Previously: Last year’s profiles. P Tommy Doman Jr. S Rod Moore. CB Ja’Den McBurrows. LB Jaydon Hood. LB Junior Colson. LB Tyler McLaurin. DE Kechaun Bennett. DE TJ Guy. DE/DT Dominick Giudice. DT George Rooks. DT Rayshaun Benny. NG Ikechukwu Iwunnah. C Greg Crippen.

Crippen and Anderson are going to be mentioned in a lot of articles together. The two “centers” in this class couldn’t be more different prospects. The former is the tall, polished product of a Massachusetts boarding school and IMG. There are lots of questions about his explosion, and no pancakes on his highlight reel.

Raheem Anderson has actually been starting at center longer, but his style is the opposite. He’s compact, and violent. He “gets some.” He is felt. He went to the jewel of Detroit public schools, won the job as a freshman, and started every game hence. He’s been impossible to miss on either line, and because he went to so many camps, the rest of the country has known about him just as long.

Also Michigan clearly wanted Crippen for their center of this class (after Ryan Linthecum committed to Clemson), while holding off on Anderson, who was already a deeper Michigan fan than half of you reading this. The sites felt the opposite, rating Crippen as a guard as often as not, while Anderson is or was (247 put all G’s and C’s into “IOL”) ranked as a center. Crippen is on the two-deep already, while Anderson’s whole thing is the second you count him out he will find you downfield, square up, and take you out for pancakes.

[After THE JUMP: The comps will continue until morale improves]

Cesar Ruiz but pointier. Anderson is the kind of football savant you can see on the field as well as off of it. He was starting at Cass Tech as a true freshman at guard before they needed him to try center, and then he picked that up as well.

Allen Trieu, the head 247 Midwest scout, got the summary and one-sentenced the physical stuff to get to the mind:

Built like a true center. Not a particularly tall prospect, but carries his weight well and has solid arm length. Very technically sound prospect. Has an excellent base and does a good job with his hands. More than sound in pass protection. Also has the quickness and leverage to be strong in the run game. …  Very good football player though who is as consistent and reliable as it gets and should be a reliable multi-year starter in college.

His NFL comp is Jonotthan Harrison of the Jets, and the comp is pretty tight from the neck down. Harrison is a compact guy who’s good at anchoring down but doesn’t have the feet to match blitzers if they can get by him.

EJ Holland got out to two games and found Anderson even brainier than Crippen, noting “Anderson did a fantastic job of commanding the line and was very cerebral” and “showed off his high football IQ by helping his teammates make adjustments.”

TMI’s Brice Marich took in their game against Belleville and Alabama 5-star DT Damon Payne:

I would call the head-to-head a stalemate as neither really dominated, but I will say Payne’s name wasn’t called much and Anderson kept him out of the backfield all day long. He just wasn’t pushing him back five-yards or anything like that, but would turn him and give his running backs some lanes to run in-between the tackles. … Anderson definitely held his own.

Maven’s Eric Rutter noted Anderson did a Ruiz level of pre-snap pointing:

Perhaps Anderson’s most impressive attribute is not one that can be deciphered from a highlight tape— his intelligence. Lining up at center, Anderson surveys the defense before each play and works to recognize the defense’s formation before snapping the ball.

…before making a comp to Ruiz.

Chase Winovich but Thicc. Anderson is cut differently than normal humans. Raheem II wanted to go to his father’s archrival:

“We had an agreement – I told him ‘If you keep your grades high, you could pick the school that you want to go to,” his father explained. “He got a 4.0, he shook my hand, he looked me in the eye, and said, ‘Dad, I want to go to Cass.’”

Nobody can talk about Anderson without getting a vignette like that. One of his coaches told me they they used worry he’d wear himself out cheering his teammates. He held off his Michigan enrollment for 10 days to play in Cass Tech’s doomed playoff game vs Belleville. TMI’s Brice Marich predicted he’d be a captain at Michigan; he was a captain at Cass Tech as a sophomore. Anderson’s OL coach (who’s Big Will Campbell’s dad) told Allen Trieu he’d “cry fountains of tears” because Raheem is graduating. By the time he was a senior Marich says he was more like one of the coaches, like he was running the drills:

And then, that’s when Anderson started everything. He stated they would do some stretching before going into the workout. Once those concluded, he took over. I’ve been to a lot of workouts, but I’ve never seen one player take control and run the workout. He literally brought all the equipment from the ladder to the cones and etc. He also set up every drill and led the training session. He would do the first rep of every new drill and after he went, he would watch and help the others with technique or simply how to do the drill more effectively.

