Hello. I forgot to mention with the first one that this is an annual series profiling Michigan's incoming recruiting class. It's not with Hillman, but in most of these cases there's been a year or more of new information since the Hello post. It's also very useful for referencing biographical facts and the pre-playing career consensus on all these guys. You read them because it's the offseason.

A note on "YMRMFSPA": this stands for "you may remember me from such players as." It's not supposed to be a projection of how good a player will be, but rather who he'll remind you of in the event he works out. The players we use as comparisons all worked out. To use Brian's now very dated example: "I can't compare someone to Avery Horn because I don't know what Avery Horn played like."

Previously: Last year’s profiles. K Adam Samaha.

Portsmouth (Churchland), Virginia – 6'1"/191
[via Instagram]		247: 6'1/191                4.43*	4*, 94, #130 overall #7 ATH, #4 VA
		Riv: 6'1/200                3.74*	3*, 5.7, NR overall #54 S, #12 VA
		ESPN: 6'2/190                3.94*	4*, 80, #40 East #39 ATH, #8 VA
		On3: 6'1/190                4.53*	4*, 94, #137 overall #5 ATH, #4 VA
		Composites:     4.20* / 4.20*	4*, #214/206 ovr #9/6 ATH, #5 VA
		MGoAvg:                4.20*	4*, #271/782 Ovr, #21/53 safeties
		YMRMFSPA	Dymonte Thomas
Other Suitors	ND, OSU, USC
Previously On MGoBlog	Hello.
Notes	ATH: QB/WR/S/CB/ST. ND non-qualifier.
Film:
Senior regular season highlights: That with Kevin Sinclair narrating. Poly Bowl drills. Hudl.

This might be the record for quickest turnaround between a guy's Hello post and his summer recruiting profile. Hillman was a late riser that Notre Dame's excellent scouting department turned up. He signed there, but an "admissions hiccup" derailed his early enrollment and reopened his recruitment. Michigan jumped, Ohio State followed, and didn't get a visit.

Those of us who followed recruiting before 2002 will be familiar with the process of taking a guy going all Tom Harmon on mid competition, and projecting him to a hit-stick safety. Hillman was playing quarterback/safety/corner/punter in Norfolk, and wasn't really going to camps until the summer before his senior season. The Irish unearthed him that fall, tried to get him graduated early because they're in dire need of safeties, and Michigan used the snafu that created to move in for the steal. It's going to be awhile before we know what that looks like as a Big Ten safety, or even if he is one.

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Since he's a 1990s-style recruit we'll do the '90s thing and lead off with some Tom Lemming.

“He’s a very good athlete who runs well and has good body control and balance. He could be a wide receiver, slot, running back or cornerback and could return kicks. He has explosive moves. Notre Dame could use someone who could return kicks. … You can never have enough athletes, and he’s an athlete. They’ll find a spot for him.”

Since it's not the 1990s we have more takes than Tom's. In fact we have more scouting than normal because Hillman signed with Notre Dame before signing with Michigan, meaning we get to benefit to the full extent from the two most thorough recruiting staffs, and the two most detailed recruiting beats, in the business. ND Head Coach Marcus Freeman:

“That’s one of those guys you kind of watch the film and say, ‘OK, he’s a football player,’” Freeman said on signing day. “Get him into your program and figure it out. He’s tall. He’s long. He has great athleticism, and he’s physical and tough and intelligent. That guy will make us better. Where? To be determined. But that guy will make this program better.”

The 247 duo of Tim Prister and Kevin Sinclair discuss an "exceptional athlete with quickness and strength" whose "speed surfaces when he’s exploding off the backside hash to make a tackle on the opposite sideline." On3 reporter Mike Singer describes "so much to like on his tape as an overall athlete"

Hillman’s measurables and tape are off the chart. … athleticism and upside are extremely high. While you don’t see him playing wide receiver at the high school level, it’s not hard to project him at the position for the next level. And he’s a dominant running quarterback. He looks fantastic as a defensive back with his instincts and tackling.

On3 also sees a "multi-positional star at the high school level with good size, length and strong athletic markers." Director of recruiting Charles Power noted Hillman is young for his class—he turns 18 this June—and the measurables already break the charts.

