt without it), it is essential.
Now, the question is whether face to face interaction is necessary to be social, or one can be social through technology (email, social sites, video/voice/text chat) remains to be answered. I'm guessing the answer is "everything in moderation". Some face to face is essential, because there will always be face to face interactions - even if it's just with the mailman for a package, and there may be times one is thrust into needing to interact, so proper behaviour and expectations in such situations is a necessity. (E.g., if you desire to have a family. Or maybe you need to ask for help with some task, or broke down at the side of the street and need to call a tow truck).
Those who don't seek social interaction are known as recluse, and there's a reason why there's a negative connotation associated with the term.
Hell, the act of reading and writing posts on
You're right it depends, do you want the kid to be socially crippled or not. It's getting harder and harder to find jobs that don't require one to play well with others. Hell, even engineers, those bastions of social interaction, are being expected to work on teams for most projects.
I don't personally like it, but it's reality, if you've kids that are socially inept their earning power and quality of life is going to reflect that.
I think that was NewWorldDan's point at the end, that [technology] hasn't been a problem for his daughter. Perhaps you couldn't self regulate as a child and it's good that your parents' intervened, but that isn't true for everyone.
I must wonder why those other programmers are the way they are and if it really is because of what you assume? For some, sure. They've got their computer and they don't need anything else. For others, perhaps they had no other choice? It does happen. Perhaps their parents pushed t
And if she spends too much time in front of the screen, she eventually will get up and find a friend to play with.
That's so sad... I hope that eventually she finds a friend.
As a techie and a parent with ADD I am a little more concerned. There are strong reasons to think that TV time is linked to ADD, and I don't see why computers would be different.
Indeed I have been using redshift on my Linux laptop now for a bit over a week and have found my own ADD greatly helped by the software's color shifting, suggesting to me that the color balance (too much blue in particular) may be partly to blame. We already know this affects other parts of the human brain and can affect sleep. H
My cousin is 7. She too has had a computer of her own since she was 3 (a used pink iMac at the time). She too is a young gamer. She has access to an Xbox 360 and a Wii, and has her own DS and Alienware M11x laptop. I take particular pride in that latter device, having come up with the idea and played an instrumental role in convincing the grandparents we share, other cousins, my parents, my own siblings, etc. to contribute. She plays Sims 2 and Sims 3 as could be expected for a girl her age, but she also pl
My single concern is that there's lots of research that says the best thing kids can do to improve success later on in life is what is known as "undirected play" (a.k.a. recess). I doubt the play has to be physical in nature, but I suspect to see the benefits you want activities that allow kids to decide on their own (or as a group) who to play with, how to play, where to play, and what the rules are. These are not things that today's games are generally good at, ironically and especially true in the 'kids' games genres.
Actually, being online helped my child *with Autism*...
The computer provides a safe and effective way for him to interact with other people and stimulate his mind. Having access to a computer at all times since he was about 3 has been a huge help to him and is one of the reason he is now diagnosed as "no longer needing assistance". It has taught him to spell well and helped him with communication skills which was an area in which he was seriously affected.
The people behind this research seem to have an agenda to push and the article does not examine any links between autism and technology at all - it just says technology causes it...
I'm surprised the magazine behind the OP printed these views at all. I guess even PC magazines have reached "Tabloid" status in the UK.
I'll second this.
Autism is about someone hyper-focusing on some subset of the world "out of proportion to its value". Notice the sly difference between employable expert and that! If you hyper-focus on tax depreciation theory, you are Employable. If you hyper-focus on the Misfits of Science show and know which actors sadly passed early afterward, you are labeled Autistic.
Wikipedia might just be the single greatest Anti-Autism device, because it tends to "go up levels" as well as answer the questions. So 2 h
I think "don't worry, it's all OK" is a bigger problem than panic among geeks right now. Television has had an effect on at least two generations of children: look at the difference in the kind of academic rigor that could be expected of children before the television age with those after. All the use of these media technologies during core developmental years is essentially a huge, uncontrolled experiment on children.
If you look at the people who succeed in our society, it's generally those whose parents k
If you look at the people who succeed in our society, it's generally those whose parents kept them away from a lot of this technology in those core years.
[citation required]. I would love to see ANY data on this, whatsoever. Are you talking about people like Bill Gates, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Steve Wozniak, or.. ANYBODY? They were immensely successful, and hey, they all used computers at a young age! So, I call shenanigans, sir.
I think "don't worry, it's all OK" is a bigger problem than panic among geeks right now. Television has had an effect on at least two generations of children: look at the difference in the kind of academic rigor that could be expected of children before the television age with those after.
Yeah, kids nowadays, they've never heard of "post hoc ergo propter hoc".
back in my days in school, the books referred to Edward Heath as British PM... this was the Eighties. Just a TAD out of date.
I'd really be interested in hearing your "ADHD doesn't exist" argument. Because you've obviously never dealt with anyone with it and obviously don't have it yourself.
I find the suggestion that computer time 'causes' ADHD laughable because it's a difference in brain chemistry. Amphetamines calm us down. I met a guy that when he was 'up' would take a small hit of meth and sit down and paint. Alcohol makes me hyper. Amphetamines settle me down. Long before there was a computer in our house my mom knew she had to watch what she gave me.
The main argument against ADHD is "Well duh. I can obviously pay attention to stuff I like." Yes. I can easily app attention to something I like. I can go into a piece of code or a project and come out 12 hours later having not moved, eaten or done anything but what I threw my self into. The problem with the ADHD brain is you can't relax.
Since this is
Cleaning the house doesn't get done because my mind jumps like that. "Oh, this be longs in the garage" Go to the garage. Start to put it away and find in the garage that needs to go somewhere. Eventually bouncing around the entire house doing 'nothing' and putting away small stuff.
If I'm with my girlfriend and we're talking about something in the car I can be 5-10 subjects away when I break the silence a minute later and say something and get some odd looks. Because she assumes we're still talking about the one thing we were talking about or something very similar. Hell in the time it's taken me to finally write this post I've opened 20 Fark tabs, read those topics. Started responses in those threads. Opened a few XBMC Forum threads. Put those in another window. Checked my bank statements and still have 2 dozen tabs open. Put the Chili in the fridge. Found something in the fridge I wanted to reheat. Put it in the microwave. Got distracted waiting for it to finish and started laundry.
When I'm on my meds it's a noticeable difference. I'll start in one corner of a room and knock it out like it's nothing. I'll write posts in one response. I can sit down and do ONE thing to completion or near completion. And I didn't have a computer in the house until High School. I made it through college all on my own. I finally went to the family doctor at 27 and got on Welbutrin. It's not an amphetamine and they're not really sure why it works for ADHD, but I can tell you it's made a big difference in my life at home and at work.
So fuck you and everyone else who thinks its made up. Why not go around the old folks home and yell at the alzheimers patients about their 'made up disease'
Gah. If ever there's something that deserves +5, Informative, it is this. The only thing worse than the people who think some 5 year old kid running around during recess has ADHD are the people who think that everyone is exactly like they are, and ADHD is just a made-up "disease".
I support the above post.
I have a six year old son with ADHD, and sadly I had no choice but to put him on medication. Do I like it? No, of course not. Was it the right choice? I definitely believe so. He was failing PREP. Yes
It's actually genetic. My brother has ADD too. He's a successful masseuse now because it's a single task, in a quiet room, that can keep his attention. Don't ever ask him to hold a ladder for you because he'll wander off to look at a butterfly by the time you get to the top (yep, this actually happened when he was 21).
Autism seems to be related, though they don't know how. I have an autistic child too, and that's a whole other ballgame. But just because you are lucky enough to have a "typical" brain which can't even CONCEIVE of these different mental pathways, doesn't mean that these conditions don't exist. They can't conceive of what it's like for you either. All they know is that people are incredibly intolerant of what is - to them - perfectly normal.
Having said all that, I have to be very careful of their technology input, especially since autistic minds can struggle to differentiate from what they see on TV and what is actually real. They probably watch more TV and play more computer games than they should, but to be honest that's better for them than a mother having a nervous breakdown. I am strict about what they are allowed to watch though. Most children's TV is completely out. Ben 10? Forget it. Documentaries? Go for your life. They love things like Dirty Jobs and Mythbusters. My six year old probably beat you playing Starcraft 2 last night.
Speaking as an adult who wasn't diagnosed with or treated for "nonexistent" ADHD until 39, in no small part because his parents bought into the absolutely bullshit line of crap you're spouting when his teachers pointed it out at age six:
Fuck you.
Your other points may be valid, but your straw man is so deeply offensive that I can't possibly absorb them.
Kids will take as much tech as they can hide in their baggy pants without being caught
ADHD: The new normal.
What we're seeing are the effects of something that no generation in the history of mankind has ever had to deal with: children who can legitimately depend on other devices to do things that heretofore were the exclusive domain of the well-trained brain. No generation has ever grown up with this level of technology integrated into their daily lives.
I disagree, the human brain is still a lot faster than these computerized gadgets are. Compare calculating the trajectory of a flying object in your head versus on a computer and you'll see what I mean. Our brains do it almost instantaneously in cases where we are likely to need to do it and yet it takes a computer a lot longer to get you the same information.
Now, if you work for NASA or the DoD and are calculating fast moving objects over long distances then technology has the edge, but for most people it'
Things like keeping memory? Like a diary? Or things like helping on calculation? Like math combined with that diary? Keeping track of time? Like a stone calendar?
Came-on, we are the species that makes tools (to a huge dregree - a few others make tools to a limited degree). We always lived with tools, always used them to help what we were doing. We are not humans without "tech".
On the occasions where my 4 year old is somewhere that he watches TV, the way he looks and acts while doing it just makes my heart sink.
