Uh, I guess we forgot to do a hello for the second commit, and lowest-ranked, of Michigan's four St. Frances Academy prospects. He was also the seventh player to join the class at the time, and the first OL of what's now up to four. Our reasoning for waiting at the time was sound: nobody had anything on him. Until last year Mazzccua was playing for a small school in Philadelphia and Temple was his only offer. A transfer to Biff Poggi's mega-program, and the release of his junior film in early 2019, led to a Syracuse offer on January 24th. Michigan followed the next day—the day teammate Osman Savage committed—and Mazzccua made it official a month later, following an unofficial visit in February.

A bunch of scouting was dumped in the aftermath, all of which described a huge, agile, sushi raw mountain somewhere in the realm of 6'6"/290 (Rivals when he committed) or 6'5"/335 (24/7). There's a little more out there now, so let's play the feud for him, finally.

GURU RATINGS

Rivals	ESPN	24/7	24/7 Comp
3*, 5.7, #51 OT, #22 MD	3*, 79, #46 OT, #66 East	3*, 85, #89 OT, #31 MD, #1019 Ovr	3*, 0.8622, #65 OT, #23 MD, #757 Ovr
☆ rtg: 3.61	3.70	3.44	3.62

None of these existed when he committed 20 weeks ago, so everybody's playing catch-up, and that means rankings in the "Michigan probably knows what they're doing?" range. Rivals ignored him until February 22.

[Hit THE JUMP for scouting from those two sites, video, and the rest.]

SCOUTING

Part of the reason everyone was late to the party was Mazzccua took awhile to get there himself. The first time he came up was a Rutgers camp in Philadelphia in June of last year, earning one of Shawn Brown from 24/7's two mentions of 2020 players who "showed flashes of being prospects who could play at the Power 5 level."

He transferred to St. Frances last year, whereupon his coaches describe a highly mobile mountain learning to football on the fly. St. Frances co-HC Henry Russell spoke to both Rivals and 24/7 and said pretty much the same thing to both. Please note I have removed many reuses of the word "physical" from the following:

"Micah is a large kid. Just everything about him is large," Russell said. "He’s about 6-5, 330 pounds. He’s got big hands and he’s very strong. He’s a very physical kid and he’s very athletic.

Russell also called Mazzccua "pretty raw at this point" but picking things up quickly:

"I thought he got better for us as the year went on," Russell said. "His physicality is very noticeable and that’s always been there. We played a bowl game against Lee County (Ga.) and I thought you could see a year of growth in that game. He was really good and physical while looking athletic at the same time. I think that’s what Michigan probably saw and got excited about.

The coach even suggested the possibility of growing into a tackle:

"I think he’s nice because he has that versatility," Russell said. "I think he can be a dominant guard but he also has the size and length to play tackle. I think he gives an offensive line coach a nice array of options there being able to do both. He’ll play guard for us because we pull our guards a lot and he’s really good at that. Kids that big pulling around aren’t very common. The fact that he’s athletic enough to block linebackers and people in space is really beneficial. Not a lot of kids can do what he does at his size."

Rivals also spoke to an opposing coach, Silver Oak Academy's Kevin McLeod:

“He’s a big-bodied kid who pulls inside pretty well and has a good trap game,” McLeod explained. “He’ll get more physical and start rooting people out instead of using that big body of his.” … “They ran either right behind him or would follow his lead when he pulled,” …“He’s such a tough kid who has great footwork, and he also handled himself well in the open space.

McLeod was given an opening to criticize pass blocking, but since his team gave up 40+ points in the first half he said he couldn't say.

24/7's Brian Dohn got to see him in October and came away with the same vibe:

…what jumped out first was his length and frame, which is built to carry 290 pound with ease. He is quick getting out and pulling. His footwork is clean when he pops up and pulls, and he moves well in space.

Mazzccua is strong in the lower body. He drives with his legs and he is physical at the point of attack. He is able to overwhelm because of his explosion. He can scrape and get to the second level, but needs to be a bit more accurate in his targeting of linebackers and safeties.

Dohn emphasized pad level as an area for improvement—"he needs to bend at the knees a little more," and "he needs to sink his hips a bit more," and "has a tendency to block high."— and provided the only scout I've seen on Mazzccua's pass pro, which seems to be a work in progress:

In pass protection, Mazzccua is patient but he does dip his head now and again. When his base is wide, he is balanced and his initial punch does the job. He improved markedly from the beginning to the end of his junior season, and a big part was his understanding of technique and his footwork.

Dohn also saw the "foot speed to play right tackle" and "someone who could turn out to be a steal on signing day."

Rivals's Adam Friedman agreed "When you look at how big he is and you watch the film you’re just impressed with how a guy that size can move so well," while also seeing a lot to develop:

"There’s plenty to work with for the strength and conditioning staff as far as his traits go and when it comes to coaching he has a lot of room to improve there too." … "We just haven’t seen a ton of him just yet," Friedman said. "His playing time increased a lot as the year went on last year and we want to see just a little bit more from him on the technical side of things."

