Note: At this point, still a rumor on an internet, seeking confirmation. Update 9:30AM: According to GBW's Tom Beaver, McNeal has not committed.

Minnesota WR Bryce McNeal (6-1, 180, 4.46) has apparently told friends he intends to give Rich Rodriguez his pledge to become a Michigan Wolverine. If this does indeed come to fruition, "B-Meezy" becomes the eighth member of the 2009 recruiting class. McNeal is an outside receiver with enough wiggle and speed to spend some time in the slot (physically reminiscent of a slightly taller, maybe shiftier, Mario Manningham).

Recruiting Notes
Michigan fans started following Bryce McNeal's recruitment heavily when he was offered the weekend of St. Patrick's Day. He originally said he had planned to announce his decision at the Army All-American game, to which he has been invited, but the opportunity at Michigan was too much for him to pass up. McNeal visited Michigan on Monday, March 24th on his way home from the Akron 7-on-7 camp. On March 25th, he told GopherHole that he had a Top-5, but the only schools that he was going to reveal from it were Michigan and Minnesota. At this time, it was assumed that Michigan was his leader, with Minnesota in second. Though he didn't manage to make it to Ann Arbor for Michigan's spring game, he had planned to visit the next weekend (which also fell through). McNeal waited to make his decision until Michigan had a quarterback locked up for 2009, and when they got the top player on their board (and another good prospect at the position), McNeal was apparently ready to commit to Michigan.

Player Notes
In 2007 he had 33 receptions for 670 yards and 8 touchdowns at Breck high school, where the base offense was a version of the spread that he will be running at Michigan. He has also gotten some attention for track, but it is unknown whether he will try to compete in both sports in college. He is a speedster with good hands, though he will have to add some muscle to compete at the Division-I level. McNeal was invited to attend the Army National Junior Combine in January, where was named to the all-combine first team. Despite this acclaim, he was listed as a three-star player on both sites, but his ranking went up to more reasonable levels after the latest round of re-rankings from each site.

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Miscellany
One more interesting fact about McNeal is that his girlfriend, Tayler Hill, is a basketball prospect. McNeal has hinted in his interviews that the two might like to attend school together, but women's hoops recruiting info is so (oddly) hard to find that I haven't been able to unearth whether she has interest in Michigan or not. She is a top prospect, and a commitment would help out Michigan's hoops team greatly. That said, I'd be surprised if one of the top prospects would pick a school that can't even win the NIT (at least they can get there. ZING!).

Labels: bryce mcneal, commitments, football, recruiting

This entry was posted by Tim, on Thursday, May 01, 2008. You can leave your response.

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