Hello: Jarrod Wilson

OH S Jarrod Wilson has pledged to become the fourth (and likely final) member of Michigan's defensive backfield for the 2012 recruiting class. His high school coach is former Michigan great Ricky Powers.

GURU RATINGS

Scout	Rivals	ESPN	24/7 Sports
4*, #10 S, #146 Ovr	4*, 5.8, #13 S	4*, 80, #12 S	4*, 91, NR S

The sites are just about in agreement on Jarrod's overall ability: He's in the 10-20 range among safeties (24/7 Sports only ranks 12 safeties, but it's fair to say he'd be one of the next couple), and outside the top 150 prospects in the nation. He's just outside the Rivals250, for what it's worth.

The premium sites also agree on his size, with a unanimous 190 pounds, and Rivals and Scout crediting his height at 6-2, while ESPN goes an inch shorter and 24/7 Sports an inch higher. That is really good size for a free safety, as long as he has the abilities to play on the back line. Let's find out if he does! We'll start the evaluations with ESPN:

Tall, well-built with good length and room to fill out. He flashes great range, particularly in deep coverage and good overall speed. Best attribute may be his reads and diagnosing skills. Rarely caught out of position, stays deep as the deepest and expertly splits twins set receivers. Consistently takes direct angles to the ball while keeping the pass in front of him.

This... this is super-positive, and will be a nice new trait for a Michigan safety in the past 6-7 years. It feels like a long time since there was a true ballhawk back there. A couple of their downsides of his game:

He will need to continue developing physically to play down in the box and he does not have elite speed and explosiveness -- but there are not many safety prospects with the positional intangibles of Wilson.

You'll see that physical play and laying big hits is consistently listed among his flaws. Evaluators also seem to agree that he doesn't quite have elite speed (though I'll take instincts and "good enough" speed over the reverse). His coach, former Wolverine Ricky Powers, confirmed the exceptional instincts and intelligence in an interview with Tom:

He's an extremely smart football player and a smart kid period. His football IQ is really high, he'll line everyone up on defense for us. We call him the quarterback of our defenses. He's probably going to be our starting quarterback going into camp, which I hope changes.

Duane Long evaluated him on Bucknuts, in calling him one of his "starters" from the state of Ohio at free safety:

This kid gets his hands on the ball so much on his film that it looks like he is playing wide receiver instead of safety. He reads the game so well. He has size and range. He is going to have to become a better tackler if he wants to be the player he can be.

Long has been even higher on Wilson in the past:

This is my dark horse for the safety who comes out of this class four years from now with the highest NFL rating. If a college coach came to me and said he played eight in the box alot and needed a centerfielder right in the middle of the field I would suggest Jarrod Wilson. He is fast and very athletic. He reads the game and reacts to the ball as well as any safety in the class. The best cover safety in the class. The best safety in the class on the ball. He needs to be a better tackler. The good news is he is a willing tackler. Never shies away from contact.

If he's a willing tackler, but not a good tackler, it seems he just needs to add more weight and technique, two things that can be developed. Long is scared of the Buckeyes having to face him on the field down the road, as his mention of NFL potential seems to suggest.

Wilson performed well at the Midwest Showcase, and left his coverage skills in no doubt ($, info in header). He joins Pharaoh Brown as Michigan commits who are just outside the Rivals 250, and he also barely missed The247 . His leaping skills are impressive ($, info in header). Dave Berk thinks he's too good with the ball in his hands to not try on offense and/or returns ($). In a video interview, Jarrod himself even says he has the skills necessary to play corner.

Long story short on Jarrod Wilson: Great measurables, and excels playing the pass in a deep zone. He has work to do if he wants to man up on slot receivers, and needs to work on playing the run and his tackling technique (from his video, embedded below, it seems he also needs to improve his angles to the ball carrier at times). Fortunately, a lot of his skills are innate, and he can be taught the parts of his game that are currently lacking.

Jarrod is also a great student. He has a near-4.0 GPA in high school, and plans to enroll early in college. He wants to major in kinesiology (and Michigan's program is among the best in the country).

OFFERS

Jarrod's other finalists were Penn State and Notre Dame, so he had all of the big regional offers aside from Ohio State. Also from the Big Ten, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan State had offered him. He also held offers from UConn, Pitt, Tennessee, and West Virginia, along with a few MAC offers. Strong academic schools played a role in his recruitment, and Stanford, Syracuse, UCLA, and Vanderbilt are examples of just that.

That's not exactly a murderer's row of high-level schools, but there are enough teams that recruit on a high level (Penn State and Notre Dame, especially) that his offer list is definitely a sign that he is indeed a strong player.

He originally planned to attend school with his teammate, WR Corey Smith, but Smith is ineligible to play high school football this fall, and will enroll at junior college instead, before moving on to Tennessee.

STATS

ESPN and Scout have differing ideas on his senior stats. ESPN says he recorded 12 interceptions, while Scout only credits him with 10. They do agree that he returned 5 of them for touchdowns. According to Scout, he also had a 98-yard fumble return for touchdown. 50-60 tackles is the consensus range there (tackle stats are rarely precise in high school).

He's pictured at right with the ball in his hands, which happened frequently last year.

FAKE 40 TIME

None of the premium sites have 40-yard dash times listed for Jarrod, which is realllly odd for a defensive back, especially one whose speed they generally praise, though not fawn over. Five FAKEs out of five.

VIDEO

Youtube highlights:

There's also a brief ScoutingOhio video, but they're no longer putting more than 3-4 plays on Youtube, which, way to get nobody to embed your videos anymore, guys.

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

As I've been saying with most defensive back commitments in this class, it's tough to project too far into the future, since we don't even know positions for a couple of Michigan's defensive back commitments from the 2011 class. This guy is a free safety all the way, but whether Raymon Taylor and Tamani Carter play the position (or if anybody else already on the roster moves around) could have an effect on how quickly Jarrod gets on the field.

All that said, he plans to enroll early, which will help him get acclimated to college life and the defensive schemes earlier than his classmates, and he seems like a fairly polished player in high school as well. Better than that, he's a big, true free safety, something Michigan hasn't had - at least at a high level - since... Marcus Ray? I think Jarrod will get on the field as a true freshman, even if it's just on special teams (where he could play coverage or contribute in the return game) and a bit in garbage time.

As time goes on, his role in the defense will increase, and there's a good chance he's the "defensive quarterback" down the road, calling plays and making audibles, etc. As a junior and senior, I think he's certain to be a starter, and he could even challenge for All-Big Ten honors as a senior - especially if he continues his torrid pace of interceptions into college.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

Wilson's commitment probably closes out defensive back recruiting for the class of 2012, and means Jeremy Clark will indeed greyshirt next fall instead of immediately joining the current recruiting class (two 2013 commitments already, wooo!). Unless the staff feels really good about an elite prospect down the road, Wilson joins fellow safety Allen Gant and corners Terry Richardson and Anthony Standifer to form a complete secondary in the 2012 class.

The needs for the remainder of the class remain the same: a true defensive tackle (or two) is imperative, at least one wide receiver is needed, and then there are lower levels of need for quarterback and running back. With the class expected to reach 23-26 prospects, there is still plenty of room for any top-flight prospects as well.

The commitment of Wilson might also help Michigan's case with one of the top 2013 prospects in Ohio, LB/Ath Elijah Bell. Bell is a teammate of Wilson's at Buchtel High School.

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