He doesn't move. He is completely fixated on the screen. He needs me to make several attempts before his attention is diverted from the screen. He can look away breifly to talk to you but is trying to glance back at the screen.
We have no TV service and no occasion for him to watch TV. We do have a small handful of movies we let him watch occasionally.
One thing that he enjoys and that we let him do (usually one or two days a week) is watch the "Mighty Machines" movies, some of which you can stream off netflix. These are at least modestly interesting, as he is very interested in machines of all types.
Another thing we do together is watch youtube videos of things hes interested in. Whether its trains or rockets or consturction equipment or car racing -- theres always something your child is interested in and usually a youtube video of it. But that is a two-person activity -- you and your child can ask questions about what you are watching, pause, replay, etc.
The best thing you can do for your kids is read to them constantly, in an interactive way From an early age. Ask them what things are in books they know. Ask them more questions about the world their books create.
Listen to the questions they ask. Never tell them to shut up when they are asking questions.
When you say "I don't know", make sure you control your tone. Your tone should say "I don't know the answer to that, but now that you mention it, I'm curious too!" instead of "your question isn't important enough to answer"
My 4 year old is an excellent reader, quite good at adding, counting by intervals, subtraction, etc. He likes to play "Angry Birds" on my wifes phone, although we limit that quite heavily. He knows how to login to my desktop machine, start up mspaint, start up wordpad, etc. He has some "Jumpstart" edu-games that he can play by himself.
We limit how much computer time he gets --- even when it is educational software.
I don't think anything (Besides normal TV) is intrinsically bad for kids in reasonable amounts. What parents should NOT do is use technology to babysit. What parents and kids benefit from is a variety of different experiences, all in reasonable duration and frequency.
On the occasions where my 4 year old is somewhere that he watches TV, the way he looks and acts while doing it just makes my heart sink. He doesn't move. He is completely fixated on the screen. He needs me to make several attempts before his attention is diverted from the screen. He can look away breifly to talk to you but is trying to glance back at the screen.
I've heard that argument before, and I don't get it. So he's paying attention to the TV. Why is that bad? What worries you? I'll have that same level of focus in whatever it is that I'm truly engaged in. If you show up while I'm in my recliner reading a book that I'm particularly into, you might have to stand in front of me and call my name once or twice before my brain recognizes that you're there, trying to get my attention. Same thing if I'm soldering something, I tend to really focus when I'm doin
I understand what you're saying, and have observed that in my kid. Our solution (your mileage may vary) is to watch nothing in real time. Everything is prerecorded in some fashion. This helps all of us, but especially the kid, to make the TV our slave rather than being a slave to the tv. So at a very early age, when I need her attention, kid will instinctively reach out for the stop button so she can pay attention to me without missing any of the dialog. There is no such thing as "wait until the show's over" at our house. We leave when it's time to leave, and the kid picks up where she left off when we get back. (Right now she's going through all of Criminal Minds.)
As to whether this is healthier, I have no idea. On my way into work I listen to the news in real time, and I find myself reaching for a non-existent rewind button if I missed something interesting. (Like emergency routes out of the city...) But for us, TV is something we watch when we want to watch it, and for as long as we want to watch it, and no more than that. If any of us has to take a potty break, or get a refill, or make a comment longer than five seconds, the show gets paused. Since we don't watch commercials, the amount of time in front of the tv is still less than were it live, even with pauses.
What this does do is really mess up network planning. Tactics like Sandwitching an unpopular show between two winners to drum up viewership doesn't work if you only watch what you want to watch and nothing else. The concept of "prime time" and peak weekdays and dualing timeslots and even networks lose their meaning. I don't watch much TV anyway, but after programming the appliance, I couldn't even identify the network for most of the shows. (That's what IMDB is for.) Although I do follow directors and cast because they might do something else that's interesting.
I strongly suspect that the conventional network TV industry is basically running on inertia right now. I think the "tv tray" mentality, where you sit back in your barcolounger and watch whatever is on until it's time to go to bed, will die with the boomer generation. (Of which I am one, but I'm a geek, and we're usually on the leading edge of things technological.) I heard recently that some shows are going directly to Netflix now, without ever having been on network TV, and I suspect that something like it is the wave of the future.
In other words, technology finds a way, if you let it.
He doesn't move. He is completely fixated on the screen. He needs me to make several attempts before his attention is diverted from the screen. He can look away breifly to talk to you but is trying to glance back at the screen.
We have no TV service and no occasion for him to watch TV. We do have a small handful of movies we let him watch occasionally.
These two things could be related. I realize you're not a strict "no watching anything" household, but if TV is rare enough to him it will be supremely interesting when it is there.
Not speaking as a parent here, so take with as much salt as one needs, but I suspect giving a child something else to be interested in is just as important as enforcing moderation in things like TV, games, whatnot. Sounds like you do that. I also commend the attention you're plainly giving your child.
A lot of parents seem to just
Are today's children facing technology overload, or simply gearing themselves up for life in a digital world? This article examines the effects of exposing children to technology at a young age. Researchers warn of the potential dangers of too much 'screen time,' pointing to alarming (some say scaremongering) research that suggests over-exposure leads to an increased risk of developing autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Educators, meanwhile, highlight how technology can improve interaction between child and parent, and provide essential life skills, such as enhanced communication and multitasking. Parents are left with conflicting messages — but how much technology is too much technology for children?
Depends on the kind of technology. Are we are talking educational videos and assembly kits under adult supervision? Are we talking strapping kids to a chair and letting them watch Baby Einstein for 6 hours at a time? Are we comparing "Keeping Up with the Trashdashians" exposure to technology?
Assuming we are talking technology with a pedagogical purpose, children can take as much as you teach them they can handle. Raise your expectations in a positive, but disciplined way, and that's what you will get out
I'm a living example of both the rewards of getting kids into tech early, and the dangers of using the computer a a baby sitter. I learned to read and do basic maths at the age of 3, from Reader Rabbit, Math Rabbit, Treasure Math Storm, and others; this had me years ahead of my peers when I started school. I developed a strong taste for it, though, to the exclusion of sports. Computer games were just more fun and interesting to me than ball games. Whether or not technology stopped me from being the grea
The first point is that overexposure can be harmful, which is true for just about anything.
The second point is that it can improve interaction/life/communication skills when used in an educational environment. That can just as easily be at home as in school, depending on how involved the parent is with the child.
The question isn't how much tech the child is exposed to, it's how the tech is used.
The right amount of water is necessary for life. Too much can be harmful. This is hardly old news, but sometimes we need reminding.
Geesh. Was supposed to be "this is hardly news"
This. I never touch paper media anymore. I do read Kindle books; study Wikipedia as well as a number of other primary and secondary sources; read, listen to, and watch the news from several different regions and countries; stay more current in my hobbies than magazines ever let me; and even subscribe to a few traditionally dead-tree magazines in electronic format because I like their editorial style. I'm considerably more broad than I ever was with paper.
As far as lowering study scores, sure. Studying more
I've always thought that "screen time" is a ridiculous metric for kids. As though watching the Disney Channel, writing C++, playing Halo, and Skyping with friends/family are all the same thing. And it only gets worse as LCD panels become cheaper (and thus more prevalent in our lives). Are we going to count sitting in the family minivan playing with the GPS on the way to school as screen time? How about reading textbooks on the family iPad?
What really matters, of course, is the engagement of the parents to set up, support, and reinforce the environment of their children. I have no doubt that many parents simply hand their child their iPhone to distract them when they're busy with other things. Too many parents don't burden themselves with getting involved in the choices their children make, and then usually regret it later or try to fix it in artificial ways (see: "screen time"). At the same time, there are parents who teach or enable their kids to do great things with technology, like film and edit home movies, or write simple iOS/Android apps, or build simple circuits.
The parents matter. More specifically their time, effort, and creativity matters. Friends, other family, choice of school, and other available resources matter. The "amount of screen time" doesn't matter. Stop worrying about it, and start worrying about the choices that do.
They are scared.
..are living in some sort of F'ing fantasy land!
What I wouldn't have given to have my parents let an Atari 2600, an NES, or an Apple II babysit me. No, instead I had go outside and do chores, do dishes, clean my room, clean everyone else's room, do my homework, finish eating my food, monitor the reactor core, etc. Seriously, In the summer I had to go to bed when it was still light outside (and no, I didn't live in Alaska). Do kids even have bedtimes anymore?
Oh to be left alone by my legal guardians to sit and veg in front of an electronic device... We are chastising these parents?! These parents are heroes!
My wife is a vision therapist. She is seeing lots of kids come in who have trouble reading, playing sports that involve catching, and similar issues. When you're young your brain is really malleable but what it sees is what it expects as normal. When kids' eyes are constantly focussing on small high-resolution screens just a short distance from their faces, their brains consider that normal and adapt to that, meaning the kids have trouble, later on, with easily getting distant images to fuse. It's not like their eyes are crossed, but they do have to work harder, in some cases a lot harder, to maintain distance vision. She gets lots of kids who are considered slow learners or who "just hate reading" and after 12 weeks or so of visual training, suddenly they can catch balls easily, are reading at their grade level, and are enjoying reading.
There is some argument about the overuse of technology, but the bigger issue is how and when it's used. Now, plopping the kid in front of the TV.. generally bad, even if it's so called educational programming. Video games... I'd say so so, as long as the socialization is there. Now, things that make the kid learn more and become engaged in their information and such, not so bad. It's all in the use. Using it as a substitute for something is not going to end well. using it as a supplement for most things, pr
If a kid grows up with concerned active parents who spend signifcant time interacting with her, the screen time will probably not hurt too much. If TV and tech are used as a constant babysitter, then the kid will probably have stunted intellect and social skills.
Russel Bank's latest novel "Lost Memory of Skin" (11 reviews here [bookwormhole.net]) concerns a guy who grew up with no emotional support, fell in internet porn, and found himself in real trouble.