That [6-1/190 reported size] is from the offseason; he could be bigger now. He has a 6-5 wingspan, and he ran a 4.74 40-yard dash at the Elite 11 with a 4.1 shuttle and a vertical over 40 inches. Athletically, he piques your interest off the jump.

Hillman's Hudl page reports a 4.47 forty, 4.07 shuttle, and 41.5 vertical, which would have ranked 4th, 1st, and 3rd among safeties at this year's NFL combine. For reference, Dax Hill ran a 4.38 forty and a 4.06 shuttle, and had just a 33.5 vertical. There's also talk of a "6.5 three-cone," which is ridiculous—Dax was a 6.57 and Leon Hall's 6.50 is the program record. When they say it that way I think they mean he's *in* the 6.5s, which is still ludicrous.

On the Michigan side, Sam Webb and Steve Lorenz noted the twitch is what has people excited (video) in Schembechler Hall.

Sam: This dude, he's not an Amorion Walker-level freak, but he's on that next level of guy you can just plug and play seemingly at five or six different positions on your football team.

Lorenz: Uber athletic. …

Sam: I'm not calling him a Dax-level straight-line speed guy, but man, your speed, your leaping ability, your change of direction—this dude checks a lot of athletic boxes. …

I mean really excited. Sam:

You can gauge a lot by the reaction, folks in Michigan recruiting circles: the elation: getting this one done, there were folks excited about Brandyn Hillman being in the fold.

Touch the Banner is another scout watching the QB tape and seeing a "dynamic overall athlete."

he has explosive speed, good elusiveness, some toughness, and a knack for earning extra yards by hurdling opponents, stretching the ball over the goal line, etc.

The body talk implies it'll be awhile before the convert can be an asset on defense, but this can also get way overstated. Hillman was a late addition—as in mid-week—to the Polynesian Bowl, then won defensive MPP of the game. Said Touch the Banner, "sometimes elite athleticism can take over."

Whoomp, there it is.

The athletic marker that's most apparent on his tape is the acceleration, most often deployed when Hillman is scooting past the Poor Littles on QB keepers. Sinclair (video):

Along with that impressive overall quickness, this athlete is clearly very physically strong. Offensively, you see it in the way he applies a stiff arm, in how he blasts through arm tackle attempts, and through his overall ability to break tackles.

That was apparent to 247 scout Blair Angulo at the Poly Bowl practices.

He was really quick to the football, showing the instincts and closing speed to make things difficult for opposing receivers at the catch point.

Kevin Sinclair noted the "quick-triggered speed" and spryness:

shows a twitchy nature, a suddenness in cutting, shaking defenders, and accelerating. There’s a natural playmaking element to his decisions with the football in his hands, and once he accelerates, he shows the speed to separate.

Prister said he's "shout of out a cannon," a "Point A to Point B missile," who "plays with suddenness and 'powerful speed.'"

The acceleration naturally lends itself to the physicality. There's lots. Angulo found a way to tut tut the softness of the camp atmosphere by excluding Hillman.

Physically, the all-star game setting is a bit more lax than usual but Hillman didn’t shy from contact and made numerous statements with his pads throughout the week.

Maize&BlueReview's Lucas Reimink notes Hillman "has a thickly built frame already, so he won’t need to pack on much more weight to play in college" and plugs that mass into Newton's second law to come up with a force.

Once he arrives, he shows good physicality and embraces contact and is always looking to make the ball carrier feel his impact. He also shows good tackling ability against all different types of ball carriers, with the good tackling form and solid agility to stick with the shiftier types, to the good physical strength to bring down the more power-based ball carriers as well. He can make tackles in the open field against almost anyone, and also does a good job of pushing the ball carriers backwards with his impact to limit Yards After Contact.

On3's Tim Hyde thinks there's an emotional component($) to that equation as well:

dude loves to hit people; he’s a physical football player. You see that on his offensive film, as well.

Prister describes a "natural aggression and physicality."

He was a wrecking ball on the back end of the Truckers defense, ranging from sideline-to-sideline to make plays.

