braden miller

Linguist Fallout/Clink Reactions

Losing their hottest recruiter at a position of dire recruiting need last week was a blow, but one that was salvageable if Ron Bellamy could play damage control($) until Michigan could pull off the one hire people wanted more than Linguist. They did so, and now the damage doesn’t look so bad. There are a lot of details behind the paywalls here but I’ll give a quick rundown of the board and how things have shifted with links as to the how and why.

THE MR. BLUES:

• ➡ 5* MI CB commit Will Johnson: He’s “in the class” ($) says EJ Holland. Dad is on board. Johnson is still telling 5-star Oklahoma commits to come to Michigan, so I think we’re good here.
• ➡ 4* TN CB/Nk commit Kody Jones: Has an existing relationship, told Sam he’s “all-in” and that Clinkscale was his first offer.
• ⬆/➡ 4* TN CB target Myles Pollard: Told Holland Clink was his first choice(free), and Sam writes Pollard “has a leader”($, info in title) so no change. Pollard did add a visit to Florida after those to Oklahoma and Auburn. In a Michigan vs the field recruitment, I say more the merrier, since it just dilutes the field.
• ➡ 4* NJ CB target Jaeden Gould: Helps($) thinks Holland, “Still in a really good place”($) Johnson told Sam.
• ⬇ 4* MI S/Nk target Dillon Tatum: “Not had the best words about it” Johnson told Sam, who also got Dillon to admit on record that up until last Wednesday the only thing holding up a Michigan commitment before was waiting on the video. Apparently Tatum was turned off at some point when Clink was recruiting him to Lexington; Holland learned before Clink was hired(free) that Tatum didn’t have a good relationship there, says there’s some fence-mending needed($) and went into detail on a public Q&A before Clink was hired that sounded like somebody up US-23 was whispering sweet nothings. Upshot here is Tatum will take visits to his leaders, and Michigan is giving him time to form a bond with Clinkscale.

THE HAPPY TEETH​

• ➡ 5* CA USC CB commit Domani Jackson: Linguist’s leaving hurt, via Holland, but Clinkscale and Domani’s dad are both from Youngstown. Holland wrote that ASU’s Christian Hawkins would have moved the needle here the most.
• ⬇ TX 4* S Chace Biddle. Probably wasn’t happening anyways.
• ⬇ VA 4* S Sherrod Covil. Once an M/ND scouting win who was ticketed for Va Tech, now Clemson/Bama/OSU involved and ND is trying to hang on. M was probably pulling out before Linguist left.

THE DATUM (DATAS?)

• ➡ GA 4* UGA CB commit Marquis Groves-Killebrew is one Linguist connection I was surprised is still coming up here, but that’s the plan($) says Sam. MGK is one of two recent offers whom Will Johnson told Webb Michigan’s “in a good place with.”
• ➡ GA S Mumu Bin-Wahad is the other, and will still be up for a visit on Victor’s Weekend. Trying to dig on this guy returns mostly rebuffed recruiting reporters until the 24/7 Michigan guys started getting interviews about MBW’s bond with Will Johnson($, info in title).

THE SAD JOSH

• ⬆ 3* MI Kentucky S commit Jeremiah Caldwell: Probably changed this one from a peripheral recruitment to a flip.

THE NEFARIOUS EDUARDOS:

• ⬇ I’m just gonna take TX 5* Bryce Anderson off the board entirely. He was trending to Texas($, info in title) before Michigan lost the one reason he was interested.
• ⬇ Ditto LA 5* Jacoby Matthews (going to LSU guys).

NON-DEFENSIVE BACKS:

• ➡ 5* TN DT Walter Nolen. Via Holland, Bellamy had more to do with this recruitment than Linguist. Keeping Kody Jones is important. Michigan also just offered Walter’s middle school brother, a 2025(!) OL. This is the only way you’ll get me to talk about 2025 recruiting.
• ⬆⬆ 3* MI DT/OL Deone Walker: Up($), also rising. Holland had a (free) 1-on-1 recently, that includes an interesting note about how the new staff would use a 6-7/340 guy I’ve upgraded him to Mr. Blue on the board:
• ➡3* TX LB Jeremy Patton, who probably won’t be a 3-star much longer, is going to use one of his coveted few visits to check out Michigan(free) reports Steve Lorenz, who stresses Patton was one of the first targets the new staff ID’d. Seems like a big hurdle in a recruitment that will have a few of them.
• ➡ 4* MI Notre Dame LB commit Josh Burnham: No change($).
• ⬆ 4* TN LB Keaten Wade and 4* ATH/QB Destin Wade, both UK commits: Package deal($), M needs a QB so would make sense.

Rest of the board isn’t tied to Linguist or Clinkscale in a specific way. I guess it could help with MI CB/WR Jaden Mangham from my high school, who was just bumped up to a 4-star in 24/7, but I haven’t heard yet.

[After THE JUMP: Two more cornerbacks, and guys the size of two cornerbacks.]

We’re catching up on the shape of 2022 recruiting, which has morphed some since the staff shakeup this offseason. I covered defense last week but there have been some significant moves on the offense too.

Summary:

QB: New board, best two options are a couple of Midwest 3-stars Cincy and Iowa were after.
RB: Hart is going to gun for some 5-stars.
WR: Bellamy’s added some long and tall prospects (one an ATH from Groves) to the longtime pursuits of Gattis-beloved targets Brown/Morris.
TE: Klein solid, the other GA prospect is now a 4-star with SEC suitors, other-other GA prospect recently decommitted from PSU.
OL: The commit may move up the rankings, one impending commit is gonna hold off to get to know Moore better, one impending commit already does, and a number of Sherrone’s top targets have replaced guys who liked Warinner.

Most Likely Warinner OL to Stick

CO 4* commit Connor Jones hasn’t wavered with Sherrone Moore taking over as position coach, and Brice Marich got us some recent scouting from Jones’s coach:

“…a point of improvement was his footwork in pass-pro. It really got better and moving lateral with quickness. He’s violent with his hands and all those things really improved significantly during last off-season through the end of the 2020 season. He’s always been a very physical run blocker and always been very demanding of himself. He punishes people and finishes blocks, but that’s how he’s always been. I think his lateral speed, quickness and violent hands in pass-pro have really gotten better.”

Colorado doesn’t have any naturally large bodies of water, so that coach can be forgiven for mangling a maritime Keynesian economics metaphor…

“He’s a guy that puts water in the harbor.”

…to say Jones is a great teammate. But he also reports Jones is up to 6-7/290, so it could also mean the kid literally lifts all boats.

We thought we’d have a second guy from the state in the class, as CO 3* Braden Miller, Reece Atteberry’s teammate and SixZero Academy partner($), was really close to committing our people tell us (and EJ’s people tell him($)). Clearly the Warinner divorce held off Miller’s announcement, which is great news for those of us who were procrastinating on that Hello post.

MN 4* Lucas Heyer is a top priority for a lot of Big Ten schools. Warinner was in early($) thanks to his Minnesota connections, but it waits to be seen if Michigan surrendered their slim lead there when they surrendered Ed. We may not have to wait long; 247’s Brice Marich put in a Crystal Ball to Michigan this week($).

[After THE JUMP: lock up yo five-stars]