I swear these articles are sometimes just an excuse for people on Slashdot to write posts on how awesome their son or daughter is, how they aren't affected by tech and how amazing their kid is compared to everyone else.
Watching the movie for the 20th time isn't "exposing kids to tech". If you interact with your kids a maximum amount of the time, that's probably better than listening to experts. Experts don't know your kids. Kids are individuals. Observe them and do what works.
My nephew is in a house hold without much tech not to mention he's an outside kind of kid, but when he comes over and uses our computers, he needs to know how to spell to search youtube and stuff.
5 year olds can only handle about 6 pounds of tech, any more and they start dropping it.
provide essential life skills, such as enhanced communication and multitasking
It's rather retarded that the summary calls multitasking an "essential life skill". In my opinion, multitasking is one the worse woes in today's work environment. Kills productivity and quality. Forces people to work longer hours to keep up with the mess, disables them to perform meticulous tasks, causes an immense load of errors, destroys team work because everybody is too busy to pay attention to other team members, and makes people miserable in the end.
The fact that so many bosses find it such an important quality is scaring.
I THINK MAN INVENTED THE CAR by instinct. -- Jack Handley, The New Mexican, 1988.


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The question now becomes, what happens to all that information?
Simple. It gets sold on eBay along with their servers.....
Dang it, I was going to say that...
What? Moo? [radiantempire.com]
Or, if it was like the desktops of a certain teleco that were tossed a couple of years back it all ends up on the curb where you can have it for free!
True story, a buddy of mine was working a few blocks from their office and gives me a "you ain't gonna believe this shit. bring your pickup truck" call, so I go there and there are all these 1.5-30Ghz boxes dumped out on the curb on a Sunday. So I help him load them up and we get them to his place(I of course get to pick out a few for bringing the truck) and hook them up to see if there is an OS on any of them. Not only are they all loaded with XP Pro, complete with the stickers on the side, but they hadn't bothered to wipe a damned thing. Nothing at all. SSN records,CC records, accounts, they just left it all right there on the machines they tossed. They were just lucky they were picked up by a couple of guys interested in the parts and not the data or we could have had an ID theft field day with all that info.
There really should be a hotline or something similar to call to get companies in trouble when they do totally dumbass maneuvers like that. I'd say this was much worse than the morons that left the unencrypted tapes in their Honda, as how many folks have a tape drive? With these all you had to do was plug them in and start copying. It just amazes me how completely careless these companies are with the data they collect.
There really should be a hotline or something similar to call to get companies in trouble when they do totally dumbass maneuvers like that.
Would you have called and had all those machines taken from you as evidence?
This is too bad for a few folks. One of the training companies used extensively by my employer is headquartered in Florida. All of their staff signed up for Clear and said it was either unavailable or pretty much worthless everywhere EXCEPT Orlando. There, seasoned travelers frequently found themselves in line behind hundreds of Disney-vacationing families with little kids, families unused to flying and doing everything wrong while still trying to herd the ankle-biters. It was supposedly a nightmare. For that airport and that airport alone, those guys thought Clear was a godsend.
Everywhere else? Their attitude was...meh.
Doesn't Orlando have self-select back diamond [tsa.gov] lanes? Wouldn't that solve the problem of skipping past the many families that your company was solving using Clear?
Could the TSA's own advances in screening have killed off the company's business model?
Clearly, the gubmint should step in and stop the TSA from getting efficient, frail business models need to be protected, right?
Unfortunately, many people probably follow the Winston Zeddemore philosophy of self-selection:
When someone asks you if you are a god, you say yes.
If you ask someone whether they're an expert or not, many of them will say yes. More importantly, most people will just follow the person in front of them blindly, or go to the shortest line.
I find in my travels that a lot of business travelers consider themselves experts just because they fly a lot. These are the same people who need 6 bins because they have to practically strip naked to get through the metal detector and haven't checked a bag since 1987. If it takes you any more than 30 seconds to a minute to "prep" for the check once you are in everyone's way you are doing it wrong.
One of the best features of being Elite... you only have to wait for a short line of idiots, not the really l
Doesn't Orlando have self-select back diamond lanes?
Yes. And when I flew there last week, in front of the lanes entrance there was a TSA employee directing everyone equally into allo 3 lanes, regardless of the black diamond designation. Many families with cartfulls of luggage and 3-4 kids were sent to the "expert traveler" lane.
Couple that with a local traffic management department that appears to be staffed by either chimpanzees or very small children
It's staffed by small children. The chimpanzees are running the DMV.
I call B.S.
The entire government in California is run by chimpanzees
You're entirely mistaken. Those are bonobos.
All of their staff signed up for Clear and said it was either unavailable or pretty much worthless everywhere EXCEPT Orlando. There, seasoned travelers frequently found themselves in line behind hundreds of Disney-vacationing families [...]
This is the reason I signed up for Clear: I had to stand in line for hours at Orlando.
I used it a few other places, but was never able to bypass huge lines like those at Orlando.
Fly through Tampa. Even on Memorial Day weekend, was less than 10 minute wait through security. And checking a rifle and revolver; 5 minutes. No forms to fill out, just a TSA guy who carries it over to an x-ray system and it's off to checked luggage.
Its the firearms that let you do that... see my other posts in this thread about it...
I'm glad they x-rayed your guns; who knows how many weapons you could have hidden in them!
Yes! Tampa is so much better than Orlando. Hopefully, I'll never have to go back to Florida ever again, but while we were there, it was the go-to airport. Cheaper than JAX, not busy at all, no stupid vacationing families.
As a seasoned traveler, I could have told you that Clear wasn't going anywhere. Forget Orlando - New York on Monday mornings or O'Hare in winter make Orlando look like a walk in the park.
The problem with Clear is that they are not available at more than a couple of gates and terminals at any airport. So, you would end up going to that particular gate or terminal to get through Clear, as opposed to the one you are flying out of. Worse yet is that in some airports, they only have it available to passengers flying a certain airline (e.g. in Cincinnati, you can only go through Clear if you are flying Delta -- most American, US Air and United customers would have to go through good old TSA since the Delta terminal is not connected with any other terminal). Hell, they are not even available at all airports, which sort of defeats the complete purpose for a frequent flier.
Secondly, as a frequent flier, I simply go to the priority access lanes. If you've any kind of airline status, or if you're flying business/first, you get to go through a much shorter line, and do not have to stand behind muggles and grandma with her 500oz hair shampoo. These lines are shorter, and move much faster because seasoned and frequent fliers pack as little as they have to. For example, I can pretty much pack all that I need for a week in a laptop bag, including workout clothes and gym gear, books, emergency snacks etc. Throw in a garment bag and you've plenty of space for a vacation for a month. So, frequent flier lanes are also much faster because these people don't spend their time arguing with TSA to let them take their hair gel or water bottle through.
I must also say that I've seen a remarkable difference in TSA attitudes in the past couple of years. That helps, too.
The problem with Clear is that they are not available at more than a couple of gates and terminals at any airport.
Huh. I'd never heard of them before, and on reading the summary my thought was that the biggest problem with Clear is that they are apparently pioneers in an industry that by all reason and logic should not exist.
I was always amazed that they could put together a program like that for anyone who wanted to pay $200 but couldn't come up with a way to clear flight crews through without doing the whole "scan all your crap in front of the uneducated TSA goons who will then ask you 20 stupid questions about your approach chart holder" thing... (No kidding, one of them once asked me why I was carrying a "giant razor blade".)
I think he's saying the "giant razor blade" was his approach chart holder [lanieraviation.com].
Yeah, you'd think a concealed carry permit would work just as well... fed and state background checks, finger prints, photos, etc.
Not all states conduct a NICS check prior to issuing an LTCH. Not all require photographs.
But now that you mention it, I think I should be able to skip past security by showing a signed off Form 4. I imagine myself walking up to the checkpoint on my way to a shoot, I hold up a supressor and paperwork, they wave me on through.
Well, traveling with a firearm just about lets you do that... I have a buddy who does a lot of work travel. He says his best investment has been the action of a old single shot shotgun.
Puts it in a locking case (about the size of a shaving kit bag), which goes in his luggage, which then gets locked with a *real* lock. Checks in, declares the firearm (since the action is the gun per ATFE), re-locks his luggage, and gets a quick escort thru TSA screening.
The great part is the one time his baggage was "lost"
A single-shot shotgun? Or a single-shot pistol? Based on the shaving kit bag, I'd think it was the latter.
I've heard of professional photographers doing something similar when traveling. They can't take their entire lens and camera collection on the plane with them, so they buy a starter pistol and include it (locked up, of course) with their gear. They don't do it to speed through, but just to be able to trace it, since airport security tracks bags and containers with firearms much more closely.
Sounds like he's traveling with just the receiver of a shotgun, sans barrel and stock. Yeah, would fit in a shaving kit.
OK, got it. That makes sense. I got locked into trying to figure out how to fit a shotgun into most luggage, and missed the part specifying the action.
Of course not. The people running the gates aren't paid to think, they're paid to follow orders blindly. In fact, I suspect that the TSA gives all applicants an IQ test and only hires those who fail it. Now that I come to think of it, it occurs to me that Vogons would be just perfect for the job.
They still have something similar at the new BA Heathrow terminal. If you're a business or 1st class passenger you get your own special lane in the security checks where (presumably - I'm just an economy pleb) the line moves faster (fewer unwashed masses) and maybe the staff are less rude to you. I guess it's just another part of the "aspirational" nature of flying, where you wish you could afford to fly business because it might be a slightly less depressing and dehumanising experience.
The cynic in me says that this is a natural and welcome part of security theatre [theatlantic.com]. Like forcing everybody to rebuy their bottled water every time they fly, this practice seems to have a lot more to do with making companies associated with flight security a pile of money than it does making anybody safe.