Marich then upped his prediction to “two-time captain.”

Anderson is also David Molk in interviews. Why Michigan? “The Team, The Team, The Team!” What stood out? “No mercy.” What did you think about watching M-ND in a downpour? “It was a lineman game.” He called Michigan “Those Maize and Blue guys.” Likelihood is higher that this guy owns a CD of Bob Ufer’s calls right now than that he’ll ever sit out a bowl game voluntarily.

All of this had an effect on 247’s decision to bump him to a 90 (4-star) late in the process.

What really set him over the top for us was we watched whole games this year as a staff. We watched the two games against King, and he was absolutely dominant. As he's been over the last couple of years. Early on in his career I think what kept him from four-star status was, what kind of an athlete is he? He's a great player, a great kid, everything you want. Physically, what does he have? I thought he showed that this year against Detroit King, especially those two games… their toughest opponent, he absolutely was dominant in those contests. He's very comparable to a Cesar Ruiz kind of guy and I would be surprised if he didn't go on to start multiple years at Michigan like he did in high school.”

Trieu also explained to Sam Webb that the “measurables” were stale.

The question on him was more about measureables, but the last verified measureables we had on him were from his sophomore season and those results were too old to continue to have any affect on his ranking.

And that interview had a different—perhaps loftier—comparison:

He is a very high-floor prospect who, I think, similar to his high school career, could end up being an early starter at Michigan and being the leader of the offensive line for several years. For a throwback name for Michigan fans, Raheem reminds me a little of former Wolverine Rod Payne.

Three-time captain.

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Nasty pancake man. Even when the Technicians couldn’t take advantage of it, Anderson had a tendency to end most plays on the ground, sometimes slapping it with both hands, while the arms and legs of a pinned PSL lineman with a bright future in engineering flailed in a futile attempt to lever a solution. Allen Trieu:

Anderson is very aggressive and finishes his blocks. There are a lot of pancakes here, but you also see the clips of him getting downfield to make blocks and that answered questions about his athleticism. Having seen him in camps in the past and then watched these games, we also know he is not just a great run blocker, but a strong pass blocker as well.

My take was he’s hard not to notice out there:

As the little commitment vignette shows, in addition to being the most Michigan recruit in the class, Anderson is the least subtle person on the field. … Raheem highlights come in one variety: puny humans move. Even without the helpful arrows pointing at the player, you can tell something unfair is going on because a mass of bodies are parting like the dam just broke.

Rivals’ MSU guy Corey Robinson thought Anderson “shows good athleticism for his size and plays with good power and pad level,” which is a rare compliment indeed for high schoolers. EJ Holland caught a couple of Cass Tech games. After one he called Anderson a “big, physical mauler in the interior of the trenches.” And had the good ol’fashioned bad is good take that high school OL get from not holding back against Little Timmies:

The thing that really stood out to me about Anderson, though, was how nasty he was. … Anderson is already a bully and loves to serve up pancakes. He's a dominant force on the inside.

Their site had their eyes on Anderson early, naming him and Ryan Linthicum as “two dominant players” among what would be a record four offensive linemen likely to get five stars.

MnB’s Jon Simmons also went old-school, calling Anderson a “classic mauler who grinds defenders into dust in the run game.”

He has a wide frame with a thick lower body. His best trait is his strength at the point of attack. Once he locks onto defenders, he keeps his legs churning and drives defenders yards downfield, often finishing them to the ground.

Steve Ostentoski did a livestream video and very kindly sent along his notes from that so I didn’t have to watch these clips again (video w sound is tough in my house because I work when the kids are asleep and I need music to write). Upshot: Fish loves the leverage Anderson plays with, his footwork, and his movement (“shows acceleration getting to the second level.”) He said Anderson has just about the highest floor you could ask for. He comped him to the recently departed Zach Carpenter, not because of the size (Carp was 6’5”) but because he plays low and nasty, plus all the intangibles mentioned above.

