Previously: Last year’s profiles, K Adam Samaha, S Brandyn Hillman

Youngstown (Chaney), Ohio – 6'3"/195
[Twitter]		247: 6'3/195                3.69*	3*, 88, NR overall #67 S, #21 OH
		Rivals: 6'3/190                3.77*	3*, 5.7, NR overall #35 ATH, #20 OH
		ESPN: 6'2/195                3.46*	3*, 75, #121 MW #95 S, #37 OH
		On3: 6'3/195                3.53*	3*, 87, NR overall #97 S, #28 OH
		Composites:     3.69* / 3.71*	3*, #1253/#704 ovr #116/#64 S, #37/#23 OH
		MGo Avg:                3.63*	3*, #626/782 Ovr, #54/74 CBs since 1990
		YMRMFSPA	Jeremy Clark
Other suitors	UK, Toledo decommit.
Previously On MGoBlog	Hello.
Notes	Teammate of Jason Hewlett. Steve Clinkscale also an alum.
Film:
Senior Highlights: Hudl.

There was an annoying thread on our message board (from a reader I still like a lot) recently that knocked Michigan for missing out on Detroit King alum Sauce Gardner. Believe me when I say that had they done so, "2019 Recruiting: Ahmad Gardner" would have been a very weak post, followed by an angry comments section. Doubtless, the Michigan offer alone would have jumped him 400 spots up the composite, though still well in the 1,000s. Between would have been a small smattering of "is really long" and "good ball skills" and "has to fill in that frame." This isn't a one-to-one comparison, but the point is three months before Sauce became a freshman All-American, the thing to know about him was he was 159 pounds and ran a 4.74 forty.

Does that mean DJ Waller is Sauce Gardner? No, I'm not saying that. Gardner was also a camp rat and surprisingly fluid in the hips, which is a bone of contention between the sites on Waller. Also the list of Michigan recruits who got substantially faster in college isn't long: those I'm aware of who went from a 4.7 to the 4.4s or better are DJ Turner, Devin Funchess, and Troy Woolfolk, and then if you want to you can count Dymonte Thomas doing it over his last year of high school.

The point is most guys like Waller don't hit. Every so often you get a 6'0" HS sophomore who shoots up 4 inches, and is still getting used his body while the recruiting sites underrate what just happened. Sometimes that body ends up being a tweener that transfers to Duke. But on rare occasions, you can get something Saucy.

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Lengthy!

The thing that sticks out most about DJ Waller is growing like a beanstalk. He was listed as 6'0" as a sophomore, measured 6'2" when he camped the next spring, was upgraded to 6'3" last August, and in his commitment photo is at least an inch taller than confirmed 6'3" person Jim Harbaugh:

[via Twitter]

…who was all about that size.

“One thing Will Johnson shows, and we’ve all known, is these long, athletic, tall corners are so good. It’s his unique size with DJ. I mean, he’s gonna look like he could be an edge rusher. He’s close to 6-foot-4 tall.

The scouts could hardly miss it. Trieu:

Very long, tall.

Lucas Reimink:

At 6’3” and 190 lbs, Waller has really good length for a Safety.

Jim said cornerback, but I'm listening.

EJ Holland (video).

So the things that stand out about Waller immediately are his length and his height. He's a guy that's going to frustrate opposing wide receivers with that length. He's very physical.

Holland again:

Waller has the height and length that Michigan often desires at the corner position … He's 6'3/195 now but he does have the frame to carry a lot more weight. I wouldn't be surprised if he does end up moving back to safety or potentially spinning down and becoming a linebacker. There's a lot to work with there.

Wait, linebacker? I thought we were all recruiting him at cornerback. West Virginia coaches who offered him around the same time Michigan got interested, did you see a cornerback?

West Virginia sees Waller as a safety with the ability to play inside and outside of the box. At his size, Waller should be able to play multiple positions that versatility is appealing to the coaches.

Inside the box is a linebacker. Maybe Chaney head coach Seth Anthram can explain why Michigan wants Waller at cornerback?