I fly through UK airports a lot - admittedly mainly Stansted rather than Heathrow - and I've never had staff be rude to me. They're not all friendly (although some are), but in my experience they are all professional.
All the people who complain about having to buy water make me laugh.
The prohibition is on the liquid, not the container. If you want to have a bottle of water on the plane then carry an empty bottle through security. I've carried reused plastic bottles, Nalgene hiking-type bottles, and even a metal Kleen Kanteen through security without any problems. Once you're through security, find a water fountain and fill up!
Just remember to vent the bottle once on the plane. The pressure changes can leave you with a leaking bottle.
+1 to that. I take an empty nalgene, unscrew it and hold it upside-down as I pass through the metal detector.
I carry an empty bottled water bottle through and do the same thing. It really ticked me off the last time I flew to NY to find that the new NWA terminal at Detroit Metro has no drinking fountains on the way to the gate. I am certain this is on purpose.
Same thing with Kansas City.
Empty bottle verboten. No water fountain.
You could of course, buy a bottle of water on the flight.
Dude, there are no water fountains at UK airports. Yes, I know that sucks. Why do you think I'm bitching about it?
Congratulations, sir, on completely missing the point.
I thought the same thing until an international flight a couple of years ago. I was flying home from Japan and knew the flight would be long and I always get dehydrated when flying, so I brought 4 empty bottles with me. This worked fine at Narita and I was able to fill one of them up for the short first leg of my flight. And it even looked like it would work at the Seoul airport since I was able to fill up all 4 once I was beyond the security checkpoint.
But then it came time to board the airplane and there
I don't know what the japanese airports have, but all I had to do was drop my soft drink onto a scanner and pick it up a couple seconds later. I assume it was some sort of chemical sniffer. Although it could certainly just been a bit of security theatre. I don't know. Slightly difficult to ask, too, when one doesn't speak the language.
Walk through the security check point enjoying my drink, not being hassled, not throwing away a perfectly fine refreshment, not having to take my shoes off to be scanned. And
Well, in just about all airports in the US, passengers flying First, Business or with Frequent Flier Status have separate lanes that are much faster.
Secondly, no one asks you to buy a bottle of water. Carry a water bottle and refill it at a fountain once you are done checking in. It's really not rocket science. Hell, some times it is cheaper to buy a water bottle at an airport store and refill it than buying a new bottle of water.
This isn't the same thing. Priority lines are all over the place and have nothing to do with Clear. You do not have to pay extra to use priority lines.
See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registered_Traveler#Clear [wikipedia.org]
All Your Biometrics are Belong to Us!
Another casualty of the recession's downturn in business travel
When this economy turns around, I hope some sanity remains regarding what business travel is necessary vs. wasteful. So much of the time these business meetings could have been conducted by phone or over the internet.
Unfortunately, "when this economy turns around" is precisely when what is wasteful vs. not will CEASE to be recognized.
It's sad but true, that the 'recovery' we're looking for basically depends on the people who still have lots of money convincing the masses to go ahead and resume wasting theirs on things they really don't need at all.
Well, no. Because that well is pretty much pumped dry. What recovery really requires is that the people who don't have lots of money get more so that they can afford to make more purchases (whether productive or not) beyond the merely necessary.
The truly rich have a lower propensity to spend a
The truly rich have a lower propensity to spend and a higher propensity to invest
Minor quibble, investing is spending, unless their burying their cash in their backyard. Invested money is still doing something, as is all the savings that people have, which actually just a hidden investment where someone else gets the profit.
The problem isn't investing, or spending, its playing financial three card monte, where all these invested funds shuffled to strange services that don't actually DO anything besides shu
Minor quibble, investing is spending
There is a sense of the word "spending" in which investing is "spending", but there is also an important economic distinction between "investing" (or, equivalently, "saving") and "spending", and it is in the sense relevant to that distinction that I was writing.
Invested money is still doing something
Well, yeah. But except in the corner case where actual manufactured goods are purchased for investment value, its doing something very different from the money spent on normal
I agree with you in principle, but I do not consider expedited security in airports to be frivolous.
For those of us who fly often (8 flights in just this month alone), such things definitely have their value if implemented properly.
Also, a lot of companies also pay their employees to subscribe to such services (especially when the employee has to travel a lot).
Yes, I agree with you.
Perhaps I was unclear, but I wasn't saying Clear was frivolous (I was also a user) but rather that flying around for meetings often is. And that it will start back up in earnest when the money is flowing.
You really feel so? I guess it depends on what you do.
Personally, a lot can be achieved in an hour long in-person client interaction than a day long meeting on the phone or over email.
The nuances and the ability to socialize are often lost resulting in an impersonal feel. So, I feel that while some business travel may be unnecessary based on what you do, most probably aren't.
Quick disclaimer - I'm a management consultant, so a lot of what I do involves client interaction.
I use the Clear program and was very disappointed when it was shut down. You're basically paying an annual fee to not wait in line with everyone else. The clear line is a seperate queue that moves very quickly and then they walk you to the front of the normal security screening line. This regularly saved me the time and frustration of traveling with people who are not experienced with the security procedures.
It begs the question: why bother? Which is why I am sure they are having trouble attracting customers.
I travel enough that an expedited security procedure would be helpful. However I can't see *any* value in this program. Apparently, I am not alone.
To me the bigger question is the public good provided in exchange for the line jump.
The biometric data, the retinal scanning, and the background checks or whatever they did over there seemed to be just a way to say "Hey, look at us -- we're helping prevent terrorism by collecting this data and making sure folks getting on the plane are who they say they are." In essence, it was a sham as they just went through the same security check anyway and as long as one is a first-time terrorist that knows what he's d
I looked at the Clear Pass program. It's a waste of money as far as I can tell. Basically, as I understand it, you get to pay $200/yr for....wait for it.....a special line where you can go through the exact same security procedures as the other non clear pass lines.
Especially when most of the people who would be interested in Clear and who would pony up $200 for it are already flying first class, business class, or have some sort of "elite" frequent flyer status...meaning that they can already go to the special lane that jumps them to the front of the security line. When I first heard of Clear, I thought it would qualify you for a reduced amount of screening (maybe keep your shoes on?) When I heard that you get the same screening as everybody else, I knew there was no
I am very glad to see this go. I have always thought that the "trusted" traveler program is unfair and dangerous to everyone's civil liberties. Those who travel frequently should have the go through the same hassle as everyone else, and so will be more likely to complain and get the system fixed for all of us. If frequent traveler are segregated into their own first class lane, they have less incentive to work to change the system, and the rest of the traveling public do not fly enough to care. This is the same reason that racial profiling of any sort is wrong. If society decides that law enforcement needs to inconvenience people, then all people, especially those with the power to effect the decision should have to pay the price, and not just a relatively powerless minority.
Airport security, as a whole, is pretty much worthless, and seems only to serve the purpose of getting people used to law enforcement checkpoints ("papers, please") The one post 9/11/01 change that did matter was the reinforcing of the cockpit doors. Everything else the TSA (or private screeners, before the establishment of the TSA) did, from the banning of drinking water, to the confiscation of Leatherman tools has not done anything to make anyones flights any safer.
I am so glad I decided not to enroll. I am a very regular traveler through the Denver airport and Clear had a very visible presence at the security gates. I was tempted at first but decided against it for 2 reasons:
1) Privacy: When I emailed Clear they stated that they did not share data with the government but they couldn't guarantee they -wouldn't- share data in the future. Clear takes -both- fingerprints and retinal prints. I asked if I could just give the retinal and they said no. While I haven't done a
Priority lines at the airport bug me. First class passengers are not paying me or the airport, the airline is collecting the cash. So why should they get special treatment and make the wait worse for the rest of us? Maybe I should set up a toll booth on my street. Or go to the DMV and set up velvet ropes to one station, and sell the "right" to that quicker line for $50/head.
From this article [findarticles.com] on Oakland's introduction of CLEAR:
"[The] airport began receiving a lot of requests for it, especially from large companies whose employees did a lot of traveling, she said. 'We are responding to customer input, customers saying, 'please, please bring this.'"
In essence, this represents a gift to the business community that the airport authority (themselves generally part of the "business leadership" community at some point in the past or future) cherishes. The theory goes that if you make things easier on businesses, the benefits show up for everyone!
Obviously different folks will have different opinions about this, but this is the theory. The LA Times article linked in the article has a comment's section tha
> Priority lines at the airport bug me. First class passengers are not
> paying me or the airport, the airline is collecting the cash.
Um, what? Your deep discount coach fare is absolutely subsidized by these travelers.
> So why should they get special treatment and make the wait worse for
> the rest of us?
It's very simple. These travelers pay more to the airline. The airline cannot operate without them. The airline pays the airport to fund a separate priority line. The fact that a business traveler
The problem with Clear's model is that there was never any evidence to speak of that the TSA cared about traveler's identities, at least not enough to allow them to bypass any meaningful amount of screening that they would otherwise perform. All the "Clear" screening bypassed, as far as I was ever able to determine, was the no-fly list check. As such the only advantage (unless you had a name that tended to cause false positives on the no-fly list) was that you got to cut the queue. Then you put up with the same removal of shoes, millimeter wave scan, and other indignities and fourth amendment violations as everyone else.
My hope is that some enterprising company steps in and take over Clear's operations. The service is really great.
My hope is that someone knocks a little common-sense into congress and they stop wasting our tax dollars and our time on the TSA so everybody can go back to how things were before they created that cluster-fuck.
