Have Scholarships, Will Travel: A Recruiting Update in the Golden Era

First things first, guys. This post comes with the usual disclaimer that comes with all recruiting talk, and that is LOL RECRUITING. When reading this post, remember that high school football recruits are largely a bunch of lie telling children who themselves are being told tons lies by various adults. You can't really blame them, but again, lol. (Sorry for the lecture, but as this post got longer I felt it was necessary.) NOW WITH ALL THAT SAID...

As probably all of you know by now, Al Golden received his first commitment as UM head coach on Monday from prep school defensive end Olsen Pierre. In an interview with Canesport, Pierre noted that he was the only Temple commit recruited to UM by Golden, and that seems to be true, at least for the time being. As for Pierre, his size ranges between 6' 4" (ESPN) or 6' 6" (Rivals) and 260 (ESPN) or 280 lbs (Rivals) depending on who you consult, and based on those measurements he should bring size to a talented, though arguably slight, defensive line. Here is a bit of ESPN's report on him:

Pierre may not bring a lot of razzle dazzle big play ability to the table, but he does display the ability to be a versatile, stout, and productive presence in the trenches. He is a kid with good size. He is a kid who would fit well at end in a three-man front. If he plays in a base 4-3 defense he will either be a strong-side end or could very possibly develop into a defensive tackle in a little time. His best use may be as an end in run situations, but then slide down inside in passing situations. Not a ton of flash, but he is a solid all around player who can give production versus both the run and pass.

Also, neither Rivals nor ESPN seem to have a photograph of Pierre, but I'm nothing if not dedicated to this craft of blogging, so here's a Google Images link.

Now onto recruits still being chased.

Visiting campus along with Pierre this past weekend were ex-commits Marcus Jackson and Albert Louis-Jean, along with punter Spencer Roth, which is cool because as it stands right now there is literally no punter on the team for 2011, which means that Vaughn Telemaque has to be #1 on the depth chart, as he's a skateboarder and must be somewhat talented with his feet. Anyway, all three players should help reveal how much Golden's lauded recruiting prowess is playing with recruits as Signing Day nears. Jackson and Louis-Jean were the first two commitments of the 2011 class, and Louis-Jean was slated to enroll for the spring semester. Louis-Jean is also a Massachusetts native, so Golden's "AND WE'RE GOING TO PENNSYLVANIA, AND WE'RE GOING TO DELAWARE, AND THE METRO AREA SURROUNDING NEW YORK CITY YEEEAAAAHAHHHHHH!!!!" proclamations will get their first test here. Not to mention that Louis-Jean, a cornerback, represents one of UM's critical needs, so Golden really needs to send Paul Revere towards the bell tower on this one. For what it's worth, here's Pierre on Louis-Jean and Jackson (both of whom will make their announcements on Jan. 5), per Canesport once again:

Of Louis-Jean, he said, "I talked to him. I think he'll wind up with me here."

Of Jackson, he said, "He had a ball on the visit. I think he might go here also."

And as we all know, no people are more trustworthy recruits. As for Roth, we might have serious problems here if we can't get a punter to take a scholarship when we're all, "We literally have no one at your position. Please come."

With Teddy Bridgewater finally officially decommitting, UM again has a gaping hole in its QB depth with A.J. Highsmith officially moved to DB. Some recruits whose names you're likely to hear more and more in the coming weeks as Golden and his staff scramble to land a respectable QB are Jake Rudock, a current Iowa commit from St. Thomas Aquinas, and Gary Nova, a New Jersey kid who was a Pittsburgh commit until THE STACHE (may he rest in peace) was fired.