We play a 4-2-5, so we roll him down a lot as a weak safety into the box, but we can leave him high and he cover flats, he can cover a deep third and still be able to come down and be a huge impact guy. … He played corner last year has shown that on film so several schools are even considering trying him at corner.

There we go.

I think you ellipsis'd through an important part there.

Yeah I did.

... Basically anywhere in the secondary and possibly even putting weight on and moving to WILL backer or a SAM really or either type of safety.

SAM is Jaylen Harrell's position.

I know.

That's a quasi-defensive lineman.

Barely, but Harbaugh warned us "He’s gonna look like he could be an edge rusher."

So literally a defensive lineman.

Can you just do the subheads please?

Can become anything from a cornerback to a defensive lineman.

So yeah, okay this is the weirdest recruit ever. Here's the rest of that Allen Trieu thought:

Very long, tall and has lined up in different places defensively. Best projection right now is as a safety but could get opportunities to play cornerback or grow into a hybrid backer.

Reimink was starting to say he likes Waller as hybrid, specifically the Bandit in a 3-3-5 stack or some other kind of positionless football setup.

He projects to play Safety at the next level, ideally in more of a SS-type role where he can roll down, be the box safety, and play the run more often than not.

EJ Holland noted Waller is his "least favorite recruit in the class" (fairness: someone has to be)

I do think Michigan can get something out of him if they move him to safety or even bulk him up and let him play linebacker. Like fellow Ohio natives and Michigan commits Jason Hewlett and Breeon Ishmail, Waller is a tweener that could go in a lot of different directions based on how he develops in the strength and conditioning program. Again, that 6-foot-3, 195-pound frame is impressive, but there is a lot of work to do in terms of development as well as teaching technique.

Holland also doesn't "see it at the corner spot."

Waller doesn’t spend a lot of time on the outside as an actual cover corner, instead playing safety and nickel. He does have a couple of flash plays, where he makes plays on the ball, but they are too far and few in between.

Part of that has to be coming from where people are seeing Waller line up. His coach:

"We play a 4-2-5, so we roll him down a lot as a weak safety into the box, but we can leave him high and he cover flats, he can cover a deep third and still be able to come down and be a huge impact guy."

What they're describing is much less Jeremy Clark than J'Marick Woods.

Because he lays the proverbial J'Marick Woods.

And they do. On one extreme is Jim Harbaugh:

He has a great skill-set that is rare for his size. You get tall guys and the question becomes, what’s their change of direction? Can they flip their hips? He’s got unique athleticism for his size. I just think under Coach Clink’s mentorship, that DJ is gonna play and have a long career in football at the corner position.

The one media scout who might be in [shouting distance of] Harbaugh's camp is Alan Trieu:

Shows short-area twitch and change of direction at his size. Pure long speed is a bit of an unknown ... On the raw side but has worked on his technique and is developing. Has a higher ceiling and versatility.

On the opposite hill is Holland, who credits Waller for "adequate speed" and flashing "impressive athleticism, especially in the return game," but thinks he's tight.

Waller is big and intriguing but isn’t very fluid and looks tight in the hips. He’s a project take all the way. … He has that size, but does he have the speed? Can he keep up with wide receivers in man coverage? I think right now Waller is a little bit more of a project.

And then there's Reimink, who thinks the United States is going to come around on climate change faster than Waller can change direction with a receiver

His quickness and agility however are marginal, as his hips are tight when in coverage. … When in a deep zone as the single high safety, his marginal agility limits his overall range. … When in any deep zone, he is marginal at tracking the football because he takes marginal angles when the ball is in the air.  … When in the open field with the shifty type RB’s, his marginal hip fluidity could become something that gets exposed at the next level. He also needs to wrap up better when tackling as he tends to go for the big hit and lowers his shoulder instead of wrapping up and bringing his whole body to the fight.

… shouldn’t be used as a Center Field type Safety in a single high look because his marginal hip fluidity limits his overall range. If he can improve upon his hip fluidity and quickness then he could become a Day 3 NFL Draft with his good mental processing speed, really good length, and good physicality as a SS.

