darnay holmes

GIF Is Unrelated But Necessary

While all thoughts at this point are on tomorrow's capital-G Game, there are some recruiting developments to cover from last weekend's slate of official visits.

Top-100 NY OT Isaiah Wilson isn't saying much about his leaderboard, but the returns were positive from last weekend's official visit, per Sam Webb:

Another factor helping strengthen Wilson’s positive view of Michigan is the opportunity for early playing time.  The four-star lineman isn’t bashful about expressing how significant that consideration will be in his final decision.  That’s why offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Tim Drevno and Jim Harbaugh made it a point to mention it.

“The vibe is good,” said Wilson.  “We are very comfortable with each other. We went over film and talked logistics about if I was to attend.”

Wilson has upcoming official visits to Alabama, Georgia, and LSU; his recruitment is expected to come down to Michigan and Bama.

Despite all the things implied by taking an official visit to an out-of-region program faring much better than the one to which a recruit is committed, the high school coach of three-star CA CB Elijah Hicks made it a point to say Hicks was "100 percent" committed to Notre Dame heading into last weekend's trip to Ann Arbor. That is not the post-visit vibe according to multiple reporters, including 247's Steve Wiltfong:

247Sports is told Hicks left impressed.

If Hicks didn't have any intentions of rethinking his decision to Notre Dame before the visit, a well-placed source on the Michigan side told 247Sports he certainly is now.

I'm not predicting a flip, but nothing would surprise me.

Scout's Greg Biggins talked to a few sources close to Hicks who feel there's "a very strong chance" he flips to Michigan. The push for Hicks makes sense in conjunction with the feeling that Darnay Holmes is likely to stay in California, probably at UCLA; Holmes has been non-commital about his official visit to Michigan lately. We just put in a Crystal Ball pick for Hicks to flip.

[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]

Visit Reactions: M Winning Solomon Back?



yeah, still want

After gaining a commitment, losing it, looking out of the picture, and then crawing their way back in, Michigan made their latest push for four-star GA DT Aubrey Solomon on his official visit for the Maryland game. Solomon was accompanied by his mother, who came very prepared, and the most critical aspect of the visit from M's perspective was winning over—Solomon's interest in Michigan has always been very strong while his mom has been a skeptic. According to Sam Webb, they pulled out all the stops:

Front and center for most of the visit were Gwen Bush and Devin Bush Sr.  They were with mom a ton with one observer offering, “Gwen hardly left his mom’s side.”  And as we speculated heading into the visit… “Momma Gwen” having sent her own questionnaire out during her son Wayne Lyons’ recruitment before deciding to send him to school on the other side of the country (from Florida to Stanford) really appeared to help forge a connection. For good measure Wayne was also on hand for the Solomons to meet.

The vibe between Mom and Bush Sr. was noticeable.  One observer said, "they went back and forth like they've known each other for years."

Rashan Gary and his mother, who was visiting for the weekend, hosted Solomon, though his mom wasn't able to get together with Gary's; she did, however, have lunch with Greg Harden, Michigan's director of academic counseling—he played a big role in landing Gary.

Both Sam and Steve Lorenz believe Aubrey himself wants to go to Michigan, but they still have work to do to win over his mother. Lorenz:

If the choice was 100% his, there would likely be some 247Sports Crystal Ball predictions coming back the Wolverines' way. However, it appears to not be fully his decision. We reported on Sunday that mom was impressed with what Michigan had to offer. That remains the case in the grand scheme of things, but according to a second source we spoke with on Monday, the visit reportedly could have gone better from Michigan's standpoint regarding impressing Solomon's mother. 

Also of note: Sam is getting the "distinct impression" that Clemson, not Alabama or Georgia, is the school closer to home with the best shot at Solomon. I'm not sure how to take that: on one hand, that looks like some tough competition is taking a step back; on the other, well, head-to-head recruiting against Clemson can be quite the experience. Michigan made progress this weekend; we'll see if it sticks after more visits.

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[Makes Roadrunner Noises]



meep meep

The above are highlights from Michigan commit O'Maury Samuels's first three games of the 2016 season, courtesy of Scout's Greg Biggins, who also provided an updated evaluation:

Looking at Samuels early season game film, it's obvious he's a man among boys at this level. He's just simply bigger, stronger and faster than everyone he's going up against and all of his physical tools project very well to the college level.

He has a great running back frame at 5-foot-10, 190 pounds, strong and compact. He runs with great balance and has the ability to take a hit, spin off a defender and keep going or just run right through a would be tackler. He has a very strong lower body, is a decisive runner with no wasted motion and can hit full speed after just a few strides.

In addition to turning the entire population of New Mexico into a band of Wile E. Coyotes, Samuels apparently displayed a "little more wiggle" than he did as a junior.

Biggins had little to report on the recruiting front, which is great news. Samuels said this summer that he planned to look around on some visits but there isn't even a clear picture of who's in pursuit of Michigan at this point. Even when accounting for competition level, it's obvious why M got in on him early, and that looks like it'll pay off.

Along those lines, cornerback commit Benjamin St-Juste will take an official visit to Virginia Tech in November. Given he said this to VT's Scout site, they don't sound like much of a threat:

“Through the year after I committed, I didn’t get any more offers,” he said. “I got one more from Virginia Tech and interest from Rutgers, but there’s no other team that’s offering me something better or bigger than Michigan. I don’t feel the pressure to decommit or anything. I only saw Michigan, so I need to take other visits.”

While you never know with recruiting, St-Juste doesn't sound like a serious flight risk.

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