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'10 OH LB Antonio Kinard (Michigan Verbal - Hargrave - Miami Verbal)

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MaxBuck;1429939; said:
This isn't intended to be a knock on Antonio, but it seems to me that Michigan is targeting the tier of Ohio talent that Michigan State has long exploited.
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Yep, my thoughts exactly. They are also taking the Zook "carpet bombing" approach to recruiting. According to the Beav, they already have 70 offers on the table (:yow1:) compared to 18 or 19 (18 per Mili's database here, 19 according to the scout insiders "big board") for tOSU.

I'll take precision over their approach anyday.
 
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NFBuck;1429951; said:
Yep, my thoughts exactly. They are also taking the Zook "carpet bombing" approach to recruiting. According to the Beav, they already have 70 offers on the table (:yow1:) compared to 18 or 19 (18 per Mili's database here, 19 according to the scout insiders "big board") for tOSU.

I'll take precision over their approach anyday.
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I understand the feeling that maybe they need to try this after a terrible season, but for top tier programs like Michigan/Tennessee, this seems to cheapen the program image. It's a tactic designed for Illinois, Kansas State, USF, etc. The Michigans and Tennessee's shouldn't have to offer 70 players in an effort to fill out a 20 slot class. Even Michigan after last season....
 
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billmac91;1429955; said:
I understand the feeling that maybe they need to try this after a terrible season, but for top tier programs like Michigan/Tennessee, this seems to cheapen the program image. It's a tactic designed for Illinois, Kansas State, USF, etc. The Michigans and Tennessee's shouldn't have to offer 70 players in an effort to fill out a 20 slot class. Even Michigan after last season....
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It just doesn't seem like DR realizes he's the coach at m*ch*g*n. He's still recruiting like he's at wvu/in the Big East.
 
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Northern Exposure: Antonio Kinard
Published: Tue, June 9, 2009

South Carolina native Antonio Kinard is the the latest Liberty football player to earn a scholarship to the University of Michigan.

By JOE SCALZO

Vindicator sports staff

When Antonio Kinard was a 13-year-old in Columbia, S.C., his mother, Sheila Cook, told him they?d soon be moving to Youngstown, Ohio.

?I was like, ?Youngstown?? ? he said.

?I didn?t know there was a place called Youngstown.

?I didn?t think about moving to Ohio. My life was going to be down south.?

What he did know was, he was leaving his friends and (extended) family behind.

And, for at least six months a year, he?d be leaving his swimsuit behind, too.

?I?d never seen so much snow,? said Kinard, who moved here with his mother, his older sister Jacquetta and younger sister Kaytlin.

?When I first saw it, it was coming up to my knees and I was like, ?Oh my goodness.? I?m used to 85-90 degree weather.

?I used to go outside and play in the snow all the time. Then it got annoying.?

Kinard, now a junior at Liberty High School, needed a year to get acclimated, but he?s since become comfortable and popular ? and not just with his classmates.

The 6-3, 210-pound linebacker is one of the state?s top football prospects, committing to Michigan earlier this spring.

He?ll be the third Leopard to head north, joining Liberty seniors Fitzgerald Toussaint and Isaiah Bell, who will enroll this fall.

Warren Harding junior CB/WR Deaver Williamson, one of the area?s best track athletes, has also committed to the Wolverines.

Liberty has become a recruiting hotbed over the last six or seven years.
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?People at my school are like, ?Man, we might as well just change our name to Michigan,?? he said, smiling.

?But they were like, ?You know what? We love O-State, but it?s all cool. We?ve got three people from Liberty going to Michigan and we hope they do well.??

That doesn?t mean he doesn?t still get grief about it.

?I get that just about every day, to tell you the truth,? he said.
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Northern Exposure: Antonio Kinard - Sports, Local Sports - Vindy.com, The Vindicator
 
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billmac91;1429955; said:
I understand the feeling that maybe they need to try this after a terrible season, but for top tier programs like Michigan/Tennessee, this seems to cheapen the program image. It's a tactic designed for Illinois, Kansas State, USF, etc. The Michigans and Tennessee's shouldn't have to offer 70 players in an effort to fill out a 20 slot class. Even Michigan after last season....
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I agree with what you are saying. I think RR is forced to recruit this way this year because no one knows if the "RR experiment" is going to work at UM or not. Once it does, I'm sure he'll change his recruiting tactics.
 
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Michigan linebacker recruit Antonio Kinard 'trying to get redshirted'

The Michigan football team has plenty of immediate playing time available on defense for its 2010 recruiting class, but linebacker commitment Antonio Kinard is in no rush to see the field.

?I?m actually trying to get redshirted,? Kinard said. ?I?m not trying to start my freshman year, if possible. If I am to play my freshman year, then by all means that?s what I?m going to do. But I kind of want to get redshirted, get as big as possible and then walk on to the field.?

The 6-foot-4, 202-pound Kinard, a three-year starter at Youngstown (Ohio) Liberty, said Michigan coaches want him to add 10 to 15 pounds before he graduates this spring.

?I?m steady trying to gain weight,? he said. ?It?s hard. My mom?s been feeding me pretty good. I?m not doing any sports to where I have to run or do anything like that, I?m just more of a tiger. I?m just lifting weights and eating, just trying to pack on weight.?

If he redshirts next year, Kinard said he?d bulk up to 230 pounds and compete for the weak inside linebacker spot currently manned by Jonas Mouton in 2011.

?A lot of high school kids are not realistic in the college process,? Liberty coach Jeff Whittaker said. ?They?re the star of their high-school team, they?re the star of the area, they?re a big name, and all of a sudden they?re thrown into it and they become a little fish in a big pond again. They don?t realize the significance in having to go in and learn a new system. They forget the significance of going away from home and being in a new environment and dealing with new personalities.

?Antonio?s realistic in the fact that there is a growing process, and for him it?s not just a social and emotional process, but it?s a physical process because he needs to get some weight on.?
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Michigan linebacker recruit Antonio Kinard 'trying to get redshirted' - AnnArbor.com
 
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Michigan has lost another member of its 2010 recruiting class to academics.

Jeff Whittaker, the coach at Youngstown (Ohio) Liberty, said Sunday that linebacker Antonio Kinard is weighing three options for this fall, playing football at prep schools Fork Union or Hargrave military academies, or signing with a junior college in Kansas.

"He?s looking at it like it?ll be his redshirt year," Whittaker said. "It just won?t be at the university and then he?ll be able to get it in order and finish this test and get back on track coming up."

The 6-foot-4, 195-pound Kinard was considered a long shot to qualify when he signed with Michigan in February. At the time, Wolverines coach Rich Rodriguez said Kinard still had work to do in the classroom.

Whittaker said one holdup with Kinard's eligibility was passing a portion of the Ohio Graduation Tests, a requirement in the state of Ohio. Still, Kinard hopes to attend Michigan in 2011.

?T.K. loves the University of Michigan," Whittaker said. "The only goal in his life right now is to get through this and play at the University of Michigan. He?s had other Division I programs, which I?m not going to name, call him and want him to look at their universities. Big-time programs. They wanted to set him up with different schools and what not. His focus has not deviated one bit from the University of Michigan. He truly loves Coach Rodriguez and the University of Michigan."
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Antonio Kinard headed to prep school or junior college; Demar Dorsey signs with Louisville - AnnArbor.com
 
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