Monday, August 27, 2012

Recruiting 2013: Dennis Finley

The Spartans now have their 13th verbal commitment in the form of Michigan Offensive Tackle Dennis Finley.

Finley is a 3-star recruit to all but ESPN, which gives him 4 stars. He had a solid list of offers from places like Ohio State, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Cincinnati.

Finley is a huge guy (6' 7" and between 280 to 300 lbs.), but there is little statistical evidence on his athleticism.  So let's turn to his video.


Finley does look massive and strong. He is able to use those assets to stop defensive ends cold in their tracks. He also flashes some mobility in some of the pulling plays.  The one concern is that he does look just a bit slow, and that could be a problem when facing fast defensive ends. We'll have to see if he can improve his technique and mobility in his senior year.

Upshot: This is a huge get for the Spartans, first of all, because Finley is a good prospect. He needs some work, but the Spartans have several guys ahead of him, anyway. So he'll have plenty of time to develop. Of course, the other significant thing about Finley's commitment is that he comes from Cass Tech high school.  As many of you know, Cass Tech cranks out several top-end recruits every year, but most of them end up at UM -- no surprise since their head coach is former UM player Thomas Wilcher. Finley's commitment hopefully represents an inroad for MSU into talent-rich Cass Tech.

Finley may be the only O-lineman the Spartans take in this class, though they would likely still take a guy like Texas guard Caleb Benenoch. They are relatively loaded at O-line and they are probably down to three scholarships, now. So my guess is that they go for a defensive tackle, a safety, and best player available (e.g., Benenoch, Montravius Adams, Robert Foster, or perhaps Ruben Dunbar).

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