commitment posts

Hi, I'm not dead yet. The doctor situation and ensuing medical situation that I took time off to deal with last week is slowly but surely getting resolved. I may discuss it at a later date; I may not—I'm learning to let this stuff play all the way out before putting it out there. As always, thank you to Brian for being so understanding as I deal with this, to Seth and Adam and Alex for covering for me, and to all of you for your support. I'm catching up this week; I've got this post today, GIFs tomorrow, and long-overdue basketball preview content the rest of the week. — Ace

Last week, shortly following a Michigan offer and official visit for the Rutgers game, three-star Eureka (MO) running back Hassan Haskins committed to the Wolverines.

I'm very blessed and honored to announce that I have committed to University of Michigan #goblue pic.twitter.com/Kxj5X8PUMh

— hassan haskins (@H2_3125) October 29, 2017

This looked inevitable from the moment Michigan offered; they were easily the best program to extend one to Haskins, who's impressed scouts with a very productive senior season thus far. This is how he celebrated his commitment, per Scout's 247's Allen Trieu:

Recent Michigan commit Hassan Haskins rushed for 159 yards and two touchdowns and scored on a fumble return on defense to help his Eureka (Mo.) team defeat Lindbergh on Friday. Haskins, a senior running back, has now surpassed 2,000 yards in his senior campaign.

While Haskins wasn't on the radar of most big-time programs, you can expect his rankings to start catching up to his production. He's the second running back in Michigan's 2018 class, joining Christian Turner, and the 15th commitment overall.

GURU RATINGS

As you can see, the rankings have some catching up to do. While Haskins isn't a superlative athlete, which is going to cap his ceiling, he's almost certainly better than, say, the cursory two-star rating thrown out there by Rivals. The film shows a player who should at least be solidly in the three-star range.

There's some disparity in the height/weight listings. 247 and ESPN list Haskins at 6'0", 205 pounds; Rivals thinks he's a little lankier at 6'2", 195.

[Hit THE JUMP for scouting, video, and the rest.]

Michigan added a big-time recruit at a position Jim Harbaugh loved to keep well-stocked. Four-star Missouri City (TX) Ridge Point tight end Mustapha Muhammad has long been considered a strong Michigan lean. He announced his commitment to the Wolverines while receiving his Under Armour All-America jersey in a ceremony prior to his game tonight, choosing Michigan over fellow finalists Clemson, Texas, and UCLA.

Muhammad is the 15th commit in the 2018 class and the second at tight end, joining Connecticut three-star Luke Schoonmaker. He'll be the second Texan (Chuck Filiaga, 2017) to join the program since Russell Bellomy in the class of 2011.

GURU RATINGS

There are a couple splits in Muhammad's rankings. Scout and ESPN both consider him the second-best tight end in the class and a top-75 overall prospect. 247 has him a cut below those two but still in blue-chip territory. Rivals, meanwhile, not only leaves him out of their top 250, they don't have him particularly close as the #19 TE; their #12 TE (Will Mallory, incidentally) is #250 overall.

Muhammad is listed at 6'4", 235 on both ESPN and 247/Scout*, and since he's done several major camps that's likely an accurate measurement. Rivals has him at 6'5", 225. Either way, he's got prototype size for a flex tight end and the frame to be a potential matchup nightmare as a true in-line TE.

*Scout and 247 have merged. They still have different rankings but there are no longer separate profile pages. It's weird, I know.

[Hit THE JUMP for scouting, video, and more.]

Michigan put the finishing touches on an excellent 2018 recruiting class this morning when four-star Daytona Beach (FL) Father Lopez big man Colin Castleton announced his commitment:

Castleton chose the Wolverines over Illinois after taking an official visit to Ann Arbor last weekend. While Michigan made a relatively late push for Castleton, the efforts of John Beilein and new assistant coach Luke Yaklich—who'd recruited Castleton at Illinois State—made a major impression, per Sam Webb. Beilein's no-nonsense approach ultimately won Castleton over:

“It’s kind of like DeLand times 15 or 20,” said Castleton, who averaged 23.3 points, 11 rebounds and 5.4 blocks per game as a junior. “I liked the feel, the culture and the coaching staff. Coach Beilein doesn’t lie; he’s straightforward. He didn’t promise me any playing time or anything like that, but the players are all great.”

Castleton is the fifth commit in the class, which now boasts four composite four-stars and ranks second(!) in the team rankings.

GURU RATINGS

While there's a difference in star rating, Rivals and 247 both have Castleton a little ways outside their top 100, while Scout is more optimistic, placing him at #70 overall. ESPN continues to be useless; Castleton, a composite four-star with several high-major offers, isn't in their database, and they still list Taylor Currie as a 2018 commit. They did just get around to putting up a page for Adrien Nunez, so hopefully they'll add Castleton soon.

Castleton is listed at 6'10", 215 pounds by Scout and 247 and 6'11", 220 by Rivals. Much like Moe Wagner, he projects as an NBA power forward who'll play center in college:

Colin Castleton is 6-11, 215 pounds. I asked him what position he'll play at Michigan ... pic.twitter.com/OgzqrjXdss

— Brendan F. Quinn (@BFQuinn) October 4, 2017

Castleton certainly has the requisite length, and as you'll see he could develop into an impact defender.