As weaknesses Reimink lists Man Coverage, Foot Speed, and Range. A subtle review, this is not.

You will note that Reimink appreciates Waller's ball skills, and attributes his playmaking to a safety or even linebacker-level understanding about where the play is going. He was the only one really bringing that up—EJ Holland just wondered if playing receiver would translate.

Needs a lot of development.

On this everyone agrees. Holland belabored the point on his video breakdown:

But he is a guy that is raw. Extremely raw. He has a lot of work to do from a technical standpoint. And so Michigan's a great fit for him to learn. Now I don't think Waller is going to make any sort of immediate impact. I don't think Waller is a big-time sleeper, like I did maybe with Rod Moore, whom I was very high on as another three-star defensive back out of Ohio. But I do think that Waller has some potential.

It's just going to take Clink some time to work with him, and teach him proper technique, teach him how to use his length to his advantage. Teach him the proper patience, develop his footwork, develop his feet, and that's something that concerns me with Waller. He has that size, but does he have the speed? Can he keep up with wide receivers in man coverage? I think right now Waller is a little bit more of a project. I'm interested to see how he develops in the S&C program.

In the Hello post our Alex Drain summarized the consensus on our new ball of clay:

Waller is, like so many players in this class, a project. The reality of Michigan's 2023 recruiting class is that the value that Michigan ends up getting out of it is inextricably linked to their ability to develop talent, and that's especially true on defense. Bahr, Koumba, Moore, Hewlett, and Ishmail are all players that will need to spend some time in the crock pot marinating, and DJ Waller is another player to add to that list. He has ball skills from his time as receiver, loves to hit, and has enough physical ability to get on a field, but he's a late riser who is still very raw and without a clear position. It's not clear if his frame and athleticism will allow him to play corner, in which case he is probably a safety, but I suppose could be a HSP type OLB. Waller is extremely lanky and will need to add some weight no matter what, and only after spending time with Ben Herbert and the defensive coaches will we have an idea of what's going on here.

It seems as if Michigan may give him a shot to stick at CB, at least to start, but all the smart money says he ends at S. Maybe he becomes a gem there... he also could very much not. He's a low-rated stab-in-the-dark prospect where Michigan is trusting their own evaluation and hoping to get something exciting out of it, but I'm not as pumped about Waller as I am about Hewlett, let's say. It is a longer shot, and characterizing it as anything other than a wild card would probably be over-enthusiastic.

Trieu made a comp to Jeremy Chinn, who went to Southern Illinois because an injury prevented teams from seeing him as a junior. He played early, but blew up into an All-American safety in 2019 and 2nd round pick in 2020. By that point Chinn was 6'3"/221 with 4.45 forty (down from 4.8 as a recruit). Chinn's NFL draft profile highlights the rawness of a receiver convert who was still well behind in his development at the end of his college career:

Safety prospect with compelling size, speed and athletic ability. He has man cover skills. Very willing and able as a tackler, but despite his diverse skill set, his effectiveness can wane when asked to multitask. Chinn is at his best when he's actively engaged and not sitting in space dissecting what comes next. His ball skills and athleticism are strengths that help define his value and teams will need to find ways to put him in position to utilize both without exposing his inconsistent field awareness. He might find a future role as a big nickel or a cover linebacker who can drag tight ends around the field in sub-packages.

…and predicted to bulk up to linebacker. So really Trieu's not *that* close to the Harbaugh camp.

Let's play the gamble game.

So Waller is the proverbial project. That's fine; Michigan has taken a lot of those in the times we've been writing this series. Since only Michigan knows what stone they thought they were pulling out of the rough, we have to use the few things we do know against the wild swings of the past to make a guess.

TO THE GOOD

1. Waller was a late riser with late offers. Waller moved up 600 spots and 0.7 stars in the composite (from a 3.2* to a 3.9*) since last August, with late offers from Kentucky and West Virginia, and interest from Wisconsin, after his senior film came out. Before that he was a Toledo commit with offers from other MAC schools. One of our most accurate heuristics is guys who move up don't move up enough (and vice versa).