Reimink thought it wasn't just mass and acceleration, but the Pentium upstairs:

He has good mental processing speed and good acceleration to get moving downhill quickly once he reads a run play. … He also shows good tackling ability against all different types of ball carriers, with the good tackling form and solid agility to stick with the shiftier types, to the good physical strength to bring down the more power-based ball carriers as well. He can make tackles in the open field against almost anyone, and also does a good job of pushing the ball carriers backwards with his impact to limit Yards After Contact.

But that conflicts with a take from Bryan Driskell (a ND writer brought in by the people trying to do something with SI), who thought Hillman is "more explosive than fast" in comping him to a Top 5 linebacker.

Hillman has good speed, but his athletic talent is more about suddenness, elusiveness and burst than it is raw speed. He's an exceptionally quick and elusive athlete that can cover a lot of ground. When he has the ball he shows impressive lower body strength, which makes him hard to bring down in space, and combines with his agility to make him a legit weapon with the ball.

That is also why he arrives at the football with so much authority as a tackler. As he fills out his ability to deliver punishment will be enhanced. All of this is why he reminds me so much of Owusu-Koramoah. More explosive and quick than fast, thin in high school but top-notch strength and a good frame, plays all over the field in high school and a very high football IQ.

On defense, Hillman is more about instincts and athleticism. If he ends up on defense he'll need to improve his footwork and the nuances on that side of the ball, but the natural tools are impressive. He will also need to continue getting stronger and fill out, but his athleticism talent and football instincts are top notch.

All that AND a bag of chips?

The natural question with a quarterback who's already as large as some linebackers is can he cover. Again, the ability is there, says Power.

Movement skills are fantastic. Has the long speed to pull away from defenders as a ball carrier and can see the hip fluidity and change of direction when working as a defensive back.

Prister says Hillman "plays light on his feet defensively":

He plays with a search and destroy mentality. He shows block-destruction ability and edge run support. He has some pretty natural backpedal and break-on-the-football skills for one relatively new to secondary play. He even matched up with wide receivers in press coverage on occasion.

The film shows Hillman lining up sometimes at cornerback, something his high school coach, Dontrell Leonard, said would happen when they played top receivers. It also shows a kid just getting by on his natural abilities, says Touch the Banner.

very raw while playing cornerback, strong safety, and free safety. The speed translates to defense, but he sometimes makes missteps and takes poor angles. His backpedal is very stiff, and he generally seems unsure of himself. My guess is that he’s just not very well refined on defense because he probably spends most of his time working on offense, and playing a few different positions on defense doesn’t help, either. His tackling technique is erratic and generally poor, but he’s not afraid of contact.

Rivals' Adam Friedman, reporting from the Poly Bowl, stuck with the "high potential" theme but emphasized it's potential:

"It'll be interesting to see how he can quickly adjust to the college passing offenses and really learn to cover in the back end there. His range is pretty good for a high school player and somebody who hasn't played against elite competition. So, there will be some adjustments to ensure that he can effectively cover the middle of the field and even match up sometimes with slot receivers or tight ends as we go forward in his college career.

That was the site to call Hillman a 3-star, and also the site that most grades on who the player is right now, versus what they think he will become. But Brandon Huffman was there for 247, one of the two sites that put Hillman in their top-150s, and disagreed about the now, calling Hillman "the most consistent defensive back we saw throughout the week and in the game" who "flashed a smooth backpedal, high pointed the ball in drills, and had really good footwork throughout."

Maize&BlueReview's Lucas Reimink sides with his site's overlords, crediting Hillman with the speed and athleticism to slide to CB, but listing man coverage, ball skills, and range as Hillman's weaknesses.

Things like bubble screens, RB screens, TE screens he can quickly diagnose and blow them up right away. He shows good awareness of route combinations when in zone coverage in the short/intermediate areas of the field as well, drifting towards where the QB’s eyes are going to take away the read. He doesn’t show much in terms of range in the deep areas of the field mostly just due to how he was used in high school, often covering the short/intermediate areas of the field. He did play some CB though, and showed solid hip fluidity, so he has the physical traits to end up being at least solid in deep zone coverage but just hasn’t been asked to do it much as of yet.

Reimink noted Hillman can stick with tight ends and running backs, but can get burned by bugs.

he can try and get too physical with them and if he misses his jam, he could be burnt down the field and his solid agility/solid foot speed won’t be enough to help him get back in phase if he does miss on the initial jam. When the ball is in the air, Hillman has thus far stuck to playing his man instead of the ball so his ball skills are marginal at this point but could be improved upon with more focus on it at the next level.