[Hit THE JUMP for scouting, video, and more.]

Michigan has recently been looking around for a second quarterback to join Joe Milton in the 2018 class. They got their man last night when three-star St. John's College High (Washington DC) pro-style QB Kevin Doyle announced his commitment. While Doyle had previously been on Michigan's radar, participating in last summer's A4 quarterback camp, interest from the coaches took off over the last few weeks when Doyle got off to an impressive start to his senior season:

Doyle, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound prospect, had offers from Ole Miss, Iowa, Nebraska, Pitt and many others, but had only recently crossed more heavily onto the Michigan radar.

"It came up probably three weeks ago after my game on ESPN," he said. "We played [Concord (Calif.)] De La Salle on September 2nd and it was a tough loss, but we fought hard. Coach [Pep] Hamilton said he was watching the game and told Coach Harbaugh 'we need to re-evaluate this Kevin Doyle, he's a nice player.' They re-watched the film, got in touch and and I got to go up with my teammate Quentin Johnson for the Air Force game. We spent a lot of time together and it was all positive.

"After watching our St. Joseph Regional game -- they're ranked No. 14 in the country -- they started to take more interest in me. They offered me and I decided it was the best place for me."

Doyle is the 14th commit in Michigan's 2018 class.

GURU RATINGS

Doyle's rankings are in a relatively tight window, as Scout and ESPN give him position ranks around 30th among pro-style QBs and Rivals is likely right there with them (they only rank 30 P-QBs and Doyle has the same 5.6 rating as the #22 P-QB). While ESPN is the service to give Doyle a fourth star, 247 is actually the most bullish, ranking him 15th among P-QBs. On Michigan's commitment list, Doyle slots in between Christian Turner and Sammy Faustin.

All four sites list Doyle at 6'4", 210 pounds, and the scouting reports indicate he has room to pack some muscle onto that frame.

[Hit THE JUMP for scouting, video, and more.]

[Isaiah Hole/247]

Last night, Michigan added the son of a seven-time Pro Bowl selection, a five-star defensive lineman, and a potential five-star offensive tackle. They're all the same guy.

Five-star Norcross (GA) Greater Atlanta Christian SDE/OT Chris Hinton Jr., son of former Northwestern and NFL star OT Chris Hinton, made his Michigan commitment public on Twitter last night. While Hinton had a long list of top programs after him—including Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Stanford—he went with the first program to offer him, and in fact had been privately committed to the school before making his announcement last night, per 247's Steve Lorenz:

First things first: we were aware that Hinton planned on committing to the Wolverines, but we expected it near the end of August or the beginning of September. Hinton told defensive line coach Greg Mattison back in July that his eventual plans were to commit to the Wolverines before his senior season officially started.

Michigan has led heavily for Hinton for months. He was one of the prospects in the 2019 class that we felt best about since at least April, when both he and his younger brother were on campus for an unofficial visit. Chris Hinton Sr., who played with Jim Harbaugh in Indianapolis in the NFL. I've added a 247Sports Crystal Ball for Myles Hinton to Michigan; a prospect who will likely be a 2020 five-star when our initial rankings are released.

As noted above, younger brother Myles Hinton, who's accompanied Chris to campus before, is also a top-tier prospect; he's a great bet to start Michigan's 2020 class with a bang.

Chris Hinton is the fourth commit in the 2019 class and the third to drop since last weekend's BBQ at the Big House. He joins five-star KY WDE Stephen Herron, four-star OH OG Nolan Rumler, and four-star IMG ILB Charles Thomas in the class. Hinton is also the seventh Georgia commit since the 2017 class; as TomVH points out, prior to Jim Harbaugh's arrival, Michigan had signed only two Peach State products since 2006.

GURU RATINGS

ESPN hasn't released 2019 rankings, so don't be concerned about the weird unranked outlier there. Hinton is universally considered one of the best prospects in the class, with only 247 keeping him out of the top three overall.

Hinton is listed at 6'4", 265 by Scout and 247, 6'5", 265 by Rivals, and 6'4", 274 by ESPN—I'm inclined to go with ESPN's figure since they also have verified testing results for him. The exact figure isn't too important right now; Hinton already boasts excellent size, has the frame to add quite a bit more, and could still be growing. That makes his future position a question of great intrigue; while he seems set on playing defense, multiple scouts believe his potential is highest at offensive tackle.

[Hit THE JUMP for scouting, video, and more.]

Brice Marich

Michigan has just landed a very big fish in the class of 2019:

〽️ Go Blue! pic.twitter.com/YU91TTwCyB

— Christopher hinton (@Thechrishinton) August 6, 2017

That's GA OL/DL Chris Hinton, currently #9 in the 2019 composite rankings and a very likely five star. Hinton had offers from just about everybody; the most relevant suitors were Stanford, OSU, Bama, Clemson, and Georgia. He is a major pull out of Georgia, further establishing Michigan as a force in that talent-rich state.

As a bonus, he's got a 2020 brother, Myles, who is also tracking towards being a big-time prospect.

A full Hello post will appear tomorrow, as if by magic.