2. Michigan's not desperate for an immediate body. Starting receiver convert Amorion Walker because he could be a half season's development away from Ludicrous is not the same as taking every Greg Brown and Tamani Carter who sees opportunity in an empty depth chart. All parties acknowledge Waller is a wait-n-see, not a fill-a-need.

3. They've done it before. It won't surprise you there haven't been many Jeremy Clark/Richard Shermans, but Harbaugh moved both of them (and Amorion) to cornerback. And of the schools out there that were using a similar strategy, the first example was Kentucky when Clinkscale was there.

TO THE BAD

1. He may be a come-along with Jason Hewett. This isn't as extreme as offering Adrian Witty to get Denard, or even German Green to get Gemon, but given how much Michigan covets Hewett, I think it's at least a Dwumfour to get Gary kind of situation.

2. Same guy at another school might not be a take. Michigan—specifically area recruiter Steve Clinkscale—is trying to build inroads into Ohio with this class, and this is actually Clink's own alma mater. That's a positive sign for Waller's ongoing commitment to his position coach, but also a big factor for a guy on the edge of the class.

3. Could outgrow the position they recruited him for. He's a big frame that's already up to 192. The most foreseeable busts in the history of this project—Allen Gant, Brandon Smith, Marvin Robinson, Ricardo Miller—were all getting too big for the positions Michigan needed them at by the time they got to campus.

4. Scholarship limits aren't what they used to be. Michigan's currently 13 over the limit by my accounting, and we are pretty sure they're just using NIL to cover guys not using one of the 85. Waller might be a sign that they're willing to take more gambles now because of it.

Etc. In case the apostrophe threw you off, it's just pronounced de'Wan.

Why Jeremy Clark? How many 6'4" cornerbacks can you name? Obviously Waller would have to hit to make this comparison, but if he is the guy Harbaugh thinks he is, and has the speed and mobility to stick at cornerback at that size, then he's Jeremy Clark to a T. The recruiting comp is also similar: Clark was projected to safety (a hint from Rivals that CB was a possibility was rapidly discounted) reporting forty times in the high 4.4s, but was otherwise the same skinny (Clark was listed as 6'4"/202), big-hitting, needs-lots-of-development recruit with questionable hips, so much that Brian's comp was "Not Insane Ernest Shazor." Clark was a Kentucky kid who went to every camp, and almost got an offer from Ohio State's before committing to a grayshirt at Michigan which became a regular scholarship as he climbed to the mid 3-stars as a senior. People were also talking about Clark possibly growing into a linebacker, and the versatility of that. 

Guru Reliability: Medium-low. Relatively big school, didn't shy away from camps, but was ignored and growing into his body all through the process, and was still ranked in 2-star land before a late rise that might have been just reacting to the offers. Only Trieu from the above is actually a guy involved in rankings.

Variance: Vast. He could be a Jeremy Clark, he could be a 6'4" safety, he could be a quasi-linebacker playing one to three positions that weren't in the defense last year, he could be a linebacker with a weird story, or even a defensive end with an interesting backstory that says something about his athleticism. To hit he's going to have to overcome questions about his agility, learn a ton of technique, gain just the right amount of weight in a body that might still be transitioning into its final form, and get faster. A lot of recruits can become nothing, but I don't remember one that could be so many different somethings or nothing.

Ceiling: High. "Gonna play and have a long career in football at the corner position." Or in four years we could be talking about some safety-DE Frankenstein (asterisk this—we'll come back to it) who can cover flats or a safety's zone from the Edge position. Or a WLB whose NFL Draft profile notes he's so limber he literally came in as a cornerback.

Flight Risk Assessment: Moderate. I'm adding this section to the profiles because in the portal age you can't assume a kid's first school will be his last. We will assume that a player who's meeting expectations at a program that's meeting expectations isn't a flight risk (Frankie Collins, even with all of his red flags, was a weird exception), and that external factors while a major component, are impossible to guess at. Things like how many times a player transferred high schools, how deliberative they were with their commitment(s) during the recruiting process, distance from home, relative reactivity to the depth chart, relationships to certain coaches, development cycle, stated reasons for choosing Michigan, and expected role are all relevant factors.