The second major change implemented by TSA that was likely the death knell for CLEAR is the new identification rule that went into effect on June 15th, and will beginincreased phase-in over the next 6 months. TSA now requires all tickets to be reserved/purchased in the EXACT full name that is on your government issued ID. For example, if your full legal name on your DL/Passport is Jonathan Quincy Public, but you are known by and go by Jon Public & in the past you bought your ticket for 'Jon Public', that is no longer acceptable, your ticket will now need to be issued to 'Jonathan Quincy Public'.
This doesn't appear to actually be true:
http://www.tsa.gov/what_we_do/layers/secureflight/index.shtm [tsa.gov]
Q. If the name printed on my boarding pass is different than what appears on my government ID, will I still be able to fly?
A. Boarding passes may not always display the exact name you provided when booking your travel. The name you provide when booking your travel is used to perform the watch list matching before a boarding pass is ever issued, so small differences should not impact your travel. Secure Flight is a behind-the-scenes process that TSA and airlines collaborate on to compare the information you provide against government watch lists. The additional data elements that you may be asked to provide, such as date of birth and gender, serve to better differentiate you from individuals on the government watch list.
You should ensure that the name provided when booking your travel matches the government ID that you will use when traveling. However, TSA has built some flexibility into the processes regarding passenger name accuracy. For the near future, small differences between the passenger's ID and the passenger's reservation information, such as the use of a middle initial instead of a full middle name or no middle name/initial at all, should not cause a problem for the passenger. Over time, passengers should strive to obtain consistency between the name on their ID and their travel information.
So eventually, maybe, they'll require it be like you said, but for now, it's not that big a deal.
Which is good, because the DMV made a mess of my middle names on my driver license, and I can't imagine any airline employee duplicating it precisely.
[Bruce] Schneier took from his bag a 12-ounce container labeled "saline solution."
"It's allowed," he said. Medical supplies, such as saline solution for contact-lens cleaning, don't fall under the TSA's three-ounce rule.
"What's allowed?" I asked. "Saline solution, or bottles labeled saline solution?"
"Bottles labeled saline solution. They won't check what's in it, trust me."
They did not check. As we gathered our belongings, Schneier held up the bottle and said to the nearest security officer, "This is okay, right?" "Yep," the officer said. "Just have to put it in the tray."
"Maybe if you lit it on fire, he'd pay attention," I said, risking arrest for making a joke at airport security. (Later, Schneier would carry two bottles labeled saline solution--24 ounces in total--through security. An officer asked him why he needed two bottles. "Two eyes," he said. He was allowed to keep the bottles.)
Well, I thought it was funny.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200811/airport-security/2 [theatlantic.com]
I was very close to signing up for Clear, but it always seemed too expensive for the value. I fly on a monthly basis, I suppose if I flew on a weekly basis I would have signed up already.
It looks like FLO Card [flocard.com] is still going. I wonder whether their operation at certain airports depended on the Clear system being functional though. There are a few other small providers of the Registered Traveler Program [wikipedia.org] besides FLO and Clear. Supposedy the Registered Traveler system is interoperable at these airports [rtconsortium.org].
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Tuesday Recruitin' Throws Up The 'M'
Today's recruiting roundup discusses the Elite 11 and NFTC camps in Columbus, Ty Isaac officially narrowing his field to three, new offers for 2013 and 2014, and more.
Commits Excel in Columbus
Shane Morris, equally adept at deep bombs and photobombs (via)
It was a busy weekend for Michigan commits, as Columbus hosted an Elite 11 regional on Friday followed by a Nike Football Training Camp on Saturday. Shane Morris bounced back from a lackluster performance in April's Dallas Elite 11 regional, taking home MVP honors in the Columbus edition and earning himself a spot in July's Elite 11 finals, which take place in Los Angeles. Morris beat out a field that included Notre Dame commit Malik Zaire, Ohio State commit Jalin Marshall (who will likely play receiver in college), Northwestern commit Matt Alviti, and Purdue commit Danny Etling. Here's 247's Barton Simmons on Morris's performance:
1. Shane Morris, Warren (Mich.) De La Salle – Good luck trying to pin a fear of competing on Shane Morris. Despite his lofty ranking and his early commitment to Michigan, Morris is at seemingly every event he can get to, eager to prove himself. On Friday he did just. He can put loads of velocity on the ball without digging deep, he showed great accuracy throughout the day and he has a smooth and natural composure in the pocket. Morris' performance earned him an invite to the Elite 11 finals this summer.
Every Scout analyst on hand ranked Morris as the top performer, and they singled him out as "most accurate" as well. Rivals's Josh Helmholdt gave his take in the Freep:
"Over the past couple weeks Morris has been preparing to show he has more than just the big arm, and he proved that on Friday," said Rivals.com Midwest Recruiting Analyst Josh Helmholdt. "The opposite of overthrowing is trying to aim the ball, but Morris showed improved accuracy and spun the ball better while varying his speeds and trajectory."
Michigan's star quarterback recruit wasn't the only commit to earn MVP honors over the weekend, however, as David Dawson (OL MVP) and Mike McCray (LB MVP) took home hardware from the NFTC. In fact, Michigan and Ohio State pledges dominated Saturday's event—of the seven players to earn invites to The Opening in Oregon, all were either future Wolverines (Dawson, McCray, Morris, and Taco Charlton) or Buckeyes (Marshall, Cam Burrows, and Billy Price).
Dawson in particular drew rave reviews, earning top weekend performer honors from 247's Simmons...
1. David Dawson, OL, Detroit (Mich.) Cass Tech – There were Michigan commits out in droves on Saturday, all wearing their Wolverine gear and waving the flag in Ohio State country but none represented quite as well as David Dawson.
A player with good length, Dawson showed good athleticism as an edge protector in one-on-ones but really separated himself with his finisher's mentality. Dawson really fought to win his reps in one-on-ones and many of those reps he won with authority.
...and Rivals's Helmholdt ($):
Dawson capped off his MVP performance on Saturday by stoning defensive line MVP Billy Price in the final offensive line/defensive line one-on-one. Dawson has been dominant throughout the off-season, but this may have been his best performance to date. He was moving his feet better than in events past, and he channeled his mean streak well, even if he went past the whistle on a few plays. Dawson ended up with more pancakes than any other lineman we saw in the one-on-ones and physically manhandled the majority of defenders he faced.
Dawson also made Scout's Bob Lichtenfels's top ten list($) along with Morris. You can see footage of Dawson, Logan Tuley-Tillman, and Charlton from the one-on-one blocking drills below, courtesy of Rivals:
Dawson's mean streak is on full display, as is Charlton's speed, though he also gets stuffed on one rep when the speed rush doesn't work out. You may notice that Tuley-Tillman looks a little ponderous and out of shape—he's been battling a shoulder injury that's hampered his conditioning and essentially forced him to block with one arm, so don't get too concerned.
Helmholdt listed Charlton as his #5 lineman at the NFTC, saying "offensive linemen could not handle Charlton's speed, but he also surprised them with his strength, even knocking Kyle Meadows backward on one rep." Meanwhile, Tim Sullivan provides evaluations for Mike McCray ($)...
McCray's ability to cover running backs out of the backfield had previously been considered a question mark, but it's one that he answered emphatically on Saturday. He was able to go stride-for-stride with all but the quickest tailbacks there, and showed the ability to not only blanket a receiver, but make plays on the ball as well. In edge-rush drills, he showed the ability to overpower running backs and tight ends, but also a quickness to go around them that's uncommon in a player his size.
...and Khalid Hill:
Hill impressed again on Saturday, with more athleticism than he's given credit for at times, precise routes, and as always, very good hands. He developed a nice chemistry with some of the quarterbacks in attendance, and although tight ends didn't get the ball much, he made the most of the opportunities presented to him.
Overall, it was quite a weekend for the Wolverine contingent in Columbus; Morris may have locked down five-star status, while Dawson and Charlton look poised to move up when the recruiting services update their rankings.
Speaking of which, Scout unveiled their initial 2013 team rankings, and it comes as no surprise that Michigan holds down the top spot, the first time that a school other than Texas has ranked #1 in Scout's initial release. Ohio State is at #4, Notre Dame #5, Penn State #12, Nebraska #17, and Michigan State rounds out the list at #20.
Isaac Down to Three, More 2013 News
Josh Helmholdt caught up with IL RB Ty Isaac after his latest trip to USC, and while this has been presumed for a long time, Isaac has trimmed his list to three schools ($):
"Right now, it's Michigan, USC and Notre Dame," Isaac said. "Among that group some are ahead of others, but I think it's down to them. Hopefully I can get this thing knocked out soon.
"If all goes well and nothing else comes up, hopefully I can get this done before my season starts, whether that be soon or in August. If not, I've got until February 2nd. I don't see it going that long, but if circumstances warrant that then so be it."
In good news for Michigan fans, Isaac also mentioned that a pre-decision trip to Ann Arbor "could take place in the near future." Considering his statements above, it's logical to think that the Wolverines are still in a very strong position to land his commitment, with Notre Dame probably on the outside looking in right now.
CA S Su'a Cravens will announce his decision on June 6th, his mother's birthday, and according to Scout's Lindsay Thiry he's narrowed his choices to five schools ($): USC, UCLA, Michigan, Nebraska, and Ohio State. Rivals's Adam Gorney reports, however, that while Cravens will take a trip to the Midwest before his decision, he will visit just two of those Big Ten schools, though he won't say which one is out of the running ($). Regardless, USC will be the team to beat, and I have a tough time seeing him go elsewhere.
The Wolverines continue to send out wide receiver offers, with the latest going to FL WR Alvin Bailey, the high school teammate of five-star safety Leon McQuay III. Bailey tells 247 that he's feeling the time crunch of the recruiting process, and while he hopes to visit Michigan he might not get the chance ($). He seems like a player who will stay in-state, though a four-star at a position of need—not to mention a teammate of an elite prospect—is certainly worth an offer.