Given Michigan's secondary is one of the more complex and deep in the league, I don't think we were planning on him having to play immediately anyways. For his part, Hillman told Austin Meek of The Athletic($) that the learning curve in Ann Arbor was part of the attraction.

“The defense they run is really complex,” Hillman said. “It’s an NFL style of defense. I’d rather learn now than have to learn later. He rotates a lot of DBs in different positions, so if you’re a safety, you’re not just going to be playing safety. You’re going to be playing nickel, corner, blitzing. I wanted to play in a real complex defense so I could get all the schemes under my belt.”

Like a Box of Chocolates

So is he a safety? A nickel? A safety? A hybrid linebacker? A receiver? A safety? A wildcat QB? A quarterback? That's what his head coach wanted.

"To be real, I hope it’s at quarterback,” he said. "He is truly a special player at the quarterback position. Brandyn has an innate sense as a passer. He can make plays in the pocket, outside of it, in the RPO game off of zone or power.

"Plus he's an incredible athlete and can make you look bad with what he can do with his legs,” continued the Churchland head coach. "For teams that run a lot of man coverage, he is an absolute nightmare.”

Leonard admits polls showed quarterback interest lagging.

"We had schools continue to tell us the same story, they loved Brandyn but still didn’t pull the trigger. I kept telling these coaches that he was that guy and for whatever reason, they held other options at a higher level.”

"Things really started to change when Brandyn began to let teams know that he was open to playing defense on the next level,” he explained. "Suddenly teams started giving him real looks. He’s also a dynamic player at safety who can do a lot of things for a team. The physicality and awareness he has on the field is special.”

In the context of Michigan I think we can narrow things to the two safety positions and nickel. Which spot? Can we take a vote?

Power's site believes believes his "highest long-term upside" is on the back end of the defense, and Power is on team safety.

His physicality, athleticism and experience as a playmaker on offense projects well at safety. And it’s not much of a projection from his striking power and tackling ability. He’s a big-time hitter who’s not a full-time defensive player.

His site's ND reporter Tim Hyde agrees.

I love him on defense. He can male [sic] plays on the ball; put him at strong safety.

On Rivals, Reimink also thinks Brandyn Hillman "projects best as a Safety (Strong Safety in particular)"

…with his good mental processing speed, good tackling, good physical strength, solid foot speed, and solid zone coverage making him a likely Day 3 NFL Draft Pick if he continues to develop his man coverage ability, his ball skills, and his overall athleticism.

Notre Dame's plan was to put him at safety, but they're also moving cornerbacks and receivers there right now just to get bodies. Freeman said Hillman "is going to be an elite safety. He will run 53 1/3, track someone down, and make a play" but didn't sound like he loved the necessity.

“WiFi. Anywhere and everywhere. He can play literally anywhere. … He played quarterback, punter, holder, safety, linebacker, returner, he can literally do it all. He’s fearless. He could even grow into a rover. He’s just a special player.

I'm putting him down as an Undecided.

Safety is Michigan's plan right now, though plans can change. Allow myself to quote myself:

The ability to jet forward like that would make Hillman an obvious candidate for Viper in Michigan's old defense. In this one I think they want him to take on a hybrid role that allows them to create all kinds of different fronts with the same players, whether you want to call that a box safety or what. Minter kept things pretty vanilla for the safeties last year, but Makari Paige was doing some of that stuff in the blitzy bowl game.

I should have mentioned they did that with Brad Hawkins too during the portion of 2021 when Mike Barrett got to play viper. A lot of people, however, are stanning for Hillman to play that hybrid Barrett role. The Notre Dame equivalent is the Rover position, which got a linebackerish makeover for superstar Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, aka JOKER, who was like a Jabrill Peppers+ for them. Let's drop some Brett Kollman:

The short version is Kollman thought JOKER was the best linebacker in the draft, despite being just 6'2"/220, because they can leave him on one side and he'll still beat anyone they send to block him. Peppers with a side of Devin Bush, but able to carry a receiver all alone, sorta.