Waller's a developmental guy who's going to stick around at least two years just to know what he's going to be. You often lose a guy like that after three years--or in this program, right after he completes his degree--if it's not working out. That alone is a major factor here, but it's also the only really.

General Excitement Level: Moderate-. Baseline 5, –1 for If he was fast they'd probably have said so; –1 for and they hate his hips?; –1 for hips and speed are like 75% of cornerbacking; +1 for HUUUUUUGE, +1 for late riser; –1 for Ohio State never had an ounce of interest; –1 for are we doing this if he doesn't got to Clink's school?; –1 for with Hewlett?; +1 for we can develop Jeremy Clarks we have the technology; +1 there are several windows to hit not just cornerback; –1 for last take of the class and might not have been if scholarship situation wasn't expanded by NIL; +1 for Oh man if he does hit.

Waller's probably the low man in a class full of hit-or-miss types, but given how much of a struggle this class was to recruit, Waller's a pretty good floor. Compare the above to the recruiting profiles of previous class omegas Connor Jones, Dominick Giudice, Dan Villari, George Johnson, German Green, Kurt Taylor, Devin Gil, Jon Runyan Jr., Brady Pallante, Dan Samuelson, Kaleb Ringer, Tamani Carter, Jordan Paskorz, Adrian Witty, Rocko Khoury, Marrell Evans, John Ferrara, and Andre Criswell. Runyan got a "Moderate," or a 5 on our 10-point scale, but nobody else on that list was higher than a "Meh" (2).

Projection: The cornerback depth chart may be screaming for a 2nd and 3rd guy right now, but that guy isn't DJ Waller. Redshirtiest player in the class, and we're almost certain extending that development through 2024 as well. When Herbert delivers his project in three years we could have anything from a cornerback to a defensive end, which is about as wide a variance as we've ever scouted.

If he's a cornerback, how fast he winds will determine whether they've got an NFL freak to follow Will Johnson—whom you figure is off to the NFL by that point. Waller would probably be working back from behind his classmates, but if young David Long couldn't dislodge Clark, 2025 4.5-star Chris Ewald is hardly a guarantee to start over a fully actualized Waller. A less actualized Waller—say, a jam specialist—might be a rotational piece who plays outside in nickel or dime sets, and erases jump-ballers. Michigan certainly could have used someone like that last year.

If Waller's a safety, the depth chart is certainly set up for his class, though I'd guess Hillman is the first beneficiary there. As for linebacker or edge, it's not like it hasn't happened before. Jonas Mouton was a 6'2"/210 (five-star) safety coming out of high school, Larry Foote was ranked as a safety too, and Cato June (6'1"/200) played safety in college before becoming a OLB for the Colts. Devin Gil was a converted safety as well. As for safeties who grow into true DEs, there's of course "The Freak" Jevon Kearse, who was a 6'4"/214 safety for Florida before growing into a linebacker, then continuing to grow into a 6'5"/265 pass-rushing nightmare. The Freak also redshirted despite being a prep All-American.

Here's where I want to get to the * I mentioned in the ceiling section. Though Michigan's hasn't had something like this yet, a lot of defenses have experimented with all kinds of safety-like defenders in the front seven. Most are converted safeties who play in the box—the hybrid Stars who can't carry a tight end, or the Vipers who can but don't really convert well to ILB. There's also a DE/safety hybrid, often called a JACK or a JOKER, that's been appearing as a standup edge in small ball 3-4s, 404 Tites, or the Stunt 4-3 that Rutgers runs. Think Jaylen Harrell's role, except plays a lot more coverage, or if you're Craig Ross's age, exactly what an "end" used to be before platoon football led to specialists.

So that's what I mean when I say there are a lot of slots to fit through. Which role he gets and how well he does it is buried under so much physical and technical development right now that nobody knows.