Quickly: MA DT Maurice Hurst Jr. will take visits to Michigan and MSU in the near future, then make his decision before the start of his senior season ($). Happy trails to TX DE Christian Lacouture, who surprised many by committing to Nebraska on Saturday.
M Leading for McDowell? Plus More 2014 Offers
2014 MI DE Malik McDowell continues to rack up the offers, with his latest coming from Notre Dame, and he also impressed at the NFTC over the weekend. The Detroit Loyola product recently named a top five of Michigan, Notre Dame, Alabama, LSU, and Ohio State, but one school might stick out above the rest ($):
The recruiting process is just getting started for Detroit (Mich.) Loyola class of 2014 defensive end Malik McDowell, with Notre Dame becoming the latest school to offer this past Friday, but Michigan may have already established itself as the school to beat.
"You could say that," McDowell said after participating in the Ohio Nike Football Training Camp Regional at Ohio Dominican University on Saturday.
I've been hearing the same myself, though McDowell still wants to take visits—especially to the SEC programs—before coming to any sort of decision.
Michigan continues to send out offers to elite rising juniors. TX S Edward Paris, the #10 overall prospect in 247's early rankings, picked up an offer over the weekend ($). He'll be tough to pull out of the South, but says he would like to come up for a game in the fall. DC CB D'Andre Payne already has Virginia as his leader, but Michigan—amongst several other schools—threw their hat into the ring last week ($). Finally, Tremendous reports AZ WR Dionte Sykes picked up a Michigan offer a couple of weeks ago, and he'd like to take an unofficial visit over the summer.
Tuesday Recruitin' Does Snake-Oiling Wrong
Today's recruiting roundup feels really, really awful for pushing chunkums's .gif off the top of the page, but the show must go on.
Special Teams Snake Oil
Michigan looks to bolster special teams depth with two walk-on long-snappers in the 2012 class, Taybor Pepper and Tyler Tokarsky, and... wait, what?
#MichiganState with another late 2012 commit. Saline (Mich.) long snapper Taybor Pepper. More to come shortly.
— Allen Trieu (@AllenTrieu) April 14, 2012
Yes, Mark Dantonio yoinked one of Michigan's walk-on long snappers by offering him a scholarship. I... um... okay.
You're My New Favorite! And You're My New Favorite! You're All Favorites!
CA DE Joe Mathis took a trip to Ann Arbor for the Adidas Invitational two weekends ago and left naming Michigan as his leader. Everybody got excited, especially since Mathis is the cousin of five-star CA S Su'a Cravens, but there was reason to exhibit caution. Brian's foreboding words of warning go here:
Usual disclaimers about a long way to go apply. Mathis might be one of those kids who gets excited about everybody—he's already committed to and decommitted from($) Washington. Mathis is likely to back off in a couple weeks when USC/whoever guys get ahold of him and maintain neutrality into the fall. He's already told GBW($) that he doesn't have a top five yet but that when he names one Michigan will be on it, which is a bit less thrilling.
Well, Mathis swung by Nebraska last weekend and—surprise!—left with a new favorite school ($, info in header). Given that the video embedded in that article features Mathis resplendent in Husker gear, you get zero guesses as to which school that may be. Until the ink is dry on Mathis's LOI, it's best to take his words with a rather gargantuan grain of salt.
Another DE getting a lot of attention this week is Florida four-star Joey Bosa, who followed up a great visit to Ohio State by checking out Michigan's spring game. Bosa tweeted out that he didn't want to leave Columbus, then set off a bit of a firestorm by saying he was headed to see "that place up north," a tweet he later deleted. According to Scout's Bill Greene ($), Bosa now lists Michigan in his top six with Ohio State, Alabama, Florida State, Florida, and Wisconsin, though Bosa also says his Buckeye visit "gave me a feeling like no other school I've been to." Bosa's now set to visit Ohio State again for their spring game, and here's another of his tweets that he later deleted:
Joey Bosa: RT @jbbigbear Might have a surprise this weekend
— Ace Anbender (@AceAnbender) April 17, 2012
Yeah, color me skeptical that Michigan is really in this one. Don't be surprised if Bosa is a Buckeye by this time next week.
Talking About Recruits Who Might End Up At Michigan
What about the guys who could actually end up blue, you ask? There were several on campus for Saturday's festivities, including VA LB E.J. Levenberry. GBW's Andre Barthwell has a two-part article on Levenberry's visit ($)—quote in the title: "I loved it!"—and it sounds like that mid-August decision timeline is a bit flexible:
"We are just taking our time," said E.J., "and seeing the schools that me and my family want to see ... and then a decision will be make [sic]."
And Mr. Levenberry [Ed: E.J.'s father] adds:
"As far as a decision we are just going to make sure he looks at every school so that we as a family can help him make the most informed decision that he can."
This still appears to be a race between Michigan and Florida State, and this time around E.J. brought his mother, the next step in the Levenberry process of vetting potential schools.
A prospect who appears closer to making a decision is TX DE Christian LaCouture, who narrowed his list to Michigan, LSU, and Nebraska after his visit, according to Tim Sullivan ($, info in header). LaCouture plans on taking another trip to both Ann Arbor and Lincoln and making his decision before his senior season; that's a great sign for the Wolverines in the immediate aftermath of a visit.
Five-star MD CB Kendall Fuller was also on campus for the spring game, and he tells 247's Clint Brewster that he thinks he'll take an official visit back to Ann Arbor in the fall ($). Virginia Tech is still the presumed—though not stated, at least by Fuller—leader, but an official would give Michigan a puncher's chance, especially with former Good Counsel teammate Blake Countess in their corner. Fuller plans to make his decision by the Army All-American game.
Also enjoying the trip was 2014 MI DE Malik McDowell, whose father told Sam Webb that Greg Mattison impressed both him and his son by saying Malik could be the next Terrell Suggs ($). That's high praise indeed, but Mattison coached Suggs, and McDowell has the potential to be one of the nation's top prospects.
Quickly: CA ATH Elijah Qualls names Michigan to his top eight ($, info in header). Four-star CA DE Kylie Fitts has USC and UCLA on top of his list,
but wants to earn offers from Michigan and Oregon. [Edit: Never mind. Fitts committed to USC over the weekend.] Happy trails to MD LB Dorian O'Daniel (Clemson) and VA S Tim Harris (Virginia). Chantel Jennings on the strong bonds being formed between the members of Michigan's 2013 class ($).
Friday Recruitin' Foresees Morris-to-Wangler
Today's recruiting roundup goes over spring game visitors, discusses E.J. Levenberry's timeline, and much more. Update will be a bit brief, since I have to finish my Notre Dame preview for HTTV (still time to donate --------->) and aw hamburgers I need to rewrite most of it.
Spring Game Visitors, More 2013 Stuff
E.J. Levenberry is one of this weekend's high-profile visitors.
There will be several current commits on campus for tomorrow's Spring Game—including Shane Morris, of course—and you can see the whole list of those guys over at Tremendous. I know most people are interseted in the uncommitted 2013 prospects who will be making the trip, and here's the list as it stands right now:
- Fort Lauderdale (FL) St. Thomas Aquinas DE Joey Bosa, one of the top players left on the board, is coming off a reportedly solid visit to Ohio State.
- District Heights (MD) Bishop McNamara DT Darius Commissiong doesn't yet hold an offer, but with the need for depth at the nose the 6'2", 285-pounder could be in line for one in the near future.
- College Station (TX) A&M Consolidated DE Christian LaCouture is a former Texas A&M commit (surprise!) who could be a tough pull from SEC country—LSU is a major player—but Michigan has a chance to impress in his first trip to campus.
- Woodbridge (VA) C.D. Hylton LB E.J. Levenberry, whose father recently revealed that he'll make his decision in mid-August ($, info in header). Levenberry recently spent a week at Florida State and is already on campus in Ann Arbor; Oklahoma is also in the mix, and this one could come down to the wire.
- Olney (MD) Good Counsel CB Kendall Fuller is the top corner in the country and a former teammate of current Michigan CB Blake Countess. If Michigan wants to pull an upset—Fuller has strong family ties to Virginia Tech—the connection with Countess will be key. Fuller recently named Michigan in his top six along with VT, Alabama, Clemson, Maryland, and Tennessee ($).
Crete (IL) Monee WR Laquon Treadwell, who had to cancel his visit to Oklahoma due to HOLY CRAP TORNADO, is dropping hints—and flat-out telling Shane Morris—that he'll be at the spring game as well.
I'm working on getting in touch with Treadwell to confirm.While I was writing this post, Treadwell texted me to confirm. He'll be at the Big House tomorrow.
There will also be several 2014 prospects on campus, including Detroit Loyola DE Malik McDowell (more on him below) and the Cass Tech crew of LB Gary Hosey, DB Johnny Miggins, WR Damon Webb, and LB William White.
In other 2013 news, Ben Gedeon committed this week, and Allen Trieu has a free breakdown of his game over at Scout:
He's an athletic kid who has played all over the field. His ability to run with the ball in the open field and catch the ball on offense show what kind of athlete the Wolverines are getting. He's going to be able to run to the football and drop into coverage. His team made a nice playoff run last year, but he does not consistently play against top level competition, so he will have more of an adjustment at the college level. That said, he has all of the tools you look for and given the Wolverines' previous linebacker class, he is not a kid who is likely to be pressed into service right away.
Tremendous caught up with Gedeon for a post-commitment interview, where he reveals that he was not a silent commitment this last month, instead waiting to see how a visit to Stanford would go before making his final decision. Also, he says that Dymonte Thomas played a big role in selling Michigan to him. Speaking of Thomas, Ohio State just offered Cleveland Glenville safety Christopher Worley, which could be a sign that they're moving on from the hope of flipping Thomas, since they already have a safety commit in Jayme Thompson and their class is projected to be only around 18 recruits.
