You can follow GLS on Twitter @GreatLaxState to get (some of) these updates with a sense of urgency. To the links!
Preseason
Detroit’s official site has a story up that’s mostly a repackaging of other things already linked here, but there is a new video with coach Matt Holtz talking about the beginning of practice:
Looking forward to an opportunity to reach the NCAA Tournament, no doubt.
The Varsity News, UDM’s student-run newspaper, sits down with Holtz to talk about the outlook for the 2012 season:
“I’m pretty excited about our schedule this year,” Holtz said. “We have a tough non-conference schedule so that we can compete better in our conference. I would love to sweep the road games in non-conference but I would rather win every game in conference instead.”
He’s (understandably) excited to have Shayne Adams and Joel Matthews on the field at the same time. Those two will form a potent offensive combination.
GLS’s Detroit Mercy insider Reg Hartner says that Brad Janer, Tyler Corcoran, and Scott Harris have started practice in impressive fashion this spring. We’ll have much more on the team in the run-up to the season.
Emily Boissonneault has been named the captain of the women’s team at Detroit.
Recruiting
Charlton signs with the Wolverines. Hudson AD Ray Ebersole and coach David Blue join David and Susan Charlton in the back.
Hill School (Ont.) postgrad defenseman Cooper Charlton grew up in an Ohio State-dominated area in the Northeast portion of Ohio, but he picked the Wolverines over the Buckeyes:
“It came down to OSU and Michigan,” Charlton said. “I liked Michigan because it’s a program that’s just starting. But my biggest focus was academics. I like Michigan’s academic program better.”
Academic are going to be a big calling card in recruiting for Michigan when they’re competing with other Western schools for recruits (obviously it won’t be such an effective pitch against Harvard). Charlton is one of the few 2012 Michigan commits I haven’t yet had a chance to profile, but I’ll try to get that out of the way before the season starts.
Michigan recruit Kyle Jackson played for Team Ontario in the Brogden Cup, scoring a goal in game one of the United States team’s two-game sweep.
Philly Lacrosse talks with Michigan 2012 commit Josh Stauffer. He’s described as a signee, but wasn’t among those Michigan announced in November. Not sure what the situation is there, but he’s Michigan-bound either way.
Christian Wolter out of Hanover, New Hampshire is the latest public commitment to Michigan’s 2013 class. He committed over the weekend, likely during Michigan’s recruiting event. Ever the intrepid Googler, Reg dug up some highlights:
2013 commitment profiles will get rolling once those pesky 2012s are out of the way (and even then, probably not until the season is over).
The Michigan women picked up a commit from Towson (Md.) junior defender/midfielder Sara Beach.
Aquinas College has picked up its first varsity recruit – that I’m aware of, at least – on the women’s side: Genessee Community College transfer Mikela Caseria (a Hawaiian!)
Etc.
This is not a strictly lacrosse-related story, but some company in Warren has signed the biggest apparel deal in English soccer with Liverpool.
Dexter rising senior Michael Spuller and Brother Rice rising senior Riley Kennedy (Michigan commit) are on ESPNHS’s list of top returning point-scorers going into the 2012 season, with 106 and 92, respectively.
As always, if you want the quick updates, you can follow GLS on twitter @GreatLaxState. If you want to drop a news tip or link, you can send it over Twitter or e-mail me at t.w.sullivan1@gmail.com.
Spuller is the real deal if you have not seen him play. Too often a kid’s points get questioned if he plays for a non traditional power or in a outlying league. You put Spuller on a CC, EGR or NDP type of team and he’d be just as dominant. I’m shocked he has not committed somewhere yet.
I only saw Dexter play a couple times last year (against Huron in the regular season and once in the playoffs), and I was focused on Erber – now at VMI – so I only noticed a couple other guys who impressed me. Do you know what number Spuller wore for Dexter last year?
