Recruiting 2014: Tight End Matt Sokol

The Spartans have received their 7th commitment in the form of Michigan tight end Matt Sokol.   Sokol is clearly an under-the-radar recruit; no recruiting sites have rated him yet and he has only been offered by some MAC schools and Wisconsin and Illinois.  But to me he looks quite impressive.  He has great size 6'5" and 220lbs, and he has some really exciting video:

Sokol plays quarterback for his high school, so we can't evaluate the quality of his hands or his route running. But we can still see that he possesses the athleticism, mobility, and toughness to become a very effective tight end. He also plays the position for his AAU team, so he will come in with experience at the position.

Upshot: athletic kids don't always turn into effective players, but at least for now let's let ourselves get excited about Sokol's athleticism.  He's definitely one of the more athletic players in this recruiting class, which is actually turning out to be quite an athletic class, overall.  As for the rest of the class, I suspect the Spartans will try to bring in one more tight end, especially if they can get a guy like Gaelin Elmore.  Personally, I like the idea of bringing in several tight ends per class because they are usually good enough athletes to become effective defensive ends (see JJ Watt and even Shilique Calhoun) or even offensive tackles (see Eric Fisher and Lane Johnson).