Future roommates Thomas and Morris aren't the only Wolverine commits doing a little recruiting of their own, as Kyle Bosch came up to Ann Arbor last weekend to check out the Adidas Invitational and chat up some fellow recruits. He gave Sam Webb an update about the status of Joliet (IL) Catholic RB Ty Isaac ($):
"I think (Isaac) loves (Michigan)," added Bosch. "I don't know what he is waiting for to be honest. But I know he went out to USC. I heard he liked it. I still think he likes Michigan, and I think it is a great fit for him."
Signs continue to be positive on the Isaac front, though there isn't much coming from his camp right now. It's still a waiting game.
There's one recent offer to report: Honolulu (HI) Moanalua DT Scott Pagano picked up offers from Michigan and Cal last week ($, info in header). He's a four-star to Scout and holds offers from most of the Pac-12, among several others.
Elsewhere, Black Shoe Diaries continues their look into enemy recruiting, interviewing Alex Gleitman of 11W.
2014 News
Sam Webb's latest at the DetNews is a profile of McDowell, who earns a glowing review from Trieu:
"Right now if I had to choose, he'd be the top kid in the state for the 2014 class," Trieu said. "He'll have to fend off some competition to hang onto that, but he's a special talent. He is a rare blend of size and athleticism. He moves with the quickness and fluidity of a smaller player. He also has great overall coordination and balance and he bends well — all of which allows him to play with good leverage. As a defender he has a great spin move and swim move, both of which he uses effectively. He needs to keep getting stronger and filling out, though, as he is still a lean 270. Although it's early, I believe he will be in contention for top player in the Midwest, as well."
McDowell isn't revealing much about his recruitment, save that he liked Michigan, MSU, and OSU growing up (I know, I know), and his coach seems to want him to take his time. There are rumblings that he's a potential commit, however, possibly as soon as this weekend, so we'll see if that holds true. Picking up the top rising junior in the state this early would obviously be huge.
A couple sophomores visited campus this past week. Mequon (WI) Homestead DT Brandon Hines called his visit "pretty incredible" but left without an offer ($, info in header); the coaches want to see him in a camp setting before they do anything else. Zeeland (MI) West TE Jordan Van Dort was on campus Monday, and also departed sans offer until further evaluation ($, info in header). At 6'5", 280 pounds, Van Dort won't be a tight end for long; he seems destined for the interior of the offensive line.
One of the emerging prospects at the Adidas Invitational has a familiar name: Warren (MI) De La Salle WR Jack Wangler, son of former Michigan quarterback John Wangler. Young Wangler will be catching passes from Shane Morris this fall after transferring from Royal Oak Shrine, and he'd like to keep that connection going in the future ($):
Wangler says his affinity for Michigan is actually so strong, that he would consider a walk-on offer from the Wolverines even if other schools offered full scholarships.
"My first choice would always be Michigan regardless. I'd rather walk on than take a scholarship anywhere else, but we'll see. Whatever suits me the best, I'm fine with."
Thus far, Wangler is mostly hearing from MAC schools, but his combine performance last weekend could earn him attention from bigger schools.
Quickly: Michigan is showing interest in two 2014 receivers from Canada. Orleans (ONT) St. Peter's Tyrone Pierre, who seems to be an early Oklahoma State lean after patterning his game after Justin Blackmon, and Montreal Buerling's Jaylan Grandison, who plans to camp at Michigan in the summer.
Monday Recruitin': Don't Call It A Comeback
Hey, kids! Ace is off this week so I'm taking over your semiweekly recruiting overview. Why now instead of Tuesday? Taco time.
Go West, Young Mexican Staple Cuisine
OH WDE commit Taco Charlton was headed out to California for a family trip and they just happened to be having a Nike camp at the same time. Charlton decided to stop by:
If that looked like an impressive burst off the edge, you may be a Scout/ESPN analyst. The positive buzz from the event has already been translated from the twitterese and annotated by mgouser Michael Scarn:
Taco Charlton made his way to the LA Nike Camp, and he looks like one the best DE's here. Ready for one v. one drills.
Taco Charlton is 3-0 going against the #1 OL group. He and Joel Mathis [Scout's #8 DE in the country with offers from Alabama, Auburn, Michigan, Nebraska, ND, Oklahoma, USC] are DL MVPs on my board today.
Charlton finally got handled by the West's top OL Nico Falah [Scout's #3 OT in the country with offers from Florida, ND, Oregon, USC], but he then finished 2-0 against another of the West's best - Kenny Lacy [Scout's #15 OT with offers from Arkansas, Nebraska, most of the Pac 12 save USC and Oregon, WVU].
Greg Biggins also opined that "no one has come close to stopping" Charlton, a "blur off the edge." ESPN analysts on site declared him "unblockable off the edge and huge" and said he "passes every test." Michigan recruit Joe Mathis won the DL MVP; Charlton was a close second.
[UPDATE: ESPN's Craig Haubert: "a bit in the mold of William Gholston, doesn't quite have the mass that Gholston has but is a tall, long player. … He's got a nice burst. He's not overly quick-twitch, but what he is is pretty smooth and fluid for a kid his size. He did a nice job against offensive tackles in one-on-one when they gave him the inside. He was able to quickly redirect and use that long reach to knock their hands down.]
While 247 and Rivals were not present—or at least not tweeting—those two services are already high on Charlton. Scout is the only service with rankings out that didn't have him in their Top X players list, something that sounds like it will change at the next available opportunity. That would leave one (ONE!) of Michigan's sixteen recruits outside the Scout 300. That is tight end Khalid Hill, who is looking like the 2013 Sleeper Of The Year by default.
You've undoubtedly heard OSU fans scoff about Charlton not even starting for his high school team last year, an accusation that is true. (He was a pass rush specialist.) The camp setting is a good one for a 6'6" quick-twitch guy who may not know how to play football yet. He'd be a guy to watch for a move down during the season if he doesn't turn his potential into production. Michigan is able to take a flier on a high-ceiling kid like Charlton thanks to Beyer, Clark, Ojemudia, etc. If he doesn't work out someone else will. If he does… hoo boy.
Tremendous got a camp reaction from Charlton. He'll try to duplicate his impressive performance at the upcoming Columbus Nike camp.
Go Slightly East, Young Mountain
Logan Tuley-Tillman, Shane Morris, some short guy, and Patrick Kugler via Morris's twitter. Good lord is Michigan bringing some big dudes. Also check LTT's shoes.
Undoubtedly worn out by his daily commute from Chicago to Ann Arbor, IL OL commit Logan Tuley-Tillman plans on relocating to the state of Michigan($, info in TomVH tweet) this fall. Fire up your high school dream-team fantasies now. He won't be protecting Shane Morris's backside, though—he wants to enroll early, which De La Salle does not permit. Ace is no doubt rooting for Pioneer to cut down on travel time.
Perhaps more enticing than LTT showing up in the area even earlier than expected is what he told 247 in a freebie:
"I have been helping recruit a running back, wide receiver, and a linebacker from my class," said Tuley-Tilman. "I can't say which ones but I am pretty confident they will be going to Michigan. I just try to stress to those recruits about how much of a family we are at Michigan and that we really have something special going on here. The support at Michigan from the fans and everyone around the university is better than anywhere else in my opinion."
I'm guessing those guys rhyme with Shmy Shmisaac, ShmaQuon Shmreadwell, and Shmen Shmedeon. Michigan is the presumed leader for all three. IL RB Ty Isaac has returned from USC, has no visits planned at the moment, and wants to decide sometime in the next couple months. OH LB Ben Gedeon has been less definite about his timetable but also seems on the verge of picking a school. He is planning a Stanford visit this weekend, after which a commitment could come at any time. Ohio State insiders say they're scrambling to get back in, which implies this is going a particular direction. IL WR LaQuon Treadwell is the farthest away from the Hokéball*. He's still planning a full slate of official visits before he decides.
BONUS GOODBYE MASSIVE ATTRITION NOTE: LTT's currently got a GPA just under 4.0.
*[Is it possible that no one has referred to this recruiting binge as Hokémon yet? Gotta catch 'em all.]
Go To Another Header Concept For The Secondary, Author
Michigan's still going after a number of defensive backs despite having commitments from MI CB Jourdan Lewis, OH CB Gareon Conley, and OH S Dymonte Thomas. They were in on DC CB Devin Butler, who has an announcement date and seems headed to ND or PSU. They're recruiting Priest Willis and a couple other guys from the West Coast. They are of course in on super-safety Su'a Cravens, and now they're pursuing a Cole Luke from Arizona:
"Michigan has been recruiting me pretty hard," said Luke. "They are a great school and have a great football program, so why wouldn't I be interested in them you know. Michigan has produced players like Charles Woodson, who I really look up to. I know that they have a good coaching staff because of what Michigan did last year so that's what really stands out to me about them."
He says there's an offer out for him, but you know how it goes these days with the whole "committable offer" business. Offers to guys across the country can be mere visit inducements. Luke is visiting Texas and Oklahoma in the near future but doesn't have anything scheduled for Michigan yet.
In other longshots Michigan is still pursuing, presumed VT lock and MD CB Kendall Fuller will make it up for the spring game. On campus, have a shot, etc. OH CB Darian Hicks has also set a visit($), though he lacks an offer.
This suggests Michigan is planning for 24 guys in the class. They've got 16 commits now. If they add a tailback, two WR, two DL, and two LBs they'll be at 23. There's no room for another defensive back unless they grit their teeth and go with two WRs or forgo one of the highly-touted linebackers Michigan seems to be heavy leaders for… unless they go to 24.