Touch the Banner liked Anderson more than Crippen as Michigan’s center of the future.

Anderson has a prototypical center body. Listed at 6’3″, he’s probably about 6’2″ and has that squat, powerful build you think of when picturing a center. He does a great job of staying low and maintaining leverage on interior players to win battles in the trenches. He seems to especially enjoy down blocks, which is really where he seems to excel. He likes to finish blocks and does a good job of driving his feet after contact. I like him as a run blocker.

That strength has all been evident a long, long time. Midwest recruiting analyst Josh Helmholdt gave Anderson the camp’s “The Hulk” award:

At day’s end it was Detroit Cass Tech sophomore Raheem Anderson who won the majority of those repetitions where strength was key. Anderson is a true offensive center prospect who plays light on his feet, but it is his ability to anchor and stop a defensive tackle’s momentum cold that sets him apart.

…in April 2019. He was 15 at the time.

Center or guard? Having two guys who played center in high school for multiple seasons in the same class is, as Steve O (MGoFish) called it “an embarrassment of riches.” The recruiting folk all seem pretty sure this is a center. EJ Holland:

I was told that Michigan is taking the two as a 'group.' However, I believe the staff may like Anderson more as a guard. He certainly has the physicality to play the position. He's a strong force in the interior of the offensive line and loves to finish off blocks. That's what I want in my guards and the more I think about it, the more I feel he can play it.

…one of the biggest reasons I was opposed to him playing guard is because he had a much better in-game performance at center than Crippen, who I also had a chance to see with pads on last year.

Marich seemed resigned about it but agreed Anderson could be a fine guard and “those guys can co-exist and I do think Anderson can play guard if need be even though he has been a center his whole career.”

Anderson too was on record for what position he’d like to continue playing.

“I’ve really gotten accustomed to playing center,” Anderson said. “I started off playing guard and tackle but moved to center to help my team. I really enjoy playing it now.”

TTB isn’t having it.

He looks like a true center to me; though some have said Anderson can play guard, I see Crippen as the one more likely to play guard.

That was before Carpenter left but Magnus thought the vets could handle things.

Limited athlete? Somewhere under the pile of wincing opponents and gushing coaches there must be another shoe here right? 247 was saying he “needs to improve testing numbers and continue to get more explosive” but already admitted that was based on a camp performance that was a year older than the pandemic. This was Trieu one year after those testing numbers, and over a year ago today.

We have also been seeing him at camps since around that time and he has always won a majority of his reps. He is very solid technically. He plays with an excellent base and moves his feet well enough laterally to be successful in pass pro. He gets his initial punches off quickly. Size wise, for a center, he is slightly above average. He has such a good punch though, that he knocks bigger guys off balance and he will look to finish his blocks when he can. In the past, his testing results have not been elite. That calls into question how much it really matters for an interior offensive lineman. When asked to pull, he does fine in space. He is balanced and coordinated. But if you're looking for an area of improvement for him, I think lateral agility and foot speed can still be worked on if we're projecting him to college and then beyond that.

Then they threw out the testing numbers. That might be correct. Touch the Banner thought there was a lot of work to do when he committed after his junior year:

As a pass blocker, I believe there is some work to do. Anderson needs to do a better job of moving his feet laterally. He tends to try to outmuscle people with his upper body. And while I mentioned that he stays low initially, he does tend to get up high when releasing to the second level and/or when drive blocking. His feet get too narrow, and that technique will lead to either missed blocks or holding calls in the future.

But after the senior film he updated his opinion.

I had some criticisms of him, especially in his pass protection, but they were fixable things. And I think he fixed a lot of them. I thought his senior film was much cleaner and showed that he continued to improve. He keeps a wider base and moves his feet better laterally. I think Michigan got a really good player here.

And gave Anderson an 83. Crippen, for the record, got a 65.

Simmons (MnB) still saw some ceiling stoppers:

Anderson could improve his bend more to prevent leaning into blocks. In both pass protection and the run game, Anderson will sometimes lunge instead of bending at the knees, putting him off-balance and leaving him susceptible to being shed. Film of Anderson in pass protection is limited, but his low center of gravity allows him to anchor and not cede ground. His lack of agility may cause him to struggle sliding laterally to pick up rushers.