SI's Driskell was already making the case for Hillman in the JOKER mold:

As a rover, Hillman projects as the kind of athlete you want at the position in a true 4-2-5 defense. His potential in coverage and ability to make plays in space would allow him to be more of a true rover, one that can run and hit, run and cover and provide much needed length and range to the position. Notre Dame has been using linebackers at the position, but Hillman would bring a more natural defensive back skillset to the position.

Also in the in-the-box camp is Sam Webb.

Lorenz: Uber athletic, guessing safety is where they're kind of projecting him. …

Sam: There was some talk about nickel. I know he'll end up at DB; I just don't know if they're thinking pure safety or nickel at this point. I would bet nickel, because he's physical enough to be a box guy. He is fluid enough to be a cover guy. He would be more along the lines of Dax as far as size is concerned.

Tremendous

The other theme in every Hillman writeup—and yes this gets overstated in Notre Dame recruiting articles all the time—is a Blake Corumesque attitude. I would never take Tom Loy at face value, but he got a coach quote out of Leonard that's hard to dissimilate:

"He's a big old kid. Always smiling. He wants to make you smile,” said his coach. “He's most most definitely a leader. The leader of our team. Sometimes the kids will listen to him before they listen to me."

Seriously, this may be there were just a lot of Notre Dame people shaking down the personality echoes, but they do seem to think Hillman in particular has that particular football guy vibe. Prister said Hillman "plays with an aura about him."

He gallops around the football field with a palpable glee. He leaps over potential tacklers because the spirit strikes him. “I try to predetermine what I’m going to do to keep the game electrifying,” said Hillman in a burst of post-game energy.

…This is a guy who inspires optimism on the football field with a captain’s leadership and mentality that should be infectious in the Notre Dame camp. It’s hard not to get excited about Hillman when one sees his passion for the game.

Freeman noted Hillman "brings a ton of energy to our locker room."

People not associated with ND had similar takes. Brandon Huffman:

He's got an alpha personality too, coaching up his teammates and rallying them each rep in practice, then going out and backing it up with his own play.

And while this might have just been a positional observation, Touch the Banner:

Personally, I love quarterbacks who move to other positions, because it likely means they have good leadership qualities and a good knowledge base for the game. It has worked out well in the past for players like Courtney Avery (QB to CB), Desmond Morgan (QB to LB), and Luke Schoonmaker (QB to TE).

Talk to the [state shaped like a] hand

Naturally fans are going to wonder if Hillman getting into Michigan when he couldn't at Notre Dame means the latter's academic standards for athletes are higher. From my (slightly outdated) knowledge, that would be a dubious claim indeed. The most specific Hillman or anyone else has been about what happened with Notre Dame is from this Athletic interview:

On Wednesday, Freeman described Hillman’s switch as “a personal decision he made.” Hillman said the decision stemmed from an admissions issue that prevented him from enrolling at Notre Dame.

“Admissions denied me for Notre Dame,” Hillman said. “As you can see, I could have committed to any other school. Notre Dame had requirements I had to meet, and I didn’t meet it.”

Getting into why one player might qualify for Michigan and not ND means getting into some crazy weeds. For example, Michigan (as of five years ago) only looks at sophomore and junior grades, throws out electives, and ignores +'s and –'s, so arguing a C+ up to a B- can make a huge difference. One thing both of these schools have in common is if they are recruiting a guy long enough they can usually figure out an academic plan to satisfy admissions, but there are a few hard requirements, e.g. ND's foreign language requirement, that often trip them up when they find a guy later. Both schools also have effectively two levels to meet because their respective schools allow a set number of recruits each year to take remedial courses. The point here is there really is nothing to learn here unless Hillman chooses to get into specifics.

If you do have a Notre Dame fan who wants to use this as proof they're more serious about academics, the proscribed amount of time to laugh in their face is not less than 2, but probably no more than 8 minutes.

Etc. All-division at three positions.

Why Dymonte Thomas? This one is super-tight if you remember anything about Thomas as a recruit. Dymonte was a high school running back and military brat who blew up so late that Notre Dame boards were preparing academic qualifier excuses and Ohio State fans were convinced he was going to transfer before his first spring. This description of Thomas from the 2013 recruiting post could describe any moment of Hillman's highlight tape:

There's one where he decides to split the safeties and the safeties find out their angles have been calibrated so badly that neither gets within five yards of the kid. I expected at least one of 'em to take their helmet off, quit football forever, and fade away as he walks out of the stadium, but the clip doesn't extend long enough for me to test that hypothesis.