Is this a Dymonte Thomas backup plan? Probably not. OSU just flipped OH S Jayme Thompson, the Toledo kid who set three or four announcement dates in February in an effort to trawl for big local offers. When none were forthcoming he eventually went forward with a SeVon Pittman-style non-commitment to West Virginia. That ended yesterday.
OSU's now got three defensive backs in a class that won't get very big. Picking up Thompson looks like cutting their losses. We'll see. Buckeye insiders refuse to give up the ghost there.
BONUS GAREON CONLEY IS GOOD BIT. TomVH on Michigan's corner commits:
I'll go on the record to say that I think Gareon Conley is the real deal. No one is talking about this guy, and he's 6-foot-1, 170 pounds with tons of athleticism, speed and ball skills. I've heard "no brainer" when his name was brought up. On top of that, Jourdan Lewis is no slouch. I saw him play plenty of times this past season and he was always making plays.
Conley is a potential riser as we go into the fall.
Defensive Line Shakeout
With Michigan down to a few targets almost everywhere, defensive line is the one spot with some remaining mystery to it. MD DE/DT Henry Poggi is a prime target for the SDE/3-tech spot; NJ DT Greg Webb is a priority at nose tackle or three-tech, and then… fuzzy. This is the normal way of things in early April. We are spoiled.
Poggi is the best bet. He's friends with IL OL commit Kyle Bosch and his recruitment has morphed from a Michigan/Alabama battle to a Michigan/Ohio State battle. It is always good when you're the constant on a shifting leaderboard. Webb either has Michigan first or fourth or tied in a top group of four($):
"Probably during the summertime I will cut it down to a good five schools. Penn State, Ohio State and Alabama are the three that will automatically make my list.
"Michigan has been recruiting me the hardest. Their coaching staff of Brady Hoke and Greg Mattison are d-line coaches, so if they think a player will be a good defensive linemen I feel like they just reach out to them a lot and that's what's happening. I talk to those guys a lot. Actually, I think that Michigan will definitely make my final list too."
TX DE and A&M decommit Christian LaCouture is visiting for the spring game…
"I'm going to visit Michigan April 14th for their spring game," he said. " Probably after that, I'm not going to visit any more schools. By then, I'll probably have the team where I want to go."
…but says LSU leads:
"Like I said, LSU right now is probably the team to beat."
When a kid's last name is LaCouture this cannot be a surprise.
CA DE Joe Mathis—Cravens's cousin—won the Taco Charlton Invitational Camp MVP and will return the favor by flying out to Detroit(!) for this weekend's Best of the Midwest Camp. When Tremendous talked to him he said he'd swing by Michigan as a part of that trip; Beaver is disputing that but I'm sure Steve asked and got an answer. Beaver gets huffy when other people break things. TomVH confirmed that Mathis will "try to swing by" this weekend.
IL DL Josh Augusta claims an offer and will swing by both Michigan schools($) this week when he's on Spring Break. He's an anonymous three star but did just pick up an Oklahoma offer; at 6'5", 275 he's probably an SDE/three-tech. Michigan has also reached out to MA DL Maurice Hurst Jr according to 247. He's a 3/4-star tweener who is the son of a former NFL player.
Meanwhile, the is-he-recruited-isn't-he on AL DT Rod Crayton… don't expect him at Michigan.
The Cthulhu Kid
…is what I might call TX WR Eldridge "Eldritch" Massington if he ends up commiting to Michigan. Massington told Tremendous that Michigan was his leader on Friday. Ace provided SNL highlights; here's a few actually featuring football from a camp now two weekends ago and an analysts's take:
"Throughout the day Massington's great frame and surprising speed made him a near impossible cover for defensive backs through the day. He struggled, a time or two, with drops but with as many quality catches as he made it seemed to be a mental lapse or two rather than a problem of drawing the ball in," said SoonerScoop.com Recruiting Publisher Josh McCuistion.
Needs moar tentacles to catch ball.
Si Se Puede
A realistic finish to a 24-member class: Isaac, Treadwell, Massington or OH WR Kevin Gladney (high three-star sort), Webb, Poggi, Gedeon, Levenberry, random three-star DB/TE/DL. Jebus. If I had only known I wouldn't have let Ace do this.
/remember the eight-commit weekend
/takes it all back
Happy Trails
CA CB Chris Hawkins is off the board to USC.
Etc.: OSU offers 2014 Michigan targets Andy Bauer($) and Malik McDowell. MI OL commit David Dawson picks up USC and Florida offers.
Tuesday Recruitin' Is Flush With Linebackers
Today's recruiting roundup eagerly awaits Mike McCray's decision (and Ben Gedeon's, too?), looks at the other linebackers strongly considering Michigan, and goes over a recent offer plus several interested visitors.
Good Problems: Linebacker Edition
We've been over this before, but Michigan has more linebackers strongly interested in the school than they know what to do with; filling the 2-3 (likely 3) spots at LB could very well come down to who commits the fastest.
If that's the case, Trotwood-Madison (OH) SLB Mike McCray (right) will probably be the first to drop; he could commit as soon as today, and likely no later than tomorrow. McCray told Tremendous that he actually has already made his decision, and his only other move will be to inform the coaches of his choice—there will be no hat game or press conference. He narrowed down his decision to Michigan, Arizona, Oklahoma, Tennessee, South Carolina and Illinois; while the Vols appeared to be in a strong position for him quite recently, the latest message board scuttlebutt—even among Tennessee partisans—has him pledging to Michigan.
Hudson (OH) MIKE/WILL Ben Gedeon may not be far behind after visiting Ann Arbor last weekend. Sam Webb caught up with Gedeon after his visit, and it's clear the junior is well aware of the scholarship situation at linebacker ($):
"I'm not sure if they want (where things currently stand with linebacker recruiting numbers) out there."
"I won't be making a decision tonight, but (the numbers crunch) definitely will be taken into account and could speed (my making a decision) up."
Gedeon won't name a leader, but it isn't too difficult to read between the lines in this situation.
One linebacker who Michigan will have to wait for—and likely will, given his talent—is Woodbridge (MD) C.D. Hylton's E.J. Levenberry, who confirmed yesterday that the Wolverines are his leader, holding an edge over Florida State. Steve Wiltfong talked to Levenberry last night and got the latest on his timetable ($):
"I'm 100 percent sure I won't announce until the Army Bowl."
Alabama and Florida round out the 6-foot-3, 227-pound Levenberry's top four.
Levenberry plans to visit Michigan for the Wolverines spring game on April 14. He will also try and get to Alabama and Florida State for spring practices.
E.J.'s father told Wiltfong that the coaches have made it clear to him that there will be a scholarship available to the potential five-star prospect; if the Wolverines lock up two linebackers in the near future, they'll likely reserve that last spot for Levenberry.
Oh, but there's more. Four-star Olney (MD) Good Counsel LB Dorian O'Daniel has Michigan in his top group with Clemson and Tennessee, and he'll be visiting Ann Arbor—along with five-star CB teammate Kendall Fuller ($)—for the spring game on April 14th ($). Four-star Matthews (NC) Butler LB Peter Kalambayi, meanwhile, has already visited Michigan once and now has the Wolverines near the top of his list with plans to check out the school again in the near future ($). In the race to grab the two spots not reserved for Levenberry, however, these two blue-chip recruits just might be too late. We'll know much more after this week.
New Offer, Planned Visits, Etc.
There's one recent offer I don't think I've noted here yet, and that went out to Charlotte (NC) Zebulon B. Vance LB Larenz Bryant. Just to be clear, (1) yes, another linebacker, and (2) the school's name is "Zebulon B. Vance," not the player's. Bryant is a four-star and the #86 overall recruit to 247, and he holds most of his offers from SEC and ACC schools.
Massilon (OH) Washington CB Gareon Conley told Sam Webb that Michigan is his leader, and he's scheduled to visit this weekend ($, info in header). Conley is a big—6'1"—corner who's currently rated as a three-star recruit on 247. Another weekend visitor will be College Station (TX) A&M Consolidated OL Christian Lacouture, who just decommitted from Texas A&M, though he still has a lot of interest in the hometown Aggies ($, info in header). He won't be the only offensive lineman in Ann Arbor, as New Lenox (IL) Lincoln Way West four-star Colin McGovern will also be on campus, despite knowing that Michigan doesn't currently have a spot for him ($).
A pair of cornerbacks are also planning future visits. Solon (OH) four-star Darian Hicks will be in Ann Arbor on March 27th, and he says that the Wolverines would vault to the top of his list if he receives an offer ($). Jersey City (NJ) St. Peter's Prep CB Tre Bell, who does hold an offer, is looking to set up a summer visit ($).
Three more prospects want to take visits but haven't set dates yet: Baltimore (MD) Gilman DT Henry Poggi, who's already been to Ann Arbor twice but wants to visit again either this month or next ($); Matthews (NC) Butler WR Uriah LeMay—high school teammate of Peter Kalambayi—has Michigan among the schools he'd like to see this summer ($); and Peoria (IL) High School DE Josh Augusta, who's recently talked to the Wolverines about a potential offer ($).
One player who did visit recently is Crete (IL) Monee LB Nyles Morgan, a class of 2014 teammate of Laquon Treadwell, who told 247 he'd "have to seriously consider [Michigan] when [he] start[s] considering colleges."
Quickly: Happy trails to blue-chip running back Keith Ford, who committed to Oklahoma over the weekend. The Sooners offered Ty Isaac last week (we'll see how the Ford commitment affects his interest), and SoonerScoop has a free article on Michigan's top running back target. MnB's Zach Travis looks at recent offensive line recruiting and tries to project future two-deeps. Black Shoe Diaries's Cari Greene puts together an early team rankings list for the Big Ten; Michigan, as you'd expect, is well out in front for now. I'll start the Big Ten Recruiting Rankings back up when Scout releases their top 300, which should be coming soon.


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