Etc. Early enrollee, 4.1 GPA, engineering major, both parents are UM grads.

Why David Brandt but Hype? This was the least Dave of the generation of Daves. Brandt was the center of that great line in 2000, and only considered the weak link to people who only looked at draft projections. He was one of the smartest players to come through Carr’s program (according to Carr). He was also listed at 6’4” but played at about 4’5”, especially when some tackle tried to push the pocket. Things got a little more dicey when they blitzed up the gut, and Michigan in turn became a great screen team, where Brandt could get out in space and dig out most anybody he wanted. He went undrafted, hung around on teams as a glue guy for a few years, and did some coaching later on.

But Hype because Brandt was never that into football. He said he doesn’t get to watch much anymore because it’s during hunting season. Actually the Michigan personality he’s most like is a young Courtney Morgan. He’s the same size as Courtney too. I just didn’t want to do that because Courtney, who would have been best at guard, played most of his football for Michigan at tackle because of injuries.

Yes, a poorer athlete version of Cesar Ruiz or Rod Payne (they’re similar players) would be a fair comp, but the guys above already went there.

Guru Reliability: High. Cass Tech is one of the best-scouted teams in the state; the Belleville playoff game was must-watch stuff. Went to tons of camps in the summer of 2019, and probably would have done so if not for the pandemic. They are also in relative agreement here, since 247 caught up. The rankings match the offers—there was some serious LSU interest that led to an unofficial but not a legit offer.

Variance: Low. Everyone’s saying the same things.

Ceiling: Moderate-plus. Anderson is a high-floor player who should at least crack the lineup in the next three years at guard if not center. Sam Webb keeps saying watch out for Anderson as he learns the line calls. For the moment he has a classmate in the way.

General Excitement Level: Moderate-plus. I really like Anderson in this class, and there are 20 classes I would really like him in just as much or more. The whole saga with Michigan pursuing Crippen (and before him Linthecum) ahead of the Cass Tech kid when a major theme of the recent staff makeover was “Let’s fix Detroit” was pretty weird. Because of that saga I went into this scout thinking I was going to see a camp rat with some glaring hole in his game, not knowing what that was. Instead I found a legit four-star program dude who was focused on getting into Michigan while MSU was hopping up and down going “Me, look at me!”

Several things that could mean:

1) Michigan’s staff saw or knew something in the junior film that caused them to downrate Anderson. That sorta tracks with the tepid offers—only MSU was really pushing us hard at the end.

2) Just Ed Warinner didn’t like Anderson’s film for some reason, and that ended when a coalition of Michigan people overruled him. That doesn’t make that much sense because Anderson committed in April 2020, not long after Crippen.

3) Michigan was in constant touch with Anderson and his camp, he was a silent commit, and he was totally on board with them pursuing another center first to make the best possible class.

I am guessing it’s something close to #1: they saw something in the junior film that gave them pause, had Crippen and Linthecum higher on their board, and just went down the line while being honest with everyone about where they stood. That means Anderson came knowing he was going to be starting behind Crippen, and didn’t care. That…that tracks.

Projection: Crippen is going to play, but he’s going to have a hell of a time keeping that center job he’s on the way to earning as long as Anderson is around. This year we really don’t want either one of them having to play. In the short term, even if he can’t squeeze past Crippen at center or seize a guard job in that melee, Anderson is a good candidate for the Courtney Morgan role of general backup, and extra line coach. Zinter and Rumler and Atteberry might be involved as well, but the two true centers after the walk-on starting are both in the 2021 class. If Zinter’s at guard this year, he’s probably staying at guard; Rumler and Atteberry both have freshman eligibility and can afford to wait for those guard jobs to open up.

Anderson is the more versatile of the two center prospects in this class, but guard is going to be well-stocked with the above and anyone who moves down from tackle until these guys are upper classmen. Anderson probably has some job on this line by then—he really is one of the safest bets at OL, which makes him like a 50-50 bet. I expect he'll play out his eligibility, get drafted in the later rounds, and some poor unsuspecting lineman with 7 years in the league and a mortgage will suddenly have this rookie giving him pro tips.

Of course I can't let the people with more serious jobs than me have the hottest takes. Sure: two-time captain. But there's more to his future than that.

Future Head Coach of Michigan Football, Raheem Anderson. Book it.