Friedman checked in again with a summary last March that finally mentions pass pro:

The Wolverines are getting a huge prospect that does a great job pushing defensive linemen back into the linebackers. When pass blocking, Mazzccua can really anchor down and does a good job of making sure defensive linemen don’t collapse the pocket or get any penetration.

Mazzccua himself mentioned he "learned how to play through an injury" last season. His self-scout also said he's working on his explosion/lower body.

Brandon Brown offered a YMRMFSPA of Ben Braden. 24/7's Maryland guy has mentioned a few times that Mazzccua was a priority to Michigan's staff.

OFFERS

As mentioned, Temple was recruiting him a year before anyone else. Michigan offered in late January and he committed 31 days later. The only other schools to get involved in the interim were VT, Maryland, and UMass, which is coached by former Maryland OC Walt Bell. Via Rivals, Pittsburgh and Arizona tried to flip him but were rebuffed.

HIGH SCHOOL

St. Frances Academy is the Biff Poggi school, a mega-program on the East Coast that more or less recreates what Ohio has in Glenville. It's been sending at least one big dollah five-star (Eyabi Anoma, Shane Lee) to Bama every year since Poggi left Michigan. In addition to the four D-I prospects in Michigan's class, this year's crop includes five-star (#14 to the Composite) Alabama LB/DE commit Chris Braswell; two top-150 LSU commits in safety Jordan Toles and DE Demon (yes THAT) Clowney; Oregon commit/Michigan target Luke Hill at cornerback; and 4-star DT Dominic Bailey, who's committed to Tennessee. Michigan will be one of many in competition for the services of 2021 cornerback Clinton Burton, and hybrid LB Aaron Willis appears to be next in line to sacrifice to Cth'saban, Devourer of Souls.

Watch the Poggi film if you haven't already:

Matter of Fact is a production of the local NBC affiliate

STATS

Is OL.

FAKE 40 TIME

Is OL.

VIDEO

Mazzccua's junior film is the reason technology is ruining college football if you're a Temple fan. It's also the reason St. Frances is ruining high school football if you're a Maryland high school football parent. Because omigod what happens to some of these children.

If you need more, you sick person, watch Blake Corum's highlights again.

Single-game clips are at his Hudl page.

ETC

Strong beverage take. Not "Micah Mazzuca."

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

Methinks the scouting doth repeat itself. He's big. He's athletic. He's developing. His best pass protection move is "get very in the way and plant" at the moment. He doesn't quite know what to do when he gets downfield, but when he does he can mirror a linebacker, and if the linebacker doesn't want to dance: doom. Pad level, pad level pad level.

The one thing from this scouting report that I found most interesting is when you think of a 335-pound guard, you imagine a break-him-down-to-build-him-up guy, but the coaches above all talk like Mazzccua like he's still growing, with Dohn even mentioning the need for more upper body strength. He's also not playing with any kind of leverage yet, which is not that weird for an OL prospect who was at a small Philly school until last year.

Note that because Poggi had to put a schedule together out of thin air last year, that film is against a lot of upper echelon teams, though I can't imagine he's going to truck college players the way he does some of the high schoolers in the film.

The agility is what really stands out. When he pulls they have him open up all the way, run to his spot, then cut like a running back. The list of Michigan guards I can remember doing that regularly in games is Patrick Omameh when he was a 280-pound freshman, and Steve Hutchinson because he literally could move like a linebacker. St. Frances made this pulling (and the counter, running headlong into a guy trying to set the edge) the base of their offense. Defenses then refused to get off the bus.

I expect Poggi and his crack staff can develop Mazzccua further—few coaches in America are better suited to produce what Harbaugh likes—that rawness is the kind that takes some years to develop. Even the highlights in pass pro are more just biglargehuge'ing a DT who then falls down. Offensive line is complicated even for technicians, and there are a lot of guys on campus who won't be true freshmen next year when Bredeson, Onwenu, and possibly Ruiz are gone.

But then every offensive lineman is a project, and the tools are all there for an all-conference guard. The coach notes about fast development are important, because quick-thinking intelligence is the difference between a pro and a big lug. How he develops this year could decide if he ends up a four-star or remains in the medium three zone. We'll be paying particular attention to how he develops as a pass protector.

Come 2022, Mazzccua should be a redshirt sophomore, the current two-deep of Filiaga and Honigford will have cleared out, and somebody from his competition pool will have already graduated to starting center. This means Mazzccua will have his shot to be a three-year starter if he can place third out of Nolan Rumler, Zach Carpenter, Karsen Barnhart, Jack Stewart, classmate Reese Atteberry, and whomever joins them next year/from tackle. There's a lot to play out between now and then but my guess is Mazzccua's in there.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

Mazzccua was a top prospect to Michigan, and they've signed three more of their top six or seven at OL, so they're probably done unless one of the whales wants in. It's also nice to finally be getting in on St. Frances after Bama got out in front.