That came with equal measures effusive coach quotes, athletic admiration, and rawness—oh so much rawness. Hybrids had just departed Michigan and were still profligating through college football, but scouts seized on it to explain Dymonte's ineffitude and already full-grown size. Brian comped him to Stevie Brown, another good comp as a freak athlete who found a role as a 3-3-5 hybrid safety. Thomas burned his redshirt on special teams, which was frustrating because he wasn't playable in 2013 and could have been an asset in 2017. He went undrafted and lost his NFL career to injuries, but for a time he was an excellent safety on an elite defense.

Guru Reliability: Low. Huge disagreement between two sites who have him in the 130s (like a 4th rounder) and two who put him in the UDFA zone. No camps—they only saw him at the Polynesian Bowl—and Southeast Virginia football isn't a power league even if his school often played out of its division.

Variance: High. Super raw. Projection to safety after focusing mostly on being a QB in high school. Positional uncertainty that ranges from cornerback to linebacker or maybe even offensive skill positions. Young for his grade so he might still grow into a full-on linebacker for all we know. But athleticism is athleticism; floor is at the very least a special teams player who should develop into a Big Ten starter later in his career.

Ceiling: Very High. The speed question takes him down a notch from the Peppers Region, but he was getting comped to literally the best "linebacker" in the draft. If Sam is right and Hillman can stick with slot receivers enough to be the full-time nickel, the linebacker aspects of his game would make him basically what Peppers was to the 2016 defense.

General Excitement Level: Wazzzuuuuuuuuuuup! (We'll call that an 8, Mathlete). Personality, measurements, athleticism: These are the markers that Harbaugh built the last two winners on, and Hillman checks all of them. I also like younger prospects, because they're further from their ceilings. In a class full of athletes who will get plenty of time to develop, Hillman is already the second-highest rated player. And he probably should have been rated higher, since late risers seldom rise far enough, and the two sites that didn't put him in their top 140 are the two that are the least reactive.

Projection: There's going to be a lot of temptation to burn his redshirt on special teams, because a guy with his acceleration and ability to play in space (see: Khaleke Hudson, Jabrill Peppers, Michael Barrett) can become difference-makers there very quickly. It would be nice however to get Hillman a year of separation from the 2022 class. Four games and maybe a bowl appearance, because that doesn't count—I doubt Hillman will play any less than that.

He does have a few years before they need to work him into the safety rotation, in which I include Nickel (the Dax Hill/Mike Sainristil position) and the Viper role that Barrett played in 2021 but fell out of use because all linebacker-shaped objects were called to linebacker. Michigan has cornerbacks lined up there behind Sainristil for the moment, but they've also recruited a bunch of Not Just a Safeties for the secondary, like Keon Sabb. They even started using Paige like that a little bit at the end of last season. Ideally that's the role they would like Hillman to start preparing for.

Ironically for the only(?) safety they recruited for this class, Hillman is well situated to find a starting or at least platoon role by his redshirt sophomore year. The current generation's eligibility runs through 2024, which slots Hillman #4 in the safety lineup with between two (free/strong) and four (nickel/viper) starting jobs a safety could compete at, not to mention a quasi-starter role for the first rotation guy. If everyone follows their recruiting trajectories they'll have Sabb, Zeke Berry, and Damani Dent starting, and Hillman needed about as much as RJ Moten was on the 2022 team.

A lot can happen. We have several offseasons, two more recruiting classes, and however many Harbaugh to the NFL scares to survive between now and when Hillman's ready. But if you do want to look long term, Hillman has so many paths to the field. Michigan and the the game itself are moving toward positionless athletes like Hillman in the back seven, in the same way that smart teams began taking cornerbacks instead of heavy linebackers in the late-'90s. Between that, a two-year development window, the timelessness of good size, a good attitude, and absurd athleticism, and an obvious role on special teams, the last guy to join the class of 2023 is the favorite to lead them in snaps when all's said and done.

Smell ya later!