Hello: Graham Conlan

Recruiting welcomes in the style of mgoblog (where I write them about UM football commits). Since there’s an enormous difference in the amount of information available on football and lacrosse commits, these will have a bit of a different format.

Michigan picked up its first two public commits in the class of 2012 last week. I’ve already profiled attackman Evan Glaser, so let’s take a look at PA D Graham Conlan.

Graham Conlan will join the maize-and-blue in Spring 2013

Relevant Articles

He was named an All-Star at the Blue Chip 225 in 2010. Coming into the season, he was listed as a “key returnee” for Hill, which probably means he was a sophomore starter, or at least in heavy playing rotation as a sophomore (as we’ll see in a moment, that’s impressive given the teammates who were also on D).

Graham was a quarterback/DB on the Hill football team as a sophomore, but didn’t play last year.

Just a few weeks before his commitment, ESPN Rise listed him as a rising prospect, which they define as such:

We will be adding athletes who are Division I-caliber athletes and who have earned some post-season honors (all-league, all-state, Under Armour All-American) and leaders on their team.

As a defender, there are going to be far fewer individual mentions of Conlan than an offensive specialist, so keep that in mind. It does sound, however, like he and his defensive compatriots excel in locking down their end of the field. I’m not sure about praising the defensive effort in which their goalie happened to make 17 saves (and allow 7 goals), but I’ll trust the reporter who actually saw the game over my own feelings about it.

ESPN Rise’s Tom Peace watched Conlan play about a month ago, and though he didn’t say anything specific to Graham, he complimented the team’s defense on clears. I reached out to Tom and he gave a bit more detail on Graham’s game:

@varsityblue was very impressed. He clears the ball well without getting anxious to pass it off on the offensive end. Good kid.

He’s gotten some pub for playing “aggressive defense” in the past.

Other Interest

Conlan told ESPN Rise that he also considered Colgate, UMBC, and Villanova. Colgate finished #19 in Laxpower last year, finishing second to Bucknell in the Patriot League. The Bison were also recruiting Graham, but when assistant Judd Lattimore was hired by Michigan (still waiting on that official announcement, Athletic Department…), the opportunity in Ann Arbor was too much to pass up. Villanova finished #13 in Laxpower, and UMBC was #46.

Teammates of Note

The Hill school isn’t quite as prolific in producing top-shelf talent as was Evan Glaser’s McDonogh, but there have still been some players moving on to the next level. The following seniors from Conlan’s sophomore year have moved on:

• G Tyler Himes (D-1 Providence)
• A PJ Mara (D-3 Connecticut College)
• M Tyler Schindler (D-3 Elizabethtown)
• D George Cornelson (D-3 Colorado College)

Following the 2011 season, the following Hill School products will continue their careers in college:

• D Tom Shade (D-1 Army)
• D Eric Nova (D-3 Clarkson)

While that may seem like an unimpressive haul, it’s important to note that they are both defensemen – the position that Conlan plays – so he’ll end his high school career as a multi-year starter at the most loaded spot on the field for Hill School.

In Conlan’s class, goalie Duncan Saunders is the only currently-committed player from the Hill School, per LaxPower. Saunders will attend North Carolina.

The Hill School finished 8-8 last season, and was # 26 in Pennsylvania, per LaxPower. They only lost two games to Pennsylvania teams (the other six losses came from New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, and DC).

Video

Conlan has a self-loaded highlight on Youtube:

The Upshot

There’s already limited information about lacrosse players on the internet. Players outside of Baltimore and Long Island have even more sparse info. Doubly so for defenders. However, it sounds like Conlan is a pretty good prospect, if not one that’s going to be recruited by the Duke/Hopkins/Syracuses of the world.

Based on his highlight video (admittedly a small sample size, and one designed for a specific purpose), he seems like a good takeaway defender, who can check the ball away from offensive players anywhere in his end. He’s athletic enough to take a risk here and there, because he can recover if it doesn’t pay off. He’s also an asset in the clearing game. He plays on the wing on some faceoffs (based on the highlights), which speaks to strong GB and stick skills.

For a defender, he’s not huge, and his highlight video doesn’t really show any big hits: he is the type of defender who uses athleticism and aggressive stick checks, rather than an intimidating physical presence.