I don’t. Most of what I saw was him playing club ball in the summer or at All-American in the 7 on 7 over Christmas. I’m not sure if he wore the same # for Dexter as he did for club ball in the ridiculous camo/ammo belt uniforms they wear.
Reg, I haven’t seen Spuller play, but based on his stats against the only (2) good teams Dexter played, I’d have to question describing him as “dominant”, much less as “the real deal”.
AAP: 2g, 1a (10-6 L)
CK: 1g (12-3 L)
You could say the same thing about Andrew Erber, though. If your team only has a couple good players, you’re going to struggle against teams with better depth, no matter how good those guys are (unless you have Steele Stanwick on your high school team or something).
Tim, I agree. Therefore, I would tend to characterize such players as ‘good’, but not “dominant” or “the real deal”. I’m not trying to play semantics, but there is a BIG difference.
I stand by my statements. I’ve seen the kid play several times. He passes the eye test every time I’ve seen him play and does the little things well too. He’s not just a scorer, but he faces off, works his butt off on the ride and loves contact on GBs. Dexter has a young team that beat up on some really bad teams, but I would put Spuller up there with the top tier players in the state. He was one of the top 5 middies I saw at the D-Town 7 on 7 and you had several D1 commits there including Perkovic, Hebden, Perry and Jackson. Go by 2 box scores if you want, but I’m telling you, go watch him play, you’ll change your mind.
I’m not one to heap praise on kids that don’t deserve it. This kid is better than just ‘good’. If he’s not recruiting him yet, DeCola from Albion should be all over this kid.
Reg, I respect your opinion, but I’m not quite ready to elevate an Honorable Mention All Stater from a lower level team, who didn’t do anything special against two non-top tier (last year) teams, to elite status. But, as you said, I’ll have to see him in person.
To me, a good example of an elite player on a bad team, who did big things regardless of the competition, was OLSM’s Jay Penske in 1997.
Scott Harris from Saline was a great player on a bad team. He’s now a 20 Goal/20 assist scorer at the D1 level. It can happen.
19 and 20 but who’s counting?
In all seriousness I expect Harris to have a huge senior year. Last year he had to deal with the top pole most of the year until people started to catch wind of Adams. Now playing middle on a line with Lehto drawing the LSM, how often is he going to get the shorty at X and embarrasses him?
No question it can happen. UDM has pretty much built their roster with kids like that.
Of course it can happen. My point is about whether these players stand out when they play some of the better teams. Reg made a good point about stats being questioned when a player comes from a non traditional team/league, however, it goes both ways. There can also be cases of stat/All State “grade inflation”.
Another good example of an elite player on a lower level team, who did big things against good and bad teams alike, was OLSM’s Casey Olejniczak in 1998. He earned HSAA, and went on to play at OSU/Salisbury, winning a national championship (with significant playing time).
The WHOLE point that everyone is missing. I don’t care about his points, the level of his competition or his awards. I’m not trying to compare him to anyone either. I’m saying I’ve watched him play and he is a great player that passes the eye test.
Reg, I haven’t missed your point, I’m just not fully agreeing with it (at least at this point). Bottom line, if one were to put a truly great/elite player (such as Will Meter) on a lower-level team, he would certainly score more than once or twice against mid-level teams. This type of scenario has occurred in the past, and those rare players did, in fact, have significant statistics against all levels of competition. Also, those players were ‘highly’ recruited, which is another difference with this case.
I spoke with coaches from UDM and Albion yesterday. They both know about Spuller and have been in contact with him, but the kid’s dream is to go to the Naval Academy. They know if he get’s in they have no chance at him so they are slow playing it. Last they heard he received the nomination from his congressman and he was waiting on the admissions department.
I’m rooting for the kid. If you get a change go see him play this year. He will pass the eye test.
Will Meter isn’t a good example..
Tommy McKee, Dylan Gelven, and Nick DiRado, are good examples of a great players playing on a mid-level team.
They had stats to back it up.